A little vinegar is all you need for those rusty old G.I. Joe action figure screws

Airborne's 30 year old screws have seen better days.
Airborne’s 30 year old screws have seen better days.

I decided to carry out a little experiment.

While putting Airborne back together again, I noticed something. The screws in his legs, as well as the one in his back, were covered in rust. Upon removing them I discovered that while the threads were nice and clean, the heads were pretty bad. The one that had been in his back was especially discolored.

I checked online for some possible remedies. A few came up, but the one that seemed to be the most straight forward was white vinegar.

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Heartbreak and regret: Tossed my G.I. Joes in trash and I don’t know why

What's an ex-Viper to do when all his friends are gone.
What’s an ex-Viper to do when all his friends are gone.

There was a time when I easily had dozens of G.I. Joe action figures. Many had been lost over the years, but I would say that at its height my collection reached around 50 at its peak.

I was heartbroken to realize the other day that many of my oldest and most significent ones are gone… and it was basically my own doing.

Up until high school I kept my Joes meticulously organized. They were housed in a two-foot high organizer with small, narrow drawers. Each figure was in one of the drawers, stashed away along with their individual accessories. The drawers were also labeled for each Joe inside.

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