Action Man Paratrooper.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

These miniature firearms have somehow entirely escaped my notice until now even though I would have been of an age to encounter them. Returning to Action Man / GI Joe, however, I recall that the 81 mm - I would assume - mortar had a pretty strong spring which imparted a fairly impressive parabola on the projectile, though its range was not remotely in scale with the figures. I never tired of firing mine.

[carlos marighela]

I had the old Britain's 8" howitzer as a boy*. It had little plastic shells that fitted into a brass case with an internal spring mechanism. When fired from the gun they whizzed the length of the corridor, maybe 20 or more feet and would bowl over any 54mm plastic soldier daft enough to be in their way. Definitely not eye safe. Beat the piss and pick handles out of the 4.5" howitzer and 5.5" gun which IIRC fired match sticks.



*Actually I still have it somewhere minus the ammo.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Another one I missed. The mortar aside, my experience with ‘working’ ordnance has been deeply disappointing, from the pitiful match-stick-firing die-cast guns of unknown calibre to the missile on the Dinky Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle from Captain Scarlet, which flopped onto the carpet on release, which was in any case academic as it invariably fired prematurely (I only discovered the metaphorical significance of this much later). Only fractionally better was the Britain’s Revolutionary War cannon, which fired tiny ball bearings less than its own length. The same company’s medieval ballista comfortably exceeded this, while still failing to meet reasonable expectations of what such a weapon should accomplish. I have only seen one weapon of this approximate scale that seemed to come close to displaying the power of its real-life counterpart: the catapult by Hausser / Elastolin that I acquired as an adult and still like to play with. Mine is the 40 mm version. I would imagine that its 70 mm counterpart, assuming it exists, is more impressive still.

[carlos marighela]

I hope you aren't suggesting that Captain Scarlet suffered from a hair trigger?  He did seem to get a metaphorical lump in his throat whenever he interacted with Destiny Angel.  Poor lass, such a disappointment. Damn those Mysterons and their infernal powers! 

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

That particular thought never entered my head. (It was only when, long after parting with the model, for some reason I found myself describing  my frustration with the vehicle’s firing mechanism - this occurring as part of a random digression during a game of D&D - and one of the players admitted - no doubt for humorous effect - to suffering from a similar dysfunction that the appositeness of the metaphor first struck me).

I’m now getting all nostalgic for the TV series and TV21 comic, which accepted readers as Shades, issuing ID cards to any applicant who forwarded a postal order of the correct denomination. Nobody wanted to be a Mysteron, I suppose.

[carlos marighela]

That particular thought never entered my head. (It was only when, long after parting with the model, for some reason I found myself describing  my frustration with the vehicle’s firing mechanism - this occurring as part of a random digression during a game of D&D - and one of the players admitted - no doubt for humorous effect - to suffering from a similar dysfunction that the appositeness of the metaphor first struck me).

Talking about over sharing. 

I take it from that day forth your chum became known as Quick Draw McGraw?

[Harry Faversham]

The barrel was very prone to snapping whilst in the service of small boys

My mate's Dad was a television engineer, bits of broken tele ariels in his shed. When the barrel snapped of yer SLR, you nipped to Graham's house. Sawed a bit of ariel off, it fitted in the SLR perfect! You bunged the broken bit back on, then back to battle!
 

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Talking about over sharing. 

I take it from that day forth your chum became known as Quick Draw McGraw?

No-one judged him, at least on that basis. The nickname that stuck was Tangent Tim.

[Harry Faversham]

Now mine's a PROPER Action Man!!!

 

[serran]

I had one (very fond memories) but only accurate up to 18 inches....