H is for How They Come In - Robot Erasers

Had a quick scan down the High Street last Wednesday (12th) and picked-up a pocket-full of plunder! Actually; I lie, some of them were Farnbourough in the morning (had to find cherry liqueurs and there are none in Fleet!), the rest Fleet in the afternoon!

The doll matched the Lifeguard I picked up a few weeks ago, with the same hand and head sculpts, and as I was planning a Beefeater round-up at some point, I grabbed him - not knowing an interesting one (Beefeater, not doll!) was in the postal-system from Chris Smith, although there was an interesting mini-doll from Chris too!

I have run searches for Morph figures in the past occasionally; feeling sure there must have been some, if only key-rings or similar so I was chuffed-to-nuts to find the big bendy toy! Bau-ouhh!

The SPG (as close to war as you'll get on SSW at this time of year!) is a late model (still in service) M109-upgrade, made in China, around 1:50th or 1:55th maybe? The 'Santa' is either the worst resin teddy-bear Santa you ever saw, or the worst resin mouse Santa you ever saw, it really isn't clear, but it was 50p!

The Robot! He' a bit simplistic, but he's a Robot, and an eraser, so into the collection he goes, made in a clever fashion too, the pieces are both extrusions and over moulds, achieved by setting several injector heads together, each feeding through a shaped chamber beyond the end of the injection nozzle.

The whole is then carefully laid on a timed-speed conveyor to produce a long, bi- or multi-coloured 'loaf' which is then sliced to produce the components. Easy'ish (I once operated an extruder at Rotamould in Camberly) on the arms and legs which only require two injectors, but the body  is far harder, although I suspect the control-panel was formed separately and then fed through a cold gate as the grey and black was formed around-it?

As I would have heat-problems with just the one nozzel at least twice a day, god knows how much down-time this lot generated, and that's before you consider the conveyor speeding-up and stretching the product, keeping several hoppers filled with base-material, watching the eyes move as the heat and pressure bends the fine shaped injector, etc . . . etc . . .!

But . . . it may be a cold-setting material, more like working with play-dough? I don't know how this eraser rubber is made! It would still need multiple shaped gates and extruders, so the long-winded bit above still has reason!!

He's a Tobar item so Hawkin's Bazaar and therefore might be Accoutrements/Archie McFee in the US?

Ha-ha-ha-ha-Haah! My Robot eraser army is invincible and you can add the Diener Industries ones we looked at ten years ago at the start of the blog and a couple of other smaller ones in the unknown robot box from storage to these!

These have all come in in the last two or three years, and with duplicates there are now nine here, so they were in need of . . .

. . . a new home! Standard deep-sided takeaway-tub will do for now.