The Moonsters

A retired journalist was delighted to see Thursday’s column with its reproduction of the Dundee students’ Gladmag.

He says: “The artist, Bill Ritchie, leans on The Moonsters, a weekly page that he drew for the DC Thomson comic, Sparky. If I remember rightly, the boy and girl in The Moonsters were Peter and Penny.

“The page comprised one big picture with Moonsters, similar to Gladmag’s, doing all sorts of daft things around them.”

Our reader wonders, however, if the Gladmag shown was from slightly later than 1962, as Sparky did not appear until 1965. It may be that Bill devised the Moonsters himself, and this was an early prototype. (the pattern) of the part to be produced surrounded by a powder mixture, which once packed into a frame (as in the photograph), is compressed and shaken to ensure the pattern is solidly surrounded with all air removed.

“Note the two wooden pegs sticking up from mould. They are removed thus leaving the entry holes for the molten metal to be poured, probably cast iron mixture or aluminium.

“The pins on the outer frame are removed to permit the frame to be split into halves, the wooden pattern is removed leaving an exact copy form in both halves of frame which is then reassembled, followed by the molten metal being poured into the cavity.

“Once the metal has solidified and cooled, normally overnight, the frame assembly is dismantled to allow the component to be removed. The part then goes to the fettler, who dresses the part by removing the pouring sections – by grinding or filing – which are not required.

“All these skills were lost when metal foundries all over the UK closed.

“The last one I knew of locally, but now gone too, was the Montrose Foundry. It was sited at left beside the Shell garage as you enter Montrose over the road bridge.”

Comic characters The Moonsters. read more above.