I read what you said, and looked at my character and did some research. On the back of the box it does have the hands the opposite arms. I decided to make this into a small tutorial. Here ya go:
Subject: Movie Jazz
Operation: Hand Switch
Difficulty: 7/10
Time: 10-15 min
First I'd like to say, as easy as it sounds to switch the hands, it really isn't. 2 things 3 things make this difficult.
1) You're working with really small pieces.
2) Some parts are thin and could easally break if not careful.
3) There is a really stupid barrier preventing this project from being easier than it is.
so lets begin:
Take the hood off the rest of the body, and know where the right and left side are. All you will be doing for this is removing 2 pins, switching hands and replacing the pins.
Take the side you would like to start with first, and grab a small screwdriver. Jewlers type is prefered. You will want to push the pin from the center of the hood (where the screwdriver in the pic is pointing) to the outside. That little tab that is covering the pin hole is what's going to make this difficult. The reason you want to push from that side is because the jagged side of the pin is on the outside of the hood
If you can put the Screwdriver on the Tab side of the hood, do it. The method I used is a little trickier and a little more dangerous. How I did it is, I pushed the pin from the outside of the hood, going in. this closed the gap between the pin and the tab. what this also does is frees the one side of the hand from a pin. Take a small flat head screwdriver and wedge it between the tab and the pin. Push the pin in away from the tab and back to the outside of the hood.
What has happined now is the one side of the hand is free and you are pushing the pin through to free the other half. The pin should bend the outside of the hand and not re enter the hole. go slowly, and the hand should be free of stress marks and cracks. When that's finished, move along to the other side.
As I mentioned before, this method is risky and would be alot easier if that damn tab wasn't there. You do run the risk of streaching and cracking the part that is attached to the hood, as pictured. as long as the piece hasn't fully come off and is only stressed, you can easally dab a bit of super glue on it and it will mend it. Make sure the glue is totally dry and hasn't covered your hole before you continue.
When both pins are removed, switch the hands. and test fit them on the arms with no pins. For this character, the underside of the hood should be facing up, and the 2 fingers are on the upper side aswell. Always make sure you do a test fit cause you don't want to put something together and realise it's wrong, especially with a pin joint.
When you are satisfied with how it looks, simply slide the pin in towards the tab clean side first. The easiest way I find to putting pins back is just using my teeth. bite the top of the pin and the end point and it should slide in. Other methods are to use Plyers, or vicegrips. but don't apply too much pressure, cause you don't want to mark up the plastic. And then, you're done!
