Vintage Action Man Navy Frogman (Scuba Diver) Restoration - Toy Polloi

The Action Man Navy Frogman or Scuba Diver is a hard outfit to complete as the rubber suits rot away over time. For the 50th anniversary a new version was released, but the suit looked really baggy. Today I show a much better wetsuit and repair all the other accessories on the figure.
0:00 Intro
1:38 New Wetsuit
4:21 What needs repairing?
6:28 Watch repair and new sticker
8:46 Scuba tank elastic
13:14 Fixing the mask
14:47 Knife holder repair
16:40 Dynamite stick fuses
20:12 The finished figure
#vintage #toy #actionman
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[@Footballermadness]

Thanks for this I surprised my dad with this outfit on his birthday.

[@TheRowlandstone73]

I loved my orange wetsuit Action Man - it really looked the part! Actually, I loved all 'water-themed' toys as a kid.. Hey, anything to lessen the dullness of that weekly Sunday evening bath!

[@obirobkenobi3599]

The old wetsuit was a bugger to get on. We used talcum powder back in the day

[@antman2919]

Thanks Dave, looks great. Action-Man's first mission, bathtub deep-dive.

[@ivane5110]

I didn't have this but would've loved it for my Joes. I was really into undersea adventures (Aquaman on Superfriends & comics, Sea Devils in comic reprints, Capt. Nemo Cartoon on Captain Kangaroo, The Man from Atlantis tv show and Adventure People swimmers and the best of them all, the real world adventures of Jacque Cousteau!). Even just seeing the thumbnail made me smile to no end in anticipation, thank you.

[@davidneal9368]

Looks good as a wet suit and will last

[@IM-xs3uv]

This is hitting me right in the nostalgia spot. Happy.

[@fitfitness5648]

I loved my Frog man, I had the Black, Orange and Blue outfits and loved them all 👍🏻

[@inthelionsden6335]

Awesome figure. Frogman and Deep Sea Diver were my favorites back in the day.

[@johnclarke25]

Must look for one of the suits on ebay as this was the first outfit I had with my first action man in 1967,the first flippers were all in one and the version came out later towards the 70s,the original knife did have the black handle,must get round to fixing a few of my action men as it was the best boys toy ever,still got all of mine and a few vehicles,last count 100 plus.

[@ReynoldsReviews]

Good old Nick and Jackson, they are so supportive of my channel and have helped me out a lot recently. Figure looks great now Dave, a huge improvement 👏👏👏

[@kingerikthegreatest.ofall.7860]

Well done.

[@simonphillips9098]

Another great video Thanks Dave

[@gordsnell7206]

Nice job! I really enjoyed my G.I. Joe frog man wet suit, but over the years it turned to jelly and then solidified. The suit you used looks great on him.

[@brendanhaley3668]

I do love this diver, the orange suit vs the black suit reminds me Thunderball. Wondered if u were going to let this fella take a swim 😉

[@JomasterTheSecond]

It's always good to see an Action Man back in fighting form. My Action Man was the 2000s era one since I was nowhere near born when the original came out, but even I can appreciate the look of these old lads.

[@kjamison5951]

Superb fix, Dave and an excellent alternative to the original. As always, your simple, inexpensive choices and keen eye for detail have triumphed again! Thank you!

[@TheBadger74]

Enjoyed seeing this. This was the first Action Man I got, in 1977, the day my brother was born (though I was more interested in my new brother). The frogman had a beard, which I didn't like, so my Dad shaved it off with a scalpel :/ Of course I played with the frogman in the bath too! If only we knew...

[@machineman6498]

Ok that one is near and dear. Had 2 orange Joe suits that crumbled well within my childhood. Fast forward to me getting the 2000’ish rerelease while my son got the Search and Rescue (it was a moment). 1 year later the diver suit reacted with the vinyl harness and melted, inadvertently completing the nostalgic experience. Off to eBay for a jumpsuit!

[@itsgeekbeat]

The broken fuses of the dynamite were looking as if they were burning because you could see the orange. I liked them that way.

[@banzaibobA7V]

As my dad used to say, "If it looks right, it is right".

[@thetworoos]

Great job tracking down all of these little bits and restoring the figure! My favourite is the little dynamite sticks - awesome!

[@jurtubia]

Amazing!! Very good!

[@summerswoodworking]

Looks great!!!!

[@channelwoodgrange]

You can also take a light flame from a match or lighter to slightly melt the ends of your elastic to keep them from fraying over time.

[@theant9821]

I find a soldering iron is best.

[@jasemac5391]

Love your fix it’s Brother from across the pond 👍🏻🇦🇺

[@Holochronicles]

Great vid, looks great

[@treetheodore6906]

Awesome results. Thumbnail was eye-catching too! Thank you.

[@emersondasilvaseixas7678]

Very nice!

[@toypolloi]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@BrynSmith76]

It looks great. I never had the action man frogman. I had the orange suit action force frogman. Nice that you have the parts for an orange suit frogman as well, hopefully you find they do a similar suit in orange.

[@Tim-57]

Hey Dave Great alternative suit. He can now help you wash toys in the kitchen sink...haha Take care

[@jmperez37]

Nice work

[@toypolloi]

Thanks

[@pliniosula]

The way you bring toys back to life is superb! I really enjoyed this video.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 😊

[@MrDparker69]

Yet another fantastic video. Thanks as always and he looks great.

[@Lee-nw8hv]

Really enjoyed this restoration, superb 👌

[@TheSkullReviews]

Great job, I do like that for a dive suit

[@snowdiddley4634]

Ah, this one got me in the feels. Always wanted the Frogman as a kid, never got him. I did buy the anniversary model (GI Joe) here in the states. Never opened the kit. It was different from action man anniversary model. Thanks mate.

[@garyowens7454]

The rubber used for the G.I. Joe version is much thicker than the 40th Action Man set. Personally, I would open the Joe version and put it to use. The 40th AM version deteriorates even more quickly as the vintage suits for G.I. Joe or Action Man.

[@kevinsampson8779]

Looks brill ive bought the suit looking forward to fixing mine .

[@30recycledcontent16]

I remember the (gripping hands) version having with a little cup to cover them to help make putting the clothing on easier.

[@toypolloi]

They did come with a little cup.

[@sithcarebear1]

Another Excellent Restoration, Dave!👍 The alternative wetsuit you found work’s beautifully. The sheen on it gives that rubbery look but the material is much more functional and will hold up considerably better. Also, the fuses turned out great. You are a styrene wizard my friend. Cheers!

[@toypolloi]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@impossiblepie]

It looks awesome, well done!

[@eltenda]

Impressive as usual

[@pingASS_]

I grew up with the 1994 action man reboot. The first line was basically an updated version of these old action man toys. They even had the hair. Later in the 90s action man started to look more like Schwarzenegger or Stallone and became more plastic. The hair was hard painted plastic and his arms and legs barely moved.

[@russputin6294]

The perspex lens in his mask will more likely as not come up a treat if you gently polish it with metal cleaner wadding; "Brasso" or similar. I use it all the time on CD jewel cases and have had success with removing scratches from watch glasses too. Gently try a bit first, possibly on some scrap plastic if you have it, polish with a microfiber then repeat as required. Hope this helps

[@toypolloi]

Thanks for the tip.

[@williambradfordbaldwin4386]

Goodo by the way!!

[@georgemartinez1720]

Great tutorial Dave youniniw how i could get my hands on a looose Action man eagle eye head

[@CrashHeadroom]

Oh hey I used to have this guy :) my pipes were yellow though:S and the goggles were black rubber.

[@garyowens7454]

Was that the SAS version, perhaps?

[@CrashHeadroom]

@@garyowens7454 It might well have been sir, this is all I remember though XD Hell I still have a few others too they just all got to old and well played with (got the pullchord guy somewhere.... he ended up sounding like a chipmunk had possesed him lol).

[@manofaction1807]

Looking like that, he looks like an Old School UDT man. UDT was the modern SEAL's war daddy's.

[@garyowens7454]

there is a photo of Royal Navy Lieutenant-Commander Lionel Kenneth Phillip "Buster" Crabb, OBE, GM, easily found on the internet which may have served in part as an inspiration for the Action Sailor box art. He disappeared in 1956 while inspecting a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth.

[@Sperminski]

Don’t think you can take this one with you in the battub :d.

[@brianartillery]

Original gripping hands Action Men came with a kind of thimble, made of nylon, to put over the hands when dressing them. Some of the uniforms had rather tight sleeves.

[@TheToyBoy1978]

I purchased the 50th anniversary frogman to complete my Underwater Assault set, but it looked ridiculous, and posing the figure was impossible. I actually went a more extreme route and converted a Captain Zargon body, replacing the hands, feet, and connecting pegs with flesh coloured parts, also removing the printed on electronics with T-Cut, and changing the head (obviously). Looks great, but its not something i'd want to do again, (too many donor parts needed) so if i was to add the SAS frogman to my collection, this would probably be the route i'd take!

[@williambradfordbaldwin4386]

I believe that's the same suit that came with the Combat Diver from ToyCity! Where can I buy just the suit? I have plenty of tank, fins and masks to make more (Gi Joe ) divers! I also found some black belts and some things that look exactly like weights for a weight belt! I always thought that was one of the most exciting aspects of the GI Joe world is it allowed you to make things from around the house for the figures!

[@JLovrak]

Great replacement for the original wetsuit. Any luck finding a suitable replacement for the deep sea diver’s suit? Mine’s too rotten and dirty to be salvaged.

[@MeanJohnDean]

The original wet suit was two pieces. A top and a bottom.

[@garyowens7454]

He mentioned that. But it was 3 pieces - hood, jacket, and trousers.

[@jon9550]

Have you ever thought about making a simple "buckle" for straps like these so they could be adjustable? Making a rectangle out of styrene with a bar across the center (like a squared 8) should be enough to hold something like this elastic strap.

[@irvinelawrence2733]

Again...my original Action Man Soldier came with a plastic cup like thingy which covered his hands when changing "tops", thus avoiding snags with fingers...

[@Dustin2112]

Its a Florida tourist.

[@davidkerr4137]

He looks fab Dave and he was a favourite of mine as a kid, however I thought he had a weighted belt too?

[@garyowens7454]

The box art shows one, but it never was produced for the frog man. The deep sea diver had one as well as the boot weights; all of the weights were made of lead which led (no pun intended) to an outcry by various safety groups, and were changed to white/pot metal in later versions. There is a vinyl version of the frogman weight belt in a couple of the Classic Collection G.I. Joe sets which actually looks very nice when combined with the rubber suit, but I am unsure if prolonged contact between the vinyl and rubber would cause the dreaded "rot" which has destroyed so many of the vintage/40th Anniversary suits.

[@igocode]

Ooh dude. Cut off the hood put the suit on zipper in the back and sew the hood back on “backwards” make it look like a legit wet suit.

[@malcr2325]

I wonder if you could make a negative byance belt for his waist? Also I always felt there should have been a way for him to carry the dynamite sticks other than the hand. Or was there something? I can't remember. But it looks great.

[@simonworleycreative6636]

Looking ace. I’ve been waiting for your navy frogman restoration for a while now, bravo! These suits were recommended to me by a fellow Facebook VAM collectors member. My only concern with them was the pointy hood due to the way it’s stitched together but it looks like the hood is gripping to Action Man’s flock hair ok minimising the pointyness?

[@abrown6270]

Can you please send the link for the suit on eBay please. Can’t seem to find it on eBay!! Thanks Rob

[@dieterbuschbaum6904]

Yes please put a link for the suit … all I can find are slinky numbers… not what I want

[@NumberOneGeek]

I had the orange Scuba guy, as all my purchased action men were the blue pants version. The state I found the rubber in one year was devastating. However, I seem to remember a dive belt, was that for this character or the deep sea diver?

[@toypolloi]

That was for the deep sea diver I think.

[@garyowens7454]

@@toypolloi You are correct.

[@mottrex]

The suit was horrendous to remove and the hood on mine split..but still cool 😎

[@philashby2823]

I'm fine with the diver having dynamite.. but how do you think he lights the fuse? 🤔

[@garyowens7454]

In reality those fuses will burn underwater, you use an oxyacetylene torch to ignite them. As a practical matter, they would probably use an electric system with a timer. You don't want to be anywhere near an exploding charge underwater.

[@gsg.9]

Hey toy polloi, I have a scuba suit that fits my gi Joe's and it's blue and has orange stripes, any idea of its a real action man or gi joe peice? Cause I don't know if it's fake

[@michaelmatthews2759]

great job as always dave! have you seen the neoprene suits on costwald collectables?

[@toypolloi]

I have. These are a cheaper alternative.

[@garyowens7454]

@@toypolloi Not only less expensive, but to be quite honest the Cotswold suits are too bulky in my opinion..

[@raymondloya175]

Hey there toy polloi have fixed any Kenner swamp thing toys?? In particularly the the retractable arm

[@toypolloi]

I haven't. I don't think I've ever seen that toy line much at all.

[@russputin6294]

Way, way back (1967?) as a kid I had an original Action Man frogman suit but it was, in my opinion, never a great success. The rubberised material used was so thick and stiff it severely limited the limb mobility of the figure and, over time, the rubber broke down into a sticky black goo. Urgh!! The new suit you've got looks like a much more elegant solution and I'm sure, had the material been available back in the day, would have been used in preference. The other irritance was trying to line up the scuba air tubes against Action Man's mouth as there was no mechanism to keep them in place so if you moved his head a fraction he lost his oxygen supply. I wonder what contribution, at age seven, this has made to my extreme grumpiness fifty-six years later; it's obviously been festering all this time! Actually I'm surprised we didn't all grow up into a nation of rubber fetishists but that's a video for a different channel....😝As a trivia note I remember the instructions recommended the suit should be filled with talcum powder to make it easier to slide onto the figure. Excellent videos, thank you - who says nostalgia isn't what it used to be!

[@klaasbakker4304]

I haven't manage to find a wetsuit with a hood.

[@toypolloi]

Just search for 1/6th scale jumpsuit on eBay. That's all I show in the video. They are still for sale.

[@Azul_Monterrubio]

heeeeeeelp hey bro how can you disassemble a vintage kenner droid or restore the figure to make the clicks of the legs again?

[@toypolloi]

Unscrew the head from inside the body. It will come apart easy. I have plenty of videos on this figure. The broken clicker is on my list for next year.

[@Azul_Monterrubio]

@@toypolloi thank you and what about the gonk droid?

[@Azul_Monterrubio]

@@toypolloi i mean the clicks on the legs of the gonk droid

[@toypolloi]

I've never tried to take a gonk droid apart as I don't think I've ever seen one broken.

[@MeanJohnDean]

It's not a watch it a depth gage.

[@josephbrown9900]

SBS diver, not SAS 🤣🤣🤣.