Okay, this post is a little different. This is about a small triumph I finally had in regards to the Desert Fox. It was a vehicle that I really had no interest in up until the last year or so, but that's part of the story I guess...
About a year or so ago, my friend Garrett called me up, and told me while digging through family storage, he came across a ton of his old Transformers and G.I. Joe collection from his childhood. He has no real interest in that stuff anymore, but knew that I did. He said he would sell to me what he had. I whipped over, and saw that he had a ton of G.I. Joe, and some TF. Anyway, there was a lot that was broke or missing, and all was very dirty, but it was a treasure trove none the less. I worked out a good deal with him, and picked it all up from him. I then went to work sorting, cleaning and working to repair things. One good thing was that most of his collection picked up at about the end of mine. He is a few years younger than me, so that makes since I guess.
Anyway, getting back to the story, I really had a lot to work with, and was able to get parts and pieces to replace lost and broke ones online, mostly on eBay. One of my biggest wins was the '88 G.I. Joe Rolling Thunder. I cleaned it up and pieced back together an almost complete and awesome vehicle. Getting sidetracked again....
Finishing out this story and the reason for this post, he had a Desert Fox in that collection as well. It was overall in good condition, but was missing a couple of small pieces I didn't get too worried about at the time. What did bother me though, we the front wheel axle!! It has a special front axle that when unbroken and working right would cause the other wheel to turn when you turned the other. Unfortunately, the axle itself is a weird piece that sits on two pegs within the front hood area inside. If it is broken, not only does the functionality I mentioned not work, but also the wheel kind of fold out and dont sit right. His axle was broken, and that was exactly what it was doing, and it really started bothering me for some reason, once I had it cleaned up and on display. I took the steps then to do what I had done with other Joe parts and go online and try to find a replacement.
The thing I found with this is that I couldn't really find anything but on eBay, and on there 99% of sellers don't know, or don't care about this part. Most seem to have gotten it from someone else, and when any questions were asked, they couldn't answer them. I then resorted to buying in hopes I got the right and unbroken part. Unfortunately, the first 2 times I did this, I was unsuccessful, and I wound up with more pieces and no fixes. The good note is, I usually was able to get something from each person that made it not a total waste. Either a part that was missing in my original, or at least one that was in better shape. Finally, before the date of this post, I made a third purchase, and did get one with a good and unbroken axle. I pieced it all together, and I now have an awesome and flawless Desert Fox that is not missing any pieces. I even have a set of instructions/specs. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures yet, but below are links to the YoJoe site if there is any interest in seeing the vehicles mentioned. Also, as I mentioned, I have a number of extra pieces I have no interest in now. If you are reading this and have interest, let me know. I will likely let someone more or less have them if they would cover the shipping part of it....
http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/88/desertfox/
http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/88/rollingthunder/
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