Thread: Walgreens Skelly Necks (achillies heel?)

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I was looking at a Walgreens skelly neck (or more accurately the Spirit one that costs almost twice as much) and I noticed that it definitely seems like the neck is the weak point of the skelly. There were two skellies on the shelf, and one of them had a broken neck. There seems to be a rather weak plastic flange at the top of the neck that holds on the head. Thank god the hanging thread loop attaches below the neck or that broken skelly would have no head at all.

I read at least one post of somebody buying a Walgreens skelly with broken neck hoping to repair it. Anybody have any good ideas for repairing or strengthening these necks?

In my search for these things, I only found one at a Walgreens, and it was part of a display. I asked if they would sell it to me, so the lady asked the manager. The manager picked it up and the leg fell off at the knee. At the back of the knee joint, where the pin slides through, the plastic was very thin, and had ripped through. Of course I cried Discount, Discount, and the manager gladly sold it to me for $19.95 Great deal I though. I brought it home and used a two part clear epoxy to fill the small area for the pin to strengthen the plastic. When hardened I just drilled a hole large enough for the pin, and I now have a Walgreens skelly for $20. As for the neck problems, after reading your post, I went to the garage and examined mine. The neck is pretty strong on mine and so is the base of the skull where the neck attached. I'm guessing the problems we're having with certain parts being weak on some and not on others is just occuring in batches. I'll bet they aren't all like that. It's likely some of the blow molds that press these things out of a sheet of hot plastic aren't al perfectly designed, so the ones pressed in a certain mold will likely have the same thin areas.

The only other ones I've even been lucky enough to find were at one of those big Halloween shops that pops up this time of year in abandoned department store units, much like the Spirit stores. Of course, theirs were $50. I didn't notice anything with the necks, but I also didn't look for anything. I did notice whomever assembled these didn't take near as much care as the Walgreens people. Probably assembled by the highly skilled hands of 1,000 Asian 4 year olds, during their off time from making Nike shoes. I noticed at the top of the shoulder, where there is a joint in the plastic that needs fastened together, Walgreens has theirs tied together with some carefully camouflaged jip ties. The big Halloween store didn't even bother connecting the joint on any of their $50 versions, so there we're shoulder bones just sticking out for no reason. Easy fix for the buyer, but for $50... Anyway, I'm not sure of the problem with the neck, but is it's likely something adding a layer of epoxy might help. I swear by the stuff. Mine also had very thin plastic on the ball of one of the hips, which also caused the mold seam to split a tiny bit, weakening the area around the hole even more. This causes the plastic pin to easily pop out of the hole some times and the entire leg falls off. The epoxy should easily solve that problem, which is very similar to what I'm guessing is happening to the neck on yours. Some types of epoxy will hold hundreds of pounds of pressure, and for less than $5 a tube, that’s pretty good; especially since it fully hardens in about 10 minutes. Just remember, you want a clear two part epoxy that comes in what looks like a syringe with two tubes side by side. You squirt out about a quarter sized puddle, mix it together with a plastic disposable knife, or something like that for a minute to make sure it's completely blended, then smear it over the area you need to repair. It's great for gluing things together as well; very hard and very strong. Best of luck!

ryanlamprecht
Thanks for the advice.

I actually unscrewed the neck took the skull off an replaced it with my three axis skull. Cut off both ends of neck bone, tie wraps around neck, and then past my all thread rode through it with fender washers on both ends. Tighten nut and is very solid. Added a lil glue and rescrewed it to the skellie. Looks great.