SAS - Painting Techniques & Palitoy History

[Hopper]

Working through the my pile of figures, something struck me - there are 2 painting techniques used on the SAS figures, and that these may be variant specific - so I explored further.

1) The strong yellow paint is applied to the black plastic directly. This is the more vibrant and hard-wearing of the two, and is still good and intact 30 years later. I have named this Superior Paint.
2) The second technique involves applying a base coat of grey to the black plastic and then applying a second coat of yellow over the top. This is not particularly hardy, and wears/fades easily, going through pale yellow, grey/white, and then to complete absence. I have named this Inferior Paint.

There seems to be no correlation between the inferior and superior paint types and the two types of plastic (hard, associated with Type 2 or Second Wave figures, and the softer, associated with the Type 1), as I have Superior Paint on both types.

Superior is associated with Flat Hand Commandos (Types 3 and 4), and thus with the darker facial features – the darker/thicker eyes and eyebrows. Inferior is associated with round hands, and lighter facial features

In fact, overall, the Superior paint seems to be associated with the darker facial features, so my Beaver figure has Superior paint and dark features, as does my Type 2 Stakeout, but my Type 1 Stakeout (with Inferior paint) has lighter facial features. This correlation holds true in all of the examples I can come across (archive at BFTB and on ebay) but I have no idea if this is the case in general.
These darker features are the product of either a thicker paint, or thicker painting process or brush (actually, I have no idea how the eyebrows were applied!).

As I said in the SAS Pilot post, this is important in the history of AF.
Once again we are seeing two types of thing; variants in twos, moulding in twos, painting in twos. Always two, or multiples thereof.

I am starting to think that Palitoy used two factories, and that the differences between the two factories in terms of moulds, paint, etc. are causing a large amount of these variants.

[Thundershot]

Some of the logo's seem to physically 'bleed' into the green plastic over time, a phenomena I've never seen happen in any figure.

[Hopper]

That's very true, and is now on my list of things to investigate!

It is very interesting! I wonder if it is possible to find out how many factories were used, and if there is a correlation.

[paul463]

hopper, brilliant work, excellent read. I'm sure there has been previous discussion about two factories.

[Hopper]

Thanks guys.

Expanding on what T-Shot suggested above about the Z Force logos, I decided to investigate, and what I found was interesting.

The figures can be divided into two groups:
1) Those with arm logos that have smudged or bled into the plastic, often discolouring it in a deep and penetrating way, rather than superficially on the surface, and the green is darker there (see photographs). This is an Inferior paint.
2) Those with arm logos that are crisp and clear, with very clean sharp edges even after 30+ years. This is a Superior paint.

They are split precisely between Type 1 and Type 2.
Z force has always been interesting as here, more than elsewhere, we can see two versions of (almost) every figure, and the logos conform to their type without exception.

Type 1 is the Inferior paint, with the smudged logo on the arms. They are also flat handed, soft plastic, ‘first wave’ types. They have a loose, blurred camouflage motif that is made up of fairly wide stripes. They are also associated, exclusively, with lighter facial features, though darker than the SAS above.

Type 2, then, have the Superior paint, with crisp clean logos. They also have rounded hands, harder plastic, and make up the ‘second wave’ type. The camouflage is fairly spartan and thin and precisely painted. They are also associated with the darker, heavier, and clearly defined facial features, though these are not as heavy or thick as the SAS above.

Interestingly, the facial features may be a false indicator of Type across the board, but within each group or force, they seem to conform to a basic law:
Type 1 = lighter than Type 2
Type 2 = darker than Type 1 (and more defined and accurate)


I am now beginning to doubt the significance of the ‘first’ and ‘second’ waves in terms of variants. Although there were obviously waves in which figures were released (Z Force Medic being second wave, Infantryman being first, etc.) I suspect that this was not reflected in the variants as such.
Rather, I suggest what happened is this:
A single factory made the original number of figure types at first.
Then, when AF got really popular, a second wave of new figures was introduced, and was made along with the originals at this initial factory.
However, in order to cope with increased demand, Palitoy employed another factory to make their figures – both originals and new lines.
This factory used the same basic moulds as the original, but changed, altered, or improved a few things, and used a different type of plastic and paint.
It is this second factory that we are seeing reflected in the variants, which is why we see two variants, or multiples thereof.
Of course, we are really talking about moulds, blanks, injection chambers and what not, rather than factories as such, so there may well be any number of factories involved, but all using the same two moulds, and the same plastics and paints. And the use of the ‘second’ factory may not have been due to increased demand (any number of reasons in fact). But the theory remains sound.

In summary, it is not the ‘Wave’ that creates the variants, though they may be a product of this. It is a second factory starting up manufacture using slightly different moulds.

Discuss!

[Hopper]

Forgot the (very bad) photographs.
I really need to spend some time honing my camera skills!
But at least you get the idea!

[Thundershot]

Great investigate skills there Mr Hopper.

Wonder if the change in plastic (to a harder type) was made on purpose in an attempt to give the paint applications more definition or if the effect was simply a happy coincidence?

[Hopper]

Great investigate skills there Mr Hopper.

Wonder if the change in plastic (to a harder type) was made on purpose in an attempt to give the paint applications more definition or if the effect was simply a happy coincidence?

I'm not sure we could ever find out!
The red paint bleeding also affects the Space Force Commander, which is something to think about

I suppose Dave Tree might know something... perhaps. I would love to have a glance through the Palitoy paperwork from the AF days - paint and plastic orders, shipping orders, factory details. Somewhere, there has to be a pile of this stuff.