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OK, so you guys here at the mego museum have been a bad influence on me and have pulled me back into collecting toys 8 months ago.
One of the cool toys that I always wanted, but didn't get as a little kid for obvious reasons, was the original 1979 Alien.
As everyone knows here, there is a feeding frenzy on these, and you have to pay to get one, so I acquiesced and paid (what I feel like) was a full market price on eBay recently ($250)
What arrived was the alien, but his legs were so slippery you could barely stand him up for 5 seconds without him falling over. One of the 'tubes' on his back was broken, and his arms were really loose and sloppy. After further inspection, they were sloppily held together with a dry rotted, knotted up, rubber band.
I will admit, It was bittersweet. First off the Joy of holding this immense and hip toy, but adversely affecting this emotion was the fact that it was broken, and I paid full price for an "Excuses" toy. I thought about sending it back or filing a "not as described" case on eBay, but after discussing it with my buddy (and forum member) Cactus725, I decided to keep it and try my hand at somewhat of a restoration.
First step was to completely disassemble this bad boy, 4 screws and that was it!
Second I inspected the tube assembly on the back and looked at the break
Then I wanted to see the arm hole situation, turns out one was still in tact, but pretty rotten looking anyways.
I did a little sleuthing online and saw a suggestion I'd try out to reattach the arms using Rubber O rings and plastic pipe, so Off to LOWES to get the following items (Total spent $3)
Then I cut the tubing, put a slit in the side, and slid it around a side of the O ring like this
Then I slid the tubing into the arm hole
Next I had to try and epoxy the back tube, it held for a little bit, but didn't work out as well as it couldve because there was no real way to apply clamping pressure to where the break point was. Oh well.
I went ahead and changed both arm bands and slid them around the center post like this
Next I needed to do something about those sloppy loose legs, so I took a piece of cardboard and de-laminated it and cut a couple of O spacers to slide in the joint to tighten things up. It worked really well!
Next I reassembled everything and it looks great and stands perfect with nice and tight joints!
I still am a bit bummed about the back tubes, and wish everything was addressed when I bought it, but at least I finally have my 100% complete Kenner Alien! Cheers!
One of the cool toys that I always wanted, but didn't get as a little kid for obvious reasons, was the original 1979 Alien.
As everyone knows here, there is a feeding frenzy on these, and you have to pay to get one, so I acquiesced and paid (what I feel like) was a full market price on eBay recently ($250)
What arrived was the alien, but his legs were so slippery you could barely stand him up for 5 seconds without him falling over. One of the 'tubes' on his back was broken, and his arms were really loose and sloppy. After further inspection, they were sloppily held together with a dry rotted, knotted up, rubber band.
I will admit, It was bittersweet. First off the Joy of holding this immense and hip toy, but adversely affecting this emotion was the fact that it was broken, and I paid full price for an "Excuses" toy. I thought about sending it back or filing a "not as described" case on eBay, but after discussing it with my buddy (and forum member) Cactus725, I decided to keep it and try my hand at somewhat of a restoration.
First step was to completely disassemble this bad boy, 4 screws and that was it!
Second I inspected the tube assembly on the back and looked at the break
Then I wanted to see the arm hole situation, turns out one was still in tact, but pretty rotten looking anyways.
I did a little sleuthing online and saw a suggestion I'd try out to reattach the arms using Rubber O rings and plastic pipe, so Off to LOWES to get the following items (Total spent $3)
Then I cut the tubing, put a slit in the side, and slid it around a side of the O ring like this
Then I slid the tubing into the arm hole
Next I had to try and epoxy the back tube, it held for a little bit, but didn't work out as well as it couldve because there was no real way to apply clamping pressure to where the break point was. Oh well.
I went ahead and changed both arm bands and slid them around the center post like this
Next I needed to do something about those sloppy loose legs, so I took a piece of cardboard and de-laminated it and cut a couple of O spacers to slide in the joint to tighten things up. It worked really well!
Next I reassembled everything and it looks great and stands perfect with nice and tight joints!
I still am a bit bummed about the back tubes, and wish everything was addressed when I bought it, but at least I finally have my 100% complete Kenner Alien! Cheers!
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