Duke (G.I. Joe Team First Sergeant)

While he has never been one of my favorite characters, there's no denying that Duke is a great character. So when I saw how great the latest Duke headsculpt was in the Pursuit of Cobra line, I decided to give mine an upgrade.

Parts: Head (PoC Duke wave 3), Body (25th Anniversary Duke v26), Helmet (bbi Elite Force figure), M4 rifle (Marauder, Inc.).

When I started this figure, I didn't plan on posting it. It's basically just a headswap with a new paintjob and some new accessories. The only Duke figure I had was the 25th Anniversary jetpack version which had a really light colored shirt. So I snatched him out of my Pit display and repainted his shirt. While I was at it, I touched up the paint apps on the belt to make them a little bit different shade of green than his trousers. The bandolier was silver (ummm... why?) so it needed to be repainted, as well. With the smaller details, I tried to model this figure after the awesome 12" Duke that was produced by Sideshow. The rifle is not the same manufacturer, but it was the closest I could get. So I painted it and the helmet to match the 12" figure. I also liked the "slightly graying" look of the Sideshow figure. I thought it was a good look for Duke, so I drybrushed light gray over his hair. To finish things off, I repainted the boots with a couple different tan colors to simulate the current style of boots issued to US troops. The whole figure was given a liberal application of Testors Dull-Cote before he rejoined his troops.

Devilfish, Tigerfish & Kittenfish - Oh my!!!

Now that all three of our G.I. Joe Fast Attack Boats are completed, the kids wanted me to take some group shots. I've got to admit that I am really happy with how these turned out...

Kittenfish (G.I. Joe Fast Attack Boat)

Yep - you guessed it! As soon as I finished the Tigerfish for my son, my little girl decided that she needed a boat, as well. Fortunately, I had predicted this and I had already scored a nice Devilfish on ebay...













As I had done with my Devilfish and my son's Tigerfish, I used the Dremel to remove the footpegs, which are far too big for the modern era Joes. The old sticker residue was removed using a very gentle dishwashing liquid. The upper portion of the boat was spray-painted with satin pink.













All of the remaining details were painted exactly the same as my Devilfish. The "no-skid" was painted using flat black. I used a lot of aluminum, steel, gunmetal and other colors to bring out some of the sculpted details. The decals came from our pal Ruben in Mexico - except for the prominent Hello Kitty logo on the bow (you should have seen her reaction to that little detail). Finally, the entire boat was given a liberal application of Dull-Cote to protect the paint. I have tentatively dubbed this boat the Kittenfish, but I may change it if I think of something less silly...

Tigerfish (G.I. Joe Fast Attack Boat)

So after I finished my Devilfish, my son was just completely enamored with it. A couple of months earlier I had given him my younger brother's old TigerFish and he immediately asked me to "upgrade" it...













As I had done with my Devilfish, I used the Dremel to remove the footpegs, which are far too big for the modern era Joes. The old sticker residue was removed using a very gentle dishwashing liquid. Where I screwed up here was in allowing my son to help without explaining that if he scrubbed too hard, it would also remove the paint. So once all the sticker residue was gone, we had some seriously messed up white and brown areas. I don't own an airbrush, so the best I was able to do was to use spray-paint cans to try and recreate the gradual "fade-in" of those areas. While it doesn't look quite the same as it originally did, I think the results were good considering the limitations we had.













The missiles and engine covers were spray-painted red because the plastic had faded to a really lame-looking pink. The hull piece was spray-painted with flat white. All of the remaining details were painted exactly the same as my Devilfish. The "no-skid" was painted using flat black. I used a lot of aluminum, steel, gunmetal and other colors to bring out some of the sculpted details. The decals came from our pal Ruben in Mexico. Finally, the entire boat was given a liberal application of Dull-Cote to protect the paint from the future battles my son is currently planning.

Gung Ho (G.I. Joe Marine)

Okay, without exaggerating, I think this is the 6th or 7th custom version of Gung Ho that I've done. How weird is it that it took me this long to get around to doing his original 1983 look? Lately, I've been focusing on trying to fill in my 25th Anniversary collection with all of my childhood favorites so I had to get to this eventually...

Parts: Head, Torso, Upper Arms & A.L.I.C.E. pack (Comic Pack Gung Ho v19), Lower Arms (RoC Tunnel Rat v11), Legs & Vest (25th Anniversary Gung Ho v18), XM-79 Grenade Launcher (ARAH Gung Ho v1).

While version 18 of Gung Ho had the classic colors of the uniform correct, the character's skin tone was really weird, causing many to refer to him as "zombie Gung Ho". Version 19 had normal skin tone, but strayed away from the classic colors in favor of a more realistic green and brown camouflage. Essentially what I did here was take the legs from the zombie version and throw them on the non-zombie version. Then, I just needed to paint-match the pelvis area of the figure's trousers to the legs. This is an idea that I borrowed from several different customizers at HissTank.com. I also swapped the lower arms for a set that didn't have the silly-looking armbands. It always bothered me that the new, modern era sculpt had load bearing straps sculpted onto his vest (as if he were wearing webgear over the vest) but they never bothered to paint it properly. I took care of that here. I also painted the Marine Corps utility cover OD green and then painted the Eagle, Globe & Anchor insignia with black. I also gave him a better mustache (which I have done exactly the same with every Gung Ho figure I own). I really like the M-79 that came with the 25th Anniversary versions of Gung Ho, but I chose to arm him with his original 1983 weapon because I thought it was more appropriate for my purposes. The 40mm HE rounds on his left thigh were painted to match a reference photo of what they actually look like. The loops holding the rounds in place were painted green, to simulate a cloth bandolier-type thigh rig. The A.L.I.C.E. pack was detailed with several different shades of green and the frame was painted black - again, because this is what one actually looks like.