Red Cap (Iron Grenadiers Air / Ground Defense Vehicle)

Found among the ruined castles scattered across the Scottish borders, the mythical Red Caps were murderous goblin-like creatures who killed any travellers straying into their path. They would then dye their hats with their victim's blood and they had to keep killing as, if the blood dried, they would die. Despite wearing spike-clad iron boots, these demons were said to be too fast to outrun and so the only way to escape one was to quote a passage from the Bible. Following repeated attacks on his ancestral home, Destro put his engineers to work designing a defensive vehicle that combined speed, maneuverability, stealth and massive firepower to similarly handle any trespassers who might wish ill upon his keep. The Red Cap relies upon state-of-the-art concealment technology to remain hidden while utilizing an impressive array of detection and tracking equipment to find and fix its prey. Rebuilt upon its original site, Castle Destro is now surrounded by an impenetrable network of Red Caps.

Parts: ARAH Tiger Cat, RoC Cover Girl Missile Launchers, Twin Guns from The Corps! assault boat.

Supplies: Dremel, Super glue, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors clear Candy Apple Red spray paint, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: None. Basically, I had the vehicle sitting around and wanted to do something with it. My daughter decided that she wanted to help and this is what we came up with.

There is really not much to tell with this. It was more inspiration than actual work. The entire thing was thought out before we started. We Googled "mythical creatures of Scotland" and chose the name based upon the results of our search. I used the Dremel to drill holes big enough to mount the missile launchers on either side of the rear deck. They fit snugly and I super glued them in place to make certain they stayed put. The entire vehicle was spray painted black. The air vents, anti-aircraft guns and anti-armor missiles were spray-painted gold. The windshield was spray painted with clear red. All of the edging was drybrushed (mostly by Kate) with aluminum, steel or silver to show the normal wear and tear of a military vehicle. We did a bit less of this than I normally would because I figured Destro's boys would keep their gear in the best condition possible. The driver compartment was detailed with various buttons and switches to look as authentic as possible. The crowning touch was the Destro insignias I ordered from CobraStickers.com. Considering that this was basically a junk vehicle that has collected dust in my mother's attic for the past 20 years, we're very happy with how it turned out!