9050 Royal Guard and Sentry Box

[tahra]

Someone mentioned this at the PCC, and it's all over THAT site too...

A John Lewis exclusive:

Link

[StJohn]

Thanks! He looks a bit unfinished without some cuffs. The sentry box in plain brown, not sure what to think of that. Technically interesting is that the inside is white. Is the exterior sprayed, is it a sticker, or did they invent some devilish new production method using plastic of two colours? 

Best wishes
StJohn

[Richard]

Does this mean that Geobra is beginning to finally understand the wisdom of marketing to tourists at holiday and vacation destinations? If so, it only took them about 40 years to wake up to this possibility!
If this post sounds frought with frustration, then you, the reader, must have read it correctly!
And, those of you who want to defend Geobra and how well they've done with their worldwide sales and distribution of PLAYMOBIL, might want to make a comparison with that tiny Danish company that has surged ahead of them like rocket! Let's face it, Playmobil is no longer a competitor of Lego!

[playmofire]

Thanks! He looks a bit unfinished without some cuffs. The sentry box in plain brown, not sure what to think of that. Technically interesting is that the inside is white. Is the exterior sprayed, is it a sticker, or did they invent some devilish new production method using plastic of two colours?

The inside of the real sentry box is also white:

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/68/11/2681185_6b2d232f.jpg

Playmobil have been able to produce in two, three,four and even, I believe, five colours for some time.

The set is out of stock on the John Lewis website.

[StJohn]

Playmobil have been able to produce in two, three,four and even, I believe, five colours for some time.

Really? I can only think of parts using two colours (torsos in particular). But, even so, I have never seen them do a thin plate with different colours on both sides. I bet it is sprayed, or a sticker.

Best wishes
StJohn

[StJohn]

For the record:

I can only think of parts using two colours (torsos in particular).

And arms and legs, of course. Both with sharp, crisp colour separation. And then there are examples of parts where two colours gradually mix. Think of dragon wings. Again, to my knowledge, just two colours. More than two is seen in the Rainbow Clicky (not very crisp, that one!) but I cannot recall having seen more than two colours in any other part.

Please correct me if I forget something. I find this interesting.

best wishes
StJohn

[Giorginetto]

Excellent Klicky. Love the medals , will make an awesome custom with an african boer's war helmet   

[Tiermann]

I cannot recall having seen more than two colours in any other part.

Please correct me if I forget something. I find this interesting.

Depends on what you mean by part. When I was on the factory tour at Dietenhofen they had the five color machine making baby torsos with head. Each part of the complete torso with head, arms and hands is molded together in the machine, various layers of plastic over the other layers as it rotates the mold. Common three color would be a horse head where the eyes are one color, the mane another, and the head proper is a third - again made with a three part mold that rotates inside the machine adding layers of plastic over each other.

And back on topic - an interesting new set - not sure how I feel about the sentry box either, seems a bit odd even if it is more like the real thing.

[Hadoque]

Thanks for the info, Tahra!
I wasn´t yet aware of this set (not having much time momentarily for Feetbook and other asocial media ... )

The set is out of stock on the John Lewis website.

When became it available? Probably sold out in a few hours/days? 

[StJohn]

Thanks for the elucidation, Tiermann!

I should not have brought up the more complicated 'assembled' parts like you describe (and that includes torsos/legs/arms), where indeed multiple colours can be found. But single parts produced by 'simple' injection moulding (such as sentry boxes) have forever been monochrome, more recently also appear in two colours (dragon wings), and nowadays in even more (Rainbow Clicky). But in no instance are these colours sharply separated. Yet this sentry box (which appears to be the very same model as in 3544 from the '70s) appears to be just so ...

If somebody gets it, please let me know what it looks like in hand. Thanks!

Best wishes
StJohn