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How Smurf Figurines Are Made
The process of how a PVC (polyvinylchloride) figurine is made is rather complex and costly for something that retails rather inexpensively and/or given away free in a fast-food kids meal. However, it is possible to make hundreds of thousands of figurines and the profit from volume can be very nice.
  It takes approximately three months to make a finished PVC figurine from a sketch. Artists employed by Schleich (rhymes with "like") in Germany make the drawing or sketch by hand. |
 Using the sketch as a guide, a sculptor creates a three dimensional model from plaster or wax. The model is reviewed by a design engineer for problems in molding, and by the licensor (IMPS) to make sure it is character correct. It can sometimes take several revisions before the model is approved by all parties. |
 Then a worker called a steel engraver, working with special tools manufactured in Schleich's plant, makes a steel mold of the sculptor's model. This is replicated several times, and several of these "cavities" are used in each injection mold. The injection mold for a Smurf figurine will usually have 4 to 6 cavities. A unique number is used in each cavity of the mold, and is also molded into the figurine produced in that cavity (the mold marking - a single digit #). If defective figurines are produced, the mold number makes it easy to determine which cavity went bad. The cavity is also marked with the year it was made. The year molded on a figure is not neccesarily the year in which it was produced, it it the year in which the cavity was produced, which is usually one year prior to the release of that figurine. However, when a cavity has to be replaced the new one is marked with the year in which it was made. For example 20001 Papa Smurf was issued in 1969, yet there are figurines dated 1980 because a new cavity was created in 1980, and pieces from that cavity bear that year. |
 The completed molds are interchangable and eight identical molds are fitted into each injection molding machine. A white or colored hand-friendly, rubber-like material (PVC) is injected into the molds. Most Smurfs are one-piece molds, others are made up of two or more seperately molded pieces, such as most of the Smurfs holding items such as bottles, apples, hotdogs, corn, hamburgers, cones, etc. In these Smurfs, the held item is molded seperately then fitted into the figure and glued. |
 These "raw" single-colored figurines are called "blanks". Most Smurfs are injected with white PVC. Papa Smurfs are usually injected in red PVC. On occassion, other pieces have been injected in different colors such as blue (20159 Violin (W. Germany)), yellow (20046 Emperor), pink (20213 Devil), gray (20405 Puppy) etc. The color a mold is injected with is usually the color of the bottom of a figurine. Click here to view our raws for sale and/or reference in the ID Guide.
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 The blanks are removed from the mold and sent to the paint shop where they are hand painted. Sometimes a piece is molded in one country and painted in another. All molds are made in Germany, but could be injected or painted elsewhere. Some figures have a dot painted on the foot, which indicate what Country they were painted in. |
  Here is a close-up of Schleich's "control marking" which is an "M" in a circle. It is stamped on this figure's foot, but is usually on the back of the head. This is an abbreviation for the German Word MUSTER (meaning sample.) A worker at Schleich picks a few figurines among the new ones which have been injected and, if they are perfect he "brands" the figurines with this mark. They are Schleich's first samples and all of these pieces remain in Schleich's archives. A number of years ago the SCCI acquired some of these sample pieces and sold them to their members. Others have also managed to enter circulation. They are very rare and highly sought after!
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