Tuesday 29 October 2013

Star Wars Mission Wave - 212th Battalion Clone Trooper with Battle Droid

I was not going to bother getting any of the new Mission Star Wars figures. They have been getting bad reviews all over the place, mainly for there limited articulation and high price point. But having now found them discounted to £4.99 they were enough of a temptation to pick up one of the double figure packs. So I plumped for the 212th Battalion Clone Trooper with Battle Droid set. As I like the colours of the Utapau trooper.



Now I have these figures in hand, I really like them. They remind me of the old vintage kenner figures that are meant to be played with and not collected. The are well built and not like to break or lose bits like most modern figures. All you are going lose is the weapon.

I have written before about my dislike for modern figures: Modern vs Vintage and these new figures are much better for playing with. Ok, you can't pose them, but when you are playing with them that really doesn't matter.

The paint job on both figures is pretty good as is the sculpt. There isn't really much more to say as that's all you get, two figures, two guns. At there original price of £8.99 that would be a rip off, but at £4.99 it's good value. And if you want and army, I would grab loads of these.


Wednesday 9 October 2013

Bath and West Flea Market


Flea markets are still a good source for finding vintage toys. This little lot above came from the large flea market held at the bath and west showground in Shepton Mallet. They hold this market a few times over the year, and if the weather is good it can be huge.

It's £3.50 each to get in, which is on the high side in my mind. Especially if you don't find anything you want (which can happen).

This time I was lucky, the first find being a bag of figures which included a nice Tri-logo Boba fett. This find more than covered the entry fee. The rest of the figures aren't that good, but better than nothing.

I found the Chief Chirpa as we were just about to give up and go home. We had been walking around for 3 hours by then. The card is pretty beaten up, but the figure is still firmly held on and in great condition. This is also the UK Palitoy card, not the more common Kenner card.

We also picked up a few other bits of the non toy related type which I won't go into here. Overall a good days rummaging.

Monday 7 October 2013

Rebuilding Galvatron

This has been a job on my to do list for ages. I have and old G1 Transformer Galvatron that is in pretty good shape, apart from the battery connector which had partly snapped off. It sounds like a simple job of just taking the figure apart and soldering on a new connector.

But Galvatron has to be one of the most difficult figures to get to pieces. There are so many parts that stop you getting to the screws you need to. First his chest section needs removing, but this is not at all easy, you have to undo a few screws on the sides, then with a lot of jiggling and bending, ping the chrome ring of that is around his neck.



Once you've done that you now have access to the main chest area. You have to remove his hip flaps, then unscrew his groin which allows the upper body to be removed. Your still no there yet, now you need to remove his belt and undo a couple more screws, pop off his crown and you are in!

Blimey. As you can see by the photo you really need to keep track of all the bits as at some point you have to put him all back together.

After all that it was a simple case of soldering on a new battery connector and he was back in working condition. Which for Galvatron is lighting up of the eyes and making an awful sound. So probably not worth all the hassle.