Vintage MOTU Clamp Champ restoration - Toy Polloi

This vintage Masters of the Universe Clamp Champ has seen better days. Part of his foot is missing, he has no armour and his Clamp weapon is broken and missing parts. This is a real challenge and one I was not sure if I could fix. So watch and see how I got on.
#vintage #toys #motu #clampchamp #repair #restoration #toypolloi
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0:00 Introduction
0:29 What needs fixing?
2:33 Rebuilding the missing foot
13:40 Modifying the armour
18:06 Painting the armour
22:58 Repairing the clamp
35:50 The finished figure

[@kildogery]

I absolutely love your commitment to making stuff by hand. We all know 3D printers exist, but this is proper craftsmanship.

[@kerry1979]

Don't forget too you can make a resin casted mold for the other part. Then You would have a brand new part right there. Just have to add red paint mixed in the resin.

[@therex4663]

Great video

[@grantwelsh7594]

Watching in a van with wifi in Tunisia, what better way to enjoy a Star Wars themed trip than with some Toy Polloi!

[@toypolloi]

Nice. Have you been to see some of the filming locations?

[@Cef21]

I love that you built the bevel/emboss into the claw! Don't know why I'd expect anything less!

[@Laura_M-16]

No Lego destruction? I don't know. But I trust you Toy Polloi. I'm giving this a watch...once again, I love your expressive hands...Milliput fabrication, awesome...painting is relaxing. Painting good...5 out of 5 stars. Would give you a second thumbs up if KZbin allowed.

[@anthonyratcliffe119]

Toy polloi your work is outstanding. A preserver of national toy hood memories. Well done fantastic work

[@leebush4053]

Possibly your best so far. Defo in the top 3.

[@LMUstacker]

I love your motu videos. In 2021 I tried to understand more about the plastic "virus". I knew some said it's plasticizer, some said it's fungus, but I was looking for scientific articles. The closest match to our virus was the description of a fungus that grows on the plasticizer, which does contain some organic components. When for some reason the plasticizer accumulates in some parts of the toy (probably it's due to improper mixing or similar), although it doesn't necessarily leak out, it reaches the plastic surface (a micron below it), where the light can reach it. The plasticizer is transparent, but there's a fungus that feeds on it, taking advantage of the light and of the protected habitat (as it's not on the actual surface, you can't brush it off). The dots are not in fact the fungus spreading, but the plasticizer that accumulates in dots, above which the fungus will grow. So the dots may be few or many, but once the plasticizer accumulated where it wanted to accumulate, they shouldn't increase in number. I experimented with horde trooper and snake face, keeping in mind that I wanted to kill a fungus. I tried submerging in hydrogen peroxide (like you did in the past) and vinegar, separately. Both popular fungicides. My hope was that the liquids, within days, could get through the first few microns of plastic and kill the fungus. The vinegar worked remarkably well on snake face, while nothing worked on the horde trooper. I have photos of before and after. Interesting: given a dot of 2 mm, a lighter halo remained over the 2 mm area, while a much smaller dot (0.1 mm?) remained in the centre of the area. The smaller dot could be the crevice where the plasticizer came from, which is slightly deeper and can't be reached by the liquids. As a couple of years have passed, I should go back and check if the fungus grew back on the same spots.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

[@awallace518]

I now have a worker pincer for my Clamp Champ thanks to you!

[@toypolloi]

Fantastic!

[@blueboyhotwheelsandmore869]

Hello, a toy polloi clamp champ weapon repair video needed to be made i was wondering how to go about it, an original clamp champ can be expensive but if you buy one not in that good condition and watch toy polloi video you could bring clamp champ back to life, and the the satisfaction of doing it yourself, another story to add to the figure, awesome man 👍😆✌

[@TheHaldore]

Fantastic! I am always amazed by the amount of engineering that was done in the 80's for toys.

[@toypolloi]

You and me both!

[@Bernhard2024]

You are a genius. What you can do with your hands is mind-blowing! For Eternia!

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 🙏

[@mikesmith2718]

Great work . Clamp champ can be tough to find Complete so this is awesome. The weapon fix will help alot of people I'm sure.

[@TheRetroTinker]

Impressive work from start to finish, especially repairing the clamp. That was genius! I had a Man at arms with a broken foot and I fixed it exactly the same way, except I took the opportunity to get a little custom and gave him an orange steel cap boot.

[@peoplesicon]

A quicker option is to use accessories from the recent motu origins line. I bought a vintage Scareglow that needed repair and was missing all of his accessories. I bought a lot of origins fodder online and used the origins Scareglow cape and weapon. Works great!

[@sithcarebear1]

I’m Uber impressed with how well that clamping weapon turned out. Very Nice work Dave!

[@toypolloi]

Thanks. That was quite a project to work on.

[@DeepVeinZombosis]

Very impressive

[@shugartc]

It’s always nice to see old used figures get new life.

[@Fnordathoth]

This is an absolutely brilliant fix Dave! Wow, I'm always impressed with your fixes, but this is just as I said, brilliant!

[@toypolloi]

Many thanks!

[@MonkeyboysToys]

This was flippin amazing. Your skill and patience is outstanding. What an amazing restoration! 👍👍🐵

[@toypolloi]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@johnlogan9427]

Wow, great job! I know it took some work, but I really appreciate your hand made approach to fixing toys.

[@toypolloi]

Thank you very much!

[@COMBOY]

This is definitely one of your best works, man! That Clamp Champ looks as good as new after 35 years! 👏

[@stefaanderop6171]

Wow I love the work you did on the spring loaded grappler. That is just amazing. 100%😁

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@davecardoza4762]

Hey Dave. I have a Clamp Champ action figure myself. I like the way that is made with the Fisto armor but with blue instead of purple. I noticed that mine has the same dark spots that yours have. I need it's weapon though. I'll see if I can get it later. Good restoration video as always. 👍🏻🙏🏼

[@MadMax76er]

I guess you could draw around the other foot onto some paper and create a footprint you could then flip to ensure the profile was exact when looking from above. I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it by eye so kudos to you Dave

[@toypolloi]

A template is always helpful. I just like to wing it a bit. If it looks right at the end I am happy.

[@BrynSmith76]

Excellent job. I've repaired a Clamp Champ clamp in the past, it wasn't easy and I had all the pieces and had to figure out how it all worked. Yours turned out excellent.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks. It's a nice design and very clever construction. Made for a good challenge.

[@ah-hx2uc]

Love MOTU

[@gregscalzo5259]

This was an awesome video. Great job.

[@toypolloi]

Thank you!

[@charlesrudge4106]

Wonderful video Thank you for the video and your amazing work Love from Western Australia

[@toypolloi]

Thank you very much!

[@frederickflores8152]

I had always assumed the muscle torsos were all the same. Guess you learn new things all the time

[@tommywalker5348]

This my friend was awesome to watch 👍....I need my dragon walker worked on😬😁🤟🙌

[@grahampeat6945]

Cracking as always, really enjoy the MOTU restorations regardless of having not re collected any myself, I really must get round to at least having 1 he man and 1 Skeletor 😂

[@KeldorTheWhite]

That's good it starts lol

[@TheCrazyparrot8]

Nice work Dave!

[@dialnfornick]

Brilliant! A satisfying mend! 👍👍

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@TimecodePerez]

Magic! Great work as always.

[@VirginiaTombstoneRevival]

Hell of a job of the foot. I have a Clamp Champ and used a FISTO armor on mine and had no issue getting it onto his body. So that was odd to me. Amazing work though as always.

[@josegonzalez9728]

Simpli awesome!! Thank you!!

[@toypolloi]

You're welcome!

[@Zinontoysandhandmadeconstructs]

Great job my friend!thank you!

[@toypolloi]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@purplerangers6245]

Master of the art

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@Joustra-Diaclonecom]

Duuude!!! Maybe one of your best custom repair so far!!! Gives ideas:) Congrats so much : well done! Incredible!

[@toypolloi]

Wow, thanks!

[@martinkroesen3360]

Impressive fix.

[@mx472000]

Wow, what a great restoration work.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@joshthompson2184]

While watching this i had an interesting idea! Since alot of the he man boots are the same you could just use some mold putty on a good boot and then push the miliput in to the mold. It would save you a majority of the shaping and look near perfect immediately

[@toypolloi]

It is certainly possible to do that. I like to just wing it as the boots are so simple and easy to sculpt freehand.

[@craniumbear]

I find a little heat for a heat gun can help loosen up glue. But gotta be careful not to over hear that plastic.

[@eltenda]

Cool project!🎉

[@robertwong2412]

Very nice repair. Now if only there's a video on how to mod the motu origins latest clamp champ weapon to make it work like the vintage one. That would be very challenging.

[@GERACAOXXIPIB]

fantastic!!!

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Fantastic work!

[@briansadler7270]

Very cool restoration Dave. That clamp weapon repair/rebuild is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best jobs I've seen you do. The armor came out fantastic, and so did the foot as well. This video was a very nice end to a very hectic day. As always thanks again Dave, and God Bless.

[@MyMike305]

Awesome repair job 👏👏👏

[@slimehousetv]

Great fix man 🤙

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@matthewh5862]

Very good restoration there.

[@toypolloi]

Many thanks!

[@rzarecta1177]

Nice job mate,looks awesome.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@Tim-57]

Hey Dave Wow that 37mins flew by, very impressive fix you carried out for this figure! Thank you for sharing. I hope you & MrsTP have a great weekend and take care of Yourselves 😊

[@toypolloi]

Thanks 👍

[@portland-182]

Super stuff! I'd have been tempted to trace the right foot onto 1mm styrene, flip it, reduce the size slightly, cut the back off and glue it to the underside of the 2 paperclips as an armature / sculpting guide. But your results are great without.

[@niclaatz]

Great video, awesome job on the foot man, really professional. The only part where I winced was modifying mint vintager armor. I feel like some kind of adaptor could have been made for the same effort without destroying the original condition(and value) of the armour. But that's just me. Keep up the smashing work sir.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks. Finding the original armour is not an option, and Fisto armour I find to be very common which is why I wasn't precious about it. Even if I made an adaptor I would still be painting it the correct colour.

[@TeflonDave]

Incredible work! Really, really, impressive! As soon as I saw that raised edge, I figured you'd be layering 1mm and 2mm styrene. I guess I've seen enough videos to finally learn something!

[@toypolloi]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@martin_E79]

Great work as usual! The color for the armor is a bit off though. Origins has this brighter blue but the the vintage is slightly darker.

[@toypolloi]

Thanks for the info!

[@white8crow]

It's all good.Those spots on Clamp Champ are moles.

[@garethjones2746]

Super video

[@toypolloi]

Thanks

[@user-tk2jb7oo7b]

Foo stuff 🎉

[@kerry1979]

Simple way easier way to fix that other part. Since both are the same. Just cast a mold for it in a small plastic cup. You can add red paint to the resin too.

[@toypolloi]

They are not the same though. So this wouldn't work. Cheers

[@510newguy]

The foot break is really odd on that guy it doesn't look like an animal chewed on him. I wonder what happened.

[@kalobhunt9001]

Man the stuff you do amazes me every time.

[@krystenreid8106]

Gosh with the paint you don’t even notice the clamp hand. What a weird thing to happen to the foot. It looks like someone just cut it off with a knife.

[@kitudiaz3460]

You can get one boot from Mechaneck or Man at arms, both of them cheapy to use for donater.

[@thewarzonechronicles2319]

Loved the video! You have amazing craftmanship and how humble you are. Have you tried blue stuff (a.k.a. oyumaru) for cloning missing pieces? I think that could be help for certain parts. Keep up the good work!

[@toypolloi]

Thanks. You will actually see blue stuff in next week's video. I use it for some projects. Others like this it's nice to test my sculpting skills, and also practice.

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

I like Clamp Champ as a figure but I always thought his weapon was dumb. I get it being used against the snake men but I would have given him a massive hammer or something. 😆

[@thetworoos]

Wow, that’s so impressive. How did you make the raised edge on the pincer? If you released a companion video to this with the styrene work at normal speed (similar to how you sometimes have a Photoshop standalone video showing your full process to make replacement stickers) it would be a great reference to using styrene. The end result you’ve achieved here is fantastic. I wonder if you have any plans to restore the Star Wars lunchbox where you keep your paints? 😊

[@toypolloi]

I used 0.5mm styrene and cut it very carefully. It was a pain and I only did one side because it was so awkward to do. I have to do most of it without the camera there as it really need fine cutting. As for the Lunchbox, it's a keeper as is!

[@brookhaven86]

I'm guessing the raised bit on the claw was cut by hand. Must have been a pain. 😢 Recently started cutting styrene with a cricut machine and it works really well. My only problem is getting the shapes drawn up in photoshop to import into the cricut design space. Slowly getting better and quicker at it. I know it's not in the spirit of the channel but if anyone watching owns a vinyl cutter it's an alternative!

[@toypolloi]

Yes, cut by hand. And it was a pain which is why I only did one side 🤣

[@rohaanaheimixi]

🤩🤩🤩

[@chrismayer3919]

I always though Clamp Champs weapon was cybernetic in nature (like Mekanek’s neck or Sy-Clone’s chest monitor)

[@Captain-Palsy]

I have the Origins clamp champ and the claw is different from the original you must lock back the claws I prefer the original clamp.

[@mickmerr]

Fair play on crafting the claw. I'm a fan of your work so not being smart, But why not try resin casting it ?

[@toypolloi]

I try to show how to fix stuff if you don't have the original part. If you don't have the part, you can't cast it. Much as in this case.

[@BigBigSack]

I wonder if you pushed the milliput around an intact left foot and let it dry, could you then use that as almost a cookie cutter press form around a fresh plyable chunk of milliput and have a perfectly formed piece to re attach to the broken foot?

[@toypolloi]

To make a quick mold blue stuff would be a better option. It could work well on this.

[@ponchostoybox]

I've got a back piece of his armour in my spares if you want it

[@toypolloi]

That would be cool. Be interested to see if my blue paint matches 🤔

[@starscream8163]

Nice work on fixing the colors for Armor 👍. Is a clear coat necessary?

[@toypolloi]

You can always add one. This was enamel spray paint so didn't need it.

[@wesbutler7264]

Dave, how did you cut the raised edge for the clamp? Impressive detail for sure.

[@toypolloi]

Very carefully from 0.5mm styrene sheet. It was a pain to do so I only did one side.

[@mopkrayz]

Origins version is selling for less than $10... just use the weapon and armor!

[@toypolloi]

That would be a very unintersting video.

[@mopkrayz]

@@toypolloi with many figures, this is the way to go especially now that certain Origins are on sale

[@Theopheus]

I've never really had much trust in glue. What is that plastic weld product you used? It looks like you used that for the styrene as well? There used to be a transformers message board that specialized in making custom transformers and they'd use styrene alot. I think it was called Sector 6 or something like that, but I've never bought any to work with it.

[@toypolloi]

All glues work differently and you have to pick the right one for the job. Plastic weld is not a glue, it welds by fusing the two surfaces together. And it only works with certain plastics. Cheers

[@raynekraven]

If you paint over the mold spots, will it definitively cover the spot or is there a chance the spot will re-emerge?

[@toypolloi]

I have never tried. I don't like to paint areas that are not painted to start with. Enjoy the wabi sabi of the toy and all it's aging.

[@federicogiaccio9174]

You could have on a first attempt Just use the boiling method in order to be able tò mold and adhere the armor more tò the chest

[@toypolloi]

Wrong type of plastic. There is no stretch in this plastic at all.

[@federicogiaccio9174]

@@toypolloi wow too bad...

[@paulwatkinson8153]

Impressive fix!! and Wabi Sabi ethic as there are lots of later motu "made in malaysia" that need some tlc

[@RadRetro]

How can you tell when a certain plastic will work with Plastic weld or not? Do you do a test, or just experience?

[@toypolloi]

Some is experience, but I do test as well.

[@JurassicFunatic]

Fisto and Clamp Champ have different torsos?

[@toypolloi]

Fistos torso has the added spring mech for the arm so is likely a completely different sculpt.

[@JurassicFunatic]

@@toypolloi huh I never thought of that, I’m gonna have to compare my two figures now lol

[@Bucky749]

Did you ever get any of the WWE masters of the universe figures? And are you gonna get any of the turtles ones?

[@satellachannel6423]

I have a question (sorry not really related to the video); about those black spots in the plastic we see in the beginning of the video, can they "infect" other figures around??

[@toypolloi]

No. It's just the plastic in this figure degrading. Some of the plastic used from certain factories suffers with these spots.

[@satellachannel6423]

@@toypolloi Thank you very much.

[@andrewmirza9582]

I know how to remove those black spots on his legs. I think you'd be surprised to find out that they come out the same way you would de-yellow an action figure. A few years ago I was de-yellowing a Real Ghostbusters Egon figure that had the same kind of spots on his legs and arms( I see these spots show up on softer plastic like the legs on your figure) to my surprise the spots along with the yellowing came out of the figure. Just a few hours in a jar with hydrogen peroxide and you'll notice the difference

[@toypolloi]

Check out my video on mould spots and you will see a different result.

[@andrewmirza9582]

@@toypolloi yeah that's weird. That didn't happen to my Real Ghostbuster figure. The spots just came out and the plastic didn't pale like that. Huh.. I wonder if it depends on the type of plastic. I used a jar with half water in the sun for a few hours and the spots came out before the yellowing.

[@retrouniverse2.0]

Is that a Battlestar Galactica lunch box your paints are in 🤔🤔🤔

[@toypolloi]

Yup. Got to keep them somewhere!

[@markshellard5894]

don’t remember this one it’s a figure I just don’t remember

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

He was released in 1987, in the very last wave.

[@Bucky749]

Also, did you ever wash the cartoon that was the spiritual successor to mask? I think it was called Alpha teens on machines or A.T.O.M.

[@reszka1149]

Can I send you my scare glow to fix?arm socket brokè

[@gillandro2]

Do you have oates fix me stick by you? No guess work as the two parts are in one piece just have to cut what you need

[@toypolloi]

I have no idea what that is.

[@gillandro2]

@@toypolloi in the states they sell it in the plumbing section of home depot... or what ever your equivalent would be there

[@landonjr5063]

Why are you useing fisto armor

[@toypolloi]

Because I don't have an original Clamp Champ armour. And Fisto's armour is basically the same, just in a different colour. So easy to modify.

[@JoseMedina-hs9st]

I think they're gonna make a He man Movie And The Rock was gonna play. Skeletor And John Cena was gonna play he-man.

[@kildogery]

This is what the people want!! I wouldn't even mind if you had chopped that foot off yourself 😜 Lesser KZbin channels have done worse. I know you're legit. Keep up the excellent work.

[@toypolloi]

😁

[@RossFlack]

For the foot couldn't you just take a donor's leg and cut the toes off? I'm certain his legs were a common casting.

[@steverich73]

I've always hated that MOTU always used the same mold and same armor just painted different for other characters

[@toypolloi]

That's what I like about them. Makes them easy to swap and customise.