Cy Girl - Removing a Neck Post from a Head

If you fitted a PB or a FemBasix head to a ZC 'Eve' body and try to remove it again, the neck post could pop out of the neck instead of the head.
This is because these heads have a smaller neck hole than regular CG or ZC heads have. On top of that the ZC neck is rather slim and not glued along the seams which makes it more prone to splitting open.

You might be tempted to pry the post out of the head using a pair of pliers, but that will ruin the post and might also damage the head.
Should you ruin or break a neck post, a short ankle peg from a set of FemBasix feet or pumps makes for a good replacement.
Here's how to get the neck post safely out of the head again.

Tools and materials needed:

• Pair of round-nosed pliers
• Piece of strong pliable metal wire, such as solid core mains wire (vinyl coated)
• Plastic sleeve (or a piece of cling film) to protect the head

Left to right: pair of round nosed pliers, piece of solid core mains wire, plastic sleeve, head with neck post.
Put the plastic sleeve around the head to protect the head, make sure the hair doesn't get messed up. Use the pliers to bend the wire in a tight U-shape, then bend the curve of the U upwards by 90 degrees.
Hook the curve of the wire behind the ball of the neck post. wrap the ends of the wire around each other to trap the ball.
You might want to warm the head up first, lukewarm or slightly warmer should help to make the vinyl of the head more pliable. Grab the head firmly, make sure the hair doesn't get messed up, then pull the wire in a slightly circular motion to work the anchor of the peg loose from the head. (sorry: I had no free hand left to hold the camera, so no picture of this step).
If all went well the neck post popped out of the head. Inserting the neck post back into the ZC body is straightforward: remove the arms, remove the soft torso cover, loosen the screws in the back of the upper body and pop the neck post back into place. You might want to glue the halves of the neck together to keep them from splitting open again, but do make sure the glue does not reach the ball of the neck post. If you decide to glue the halves of the neck, use either Plastic Weld or liquid polystyrene cement.

Sizes of various types of neck holes and posts

The following table lists the sizes I've measured with a pair of vernier calipers.
It shows why it is so hard to remove a PB or FemBasix head from a ZC neck post: the hole in these heads is 1.2mm smaller in diameter than the hole of a ZC head !