What's your current project?

[TNshooter]

Surely there's an expert somewhere who knows if there was ever a foreign head astronaut... if not, then I'd go ahead and build a blonde Nazi out of him and put a regular Joe head on the talker torso. I found a great blonde foreign head (non-talker) in Louisville, time before last, and walking around I was able to find all the bits needed to build a German Soldier. I think my jacket says "Palitoy" but close enough for me!

I think I read somewhere that some 1967 talkers had foreign heads. James DeSimone has a photo in the 1967 section of his collectors guide that shows a talking soldier with a foreign head with black hair. I don't know
how true that is.

ATC, do you know that Palitoy made Action Man in the UK? They had more German figures than Hasbro did. And sold for longer than the SOTW figures here. it's my understanding that the SOTW only sold for one year,
but the Action Man versions sold for at least a couple of years or more. When 12" Joes stopped production around 1977, 12" Action Man continued production until 1986. Palitoy was the first to do flocked hair, eagle eyes
and possibly gripping hands. They had great ideas.

I've been looking for a British uniform, and I wouldn't mind at all if it was Palitoy. The Hasbro uniforms go for lots of money, a Paliltoy would be less expensive.
Unfortunately I don't have quite the collecting budget as others.

[Myles_Falworth]

He's a pilot.

[ATC]

I wouldn't worry about it, Myles.... I have had some that were loose and floppy and some that moved easily. I'd consider it "normal" and let it go. These weren't manufactured with NASA precision, after all. ;-)

Surely there's an expert somewhere who knows if there was ever a foreign head astronaut... if not, then I'd go ahead and build a blonde Nazi out of him and put a regular Joe head on the talker torso. I found a great blonde foreign head (non-talker) in Louisville, time before last, and walking around I was able to find all the bits needed to build a German Soldier. I think my jacket says "Palitoy" but close enough for me!

On the other hand, I've never seen a foreign head astro before, so it might be cool to just leave him as-is and pair him up with another astro joe... then they won't look like freaky clones on the shelf!
:-)
- ATC

[Myles_Falworth]

I must have pressed too hard in the middle or something. My other helmets visors move very very easily.

[Myles_Falworth]

If Joe could talk..... I wish I knew. If he was a mix & match, I might actually decide to build a German after all. I've never sought one out. But it is a very nice head. Now on to the next minor project. I repaired a Fighter Pilot helmet today. I had all the piece from a lot I purchased a long time ago. Today I got brave enough, and put a couple of spots of epoxy on the contact spots where it separated, and then held it together for about a minute. Here are the results. I think the visor scratch is from abrading against the helmet when the visor opens and shuts. It's also hard to pull it down, but easy to put back up. Hope I did it right!

[ATC]

Looks great, Myles!
It would be interesting to know the backstory on that foreign head talking pilot figure. I wonder if he's a mix and match, or if it was originally a foreign head on a talking pilot body. It's one of those Joe mysteries that will never be solved. Regardless, great figure! Well done! Huzzah!
- ATC

[Myles_Falworth]

Hey Joeheads! I mostly finished a project tonight. It's for the blonde foreign-headed talker at post #152 above. I had his voice box fixed by Scott Wilde. He turned out to be a talking Action Pilot! So I found an orange flight suit for him, but will fish out an older one with the tabs on the waist to honor this older Joe. He is waiting on boots which are currently on their way to my storehouse. I fixed the right arm tonight. I found that a "placeholder" upper arm I put on before shipping him to Scott, matches the rivet color very well. Also, the part just under the shoulder piece detached very easily due to a crack in the replacement shoulder part. However this allowed me to "plug" the rest of the original arm right into place. So now I have an all-vintage repair, which looks identical to the original broken part, and is holding in place nicely. His voice works, and he is now ready for re-outfitting, and to report for duty in the local US Air Force Joe unit. Located in my study. I will post photos of him tonight. Aim High!!!!

[Myles_Falworth]

Daryl, to answer your question; Yes the Green Berets are both 100% vintage. The one on the right was assembled from pieces I got in various large lots I've purchased over the past few years. The one on the left, however, except for the belt and holster and boots, - every uniform item came from the auctions held on Spidee's facebook page by Joezeta over the past couple of years. He has much better prices in those auctions, and you can find some nice stuff there for reasonable prices. I'm not going to try anything with the pinhead Joe heads. It's too hard to remove from the pegs, and the heads are noticeably smaller than the regular Joe heads. So those will go on Ebay where someone who likes these heads can buy them.

[TNshooter]

I'm glad my suggestion worked for you Myles! I could see from your photo that the calf of the Atomic Man was turned around.

Those are two great looking Green Berets! I have only one, and the one missing part I has was the dickie. I'm guessing yours are original?
I got a repro from 3rd Son Books. Haven't had a chance to put it on him yet (since I'm not sure where I have stored him).

I have one pinhead figure. I've wondered if I cut down the headpost, and heated the head, if it would cool down in correct shape. But I haven't
seen any indication of anyone doing that online, He does look different, but with an action soldier helmet he doesn't look much different from
the other heads.

Daryl

[Myles_Falworth]

My newest project will be fairly small. I just won and received 7 Joe heads from Ebay. I have at least 5 or 6 Joes in storage that have various problems with their faces, or in the case of two PH Joes, they're both pinheads, and I hate pinheads! So both of those Joes will get newer noggins which work better with the various hats and helmets, and just look better. I'll try to match hair color, but failing that, at least the rivet color. I will probably end up with 7 heads which I'll sell probably on Ebay. I'll post some pics here with before and after for each figure so you can see the improvement. I'm looking forward to doing this, since it's easy, and will make a huge difference in my collection.

[Myles_Falworth]

Just placed a large (for me) order with Cotswold's. I'm stocking up on helmet clips, d-rings tent poles/stakes, and pilot mask plugs. Also picking up repros of hard to find comics like Jaws of Death, Attack at Vulture Falls, and the Atomic Man Training Center. I've decided that the 1975 AT stuff is just too hard to find, and way too pricey to pursue all of it in vintage. Reading Derryl DePriest's wonderful "The Collectible Gi Joe" clued me in the the rarity of these sets, which weren't in as much demand by 75. I also went through all of my belts last night, and counted the ones that need sliders. Unfortunately Cots doesn't carry tan colored sliders. But I'm picking up a few of the green ones and some of the white ones too. I want to get my belts in good enough shape that they are all useable, and then will outfit the Joes who need them. I also found only one intact holster in the 20 or so I had in my belts bag. My newest Green Beret got that one. Here's a quick pic of my two complete Green Berets. The one on the left is the newest member of the team. The new GB is the soldier with the ATV from my recent post on the Latest Finds page.

[ATC]

Great job! I always thought the Anzac uniforms were uniquely appropriate for the black Joes. The Coastwatchers were mostly POCs with a few Caucasians tossed in. I put one together based on a vintage Land Adventurer: http://www.gijoe.50megs.com/coastpg.html
I also put together a unit of Anzacs: http://gijoe.50megs.com/ANZAC.html
I've swapped out the white Joes when I ended up with a light AA ME figure and a darker AA 40th figure. I paired them up with the FDNY Real Hero guy, and ended up with an ANZAC trio that I really like. All of them wear the repro Aussie uniform.
Good work on yours, Unveiled!
- ATC

[ATC]

Nice work! Lookin' good!
- ATC

[Myles_Falworth]

I finished fixing up two Joes today. It was a rainy day today, so I had some time on my hands. The Mike Powers figure has his leg re-oriented, and has new KFG hands from Geyperman. He also got a new Mike Powers uniform from my stores. His shorts were pretty worn out and faded. The MOA has several shots to show the replaced parts including the right foot, the left calf, the right lower arm and peg, and both KFG hands. I found a nice uniform for him and he's wearing his original boots (or those of the talking MOA - but both are original to the set). The only remaining step is to tighten the joint in the Atomic Man's bionic knee, and also to wash the face and flocking of the MOA. Enjoy!

[Myles_Falworth]

After a friendly tip from Daryl about the Mike Power leg above, I tried twisting the knee, and it did in fact twist 180 degrees around, and is now properly oriented. Thanks Daryl! I might not have tried it otherwise. Now I'm in search of a KFG wrist peg I got from the figure at post #147 above. I've decided to make him a hard hands Joe, which is what I think he really is. I'll use the KFG peg in the non-talking MOA I have, which will complete that restoration. I'll post pics once I have him reassembled. It was an easy fix, but required many of the good parts I still had on hand - especially feet. I may have to restock soon, or else start buying Elite Brigade parts to make life (and the budget) easier.