Small Designer Spotlight: Old Joe Infirmary!

The Old Joe Infirmary (OJI) was a 1/6 uniform and accessory maker that specialized in making medical themes. They had a very active website from 1998 to about 2010!

Below are photos and insights of the interesting subject matter and accessories OJI made into fruition!

The OJI logo that was on their website for so many years.

OJI started as an online vintage Joe repair shop that encompassed services like restringing and paint touch-ups. As they gained more traction, they moved on to making factory-grade uniforms, accessories, and even new body parts.

Here are some of the fascinating medical clothing they made for different eras.

These were the Modern Surgical Uniforms in Teal. The lab coats were additional to the scrubs and the shoes were also OJI produced.

This is the Modern Surgical Uniform in ER Blue and the U.S. 1940's Era Doctor or Dentist Uniform. Most of the medical uniforms came with a face mask, booties, stethoscope, and clipboard.

This is the U.S. Gray Ladies Volunteer Nurse and U.S. YWCA Volunteer Nurse with Cape outfits. They were very well made with a high attention to detail. OJI female clothing was designed to fit G.I. Jane, BBI, and Barbie bodies.

This is the US Army Seersucker Nurse and WWII & Korea Surgical Pants Female Uniform

Here is a closeup of the OJI clipboards and modern/vintage stethoscopes.

OJI also made some more combat oriented Joe-support uniforms.

Here is the WW2 Combat Medic and WW2 Tanker. The medic's helmet, jacket, armbands, boots, and coveralls were OJI produced. The tanker's hat, jacket, coveralls, and boots were OJI produced.

This is one of my favorite uniforms from OJI because of how unconventional it is. It is the DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz or German Red Cross) field medic. All of its pieces were OJI produced.

These were the additional items that came with the DRK Medic uniform. He looks striking with or without this gear on.

This is the U.S. HBT Mechanic's Uniform. I believe everything is OJI produced except for the male's hat.

Here is a closeup of the tools that each HBT Mechanic had 2 sets of.

Here are some test shot items that OJI sold me when I reached out to them.

These are test colors of the scrubs that OJI never mass produced, mustard and mint.

The Max Steel is not OJI produced, but he is wearing OJI Karate Slippers. Dr. Evil is wearing a Red test color of the OJI medical scrubs.

Here is a closeup of the slippers. OJI mass produced these along with other rare accessories like unconventional WW2 German hats.

OJI also made female heads named Lia under their Fem'Basix line. The initial line of heads were designed to fit Classic Collection G.I. Jane bodies. When Hasbro stopped producing those, OJI redesigned their heads to fit on neck posts for bodies such as BBI's Cy Girl. Below are the painted versions; I do not own any of their rooted female heads.

Ethnic Black Hair
Brown Eyes

Brown Hair
Blue Eyes

Red Hair
Brown Eyes

Red Hair
Green Eyes

Blonde Hair
Blue Eyes

Here are some other interesting photos pertaining to OJI.

This is a snippet of an old Cotswold catalog selling some OJI gear. The prices on these things were stellar even back in the day!

The owner of OJI sent me a group shot of everything he had available to sell. They made a lot of cool gear, and I believe they even made some medical tents.

I researched many of OJI's sets using the Way Back Machine for their defunct website (www.oldjoeinfirmary.com). You can still reach out to OJI via their eBay store. Craig Polnoff is his name, and he is a super nice and helpful hobbyist. In fact, he is the reason I was able to get most of these sets years after they were produced! Sadly, OJI does not manufacture much these days. Craig told me there were numerous reasons such as Hasbro waning on 1/6 product and the economy fluctuating like it does.

Stay tuned for more Small Designer Spotlight articles highlighting and documenting the work of the super talented action figure enthusiasts!

-Chuck