Those are really cool. Items like this for Mego toys don't show up very often, so these are great to see.
Those are really cool. Items like this for Mego toys don't show up very often, so these are great to see.
Museum Correspondent
Great find. I'm as equally interested in hearing their backstory as I am in the find themselves. This place rocks!
WANTED - Solid-Boxed WGSH's, C.8 or better.
Its interesting that the details show up on the outside. Anybody know the process that was used to make them?
Live Long and Prosper
Wow! Thats a great find.
Sammy
What we are seeing is the outside of the mould - the inside is what's important - that is a negative image
of the actual head.
The moulds are placed in a frame. Liquid PVC is squirted into the hole and it is put in a rotational casting
machine that slowly spins the PVC around so that it covers the interior of the mould. After a few minutes,
the liquid solidifies and the operator pulls the frame out of the machine and drops it into water to cool it
down enough to handle. He then preps the next frame and gets it into the machine.
While that is rotating, he pulls the previous frame out of the water, and using a pair of long handle tongs,
pulls the rotocast heads out of the mould while they are still warm. If he waits until the head cools down,
he'll have a hard time pulling it out of the mould.
The newly made heads are collected in a plastic bin, and the operator re-fills the moulds with liquid PVC,
just in time to pull the other frame out of the machine and drop that into the water.
I watched a 20something year old guy, naked to the waist, working the machine, and sweating profusely.
The factory has no air conditioning and smells of diesel exhaust.
Artifacts from the process are true treasures for me. I love seeing this stuff, and in idle moments of wondering about toys, find myself longing to know where these pieces have ended up. Thanks for revealing 'em!
Belgian Ba(t)d Boy
Wow, just wow. Never expected to see anything like this... EVER
"...The agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair..." - Edgar Allan Poe
Those are extremely cool items to see. Great that they have been re-discovered.
All props go to Steve for this incredible, happy vintage find. Although it is disheartening that this gets less comments than some non-Mego related threads, it's a pretty big deal IMO.
It's crazy to hold a piece of Mego history like this, the Spider-Man mold has red plastic residue on it.
Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings book now available!
I already live in Florida... So what I'm hearing here is that I just need to figure out how to heat up PVC in my garage and not suffer the horrible health effects of that, and I have my own hot and sweaty Mego factory!!!
@palitoy - this is super cool, but my own head would pop off if one of the 8" line head molds were found - put that puppy to work!
Looking for Tong body style LHT/Australian release Ninjas of any color, and here's :::My Expansive Wants List::: WARNING: I am medical malady boy, and have recently proven to be chronic iffy-to-negligible-trader-response-guy. Like After School Special worthy. This is my self-imposed Scarlet Letter.
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