Ah yes Jimmy, I remember it well. I started out my childhood making plastic models. I got to the point where I would defer to some brands and avoid others. As I recall the 'Revell' corp. made the best. I could never understand why the parts could come on long sprues
and yet the parts at the ends of the sprues were still accurate and fit perfectly. Even to the extent that small human figures no larger than 1/2 to 3/4" tall (12.7-19 mm), yet STILL have facial features...AND the different figures had different faces. Wow.
Ok, it comes down to recipe. Injection molding is very expensive. The molten plastic has to be at a precise temperature. That temp. depends on the formulae of plastic being used. Then the injector pump has to have a defined pressure. Let's say 893.56 lbs (404.7 kg)
PER square inch. Then someone had to cut the original mold (hello Wally Peterman).
You need to go through about a wheelbarrow of material to get the run running right. That's the 'lead in'. You also have an end to the run. Called the 'run out'. So, it doesn't take a nuclear psychiatrist to see that this is quite involved. The net result being that a large run is necessary to amortize the expense. And as some plastics are better than others, problems..sometimes FUTURE problems can occur.
Like if you heat the plastic to 350 degrees instead of 325, you cook it and it may be brittle. OR if you use 900 lb of pressure instead of 893 lbs 9 ounces, the plastic may become too compressed..making it tend to want to burst from it's initial shape.
Not sure if anyone is getting this? Ok, So 'I' (the famous I), using a small unimat lathe/milling machine, can cut a brass comb to custom specs. Of course I may have spent $325.oo for the lathe initially. But since I already had it, it's hard to figure that into the scenario. So what I'm saying is that cutting metal, corian, man made marble, acrylic, or lucite (perspex) is easier for an individual, but not a good choice for mass production.
I once had an: "Opel Doktor Vagon". A good sized metal car with pinkish orange wheels. The plastic was virtually the same as was once used on the Hohner 64. The car was bought around 1956. By 1984 the wheels had disintegrated. I had a Hohner which started to disintegrate in approx. the same number of years. I.E. purchased 1974, started falling apart 2001. It now has a modern black plastic comb.
As I had lived about 9 of my first 18 years in Austria/Italy/France, I feel that European toys were (except for that car) superior to American toys of the same era. I justify this with my theory that at the end of WWII, much of Europe had to turn to something other than belligerancy to keep the people working. And therefore made a concerted effort to make GOOD products.
Meanwhile, I am always coming across parts and assemblies where there was an air bubble or speck of trash in the part and the part failed. My attitude? If something is critical, dangerous to fail, needs precision, takes wear, it shouldn't be plastic.
smo-joe
