HOW TO: Customizing a PTE head to fit a Hasbro body

Here we have your basic G.I. Joe, right? Nope, it's actually a Power Team Elite head remounted on a Hasbro Super-Articulated body. I saw this head sculpt on a PTE troop and wished there was some way to make it work for a Hasbro body.

A basic side-by-side comparison of a G.I Joe and a PTE figure. The PTE Guys are much taller and, for the most part, have some odd head sculpts.

Basic differences between the Hasbro and PTE neck mount.

A side view of the two styles of heads - totally incompatible! Or so I thought!

Under the neck post of a Hasbro body is a post very similar to the PTE neck post. I discovered this quite by accident when the neck post of one of my Hasbro SA bodies basically crumbled. It just broke apart! My thoughts? "Great, a useless piece of plastic." I actually tried mounting the PTE head directly into the Hasbro neck, but the PTE neck length is HUGE and the head just sort of flops around. Inside the broken neck post was the key to the switch -a thick rubber washer.

The washer/o-ring/gasket/whatever on the left is from an SA neck post, the thinner is from a standard Hasbro body.

Still fits nicely on the Hasbro neck post. Hmmmmmm.....

How do I get this...

...to work with the Hasbro washer and neck post. The diameter of the washer is just a little less than the diameter of the neck of the PTE head. So let's try this...

The boxcutter! Nice and sharp! Please handle with care! I'm not responsible for your sliced bloody fingers!

Here's an overhead shot of the PTE neck; I had to get below the molded connection area.

A quick careful slice and I'm through the neck! The blade has to be sharp to get a clean cut. It's advisable to cut low and then potentially trim a little off. You can't add length after the cut!

Here's an overhead shot of the neck and the washer. The next step is to simply work the washer down into the neck. Just carefully pushing and squeezing will get it into the neck.

Keep working it into the neck until it is flush with the end of the cut.

Now it's even, time to mount it to the Hasbro neck post!

Still a little too tall, the neck cut is showing. Simply pull off the head and push the washer farther down into the neck. This is where it will depend on the length of the neck and how you see the head mounted on the neck post.

The neck looks pretty good at this point. There's a great range of motion with this conversion except if you make your troop look skyward!

Not good, not good at all! I'm an "outfit and pose" sort of collector. None of my troops are going to be subject to rough play, so once he's in uniform, he's looking pretty good!

An excellent PTE head sculpt on the excellent Hasbro Super-Articulated body! It should work for nearly any PTE head, with the biggest problem being the actual size of the head. Some of the PTE heads are way too big for the Hasbro body. Don't do it... just don't!

Here's another of my Hasbro/PTE head swaps.

I've updated my blog with another quick post about two more PTE figures that went under the knife. Stop by for a look!

HEY!

YEAH, YOU!

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