When Mr. FORD came into my possession, some critical pieces were missing. One of these absent body parts was his rigidly cast prehensile tail. Fortunately for him, I have another Kenner ALIEN perfect for cannibalising and donating such parts. Significantly, this other derelict ALIEN toy is able to provide a tail. Doubly valuable, this donor toy was also made in Canada. Unfortunately, his donor tail is also damaged and lacks the end stub needed to internally attach it to the figure. We’ll work on the issue of having it securely fastened within this entry. Here’s the replacement tail that will be used.This tail is a little less than perfect. It is a little beaten around the edges, has a small crack at its base where it will be attached to Mr. FORD’s butt and it is slightly stretched out of shape. Its condition is not really a problem as every other piece on this old toy is also degraded in some way so possessing some imperfections is not an issue.

In all truth, Mr. FORD will never be as good as new. The poor condition of all of his parts preclude this goal from ever being possible. Nonetheless, the intention with these tasks isn’t an attempt to restore him to “near new” condition. These efforts are being made to rehabilitate him as much as possible and get him back onto his feet once again. To this end, he needs this tail.To have it fitted in place, I have drilled a hole in the end of his “new” tail. I have also cut a small piece of material from an old DVD case, shaped it into a small trapezoid that fits inside Mr. FORD’s lower torso and punched a small hole into its center with a leather hole puncher. Old DVD cases are a great source of material for creating improvised parts such as this. DVD cases are very easy to come by, can be cut & shaped with a pair of good, sharp scissors and such DIY repairs are adequately strong enough for the intended purposes. There are a number of simple repairs that can be done on these old toys using old DVD cases with tail re-attachments simply being one of them.

It’s a simple process of affixing the tail onto the rear torso half by clamping the tail into place using the improvised mounting plate and driving a small screw through the assembly. This is one of the easiest repairs that can be performed on old 1979 Kenner ALIEN toys. The tail is now securely attached and the repair is perfect. There. Done like a boss.Attaching a tail is definitely a simple and easy task, but it does have a tradeoff. If over-tightened, the screw will strip the material the tail is made and reduce its ability to hold it securely; too loose and it will swing about. Nonetheless there’s definitely an easy to find sweet spot where the tail can be securely fitted into place without any problems.

The only real drawback is the tail may not retain its ability to rotate at its point of attachment the way it did when new. This loss of movement shouldn’t be a problem, anyway. These old toys ceased being play things for children decades ago and the goal with this sample is to improve this vintage ALIEN and bring him up to as good a “feature complete” condition as possible. Playing with him becomes a moot point at this stage. It won’t happen. So the tail becoming permanently unmovable is an acceptable outcome. I could screw it in place so it can move a little bit if you handled it; but I just don’t see the point in doing so as manipulating the tail will just weaken the otherwise successful attachment. It’s simply no longer just a toy and is now legitimately a relic of a bygone century.There. Done. The old tail now looks terrific on the equally old rear torso half. They both also came from the same factory as both were Canadian made pieces. Like all of the Kenner ALIEN body parts and pieces, you can frequently find loose tails on eBay. In general, it is true; if something is missing from the toy there’s a good chance someone has it for sale. Unfortunately, demand for these old toys continues to increase and so prices have been escalating a lot over recent years.

Complete samples of the toy command significant prices; but now, so too do individual body parts. Some highly sought after items (specifically, the head dome, dorsal crest and mouth parts) are increasingly difficult to find and do fetch high prices. The remaining loose body parts are also rapidly following suit in this regard. This is a four decades old vintage item now and interest in it is only increasing. Demand will only force prices higher.

Next up, we’ll achieve the much vaunted task of getting Mr. FORD back on his feet. We’ll have him standing tall once again without any assistance required from display stands or other means of propping him up.

Part 1: Recovery.
Part 2: Dismantle & Clean.
Part 3: Working on the Head.
Part 4: Attaching the Arm.
Part 5: Attaching the Tail.
Part 6: Replacing a Leg.
Part 7: Reattaching the Dorsal Quads.
Part 8: Final Assembly.