Gluing the Torso
Now we are ready for gluing. I used hot glue gun to glue the sides on the pipe. This must be very accurate!
The sides are glued on the pipe.
The check reveals that the sides are crooked. The axles are not parallel. I had to take it apart and glue them again.
If you put in the legs, that helps to make everything straight. (without the washers, not as on the picture)
Checking the straightness of the body.
Later I found out that one of the most important criterion is the straightness of the axles. I had to reglue and reglue all my figures. This picture shows the best way I found to glue them parallel. The procedure in details is the following:
1) With hot glue gun, glue the pipe on one of the side panels.
2) Assemble the figure. Put in the axles with the washers, nuts and legs and arm and with the other side panel as well.
3) Now, tighten the nuts on the body. Try to make it even, so the side panels lie just exactly parallel, but do not oversqueeze the pipe. (Note: Later, with the finished figure, you will have to tighten the nuts on the hips and shoulders instead on the body.) We are lucky because the shoulder axle pulls the side panels from the back and the hip axle pulls them in the front.
4) Because one side panel is glued and the other is just held tight by the axles and nuts, you can slide the side panel slightly. Set it straight. This is when you need the right angle set up on a flat surface. Look at the picture how one side of the body is set by the right angle. The right angle and the body should be exactly parallel.
5) Finally, with making sure the side panel doesn't move, squeeze some hot glue between the pipe and the side panel.