Support us on Patreon: / retroblasting Michael begins the long journey toward restoring a G.I. Joe Defiant Space Shuttle! #RetroBlasting #GIJoeDefiant #toyrestoration #GIJoe
Nerves of steel Micheal, not taking apart the G.I. Joe Defiant Space Shuttle but sitting so close to your WW2 airplanes. without fear of losing your balance & falling backwards.
This brought back some memories. I restored a Defiant some years ago. Nothing like the creaking of the gantry going up and down to send chills down your spine and the sigh of relief when doing anything with those fragile as glass blue doors.
I think those are the old 21st Century Toy models. It was a different time in the toy business. These days intermediate collectibles like that aren't produced by anyone. Either it's a cheap toy for a baby or it's a $30-$100 figure, and no options for vehicles.
Isn't there a Joe scale budget military toy line that appears in stores with large vehicles for a reasonable price? Pretty sure I've seen one around... I was also entranced by the planes!
My goodness; keeping track of the screws alone must be a challenge! I wish 7-8 year old me could have watched this video back in the 80s; I would have appreciated all the work my dad put in on birthdays and Christmases assembling my Joe vehicles and playsets!
I love watching your channel, I wish I had more of my old childhood toys to restore but sadly so many of mine just didn't survive, but watching you repair and restore so many I used to own brings back many memories, please never stop doing what you do!
I couldn’t help wishing for Benny Hill soundtrack during the speed up.. on a serious note these videos are so important for people cuz Retroblasting shows what to look out for
It blows my mind to see the sheer size of some of the pieces of plastic they used on this. That crawler has several enormous pieces of injection-molded plastic. They look like components from a dishwasher.
The best playset ever. I just love this thing. Took me buying two and a host of extra parts to build mine. And those blue doors are the most fragile vintage toy piece I’ve ever had. Had 3 sets of doors. Never ship doors. You taking the gray elevator walls off the blue doors had me cringing. Never crank it up without your free hand helping to pull up the shuttle and it’s bed. I keep two boards underneath the crawler so the wheels aren’t stressed where they connect.
Hey Michael, I suggest using 100% silicon oil (RC Shock Oil) to reduce friction on plastic hinges and tight screws. It helps with my repair sessions but I'm not a chemist so if anyone knows how it will affect plastic, feel free to inform me.
I give you props! I tried to refurbish one from scratch, got close, but quit. The defiant has some unique difficulties and extremely rare parts. It’s trickier than the Flagg. I Just gave in and bought one mint.
Daunting task Michael! I eagerly anticipate the "repair" and "rebuild" of this massive vehicle playset. I'm watching every detail of this video for the upcoming occasion that I find my own Defiant to complete my vintage G.I. Joe collection. -Rich Fekete
I knew it! Mike's a Cylon. Only a Cylon could put so much effort and care into the destruction of something. Don't believe me? And well you might, but listen to the Cylon Raider fly by at 0:34 [Thanks for another great vid, Mike. :) ]
I'd love to see the follow up to this - these tear down and clean vids are always therapeutic to put on and just run out. Seeing the end result is always great - these toys deserve another chance.
I’m curious about the spring holes, resting the gantry like breaks them. After you restore it, keep the gantry up or do not put the springs back in. Mine goes up and down without the springs and just some manual assistance.
Also, if you don’t mind me saying. Make an inch high or so support that slides underneath the underbelly of gantry to take the stress off those wheels.
I'm looking forward to the restoration of this beautiful beast of a toy :-) If you want to save the door drilling a tiny hole at the end of the crack will reduce the stress on the plastic and prevent it from cracking any further. It also makes it easier to get some liquid plastic weld inside the crack to bond the pieces together.
I cannot wait for your future Defiant play set videos. I have one. Sadly it is missing the very fragile, and very expensive, doors. I want to see how to replace them, someday. Thanks for doing this video.
Since it’s not a museum piece, I’d love to apply some high end paint apps to that thing! A little weathering, paint some of the details that were sculpted so beautifully
Okay, I'm gonna tell a story. I'm probably 1-3 years younger than Michael and Melinda. When I was growing up in the 80s, my dad was a real piece of work: drug dealer, tax evader, racist, homophobe, you name it. He couldn't really show love in a healthy way. But what he could do was spoil his kid. We were a poor family, but I had the Defiant, I had Eternia, I had Fortress Maximus, I had everything. As I got older, and this kind of spoiling became impossible, he pulled away from me, as he always has, with everyone, through cruelty and apathy and absence. And the toys that had meant so much to me, my only token of affection from him, rotted away in my mom's garage. When I was about 20, I went through it all. Everything that was still play-worthy went to some nice kids and the rest went in a dumpster. It was one of the saddest moments of my life, because I thought about how poor we had been and how much he'd spent on these things, since showing love any other way was so hard for him, and I felt terribly guilty for neglecting them. Now, all these years later, watching you restore some of these toys... While they aren't mine, there is something so comforting knowing that THIS ONE, at least, THIS survivor from someone's childhood, with all of the complex happy and sad memories and emotions attached to it, can have a new life, and maybe bring someone else comforting memories of a parent who sacrificed. Does that make sense? Maybe not. But I was moved and it was all so unexpected. Thanks once again for a great channel that leads to so many outcomes you could never predict.
I just realized that its a crawler... that was stored in a crawlspace. That said, I think the Defiant is a great vehicle/playset except for that under engineered gantry gimmick. Sadly, we will never see anything as big and as detailed as this anymore.
This playset mobile station could have made for a fantastic Star Wars playset maybe part of a Death Star or star destroyer or an imperial garrison base.
Great vid about the Defiant Gantry, but I absolutely love the P40 and BF109E in the background! Wish I had picked them up when I had seen these! Are they 21st Century Toys?
Question, if a plastic part is too broken. Do you try and scavenge a piece off another toy, Or do you 3d print a replacement? I know on eBay replacement parts can get VERY expensive. And, other times the toy could be so rare that parts are scarce.
RB, you're lucky; I'd all but KILL to have a brand spankin' new DEFIANT shuttle set! I'd even prefer that over the USS FLAGG! (Though I'm fond of it, I'll have to settle for my CRUSADER alone)
All three of them were easily broken and couldn't withstand normal childhood use. My cousin had the Defiant that we broke the gantry, bay doors, shuttle bay doors and shuttle landing gear. Then on my Terrordrome all of the door latches broke, most of the Cobra emblem sides broke off flush and the elevator to the launch doors ended up broken. Our Joes were well played with.
It's always a bad idea to take these things apart, I've owned 4 and broke a few tabs on one, parted it off and sold the second one. Kept the other two because they were variants
Nah I just thought I'd make this video and drive everyone crazy wondering why I never review it because I'm gonna become a video channel that never shows anyone anything. It's gonna be awesome.
Michael, Are you looking at replacing the gears from old parts or having someone machine them? I am assuming the gears are plastic. I was wondering if ones made from metal would hold up better? Love the show, Peder
Very cool! Looking forward to the next part. I know how brittle that plastic can get over age. Especially during restoration. Like the 21st century planes too. I have a lot of those in my collection the f-18 and f-16 are huge. They do look great with joe displays though.
@@retroblasting thats great but ur gonna have put in some real work to complete it... Getting the umbilical cord alone for a decent price is a nightmare
I know it's my Asian culture speaking, but set it aside. I hate when people wear there shoes in the house. That's so freaking nasty. Just imagine where he stepped on public restroom, and just contaminating his own home.
