Incredible work!
I can't wait to see what's being cooked up for this year!
While the other Joes celebrate Doc's freedom, Doc wonders about his new action feature - Easily Removable Arms!
I ordered this guy on July 2nd, the check finally cleared on November 12 and he finally arrived today! I was sure that the check was lost in the mail, gone forever. So now I've got the 2nd version of the mail-away Doc, the one with the non-Duke arms. Is this one more valuable? Do I open or save?
"100 episodes of
While the Power Rangers were around 8" and far from 1/6th scale, this sword works great as a relic discovered by G.I. Joe. I did some dry-brushing with tan paint to give it a little aged feel.
Not of an archaeological nature, this was a recent find at Joelanta 2008. I found a 12" Duke figure wearing this jacket. He didn't have any hands, just wearing the GI Joe Club exclusive jacket from the 2004 Convention. Only $5.00 for Duke and the jacket - not bad!
So, as a Joe collector, I was frustrated! I wanted the 30th Joe head on that new body! Fortunately, the 12" SLU figures - specifically Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth - bombed at retail. Post Christmas that year, they went to clearance and I had bodies for my Joes. I had discovered that the heads could easily be swapped by the boil & pop method. Worked then - still works today! The 30th body and the SLU body had the same neck posts, so I created a small army of better articulated G.I. Joes.
The final picture is my 30th style G.I. Joe outfitted in Hoth gear.
I think Hasbro never took the route of the SLU body for G.I. Joe because they were developing the body that would become known as the Classic Collection body, eventually evolving into my all-time favorite G.I. Joe body style - the super-articulated body!
Here, an assortment of G.I. Joes from years past gather together to see how the WHALE project is going along. Unfortunately, the unloved cousin shows up, much to everyone's horror and dismay.
That's right, boil them rascals! Well, not exactly. Don't dunk the bodies in active boiling water - don't want their legs or clothing catching fire! Just get a small pot of water up to a good rolling boil, turn off the heat, dunk the guys headfirst into the hot water and walk away for a few minutes.
The Killer WHALE pilot, Cutter, now joins the ranks of my 12" versions of the little Joes!
Here's a shot of the interior of the cockpit. This thing was full of dust and dirt. I wound up just taking the whole thing to the kitchen sink and just washing it all out. Works for me!
Almost there! I've been repainting a few bits and pieces that I "customized" with a black Sharpie marker many years ago. Sharpie markers were a great customizing tool way back then! I've painted the ends of the cannons and the machine guns, and the fan blades. I've also just used a healthy spot of Super Glue on the broken vertical fins. I glued one side, let it dry and cure for a couple days, then on to the other side. Looks like it will hold. It won't be able to hold up to much rough handling, but this is a display piece now.
After opening the crew compartment, I was fortunate enough to find most of the missing pieces of the Whale. Missile racks, starboard side cannon, machine gun mounts, depth charges, and all the pieces of the fan assemblies. Plus some bonuses - one Annihilator and two Mega-Vipers with dry-rotted o-rings and three figure stands. The Mega-Vipers are great molds with hideous paint jobs!
So here is my plan for repairing the vertical fins - I've used painter's tape to line them up and hold them together. I need to get some sheet plastic and cut some small strips to go across the connection points, glue them down and paint them.
Stay tuned for more updates! Hope to get the fans restored and clean up the body much more extensively.
Last year, I noticed the Airborne Infantryman figure at Big Lots. Accessories are somewhat blah, but the uniform really struck me. It's a MARPAT camo pattern! Very cool - a modern camo pattern at an affordable price. The accessories are standard PTE, designed for play and not extreme detailing. I bought 3 of these guys last year, primarily for the uniforms.The rifle is nicely detailed. The clip in the gun is non-removable and that's just fine with me. The level of detailing is pretty decent and the gun is very sturdy, being made of tough plastic. The goggles are excellent - soft clear plastic with a painted frame. The ammo packs and the grenades are nicely detailed and the grenades fit snugly into the pouches on the sides of the ammo packs. The camel-pack is well detailed and fits good on the troop. The monocular that fits on the helmet is okay, kind of flops around too much. The extra stuff that snaps on the rifle - the grenade launcher and the site are less than desirable. I think I just tossed them. The boots are standard PTE, nothing special.
Here he is fully loaded and just wearing his uniform. My biggest problems with the PTE figures revolve around three issues. The first is the size - these guys are just too tall for my collection, they tower over any GI Joe. Yeah, I know, we are all different heights, but I like the uniform height of my troops. The second is the articulation. Granted these guys have better articulation than even the Hasbro super-articulated body, but the elbows and knees just move to really weird poses. The third is the head sculpts. Some are just plain strange and goofy - again, some of us are just plain strange and goofy, but I'm more partial to the Hasbro head sculpts. I did use four of the PTE head sculpts in my collection, this one featured here in this post, this guy, this guy, and this guy. I haven't quite decided how I'm using the troop in this review.
The best part of these guys is the MARPAT uniform. I was excited to get these uniforms on my troops. Here's one of my GI Joe's outfitted in the PTE MARPAT and assorted Hasbro gear. I created the look of this guy, but couldn't figure out who he might become or what kind of specialty he might have. I turned that decision over to the crew at Joedios.com and the result turned out to be High-Tower.
(So that's where that other set of leg armor is... sorry, just random thoughts...)
For all the years that I have known my brother-in-law, he has always talked about the G.I. Joe's that he had as a kid. I never saw anything until about a year ago. I was finally able to see evidence! There, buried in a battered footlocker, was a talking astronaut! No boots, only wearing his silver suit.
He was a bit dirty but he cleaned up nicely. No noticeable hair rubs either!
One crack along the back of the left arm and very minor stress cracks around the knees, otherwise still in great condition! Still talks clearly as well!
While this guy does not belong to me, I'm sort of "hanging on to him." Why not, the poor guy has been in a box for 30+ years! He needs to get some air and visit some new friends.
Here we have your basic G.I. Joe, right? Nope, it's actually a Power Team Elite head remounted on a Hasbro Super-Articulated body. I saw this head sculpt on a PTE troop and wished there was some way to make it work for a Hasbro body.
Basic differences between the Hasbro and PTE neck mount.
A side view of the two styles of heads - totally incompatible! Or so I thought!
Under the neck post of a Hasbro body is a post very similar to the PTE neck post. I discovered this quite by accident when the neck post of one of my Hasbro SA bodies basically crumbled. It just broke apart! My thoughts? "Great, a useless piece of plastic." I actually tried mounting the PTE head directly into the Hasbro neck, but the PTE neck length is HUGE and the head just sort of flops around. Inside the broken neck post was the key to the switch -a thick rubber washer.
The washer/o-ring/gasket/whatever on the left is from an SA neck post, the thinner is from a standard Hasbro body.
Still fits nicely on the Hasbro neck post. Hmmmmmm.....
How do I get this...
...to work with the Hasbro washer and neck post. The diameter of the washer is just a little less than the diameter of the neck of the PTE head. So let's try this...
The boxcutter! Nice and sharp! Please handle with care! I'm not responsible for your sliced bloody fingers!
Here's an overhead shot of the PTE neck; I had to get below the molded connection area.
A quick careful slice and I'm through the neck! The blade has to be sharp to get a clean cut. It's advisable to cut low and then potentially trim a little off. You can't add length after the cut!
Here's an overhead shot of the neck and the washer. The next step is to simply work the washer down into the neck. Just carefully pushing and squeezing will get it into the neck.
Keep working it into the neck until it is flush with the end of the cut.
Now it's even, time to mount it to the Hasbro neck post!
The neck looks pretty good at this point. There's a great range of motion with this conversion except if you make your troop look skyward!
Not good, not good at all! I'm an "outfit and pose" sort of collector. None of my troops are going to be subject to rough play, so once he's in uniform, he's looking pretty good!
An excellent PTE head sculpt on the excellent Hasbro Super-Articulated body! It should work for nearly any PTE head, with the biggest problem being the actual size of the head. Some of the PTE heads are way too big for the Hasbro body. Don't do it... just don't!
Here's another of my Hasbro/PTE head swaps.
I've updated my blog with another quick post about two more PTE figures that went under the knife. Stop by for a look!
HEY!
YEAH, YOU!
Please feel free to leave a comment!
