In this installment, Mr.FORD’s legs will be tended to and made ready to be reattached to the figure. Both of the legs that were included with him display clear signs of damage in one way or another. His left leg is crushed at the ankle, showing signs of what could be animal chew marks while the right leg is completely severed above the ankle with the foot missing. Despite its less than perfect condition, the left leg is salvageable while the right leg will need to be replaced. The great blessing with these old toys is their ability to be disassembled and swap out damaged parts for better samples. Let’s do that.

Mutilation on the left leg is visible at the ankle and undesirible; but unlike the right leg, this limb is still completed despite the damage. It’s not destroyed and will still function towards having Mr. FORD standing upright once again. It’s regrettable the leg is in this condition but it will still serve as originally intended. Besides, every other body part on this vintage toy is also similarly damaged, so it won’t be out of place.

As for the right leg, which is missing its foot, that item is also too valuable to discard and toss into the garbage. I’ve learned over the years every part of these old toys is useful. I’ll put that obviously unusable right leg aside for now. I have no doubt it will become handy one day and will be grateful I retained it. Fortunately, I do have a replacement right leg. Much like other parts I have used in Mr. FORD’s rehabilitation, this item was salvaged from a Canadian version of the toy which means it will perfectly match the light grey tones of Mr. FORD. Much like all the other body parts of this degraded vintage toy, it also clearly suffers from damage. Behind the knee of this limb a large rent has open up along the seam of the joining halves.

It’s ugly and this leg is definitely in less than desirable condition; but here, used in a rebuild of matching quality, it’s a perfect addition. I’ve had this leg in my collection of loose parts for a long time and is a perfect example of how a mutilated body part can still be a Godsend. The trick is to know what’s worth keeping for future use and what should be tossed. As parts for these frail vintage toys can be difficult to source and be expensive when found, it was worth hanging onto. As has been proven with this current exercise on Mr. FORD.Replacement is a simple task. Return the legs to the figure and screw the torso halves back together. Done and easy. Nonetheless, at over forty years old, other issues creep into these old toys and one of the problems they can exhibit are very loose joints at the hips. This can result in it toppling over and requiring display stand or other support to prop it up. Legs at the hips can be so worn, the toy will not stand up. This is also the case with Mr. FORD as both legs were excessively loose and loosely flopped around. Let’s fix that.

The blended styrene these old toys are made has become very brittle during the past four decades. The constant contact of the leg spindles inside the hip wears away the joints. The friction causes the limbs to become loose and forty years of internal rubbing will wear them out. To fix this problem I like to wrap a couple windings of plumber’s pipe thread sealing tape around the spindle a couple of times and cut the length with scissors. The tape is non-adhesive and serves as a good insulating interface between both surfaces of the joint increasing the diameter of the spindle to re-tighten loose joints. It also serves as a dry lubricant to aid in protection and reduce further friction damage. It can always be replaced with new windings in the future should the need arrive; or if the limb remains too loose more tape can be added.

Plumber’s pipe thread tape is used for stopping leaks when pipes are joined and costs about $2 per roll from any hardware store. So it’s a fabulous, inexpensive and valuable consumable to have in my kit when it comes to achieving Kenner ALIENS stand upright without fear of toppling over. This is a simple and easy fix. It is worth doing if you ever dismantle a Kenner ALIEN toy for whatever reason to apply tape to the spindles and ensure it will stand up without diving into a potentially damaging face-plant. For Mr. FORD this exercise was an especially simple task as both hip spindles on this toy were complete and in generally good shape. Had the spindles themselves been damaged or destroyed, I would have to rebuild them. I do know how and can perform such “hip replacement” repairs but thankfully that task is not necessary with Mr. FORD.

Now it’s time for a test assembly. This is always exciting. Let’s reassemble the torso halves with both legs in place. Just a single screw in the lower back, between his hips, is enough to apply tension to the figure and test to find out how well the application of the  plumber’s tape will affect how he will stand. Aww lookie! Standing upright and straight with no sign of falling forward. This is the highly desirable goal of this exercise. It is super nice to see him standing like this. Despite all the problems present in this beat up old toy, his prognosis is looking good. He’ll never be perfect but he’s in good hands and once finished, he will be in the best state he can possibly be at this stage in his life.

And yes. My kitchen is employed as a workshop and my two loves are obvious here: Aliens and dinosaurs. We’re almost finished with repairs to this old toy. Mr. FORD just needs to have some attention paid to those “weird tubie things on his back” and he’s mostly done. Mostly.

Part 1: Recovery.
Part 2: Dismantle & Clean.
Part 3: Working on the Head.
Part 4: Attaching the Arm.
Part 5: Attaching the Tail.
Part 6: Replacing a Leg.
Part 7: Reattaching the Dorsal Quads.
Part 8: Final Assembly.