Blood for the Baron!

Hi all . . . sorry it's been a while!

It's also been quite a while since I looked at my Vintage Action Men (stuff cluttering up the display cabinets meant I couldn't get inside). Tonight, having moved everything to a new room, I've been looking over the VAM that I had displayed. I was quite horrified to find that some of the replacement 40th hands had melted a number of vintage weapons beyond repair!

Has anyone else come across this problem and are there any known causes so I can avoid the same thing happening again . . . heads to eBay to replace the damaged weapons!

It hasn't happened to me, but it is a common issue. It seems to affect earlier hands more than later ones. You might find the currently available ones will be OK. Have a look at Cotswold's for replacements, I'd bet they would be OK.

You are right Chopper, the early issued 40th gripping hands were a lighter flesh color that caused problems, the later reddish colored grippers seem to be ok. I think you'll find that certain vintage toy plastic is not compatible with the next, the same melt mark thing can occur, it's a chemical reaction, so it's not specifically a AM 40th problem and quite common. To use those grippers without problems you should cut small squares from clear polythene bags and place them between the offending hands and weapon, also add a bit of talcum powder to the gripping hands. I had problems with a MAM mountain bike rider set, the handle bar grips have a paint finish that seems to stick to Action Man's hands and peeled off after a long period of time, so I have added plenty of talcum powder to the figure's hands, I've seen some of the later sets having small strips of polythene placed between the hands and handlebars.

I haven't heard of this being an issue in a few years, I suspect ML and Cotswold have it right now. I need to get a few too. Some of my VAM can't pick their noses.

Red Baron wrote: I was quite horrified to find that some of the replacement 40th hands had melted a number of vintage weapons beyond repair!