GI Joe Bridgelayer

Post by **aferguson** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:54 pm

i was just playing with my GI Joe bridgelayer and thought i'd bring it up again for some of the newer recruits who may be unaware of it. The scissor bridge is about 16 inches long when extended and wide enough for a sherman to cross. The tank part doesnt look like anything real and is kinda on the small side. The closest wwii vehicle to this would be the Valentine bridgleayer, which was used all throughtout Italy and Europe. As i said, the tank part doesn't look anything like a Valentine. I was thinking of using a Walker Bulldog hull to carry the bridge...at least it's a bigger size and looks like a WWII tank.

Anyway, just throwing it out there for anyone interested in something a bit different...

http://cgi.ebay.com/G-I-Joe-Bridge-Laye ... dZViewItem

Here's a link to one on ebay just to give an idea of what it looks like.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:04 pm

you need to get a camera

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:11 pm

The bridge layer may not be entirely accurate in either WWII or modern setup, but the GI Joe Mauler tank (from the same year) can work well on its own in a modern setup. The Mauler is an almost exact copy of an experimental tank known as the High Survivability Test Vehicle that the US Army worked with during the 1980s. Personally, the Mauler is one of the best GI Joe tanks ever

Jesse James · Post by **Jesse James** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:51 pm

Agreed on the Mauler... It was everything the MOBAT was not. The MOBAT was cool because, well, it had Steeler in it and he was from Pittsburgh and had the most polish name in history.

I loved that figure and still loved the character for the simple fact he was from my town and like football, haha.

The Mauler though moved a lot better over grass and things, had a lot more detail to it, and had working hatches for its drivers/figures. The MOBAT just had the top gun hatch with no real hatch to it at all. Disappointing, and it was prone to losing its tracks and was insanely slow by comparison to the Mauler.

The Bridgelayer (with Toll Booth) was a pretty cool vehicle... It was nice back then that you got support stuff for your Joes like that, or the trooper carrier and things.

Without a doubt I've never had a toy line that gave me as much joy as G.I. Joe: ARAH. Without a doubt, the greatest toy line in history to me. And the modern stuff's even better... Makes me wish I was a kid again.

parrish333 · Post by **parrish333** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:05 am

Jesse James wrote: The Bridgelayer (with Toll Booth) was a pretty cool vehicle... It was nice back then that you got support stuff for your Joes like that, or the trooper carrier and things.

Without a doubt I've never had a toy line that gave me as much joy as G.I. Joe: ARAH. Without a doubt, the greatest toy line in history to me. And the modern stuff's even better... Makes me wish I was a kid again.

Agreed on the old GI Joe line...by the nature of the concept of different military specialties, you got an awesome assortment of stuff. Imagine today if we had 1:18 radiomen, medics, coast guard, combat engineers, computer hacks, firefighters, MPs, alpine, artic, desert, jungle, udt, eod, cooks, intelligence officers, and on and on and on. I can hardly think of a military specialty that GI Joe didn't cover. With our current 1:18 offerings we so often get another middle of the road generic infantry guy.

I mean, can you imagine 21C or BBI having the hutzpah to make a bridgelayer? Way too different for their taste!

Panzer_M · Post by **Panzer_M** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:50 am

pics of MOBAT and Mauler? I forgot what these looked like...

Post by **aferguson** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:26 am

hutzpah to make a bridge layer?....they haven't even had the hutzpah to make a truck, or a stug, or a Jagdpanther, or a Priest or any of another 3 dozen items i could name that are basic and fundemental to any WWII armour line.

It's taken them 8 years to get around to making an 88, which should have been done year 1.

olifant · Post by **olifant** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:06 am

aferguson wrote:hutzpah to make a bridge layer?....they haven't even had the hutzpah to make a truck, or a stug, or a Jagdpanther, or a Priest or any of another 3 dozen items i could name that are basic and fundemental to any WWII armour line.

It's taken them 8 years to get around to making an 88, which should have been done year 1.

Nice one aferg! But would a bridge layer outsell a quad .50 trailer?

dandaman · Post by **dandaman** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:06 am

olifant wrote:But would a bridge layer outsell a quad .50 trailer?

Better question: could a bridge layer take on a .50 trailer?

Bryce · Post by **Bryce** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:16 pm

Panzer_M wrote:pics of MOBAT and Mauler? I forgot what these looked like...

Why dont you just look here?

http://www.yojoe.com/

Small Scale Military Headquarters

GI Joe Bridgelayer

GI Joe Bridgelayer

Better Question