Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot
DON’T RELY ON JUST THE COO TO IDENTIFY A FIGURE. Mould, paint colour, plastic colour and figure assembly traits are also needed to confirm your figure’s origins.
Right leg: “MADE IN HONG KONG” or smoothed over No COO
Strap indent to upper right hand of aspirator tube. This is found on only 1 of the 2 cavities in the steel mould. Both mould variations are found in even numbers.
Coos were accidentally stamped into the FRONT of the leg moulds. Due to the expense in creating new moulds, the incorrect stamps were filled in. There is a partial outline of the existing “MADE IN HONG KONG” and on the opposite leg, some dotting and remnants from the removed date stamp.
Right leg: Unitoy “MADE IN HONG KONG” > PBP/ Meccano/ Lili Ledy: Scarred and filled in COO
Raised boot TFP. Here there were also 2 cavities for the legs within the Fam.2 steel mould, and it turns out the heel height differs slightly between them. Both mould variations are found in even numbers.
PBP: After a shorter HK run, this was the mould that was distributed around the world to Spain and Mexico. PBP were producing TFP figures prior to Lili Ledy. PBP TFP can be found with RED & ORANGE button variations
French Meccano Trilogo: The torso & limb plastic is consistent with PBP produced parts. This figure is found with ORANGE chest buttons and larger emblems on the helmet..
Lili Ledy: I believe this was the end of the line for this mould family. There are Lili Ledy TFP examples with signs of raised pitting in the plastic, suggesting the beryllium had begun to degrade and would have been due for replacement had the SW line not ended anyway.
Left leg: “MADE IN (raised bar) CHINA”
Odd COO stamp. This Kader “MADE IN HONG KONG” coo was never used in production before being milled out then stamped CHINA. Why did Kader HK have unused expensive moulds on hand, but never put them to use? Suggestions welcomed here too.
The torso is virtually identical to both of the other mould families, however the limbs feature some minor differences. Most notably a fold in the fabric on the rear of the right leg.
