This custom tutorial was contributed by TheLastSuperman

I was very happy to receive a Marvel Legends Maestro Hulk from a seller on the FB Group Action Figure Junkies. Maestro broke at the waist when I sat down to start customizing him! I was not surprised, this can happen and depends on a number of factors including production issues and/or environment or similar and was not the sellers fault.

I was surprised by the waist joint style though, I hadn't encountered that style of joint before. Long story short it was broken and needed some tender loving care before I even considered handing it over to my son custom yet or not.

In order to do repairs you need more than the materials you use to customize such as spare screws, washers, plastic anything... no really any little small plastic part or leftover piece should be saved and thrown into a fodder bin of parts to use for repairs.

As you can see in the pics I used spare repair parts from my fodder bin.

Things to note:
- How the figure fits together and how the joint should function are key to your success, know how it should work and try to repair it so it still functions in a similar fashion.
- You need a decent set of tools here such as:
-- Screw driver(s) and/or ones with interchangeable and multiple bit styles.
-- A Drill and different size drill bits.
-- Repair putty/Epoxy (Hint: JB Quickweld works fine in some areas otherwise use the recommended epoxy for repair).
-- Screws with built-on washers, plain screws, and separate washers.
-- Razor Blade or similar to shave spare plastic.
-- Prying tools, preferably with wide flat edges, for example a putty knife or very wide flat-head screwdriver instead of one that will dig into the plastic when prying at a certain area.

If you do not have many spare parts and a decent set of tools you may end up damaging the figure further or breaking it entirely sadly so ensure you're set before you start!

You can see from the pictures that:
- I used a spare plastic end cap to an old doll playset of my youngest daughters, flipped it upside down and ran a screw through the bottom.
- I removed the soft plastic belt accessory as it was in the way.
- I selected a drill bit that was the same size of the screw (with the threads being larger than the actual bit, the solid non-thread part of the screw is what I compared to the bit. DO NOT use a very large drill bit otherwise your screw will not easily "grab" the inside of the drilled hole... you want it to grab but not be a pain in the butt to actually attach when screwing your pieces together. *Not all fixes provide you the room to use an actual screw driver on a screw head therefor you must attach the pieces turning it by hand.
- I then took JB Waterweld (whatever cures quickest imo) as it was leftover from a recent pool project and packed it in around the plastic end-cap thereby filling in the spare space while also "securing" it to the inside of the broken waist area although a related type repair epoxy for figures will work best.
- GIVE IT PLENTY OF TIME TO CURE NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE.
- Carefully Attach your fixed part tot he main body and viola, it's fixed!
- If the figure had a belt similar to Maestro's, use a hair-dryer to heat it up and make it very pliable, then carefully work it back on from feet up to waist and now your belt is back on. The reason we did this last is because the belt would have been in our way when fixing the figure.

Optional:
- After your putty dries, sand it slightly with fine grit sand-paper.
- After sanding apply paint (as you can see I forgot initially then had to go back and add the paint - DOH!). Depending on the putty used and the area you may get by with using markers if the colors are close but only if it's a joint area not normally visible unless being articulated in some odd manner.

Tip: If working with something that turns/rotates but you are hand-screwing it in (when you cannot use a screw driver on the head of the screw) pry a flat-head screwdriver or small drill bit between it and another piece of plastic to prevent it from rotating while you screw in your fixed part.

*Sometimes the one drawback to this is, on some occasions depending on how you fixed it, gaps or more room in some joint areas will be visible however the figure is now usable and can be enjoyed again!

Remember everyone, a broken figure does not mean it's dead, it just means you need to figure out how to fix it and make it happen! Only put truly broken action figures into your fodder bin and enjoy the ones you save!