New Air Adventurer Restore Project

A new Air Adventurer turned up today at Tom K HQ all the way from sunny Essex and cost us the princely sum of £10.87 shipped...

These are the 'as he arrived photos' the head has already had a face wash and looking better already! He'll soon be off to Flock Concepts for a standard Air Adventurer makeover and I'll paint the new eyebrows as they don't offer that service.

The body is getting a strip down and clean. I'm going to replace the torso with a better matching colour one and replace the hooks as they are quite rusty. The rest is all good and he'll make a fine figure once complete!

He has a great face. He'll fit in very well with Tom's pretty boys!

Terrific pick up Ralph!

somekindajoe wrote:

He has a great face. He'll fit in very well with Tom's pretty boys!

He's cleaning up just great, he'll be a handsome fella once finished!

Nice Joe! They come in as tramps and end up as playboys at your HQ

I've used very fine 1200 grade wet 'n dry to remove rust from rivets in the past

clivvers wrote:

Nice Joe! They come in as tramps and end up as playboys at your HQ  

I've used very fine 1200 grade wet 'n dry to remove rust from rivets in the past

They do Clive! Actually the rust has come off with a nice scrub in the tub! I had to do a bit of stitches magic on the elastic and put some nice rust free hooks in, poses as good as the best of them now...

He's just had a good scrub in the tub! Looking much better already...


Feeling as fresh as a daisy...

What a bargain, look forward to seeing him finished.

Sparklebudgie wrote:

What a bargain, look forward to seeing him finished.

What about that flock mix Brian? I haven't had any luck with getting it replicated so far... I'm thinking of sending him off to Flock Concepts, as he is churning out replica Air Adventurer flocks and I don't hear anyone complaining!

Great figure , looking forward to the finished article!

TheOneManKid wrote:

Sparklebudgie wrote:

What a bargain, look forward to seeing him finished.

What about that flock mix Brian? I haven't had any luck with getting it replicated so far... I'm thinking of sending him off to Flock Concepts, as he is churning out replica Air Adventurer flocks and I don't hear anyone complaining!

Any particular reason you use Flock Concepts?

Fonnezz wrote:

TheOneManKid wrote:

Sparklebudgie wrote:

What a bargain, look forward to seeing him finished.

What about that flock mix Brian? I haven't had any luck with getting it replicated so far... I'm thinking of sending him off to Flock Concepts, as he is churning out replica Air Adventurer flocks and I don't hear anyone complaining!

Any particular reason you use Flock Concepts?

None, other than curiosity! I have a buddy in the States who is helping me send a Sea Adventurer head to Flock Concepts, along with a bunch of his own heads. I am curious how it'll turn out. I'll have to do the eyebrows. I might wait till that one comes back, before I decide to send this Air Adventurer head.

I have not used Flock Concepts myself, but I have seen photos of many heads he has reflocked. They look excellent and I have heard much praise for his work and no grumblings at all.

Always enjoy seeing a good restoration. Do you have any photos of the hook replacements? Sounds like you have a system. Any thoughts of doing a tutorial?

Thanks,
Brian

gibri wrote:

I have not used Flock Concepts myself, but I have seen photos of many heads he has reflocked. They look excellent and I have heard much praise for his work and no grumblings at all.

Always enjoy seeing a good restoration. Do you have any photos of the hook replacements? Sounds like you have a system. Any thoughts of doing a tutorial?

Thanks,
Brian

There is no system for hooks, I just have a few spares from other strip downs. I just used nice clean spares instead of the rusting ones. I also had to stitch the elastic where the rust was eating through on the main elastic. I had to take some spare vintage elastic and stitch together a couple of pieces for the arm elastic for the same reason. If I get any good clean vintage elastic in, then I might consider a complete replacement, but he is good to go at the moment!

Yeah, I agree, I'm not hearing anything negative about his flocking. I took this sample photo of his Air Adventurer flock mix from the website and I also read on there that he has variations on a mix to try his best to match original. Let's see how it goes...

Great win - I like the slightly fuller lower face that the vintage Joe has.

I'm a little bit obsessive in regard to removing rust from rivets but I always think the effort is worthwhile and you know that there will be no staining of any clothes in the future.

I look forward to seeing him finished

barney_leadhead wrote:

Great win - I like the slightly fuller lower face that the vintage Joe has.

I'm a little bit obsessive in regard to removing rust from rivets but I always think the effort is worthwhile and you know that there will be no staining of any clothes in the future.

I look forward to seeing him finished  

I have a plan for cleaning up those rivets. I'll post up once done.

barney_leadhead wrote:

Great win - I like the slightly fuller lower face that the vintage Joe has.

I'm a little bit obsessive in regard to removing rust from rivets but I always think the effort is worthwhile and you know that there will be no staining of any clothes in the future.

I look forward to seeing him finished  

Better? Anxiety levels subsiding?

I used this cool soft nail polisher to polish the rivet heads, seems to work a treat!

Head's on its way to Flock Concepts already!

Great stuff Ralph!

I've never polished a rivet in my life!

...am I missing something??

It's coming along very nicely, Ralph

I can't wait to see what outfit the figure will be dressed in

somekindajoe wrote:

 I've never polished a rivet in my life!

...am I missing something??

It's when we start surgically removing rivets, clean them, polish them and then spend an hour on each re-inserting them without damaging the rivet or the figure, that we need to start worrying that it might be a just a tad OTT!

Hrrmm... now that gives me an idea...

clivvers wrote:

It's coming along very nicely, Ralph

I can't wait to see what outfit the figure will be dressed in

Well let's hope the head finds its way back to Tom K HQ first, before we start thinking on what outfit...

Its gone to Flock Concepts via Wisconsin and time moves very slowly there (something to do with quantum physics and the arrow of time), so it could be a few months before it returns, hopefully by Christmas though...

somekindajoe wrote:

 I've never polished a rivet in my life!

...am I missing something??

Nope... but count yourself lucky that the obsession has not taken hold

One my vintage MoA Joe the rivets seem to be an alloy and the corrosion is no where near as bad as on the chromed steel VAM ones.
My weapon of choice is a fibreglass pencil/brush but would consider a nail buffer for the Joe - nice tip TOMK

I look forward to seeing more progress on this.