Repositioning a Breyer's Leg

After having a look at other collectors' photos of their Mariahs, it became clear that my girl's bent foreleg was not an intended part of the sculpture. So I decided to try repositioning it with heat. I followed Shoestring Stable's tutorial for this, with the exception that I don't have a heat gun, so I used a hairdryer instead.

Here she is before treatment. Her near (left) foreleg is noticeably bent inwards under her body.

 I aimed the hairdryer at the upper part of her leg, as this was the area I intended to reposition. I made sure to heat all sides of her leg, and I was worried about damaging her paint, so I didn't apply the heat for very long. Each side of her leg (left, right, top and bottom) got about 30 seconds of heat.

 After heating I turned off the hairdryer and carefully tried to move the leg. If it was still quite resistant I reapplied the heat and tried again until the plastic was quite flexible. I then gently manoeuvred the leg into a more natural position.

 Once repositioned I quickly dunked the model's leg into a glass of cold water to cool the plastic. My glass wasn't big enough to dunk just one leg in far enough, so my mare got both forelegs dunked :)

 The finished result. Her near foreleg is now much more naturally positioned. I'm not convinced that I've moved the leg quite far enough, but I'm anxious about doing anything more, especially as the upper part of her leg is much more solid than the rest of the leg, so it'd need much more heat to become flexible. As it is now I think it's fine, and I'm quite happy to leave it like this.

 

And here is a clearer comparison between the before and after photos, to clearer see  the difference. 

Oh, and I need to correct something I said in my last post: after looking at her a bit more closely, I think her near (left) ear actually isn't missing it's tip. It's just that the awkward way the ear is turned makes it look a bit square at the tip when viewed from the front.