Action Masks - Waterloo Life Guard Outfit

Hi guys,
         I couldn't decide where I should post this guy as he doesn't really fit anywhere else since he's no really a kitbash and he's VAM boxed etc.

Has anyone else ever seen any of Action Masks stuff before? I know a little of the history if anyone's interested LMK and I'll make the effort to type it up on here.

As you can probably tell I've never had this on a figure! ;-)


 

never seen one of those before mate, would be great to read a little more about tho  

I once saw a pic on ebay or something of a Royal Marines outfit made by 'Action Masks'...can you tell us the provenance of this stuff and if there were more outfits / who made them and for what i.e. a Fair or Show?

More info please Mate.

Yes please Winch, would love to know more.

The outfit is fantastic! Very Palitoy like!

Outfit looks great AD, love to see it on a figure.

looks very nice just begging to be put on a fig

OK it seems there is enough interest to make it worthwhile typing what I can remember about this and Action Masks other items.

Action Masks was run by a guy called Mike Eastwood who was from Sheffield if my memory serves me correctly certainly in the West Yorkshire area. He was also friendly with another collector who has long since faded from the scene called Terry Spooner. Mike was a talented artist and sculptor and if believe his seamstress was his Girlfriends Mother.

I first met Mike at one of the early Bovington International Action Man Conventions and since we were both involved in making custom stuff we spent a lot of time chatting he had some amazing stuff. Including hollow latex masks which slipped over a VAMs head allowing you to create personality figures without physically replacing the head this I believe is the origin of the name Action Masks.
This is an example of one of Mikes Terminator Masks.

Another interesting item he had made was 1/6th scale latex Facehuggers, from the films Alien & Aliens, with a wire armature giving poseable legs and tails. We discussed this at length as a potential way of making poseable hands for VAM something which Dragon finally did some years later! 

At the next Bovington Convention Mike had come up with the Action Masks name and produced his first limited edition outfit. As has been mentioned earlier by Stan was a Falklands Commemorative Royal Marine. He had teamed up with Dave Goodwin, producer of many repro and custom VAM Artwork boxes and the now ubiquitous white window display boxes, to produce his packaging.

At present I cannot find the photos I have of the Marine so will have to list the contents from memory. You got a Camouflage Smock and Pants produced from hand-painted DPM camouflage material, a green cloth beret with white metal Royal Marine badge (recast from the VAM Badge I think), a pair of elastic anklets/puttees, a basic web set consisting of a belt, yoke, canteen carrier and one or perhaps two ammo pouches and bergen rucksack. Quite cleverly the straps at the back of the yoke had one half of velcro on it and the bergen had the matching half so the bergen could added and removed without wrestling straps over the figures arms. There were no weapons included in the set. Mike also painted the master of the box-art himself. I bought one of these from Mike at Bovington and some years later I sold it to a Collector in Australia who was desperate to get his hands on one until I finally relented I've forgotten who it was so anyone want to own up? I made the mistake of not taking any pictures before shipping it off to Oz but the seller was kind enough to send me several pics of the outfit on the figure he had used. 

After the Marine Action Masks next released a 24th Regiment of Foot, Rorkes Drift Commemorative Soldier as I recall seeing this figure at one of the early Cheshunt Shows in the days when Dick Whittick was still running Cotswold and attending shows in the UK to buy VAM. He bought up most of the Rorkes Drifts figures for Cotswold.

I more or less lost touch with Mike around this time and so from here on it's a combination of hearsay and speculation I think the Lifeguard came out next and I think there may have been one more outfit after that a Napoleonic era Lancer rings a bell but I could be imagining it! I do remember one collector who had bought a Lifeguard asking me to make him a custom pair of trousers for his as he felt that the trousers supplied were too stiff so I made him a pair from teeshirt material so they would have the more skin-tight fit of Napoleonic Cavalry overalls 

Mike then disappeared and popped up again some years later and I found he had been working in America in the Movie Special Effects Industry including working on the film Small Soldiers!

As of now that's all I can remember when I eventually find my pics of the Falklands Royal Marine I will post them up and in the meantime here are a couple close-ups of the Lifeguards contents when I get time I'll try to put it onto a figure for another Photoshoot.

Lifeguard Close-ups

 
Boots are Cotswold Elite, I think the Sword and Scabbard are too. The rest is all custom made by Action Masks including the helmet which was based on a recast of a Groupe Action Joe Republican Guarde Helmet.

Great info AD

Thx

superb stuff winch, a great read thanks  

Finally found the pictures I was looking for of the Falklands Commemorative Royal Marine produced by Action Masks.
Oufit contents with added Figure, Boots and Uzi


Dressed Figure with Box.


Dressed Figure with Box Closeup.


I wonder if I should give this a thread of it's own now that I've found the pics as I have managed to spot some more relevant information.

very cool winch, and very unique, a fantastic addition to ant collection  . Thanks for sharing

Great stuff Winch!

It looks superb on that figure, very nice indeed. Great upload!!!

Great post and great insight behind the uniforms , thanks for posting

Some Very COOL Pieces...

Awesome Work...

very nice
theres a falklands aman on ebay at the mo
going for a very good price
I think they look great

Just found this picture on my hard drive taken in the old Pippens Toys Stirling Shop! W

hich confirms my thoughts that there was a Napoleonic era 9th/12th Lancers figure.

Excellent info and a great write up too, any more hidden gems in the Winch Archives?

Very intresting post, thanks for that, need to find more info on action masks