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Colorforms
Aliens Repro Ac
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cessories |
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Colorforms Aliens Reproduction accessories
Manufacturer: Graeme Walker Website: CFA Repro Accessories List Price: Guns $10-$12, Staff, Trident $17 Review by: Daniel Webster Overall Rating:  |
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If you collect Colorforms Aliens, then you know how difficult the accessories are to come by. They are fragile, easily lost, and after prolonged contact with the figures, will melt. This makes them not only hard to find, but expensive. The solution? Reproduction accessories of course. I have been lucky enough to come into contact with Graeme Walker who makes a full line of repro accessories for Colorforms Aliens. I ordered a couple of them and here is what I found: |
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The first item I got was the Astro Nautalis Trident (Left). This is a very hard to find piece which is usually found broken, if you can find it at all. The repro is painted blue like the original. |
| The trident is an excellent piece. While I do not have an original to lay it alongside, it is a dead ringer for the ones I have seen in photos (see our CFA Page). The size and color look great. The next pieces I got were for Xodiac, the gun (right) and Staff (below). The staff is another long thin piece which is easily broken. In this case I did have an original (partial) staff to compare it to (right). Physically the two are identical, but as you can see the original has a slightly more orange tint, while the repro has more of a pink color. The repros also have some small air bubbles, but I have found the originals to have imperfections as well. |  |
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| I also picked up a repro chest insert for Electron + (right). This piece is a dead ringer for the original. It fits perfectly into Electrons chest, the color match is amazing, and it will improve the look of any loose Electron. The original of this piece is always found melted since it (like the helmets) is in constant contact with the figure. I removed the original insert from my Electron and now I display it with this one instead. At eight dollars It was the least expensive item I ordered and strangely enough my favorite. Along with this I picked up a gun for Electron (lower right). The gun is amber with silver painted finish. This is another nice item with a really good color match. The paint job was pretty good and overall it is a really good reproduction. Below is a picture of my Colorforms Aliens outfitted with their repro accessories (the helmet is an original), the overall look is really impressive. |  |
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According to the literature, these repro items are fairly durable.
He has changed his manufacturing material for some of the items from resin
to urethane to make them less fragile. I did not perform a drop test,
I just took his word for it :) |
| Another plus is they should not have the melting problem that the originals had. I also had a chance to look at some of his older resin cast items, an Orbitron gun and a Xodiak gun. The resin is nice because there are no tiny air bubbles, but it is fragile. The Xodiak gun (right) was a slightly different color than the newer repro, its a darker red as opposed to the lighter pink. It is pretty much the same color as the Orbitron gun (lower right). I found both to be excellent reproductions, although they too were a slightly different shade from the originals (below right). |  |
| Overall I found these repro items to be very well made. It is difficult to reproduce a clear unpainted accessory as they have to be made right the first time: any repairs would be evident. The items are essentially defect free, the flash (excess casting material) is cleanly removed, and the air bubbles present in the urethane items are minor. Mr. Walker clearly pays a great deal of attention to detail in manufacturing his reproductions. They compare very favorably to the original accessories and are priced right. The staff and trident are $17, the guns $10-$12 |  |
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I did not have an opportunity to look at any of the helmets, if these are
any indication, I am sure they are well worth purchasing. He currently
carries the entire gambit of accessories, so he is sure to have what you
are looking for. I am very happy with the items I ordered and recommend
them to any collector looking to complete the items in their collection,
or anyone performing any Colorforms Aliens restoration. They are
made in Canada (and I am in the US) but shipping was fairly quick and he
packaged them well so they arrived safely. They are available directly
from the manufacturer at his website: CFA
Repro Items
In a nutshell:
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Original vs Repro: Can you tell which is which? |
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