I love the MGA Rainbow High fashions, but the bodies leave a few things to be desired. I’m not a fan of the short torsos and small hands, but I can deal with that. I have much more of a problem with the limited articulation. Out of the box, the body can’t sit up straight. Elbows only bend 90 degrees, as do legs. Also, I put Barbie heads on the necks, but the neck range of motion for a smaller head is very limited. Modding to the rescue!
Rosie, the drummer of Flaming Hot Pussy, drops trou to show the first mod that I tried. I scraped out the tops and inner corners of the thigh sockets so that the torso can bend up perpendicular to the legs.My second and third mods focused on the elbows and knees. I notched the forearms to gain 20 degrees of range of motion. I also notched the back of the lower legs to gain 15-20 degrees of ROM. Later I realized that this was not necessary. I could just have dunked the knee joints in boiling water for 30 seconds and then worked them so that both joints functioned. Note that this Barbie head sits high on the neck and can’t move very well.Demonstrating improved elbow flexion.I trimmed a small amount [2mm?] from the top of the RH neck. The neck is still too wide for the Barbie neck hole, but bodies modded like this allow the heads to tilt and swivel.One of the recent Mattel Barbie Looks heads on a RH body wearing Robin Sterling’s classy pajamas, one of my favorite RH sets.
