Action figures

[madd0ct0r]

That's interesting but doesn't answer my question (and I've got a picture of a four-colour-on-one-sprue situation if you want to lol at how insane the Japanese are).

that's, that's amazing! (honestly? 4 colours on one sprue? - shit. Different plastic properties I could just about see being done by cooling the ares of the mould at different rates (and obviously the thicker pieces would be softer, but multi-plastic sprues? shit. Pics needed.)

and as for havok - have a scractch built demon engine of nurgle:

[Stark]

Stg showed me a patent (which I didn't really understand) that suggests they use movable switches in the mould and moveable 'frames?' to inject at different points sequentially to do it. It's pretty nuts to look at though.

[sgt67]

I think this picture illustrates what I was talking about with moveable switches blocking the channels so a new color can be used. At least that's what it seems like, Rogue probably understands that patent much better than I do.

[madd0ct0r]

that's just separately cast sprues being assembled before bagging surely?

[Stark]

What about business like the fully articulated, multi-part hands being cast on one sprue? I believe the 'real grade' models also come with their inner frame in a few sections, with major joints moulded in place. It appears the RG stuff uses two different colours of plastic too, although I'm not sure if that's important.



In the kit I showed pictures of before (with terrible camera flash) one of the runners had four colours; you can clearly see where each colour stops and the next begins, and where the 'switches' are that they're using to control where the plastic goes during injection.

[madd0ct0r]

that's pretty fascinating. 3 colors cast first and the grey after to bind them together.

[Stark]

Oh, from looking at the white (lol bad camera) I assumed it would go first because it has more bits to join them together. Do you think it goes last because the 'join' bits are mostly white, with the colour pushed to the end?

[Havok]

It looks like the colored bits get tacked on to the grey like a spot weld.

[Stark]

Yeah on the other side there's like a dimple, but the plastic stays in the mould until its all done apparently. I think that's where the 'gates' or whatever that control the plastic flow are.

Anyway when I saw this, on a $15 kit, it just made me think about the way the plastics business works, because other plastic shit (like army men and 40k tanks etc) use such different technology. Shit like Nu's hands, where its' a multi-part hand skeleton moulded in place that is separate pieces of plastic inside each other, it even more crazy. But you only see that on the heady heights of $25 kits. :V

[Rogue 9]

I think this picture illustrates what I was talking about with moveable switches blocking the channels so a new color can be used. At least that's what it seems like, Rogue probably understands that patent much better than I do.

I actually don't. The plant I worked in didn't use it for anything; it makes engine parts and so forth where color matters much less than function. Even if they did, that doesn't mean the warehouse grunt understands the patents governing the molds.