Identifying Repro Parts & Sets: a few tips

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2009

Back in the '50s and '60s, Mission Supply House in Florida supplied replacement parts for the Vintage Hartlands. After the plant closed, and the Mission parts dried up, several people made replacement parts spanning that time to now. Of note: Frank Fullop, Russ McNair, and myself. I am sure a few other people have made some along the way, too. In 1988, Steven Mfg re-released a Styrene version of Chief Thunderbird and a few years later, they re-released Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, General Lee, General Washington, Wyatt Earp, and Chief Thunderbird. Parts from all those endeavors now filter back through the hobby. I am very sensitive to the issue. If you look over the Repro Parts page, it is very apparent that I am letting each buyer know they are buying replacement parts and I encourage them to do the same if they ever sell the sets or pieces. As you might expect, some people do not heed the advice—or they have very short, bad memories.

This page contains a few tips and guidelines for help in identifying reproduction parts, including parts I have made over the past few years! I know a few collectors would just as soon no recasts were ever made or any reproductions parts are sold. Again, I am sensitive to the issue. If there were plenty of original parts around, I would agree, but without the replacement parts, there would be a lot of "naked" sets on a lot of shelves. I think we all agree they look much better all decked out.

 
Frank Fullop Repro Parts
Frank Fullop was a plant supervisor at the old Hartland Plastics factory. Besides making repro parts, he also did a lot of repaints and repairs over the years. Frank's parts did fill holsters and cover heads, but I don't think anyone with his repros would be fooled into thinking they were originals. Often, one side of a weapon looked okay, but the other side lacked any sort of details and texture. Most of his parts were molded in a rough plastic resin and then painted with a dull, rough paint. At one point in time, Frank paid to have a saddle mold made (shown to the right). It resembled a Wyatt Earp saddle, but lacked any detailing. He had them molded in black and also a very dark brown color. Frank's bows were made with a copper wire inside a piece of yellow plastic, similar to a thin straw, with a rubber band connector.
Fullop's hats resembled the shape of originals, but were often rough and chalky feeling. (The hat on the left is an original, the center one is one of Frank's, and the right hat is one of my repros) Also, Frank obtained some of the original black McKay and Hollister hats. He would strip the black paint and then re-shape those hats to resemble some of the other styles. For example, if you ordered a Wyatt Earp or Bowie hat, he sent out the Hollister hat in either black or stripped white. A Cheyenne hat would be a stripped McKay hat. Frank passed away on June 26, 2002. My comments here are not intended to be harsh, but to help todays collectors identify his work. He was full of interesting information about the company, and he will be missed by many collectors.
 
Russ McNair Repro Parts
Russ McNair is still a very active collector. He was making reproduction parts when I first started collecting, though I didn't know about him for a little while. His parts were of much better quality than Frank's, and quite a few collectors bought them. To be more accurate, I believe someone else actually made the parts for him, and he handled the sales and shipping. Russ's parts actually looked like the originals, with more detailing and molded properly on both sides of the piece. His small weapons looked good in the holsters, though upon close inspection, you could still find numerous small bubbles and imperfections. The casting resin they used was a bit brittle and would sometimes break if dropped on the floor. He painted the yellows and other colored parts, as opposed to casting them in the original colors. Russ's hats were not up to the same standards as the small weapons—often with small pits and bubbles. He usually painted the white hats with an almond color paint. Russ McNair parts show up quite often. Some collectors might be fooled on some of the parts since he did do a nice job on them.
 
Mike Jackson’s Repro Parts
Ah ha! Can I be brutally honest about my own parts? Across the board, I can tell the difference in my own repro parts and originals, but some are quite tough to tell. My goal at one end is to make them exactly like the originals so they look great on the shelves, but then it is also nice to be able to tell if you need to do it. Below is a list of slight differences I look at when trying to determine if they are my pieces or vintage originals.
Black Hats: Almost all vintage black hats were molded in white plastic and then painted black. I did that for a little while, then switched to black casting resin which saves a step and also helps collectors identify them. If you lightly scratch the inside of a vintage piece, you will see white. If not, it is probably one of mine. I usually discard all hats with bubbles or imperfections.
White Hats: As you already know, the old hats have usually shifted from its original white color to more of a light creme of off white color. I try to mix my resin to match the average aged color, and it varies a bit from month to month as I mix new supplies. Use a bright light! The best way I know of is to hold an original and a repro next to a bright light. The vintage white hats will have an amber glow, while the repro will remain basically white. Also, I almost always sand or file off the "birthmark" on the back of the hat. This molding sprue was often left on the vintage pieces as they simply broke them off the tree. Weight and Sound! It is hard to describe, but the vintage hats seem just a little heavier to me, and they seem to have a slightly deeper sound if you drop them onto a solid surface from a couple of inches.
Painted Hats: This one is tougher! On painted hats such as Paladin, Colt, and the Mounties, it is difficult to tell with a light. For these, try looking for the birthmark and also the weight and sound test. Of course, if you don't have an identical one to compare to, it might be next to impossible. We do have to hand paint the little headbands and the silver emblems, so you might be looking for factory imperfections of overspray or misaligned masks. A couple of veteran collectors have told me they are very careful when handling some of my parts, for fear of accidentally mixing them up with their originals and not be able to tell them apart!
Silver Pistols: I made the molds for the silver pistols off of vintage brown gunfighter pistols. They were usually very smooth and glossy, creating the best molds...and they fit the holsters very well. Most of my silver pistols are molded in white plastic and then painted silver, but occasionally, I paint over some of the darker colors—just like Hartland used to do! My best suggestion here is to look at the trigger openings. (Originals shown on the top row, and my repros shown on the bottom) I make an effort to carefully remove the two little circles on every pistol! Hartland didn't do that very often, so if you see closed up trigger openings, it is probably an original. Otherwise, try the ping test by dropping them from a short distance on a table top.
Brown Weapons: There is something about the vintage brown weapons that I cannot recreate. A collector recently told me that he broke a vintage Cochise rifle by accident and noticed it was clear plastic inside. He suggested that Hartland might have "dip-coated" the brown parts. If so, it might explain why many of them look lighter in the open flat areas and slightly darker in the recesses and creases. Some brown parts have an almost transparent "milky" appearance (shown clearly in the Cochise rifle at the top). I try to mix my brown resins to match the "average" color of the lighter orangish color pieces and another batch to the darker chocolate color. As you can see, my brown parts will have a very uniform color from edge to edge and tip to tip. They have a similar weight, texture, and feel to the vintage pieces. Long time collectors will be able to tell the difference by just looking, but they will fool most people.
Yellow Indian Parts: Over the years, vintage yellow Hartland parts varied in color quite a bit, but were most often a pale yellow color. I try to match it as much as possible, but it often seems brighter than the old ones. Other than the slight color shift, they look very close to the originals. (See photo near the bottom of the page in the Chief Thunderbird section)
 
Steven Mfg. & Hartland Collectibles, LLC
This section of the page should help a lot of collectors, especially beginners, identify some of the most common re-cast parts and sets! Most of the pieces were produced by Steven Manufacturing in the late '80s and early '90s. Many sellers are unaware of the re-casts and offer them as vintage pieces.
2002 Hartland Collectibles, LLC Saddles
These two saddles were made available to collectors in the summer of 2002, molded by the new Hartland Collectibles company. With original rifle holed saddles being in such short supply and often selling for upwards of $75, they have been re-cast in a limited supply. As you can see, these pieces were molded in white plastic and then painted either brown or black. The dots on these pieces are hand painted, and not airbrushed. Additionally, the underside of every piece is signed "Hartland Collectibles 2002" in gold metallic ink. Some of the brown saddles are quite a bit darker, bordering on the color used on Tonto saddles. I recently over painted a few of these saddles to a nice Annie Oakley colored blue, but left the Hartland signature underneath. Click here to go to the Repro Parts page if you would like to purchase them!
 

Vintage Roy Rogers
1993-1994 Steven's Roy Rogers
Steven Mfg. re-released the Semi-Rearing Roy Rogers sets in 1993 and 1994, initially offering them through J. C. Penney's Christmas Books. There are numerous clues to identify these as recast sets: the paint used on Trigger and Roy has a rough texture and not glossy; Roy's saddle is blue plastic, as discussed below; Trigger has painted white stockings, tail, and mane, as opposed to white plastic showing through; Trigger lacks a white blaze; the set is slightly larger, due to older sets shrinking over time; and Roy's white hat is larger and absolutely snow white.

Vintage Roy Rogers
1994 Steven's Roy Rogers Figure
Besides being about 1/4" taller than vintage riders, the Steven's figure is not as glossy as most vintage riders. The face and hands are a slightly different color, and there is a noticeable difference in the hair. It lacked the distinctive artistic touch of the vintage pieces. Most of the figures I examined had a bad seam joint on the neck.

Vintage Roy Rogers Saddle
1988-1994 Steven's RR Saddle
The tell tale sign on this recast piece is the solid blue plastic used to mold the piece. As you can see, vintage RR saddles were molded in white plastic and then painted blue with silver accents. While not too common, some of the 1994 stock shows up on occasions lacking the silver accents.
Steven's silver pistols are a little larger than the older guns. Vintage ones are shown on the left and the recast ones are on the right. Many of them had clogged trigger openings.
The same pistols were used for the Steven Mfg Dale Evans sets.
The Steven's Roy Hat is absolutely pure white and will stand out like a sore thumb if used with a vintage set. It is larger than the old one and is not a very good replacement piece for anything but the re-released set. These hats have been offered about once a week for the past year on eBay by a seller who doesn't exactly explain its source. Many buyers purchase it, assuming it is a vintage piece, then resell the piece with an older set.
 
Vintage Dale Evans
1994 Steven's Dale Evans
Seven Mfg. did a pretty good job on this set. The airbrushing on the horse's legs was not as tapered and the horse is larger and more white than the vintage pieces. The saddle is a Rifle Holed brown saddle instead of the standard plain brown saddle.

Size Comparison		 The vintage Dale is shown on the left here. This photo shows the size difference in pieces that came off the same mold! The most obvious difference in this set and the vintage Purple Dale is the color of the purple. Face and hair color is slightly different, too.

Dale shared the same saddle as Wyatt Earp, shown in the section below.
The recast Dale hats look very much like the vintage hats. They are slightly larger and more white than the old ones. When held to a bright light, they also appear amber—apparently a trait of acetate plastic. Steven Mfg. made extras of their accessory parts available to collectors, many of which are being sold on eBay. The seller only indicates the hats fit "Hartland or Stevens", but never says they came from the 1994 production run. Many bid winners never know they got a recast piece.
 

Vintage Wyatt Earp
1994 Steven Wyatt Earp
You won't have to be worried about getting fooled on this set. There are numerous clues! Steven Mfg chose the cropped mane horse for some reason, as opposed to the full mane walking horse. The saddle was a brown rifle holed saddle instead of his normal plain yellow and brown saddle. His pants were painted black and his pistols were silver instead of brown.

Vintage Wyatt Earp
1994 Steven's Wyatt Earp
One look at these two is all it takes. Steven Mfg omitted some silver trim on his boots, belt and gun belt. The pants were black instead of green. The vest is bright lime green instead of muted olive. His shirt was painted off white instead of leaving the white plastic to show through. His face and hair are also different in color and technique.

Vintage Brn Rifle Hole Saddle
1994 Stevens Saddle
Vintage Hoby Gilman saddles were usually a deep, rich rust color. The 1994 saddle created to go with Dale Evans and Wyatt Earp was molded a shade or two lighter, though still a very nice piece. The dots were airbrushed silver as done on the vintage saddles.
Vintage Earp pistols were molded in dark brown plastic as shown on the left. The recast pieces were molded in white and painted silver. Note the larger size.
Actually, Earp hats were painted black, but the unpainted white hats show up better here. The hat on the left is a vintage Bowie hat and the one on the right was made in 1994 for the Wyatt Earp set. Notice it is quite a bit larger than the vintage piece and it actually fits vintage Earp figures better than the old ones. You will see this white hat available on eBay about once a week from a seller who doesn't specifically say it is a 1994 recast piece.
 

Vintage Lee
1994 Steven's Lee
The General Lee sets made in 1994 were pretty nice, but they were different, as you can see. The figures were quite similar, as shown below, but they chose the Chubby style horse instead of the full mane walking horse. Colors were close, but still slightly off on the gray. As stated before, all the new parts and pieces are slightly larger than vintage pieces are now. The Steven flag post is made of thick plastic with a Rayon flag. Vintage flags were made of silk and were sewn onto a bamboo post.

Vintage Lee
1994 Steven's Lee
The Lee figure was well done, however if you look carefully, you can see differences in the color of his gloves, face and hair. The gray used was slightly more blue.

Vintage Lee Saddle
1994 Steven's Lee Saddle
If you ever get a chance to compare these two saddles side by side, you will never be fooled again, but they do look pretty good. The gray is lighter and the yellow is brighter in the newer pieces. You might also find an unpainted version of the 1994 saddle.
Vintage Lee hats are a little smaller and glossier than the Steven pieces. The gold emblem has often tarnished more than the recast hats. The paint on the newer pieces has a slightly rougher texture.
Steven Mfg. Swords are almost identical to the older ones. Many of the vintage pieces are scratched from being inserted and removed from the sleeves. The same sword was sold for both Lee and Washington remakes.
 

Vintage Washington
1994 Steven's Washington
Of the Steven sets, Washington was probably the most true to the vintage sets. The gold is brighter and the colors are more vibrant, but they used the correct horse and accessories, unlike several of the sets.

Vintage Washington
1994 Steven's Washington
The blue paint used on the jacket and saddle was not as glossy as the old sets, and the gold trim is brighter and more shiny. The face color is a shade darker, as you can see in the photos above. Vintage Washingtons carried a thin bamboo post, while the recast figures had to carry a thicker plastic post. Steven Mfg. had drill out the hole to accommodate the thicker piece.

Vintage Washington Saddle
1994 Steven's Washington Saddle
Forty years of aging often causes some of the colors to dull, and especially so on the gold eagle accents on this saddle. The light creme border is brighter and the saddle is generally not as glossy as the old ones. Some unpainted versions show up now and then, too.
A vintage hat is shown on the left. It is a bit more glossy and the blue is also a little different. The gold emblem on the newer piece is usually very bright and shiny.
 

Vintage Warpaint Thunderbird
1994 Steven's Thunderbird
Not many of the 1994 sets were ever actually sold, but they were very nice looking. There was not much of an attempt to match the vintage sets, so identifying the elements is fairly easy, as you can see in the photos. The horse was painted an ochre color with darker markings. Small designs were hand painted as opposed to airbrushing through masks. The figure and accessories also had different colors as shown in the sections below. I don't own one of the 1988 Steven sets, but they shouldn't fool anyone knowing they were molded in cheaper styrene plastic.

Vintage Thunderbird
1994 Steven's Thunderbird
Chief Thunderbird was a very popular set for Hartland Plastics. The old figures varied a little in skin texture and color over the years, but basically looked similar to the figure on the left. The 1994 figures had a red loincloth and some detailing in the bead work on the moccasins—all hand painted. The skin is quite different in both color and sheen.

Vintage Thunderbird Bonnet
1994 Steven's Thunderbird Bonnet
Vintage warbonnets were always molded in white plastic. Red was airbrushed on the tips on all but a few rare warbonnets. The 1994 warbonnets were painted white, then the tips were airbrushed black, along with a band of hand painted red at the base of the feathers.

Vintage Red Indian Blanket
1994 Steven's Blanket
Hartland included a blanket in the original Thunderbird mold, and another one in a four saddle mold. There might be a very slight difference in them, but it's hard to say. A very limited number of 1994 Chief Thunderbird sets made their way into collector's hands, apparently as a result of problems with the semi-rearing horse. Hartland Collectibles sent a nice supply of the factory painted blankets from the 1994 run for me to sell through this site. All the ones I have sold have had a black Diamond H added to the underside. The paint finish on these blankets is a little duller and not as glossy as vintage pieces
Vintage Thunderbird parts shown above and below.
 
1994 Thunderbird Parts: All parts were molded in white and then hand painted. Not many of each of these exist.
Mike Jackson Thunderbird Parts: These pieces look very close to originals. Use the light test on the white pieces, as shown near the top of the test.
 
The white rifle at the top was molded as part of the Chief Thunderbird mold, but seldom included with that set. They were occasionally shipped with Brave Eagle and show up once in a while. Burnt orange versions were shipped with Cochise, but I am unaware of him ever getting the white one. In 1988, Steven Mfg. re-released a styrene version of Chief Thunderbird and they did not include the white rifle with that set either. Paola Groeber, the owner of Hartland Collectibles from the late '80s period, had hundreds of the white Styrene rifles and bows and has sold them over the years. She has always told buyers where they came from and when they were produced, but some buyers have a short memory of those kinds of details! If it is bright white, watch out!
 
The white bow at the bottom of the two photos is from the 1988 Steven Mfg. run of the Chief Thunderbird sets. They were never included with the sets, as discussed under the White Rifle section above. To my knowledge, all vintage bows used with Chief Thunderbird were made of yellow plastic. More than likely, if you see a white "short" bow, it is from the Styrene batch. My repro yellow bows look quite a bit like the top one, with only a color shift on some batches of my casting resin.
 
This page last modified Friday, October 19, 2007