39 replies to this topic

[trumanshower]

that remind me of the greek MIMP, or those translucent cromy :

 

 cromy mimp tranparents.jpg   24.4K   21 downloads

[bigburty]

that remind me of the greek MIMP, or those translucent cromy :
 
cromy mimp tranparents.jpg

None of them are translucent though, not even the pale pink Windigo.

[thenerdieststore]

Are we sure the pink mimps in the pictures (besides the windigo) are not Sonrics?

[bigburty]

Update 2018:

Comparison between Matchbox Undine and mystery grey Undine, identical rubber characteristics:
 D41E394C-EF38-4270-8F8E-BD2E232B0B7E.jpeg   83.45K   1 downloads

Size comparison between Matchbox Windigo and mystery, hard plastic Windigo:
 ECB6A813-A277-4F1A-81D7-79E72BE99C08.jpeg   65.48K   0 downloads

Comparison of line thickness around feet as well as markings:
 454F9AF1-984D-41A8-800F-5B750995F1F0.jpeg   64.32K   1 downloads

Edited by bigburty, 19 February 2018 - 12:09 AM.

[Eclipse86]

That Grey Undine looks awesome.

[bigburty]

So I’ve now compared my Windigo’s feet markings and edges to those of nearly 100 other Matchbox Windigos, thanks to fellow collectors on Instagram and Facebook (including one person who sent me 28 comparison pics ) and I didn’t find a single one that matched. What I did discover however, is that the figures which have the closest markings to my Windigo are the premium Tengus and Behemoths, whereas the premium Windigos do not.

The “unique” difference in the feet, and the slightly larger size when compared to a regular Windigo once again strengthen my belief that this is not a custom cast figure. As for the grey Undine and the GITD Vampire, I’m still no closer to knowing their origins.

[TinyPink]

Neat, man.  Almost certainly an aftermarket knockoff, or?

 

 

[bigburty]

Neat, man.  Almost certainly an aftermarket knockoff, or?

If it was an aftermarket KO it wouldn’t be bigger than a Matchbox, it’d be smaller. There’d also be more about like it, which there doesn’t seem to be. Finally, if it was a KO it’d have either the same feet markings as all the others or none at all if the pour holes were at the feet. Many factors point to it potentially being a pre production piece for a production mould, hence the slightly increased size. The feet markings would be added later.

[TinyPink]

If it was an aftermarket KO it wouldn’t be bigger than a Matchbox, it’d be smaller. There’d also be more about like it, which there doesn’t seem to be. Finally, if it was a KO it’d have either the same feet markings as all the others or none at all if the pour holes were at the feet. Many factors point to it potentially being a pre production piece for a production mould, hence the slightly increased size. The feet markings would be added later.

 

Oooooh, good points.  Interesting mystery either way.

[Strontium Dog]

Something being larger could be consistent with it having absorbed something, eg dye. I dare say slicing the figures open is out of the question, though I wonder if the effect could be recreated.

[bigburty]

Something being larger could be consistent with it having absorbed something, eg dye. I dare say slicing the figures open is out of the question, though I wonder if the effect could be recreated.

This is a good point and something I have done on the grey Undine to check for material colour consistency - which that figure has. The difficultly with the Windigo is that it’s made from a solid plastic of sorts, rather than MIMP-style rubber (as the Undine and Vampire are) so cutting would be more difficult and could result in me damaging it by making a gouge rather than a slit that can be gently pulled apart. Also, I could imagine there’s a possibility that rubber could swell and grow if it absorbed something, but I doubt that the material this Windigo is made form would change or even be able to absorb much of anything.

Edited by bigburty, 05 March 2018 - 11:57 AM.

[bigburty]

Update: So I cut even deeper into the base of the grey Undine recently and the rubber material is still grey as deep as the incision goes. I don’t have any experience of dying MIMP and/or using acetone, but I wouldn’t have thought either of these process would be able to change the entire colour of the rubber to its core. If anyone has done this and can prove that this is possible let me know.

[Dfrazzer]

If it had been dyed again it would increase it's density so it would be harder. I used turpentine to clean paint off a painted Spectre and it soaked some up so now it's a lot harder.

[bigburty]

An update on my mystery pink Windigo - thoughts and detailed information from none other than Rich Roland via an email conversation we had, following accurate measurements I sent him of the figure:

Thanks for the heads up about your location. Hello to the UK!

Well done with the measurements. My calculations based o these numbers bares out the following.

My 2:1 figure is 3.550"h and when I plug in 1.77" it comes to 2.01:1 (So probably 2:1 reduction from my original masters.)

When I plug in 1.65" it comes to 2.16:1, so it seems this figure would be 6.78% smaller than the taller figure and therefore probably smaller because of shrinkage after they used the larger production masters to make their new set of molds. Again, it seems to me that the original injection molds (made to produce 1.65"h figs) may have been worn out or even discarded by the time they wanted to re-issue the figure as a special release.

To review:

Step #1 - I delivered a 2:1. Back then they most likely panto-graphed it manually to reduce it by 50%. Who knows what material they used for the 1:1 and it doesn't really matter for our assessment.

Step 2# - They cleaned the 1:1 up and finessed the details. They did a great job considering how small it was. They only made a few minor changes including adding some volume on the back foot's heal widening it not only for lettering, but added a bit of stability too. It always looked great from the front view before, and I can see why when studying the rear view.

Step #3 - They made an injection mold of it and let's say they made 200 figures we'll call production masters. These new castings would have shrunk (depending on the material they chose) about 3.5%. That's the First Generation. 1.77"h

Step #4 - They would have taken let's say 100 of those figures (now 3.5% smaller than before) and made gang molds used in production. The figures that came out of that new mold would now be another 3.5% smaller and measures about 1.65"h. This is now the Second Generation.

Therefore if they ultimately took a 1.77"h figure and used them as 'masters' for a new mold, the new generation castings would be another 3.5% +/- and measure about 1.65"h.

The math checks out. Knowing the order of releasing to the public would help, but you can see the evolution here better and perhaps come to your own conclusion.

Since the lettering is so different on the 1.77" figure and now on both feet, my guess is they used or re-used the first generation 1:1 molds to get some extra bang for their buck and put that set of molds to good use. And the feet got a little wider when they trimmed and matched the mold seams down there. The point values might change because they used an insert to create it and so it might be .010" thicker give or take. They could easily get 100,000+ units from that mold and that mold only produced 200 figures, way back in the day. As long as they where ramping up for new production with that older mold, they went in and made changes to the lettering, probably thinking it would read better or the old one was worn out. Keep in mind that if this set of molds were also a gang of figures say 10, then they could manufacture 10 x 100,000 = 1,000,000 of them. (or 5x = 500K) Maybe they had some other agenda. But that's pretty much how I suspect it came down.

The Pink figure at 1.77" is made from a translucent material, but even so I think the details (for the most part) look pristine to me. I also think that during the original reduction from 2:1 to 1:1 their sculptor didn't quite notice the hair tie & pony tail on the back of his head and had to carve it back in, deeper than I had it. No big deal. At least they saw the error and fixed fairly well.

It would be a cool thing if one of you guys were able to arrange an interview with one of Matchbox's production managers who might have knowledge about all this. That way you'd have first hand insider knowledge. Maybe make a short list of Qs and see if anyone in the PR department or Sales dept can put you together with someone who knows the actual answers at their end. Tell them who you are and why you're asking. They might be intrigued.

~Rich

[dielaughing]

This is pretty cool, glad you've got somewhere on these figures as I remember when you first posted about them. 

 

Is Rich easy to contact? I wouldn't mind asking him about some supposed prototypes I got off ebay which the seller was a bit of a nob over.