Opening Small Alicorns? Solved! In a way…

[StormMaeker]

She has a new tail now, (picture)
I found a Princess Cadance who has a pretty much nonexistent tail and I want to replace it but I can’t get the neck peg off. I’ve been digging and digging around it but it seems to not be leading to anything. I can’t really find anything online about it and now I’m wondering if I should have gone in through the back with the wings instead?

I’ve tried heating her up as well to make things easier but her body seems pretty solid unlike normal brushables.

 

[Sassarazzmadazzles]

my friend who customized g4s always said she cut it out with an xacto knife then glued it back in once she was done

 

[StormMaeker]

my friend who customized g4s always said she cut it out with an xacto knife then glued it back in once she was done

Do you know if she did the same for the small alicorns?
I’ve been cutting around the peg but I’m not sure if I need to keep on going because they seem to be in differently to a normal brushable and I don’t know if I’m supposed to open the wings instead

 

[Quackers]

i would have to open up my own small alicorn to check, but when i started my large alicorn custom, the tail was accessible through the wings! it would probably be easier to access the tail hole from that spot regardless, so i would try going in that way instead of the neck?

if you need any pictures, i can supply some!

 

[StormMaeker]

i would have to open up my own small alicorn to check, but when i started my large alicorn custom, the tail was accessible through the wings! it would probably be easier to access the tail hole from that spot regardless, so i would try going in that way instead of the neck?

if you need any pictures, i can supply some!

That’s good to know it actually is accessible from there and isn’t just a shallow dip for the wings. Thanks, I’ll try that!

 

[Skybreeze]

Welcome to customizing G4 MLP. :derp:

They’re annoying as heck to get the pegs out, because of this a lot of people give up and cut into them or go through the tails. Like A LOT of people. I assure you with a lot of patience heat and cussing you too can get the pegs out. I think it took me about 4 hours to get a Cadence apart once, and about the same for this Shining Armour. Lol

I use a mix or boiling water and my surgical alligator clamps (or drape clamps) to hold the pony and the peg. While also sticking a dental tool in the neck seam. Eventually you will wear down the glue that holds on for dear life. But it takes a lot. Then sometimes, you will run into a G4 lad or lady who has the tail attached to the bottom part of the head mechanism. Those ones are extra fun. So. Much. Fun. ain:8Ooo:

 

[StormMaeker]

Welcome to customizing G4 MLP. :derp:

They’re annoying as heck to get the pegs out, because of this a lot of people give up and cut into them or go through the tails. Like A LOT of people. I assure you with a lot of patience heat and cussing you too can get the pegs out. I think it took me about 4 hours to get a Cadence apart once, and about the same for this Shining Armour. Lol

I use a mix or boiling water and my surgical alligator clamps (or drape clamps) to hold the pony and the peg. While also sticking a dental tool in the neck seam. Eventually you will wear down the glue that holds on for dear life. But it takes a lot. Then sometimes, you will run into a G4 lad or lady who has the tail attached to the bottom part of the head mechanism. Those ones are extra fun. So. Much. Fun. ain:8Ooo:

View attachment 50843View attachment 50844

I had wondered how a Shining Armour looks without his strange hair, thanks for attaching the pictures!

The first G4 I had customised was making my OC, Atmos Lazuli and I told myself I’m never doing that again with a G4 with how annoying the peg was. Now I have another G4 prepped to make a friend for Atmos and Cadance waiting for a new tail.

Thank you for warning me about the tails attached to the peg as well, I had no idea it was a thing too

 

[StormMaeker]

An update on Cadance: It’s not going well…

So after finding out the tail is accessible through the wings, I switched to doing those yesterday or day before and managed to find a dentist tool that I had previously used for sculpting stuff. With there being a line between the wings, it looked and felt like maybe they’re in two parts. I had started trying to get out the wings while occasionally trying the neck peg again. My dentist tool kept bending and I kept getting some of the tail from the inside caught on it too so I had thought maybe the tail is just underneath it. Well… turns out I hadn’t just been scraping out glue but also pieces of plastic. And it seems Cadance really is one of those ponies where the tail is attached to the neck plug

Before the wings came out, I did switch solely to the neck but after having done it for a lot time I went to the wings again, thought I was really close and boom. More plastic, broken wings
I’m just really hoping I can glue those wings in and make them look normal. It probably just looks really scary right now because I can see inside. She might look better fixed?

All I wanted to do was give Cadance a new tail the same colour as before. Ah well, I guess I have had a lesson in alicorn bodies now

I shall step away from Cadance for now and continue my custom fakie

 

[Tak]

Aw… she looks sad in pieces. I know you’ll find a way to fix her. Probably good to step away for now. I think it was very daring of you to try something new. :C

 

[Clown]

Oof, rough luck, but I'm sure she's salvageable! I didn't know you could get the average g4 open at all tbh, how funny we've got headaches about a toy that stays together too well!

 

[strawberrypony32]

Ive seen customizers cut the original tail off and push it further inside the body then bind the end of the new tail with something so its stiff on the end then add a little bit of glue in the tail hole before reapplying. Not much so it doesnt run out or show. Its hardly as satisfying as rehairing a tail properly and not everyone may want to do that but it could be a better option than cutting a ponys back out or messing with a neck plug that wont move? Im not sure? Could be better suited for customs, somehow gluing in a tail seems extreme but then again so do the other options lol. Between a rock and a hard place.

 

[StormMaeker]

Ive seen customizers cut the original tail off and push it further inside the body then bind the end of the new tail with something so its stiff on the end then add a little bit of glue in the tail hole before reapplying. Not much so it doesnt run out or show. Its hardly as satisfying as rehairing a tail properly and not everyone may want to do that but it could be a better option than cutting a ponys back out or messing with a neck plug that wont move? Im not sure? Could be better suited for customs, somehow gluing in a tail seems extreme but then again so do the other options lol. Between a rock and a hard place.

I have just finished putting her new tail in and I just saw this. I found out her tail is actually deep underneath the wings and honestly I would not recommend putting a new tail in a small alicorn at all. It was a total nightmare and I was about to give up.

I came to update on Cadance’s progress. She is finished!
I realised I rambled again explaining what I went through to get her done, so I put it in a spoiler box. I’m sorry, I just get carried away when explaining stuff feeling like I need to be as accurate as possible

Spoiler: The Nightmare with Cadance

So I decided to keep at the neck after the shame and disappointment of removing her wings messily but it just wasn’t working. Last time, I broke one dentistry tool. This time, I found another to use. That broke way too quickly and then I had nothing else to use to I used a small knife… that broke as well. I had enough and I was breaking too many tools so I decided to give up on the neck that was taking too long and to take a shortcut with the tail. I cut off her old one as much as I could and decided to scrape a bit of room for the new one

The new tail was lovely but I had a problem… when I put the cable tie in, will it fit? I mean, would the wings fit?
This was a new problem. They didn’t fit. Not only that but there was no room for the cable tie. I had to remove the new tail and scrape out some room. This was an all new level of the nightmare for this Cadance project. The constant heating up, scraping, testing the cable tie… hardly any progress was being made for a long time and I wasn’t seeing any more the tail underneath which was very strange. I felt there was no choice but to force room to be made by cutting down the pieces of plastic attached to the bottom of the wings and sand them down but even that didn’t work.

After ages not making any progress with room for the cable tie, I felt ready to give up again but then… my tiny screwdriver thing stabbed a hole in a corner accidentally. I had reached a new layer in Cadance’s body. I wondered if this is where the hair goes through to the dreadful neck plug (I still expected it to be attached) and so I picked away this thick layer of plastic making small holes through like the first one to help break it up and then… there it was, a tiny metal clamp. Cadance’s tail is not attached to the neck plug! It’s just very deep down in her body

Just to add to how already difficult it was to get to this stage, her ring inside her neck kept slipping off when trying to put it back on the plug.

The next problem was gluing the wings back in. My plastic glue from model kits didn’t work so I had to use superglue, it dries much faster but I really hate using it. When I opened it, the glue kind of exploded and went on me and Cadance. I quickly managed to clean off some that landed on her head but there’s still some on an ear I didn’t see. I have tried to remove it but Cadance is done now!

TL;DR for the above box:
Cadance was a pain. There was many problems faced to get to the point of putting the wings back in and her tail isn’t connected to her neck plug but actually deep underneath the wings inside her body.
We shall see the results of her ‘tail surgery’ when her hair and tail dries tomorrow and the ‘bandages’ can come off. I have learnt some things about small alicorns during this and I still really like my Cadance even if she was stubborn and drove me crazy

Some fun photos during the time:

I always thought G4 unicorns had too small horns, that feels more like the correct size