robert Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Well, I don't know what you guys did this weekend, but i decided to catch up on a few robot repairs that have been on the back burner. I won a boxed (non-working) Mr Zerox on ebay a few weeks ago so I decided to tackle it this weekend. I quickly found that the motor was just jammed from years of sitting so that was an easy fix, but I spent two hours cleaning dirt and grime off of the box front. It looks 100% better now, but I still need to repair the two split seams and touch up a little where the price tag was.Now I'm on a roll, so I decided to make it a Horikawa weekend! I had two other broken Horikawas, a Video Robot and a machine gun robot that bounces up and down while (almost) walking. Both needed a lot of cleanup, replaced bulbs and rewiring to get working. The nickel plating for both eyes and mouth on these two was corroded and oxidized, so I sanded the plating off and buffed the tin itself to a high shine. You can hardly tell the difference. I had to replace the gun bulb, clean contacts, unjam motor and rewire the machine gun robot. I guess it had been opened before, because all of the wiring was there and connected, but it was wired incorrectly so the light did not blink when guns are firing, it just stayed on. The one thing i am not real happy about is that I had to repaint the ears, and silver paint, even when buffed and polished, doesn't look like chrome. Oh well...The Space Scout just needed some cleaning.The Video Robot needed a new bulb behind the video drum, the film strip inside the drum had to be secured and a replacement leg linkage rod that I was able to fabricate pretty easily from steel wire. All in all a very satisfying weekend. Look out Robotnut, I am hot on your heels! Only 400 Horikawas to go! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Wonderful items, Robert. Wish I had your expertise in repairing this stuff...I really admire your work with these. I repaired one back around 1976, a Roto Robot which I dropped on the way out of the Goodwill store and got him working but he looked like hell when I was done.That's a great set of 'bots that you brough back to spec. The Space Fighter (jumping robot) is one that Altaira has and Robotnut was kind enough to repair for her. It's got wonderful actions however his jumping action seem to shake him to pieces and it appears that most don't work. Hope Darryl soldered him up really sturdy this time as he's returning him a a few weeks.Thanks for the great pics of these robots which I don't feel are profiled highly enough in general but are terrific beautifully litho'd pieces which are great to have in a collection.Bravo!! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted July 3, 2006 Author Share Posted July 3, 2006 Thanks Morb!Space Fighter, huh? Thanks for identifying him! With my limited reference material I was unable to find him.I know what you mean about the jumping action - cool idea but not the greatest design. There is a a cam with two triangle shaped pieces on top. This cam engages another fixed triangle mounted to the top inside of the robot body. As the two triangles meet, the lower one slides along the top one, abruptly raising and lowering the robots upper torso. Very sharp, jerky movement. Might have been better if the angles hadn't been so sharp. Did your walk much? Mine fires his guns, then bounces up and down while feet move very slowly, then cycle repeats. Might move 6 inches in 5 minutes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 A very productive weekend indeed, Robert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fineas J. Whoopie Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Great way to relax on a holiday weekend Robert. Nice group of bots too!! I did a little antiqueing on Saturday and came home with about four robot toys, one of which was an Illco Dynamic fighter for $20. Funny thing is that, since the robot opens easily with screws, I almost would have prefrred if it wasn't working - so I could fix it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Good job, Robert. A nice selection of 'bots!Like Fin, I also hit some antique places this weekend, but to no avail. I saw a couple Horikawas (don't know which kind) that were horrendously over priced at about $600 each, LOOSE. Also saw one of the large B9 robots for $500... I haven't a clue what they're worth, but this one was missing some bits and pieces and was marked as non-working (again, I don't know what they're supposed to do...). I passed. Aside from that, no luck.On the other hand, ebay was pretty kind to me over the weekend, so I can't complain too much. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothunter Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Robert - Looks like a great weekend in my book! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Here's the box. Unfortunately, he's one of the few 'bots Altaira and I have without a box. :(Looks like the same artwork as Mr.Zerox above however he's obviously in vibration mode! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robobob Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Wow, Robert...You sure had a productive weekend !!What will you do with your time, now that you havefinished EVERYTHING you had on that to-do list ?!? :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted July 4, 2006 Author Share Posted July 4, 2006 Well Robo, that may have finished the robots for awhile, but I still have the saucers and space ships to repair! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry seven Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 :) Nice work Robert. The jumping action on the one was news to me, -thanks for the heads up. -L7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartzenegger Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 nice work !!! everything looks to be in good condition. glad to see you doing something besides sleeping all the time. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robotnut Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Nice work Robert !!! :) As Morbius mentioned, the Space Fighter does have the tendencyto shake itself to pieces. His is the rarer red eyed Asian version.When it arrived, it had several self induced injuries. Here's a pictureof three bots that he loaned me for the Science City exhibit... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 Learn something new everyday. I had never seen that robot in silver. Hell, I didn't even know he was called Space Fighter, and had never seen the box before. I picked him up on ebay about a year ago for around $30. I need to stay in better touch with you Horikawa experts! :DNice loan there! I didn't know that Morbius had so many Horikawas - thought he just collected Robbys. ;) Bart, you're just jealous because with a new baby you don't get any sleep at all! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Actually, Robert, that silver fella is Altaira's! She claimed him many years ago when she first became interested in gathering her own stash of 'bots.Robert if you go to the thread "Morbius Collection" you'll be able to see most of the robots from our robot room including a number of Horikawa entries in there. They were about the only ones I could locate in the '70's and '80's in Canada. Robby is generally my focus at this time thanks to all you roboheads and your wonderful collections being displayed. Now, believe it or not, daughter of Morbius now has the "Robby bug". OH, NO!! Robothunter will be proud!!!! :oAnd thanks, ROBOTNUT for the repair of the 'guys'. Altaira is looking forward to see her robot hop happily! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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