Mold-A-Rama Mania!

Last Sunday, Sean Daly of the St. Petersburg Times wrote an awesome feature article on Mold-A-Rama machines. Click the link to read it and learn about them if you don't already know. For me, as I'm sure it was for many others, it was instant nostalgia and childhood memories. When I was a kid, we used to get them on school field trips to Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry or Brookfield Zoo. In the story, there's a picture of a t-rex mold and I decided I had to have one. So I sent this message to Mr. Daly: "I loved the Mold-A-Rama story. Where's the machine that makes the t-rex? Must have!" He replied yesterday with "Hey, T-Rex Mold-A-Rama is at MOSI in the gift shop! No life is complete without one." Of course, he's right. Luckily for me, I have friends who not only don't disapprove of my childish whims, but support, indulge and actively participate in them. So off we went to Tampa's own Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).

We stopped at the gift shop which is right inside the front door, asked for the Mold-A-Rama machine and were directed down the hall. What we found was a machine that made space robots, not dinosaurs. We asked another staff member who said there "might" be another in a different gift shop. We made our way there with the thought that our next stop "might" be St. Petersburg to beat up Sean Daly.

No worries, we found it!

Here's the mold that would be producing dino delight $2 and 30 seconds later.

Here's the step-by-step process. The machine is labelled "the magic souvenir maker" but clearly this is pure science at work.

Look! There he is, ready to be scraped off into the retrieval bin.

I now know exactly how Dr. Grant felt in "Jurrassic Park"

Mmmm, so warm for such a cold-blooded creature.

What's better than a t-rex? 20 or 30 of them, obviously! We decided to make more and give them as gifts at a party we were going to later. Much like a duffer's golf game, everything was fine through the first nine. But then...

Uh-oh. That can't be good...

Oh my. Not good. Not good at all. I guess high volume, mass production isn't Mold-A-Rama's strongest suit.

Even though the mission was to acquire dinosaurs, you didn't really think I was going to leave without a robot, did you? Come on. As you can see, this one also had an overflow plastic problem. But it's bonus fun to peel off that hot excess. It's like getting extra whipped cream on a banana split.

Here's the gang at Gino's later that night. Normally, babies at a restaurant will ruin an evening out, but all of our newborns were perfectly behaved.

Here's a video we shot...