Action Man Paratrooper.

[Harry Faversham]

Back in the day, all us kids would get together with our Action Men and have a game, using Battle: Practical Wargaming rules. So this came as a nice trip down memory lane.
Got gifted an Action Man the other day in the Occifer's Mess, my mate's idea of a piss take. He's stopped laughing now, after I told him that particular figure's worth 150 dumpers!
Only thing missing was his SLR and a Red Beret. Fleabay's provided the popgun, and a junk shop in Grimsby had a box of bits, from which a Beret was extracted.
Now got a perfect Action Man British Para, for whom I have a cunning plan. At the upcoming Falklands anniversary do, I'll give him to my other mate who's a Veteran of that war, he'll love it. Interesting thing about Action Man's Bren Gun, even back in the day I thought it looked somewhat dodgy, wrong shaped barrel and not enough bend on the mag. I knew exactly wot a Bren looked like from mi' Victor and Commando comics.
Looking at one recently I realised it's a 7.62 version, barrel similar to the SLR and a less curved mag for the big punchy round, perfect. My mate definitely toted one in Bandit Country, can't remember if he did in the Falklands, though. But I'll get one anyway, dressing the little bleeder this morning was like a trip back to the sixties in Doctor Who's TARDIS!

 

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Did you have the - supposedly - working parachute? I did but the one time I attempted a drop from my bedroom window, it failed to open, ending my airborne force’s career before it had really begun. I never found out what the recommended altitude for deploying it was, but it certainly wasn’t the first floor (2nd floor for US readers).

[modelwarrior]

I cannot believe the prices those things go for. £150 seems cheap from what I can see on fleabay.

[Harry Faversham]

Did you have the - supposedly - working parachute?

Yep, me and our kid thought big, even in those far off days.
With both sisters deployed on the D/Z, me and our kid took off. Action Man Red Devil hit the silk from the top of Boston Stump, the Parachute deployed perfectly. Down floated Action Man, sadly we'd underestimated the crosswind. Our Hero floated out of the Church grounds, sisters in hot pursuit. They were brought up short by the river. We watched in stunned disbelief as the little fella landed on a giant barge and floated away. In those days it's next stop would be Holland, kind of fitting, though it didn't feel like it at the time!

The Stump!

 

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

I don’t remember the jump suit but I suppose I must have had it. What I do remember is the space suit and helmet one of my Action Men donned before entering the Apollo space capsule. Fortunately I never attempted to launch it as I had a vague understanding of the hazards of re-entry.

[AzSteven]

I had a GI Joe Action Soldier figure that followed me on every deployment after commissioning in 1986.  He now sits on a shelf in my home office!

[CapnJim]

Cool!  Ii have a pile of GI Joes. but I have a very similar Action Man.  A new(ish) one I picked up at a toy shop in Stirling (Scotland) in '08.

[Storm Wolf]

Ah Action Man, fond memories, alas my parachute also failed to deploy from my bedroom window to a resounding thwack as he hit the concrete floor. He never broke though  .

I also had the submarine, which dived but never resurfaced and had to be hauled out of the water butt 

I brought my son one in the late 90s early 2000's and they were rubbish, no grippy hands or stubble hair or eagle-eyes pah pants! 

Something else I wish I had kept, but Girls and booze and music had hove into the horizon.

[carlos marighela]

I saw something somewhat rarer at Model Expo's 'bring and buy' a few years back, it was the Airfix plastic SLR, the one that had a working trigger and came with a bayonet etc. Was somewhat tempted but the asking price was a bit rich. I regret that now having seen the asking price online.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

I’ve never seen the Airfix SLR, and didn’t actually know they’d made such an item. How did it compare with a Johnny Seven?

[carlos marighela]

No idea but this was probably around 1/4/ or 1/3 scale, so perfect for infant hands. Pretty detailed item. I believe they also made a Tommy gun but have never, physically, clapped eyes on one.

[carlos marighela]

Here you go.

[Gundamentalist 5.56]

Ah the memories.
I had two as a boy. The barrel was very prone to snapping whilst in the service of small boys
I vaguely remember the Tommy gun in the toy shop but none of the other boys had one, the SLR was the preferred gun du jour.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Thanks. I’d assumed it was life-size, which I suppose it was if you were three or four. Not remotely comparable to a Johnny Seven, which was meant to be fired, and had a built-in grenade-launcher. I never had one, alas.

[carlos marighela]

Apparently this thing did actually fire ( didn't have one myself, only saw one at a show). Little silver plastic bullets with a range of about 2 feet.