Reference Books

Yes very intresting set of books, I'm on the look out for The ultimate collectors guide by Alan Hall volumes 1, 2 and 3 have given my wife my early christmas list (she rolls her eyes  ) see what happens, think snowball hope in hell come to mind  

Hope you get them mate. They really are a good reference books and ones I come back to frequently :-)

Sparkys6887 wrote:

Hope you get them mate. They really are a good reference books and ones I come back to frequently :-)

Cheers Sparkys6887
Yes they look really interesting mate, I'll get a set as soon as I can find some at a good price, what the wife doesn't know she can't moan about  

My VAM library is now starting to look pretty good.
Just before Christmas I got the NG Taylor book which is a great resource with regard to uniforms but is let down slightly by the exclusive use of painted head hard hands VAM. I know it has been debated before, but I personally like the uniform to be of the matching time period to the doll.
Santa brought me Volumes 2 and 3 of the Alan Hall Ultimate Collector guides which are another great sorce of info. I sit and look at the books if I have an idle moment - my wife hid them on Christmas day so I wouldn't just sit and look at them when we had the family around for lunch.

All good, but I stick by my earlier posted view that the Francis Baird book is the poorest of the VAM books readily available, but any VAM book is better than none!

fantastic mate, you will have some happy hours looking at those books   

Hi Dal. I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. My first day back at work today and I am struggling to get back into the swing of things (hence all the posting on here).

The problem is the more you know the more you want! Before I got the NG Taylor book I thought there was just two versions of the German Stormtrooper. I now am in the process of putting together four different versions of the trooper and a Colditz commandant!

I am having to take a step back as I am spending far too much money on E bay buying VAM when I should be paying off the post Christmas credit card bill!!

 , I know the feeling well my friend. Thesame thing happened to me when I discovered Joe, the more I see the more I need !! pmsl   

I often look a my books, at least once a week and more when I'm planning a new figure like my talking space ranger or cowboy, yea haaaa. I think Alan Halls books are fantastic to flick through.

As for overspend my next purchase really will be my last ;-)

These are all fab books, which I now have, thanks to my better half   

What I would like is a GI Joe book showing all the outfits and uniforms and all the gear, I wonder if there is such a book!!

PJ

not so much a book PJ, but a great place for you to start

http://picasaweb.google.com/100342510174176121969

Now that is cool, cheers Dal

Now I'm gonna want everything I see and spend all my time surfing the net for it!!! I love it      

PJ

you are more than welcome PJ   

action bob wrote:

What I would like is a GI Joe book showing all the outfits and uniforms and all the gear, I wonder if there is such a book!!

the James De Simone one is pretty good!

great link

That is a brilliant link Dal. I'd live one of those Gi Nurses. Think the only one I have seen on ebay went for over £3,000 yikes

Cool link Dal!

actionman2272 wrote:

not so much a book PJ, but a great place for you to start

http://picasaweb.google.com/100342510174176121969

Thanks fella's  , the credit for the link is all beetlefan, he passed it on to me a while back   . I am so pleased everyone is making great use of it too   

PH5121 wrote:

My VAM library is now starting to look pretty good.
Just before Christmas I got the NG Taylor book which is a great resource with regard to uniforms but is let down slightly by the exclusive use of painted head hard hands VAM. I know it has been debated before, but I personally like the uniform to be of the matching time period to the doll.
Santa brought me Volumes 2 and 3 of the Alan Hall Ultimate Collector guides which are another great sorce of info. I sit and look at the books if I have an idle moment - my wife hid them on Christmas day so I wouldn't just sit and look at them when we had the family around for lunch.

All good, but I stick by my earlier posted view that the Francis Baird book is the poorest of the VAM books readily available, but any VAM book is better than none!

thanks a lot ph5121 i have both the taylor and baird books , now i learn from you i have to spend more money on buying more books to learn more about the hobby , then spend more money on buying more outfits ,  then spend more money on figures to put the uniforms on , then i will probably have to spend more money buying another display case   

PH5121 wrote:

I recently got the Francis Baird book 'Action Man - The Gold Medal Doll for Boys 1966 - 1984'. Excuse my lack of knowledge compared to many on this forum, but to a newbie like me I must admit that I am not overly impressed by it. There are useful images, but it reads as though it was written by an author undertaking a commercial venture, rather than a knowledgable enthusiast.

I am sure there are people on this forum who could lay their hands a better selection of VAM to be photographed, and that have more indepth knowledge of the subject matter.

I'd have to agree with you. I have Hall's vol.3, Taylor's book, Harrison's and Baird's. I find Baird's to be the least impressive of the lot. The images are poor, the poses are poor and some of the stuff is just wrong! Whilst I am glad I have them all, and intend to add to my AM reference collection, I find this forum to be the best source of information.

I have the N.G.Taylor book a great book in my opinion.The Ian Harrison book looks very interesting.

actionman2272 wrote:

not so much a book PJ, but a great place for you to start

http://picasaweb.google.com/100342510174176121969

Nice link Dal

pleased you liked it sid   

That link is great thanks for sharing it.

I'm glad you posted this link Dal, there's a few more that I have forgotten about, sites come and go   

I have just won the Kevin King book 'Action Man - The Real Story'. I have been after this for a while but it has been bringing silly money on E bay when I have been searching for it.

I won an e bay auction last night, but went over the notional limit that i had set myself of £20, (but only by a £1). I am looking forward to getting it as I have read that it is one of the best VAM books.