D is for Downhill Racing Planks and Dogs On Skis!

There were no dogs involved in the making of this post, 'dog-on-skis' was a in-joke between a member of Support Company and this author on a trip to BATC Steibis back in the distant youth of the past! Or should that be the youth of the distant past?

Either way, it seems a long time ago . . . and he was the dog on skis, awl'right; I was perfectly proficient, especially my right turns, there's nothing wrong with my right-turns whatsoever, much at all, really, and I don't have a concrete left leg, no, no, no! While 'Downhill Racing Planks' was typical forces humour!

[Gemodels and/or] Festival (none of them have bases, so none of them are marked, but they are not in Gem's catalogues so it is to be presumed they are all Festival) and Hong Kong (mostly for Culpitt) Christmas cake figures, all on skis!

Following the discovery of the over-moulded footballer back in the summer, it would appear that they also experimented with a heat technique on the skiing figures, so as I run through a bit of a box-ticker, I'll be keeping half an eye on that side of things.

Starting with the figure on the left in the upper shot, he's had a simple application of heat to the pegs sticking through the holes in the skis which could be done with a 'professional' tool like a pyrogravure, or something 'amateur' like a heated screwdriver!

But the one on the right has had something more technical done for an 'invisible' join, which - as can be seen by the distortion in the lower shot (left-hand figure) - clearly involves extreme heat being applied between the soles of the feet and the corresponding area of the ski, but it's not clear what, or how.

Note also, the third figure in the upper shot has been attached to skis, probably with heat, and removed over time losing the main length of the studs/spigots which would have become the 'fried-eggs' of the other white figure; lost along with the skis.

And; that there are two very different designs of ski, the heat-welded ones being crude hand-sculpts, the ones with the locating-holes having a machined accuracy and finish.

Call me a heel, but I [accidently] removed these skis recently, thinking they had been added to a non-skiing 'Snowbaby' (which definately ARE Festival) by an owner (with super-glue or something), only to find that there were signs of the heat/over-moulding, which go some way to explaining the first figure above?

You will need to right-click and 'open link in new window', to see clearly that the feet have been flattened-off (which could be done by anyone - even an owner), and then [ignoring the pre-existing holes] a fine heat-weld has been achieved between both feet and their respective ski.

I can't see any way of achieving this outcome without setting the skis in a prepared channel cut in the tool and 'over-moulding' onto the ski? The skis are reversed in the picture; the one on the left had been on the left foot, the one on the right was on the foot above it.

To the right is a tatty Santa Claus who's little locating-studs were intact (and showing no signs of heat or attempted trimming!) and therefore fit the now removed skis, using those holes ignored in the fixing to the snowbaby. The inference being; he was always loose/plug-attached to his pair of missing skis?

Which gives us three apparent methods of joining skis and figures from Festival; loose; plug and melt; and an over-moulding/heat-weald - of some kind, leading to the hidden-join!

Hong Kong's engineers solved all that faffing-about, experimentation and expense with the simple expedient of swapping the order; locating-studs placed on the skis and [tight] holes in the feet - simple!

The left-hand shot shows a soft polyethylene figure to the far left and a hard polystyrene version next to him. It's quite hard to find him with his ski-sticks still in one-piece, so very pleased to get him a while back, I can tell you! To the right are two of the ethylene ones.

Ooohhhhh! Possibly best novelty thing this year! It's a bear on skis Ladies & Gentlemen; a skiing bear! Too cool for the ski-school!

He's a soft plastic one which matches the soft plastic Santa's' so I assume for now they belong together and they share a bag.

The old museum image from Eastbourne (sadly no longer available on-line) shows several skiers, including two more Snowbabies, nowhere can you see the remains of the locating studs, either poking through as loose plug-ins, or sqiudgged as fried-eggs by a hot implement, so we have to assume these all (or mostly - you can't call the top left image) have had this unknown - possibly over-mould treatment?

Left - Festival Ski Sticks; the difference between hand-sculpt and machined component is true for the sticks with the inner pair being the older and the outer pair being the newer.

Right - Hong Kong's downhill racing planks; Rossignol they 'aint! The hard plastic Santa Claus has the nearer pair, with a chamfered edge (very 'carver' - before carvers had been developed!) and thinner studs, the soft plastic bear and 'Clause have the rear pair, with straight sides and a thicker stud.

The similarity of the mark and length/width of the skis however suggests the same manufacturer, a few years apart - although the roundy-bit on the end of the sticks (did it ever get a name?) are heavier with the hard plastic figure, probably re-cut to prevent damage from the brittle material. The blue pom-poms on the figures hats also tie them together.

Returning to Festival's Snowbabies later this morning.