Happy restringing today- VAM Tastic

Hi team,

I've been busy today having a bit of VAM R&R after being away for a few days and looking after my ageing Mum ( moving her bedroom downstairs as she is really suffering with her mobility.) Not complaining though as I realise I'm lucky to still have her around

So spent the PM doing some hand and body swaps and getting some figures further forward - helps with assessing the spares I'll need to get.

Hands that do grippers...



Major Baker CO of the 2nd Bn Munrovian vols.. takes gripper parade..

OK calm down chaps .. lets do an assessment.. who needs what?



"still got this pincher sir..left over from the last refurb"



What about these sir.. Cots gripper from the 2015 mobilisation.. good .. but they are not VAM "



Colour Sgt Gaunt "Same here sir"



Private Hoylake." What about my bonce as well sir...?



Sgt Mark Power .. "I'm still on a Cots body sir...missing that VAM feeling if you get my drift"



It was clear to Major Baker, this is where he earned his pay.. a prioritisation plan was required!!



" Right men , listen in . We only have a limited supply of 40th VAM grippers. We must therefore proritise those with Pinchers first. Those with Cots grippers you must serve on until a resupply is arranged.

Private Hoylake. I will put in a special request to the sculpture team. Sgt Power, if there is VAM body left over from the rebuild programme you will be assigned a classic 64 , with a request for a search for your atomic parts .

Pinchers fall in , the rest of you back to your duites..



Men its a vital part of our resistance against the Evil Dragonian empire and their equally evil ally , the Volgans, to ensure we are in tip top condition.
You have been chosen before your comrades for attention. Your strings and joints will also be looked over by the team. Good luck.



As the men undergo standard sedation Major Baker reflects on the weight of command.



He looks at his own 76 issue grippers, just hanging on in there.



He knows he will be last in line....

Thanks for looking hope you enjoyed this . Will post more of this PM's work tomorrow. Here is a taste.  

Errr, ....in that last photo it looks as if hands aren't the only bits of anatomy they're missing......

Great set up and story though!

Most enjoyable , so nice to see you just having fun and not worrying so much about perfection in the uniforms and accessories .

Looks like you had great fun there Steve !! Some great shots of the lads jockeying for some new parts.

Hope your Mum is well and adjusts to the move downstairs.
Very lucky to still have mine too and I hope they are both around for a lot longer.

Great work Gunner!

Thanks chaps ,

It the best part of the hobby for me .. bringing a figure back to "life" .


Back to VAM

Dreadnoughts surgury and general joint tightening , the CO12 back to VAM bodies continues.

After Black PH came my blonde PH . He was a pilot. His doner body is a mix of spare parts, 40th arms and grippers.



Blonde takes a look .


Hmm not too shabby, got some nice battle scars to show Black.. is he forever showing off his Dart scars !!.. I can live with the hip split for now.



but who gets the spare cots body?.. this trooper ! A nice blonde head I have had in the spares box.



Blonde tries out his new look .





Ready for action !

The Trooper gets his kit on . I have gone for a "classic 60's " look.



Next up is Red.

Red was my 4th AM . He was a mail away 21 stars. How excited was I to get him ! My Mum wanted me to send off for the Mountie Uni but I held out for a bit longer



Red to Major Morgan. "So what have we here then MM?"



A classic 64 restring . As you can see we have no VAM arms available.



We do have a these 40th's . A recent resupply ( gunners birthday ) . Not a bad repro at all.



Reds: "I like the colour .. I've never had a tan ...My ..ahem.."strawberry blonde" colouring  .I can get my guns out !!





And thats what he did  Here Red has upgraded a special forces vest and picked up a Blue Beret in his role as special adviser  to 14 Platoon.
He maintains the VAM principle of fight light, with a vintage 45 and a Knuckle duster.

But who get the Cots body?...

I’m really liking Red’s upgrade on outfit Gunner. He looks ready for ACTION

Marvelous to see so many vintage guys being brought back to full fighting form!

And funny stuff, too! Highly entertaining story running through the project!

What happens to all the old "pincher" hands? And why the dislike for "pinchers?" It's probably a generational thing, but I was never a fan of the "gripper" (Kung Fu Grip here in the States) hands - even as a kid, I could see that the flexible rubber would likely be prone to breaking, and I remember seeing a lot of rubber hands that had been chewed off. The original hard hands, even with their limitations, are the iconic Joe hands for me.

Is anyone still making decent reproduction parts, especially the hands? Or are even the "new" replacement parts "old stock" now? If they're from 40th figures, that's really old stock, pushing 20 years old!

Also... where do you find all these figures and partial figures? Is this years of collecting, hitting boot fairs and yard sales and swap meets and thrift stores and charity shops, finally seeing the light of day? I haven't seen a GI Joe / Action Man at a sale in years - decades, even. I've certainly never seen enough to have amassed a stash like this.

Or did a lot of them come from specialized collector shows, when such things existed? Buying, selling, and trading with other fans?

Chip wrote:

Most enjoyable , so nice to see you just having fun and not worrying so much about perfection in the uniforms and accessories .

GMHQ is manned by real VAM not those pretty boy 'adult collectable' prima donnas!

Great work Steve, your guys are just as happy in the back garden as they are on the shelf. They are the sort of platoon we used to run as kids!

Gunner it’s just Actiontastic that you are bringing back battle-scarred veteran vams back to play life! Keep up the good work.

Such great stuff, ....told and illustrated so well too! 

After seeing this thread yesterday Gunner, it put me in mind of a pic I took of Hank 2.0 (who shares memories with that lovable rogue of SKJ HQ!)  

BAM Veterans Compare War Wounds

Things are getting rowdy in the Ammo Arms.
"My wounds heal, so no scars" says Logan,
"No scars huh, Check this out!" replies hank 2.0 and whips down his trousers! "Fireworks night, rocket straight in the ass!"
"Ewwwww!" shrieks Teresa, "Put it away"

Hank 2.0 is a perfect copy of the original Hank, scars and all!  character created by my friend Steve, aka, somekindajoe. Many thanks to SomekindaJoe who allowed me to copy the famous Joe & Hank of SKJ HQ.

BAM Veterans Compare War Wounds by Dal Lee, on Flickr

BAM Veterans Compare War Wounds by Dal Lee, on Flickr[/quote]

Dal, that was a great time ! I'm pretty sure that night out ended badly for the lads

Steve, yes the back yard battlers are back..The VAM aim to dominate the ground this summer and beat back the Dragoinian/Volgan hoards

Dave,
I love the part of the hobby in restoring /converting /putting back "old soldiers" in the field again.

These guys are a result of a thorough going thru the spares box , plus I went on Fleabay and bagged a load of body parts (£145). So I've been ble to put 4  x '64 body figures back into service with a further 6 needing arms. As you can see arms are the current issue  I splashed out a bit with some birthday money for some 40th arms, but at £14 a pop it makes for a more expensive re-build . So I reckon I'll go down the route of using Special Forces arms for some of the figures.

You can pick up a basic 64 fig on Fleabay for around £20-35 quid so all in all works out about the same. I need to get myself to a convention/ fair .Although I'm not sure my credit card would agree  so all my stuff comes from E-bay .

On the question of pinchers vs Kung fu gripper. I agree classic VAM 66-73 figures  have the pincher ! As a kid though I always was frustrated at the weapon holding capability of the troops. So for me ,for those Garden battles/posing shots, the Munrovians need grippers  

I keep all the pinchers and they go into the spares box . I may need them for a classic uniform.

With the latest body part cache I got three heads on neck posts.



One thing I alway marvel at is, despite being the same head sculpt, how each head takes on its own character ?

I have three great battled scared examples of the  Hard PH, the Softer Vinyl head and an early fuzz head. Almost mirroring my actual VAM buying years of 66-71.    

take care all and happy VAM'ing

I think it’s wonderful to see typed that that the part of the hobby that you love is restoring /converting /putting back "old soldiers" in the field again. That’s brilliant to see typed that the back yard battlers are back with your VAM aiming to dominate the ground this summer and beat back the Dragoinian/Volgan hoards. I have missed seeing them action packed battles.

Hi Alex
thanks for that .. you seem to have just as much fun with your MAM-tastic collection too

The sun was out today here and I nearly got down on my knees and strted to pose some shots... a bit cold though .. here is a to a sunny warm April

Hi team,
here is who got the Cots body from Red's swap to a 64 body.



I've had this head for some time now. I've not quite known what to do . Attempt a clean up? Steve aka Somekindajoe, suggested keep him as is. Obviously some kid had taken time to paint him up and done a reasonable job. My collecting policy is also to leave the heads as much 'as they are" as each rub, slight knock etc is part of that figures 'play' history. Silly I know .  

So here he is, LRRP Larry



I'm also thinking very Apocolypse Now?



Major Morgan welcomes Larry to the ranks. I've got some other guys in similar Uni's so he will join that squad.



Thanks for looking

I’m really liking the look of LRRP Larry with his full camouflage paint face and wearing nice and simple army uniform too. I’m really liking the pose he’s got going in the third picture. That was very nice of Major Morgan welcoming  Larry to the ranks. You have other guys in similar Uni's so we’ll be seeing a group picture of them in similar uniforms then soon .

If you really want to leave to camo paint on the head, maybe you could just extend it down the neck a little to avoid the sharp cut-off look?
Finish with a rough edge as it would have been applied, OR give him a webbing scarf?

Great stuff on the '64 restrings Steve  
You're right about the fact that the spare parts are often far pricier than a full bod on Evil Pay.  

For the remaining six needing arms you could try Wolf Pack HQ :

https://wolfpack-hq.com/product-category/body-parts/page/3/

They may be stocked out at this moment but they regularly restock.

These are Cotswold parts too so good build and excellent Vintage compatibility.

LRRP Larry looks the biz too.  

If you do ever get tired of that camo look, soak the head in brake fluid for a while. It should come right off. Clean it thoroughly afterward.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys. Much appreciated

Alex.Yes will get this squad together soon..

Lestryge...totally agree..I'll go down neck scarf route

Kev ..Wow! Great tip..and Wolf Pack..what an amazing concept! Missed these we guys.. ..until now!

Gunner Munro wrote:

Steve aka Somekindajoe, suggested keep him as is. Obviously some kid had taken time to paint him up and done a reasonable job.

So here he is, LRRP Larry

Lurp Larry! I like it! I think the camo makes the eyes look so much more expressive. He has a 1000 yard stare in one pic and an evil twinkle in another. He looks the kind of grizzled veteran you need to lead your recon platoon.

Gunner Munro wrote:

Kev ..Wow! Great tip..and Wolf Pack..what an amazing concept! Missed these we guys.. ..until now!

Yes Steve. It's great site, based on the unreleased Action Man line that never saw production before Action Man's discontinuation in '84. I remember you being very interested in that a few years back ?

A lot of the conceptual uniforms you'll find here are based on that, plus there's lots of other goodies too.

Hi Steve… yes he has that “seen a bit too much/Kurtz “ look about him. Will get him kitted out better when I have the rebuilds finished. I’m trying to be more disciplined I’m my approach..honest

Having said that…Wolf Pack…

Kev you are right great site and great realisation given the 84 line concept/Action Force before its GI Joe absorption in 1/6 scale ..What’s not to like

Steve did a great kit bash I recall using a ground force Uni as a base

Given me some ideas about the Dragonian troops and how to finish off their look.

They are out of stock of arms at the mo’ so will message them and get a pre order in.

Take care

Gunner Munro wrote:

They are out of stock of arms at the mo’ so will message them and get a pre order in.

Take care

Good thinking young man  Have you seen the new Tom Stone Geyperman figures on Captain Cosmos ?

https://captaincosmos.fr/en/bodies-and-parts/668-new-geyperman-nude-afroamerican-figure-reissue-tom-stone.html

Stocked out of course, and stocked out on Hobbycrash, but that will be my next addition.

Good thinking young man  Have you seen the new Tom Stone Geyperman figures on Captain Cosmos ?

https://captaincosmos.fr/en/bodies-and-parts/668-new-geyperman-nude-afroamerican-figure-reissue-tom-stone.html

He Looks Fab Kev .. never had one of those back in the day, did you?