Guest Scott Cragstan Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Hello Everyone. I'm new to Alphadrome and after a long absence from collecting robots I'm back. :-)I'm sure everyone here will know this, or can confirm that I've finally lost my mind... are batteries BIGGER now than they used to be? I had a whale of a time getting a pair of batteries into my new repro Piston Action Robot's remote and even feared the hinges were going to give for a bit (the strong desire to see him run outweighed the fear finally but it was scary!). The pair of Smoking Spacemen that arrived earlier this week are even worse, I haven't managed to get batteries into either one of those yet, it just really feels like I am going to do some damage.Circa the mid- to late 90s when I was active in the hobby before you used to be able to get a cheapo classic style battery at Radio Shack that was sold individually but I've not been able to find anything like that available now. Anyone have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike van Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Hey Scott, welcome to the 'drome - Your avitar is one of my favorite robots - You are right about the batteries, they are a real tight fit. I think someone mentioned using cheap flashlite ones instead of the Alkaline's etc. I'm sure they'll jump in here - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Yep they are larger in diameter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Welcome back to the hobby, SC ! In Canada, as pointed out to me by ROBOTNUT, dollar store batteries (usually 2 or 4 for $1. usually a blue/white label here) work perfectly, especially in the vintage robots. They're much lighter and smaller than the new Alkaline stuff. They don't run for very long in general, but they sure are easier to get out and back in. Space Surveillant Saucer is another one which modern batteries almost don't come out once they're in, they must be pryed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robotnut Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Welcome Mr. Cragston and "Yes Virginia modern batteries are bigger"... B) Go to your nearest Dollar Store and buy some cheap Carbon Batteries.These will only cost 4 for a dollar and will fit your vintage toys perfectly.You also have to be careful when using modern Alkaline batteries as theycan blow out the lights in your vintage robots.I will repeat a story that I've told here several times.Years ago at the Toronto toy show, I witness something that stillgives me nightmares. A dealer put a pair of fresh Energizers inthe remote of a mint LineMar R35 Robot. The robot took a fewsteps and both eye bulbs fried !!! :o :o :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Cragstan Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Hello Mike and Eagle.Thanks, I am glad I am not crazy. I guess the question now is has anyone seen those wierd cheap flashlight batteries for sale anywhere? I don't want to kill any of my new arrivals and would really appreciate any tips. I've checked Radio Shack, Ace Hardware, and other assorted wierd places but so far no luck. And yep, Mike, Mr. Robot, he's my favorite for sure, and one of the reasons I've been a lifelong robot nut. He was the very first robot I owned as a child and I am anxious to find another one soon. My budget is a bit tight as I am in the middle of restoring my 1960 Chrysler which has a speedo with strong family resemblence to Robby and Mr. Robot. :-) I had reacquired a pretty nice one in the 90s but unfortunately my entire collection had to be sold due to some bad guidance on purchasing my first home (a great deal of money had to be come up unexpectedly out of nowhere) that meant the robots all had to go. It was a dark day indeed. I'd mention the ones I had but it would probably bring tears to your eyes. A small collection but boy were there a couple of gems! They did go to a good home at least with a private collector who treasures them very much and today's resurgence of the repros has taken alot of the pain out of it. Since he's your favorite too, thought you might get a kick out of this... here's a picture of me with my original Mr. Robot #1, the first of my childhood robot collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Cragstan Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Hello Darryl and thanks! Dollar Store! Of course, great idea. I knew they had to be out there somewhere. If it wasn't 10:45 PM I'd be out in the car now on the way to find some! Is it tomorrow yet? ;-)And I didn't even really think about the extra juice in these more powerful batteries, thanks for sharing that nightmare tale of that poor R-35! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike van Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Scott, great pic - I don't have my original Mr. Robot either. I'd bought it at W.T. Grant, it was around 5.00 'cause you had to give it a slap once & awile to make it run. The replacement one I got off ebay a few years ago was needless to say, more than 5.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry seven Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 :) Welcome Scott Cragstan! Welcome from the Cincinnati area, -good to have you back collecting again. I love the picture of your childhood with Mr. Robot, the only picture of me that I have is with a black western outfit on with two guns a'blazin'! And it's fifteen years before the movie Westworld came out, so I can't even claim it's my robot costume! -Larry7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Cragstan Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 I can imagine, Mike. I know Mr. Robot #2 in the 90s was $425... OUCH. He worked fine and had some surface wear, not terrible. I'm sure Mr. Robot #3 when he arrives will send my wallet yelping but I'm still looking forward to seeing one around again! :-)I don't know how much Mr. Robot #1 was as he was a Christmas present but I imagine it was around $5.00 or even less. Seems like everything was $3.98 or prices like that back in those days, LOL. I have several more photos of myself with Mr. Robot, we were embarrassingly inseparable it seems. Thanks Larry, nice to hear from someone nearby. I was just in Cincinnati two weeks ago Monday, the last day of beautiful weather. I took all my chrome parts for my '60 Chrysler to a place in Norwood and the stainless steel trim to a fella in Newport. I have lived in Cincinnati twice and I graduated from UC (even lived in the infamous Sander Hall for two years) then had a job transfer in the mid-90s that took me back for about two years. I'm sure we'd all like to see your Mr. Robot meets the wild west pic. I had a tendency to mix my passions as a kid (and still do I guess). Robots were the perfect way to terrorize a highway full of Matchbox cars when they weren't busy with outer space stuff. Poor Mr. Mercury tried to pick them up but he wasn't very good at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothunter Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 "My budget is a bit tight as I am in the middle of restoring my 1960 Chrysler which has a speedo with strong family resemblence to Robby and Mr. Robot."Welcome to the board, Scott Cragstan! I also love your avitar as my silver Cragstan Robot was my all-time childhood favorite robot to play with. And as the resident Robby the Robot freak, I must see a photo of your Chrysler speedo! It must be way cool! Darryl was dead-on with his tip on the dollar store cheapie batteries. It's what I use all the time.Again, welcome to Alphadrome! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fineas J. Whoopie Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Let me add my welcome to the board Scott, great pic of you and your Mr. Robot which you were obviously very proud of. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9tobor9 Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Welcome Mr. CragstonNO NO NO !!! Euuuhhhh ! Of course I do welcome you too Scott ! The NOs are for Darryl ! C R A G S T A N ; It's an avatar now & there is no O, it comes from a O free home !!! No to Cragston, Crognast, Crotangs ! Let it be ever banished from this board along with the repos robots short of an R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9tobor9 Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Welcome Mr. CragstonNO NO NO !!! Euuuhhhh ! Of course I do welcome you too Scott ! The NOs are for Darryl ! C R A G S T A N ; It's an avatar now & there is no O, it comes from a O free home !!! No to Cragston, Crognast, Crotangs ! Let it be ever banished from this board along with the repos robots short of an R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Cragstan Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Thanks Fineas, glad to be here. I've only been posting for a day and I'm having a blast already.And thanks to Darryl's tip above I was able to have a robot extraganza this afternoon and test drive my new fleet of repros! Family Dollar Store had the right type of batteries and every single one of the new fellas worked just dandy. At first these batteries really don't look smaller so it must be quite a minute difference but the battery boxes closed easily on every single robot. Whew! I was getting a bit worried there for awhile.I had never even seen a real or a repro of some of these in action so it was a blast to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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