Watching you do this repair jobs takes me back to my childhood. When the O rings would break on my figures, I'd do the exact same thing only with rubber bands, lol; this was back in the mid 80's. Thank you for taking the time to shoot this tutorial, Michael!
Same here! I used the cheap tan rubber bands and just cut them and tied them off to be shorter since I didn't know where you could find new o-rings. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Have a great week!
A couple of years ago, I acquired most of a V1 Sgt. Slaughter (I already had the waist piece I got from a random lot of parts). Upon cleaning him, I discovered the back hole threads were completely stripped. I decided to epoxy the screw in place and it actually worked out pretty well. Then about a week ago, the O-ring broke. I've also had the same leg issues you had with Roadblock with a couple of my figures as well. The joys of vintage toys, eh? When I replaced all my original O-rings in 2019, I threw the old ones away. Nostalgia has its limits. Even for me. Nice to see your Beachhead still has his "most important piece" intact. Many others, including mine were not so fortunate. Great video, Michael!
I got my pieces from Small Joes in the mail today: O rings, stands, flamethrower and backpack for my childhood BATS figure and followed your instructions for the O ring. Worked really well! Type 2 from Small Joes fit great.
I use the thin o rings for all of them now. They don’t last as long, but it’s less stress on the plastic and gives more room for the arms. Also for guys like Mutt, sometimes I leave a gap or leave out the back screw entirely and use a small piece of sticky tac instead. Definitely recommend a separate hook tool. Great tip on slowly starting the screw. Can’t be too careful, they weren’t designed to last 40 years!
Michael, you're telling the truth about Tripwire. A few months ago, I was so excited to finally buy a complete Tripwire, because I never had him when I was a kid. Lo and behold, I was putting him on a stand for display, and *SNAP* his heel broke off. It also happened with Blowtorch, but luckily I had two of him. I've taken to displaying a lot of my Joes without the stands, if possible. Especially those 1982 Joes; they seem to be of a more brittle plastic than the rest and break very easily.
Great video! Will the correct size O ring prevent the loosening of the head once you put it back together? Great information about the O rings, the once I have are much smaller. Thank you for sharing!
For future reference: If you get hairline cracks in the screw posts like your Beach Head has (or just hairline cracks on figures in general), I'd recommend using some Tamiya Extra Thin plastic cement (either normal or limonene is fine, but is _has_ to be the Extra Thin type as that goes in via capillary action and doesn't leave much if any residue like the thicker type). That's fixed a _lot_ of cracked heels on my old Joes, as well as a cracked torso on an 86 Viper of mine. Those things hold just fine now! I've even seen people fix broken crotches with plastic cement.
Yup, I had Mutt crack on me as well. Also Frag Viper v1 has same plastic and brittleness. Mostly joes with that brown plastic get pretty brittle over the years. Special mention to Stalker v1 with that delicate green plastic.
This was a pretty cool GI Joe surgery crash course video. I did not know about the difference in size and gauge of O-rings based on years. You gave me an idea on how I can restore a vintage Cobra Blueshirt trooper with busted legs. Must of all, it shows how these figures were constructed yet very fragile. I remember thinking of these vintage toys as pieces of art. Thanks for a great video and future Sunday project to explore.
Thanks Droz, glad you enjoyed it. I took a lot of Joes apart when i was a kid to make custom combinations of parts and they were a lot tougher back then.
"These figures are getting more fragile by the year" Cobra Commander: "Did you hear that, Destro? If we only wait a couple of more years, we'll be able to eradicate the accursed GI Joes by simply knocking them over! Victory will be ours!" Destro: "Oh yes, that would be possible. EXCEPT IT HAPPENENS TO OUR FORCES AS WELL!!! Including us!"
Michael, where do I buy the two sizes of O-rings you have in this video? And what size are they? I think I'd prefer the skinnier ones. Like you show they don't put as much pressure on the peg.
That's how I have repaired all of my Joes, Michael. Zartan on the other hand, is a little trickier to do so. Check out the ToyPolloi vids on the Zartan subject. Very entertaining. Thank you my friend for showing us this excellent GI.JOE video. Nerdmasté!!
I like your video and my suggestion for the stands is test fit them first. If the stand is really tight then sand down the posts on the sides so the ankles don't break off.
Regarding the legs, the peg posts for the left and right are different sizes.. My suggestion is do one leg at a time. Right broken leg with right replacement leg and foot and the same way for the left. This process maybe time consuming but it's best to do it right and without mixing up parts. I hope this helps.
Hi Michael great review.. Hope u do more restorations like these in future.. By the way how do I know which o-rings are the thinner ones if I were to go online?
i lay my figures flat on the table while switching out the o-rings it makes it easier. I noticed the earlier joes from 82-84 were much more diffucult to change out the o-rings then the later ones 85-94. maybe because the swivel head was easier to switch out.
A little drop of crazy glue and baking powder in that crack. Boom. Solid as a rock ( i know you might not want to use crazy glue) i used that combo to fix my flagg mast
I have noticed that, even though 80-90% of the figures has the lower part of the legs interchangeable, the pegs in the thighs over time shapes the inside loop hole of the lower legs so that they need to be placed on the original thigh part as they have been mounted in the longest.
Hey Michael My GI Joe stands peg just broke off in my Bazookas foot anyway to know how to get it out of the heal??. He is my favorite character I have him next to my MOC sealed 1985 Bazooka on display so I really wanna get it out. I don't have a small enough drill bit is there any other ways to remove it??. I've got them out before but it's made the hole in heal bigger because I didn't have a small enough drill bit. So curious if there is any other ways.
I sometimes find (after o ring replacement) that after tightening the back screw there is a slight gap left between the front and back torsos. I don't know if that is a side effect of taking the figure apart or if some of them always had a little gap.
I love that the little voice in your head is Macho Man Randy Savage! I have never been a big pro wrestling fan, but I remember Macho Man, Hulk Hogan and guys like that. Especially Macho Man who was such a fun character even outside the ring. I think of his sayings sometimes too. My B.A.T. that my best friend gave me when we were little kids has snapped his O ring and has fallen apart. A friend on Star Wars, MOTU, G.I.Joe Action Figures Face Book Group recommended your video when I posted about this problem. For a bit, I considered buying a modern version of B.A.T. instead, but finally decided that it would be better to have my childhood B.A.T. on the shelf instead. Why did they think putting rubber O rings in these figures in the first place? Most other toy lines didn't use them. I think I have a few Black Hole and Buck Rogers ones that also have this system, but I'm glad that Star Wars doesn't because that's the majority of my toys. My best friend was the G.I. Joe nut among the kids I knew. Another kid was the Masters of the Universe nut. I was the big time Star Wars nut. Seemed like each of the kids I played with focused on a different toy line. I never got super into G.I. Joe, but my friend who was gave me this B.A.T. as well as a Storm Shadow and a Snake Eyes for my birthdays each year for the three years we lived near each other. I got him Star Wars figures for his birthdays. We each got each other figures that we seemed to enjoy most when we played at each other's houses. I think I got him Boba Fett, Republic Commando, and Hoth Commando as I recall. He liked those best because they reminded him of what he liked about G.I. Joes. I liked the ones he got me because I was super into robots and ninjas at the time. Still am I guess. Thanks for posting this! Thanks for showing the whole process without editing it heavily. I hate it when people show how to do something, but keep editing out the tricky bits or times when they have a little trouble themselves, thus making things look easier than they really are.
Watching this all I can think of is the cleaner guy from Toy Story 2 "He's For Display Only. If You Handle Him Too Much He's Not Gonna Last". Great video. 🙃
Michael krazy glue is good and all but I found Loctite brand super glue to be quite superior, its made in good ole Emerald Isle of Ireland. The Irish made a pretty darn good glue
Had two or three idential road blocks that busted exactly the same way - the plastic for Road Blocks legs are, in my opinion, notoriously brittle like that :-/ , on my fourth buildup of parts for my own Road Block in my collection and i dare not move him :-P
I repaired Zartan no problem. Squeeze adjustable wrench on right or left shoulder and on opposite side of the lower torso. Squeeze light untill you hear a little crack sound and then check
Me thinking while watching...what if and have you or anyone tried warming the figure slightly with a hair dryer to maybe loosen/soften the plastic so the post doesn't crack? Thoughts? I just got all my collection of Joe's and cobras and vehicles down from mom's attic a couple months ago and they've been there since I was in my early 20s....all bands are loose and now I'm SUPER nervous while watching this 😂😢. Side note I'm 48 now lol.
My Duke heel broke on one of them too so I can relate. They're not 100% risk free but I find them better than all the other stands because of the tapered peg. Still have to be careful. If you don't want to use stands with pegs, you can try the mini metal Kaiser doll stands that grab the figure around the waist. Those are much more expensive though.
@Michael Mercy a stands peg just broke off in my Bazookas foot anyway to know how to get it out of the heal??. He is my favorite character I have him next to my sealed 85 Bazooka so I really wanna get it out. I don't have a small enough drill bit is there any other ways to remove it??.
@@KirksCORNER1983 heat of the eye of a sewing needle red hot. Slide it in and let it cool completely. It'll pull right out. Use pliers so you don't burn yourself, yo joe.
One move i use for removing a broken peg from a knee without drilling is just use a good thigh piece. Where the knee peg is still attached. And use that to gently push out the broken peg. Works really well for me.
Watching you do this repair jobs takes me back to my childhood. When the O rings would break on my figures, I'd do the exact same thing only with rubber bands, lol; this was back in the mid 80's. Thank you for taking the time to shoot this tutorial, Michael!
Same here! I used the cheap tan rubber bands and just cut them and tied them off to be shorter since I didn't know where you could find new o-rings. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Have a great week!
A couple of years ago, I acquired most of a V1 Sgt. Slaughter (I already had the waist piece I got from a random lot of parts). Upon cleaning him, I discovered the back hole threads were completely stripped. I decided to epoxy the screw in place and it actually worked out pretty well. Then about a week ago, the O-ring broke. I've also had the same leg issues you had with Roadblock with a couple of my figures as well. The joys of vintage toys, eh? When I replaced all my original O-rings in 2019, I threw the old ones away. Nostalgia has its limits. Even for me. Nice to see your Beachhead still has his "most important piece" intact. Many others, including mine were not so fortunate. Great video, Michael!
I got my pieces from Small Joes in the mail today: O rings, stands, flamethrower and backpack for my childhood BATS figure and followed your instructions for the O ring. Worked really well! Type 2 from Small Joes fit great.
I use the thin o rings for all of them now. They don’t last as long, but it’s less stress on the plastic and gives more room for the arms. Also for guys like Mutt, sometimes I leave a gap or leave out the back screw entirely and use a small piece of sticky tac instead. Definitely recommend a separate hook tool. Great tip on slowly starting the screw. Can’t be too careful, they weren’t designed to last 40 years!
Michael, you're telling the truth about Tripwire. A few months ago, I was so excited to finally buy a complete Tripwire, because I never had him when I was a kid. Lo and behold, I was putting him on a stand for display, and *SNAP* his heel broke off. It also happened with Blowtorch, but luckily I had two of him.
I've taken to displaying a lot of my Joes without the stands, if possible. Especially those 1982 Joes; they seem to be of a more brittle plastic than the rest and break very easily.
I just had to replace an o-ring on my 1990 General Hawk which was MOC...your video helped me learn how to do this. Thank you
Great video! Will the correct size O ring prevent the loosening of the head once you put it back together? Great information about the O rings, the once I have are much smaller. Thank you for sharing!
Follow up, if you replace the O ring with the correct size, will the head tighten back up? Thanks again, you have gained a new follower/fan!
I’m a simple man. I have only one vintage Joe in my collection, but I see a toy repair video and I watch 😁
😁
For future reference: If you get hairline cracks in the screw posts like your Beach Head has (or just hairline cracks on figures in general), I'd recommend using some Tamiya Extra Thin plastic cement (either normal or limonene is fine, but is _has_ to be the Extra Thin type as that goes in via capillary action and doesn't leave much if any residue like the thicker type). That's fixed a _lot_ of cracked heels on my old Joes, as well as a cracked torso on an 86 Viper of mine. Those things hold just fine now! I've even seen people fix broken crotches with plastic cement.
Yup, I had Mutt crack on me as well. Also Frag Viper v1 has same plastic and brittleness. Mostly joes with that brown plastic get pretty brittle over the years. Special mention to Stalker v1 with that delicate green plastic.
True. My V1 Stalker broke as well. He's very brittle.
This was a pretty cool GI Joe surgery crash course video. I did not know about the difference in size and gauge of O-rings based on years. You gave me an idea on how I can restore a vintage Cobra Blueshirt trooper with busted legs. Must of all, it shows how these figures were constructed yet very fragile. I remember thinking of these vintage toys as pieces of art. Thanks for a great video and future Sunday project to explore.
Thanks Droz, glad you enjoyed it. I took a lot of Joes apart when i was a kid to make custom combinations of parts and they were a lot tougher back then.
@@MichaelMercy I used to do the same thing. It is a fun way to streatch your imagination and create your own characters.
Thanks for the video, found my Outback Tiger Force that needed a new ring. This was very helpful!
"These figures are getting more fragile by the year"
Cobra Commander: "Did you hear that, Destro? If we only wait a couple of more years, we'll be able to eradicate the accursed GI Joes by simply knocking them over! Victory will be ours!"
Destro: "Oh yes, that would be possible. EXCEPT IT HAPPENENS TO OUR FORCES AS WELL!!! Including us!"
Michael, where do I buy the two sizes of O-rings you have in this video? And what size are they? I think I'd prefer the skinnier ones. Like you show they don't put as much pressure on the peg.
Wow on the edge of my seat the whole time. Well done surgeon.
Thanks! 😁
where do you get your type1 o rings from? searching ebay for type 1 o rings but it only shows the thick ones like the type 2's. thanks on advance!
smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi
That's how I have repaired all of my Joes, Michael. Zartan on the other hand, is a little trickier to do so. Check out the ToyPolloi vids on the Zartan subject. Very entertaining. Thank you my friend for showing us this excellent GI.JOE video. Nerdmasté!!
I love watching Toypolloi, it's so interesting!
I like your video and my suggestion for the stands is test fit them first. If the stand is really tight then sand down the posts on the sides so the ankles don't break off.
Regarding the legs, the peg posts for the left and right are different sizes.. My suggestion is do one leg at a time. Right broken leg with right replacement leg and foot and the same way for the left. This process maybe time consuming but it's best to do it right and without mixing up parts. I hope this helps.
Hi Michael great review.. Hope u do more restorations like these in future.. By the way how do I know which o-rings are the thinner ones if I were to go online?
You can get a oring pick kit for cheap and would help with the install smaller and less stress on the figure itself .
Where do you get the thin o-rings? All I see is the thick o-rings
i lay my figures flat on the table while switching out the o-rings it makes it easier. I noticed the earlier joes from 82-84 were much more diffucult to change out the o-rings then the later ones 85-94. maybe because the swivel head was easier to switch out.
A pen vice to hold your small drill bit is a lot easier than the drill. Great vid.
Can you please provide the name of the ebay seller who is selling the 82 package o rings?
A little drop of crazy glue and baking powder in that crack. Boom. Solid as a rock ( i know you might not want to use crazy glue) i used that combo to fix my flagg mast
I have noticed that, even though 80-90% of the figures has the lower part of the legs interchangeable, the pegs in the thighs over time shapes the inside loop hole of the lower legs so that they need to be placed on the original thigh part as they have been mounted in the longest.
Hey Michael My GI Joe stands peg just broke off in my Bazookas foot anyway to know how to get it out of the heal??. He is my favorite character I have him next to my MOC sealed 1985 Bazooka on display so I really wanna get it out. I don't have a small enough drill bit is there any other ways to remove it??. I've got them out before but it's made the hole in heal bigger because I didn't have a small enough drill bit. So curious if there is any other ways.
I sometimes find (after o ring replacement) that after tightening the back screw there is a slight gap left between the front and back torsos. I don't know if that is a side effect of taking the figure apart or if some of them always had a little gap.
Same here. Pretty sure the gap wasn't there before taking it apart.
I love that the little voice in your head is Macho Man Randy Savage! I have never been a big pro wrestling fan, but I remember Macho Man, Hulk Hogan and guys like that. Especially Macho Man who was such a fun character even outside the ring. I think of his sayings sometimes too.
My B.A.T. that my best friend gave me when we were little kids has snapped his O ring and has fallen apart. A friend on Star Wars, MOTU, G.I.Joe Action Figures Face Book Group recommended your video when I posted about this problem. For a bit, I considered buying a modern version of B.A.T. instead, but finally decided that it would be better to have my childhood B.A.T. on the shelf instead.
Why did they think putting rubber O rings in these figures in the first place? Most other toy lines didn't use them. I think I have a few Black Hole and Buck Rogers ones that also have this system, but I'm glad that Star Wars doesn't because that's the majority of my toys. My best friend was the G.I. Joe nut among the kids I knew. Another kid was the Masters of the Universe nut. I was the big time Star Wars nut. Seemed like each of the kids I played with focused on a different toy line.
I never got super into G.I. Joe, but my friend who was gave me this B.A.T. as well as a Storm Shadow and a Snake Eyes for my birthdays each year for the three years we lived near each other. I got him Star Wars figures for his birthdays. We each got each other figures that we seemed to enjoy most when we played at each other's houses. I think I got him Boba Fett, Republic Commando, and Hoth Commando as I recall. He liked those best because they reminded him of what he liked about G.I. Joes. I liked the ones he got me because I was super into robots and ninjas at the time. Still am I guess.
Thanks for posting this! Thanks for showing the whole process without editing it heavily. I hate it when people show how to do something, but keep editing out the tricky bits or times when they have a little trouble themselves, thus making things look easier than they really are.
You're like the Bob Ross of Joe repairs.
😊
Any recommendation to looses screws that are rusted and won’t turn? I have heard WD40?
A quick tip- some penetrating fluid like WD40 might help get those rusty screws out. Of course you’ll have to clean it after.
Thanks! Got a lot more of them to go through and that will hopefully save some posts.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Does someone know how to change the o-ring for static waist figures?? Lamprey V3 in particular
2006 PIT VIPER (ORIGINAL VIPER MOLD) pain in the ass. but done. thanks for your help. Damn Viper heads are a pain....
Had same issue as beach head. (broken pin) plastic weld is amazing.
I wonder if you could use plastic jb weld to recreate the post?
Sou do Brasil amo essa coleção
Every one I've repaired, the head is very loose. Any advice?
Give the ball joint a coat of clear nail polish.
Watching this all I can think of is the cleaner guy from Toy Story 2 "He's For Display Only. If You Handle Him Too Much He's Not Gonna Last". Great video. 🙃
Thanks!
Michael krazy glue is good and all but I found Loctite brand super glue to be quite superior, its made in good ole Emerald Isle of Ireland. The Irish made a pretty darn good glue
Had two or three idential road blocks that busted exactly the same way - the plastic for Road Blocks legs are, in my opinion, notoriously brittle like that :-/ , on my fourth buildup of parts for my own Road Block in my collection and i dare not move him :-P
As a kid I use to take my joes apart and make simple customs doing this.
Is eBay the best place for getting both types of o rings? All I see are the fatter rings
smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/pgen.cgi?CatId=57&Stage=5 You can find the thinner ones here.
We've all heard of Gold Plastic Syndrome, but now Peanut Brittle Syndrome? Great vid! Harrowing at times too lmao!
from my experience the thicker ones stretch out and are better overall in the long run.
Thanks, Michael. Now we know....
Anyone got any tips on a loosen head/neck
Take the figure apart and apply some clear nail polish on the ball on the end of the neck to create more friction.
@@MichaelMercy ok will give it a shot, thanks for the tip and response!
I dread the day when my Zartan and his siblings O-rings break. That will not be fun. Great stuff as always, take care.
I repaired Zartan no problem. Squeeze adjustable wrench on right or left shoulder and on opposite side of the lower torso. Squeeze light untill you hear a little crack sound and then check
Put a small cloth towel inside the wrench to protect the plastic. There is a video of this on UA-cam.
@@Christian-xc9bh thank you I will check it out.
Me thinking while watching...what if and have you or anyone tried warming the figure slightly with a hair dryer to maybe loosen/soften the plastic so the post doesn't crack? Thoughts? I just got all my collection of Joe's and cobras and vehicles down from mom's attic a couple months ago and they've been there since I was in my early 20s....all bands are loose and now I'm SUPER nervous while watching this 😂😢. Side note I'm 48 now lol.
Cool video. Using a hairpin will ease passing the o-ring through the crotch piece. 😊👍
Repairing is half the battle!
Breaking is the other half? 😄
Man... that's a torture movie. The RoadBlock legs ... heat the plastic when stucked and save te peace
Won't help, it's too old and brittle.
Good Job!!! Assemble the troops!!!
always stretch out the thicker o rings before you put them in.
These stands are horrible they break heals off my Dukes heal broke recently.. and it's pissed me off..
My Duke heel broke on one of them too so I can relate. They're not 100% risk free but I find them better than all the other stands because of the tapered peg. Still have to be careful. If you don't want to use stands with pegs, you can try the mini metal Kaiser doll stands that grab the figure around the waist. Those are much more expensive though.
@@MichaelMercy I shouldn't have put duke on a stand
@Michael Mercy a stands peg just broke off in my Bazookas foot anyway to know how to get it out of the heal??. He is my favorite character I have him next to my sealed 85 Bazooka so I really wanna get it out. I don't have a small enough drill bit is there any other ways to remove it??.
@@KirksCORNER1983 heat of the eye of a sewing needle red hot. Slide it in and let it cool completely. It'll pull right out. Use pliers so you don't burn yourself, yo joe.
I do lots
Oh wow I wish you would've did this video years ago Mike before I threw my broke rubber Joes away 😣😣😣😳
One move i use for removing a broken peg from a knee without drilling is just use a good thigh piece. Where the knee peg is still attached. And use that to gently push out the broken peg. Works really well for me.
Neat.
🤘👽🤘