Refs for the "lost range of 1984 '

Hi Folks

Just thought I would start up a Thread for some potential KB's for the "Lost range " from the 1984 Toy fair that got pulled.   

The main ref I have so far is the "Story of Action Man " DVD .



As far as I can ascertain - the range was rushed out as the "Wolf Pack" concept
got pulled.

Bob Brechin says it was put together using as much existing kit as possible , but with the addition of a new cammo uni . I guess its a development of the Special Team concept - the soldier of 20 years hence - hey thats now !! :histerica  :histerica 


If any one has any more background info on the range etc please post it here 

Here are some screen shots to start as a reference guide.

I'm going to start with trying to copy these lot 



Before I move onto these 



More complex stuff ! :eek: 

'Copters





Assault Craft


navy commando's ?





Revamped Training tower 



Urban Commando's ?



Demolition Engineer/Commando?



I did find rather tantalisingly , a couple of ref to some publicity shots on a old Vectis auction- so there is better info out there 





Hope you get inspired - I'm off to the spares box now to see what kind of 'homage' to the "Lost range of 1984 "I can come up with  

Take care 
Gunner

Excellent scouting report, Steve!

These look like some great figure ideas, some easier to do than others, but a great challenge for sure.

Loving the look of that grey wet suit!

Thanks,
Brian

Its such a shame the plug was pulled!

Hi Chaps

Keep the thoughts coming . SKJ has posted thetht Graound Assault Uni's are the same Cammo pattern. I've now got  some Ground Assault Unis on watch on e-bay -The grey/brown/ dye experiment is worth a go  

I have just started to play with the first ones after a rummage in my "bits and bobs" box  , Just to start to get the concept rolling. 

Here are the guys again.



And here is my first pass. Soldier 2 is there to show the helmet I think they are using, the German Para's . I'll get it painted up. Olive Green ? I may need help as I'm brown/green colour blind 



The pilot is using a plain brown flight suit which I think is an early Pilot set.He has a SAS Helmet on. The boots are a long brown VAM . They will need a medium grey? paint job.

The Officer has a standard army jumper and scarf . His trousers are  :MAM: for the moment until I can find those Luftwaffe pilot ones ! His boots are  MAM   to give an impression of the medium grey short boots. The open flack jacket is a black SAS one that was ripped so I have gaffer taped it and cut it to create the 'open jacket' effect . This too will need the grey paint. His low slung belt is standard as his holster and browning.His hat is RM artic - although by looking at the pics , I think it looks like a standard forage cap with a star badge.

The basic soldier uses an early issue jumper , a set of 58 webbing . The red head band is fashioned from electrical tape   . The Combats are plain green. He has a black HK (which needs a repair) and long boots which again would need a paint up.

Soldier 2
He is there to show the helmet mould I think they used ?- German Para- any ideas how to cast replica helmets any one ? Also if anyone has some first thoughts about replicating the stickers etc that would also be appreciated .



These are just for play- kind of 'riffing' on the idea .

Using '38 webbing and Russian helmet.


With German Para & MAM  Goggles - which works best ?



With a mate using  MAM  jacket & Russian helmet.


But VAM Para Pete Rayner is not so convinced ! 
 


More work needed....  but makes a start

Thanks for looking 
Gunner

Looking good Steve! great bashing mate!

Really like the pics Steve!

Epic thread idea.. love it

I've made my own VAM84 kitbash!



Find it here!

Very cool bash Ian!

excellent Bash Ian

good luck gunner with revamping them very good idea:!:

SlackElastic wrote:

Epic thread idea.. love it

Thanks Slack,

I'll be comping to you for advice about the the vehicles and dio's - Your threads are AWESOME !!

Wouldn't it be cool to do the full display ??? .... sorry I'm going for lie down now

Great thread & well bashed figures throughout.

Great stuff GM & AY!

Never seen those before. Nice job recreating them.

Great work Gunner, fantastic idea my friend!

The story so far...

Cliff has assigned Major Bradley to oversee SKJ HQ's contribution to the 'Lost range of 1984' thread.



Major Bradley considers it an honour to be give the job but wonders why he was chosen. Was it because the early 80's are his 'era' or because he's the highest ranking BPEE at the HQ? Er...no...actually it's because Bradley's wearing the Ground Assault uniform we need for the '84 bash!
 
Don't worry Major, that old uni was a bit tatty anyway and a better replacement is already on it's way from Ebay!



The master plan is to recreate one of the grey camo'd troops from the 1984 pictures so the brown GA uni was put on the hob in the dye stripper solution as per the instructions on the packet. The Uni promptly turned pink! ..and then bled out the background colour but left the camo. I would have left the uni to simmer longer but the kids were complaining that what ever I was cooking smelt terrible so I called it a day and rinsed off the uni.



When compared to an untouched example. It reminds me of the Para camo.



Now the base colour is white I'll see how it takes a grey dye. Hopefully it won't be a million miles away from what I'm after. We'll see.
..to be continued!

Looking great so far steve!it does have a hint of para about it Good call on the smells while dying the uni!, that will put the kids/ grandkids asking you too cook for them! Genius mate

Hi Steve,

Major Bradley looks great -Please thank him for his dedication to his new VAM84 mission.

The GA stripped out would work OK as a desert cammo and does really look similar the Para .

On the odd smells in the kitchen front...My lads comment when still at home was - Oh Dad's cooking - must be a Dad ingredient - which meant "hmm can't find that ingredient - wonder what else would substitute ...ah ha no baked beans - chick peas they'll do..."

The GA's I have got my eye's on E-bay don't finish for a few days ... will have to be patient !!

looking forward to the next instalment

Ps I Meant to say
Major Cliff does look very VAM84 already. Those 21C Uni's do look great .

Great work Steve, very brave of you experimenting on VAM clothing!

You'll start de carding next!

Beatlefan wrote:

Great work Steve, very brave of you experimenting on VAM clothing!

You'll start de carding next!

The grey dye arrived today so watch this space!!

Thanks for all the comments guys but...

Gunner Munro wrote:

Ps I Meant to say
Major Cliff does look very VAM84 already. Those 21C Uni's do look great .

Major! Major?? Cliff's a lifer and a Lieutenant colonel. Which is handy as my VAM collection is battalion sized!
..and I've already wondered why I'm messing around with dye when my existing 21st century urban camo uniforms looks like the '84 pics already!

Beatlefan wrote:

You'll start de carding next!

Don't be silly Richard, don't be silly!

somekindajoe wrote:

Gunner Munro wrote:

Ps I Meant to say
Major Cliff does look very VAM84 already. Those 21C Uni's do look great .

Major! Major?? Cliff's a lifer and a Lieutenant colonel. Which is handy as my VAM collection is battalion sized!

It's OK skj, Gunner called MacBeth a Captain, he didn't know, but MacBeth is a full blown Colonel. (Commander, formerly of the 22 SAS Regiment)

Great thread , I remember these from the V&A study day.

And dying a uniform Steve very brave , looks great