Okay, I know that the little flagpoles with the Cobra STUN vehicle are arguably the single most fragile items ever in the history of the Real American Hero, but this was just plain ridiculous, what happened today.

I had to move my Cobra STUN from its bookshelf display area to get to some items behind it. I hadn't touched the vehicle in a very long time.

One of the flagpoles snapped off right near the thicker base. I barely brushed it. When I picked it up, as gently as I could, it snapped TWICE more just in my fingertips! I quickly placed it in a plastic bag before it could break again.

Now, I know that Arizona is a dry climate, and technically this vehicle is 23 years old, but come ON, already. I doubt I can fix this, so I'm rather ticked off about that, but this flagpole practically CRUMBLED! I've never heard of that happening.

Anyone else experience this?

And I suppose finding intact and more -- flexible -- STUN flagpoles is pretty much impossible these days?

(Talk about something we could use a repro of. If the Club still has the molds from their 2004 use, start stamping 'em out in Cobra red and Python yellow...)

If the "flag" it's self is still fine, get you a model kit of any kind and use the runners for the flag pole. Focus on the snap kit type of models since they usually have thinner runners. Cut the flag from the broken pole and glue it to the runner. Paint the red down and if you do it right they should look just like new. You should be able to find several model kits for cheap or even clearanced somewhere.

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The FLAGS are fine. Not a bad idea there, either. A little outside my usual range of work, but not impossible, I imagine. Thank you!

I take it, though, that finding original flags in any sort of decent condition these days is pretty much impossible, at least as "spare parts"?

Like I said, if the Club ever wanted to make a few bucks making "spare parts", I know what I'd have 'em start with...

Finding intact STUN flags isn't impossible. If someone knows what they have it won't come cheap, but most times they get lumped into parts lots so they can be had for a bargain. They are way too fragile to pony up big bucks for in my opinion.

The Club making them as repro parts is certainly within their capabilities since they did reproduce the Stun for the vehicle exclusive for the Drednok set. Not my favorite vehicle by any means but I'd trust the club with redoing that one.

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Stun flags are two items I'll NEVER put onto the vehicle fully. I'm not about to risk breaking those stupid things putting them in or taking them off the Stun. Sorry about the bad fortune and good luck finding replacements. Might not be a bad idea to see if you can find a cheap con stun and spray paint those flags red.

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It's not just the flags, it's pretty much any of the red STUN parts. I've had broken tabs on the engine covers, broken pins on the back gun...hubcaps seem fine tho.

Guess the folks at the factory didn't mix in enough plasticizer when they went to run the red part sprues. Either that, or the one they used broke down much more rapidly than most other similar plastics.

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I've got four stuns, and the only one left with two flags, is the Dreadnok version. I have all the other pieces that used to be flags. I was leaning towards using thin metal wire (along the same lines as a typical RC car) and drilling out the flag for the wire to pass through, but now I think I'm gonna try J Man's idea. It seems much easier and closer to the original design.

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Yeah, the Club's Dreadnok STUN is what made me think that they could redo STUN flags if they wanted to -- if they still have access to those molds. Lord only knows.

Hadn't considered the possibility that the plastic might've been a little off. And yet the Python STUN seems almost as susceptible to this sort of thing, doesn't it? And it was made four years later and from a different color of plastic. Of course maybe those just break off, not crumble like this one did today. I know that as plastic dries out it can get brittle (hence elbow cracks, for one thing), but this was ridiculous.

I just thought of something that might work as a viable replacement, a variation of redredly's idea.

Those usually damnable plastic-coated wire twist-ties that action figures are held in place in their packages with. If those come in red...!

Still, to me, original parts are always preferable, if in this case they can be found. I'd even worry about shipping, though.

Well, yes. But not in the context of toys. One of the windshield washer sprayers on my car stopped working. I opened the hood and started pressing on the nozzles to see if anything was loose. When I touched the plastic tubing it snapped. I touched it again to try to "fix" it and it snapped again and again. Granted this plastic was closed in a chamber that got very hot and then cooled down several times daily for the past 8 or 9 years.

Because of how fragile they are it has never been a goal of mine to have a complete STUN in my collection. It is suprising that I actually have one good flag on mine.

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I bought a STUN at a local Toronto toy show years ago. Unbroken flagpoles mind you.

Well I put the vehilce in bag and left in the back seat for the car ride home. When I got home, those stupid flagpoles were broken into several pieces. It's like some one sat on it. Cheap "LASER BLAST" plastic.

I'm telling you, get some model runners and they'll work wonders. Not the usual thick ones, but the real thin ones. Sometimes parts like the drive shaft of a model car or items like that will work too. All you gotta do is drill out a small hole in the post that attached to the STUN and holds the flag in place. Glue the rod in place and attach the flag off of the orginal with glue. It should look fine and be a lot more durable. Paint it red (I'd shoot the whole thing red so all the colors match) and you're all set.

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http://cgi.ebay.com/GI-Joe-1989-Python- ... dZViewItem one PP flag was all I found.

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reads the thread...

....thinks about the flagless STUN acquired last year...

...thinks about all those extra Imperial Procession flags received in that huge figure auction last year...

...hmmmmmmmmmm...

...rubs chin and ponders this idea

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