G.I. Joe Battlefield Terrain Project

This a close look at my G.I. Joe battlefield project. It took me about 7 months from start to finish, and I'm very happy with the results.
If anyone has any questions on how I made anything, please feel free to ask. The community has been a great help to me, and I'm more than happy to share what I have learned.

[@vokkoa5560]

wow.. just wow.

[@terrenceodonnell6347]

Agreed

[@colinleat8309]

I know right! I thought MY collection was impressive. 🤣. 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦

[@Tracker-Two-Two.]

I'm 47 years old... you wouldn't believe the memories that brings back for me.... awesome job man and thanks for sharing!

[@frankv6459]

I'm 53 and feel the same way so many memories. Even having starwars gi Joe wars with my friends

[@DonDiegoHS]

I’m 43 and I have started my collection, thanks for sharing 🎉

[@user-rj7ro7wq8r]

This is exactly what I had envisioned for all my gi joe stuff as a kid looking into adulthood. Unfortunately life happened and I have hardly any of my joe toys left. Thanks for giving me a glimpse of what could have been. Great job on your project.

[@gijoeycrafts]

My parents got rid of most of my Joes growing up. I only had a few let that were a tin I had in a box. I had to basically start over. Luckily one of the ones I still had from childhood was my v2 Snake Eyes.

[@howardsun]

Millions of 80s kid all had this envisioned, i am just glad i found out one of them actually made it come true.

[@stadster1]

Nearly word for word what I was scrolling down to type.

[@ActionRobotPunch]

This is fantastic. Probably the best Gi Joe display I've ever seen because the figures and vehicles look like they're being played with. They look like they're in the middle of a gigantic battle. Your display has the feel of a page out of the Sears catalogs back in the day. The images we as kids would stare at for hours dreaming of our next purchases and future adventures. I'm truly blown away. Your craftsmanship is impeccable. You say you hacked at the foam, but the result looks balanced, consistent and wonderfully stylized. And that it's modular makes it all the more amazing and functional and clever. Thank you for the video, it's a great walkthrough and insight into your process. I could go on and on but I'm just glad something like this was made, that it was shared and I got to see it. Really inspiring.

[@gijoeycrafts]

That so kind of you! It does remind me of those old catalogue shoots! That, and the commercials with the kids playing with all these really cool set-ups that you know they didnt actually make. I wanted to do that for real, and as this was my first attempt, I tried my best. There are some things I would have changed knowing what I do now, but I am really happy with the overall result. Eventually I plan on making different types of terrain, like arctic and jungle, but my basement was only so big, but because I made it modular, I can add onto it whenever I can.

[@mnop7832]

I can see a cross over project between you two.

[@paxhumana2015]

​@@gijoeycrafts , you know, if you had even more money, you could buy up an old warehouse or factory and have an even bigger battlefield for your collection.

[@gijoeycrafts]

Stretch goals would be to make something like this in Classified scale. Maybe someday?

[@joshuasmith6346]

Wish GI Joe sold the playsets they shower in the commercials back in the day.

[@nathanixslade]

Bring back so many good memories, 35 years ago, thanks for that.

[@tonygriego6382]

This would have been my ultimate toy room as an 80s kid. Good job man

[@rippingandflippingcards4135]

Man, you're killing me smalls. I so remember in our unfinished basement having the aircraft carrier on a shortened table and do battles down there with some stations etc. My one grade school buddy had the transformers and the other had his laser tag set up. We bounced from house to house with whiffle ball, walking down the crick, riding bikes down the hill to get ice cream, 10 cent boxes of lemon heads, boston, grape, etc and 35 cent packs of cards. Well done sir. Well done!

[@nostalgia46]

An impressive GI Joe collection, I had several of those items as a kid. ‘‘Twas the glory days! Barbecue, Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes were my favorites.

[@ironcrosstrainingltd6482]

This is what I absolutely love about toys. The creativity that each person, and how that develops to showcase their collections. Epic build Joey 😎

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you! G.I Joe has always inspired creativity for me, whether its playing with them in the back yard trenches as a kid, coming up with missions for them, or crafting this battlefield.

[@michaelknight5574]

I was a kid in the 80’s and loved gi Joe,that would have been my dream back then,looks amazing 🤩

[@FingersOnAFretboard]

Reminds me of my father's model train layout that took up the whole basement. The details they put into these 'toys' was so remarkable, from the back-story file cards, to the castings, to the quasi- put it together model vibes of the accessories, mixing real-life military equipment with sci-fi exaggeration and comic Hero characters perfectly. You cleanly set a stage to show off these pieces in an uncluttered and on-brand way to appreciate.

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thanks! I was actually inspired by from when I was a kid and a friend of mine was playing with his Joes on his dads trainset. It wasn't to scale, but it was still so cool. I've wanted to do this ever since.

[@gagelindell271]

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow dueling in the corner is priceless!

[@chuck430]

a trip down memory lane, just watched to see how many of the figures and vehicles I had in my youth

[@MoparMcNeer]

To say I'm impressed would be a complete understatement. I don't even know where to begin. All the custom touches are excellent. Each diorama section is just jam packed with so many details. And your work on the rock formations completely blows me away. What a fantastic set up!! A++

[@troyjustice7073]

Talk about nostalgia. I am 48 years old and I still watch the gi Joe episodes from time to time. If I had the time and money to build a display of my favorite cartoon and action figures, this would be it. Thank you for sharing your dream with us.

[@davidluyster491]

Wow! Thank you for the trip back to my 1980’s childhood! My GI Joe battlefield was a pile of rock in the back yard.

[@leepierce3256]

You did a superb job, I am in my late 40's and owned/played with many of these figures and sets, so cool to see them all together on one battlefield! (PS your wife must be a keeper since she supports your hobby)

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you, and she totally is! She actually tracked down a lot of the figures and vehicles for me on various toy collecting groups on facebook. Shes a total enabler.

[@hectorsamko9339]

No creo que tenga esposa , ellas no soportan nuestro pasatiempo , dicen qué las descuidan .. no quiero decir cómo termina todo , imaginen .

[@jonrichardson7436]

This is just amazing, excellent work! GI Joe was a huge part of my childhood thanks to my cousins in the US who donated all their toys to me in the UK. I wish i'd of kept them after seeing this.....

[@b0tsuw4n4]

I’m so very impressed! Your vision and skill makes this one of the best dioramas I’ve seen. 🙌👏🙌

[@pedrorodriguez-ln1fo]

Just imagine all us being kids again......we will be crying out just to see this in real life.....this is everyones dream come true!!!! Congratulations!

[@minerva-265]

Wowww. This is impressive. GI-JOE used to be the ultimate play experience for me. I played with it for years. Seeing this gives me a little bit of that warm feeling back. Thank you for this video. Keep it up!

[@geraldlaboone9741]

Very cool. A trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing.

[@adampilkinton1701]

Holy dear sweet Christ in heaven I'm so jealous of your time, drive, passion, vision, and your pocketbook (which is *much* lighter after this, I'm sure). Awesome work, dude! Subscribed!

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you so much!

[@TheCoolCucumber]

I'm a LEGO Star Wars guy, myself (too young to have ever gotten into GI Joe), but I am so impressed and inspired by this incredible build of yours! It perfectly captures the snapshot of the action and storytelling that I think makes toys/hobbies like this so fun to build, to collect, to play with, and to look at. The way you interweave scenes and terrain together is something that I hope to emulate in my own hobby; it's honestly so impressive that this build developed naturally as opposed to being all planned out from the start. For something this size, it's such a difficult task finding the right balance of detail and grandeur, it's clear you have a real talent for constructing a scene straight out of your imagination. You deserve to be so proud of this project! The passion, time, money, and creativity you poured into this is so apparent: from the most impressive features of the mountain fortress and aircraft carrier, to the very minute details in each and every scene, this is such a tremendous work of love for a hobby that must mean so much to you (and *many* other people judging by your viewcount). And that's very special stuff to have such an avid partner and supporter in your wife who's enabled you in this project - a brilliant team effort, through and through!

[@grimispotato245]

Just absolutely amazing ! I watched this whole video twice. I grew up watching and acting out the 1980's Gi-Joe and seen this is like speechless ! What is more fun about this video is looking for all my favorite Joe's and snake's ! Love all the details love the pose of the figures the vehicles everything absolutely amazing !

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you so much!

[@danstars1]

That is an amazing display and it really brings all the figures and vehicles into action.

[@brianwyde3829]

This has to be the most elaborate GI Joe diorama ever created.

[@brunogiornoeberhardt5424]

Amazing job!!! Imagine watching such a mind-blowing display like this in the 80's. That's really impressive! Thanks for sharing

[@randomrickreviewsrrr4662]

Looks great also a way cooler to view these kinds of things instead of just in package on a wall.

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thanks! I'm of the "toys are made to be played with" mindset. Unless its a super rare find (of which I have none), it's coming out of the box and into battle.

[@randomrickreviewsrrr4662]

@@gijoeycrafts YEAH nice!

[@thelucasveloso]

Awesome project, man! Loved all of your decisions here, and it was a bonus to see figures and vehicles I had as a child! Just excellent!

[@fireonmytarget8937]

This is so good, I love it! I got some good memories when you were showing some of those vehicles. The two-rotor heli and the reddish/pink cobra boat were two of my favorites as a kid.

[@Sebuin]

I'm freaking out that I had almost all of that except the carrier and tiger force stuff. Makes me want to cry that I wasn't good with my toys. Same goes for Star Wars before I was a GI Joe nut. The comics ruled it for me. They overrode the cartoon. I was so invested in the true storyline of the characters vs the surfacy mirror of the cartoons (which i did watch with avidly lol) This was such a simpler time for me and I'd do odd jobs whatever I had to do or some of the best Christmas's like when I got the Hovercratt. I loved that thing. Really neat set up man. Nice trip down memory lane.

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thanks! I still love the comics, but I do with the show had stuck more closely to them.

[@stuck_in_carbonite5233]

This is awesome! Amazing collection and the display is insane! Great work!

[@joelgonzalez9248]

Amazing attention to detail. Great work. Thanks for sharing.

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

I love this. That raised FLAGG is incredible. This really takes me back to my childhood. My brother and I had bunk beds, and I used to use the bottom bunk to create dioramas. Put down a white sheet for snow, fold up white blankets and towels carefully for mountains and caves, and hang some fishing line from the top bunk and bed posts for jumping and flight... this is just like that, but so beautifully realized with crisp details and more figures and vehicles than I ever had. Way to keep dreaming!

[@thecorvetteviking137]

This is pretty damn cool. Makes me want to start collecting Joes again!

[@djhellhammerer]

This is absolutely incredible!!!! I salute you!

[@AngelCuadrado7]

So many memories. I still have some Joes and vehicles in the garage. Tomahaw helicopter, Orca hovercraft (Ballena in spanish). Happy days as a child. Thank you very much for bringing me back to those days.🥰

[@777Thibs]

I had so much of that stuff when I was a kid in the early-mid 80s. You have a great collection. Thanks for some cool nostalgia!

[@Bigbluecollector316]

I was an artillery man in the army and I think this is 🔥🔥🔥 looks great man 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you, both for your service and for the complement!

[@JamesSmith-ed7je]

Super impressive. That's amazing detail. The best part is its looks functional as a play set. Great Work 😀👌

[@huynhydpooh1349]

All my childhood memories just came back.

[@socialwill]

Amazing work! What was interesting about G.I. Joe was how they swapped the vehicles in the later years. Cobra equipment was redone as Joe and vice versa.

[@chancefullen2602]

From one gi joe fan to another this is so badass

[@kirbstomp_filmz9679]

My Dude that is awesome! I always wanted to do that and still do, when I was a kid we had an old barn that had space in a corner and I had set up a HQ and built terrain for but I only had the terrordome I never got the Joe Base or the aircraft carrier but I made due with what I had. This is awesome and great love love this gave me goosebumps!

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thank you so much! I was inspired by my own playing in the backyard as a kid! I used to dig trenches for them, and at one point even made a stop-motion movie with a friend of mine with all out Joes!

[@kirbstomp_filmz9679]

That’s what I’m currently working on is a stop motion animation featuring action force figures from Valaverse

[@gijoeycrafts]

@@kirbstomp_filmz9679 that is going to be awesome. Can't wait to see it!

[@dubuyajay9964]

Beautiful.

[@zigzagkillah7666]

*AMAZING* Instantly teleported back to my childhood. Amazing dude....

[@Killbrokraft]

This looks incredible. Obviously a ton of talent. Can I suggest maybe covering the multi sheet mountain parts with like plaster/modge lodge/water so you don’t see the individual sheets of foam board? Would make it look like one solid structure instead of sheets stacked on top of one another.

[@gijoeycrafts]

I tried to do that to some extent with the sculptamold, but it does bother me that you can still see the layers. If I were to do it again I would vary the thickness of the insulation boards I used, and get some if the 2 inch thick boards so there would be less layers. It was a learning project, and the mountain was the first piece I did. Lesson learned.

[@Schweigardt]

@@gijoeycrafts I would also suggest trying to swap out the overhead lighting with something in the 5000K cool color temperature range. It may help to brighten up some of the colors and contrasts on these colorful toys.

[@colinleat8309]

Amazing! I used to have the Mobile Command Centre as well as Rolling Thunder. Those were the biggest vehicles of my 30+ vehicle collection. I have yet to see the Shuttle command Launch system. It was up there in size with the Flag you have there. 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦

[@-9oh2-]

Amazing!

[@netacid11]

I love how the Tiger Force is displayed, like an elite unit. So much awesome here. Beautiful room!

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

Sweet collection, and the terrain looks great! Wish I had that much room to display my vintage Joes.. they're all squished onto one table. 😑

[@johnclayton126]

Looks great!! Love it.

[@VicenteAranaCoutts]

Amazing work. Thanks for sharing the memories.

[@landrecce]

Yooooooooo Joey!!!!! 🟥⬜️🟦

[@mrroper7973]

💪🏽💪🏽🔥🔥❤️👊🏽

[@JuvyThaKid]

That is so cool man!! Love the different scenes you have set up with them!

[@bwhelan237]

Just wow! Brings me back

[@RR_1138]

Can we come over and play ? 😅

[@luvdacurvyones]

Can I come over? 😀

[@Dizz1978]

Frickin awesome!

[@Darkbirdy]

As a huge GI Joe fan in the 80s, this sparked my nostalgia. And as a tabletop gamer who has made a great deal of terrain (including from XPS foam) over the years, it sparked my interest. Great intersection of the hobbies.

[@gijoeycrafts]

Thanks! I had some experience making terrain for my D&D campaigns, but nothing to this size and scale. It was a huge project, but the entire time I kept thinking how awesome it would be to run a campaign on it.

[@ELKFILMZ]

Incredible, love it brother!

[@SerpentStar_]

Hello my childhood. Nice to see you again ^_^ Miss my 80s toys. Had so much G.I JOE, Transformers, TMNT and others that just disappeared over the years

[@heatherburger1666]

That was a lot of fun to watch! Great job dude.

[@mikebabirad2465]

Amazing detail!

[@jerryp6731]

Great work!

[@macboyce7784]

This is awesome!!!!!

[@daviddang1682]

Awesome work! Thanks for sharing.

[@darcyoconnell41]

Some of these take me back years. Brilliant stuff

[@peterdittmer1500]

This is amazing. Well done.

[@NgaiOlaudah]

did I see Iceberg in the motor pool after all? Your lighting is stupendous.... this is the best of i have EVER SEEN!!! YO.....JOE!!!!

[@mikeisaacs2314]

I know this took a lot of time and you are being back so many memories I had so many of these action figures and the vehicles back in the 80’s

[@Crodmog83]

Dude..this is amazing.❤

[@cisek42]

Very impressive

[@Skindad88]

Absolutely amazing!

[@JB-hl1qx]

This is beyond amazing! Reminds me of my playroom as a kid. That poster you have up has the same image as my G.I Joe lunchbox . Very impressive my friend! YOOOO JOE!!!🤘

[@darthtrajk666]

Awesome display! Yo Joe!

[@halojon3909]

Absolutely fantastic !!!

[@jdakid3]

That setup is incredible!!!

[@Jbremmy1]

That’s so sweet. Love your creativity

[@jartladder15]

Looks awesome. Looks like a train-set terrain! I used to love to build that stuff.

[@vancitymike8354]

Amazing!! Well done. Nostalgia plus talent equals greatness.

[@garling23]

wow Joey, incredibly creative way to display your joes! truly inspiring!

[@jessicaburdett2589]

Thank you for sharing! Absolutely beautiful work on this!😊

[@paulheart3942]

Love your collection and dedication this takes me back

[@Mizzelphug]

Wow! This blows away the one I made in the early 90s. I built one about a quarter of that size in the attic as a teen. I mostly use plywood and spray foam to sculpt hills and rocky terrain, and hit styrofoam sheets with a torch to make waves back then. None of it held up long in the extreme attic heat though. I made the mistake of trading off most of my Joes to a friend for comic books at the time. You have quite a few figures that I still regret losing to that lopsided trade. (Flint, Scarlett, cobra troopers/officers, etc)

[@gijoeycrafts]

I feel you. My parents sold a lot of my vehicles and figures in a garage sale back in the 90s, and not just my Joe stuff... I had a TON of M.A.S.K. toys too, including Bunker Hill! Luckily I had kept a few of my favorite Joes in a tin for safe keeping, like my v2 Snake Eyes....the rest of them Ive had to re-purchase and hunt down.

[@Downright_Diabetic]

All I can say is WOW!! Thanks for sharing this.

[@jonathansims525]

Hah! Love the mini arcade! I've been collecting those, and hope to make a little diorama, complete with a few action figures from my childhood. Planning on building little bases for them to bring them up to a better height. Anyway, I've never been a GI Joe guy, but as a toy guy and a collector I absolutely love your display! Thanks for sharing!

[@ronaldsanchez5583]

Awesome! Congratulations for your project.

[@UsualmikeTelevision]

Outstanding. You should be very proud!

[@NathanMillsCoaching]

Spectacular display!

[@Sellout1]

Wow just wow very very impressive thanks for sharing

[@JD2CYLINDERNUT]

Dude, first class… After the Dukes of Hazzard came GI Joe for me as a kid. This video brings it back. Great job man, thanks.

[@konstantinkoverchenko9587]

Looks beautiful

[@jerryhensley6255]

This is simply amazing

[@mooky407]

I was 7ish years old when these figures started coming out in like '82. I collected everything I could for years. I also built HO scale train layouts. If only I had put the two together and attempted something so ambitious. THIS, is freaking cool.

[@dratzlogic]

Wow! Live the dream! Thanks for sharing.

[@jettjedi73]

This is beyond amazing! I absolutely love it! So much awesome in this room you've created!

[@williamquinton4759]

Simply awesome!