Need parts for Alien 1979 doll.

[hyperjoe]

I have a wonderful Alien doll which I purchased from someone here but I can not remember his name...sorry.

Anyways, I am looking to replace the rubber bands in the arms. Do any of you kids know where I can buy these?

THanks

[rche]

Hiya hj,

The rubber in the arms for the Alien is sort of like a mini bungie. It is attached to an anchor that, in turn, is inside the ball of the arm. Any good (thick) elastic that you can reattach to the arm anchors will work fine. There are some screws on the back of the Alien and once you take them out, the torso will split. You can then work on the arms, redo the breathing tubes, and tighten up the legs if you need to. If the elastic is still viable, but just really stretchy, sometimes you can reroute it and get some tension back without having to perform anything tricky.

Let me know how it comes out.

rche

[hyperjoe]

Ahh, nice clues. Breathing tubes? Are they supposed to do something? I just got it today and I am still learning about it.

[rche]

Hiya hj

the breathing tubes are the four spikey things on the back. They are all part of one piece of semi pliable rubber. When you push on one, the others move. One of the action features, as it were.

rche

[hyperjoe]

ok, replaced the elastic. Went well with a minor chip but fixed and you cant even tell. How did you tighten up the legs? I used black electric tape to tighten up the tail.

[rche]

The Alien uses friction to keep the parts tight. When they get played with a bunch, they get loose. You have to 'build up' the plastic around the leg joint. The trick is keeping this from being visible. And, if you are concerned about such things, permanent or damaging to the original toy should you want to 'undo' the fix and sell as original in the future. The tape trick you used on the tail would probably work at the leg joint with something a little less thick.

Lemme know how it turns out.

rche