Can a Mattel 1971 VertiBird be brought back to life?

[@RandiRain]

Just to head it off at the pass... There's no big conspiracy about the numbers written on my hand. I forgot all about it. That was my order number for local pick up at Home Depot.

[@samuelstinson3274]

I thought it was like a Konami code!

[@ElliotFlowers]

@Jeffery Amherst How do you write a phone number on your hand? Are you serious?

[@frac]

Of course, your Home Depot pick up WAS a Necronomicon...

[@georgemartinez1720]

Ya apart only what necessary And put cables and wires to the side attach

[@georgemartinez1720]

Another awsome Project and another Toy Saved

[@MrGlobaldave1]

Randi- THIS WAS AWESOME! As a 65 yr old toy collector and Mr fix it ( not as intense as you are..3d printer & decals) I can truly appreciate the fact you bring these back to life! Thanks for sharing! I bet you were super giddy with this one. 😊

[@zeemeister85016]

I've never met Randi but I strongly feel she's the ONLY woman that would truly understand me... and she's most likely got superglue on her fingers most of the time.

[@VictorCampos87]

I came from the *_8-Bit-Guy_*_ "Vintage Hearoid Robot Restoration"_ and it was a pleasure to know your channel!

[@touchef12]

same for me :-)

[@SeanMalseed]

same

[@normlor]

WE BOUGHT THIS AS ADULTS ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO FLY THIS!!

[@stevendegiorgio3143]

You my kind of girl.Your mechanically inclined And like vintage Aviation toys.I had the verdibird when I was a kid,I played with it for hours.great video

[@LargeAlbatross]

I know this is 2 years old but holy shit, good work.

[@X-Gen-001]

I'm The Whizz and nooobody beats me! lol. Very nice result on the VertiBird. Great work.

[@robinbrowne5419]

When I was in college my roommate had one of these helicopters and we kept it on the coffee table in the middle of our dorm room. Everyone took turns colouring it with felt pens, and we used to use it for "cigarette" delivery :-)

[@cleidsonaraujopeixoto163]

The 8-Bit guy brought me here. The sheer amount of dedication You have, Randi, is what made me stay. Subbed!

[@bethaltair812]

Same here! Love the channel, thank you!

[@Louis-qi1gz]

One of my favorite toys back in about 1974 but when the batteries get low it wouldn't lift a fart but still was educational and the cat hated it , I never thought I would ever see on a hand held computer , a cool lady who knows how to rebuild one of these ,, thanks for showing the Verty Bird 🔧🔧🔧🔧

[@brianralph5036]

I think I'm in love I have never known a woman to be interested in fixing these awesome old toys.

[@spooktasticaparanormal]

Hi Randi, what a genius you truly are. By watching your videos I have learnd so much stuff that will enable me to take on more chalenging projects in my vintage audio repairs especially with making missing plastic parts. Kind regards. Paul.

[@RandiRain]

Glad it has helped you. That is one of my goals in making these videos.

[@spooktasticaparanormal]

@@RandiRain god bless you my friend you are so gifted. Love and light. Paul.

[@johnd1432]

Randi, that was fascinating to watch. Your skills are amazing. Thanks!

[@RandiRain]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@tarstarkusz]

4:05 Mattel plays second to NOBODY in the childproofing of their toys. Even Fisher Price isn't as bad as Mattel. But, it kinda makes sense. Most of their toys are for very small children who like to put things in their mouths. The LAST thing Mattel of FP wants is for some kid's mouth to get cut up by plastic. I can remember as a kid trying to get into an old speak and spell or one of those type pull the string things. Man that thing was difficult to get apart. Probably 45 years ago (I suppose I was about 7 or 8) and I can still remember how difficult it was. Of course, being an 8 year old, after gentle persuasion failed, I chose the hammer and smash on the pavement method.

[@tarstarkusz]

Nice job on the resto-mod.

[@legacydepot]

Here from 8-bit-guy's channel Proper restoration and engineering skills on the Hearoid! Earned my sub immediately :D

[@PCBSLC]

Saw the same vid. So impressed with the molding and fabrication of the broken parts! Most would stop given these challenges, not Randi! Instant sub!

[@Steve-of8zo]

Wow. Amazing job. I've seen one for sale advertised as "not sure if it works". I can do small fixes but couldn't know where to start with yours.

[@hiddenhistoryny129]

8-bit Guy brought me here, as soon as I saw your video list I subscribed. Awesome stuff!

[@terrybrown6057]

Great video, I spent HOURS playing with my vertibird... Best toy ever.. Although FLIGHT DECK came close. One thing I remember was that anything you try to hook up has to be very light, it's not got the power even when new.

[@matiasarttin6530]

Watching again this video, your hands are pure magic for these toys!

[@zinobi]

That is some truly outstanding reconstructive surgery!

[@TheLetterTen]

Saw you on 8 bit guy's video, was pleasantly surprised! Instant fan!

[@wolfchacer0139]

Born in 71 as well and I still think we had the best toys ever! ;) Great video, I remember getting one of these in 78 or 79 and playing with it non stop! Finally got it down where I could get that dang road block picked up lol

[@lunarmodule6419]

I remember the road block sign to pickup! Was it orange?

[@8-bitsteve500]

omg! that brings back so many memories, I loved my Vertibird and played with it for 100's of hours. What a great toy it was.

[@vhm14u2c]

I had a vertibird coast guard ship in early 70s. It was cool while it lasted, about a year or less. I’m sure most of it’s parts are in a landfill today somewhere.

[@rayjohannsson6351]

I had a vertibird when I was a kid. Great to see you got this one fully working again

[@shinjiikarir]

I was blown away when you made it work. New subscruber.

[@rayjohnson4395]

Nice video, ive found 24 hours In vinegar will remove all that rust and make it look new

[@bernardstander7642]

One of my favorite fixes. I had one as a child and I still have it in my storage!!!

[@Ka9radio_Mobile9]

I had one in 1972, the best toy I ever had! Thank for the video! :-)

[@daves4386]

11/10⭐️ Given the condition that it started out in, that’s one of the most amazing rebuilds that I’ve ever seen!

[@billporter6592]

I love this ! I wish I had another one. I got one when I was 11 and my cousin broke it before I could play with it on Christmas day.

[@lellowranger]

Randi I just discovered you from 8 Bit Guy's Hearoid video and I'm instantly in love with your channel! It's so lovely watching you fix stuff, keep it up!

[@lunarmodule6419]

Got this toy in 1974 😃

[@lurch666]

For connecting the helicopter drive to the spring it was originally soldered. This was done so if the blades got caught in anything the solder would fail but the rotor blades would not be broken.

[@RandiRain]

I didn't think I had anything that could solder the steal rod and spring. I didn't even try. Urethane holds like a beast.

[@lurch666]

@@RandiRain I used a standard soldering iron. It's tricky but possible. The problem with fixing it too well is if the rotors hit anything the rotor might break or the motor overheat but as long as you are careful flying it shouldn't be a problem. Guess they were thinking about kids using it.... The look on your face when you were flying it was the same as mine when I managed to pick one up last year. I had owned one as a kid but forgot what an exhilarating experience it is flying it.

[@jeffskogstad985]

This video is a fantastic resource! I was about to donate my non-working VertiBird until I saw Randi's repair. Seeing how the base came apart helped a ton. I cut slowly with an X-acto knife for about 1.5 sides. Then, I was able to pry apart remainder with a spudger while cutting. Separation went way faster and cleaner at that point. Lots of corrosion in mine. I'll keep following your repair and hope to have the same success you did!

[@jimdep333]

You have the patience of a saint

[@Triatharob]

This is a true restoration video, not like all the fake ones out there!! Beautifully done and with one of my favorite toys as a kid, too! Many thanks!! 🙏🏼❤️

[@RandiRain]

Thank you very much!

[@stmchale]

Amazing. I had one of these as a kid growing up.

[@Allen-by6ci]

Man that brings back memories. I never had one, but I played with one at my friend's house. Awesome toy...

[@MECHALABS]

WOW! I Cant believe you were able to bring this one back to life. Truly amazing. I had this as a child. Your refurbished vertibird flies better than mine ever did!

[@RandiRain]

I was pretty shocked myself. I figured it would do something, but not work perfectly.

[@stevewages]

I had one of these as a kid and loved it. Not surprising they are worth a lot on eBay.

[@calikalbocalikalbo6082]

She is awesome. I had one and it's still my favorite toy.

[@yohanfuretro-love.8306]

You really can bring anything back to life again girl.👍

[@BucolicDeflagration]

watching it fly after all of your hard work felt so satisfying. that was awesome

[@NoName-sb9tp]

the 8 bit guy got me here. Permanently subbed now! Great work!

[@alerey4363]

Holy recalls Batman! I remember waaay back in my childhood playing with a variant of this toy in my cousin's house: it was a yellow airplane with the same twin stick controls and the central "air traffic tower" with the rotary motor and a "radar" counter weight to balance it; although the heli is clever because it lifts itself with the prop!

[@shawnswitenky1158]

Randi, you deserve more subscribers. That was fun! I remember that the original came with a sheet of stickers. Applying them was part of the fun.

[@josefmechanic]

That’s amazing!! I love that! The 8-bit guy brought me here and I’m so glad he did!

[@dash8brj]

That toy was a complete wreck when you started, now that cute little helicopter lives to fly another day. What a neat toy too. Well done - came to your channel from My Mate Vince, after he fixed the Tomy "Spot" robot dog.

[@RandiRain]

Thank you... and thanks to Vince for letting everyone know.

[@chrisnizer1885]

That was amazing! Looks and works like brand new, only thing missing was the price tag. Thank you for the video Randi, good stuff indeed!

[@RandiRain]

Thanks for watching!

[@cliffk1313]

awesome job. i think on the one i had as a kid, the drive shaft wire was soldered to the drive spring. if your CA glue ever loses its bond there... Loved the video. Most impressive!!!

[@WysteriaGuitar]

Fantastic, I had two sets of these as a kid and loved them. Wish I still had them.

[@joohop]

Nice Work Earthling Bless Up

[@darthgoggins1747]

I love vertibirds. They made some more recently and may still be making them. I have one in the garage I forgot about. When the kids friends came over i used to blow their minds asking them if they'd like to fly the helicopter and they'd ask what system it was for ??? They enjoyed it much more than a video game believe me. You scared the crap out of me with that exacto knife. I've been cut too many times. Please be careful I'd hate to see you get hurt.

[@onesixfive]

How on earth you restored this horribly abused toy is beyond me. I cringed for about the first 10 min thinking there is just no way. If you hadn’t picked up the traffic barrier at the end I was going to scream. Amazing restoration!

[@tsartomato]

salvaged, not restored

[@jackbaxter-williams8059]

@@tsartomato Technically you're correct (technically is the best kind of correct). I think you're underlying point is that she is basically re-manufacturing components. It's when something is beyond repair... you just make it as good as it was, as best you can

[@angrydove4067]

Wow, that bird looked impossible to fix, great work! I had the original VertiBird when i was little, with the space capsule. I saw you on 8-Bit Guy too.

[@cvbabc]

LMAO. "That didn't work, they just melted back together." Reminds of, "Well it just shot across the room, I'll never find that again." I love that you leave that stuff in your videos Randi.

[@mandolinic]

Fine job you did. I'm very impressed. No screws, because Mattel deliberately made these toys so they didn't last. You bought one for your kid, it got played to death, broke, and was thrown away. And then Mattel could sell you another equally ephemeral toy with the same short lifespan. Today, we see it as a shocking waste of resources; but back then, no-one really cared.

[@AmericanThunder]

Nice work, it flies well. I loved this toy as a kid.

[@MarxKosmos1024]

Great job, Randi. The 8-Bit Guy brought me to your channel. I had the Vertiberd Airbourne Rescue Mission Set back in the day. I'm a big fan of TOMY as well. I'll be watching your vids on those soon.

[@user-cv2bh4gj6h]

Fantastic restoration I had that very same model.when i was a nipper i was thinking along the lines if making one for a school science project. But more detail how the pitch and rota drive work is needed thank you for the great tutorial and happy new year to you.

[@evildan]

I had one as a kid. Spent hours playing with that thing. Great, no....fricking AMAZING refurb job!!

[@jacquelinearcuri6923]

Isn't it though? We all need to really help build this channel....

[@brucedoolin1692]

Amazing work. I am consuming all of your videos and you are amazing!

[@RandiRain]

Thank you... But maybe keep they older ones for last. I'm getting better.

[@chris415-a]

awesome job, glad I came across your channel.

[@powercouplefamily7555]

Excited to more of these extreme toy restorations

[@Wazoox]

Impressive job!

[@rob92026]

I had the same toy when I was 5! Good job on the restoration! If I remember, it also came with a small car that you could pick up with the hook. The idea was that you’d put the road block in front of the car (which was driven by the bad guys) forcing it to stop and then you would pick the car up and take them to jail ✌🏻 I also seem to recall there being a landing pad, a small square with the “H” landing pattern on it. Thank you for the great memories!

[@RandiRain]

Yes, it had a car, and this cardboard road as well.

[@petebutler5139]

1971?? You go girl! Looking good!

[@ericwillis777]

Great, bringing these things back to life is fascinating to watch, very inspirational !

[@jamesbaldwin2696]

Very nicely done Randi. I bought 6 Vertibirds off Ebay all in various states of disrepair. I'm hoping that I can repair at least four of them so they work. I loved my Vertibirds as a kid. I killed many batteries playing with them. Thank you for posting this. It gives me encouragement.

[@RandiRain]

Good luck

[@jamesbaldwin2696]

@@RandiRain Randi, If you wouldn't mind, would you post the materials you used to reproduce the control levers. I'm sure I will be needing to reproduce some of the parts.

[@curlybrace6694]

may be i'm not the first in comments here to say this, but whatever. I'VE NEVER KNEW THAT VERTIBIRDS IN FALLOUT WERE NAMED AFTER THAT TOY!!! i've never knew that there is such a toy. thank you! very interesting!

[@tiporari]

You deserve more subs. Excellent skill, craftsmanship, and an entertaining person to boot. Good luck! 👍

[@sagartie]

wow Randi Awesome video!! and i like those game/chopper handheld or .... thx !!!

[@RiccardoConturbia]

Oooooh I’m a new follower and I think you are a genius! You have amazing repairing skills!

[@RandiRain]

Thank you.

[@RichardDragon-m6k]

I absolutely loved watching your video fantastic job on restoring your helicopter I had one as a kid best toy I ever had sincerely love Richard ❤❤❤

[@RandiRain]

Thank you... This is a lot of people's favorite game/toy as a kid.

[@broski499]

I love seeing how when battery technology didn't allow for wireless controlled helicopters, engineers still found a way to make a toy that gave you a similar experience. Seriously though, the amount of dedication you put into these are amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[@RandiRain]

Thank you.

[@jeremyusbourne6289]

I got my own RC helicopter hun but nothing like this. Love your videos really like your tattoos too btw 😉 and you're such a talented girl XxxxxxxxX

[@sirferr3870]

Excellent refurb! Being born during the Summer of Love I must’ve asked for this 5 or 6 years in a row at every Christmas beginning in ‘72 lol. After a while all you had to find was the fat and heavy pack of “D” cell batteries during the traditional Pre-Christmas Christmas-Present Snoop and Sneak-A-Peek With Your Sibling(s) Sessions to know that it was gonna be another epic holiday guaranteed. I had forgotten how many different variations the VB had even after having 3 different types myself, the toy that never got old. Well, at least until the 45 degree angled spring connecting the power rod to the propeller shaft met shag carpet for the first time....but other than that yeah- good times!

[@andrewtaylor940]

A wonderful restoration. So great to see it flying again. I’m sure someone else has mentioned this, but you are missing 2 pieces. One being the key play item. The set included a strip of road. Easily replaced using a strip of road tape from either Lego or Model Railroad scenery. But it also came with the crooks red car. It was a hollow plastic shell car that had a roll bar/grab bar on the back. About the size of a hotwheels car.

[@RandiRain]

It was hard enough getting the other pieces light enough for it to pick up. I wasn't even going to try to make the car. My goal was just to get it to work again.

[@JRthepyroguy]

8-bit recommended your channel. Great contexts.

[@rtesimpson]

Subscribed...from 8-bit guy.

[@syntaxusdogmata3333]

Ditto here! 👍

[@zespy4148]

Love your videos thanks for the sharing!

[@RandiRain]

You are so welcome! I enjoy doing them.

[@clarencek3658]

8 bit brought me here! Great technical skills .. excited to see what your channel has to offer

[@saito125]

Best toy I ever had as a kid..

[@michaelreece458]

This is one of the best KZbin videos I've seen in a long time. You are quite talented and ingenious. Very well done, thank you for sharing.

[@RandiRain]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jacquelinearcuri6923]

Incredible as usual!!! The best channel around!! I'm convinced this channel will be a top channel...my favorite. Thank you so much Randi!!

[@RandiRain]

Thanks for the kind words.

[@mikecarter8880]

I had the Star Trek Enterprise version. :( Oh that must be worth lots now. Also had a helicopter version, don't think it was this one. Surprised I never sliced my eyeballs.

[@Diegor35]

Very nice!

[@SPEXWISE]

That was awesome to watch and it works so well. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@boysopas5951]

Awesome, Randi!!! everything works perfectly. from making em screw, to replacing the propeller, the decals, cleaning motors, etc. its so awesome. plan of getting one i saw online. i hope i can restore it.

[@RandiRain]

I'm the whiz, and nobody beats me.

[@PixSmith01]

Very cool. That was a toy I really wanted as a kid, but we never had one. if I had, and it had been that loud, I'm pretty sure my mother would have seen to it that it had an unfortunate incident. I'm really impressed that with all that rust none of the metal was fatigued enough to break. Very nice repair, and very interesting techniques all the way through. Great job as always! I suspect there were more than a few cuss words as well.

[@deaniepops1]

What a great toy and a excellent restoration.

[@piplawrence2981]

Really good job. And sounds good too.

[@isaiahrowley9830]

Nice video, I enjoy watching your thought process.

[@customfabrications]

Thanks, now I want one. You’re right; crazy expensive on eBay. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find one at a thrift shop or something. Keep up the awesome work.

[@RandiRain]

They're all yours. Good luck.

[@mancavehobbies6213]

I had one when i was around 6 years old. 52 years ago.

[@stevendunn264]

I had this as a child and would play for hours on the living room floor. Mine was white and red and was rescue captor themed. I became an expert at flying it.

[@brotherbor]

This is really cool!

[@RandiRain]

Thank you.