Cocktail Man

 Whenever I see cocktail swords I think of Action Man! 

Stuff like the gorgeous dress uniforms.

Will they fit in his hands? 

Have you any household items that would look good with Action Man or GI Joe readers? 

One Man Custom: My Home-Made Johnny Seven

Since childhood and my parents giving me a Johnny Seven one Christmas I've always loved this classic Topper toy rifle.

Like all my old toys I guess it went to Preston's landfill back in the mid-Seventies.

Remembering how much I loved it, in 2000 I bought myself a boxed Johnny Seven at the NEC's Memorabilia show. It was from an affable young dealer called Ian and cost £300, the most I've ever spent on a collectable.

It's tucked safely away in the attic.

 I do occasionally get it out on maneuvers!

I restored another Johnny Seven in 2007 for re-sale, replacing some missing parts with original and repro replacements.

I blogged about it some years back, the post comments becoming a sort of talking shop for J7 restorers! 

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2018/04/rebuilding-johnny-seven-one-man-army.html?m=1

And so to the present. Having finished my Secret Sam rifle recently I was looking for something else to make, when I came across a bunch of old Nerf guns at the Thorpe Arch boot sale. Bingo! £4 later I had my raw materials for making a ........

..... Johnny Seven! 

With a good dose of bits from my bits box and a pair of plastic shoe horns the toy began to take shape.

A couple of home-made missiles completed the look.

Dipping my toe into paint spraying for the first time, I took my mock-off in the garden ......

... And primed it red.

I made a whole armoury of missiles!

And here's Johnny! 

The One Man Army made in the kitchen! 

Hope you like it.

You can see it's a similar size to the original.

Phew! Boy, was it fiddly but lots of Topper fun! 

*

Next up, Redbox Secret Agent.

The Secret's Out: My Custom Topper Secret Sam Rifle and Attaché Case

 As a young agent I adored my Secret Sam attache case by Topper.

The black plastic case contained all the parts to make the secret rifle, together with a high scope, a message missile and camera.

The camera and toy bullet-firing pistol could be operated even when the case was shut! 

The camera actually took real pictures! 

One of the best toys I ever had, the rifle put together was a thing of beauty.

Here's the 1960s black and white TV ad.

https://youtu.be/5DkYTRYB6tU?feature=shared

After having so much fun on the Golden Sniper, I thought I'd have a crack at Secret Sam. 

I bought a suitable toy rifle on eBay for a tenner.

And I dropped on with this old Delsey briefcase for just £2 on eBay.

So, after a good few hours tinkering, sawing, glueing and painting, I came up with this:

The spirit of Secret Sam: scope, orange bits, chrome discs: I tried to get them all in. 

A car booter gave me two black plastic pipes earlier in the week and I just had to use them as a massive silencer. I know it's outside the 'scope' of Secret Sam, but hey, it's junior espionage! 

You can see the DIY orange message missile below the barrel.

I was going to saw off the stock to replicate Topper's detachable one, but it would have meant cutting through good battery wiring in the rifle, which powers some amazing light and sound effects, so I opted to leave it as is.

Besides, the rifle was a fit for the case, albeit very snug.

For the sake of completeness I made a white case tray and a small Sam pistol and added some toy bullets and an instamatic camera courtesy of my late Father in Law.

Oh, and that DIY message missile, which I forgot to put in.

Hope you like it.

Case closed!

DOCTOR McCOY'S SWEETENER

 

I always loved Bone's Tricorder on the original Star Trek.

Shaped like a medical cassette player, it was the little probe I liked the most, whirring up and down patients diagnosing cosmic aliments.

Well, I had to look twice at our new Hermesetas dispenser. It looks a lot like that Tricorder probe! 

Sweet! ha ha!

Have you any household objects that look like TV and film props?

Johnny Lemon: Another Squeeze

 This old lemon bottle reminded me how I used to do up Johnny Sevens.

These empty plastic lemon juices made ideal replacements for the top of one the Johnny Sevens missiles.

Have you any parts replacement hacks?

With blisters on my mind I be been thinking about mineral water. Bottles to be exact. The bulb headed ones offer plenty of curves for cutting out for those missing car domes. The bases too, a ring of mini domes! 

Your Captain Scarlet action figure may me missing his cap but never fear, the toothpaste cap replacement is here! 

Operation Soap Dish: The Moon Base HQ Computer Room

Progress on my home-made Triang Spacex Moon Base HQ. 

I give you ..... The Computer Room Module.

Lid to follow and more pods.

One small step.

See what you think.

DIG FOR VICTORY!

I'm always on the lookout for replacement Action Man equipment!

Made in Hong Kong for Hallmark of Kansas City, here's a bag of nifty plastic party picks that would sit well in Palitoy's Fighting Man's footlocker! A spade with a bayonet!

Can you think of any 'replacements' like this?

ROLL-ON NAVIGATOR

 

The Flight of the Navigator ship is on my mind and with Junior coming to Moonbase this week's half term break I need a quick method for him to make one up.

An empty Sure Deo-roller seemed an idea and covering it in tin foil was easy.

It was carried off in my Super King artic.

JOHNNY HEAVEN?

 I'm torn about military toys these days but as a kid in the Sixties I was as gung-ho as the next young sapper. 

My inner-child is still drawn towards any toys that remind me of those glory days doing battle with my friends with our plastic bazookas, mortars, grenades and Johnny Sevens. We were war-like baby boomers and that's the way it was.

I still have a Johnny Seven like I had back in 1965 or 6.

Its the most expensive vintage toy I've ever bought as a collector. It was in the dying moments of an NEC memorabilia fair circa year 2000 and having seen it earlier in the day I found myself back in front of the seller, a kindly young Yorkshire chap from Snape I think, asking that classic punter's question: what's your best price mate?

£300 later I walked off with a minty boxed One Man Army! I mean, just look at the old TV ad and you'll see why!

Did you have a Johnny Seven or any army toys?

So when I saw the Dorset Tank Museum Shop's online plastic arsenal I couldn't help enjoy a frisson of that old guilty pleasure recalling past bubblegum skirmishes in the back garden, where we just counted to ten if we were shot.

The Tank Museum offers cost a lot lot less and here's the best of the bunch. What do you think?

I had a mortar like this back then. Oh what fun we had.

This Bazooka looks terrific I have to say. In '67 we would have stormed the sandpit bunker to get it! There's been lots of bazookas over the years, many using ping pong balls, including a rare Dr. Who version we've covered before on MC. Did you have one of those?

The symbol of a Sixties childhood, the plastic GI helmet.

and maybe the best till last, this toy missile gun recalls my Johnny Seven's green massive anti-tank shell. With plastic ammo like that our frenemy opposition, hiding behind their deck chair barricades, would have surrendered before they could say Sekiden.

See anything you like in that Tank Museum shop?

Are you torn about military toys nowadays? Would you buy them for your kids/ grandkids for Christmas?

MAJOR REPLACEMENTS

 I've been thinking about cheaper replacements for Major Mat Mason Parts. 

Not that I have any Matt Mason anymore but I adored the Major as a nipper.

Consider the cool Matt helmet with that glorious visor.

Well howzabout Playmobil's Mars astronaut's helmet. OK its too small but darn it, that's the same visor design!

And what about Matt's wonderful little chrome tools like those binoculars.

Well, Playmobil have some Mars bins ready to go too!

Larger items are trickier and may need some proper upcycling to replace them. Take the Recono-Jet, that neat zip-line sled.

Well, you could always repurpose an old hairdryer like this Moulinex Jet.

and a base from an old calculator maybe.

The classic Moulinex drier gives further possibilities.

The fab MMM Space Bubble, the Major's posin' globe, could be made from a variety of clear spheres.

Here's some Amazon. Or maybe even find an old Ferrero Rocher gift ball. 

The white frame is a lot harder. I was thinking of a toy wheelbarrow frame?

What do you think?

Have you got any more Major upcycling ideas readers? The wackier the better!