Iron Anvil (Iron Grenadier Paratrooper)

Iron Anvil troopers are Destro's elite paratroopers.
















These guys were really fun to do because I worked on them alongside my 6-year old daughter, Kate. She knows from watching me make previous customs that IG Officers have purple trim rather than the traditional red of the enlisted troops. One of her favorite colors is purple, so she insisted that she had to be the one to paint the Officer.

Parts: Head (ARAH Viper v4), Entire Body (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander), Parachute Harness (25th Anniversary Snow Serpent), Weapon (RoC Reactive Armor Ripcord).

Supplies: Dremel, X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the Convention Exclusive Iron Anvil figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

These guys are just like the rest of my Iron Grenadier troops. Each figure used the 25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander body with a new head and accessories (big thanks to James, for the three Viper heads). The paint scheme was based on that of the convention exclusive Iron Anvil figures. Mind you, Kate has done several figures of her own and she helped paint the Red Cap, but this was the first time she wanted to help work on one of my figures. So, I sat her down and explained that we would each paint our base figure black. I told her it was okay if a little silver showed through, because these would look like scratches on the armor (according to their file cards, Iron Anvil troopers sometimes make parachute drops without parachutes). I painted the red and gold trim on my helmet, but in Kate's case, she was using the original Viper head so it was already purple (mine was cast in white plastic). She just had to paint the black and gold. Both of the parachute harnesses were dyed black and then drybrushed with red or purple (Kate already knew how to drybrush from helping me work on the Red Cap). The rifles were also drybrushed with steel-colored paint on the areas that would be metal. The areas that would be high-impact plastic were left unpainted. After painting, they were given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote. I had parts assembled for three of these guys, but for the moment only the two pictures here are finished. When I get around to it, the third one will be another enlisted man with red trim on his armor. But the fact is that Kate was pretty excited to post these, so she didn't want to wait for me to finish the third one!

D.E.M.O.N. (Iron Grenadier Armored Vehicle)

Once I finished all my Ferret crew members, it seemed only right that I fix up my old D.E.M.O.N. for them, right?











The entire vehicle was disassembled and given a warm, soapy bath. It really needed it after all those backyard battles fought back in the late 80's. Anyway, once the whole thing was clean, I reassembled most of the vehicle.













The clear red piece that fits on the front of the crew cab had been missing since the 80's, so I had to fashion a replacement piece. I used foamboard for this because it is sturdy enough to last indefinitely, but it can slide right out if I am ever able to acquire the proper piece.














I repainted the missiles and guns metallic 14K gold. I took a few liberties along the way because I wanted this thing to really look fantastic. I always thought that there should be a bit more red in the D.E.M.O.N.'s color scheme, so I found ways to work it in.











The entire hull was spray-painted black, eliminating the grey areas. The treads were spray-painted black. After they had dried, I used a rolled up piece of sandpaper to scrape away some of the paint. I'm pretty happy with the results of that. Mechanical parts that would likely show paint wear from use were drybrushed with silver, gunmetal, steel or aluminum paints. The crew cab was painted to show all of the equipment inside. A new set of decals was ordered from J. Ruben, and I must say, they looked fantastic. After the decals were applied, I gave the entire vehicle a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Metal-Head (Iron Grenadier Anti-armor Specialist)

While Metal-Head is probably the most ridiculous and unrealistic of Destro's senior IG leaders, I couldn't quite bring myself to leave him out of this group. I liked the overall look of the Convention Exclusive Metal-Head, but if I was going to make him I wanted him to have the classic version 1 missile launchers.

Parts: Head (Overkill Creations), Upper Torso (RoC Gung-Ho), Lower Torso, Arms & Legs (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander), Armored Vest (25th Anniversary Zartan), Machine Pistol, Missile Launchers & Backpack (ARAH Metal-Head v1).

Supplies: Dremel, nails, torch, super glue, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the convention exclusive Metal-Head figure.

The only difficult part was figuring out how to attach the missile launchers to his legs. I obtained a vintage Metal-Head on ebay for the accessories and I had planned to use his upper legs with the existing mounting studs. When he arrived, I found that this plan would have worked - if both studs had not been broken off. So, I improvised. I used a pair of pliers to hold a very thin nail, while heating the tip of the nail with a flame. While the tip was hot, I used it to make a hole in the desired spot on the leg. After doing this with both legs, I cut two nails to the proper length and inserted them into the thighs. These now served as the mounting studs for the missile launchers. They are ever so slightly off kilter from each other, but it was probably the best that could be expected given the crude method I used. Everything else on this figure was a simple matter of painting according to my source material. The head and goggles set was ordered from Overkill Creations for $3. The rest of the figure sat idle for a couple of weeks until it arrived, but I think it was worth the wait.

Darklon (Iron Grenadier Field Commander)

While Voltar is the overall commander of Destro's IG forces, I've always envisioned Darklon as a company or platoon-level leader who is right in the thick of things with his men. It isn't that he isn't intelligent or ruthless enough to be a top-level commander - he'd just prefer to be stalking prey in the bush, as opposed to directing the battle from afar. I see him as the guy that Destro would send in - covertly, with a small group of hand-picked IG's in plain clothes - to subvert and de-stabilize local governments, so that Voltar and his uniformed IG forces could then be sent in to "rescue" the country and restore order, guaranteeing that the government would then be grateful and beholden to Destro.

Parts: Head (ARAH Darklon), Body (Ultimate Battle Pack Destro), Sword Belt (Ultimate Battle Pack Destro), Pistol (RoC Cover Girl).

Supplies: Dremel, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Darklon figure.

Because I wanted Darklon to be a bit bigger than the other Iron Grenadiers, I decided to use the UBP Destro body for him. It looks a bit more regal than the others, as well, which I find fitting since he is a relative of Destro's. I knew before starting that I did not want my Darklon to have green skin so that he looked like he fell into a vat of toxic waste. But otherwise, I had planned to stick with the ARAH color scheme, as closely as possible. I actually started painting this guy twice. Both times, he got dunked in thinner to remove the paint. I just could not find a way to use the original colors in which they did not look like crap. So, I dreamed up my own color scheme. I decided that Darklon would be attired similarly to Destro, except that he'd be wearing tiger-stripe camouflage utilities under the trappings of the IG clan. At the end of the day, this is nothing more than a repainted figure with a new head and some accessories, but I'm pretty happy with him because he fits the image of what I always thought Darklon should be.

Ferret (Iron Grenadier D.E.M.O.N. Commander)

This is the last of my Ferrets. As I explained in the posts for the first two, I decided to elaborate upon the character a bit and create specialty Ferrets (Driver, Crewman and Commander) for all three of the D.E.M.O.N.'s crew stations. This is the Commander variant. While most D.E.M.O.N.'s would likely be commanded by a Sergeant, this figure happens to be the unit's Commanding Officer. He'd be the highest ranking member of the company or platoon and his armor is the most elaborate. Like most other IG Officers, his armor features a lot of purple in place of the traditional enlisted man's red.

Parts: Head (ARAH Ferret), Entire Body (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander).

Supplies: X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Ferret figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

The original head was replaced with the Ferret head, which was hollowed out enough to fit the neck post correctly. The belt was modified with the X-acto knife, removing the holster and shaving away the Cobra insignia on the belt buckle. Once that was done, the rest of this was just painting. I modeled this one after the first Ferret I made, except that I substituted purple for the red used on the driver. Once finished, he was given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Ferret (Iron Grenadier D.E.M.O.N. Crewman)

This is the second of my Ferrets. As I explained in the post for the first one, I decided to elaborate upon the character a bit and create specialty Ferrets (Driver, Crewman and Commander) for all three of the D.E.M.O.N.'s crew stations. This is the Crewman variant. He'd be the lowest ranking member of the team and his armor is the least elaborate. If one team member were needed to get out of the vehicle and take care of a dirty task, it would be this guy.

Parts: Head (ARAH Ferret), Entire Body (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander).

Supplies: X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Ferret figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

The original head was replaced with the Ferret head, which was hollowed out enough to fit the neck post correctly. The belt was modified with the X-acto knife, removing the holster and shaving away the Cobra insignia on the belt buckle. Once that was done, the rest of this was just painting. Like the first Ferret I made, I tried to stay faithful to the color scheme of the original figure as much as possible. But this one felt kind of odd in the respect that the first one came to me naturally and this one I tried deliberately to make him less flashy. Once finished, he was given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Undertow (Iron Grenadier Diver)

Undertows are the Iron Grenadier's frogmen. It is said that there is nothing they won't swim through to get the job done.  I decided to make four of these guys so that I'd have a properly-sized fire team.

Nullifier (Iron Grenadier Pilot)

Seriously, who didn't like the vintage color scheme for the Nullifiers? These guys were supposed to be the baddest of the bad. Skilled mercenary pilots who could also handle themselves in a ground fight. So Hasbro gives them tan jumpsuits covered with tan armor and some pinkish-purple trim? As with my other Iron Grenadiers, I kept close to the vintage color scheme, but I tried to spice it up a bit, too.

Parts: Entire figure (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander), Helmet (ARAH Nullifier v1), Submachinegun (RoC Pit Commando).

Supplies: Dremel, X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Folk Art paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: ARAH Nullifier v1.

Okay, if you read the post for my T.A.R.G.A.T. figure, then you know exactly how I did this one. The helemt is an ARAH Nullifier head that I hollowed out with the Dremel. This took nearly an hour to do because I ended up having to get the walls of the helmet so ridiculously thin in order to fit on the head. The Battle Armor Cobra Commander figure was repainted in a color scheme that was close to the vintage look, but like I said, spiced up a little bit. He is armed with a compact submachinegun that could be easily stowed in his cockpit. Finally, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote. All in all, it was a pretty simple custom, but I really like how it turned out! The last photo here shows Nullifier in the cockpit of my custom A.G.P. (Anti-Gravity Pod).

T.A.R.G.A.T. (Iron Grenadier Rapid Deployment Trooper)

T.A.R.G.A.T. stands for Trans-Atmospheric Rapid Global Assault Trooper. The theory was that these guys are deployed into orbit from a space shuttle. On cue, they drop like a meteor shower onto their unsuspecting prey. I always thought this was a pretty cool concept, so I had to include these guys in my IG update.

Parts: Entire Figure (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander), Helmet (ARAH T.A.R.G.A.T.), Pistols (25th Anniversary Iron Grenadier), Holster Belt (Star Wars Fenn Shysa), Grenade Bandolier (RoC Monkeywrench), Flightpack (RoC General Hawk).

Supplies: Dremel, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: ARAH T.A.R.G.A.T. figure.

Once again, the entire body came from the Battle Armor Cobra Commander figure. In this case, I even kept the head. The vintage T.A.R.G.A.T. head was hollowed out with the Dremel unti it fit the figure's head properly. This was a particularly agonizing process because I had to go to within 1/16 of an inch of the helmet's surface in order to get it to fit. The whole time, I was afraid I'd punch through and render the helmet useless (although I would find out that this was nothing compared to the next figure I did). Once the helmet was done, it was a simple matter of choosing accessories and painting. I thought that he needed some weapons that would pack a punch, but could be easily stowed while he was doing his meteor impersonation. I decided to give him a pair of the pistols that came with the regular IG troopers holstered in a dual rig that came from a Star Wars Fenn Shysa figure. The original T.A.R.G.A.T. had grenades on a belt around his waist, so I wanted to give him something reminiscent of that. The bandolier came from RoC Monkeywrench. The flight pack came from the RoC General Hawk figure. When I started painting, I wanted to keep within the spirit of the classic character, so it was off to the store for some turquoise paint! After everything was finished, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Annihilator v1 (Iron Grenadier Heli-Assault Trooper)

While the idea of equipping elite troops with individual helicopter packs is kind of neat, I would not have wanted to be the guy whose heli-pack caught a stray bullet while hovering a few hundred feet up! Annihilator is the latest in my series of Iron Grenadiers. I still have 6 or seven more planned, so stay tuned! I could not have finished this one without the help of my comrade-in-arms, Gene (who goes by the name meandnooneelse at both the FFURG.com and HissTank.com forums).

Parts: Head (ARAH Annihilator), Body (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander), Belt (25th Anniversary Cobra Commander), Heli-pack (Specialist Trakker), Submachinegun (Specialist Trakker).

Supplies: Dremel, Super glue, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Annihilator figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

These seem to get easier with each one I do. For Annihilator, it was a simple matter of choosing a paint scheme that reflected his vintage color scheme and then adding the vintage head and accessories. I got the head very cheap on ebay. I Dremeled it out to fit the 25th style neck post (a nerve wracking experience, given that I had to go almost to the top of the head to get the proper fit while not drilling all the way through). Once the head was on, I needed the submachinegun and heli-pack. I focused on trying to find these accessories from a Specialist Trakker figure because they were the exact same as the vintage Annihilator figure, except the backpack peg was retooled to fit the modern figures (meaning I wouldn't have to do the conversion myself). This is where my buddy Gene came through for me and included them in a trade that we had already worked out. Thanks, Gene! Without your help, this guy would still be sitting in the "in-progress" section of my workbench! After all was said and done, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

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!

Wild Boar (Iron Grenadier Vehicle Driver)

In the late 1980's, Hasbro introduced Wild Boar as the driver of the Razorback. I decided to expand a bit on the character and designate Wild Boars as the elite vehicle operators of the Iron Grenadiers. They operate, service and repair everything from Razorbacks to Dominators to Red Caps.

Parts: Head (Comic Pack Battle Armor Cobra Leader), Helmet (bbi Elite Force Soldier), Body (Comic Pack Battle Armor Cobra Leader), Gloved hands (bbi Elite Force Soldier), Belt (RoC Jungle Assault Ripcord).

Supplies: X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Wild Boar figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

This was one of the simplest customs I've done in a long time! The only things removed from the original figure were the helmet, the hands and the belt. The helmet was replaced with one that I got in a trade. I'm pretty sure it came from a bbi Special Forces trooper. The gloved hands also came from a bbi Soldier. They are sculpted to simulate the nomex flight gloves favored by so many operators for the soft, thin leather used in the palms which allows for excellent dexterity. I repainted the gloves i

n a color more suitable for the character and was very happy with the way the turned out. I could have kept the same belt and modified it as I did for some of my other IG figures, but I liked the simplicity of the one I used. sporting a high-ride pistol holster, a radio and one hand grenade, it was perfect for a vehicle driver. One thging that doesn't really show up in the photos is the scar on his face. I used my X-acto knife to cut a shallow groove from his forehead down to the corner of his mouth, where it changes direction just slightly and continues to his chin. I then painted over the groove with pink paint, wiping away the excess so that all that remained was the pink paint inside the groove. It looks really good, in my opinion, but I just could not get it to show up in the photos. When I was done, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Ferret (Iron Grenadier D.E.M.O.N. Driver)

The original Ferret was the driver of the D.E.M.O.N. tank. There were three stations inside the vehicle, so two additional troopers had to be assigned to man all of the vehicle's systems. I decided to elaborate upon the character a bit and create specialty Ferrets (Driver, Crewman and Commander)for all three of the vehicle's stations. This is the Driver variant.

Parts: Head (RoC Deep Six), Helmet (Hunter Artworks), Entire Body (25th Anniversary Battle Armor Cobra Commander).

Supplies: X-acto knife, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Photos of the vintage Ferret figure. Also refer to the reference section in the post for Voltar.

The original head was replaced with one that looked more like a guy under a helmet, in my opinion. The belt was modified with the X-acto knife, removing the holster and shaving away the Cobra insignia on the belt buckle. Once that was done, the rest of this was just painting. I tried to stay faithful to the color scheme of the original figure as much as possible. Once finished, he was given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Voltar (Iron Grenadier General)

This is the first in a whole series of Iron Grenadier customs I'm working on. As a kid, I always thought Voltar was pretty cool, despite his silly fuscia uniform. This is the way I think he should have looked in the first place.

Parts: Head (Tri-Gate Creations), Entire Body (SRO Iron Grenadier Officer), Pistol & Holster (UBP Steeler), Sword & Scabbard (SRO Destro), Submachinegun & Backpack (ARAH Voltar).

Supplies: Dremel, X-acto knife, Super glue, paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: I took Voltar's vintage look and tweeked it to my own liking. (Note: As I said, this is the first in a series of Iron Grenadier customs. Unlike the vintage ARAH Iron Grenadiers, all of mine will utilize the same body style. There are two reasons for this. First, I like the uniformity it brings. It never made sense to me to have an entirely new uniform, body armor and equipment for each job function. Most militaries run on uniformity. Second, around the time I was starting to work on these guys, large numbers of 25th Anniversary figures started showing up at Family Dollar stores for three bucks each. While there were no single carded IG Troops in that line, there was a Battle Armor Cobra Commander which used the same exact body, except for the lower legs which were more armored than the IG legs.)

For Voltar, I wanted him to look very similar to the Iron Grenadier Officer from the Toys R Us exclusive Senior Ranking Officers 3-pack, but a bit more grandiose. So I started out with that figure as the base and removed the shoulder strap. I replaced the head with the new one, which was ordered from Tri-Gate Creations. The head was painted to match the vintage figure as closely as possible. I then painted the holster black and superglued it to his chest, in a similar manner to the way the vintage figure had it. I replaced the existing sword scabbard with the one from the SRO Destro figure only because I liked the purple for Voltar. The shoulder armor, chest armor and the codpiece were all painted gold to match the helmet and wrist armor. After all the paint was dry, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Leatherneck (G.I. Joe Marine)

I've made a few different vcrsions of Leatherneck, but until now I haven't tried to nail his classic look. Here is my attempt...

Parts: Head (25th Anniversary Gung-Ho), Torso & arms (RoC Sgt Stone), Legs (RoC Beachhead), Web gear (Comic pack Ripper), M16A2/M203 (Marauder, Inc.), Rucksack (RoC Benchpress).

Supplies: X-acto knife, Super glue, Paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Card art from the 1986 ARAH Leatherneck figure.

So, essentially all that I had to do here was replace the Sgt Stone legs with the new ones and pop Gung-Ho's head onto the body. All the rest was the tiny little details that took what seemed like forever! The knuckleguard on the knife molded to the webgear was trimmed away and the remaining knife was painted to look like an M7 bayonet in it's scabbard. The hand grenades were carefully removed from the backpack of a 25th Anniversary Viper, painted and then super glued to the figure's chest. I always liked the color scheme of Leatherneck's uniform, so I tried to color match as closely as possible. His hair was painted using a very light drybrush technique so that it looked like the light stubble that a Marine Gunnery Sergeant would actually have, rather than the shaggy head of hair the original figure had. The mustache was repainted to be a bit thicker, which is not in keeping with regulations, but it did serve to put a little space between my various Gung-Ho and Leatherneck figures. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor on his cover and the 1st Marine Recon Battalion patch on his shirtsleeve was painted using a very fine brush, and in some cases, the tip of a safety pin. The colors for everything on the rucksack were matched to those of my old USMC ruck. The M16A2/M203 was painted according to what they actually look like (easy to find a reference since I have about a thousand pcitures of myself with them). When everything was done to my satisfaction, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Zartan (Dreadnok Leader)

What would the Dreadnoks be without their leader? I always liked DDP's interpretation of this character, so I decided to base mine on it.

Parts: Head & Torso (25th Anniversary Zartan v13), Arms & Legs (25th Anniversary Zartan v15), AKS-74U (Marauder, Inc.).

Supplies: X-acto knife, Super glue, Paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: DDP comics.

I liked most of the version 13 Zartan except that when I placed him next to my other Dreadnoks, he was way too short. He was the same height as Zanya and shorter than every other Dreadnok I've made up to this point. So, I swapped the v13 torso with the Gung-Ho torso that Hasbro used on the v15 figure. The simple result is that Zartan is now more proportionate to the rest of his crew. I trimmed the skull-shaped belt buckle from the v13 torso and glued it to the new torso. The belt buckle was painted white and the eyes were filled in with black. Since his knife also has the same skull design incorporated into the hilt, I applied the same paint scheme there. I also repainted the purple-ish color with a dark brown (personal preference). The leg and boot armor was given a drybrush application of a steel-colored paint. I decided to skip the shoulder armor in favor of a more scaled-down look (again, personal preference rather than holding completely true to the source material). Finally, he was armed with an AKS-74U from Marauder, Inc. and given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Zanya (Dreadnok)

Zartan's daughter, Zanya, was easily my favorite new character introduced by Devil's Due Publications during their run of G.I. Joe comics.

Parts: Head (Slayer Design Studios), Torso, Upper Arms, Upper Legs (RoC Attack on the Pit Baroness), Lower Arms (RoC Cover Girl), Gloves (???), Lower Legs (RoC Agent Helix), AKS-74U (Marauder, Inc.).

The base figure for this was the RoC Attack on the Pit Baroness. First, I replaced the lower legs. Next, I cut the lower arms just below the elbow joint. Zanya often wore 3/4 length T-shirts and this is what I was going for here. I cut a pair of RoC Cover Girl forearms to the proper length and then super glued them in place (full articulation was retained). I cannot recall where I took the gloved hands from, but they were attached to the lower arms. The torso was sanded smooth and then a bit of Super Sculpey was used on the lower half of the torso to simulate the bottom edge of the T-shirt. The holster and magazine pouches attached to the thigh rigs were cast using push molds of bbi Elite Force accessories. The thing that took the longest with the whole body was hand painting the Dreadnok symbol on the front of her T-shirt (I skipped the lettering that should be above the symbol in an effort to preserve what remains of my sanity). Painting completed, I put the head on the body and armed her with an AKS-74U from Marauder, Inc. A nasty little weapon for a nasty little lady. Finally, everything was given the usual application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Monkeywrench (Dreadnok)

The RoC Monkeywrench released last year by Hasbro was not a terrible figure, but it needed a bit of improvement...

Parts: Head (Slayer Design Studios), Entire figure (RoC Monkeywrench), SCAR Rifle (Marauder, Inc.), Bandannas (RoC Tunnel Rat).

Supplies: Super Sculpey, Paintbrushes, Testors paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Still photos of the ARAH Monkeywrench figure.

Like I said, the base figure wasn't bad. In my opinion, it just needed some more of the details from the ARAH figure. The bandannas were the first, and easiest, fix. Since I bought several of the Monkeywrench/Tunnel Rat 2-packs when they were on clearance, I just took two of the bandannas from my extra Tunnel Rat figures and painted them red. I applied Dull-Cote to seal the paint and then set them aside. Next, I repainted his pants so that they resembled the faded jeans the character wore in the 80's. I also painted the various patches onto his jeans. Moving on to his vest, I used my X-acto knife to shave off the equipment (the vest came from the same mold as Gung-Ho's vest) and then sanded it smooth.

EDIT 05/03/2011 - I replaced the original head with one from Slayer Design Studios.

Once dry, I replaced his grenade bandolier, added the bandannas to his lower legs and armed him with a SCAR from Marauder, Inc. I wanted to equip him with the same nasty-looking pitchfork gun that the ARAH figure came with, but as of this posting I have not been able to acquire one. If and when I do, I'll update the photos.

Gung Ho (G.I. Joe Marine)

Man, I don't even know how many versions of old GH I've done now...

This one was inspired by my kids. They're always asking me to play Joes with them, but they want me to use my own figures. Well, most of my figures are the "for display only" variety. So, I decided to make one that I could use to play with them and not worry about it getting dinged up. My little ones are 5 and 6 years old, so they don't really know much about the classic Joes. Most of their figures are of the newer RoC style. So I decided to make a "Jungle Assault" Gung Ho to fit in with the upcoming Pursuit of Cobra themes...

Parts: Entire figure (Comic Pack Gung Ho), Lower Arms (RoC Tunnel Rat), Tactical Vest (RoC Pit Commando), M16/M203 (Marauder, Inc.), Rucksack (Comic Pack Gung Ho).

Supplies: Paintbrushes, Testors paints, Folk Art paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: I had an image of the upcoming PoC Jungle Assault Duke in my head, and I tried to make this figure in the same general style.

The base figure was not modified in any significant way. I did swap the lower arms for a set that didn't have the silly-looking sweatbands (or whatever those are supposed to be). Aside from that, this whole "custom" figure basically amounts to a new camouflage pattern on the cover and trousers and some new accessories.

Jungle Assault Gung Ho recently aided my son's Tiger Force Duke in defeating Cobra forces at the Battle of the Wooden Block Fortress.

Zandar (Dreadnok)

I'm not sure why, but after I finished Zarana, it took me a while to get around to finishing Zandar. I started them around the same time, but there was this big lag after I finished the first figure. Anyway, here he is...

Parts: Head, Bandanna & Shoulder Armor (Mad Joe Customizer's Zandar kit), Upper Torso, Lower Torso & Arms (RoC Monkeywrench), Upper Legs & Knife (Cobra Trooper), Lover Legs (Cobra Viper), Weapon (ARAH Zandar), Shoulder Holster (RoC Tunnel Rat), M9 Pistol (G.I. Joe Greenshirt)

Supplies: X-acto knife, Super glue, sandpaper, Super Sculpey, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

References: Photos of the original ARAH Zandar figure.

The biggest challenge on this whole figure was color-matching! I wanted it to look as much like the ARAH figure as was reasonably possible and for some reason, I had a really hard time matching the colors. A lot of custom color mixing went on here...

Anyway, Mad Joe's kit gives you the head, the bandanna and the shoulder armor pieces. I came up with the rest of the parts from my fodder box. Some of them might not be a perfect match, but I've always tended to try and work with what I have on-hand, rather than buy a lot of figures to obtain a part or two from each. With the base figure assembled, I attached the shoulder armor to the upper arms. This was a bit tricky because I wanted to keep the articulation of the shoulders. If you have them lying around, it would have been easier to use the arms from a 25th-style Zartan. The head needed some Super Sculpey packed inside it to fit the neck post, bit after curing it fits perfectly. The little "tails" on the bandanna are actually included with the kit and need to be glued on after painting. The shoulder holster came from RoC Tunnel Rat. I used the X-acto knife to trim all the little bullets off the strap before painting it. After he was more or less finished, I wasn't really happy with him. I decided that he just looked too clean, so I waved a butane lighter lightly over the exposed skin areas to make him look a bit dirty. Seriously, who lives in a swamp and doesn't get a bit dirty? When I applied the Testors Dull-Cote, it really sealed the deal. No pun intended.