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Rescuing a 30th Sailor

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  • Rescuing a 30th Sailor

    I visited a local peddler's mall last month and ran across some boxed 30th Anniversary Joes for sale @ $30 each. I contemplated buying one for nostalgia's sake but decided not to. This prompted me to post on the Trenches FB page inquiring what folks thought the fair market value was for these nowadays. Most thought it was a little pricey although some mentioned that the repro box and the gear were worth close to that. This place only had soldiers, sailors and marines. If they had had a pilot I probably would've picked it up as that was my favorite.

    Later I went to a different peddler's mall and found a booth that also had boxed 30th figures. This one had soldiers, marines and pilots. I had fond memories of picking these up at Target when they came out in 1994. That was also the year my daughter was born, so I couldn't resist and picked up a pilot as well as a marine.

    A couple days ago I went back to the first mall and decided to pick up a sailor. Of course, the wetsuit was melted and dessicated on the figure but I mostly wanted the repro box and gear so I went ahead and picked him up. I also wanted to see how badly the wetsuit had decayed and what shape the figure underneath was in.

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    I plan to pop him out and see if he can be salvaged. More to come...

    Steve
  • #2

    Looking forward to the update on unboxing this one! I'm curious how badly the wetsuit has deteriorated. Keep us all posted!

    Comment

    • #3

      I have couple of them, a soldier and a marine. I haven't opened them, but I believe the bodies are better than the HOF, more like the early Modern Action Man. A bit more pose-able than the HOF. The nice thing is that the heads will fit
      CC bodies. And some are making wetsuits that are not exactly rubber, so they last longer. So if the suit is gone, and the body has it glued to them, you can replace the body with CC and get a new suit. Or find a MAM body as a
      replacement. The HOF heads kinda puff a bit around the neck when put on a CC body, but if there's a collar on the suit it will cover that.

      Let us know how it goes!

      Daryl

      Comment

      • #4

        I opened the sailor box and cut the wires holding him in place. He's now free from prison after serving a 26 year sentence. Here's what he looks like straight out of the box:

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        The parts of the suit that are missing from his back are still stuck to the inside of the box. The suit exists in three different states. The outward facing parts of the suit are completely brittle and flake apart after just giving a gentle tug on them. The section of the pants that are between his thighs is gooey and sticky. Interestingly, the sections of the of the sleeves that were not in contact with the arms are still supple and stretchy. This makes me wonder, if Hasbro had packaged the figure wearing his sailor uniform and had the wetsuit to the side along with the equipment, would it have survived okay to the present day? Does anyone have one of these suits that was left off of a figure for years and if so, what condition is it in?

        After about 30 minutes of pulling and scraping with a blunt instrument I managed to get almost all the suit residue off him:

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        Spent another 30 minutes or so cleaning him with different solvents. Tried lighter fluid first but it didn't help much, then moved to rubbing alcohol. I managed to get about 99.5% of the suit residue off him.

        As TNshooter suggested, I suspect a body swap will be next.

        Comment

        • #5

          Wow! From the front it didn't look so bad, but the back had really deteriorated. I've heard of vintage figures that spent some time in a wetsuit, the suit basically glued itself to the body.
          Seeing the figure without the suit, it doesn't look as posable as the MAM. Aside from the HOF figures it looks like all was added was articulation at the wrists. I have a solider and marine which I have yet to open.

          Looks like the elbows and knees are still like a Barbie, with three click settings. The HOF are like that. If I recall correctly, I read years ago that the HOF body was actually from a Hasbro line of fashion dolls.

          I have a few HOF, and I've been planning to change them to CC bodies. I did it on two basic Cobra Commander figures that I got for cheap for the mail-in Cobra Soldier uniforms. However the neck post for the CC
          figures are a little bigger, so there's a bit of a "puff" around the neck. But the collar on the uniforms covers it. Maybe using a Dremel to shave them down a bit would help that?

          As you suggested, I'm kinda surprised that Hasbro didn't have him dressed in his original uniform, with the wetsuit on the side. You would think they would have packaged him that way.

          Daryl

          Comment

          • #6

            Oh, by the way, how did you like the pilot figure?

            Daryl

            Comment

            • #7

              Originally posted by TNshooter View Post
              Oh, by the way, how did you like the pilot figure?

              Daryl
              The Pilot and the Marine look factory fresh.

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              • #8

                I searched through my body bin and found a modern Action Man with the hard plastic limbs & external joints, along with the same neck post as the 30th Joe head. A few seconds under the heat gun and the head popped right on.

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                Finally the fun part: opening up his SCUBA gear and outfitting him for underwater adventure! I gave him a pair of red trunks which I think I got from a collector's club figure. He's now ready to search for sunken treasure.

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                I have to admit, opening up his gear and outfitting him, I felt like a kid at Christmas again.








                Comment

                • #9

                  Very nice Steve! I'm glad you got him ready for action! I'm sorry that the original body didn't work out due to the fact that the wetsuit had deteriorated, but he is looking good!

                  Daryl

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                  • #10

                    Looks great!

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                    • #11

                      He looks pretty cool!

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                      • #12

                        When I see these sets, I think of Caldor's which was department store in my area. They had a toy section that hosted these figures. I remember looking at them and saying something isn't quite right with them. I notice the face and the hands were off. This was my first exposure to Joe since childhood. Later I would go to Ebay and start a small collection..

                        Comment

                        • #13

                          Originally posted by Shermanator View Post
                          I searched through my body bin and found a modern Action Man with the hard plastic limbs & external joints, along with the same neck post as the 30th Joe head. A few seconds under the heat gun and the head popped right on.



                          I have to admit, opening up his gear and outfitting him, I felt like a kid at Christmas again.

                          I haven't done anything with my 30th figures, I thought they had articulation more like MAM. But seeing your sailor I realize they don't. I wasn't able to score the mail-in Joseph Colton Green Beret, I got the "consolation" figure in a snow troops outfit.
                          At the time the Green Beret figure went for a lot of money. A few years ago I was able to get one for $15. I figured I would keep them original, my soldier and marine as a team for the Colton Green Beret.

                          But after re-reading this thread, I'm thinking of using some of my MAM figures as donors for them. To make them more articulate.

                          Daryl



                          Comment

                          • #14

                            Originally posted by TNshooter View Post


                            But after re-reading this thread, I'm thinking of using some of my MAM figures as donors for them. To make them more articulate.

                            Daryl
                            I think you'll find it fulfilling to breathe new life into these guys. That's what toys are for...having fun!

                            Steve

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                            • #15

                              Hey Steve, I found my 30th Soldier and Marine, it turns out I did de-box them. Tonight I heated and removed the head of the Marine, but the headpost is different from
                              the usual HOF body. Did you have to do any modification to make your head fit? I dug out a box I got on the bay of a figure lot, had three MAM's in it. But their headposts
                              are the same as the usual HOF.

                              Daryl

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