Parachute Man

[Lee]

I was browsing HL website and came across Parachute Man. A thought came to mind - could we place this guy in the top of the BT and eject him along with the rocket chute?

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Yellow Parachute Man

was:$2.99 now:$1.4950% off Summer Toys
SKU: 205783956

Dive into summer fun with Yellow Parachute Man! This fun falling toy features a lightweight parachute made of black mesh fabric, a neon yellow and black lining, and a neon yellow plastic sky diver with hands held up, dressed in a full body suit for the fall. Take it to the beach, park, or back yard, toss it as high in the sky as you can, and enjoy watching gravity and velocity in action!

Dimensions:
Parachute: Diameter: 18"
Man: Length: 3 7/8" Width: 1 3/4" Thickness: 1/2"
Package contains 1 parachute diver.
***********************************************************
He would easily fit into my Door Knob rocket. Weight should not be a problem. I would pack lots of wadding between parachute man and the rocket chute.
Interested in opinions or experience if anyone has tried something like this.

 

[dvdsnyd]

Yup, I'm sure you could. Be just like the old Estes Bailout!

 

[Mr G]

Paratroopers awaiting orders for the next MDRM mission.

 

[SkyFire]

Couldn't resist! Ordered troops for the next invasion!

 

[Funkworks]

Hefty Smurf: You can bet I'll be smurfing this thread very closely!

 

[Hobie1dog]

my grandkids would love this

 

[AfterBurners]

When we would go to launches I would take several of the plastic parachute men and put in a 4" diameter rocket. I would the range field officer that I had them in there and announce it over the speaker system that if brought them back to my table that you would get so much money for different colored parachute men. I still have a whole box of them in my closet. Anyway this only applied to the younger kids at the launch.

 

[OG1959]

OMG I used to play with Parachute man when I was a kid! I loved it!!

 

[user 35280]

http://www.erockets.biz/toy-15-web-parachute-with-paratrooper/

 

[teepot]

I saw the parachute men on Amazon. I would like something bigger so I looked at G.I. Joe's. We shall see.

 

[OC-Patrick]

We used these in a few MP rockets. Use plenty of wadding because the parachutes melt easily.

 

[lakeroadster]

I was browsing HL website and came across Parachute Man. A thought came to mind - could we place this guy in the top of the BT and eject him along with the rocket chute?

*****************************************************************
View attachment 473259
Yellow Parachute Man

was:$2.99 now:$1.4950% off Summer Toys
SKU: 205783956

Dive into summer fun with Yellow Parachute Man! This fun falling toy features a lightweight parachute made of black mesh fabric, a neon yellow and black lining, and a neon yellow plastic sky diver with hands held up, dressed in a full body suit for the fall. Take it to the beach, park, or back yard, toss it as high in the sky as you can, and enjoy watching gravity and velocity in action!

Dimensions:
Parachute: Diameter: 18"
Man: Length: 3 7/8" Width: 1 3/4" Thickness: 1/2"
Package contains 1 parachute diver.
***********************************************************
He would easily fit into my Door Knob rocket. Weight should not be a problem. I would pack lots of wadding between parachute man and the rocket chute.
Interested in opinions or experience if anyone has tried something like this.

Sure... but not a parachute. A 20 foot long crepe paper streamer would be better.

 

[Funkworks]

I remember participating in scheme "7":

Receiving it:

And "using" it once (just how high do you think a kid can throw this?):

Someone else's description:
"This 1985 G.I. Joe Parachute Pack Mail-In was sent to you with 2 Flag Points! This parachute was not sold in stores and comes with the Parachute, helmet, air mask and backpack."

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I had a design for paratroopers dropped from a rocket in mind as well! Good to see someone doing it!

 

[MarkB.]

Well, if it's from a MDRM, it would make them Fallschrimjager.

Also, the foam practice golf balls make fun cluster munitions from larger rockets.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

@MarkB. I liked your post, but that signature line is probably nearly as true as the Gospel itself!

 

[Bat-mite]

Estes periodically release kits that come with a parachute man.

 

[RobertH3]

The summer parachute man works really well. He's bailed out of my Mega Der Red Max and a couple other mp and hp rockets. The mesh instead of shroud lines ensures no tangles and kids LOVE it. Mine was chased down and recovered, zero effort. The G125 launch seemed to irritate him and he sailed away from the launch site toward a distant farmhouse and other owners
E-Rockets also sells these.

Cheers / Robert

 

[lakeroadster]

I remember participating in scheme "7":
View attachment 473617
Receiving it:
View attachment 473618
And "using" it once (just how high do you think a kid can throw this?):
View attachment 473619
Someone else's description:
"This 1985 G.I. Joe Parachute Pack Mail-In was sent to you with 2 Flag Points! This parachute was not sold in stores and comes with the Parachute, helmet, air mask and backpack."

Is that Ira Hayes helping with the chute? He was a Marine Paratrooper, too. RIP

 

[lakeroadster]

Be careful out there.. Paratrooper crashes through roof

 

[Blast it Tom!]

And "using" it once (just how high do you think a kid can throw this?):

Wasn't that always the thing?! You wanna send it up a couple hundred feet, but your poor arm... I am old enough to have had the 12" GI Joe, and yes I had the Mercury Capsule and all... I took a dry cleaning bag and made a parachute for Joe (not the capsule!), around 36" as I recall. It worked fine but I'd get up on our back porch for an additional 8' of altitude!

 

[Funkworks]

Is that Ira Hayes helping with the chute? He was a Marine Paratrooper, too. RIP

(note that pic is not mine - just something I found online)

Hasbro toy designers certainly have some kinds of influences, but officially, I must say no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(G.I._Joe)

 

[Funkworks]

Wasn't that always the thing?! You wanna send it up a couple hundred feet, but your poor arm... I am old enough to have had the 12" GI Joe, and yes I had the Mercury Capsule and all... I took a dry cleaning bag and made a parachute for Joe (not the capsule!), around 36" as I recall. It worked fine but I'd get up on our back porch for an additional 8' of altitude!

As far as I can remember, I went though the trouble of packing that chute in the tiny backpack, threw it up, and it all came down just about as quickly as any other chunk of plastic. The chute never had time to fully open. I packed it once more and it stayed packed until a yard sale years later where it probably sold for $1 (with the figure).

 

[Blast it Tom!]

As far as I can remember, I went though the trouble of packing that chute in the tiny backpack, threw it up, and it all came down just about as quickly as any other chunk of plastic. The chute never had time to fully open. I packed it once more and it stayed packed until a yard sale years later where it probably sold for $1 (with the figure).

So how was the pack supposed to come open? A child's arm just isn't going to get it very high. Did it just spring open as soon as you threw it and get all draggy and everything, hopefully tumbling enough to get the 'chute out? I sometimes wonder how things get through product testing...

 

[Funkworks]

Not even a spring. It wasn't designed to actively open. All you could do is hope for it to catch enough wind to inflate, but I doubt that was possible unless you had a suitable cliff and first removed the chute from the plastic "backpack/box".

Product testing was likely just for kid safety, not for actual function. It was just good enough to take pictures that would get kids to buy stuff (and mail in the proof of purchases). It wasn't expensive or popular either (not sold in stores), so I guess no one ever cared whether it functionned or not. Really just a gimmick. One notch better than any fake backpack any other figure came with.

Edit:
Here it is in action with parachute pack simply unlatched::


Here it is in action with parachute pre-deployed:


What I remember is standing in a flat grass yard, and being dissapointed. I actually had the ideal Ripcord action figure to do it with (no parachute included, just a look-alike backpack)).

 

[lakeroadster]

Great thread... triggers a lot of cool memories.

I remember visiting me Mothers Aunt when I was probably 6 years old. This would have been around the mid 1960's. They had a wooden crate full of vintage kids toys. I dug in and found a Superman Slingshot Glider.

The Superman figure was plastic, probably 8" or so tall and his cape was made from a styrofoam like material in the shape of a delta wing. It had a separate slingshot you held in your hand and you hooked the elastic on to Superman, via a hook under his chin, and launched him skyward. This thing was bullet proof, really well made, and it showed it's scars from years of kids playing with it, but still flew great.

I could have stayed there playing with that for a week. Man was it cool.

Good times.

 

[PatD]

Be careful out there.. Paratrooper crashes through roof

View attachment 473723

I hesitate to say it, but DAMN dude you have a reserve!

 

[OC-Patrick]

I was browsing HL website and came across Parachute Man. A thought came to mind - could we place this guy in the top of the BT and eject him along with the rocket chute?

*****************************************************************
View attachment 473259
Yellow Parachute Man

was:$2.99 now:$1.4950% off Summer Toys
SKU: 205783956

Dive into summer fun with Yellow Parachute Man! This fun falling toy features a lightweight parachute made of black mesh fabric, a neon yellow and black lining, and a neon yellow plastic sky diver with hands held up, dressed in a full body suit for the fall. Take it to the beach, park, or back yard, toss it as high in the sky as you can, and enjoy watching gravity and velocity in action!

Dimensions:
Parachute: Diameter: 18"
Man: Length: 3 7/8" Width: 1 3/4" Thickness: 1/2"
Package contains 1 parachute diver.
***********************************************************
He would easily fit into my Door Knob rocket. Weight should not be a problem. I would pack lots of wadding between parachute man and the rocket chute.
Interested in opinions or experience if anyone has tried something like this.

I've done this. Gotta use lots of wadding or wrap in blanket because the mesh (in lieu of shroud lines) easily melts - first hand experience. Those guys hang in the air a long time.

I've actually just purchased a bunch of these to experiment using on LP rockets (without the soldier). To see how well they work. Comes in many high visibility colors - orange, lime green, light blue, orange and pink. From Walmart on-line.

 

[lakeroadster]

Great thread... triggers a lot of cool memories.

I remember visiting me Mothers Aunt when I was probably 6 years old. This would have been around the mid 1960's. They had a wooden crate full of vintage kids toys. I dug in and found a Superman Slingshot Glider.

The Superman figure was plastic, probably 8" or so tall and his cape was made from a styrofoam like material in the shape of a delta wing. It had a separate slingshot you held in your hand and you hooked the elastic on to Superman, via a hook under his chin, and launched him skyward. This thing was bullet proof, really well made, and it showed it's scars from years of kids playing with it, but still flew great.

I could have stayed there playing with that for a week. Man was it cool.

Good times.

View attachment 473767

Found this on the internet today. A flash from the past.

 

[David_Stack]

Found this on the internet today. A flash from the past.

View attachment 567407

and a 21st century version...



Sorry for the thread drift