ACTION MAN
Royal Marines Exploration Team
Period: Flock Hair / Eagle Eyes
Dates: 1976-78
Cat No: 34173
Royal Marines Exploration Team Description:
The Royal Marines Exploration Team was the 4th in the line of the popular Royal Marines sets including 1971 The Marine Combat, 1971 Ceremonial Dress Uniform, 1971 Mountain and Arctic and Royal Marine 1980 Combat Uniform. Introduced to allow Action Man 'Explore uncharted rivers with just some of the tools the Royal Marines use'. The set had four stars to use toward the popular Star Card Gifts Scheme. It first appears in the 1976 Equipment Manual and by study of other Equipment Manuals of the following years, appears to have enjoyed at least three years availability.
Royal Marines Exploration Team Set:
34173:
ROYAL MARINES EXPLORATION TEAM : Shirt, trousers, belt, snake bite kit, bandage roll, brown short boots, hunting rifle, bush hat, orange crash helmet, larger inflatable life raft with rope and anchor, yellow rope, black paddle with yellow tips, radio, camp stove and cine camera. Equipment Manual.
Notes:
The Royal Marines Exploration Team (RMET) uniform has a similar appearance to the later type of Australian Jungle Fighter fatigues, and the bush hat supplied appears to have a variation without the brim folded up or riveted. However the holes for the rivet are commonly still present which suggests that this process was foregone to make the hat different in appearance. The shirt has two poppers to close the front, and poppers on each of the cuffs (the Australian one did not). The crash helmet was orange and unique to this set, as was the snake bite kit and cine camera. Rarer examples with a clear sticker with 'ROYAL MARINE' in white on the front of the crash helmet are thought to be the earlier examples, but almost exclusively it is found without (including shop sealed examples to prove this point). The snake bite kit had a hollow structure behind, which could hold the one small bandage roll that was included, although this distinction was not mentioned on the box-front contents list. The presiding figure upon release was the flock haired Action Man with gripping hands. The radio issue was the later type with the triangular lug closure to the front. The inflatable 'LIFE RAFT' was of a much bigger scale than the similar in construction, but smaller, yellow or black life rafts that came in other sets. The paddle supplied was of the black type with yellow painted ends. The crash helmet should have a plastic chin strap as per the Red Devil Parachutist type and like that helmet, had a circular sponge pad inside to assist the fitting. The life jacket/preserver has ROYAL MARINES printed in black on the front, and should have a three point harness to the rear held by a soft gold-coloured figure of eight ring. The primus stove should be the later kind with the hollowed out burner ring. There was no bush knife or canteen, mess tin, knife, fork or spoon for the stove in this set but were available separately.
Action Man Royal Marine Exploration Team Set