Anything can happen in the next half hour..

During the recent SWORDSTOCK meeting at the Farside Lunar Outpost, Woodstock brought along a case full of 'fixer-uppers' for me to look at in the Wotan Workshop. Some of the toys were a simple case of soldering the odd wire or cleaning a battery contact, but one of the biggest challenges was a lovely Fairylite Stingray. Unfortunately, this had taken a hit from one of Titans missiles and the entire rear section including fins, Ratemaster and tail had gone. The side fins looked like the fish had been greedily chewing them and the periscope was missing. Because it was such a rare toy, I had to make the decision as to whether to find another oe and replace the parts from it, or try and fashion something to replace the missing bits. Shortly after I received this one, a pair of toys appeared on ebay in almost exactly the same condition, so I realised the missing tail must be a common fault. Following discussion with Woodstock, I decided that the best course of action was to make the toy good as opposed to a full restoration which might prove costly.

Another trawl of ebay revealed the answer, a Vivid Images clockwork Stingray from the nineties popped up, missing the canopy and various accessories. I managed to win it for a few quid and after it arrived, I cannibalised it for fins, tail and Ratemaster. Luckily, the scale was about the same and although the Fairylite model was a much cruder moulding, the parts fitted well with the overall shape after a quick respray. The periscope was quickly realised from a piece of Lego and after spraying the Ratemaster red to match the original Fairylite toy I was done and all for under a fiver!Wotanisation Complete!