Shipwreck (Navy SEAL)

This is a figure I've wanted to do ever since I first became acquainted with the DDP America's Elite series. I really liked the long hair, watch-cap, beard-but-no-mustache look the artist gave Shipwreck. At the same time, the RoC Shipwreck figure was one of my favorites from that line. I mean, seriously, is there anyone that wouldn't have liked seeing Shipwreck in the film? Anyway, I eventually decided to try combining what I liked from each look. This may not be one of the more difficult or impressive customs I've ever done, but at the moment it is one of my favorites. I'm calling this "City Strike Shipwreck" because he fits so well with my other Pursuit of Cobra figures...

Parts: Entire figure (RoC Shipwreck), Hair (BnB Razor Ramon), H&K G36 Assault Rifle (RoC Pit Commando).

Beachhead (Ranger)

This was basically a rainy-day project when I had no better ideas. The Beachhead figure from the RoC Snarler Cycle set was cool, but I wanted him to fit in better with the "blue camo" appearance of my other RoC figures. So, a new pair of legs and a bit of repainting...



Parts: Head, Torso & Arms (RoC Beachhead), Legs (RoC Sgt Stone), Helmet & Gasmask (PoC Beachhead), Assault Rifle, Ammunition Bag & Spare Magazine (25th Anniversary Beachhead), Vest (???).

Slipstream (X-30 Conquest Pilot)

So as I continued my quest to complete my own 25th Anniversary collection, I came to realize that the "Lt Slip Stream" figure that Hasbro offered us was nothing more than a kit-bash of easily obtained parts. I already had the head I needed, so I set about getting the rest of the parts through trades. A little repainting, and here he is...

Parts: Head (25th Anniversary Tripwire), Torso & arms (25th Anniversary Snow Job), Legs (25th Anniversary Wild Bill), Feet (RoC Wild Bill).

Law and Order (Military Policeman and K-9 Partner)

This is another "improvement" upon a figure from the Toys R Us Exclusive RoC Desert 5-pack.

Parts: Entire figure (RoC Law), Submachinegun (25th Anniversary Shipwreck), Tactical Vest (RoC Pit Commando), Helmet (RoC Law), Baton (RoC Law), Dog (RoC Order).

Supplies: Paintbrushes, Testors paints, Polly Scale paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: Still photos of the ARAH Law & Order figures.

Nothing particularly special about this custom. It is a straight repaint of the RoC Law & Order figures that came in the Toys R Us Exclusive 5-pack. I didn't really have an issue with the desert camouflage, but I wanted something closer to the classic look, so I painted them according to that color scheme. The original figure had his shirt tucked in and the sleeves rolled up, but I liked the overall look of this when it was finished. The hardest part of this whole thing was painting the dog's fur to look somewhat realistic!

Sgt Slaughter (G.I. Joe Drill Instructor)

When the 2010 SDCC Exclusive Sgt Slaughter was announced, I knew that both my son and I would have to have one. His preference was the USA version, while I wanted the TTT version. Most of you know that the demand for these figures far exceeded the supply and many of us were left without our Sarge figures. My cousin was able to score one for Adam, but I still didn't have mine. Eventually, I obtained a couple of head casts from HissTank.com member returnofplex. One went to my cousin as partial payment for Adam's Sarge figure. The other was used for this custom figure...

Parts: Head (SDCC Sgt Slaughter cast), Torso & Arms (RoC Copperhead), Legs (RoC Gung Ho), M249 SAW (Marauder, Inc.).

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

Reference: My son's SDCC Sgt Slaughter figure.

I wasn't really trying to make an exact duplicate of any particular version of the Sarge, I just wanted one that had a combat-ready look to it. I used nail polish remover to get rid of the Cobra emblem on the chest. That meant no painting above the waist (aside from the head, of course). The pants were painted green and then given a more-or-less Woodland camouflage pattern. The boots were painted as green-sided jungle boots (my favorite when I was a Marine grunt). The head had to be Dremeled out so that it would fit the neck post. Afterward, I painted it to match my son's SDCC Sarge as closely as possible. To be honest, I've seen much better Sgt Slaughter customs, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

Gung Ho (G.I. Joe Marine)

Yep, another version of Gung Ho! I don't seem to get tired of making this guy. This one was based on his appearance as part of Lt Falcon's reconnaissance team which infiltrated Cobra Island during the Cobra Civil War.

Parts: Head, Upper Torso, Lower Torso & Upper Arms (Comic Pack Gung Ho), Lower Arms (RoC Tunnel Rat), Legs (RoC Sgt Stone), Vest (Comic Pack Gung Ho), M16A2 (Marauder, Inc.), ALICE pack (Comic Pack Gung Ho).

Supplies: Super Sculpey, super glue, Paintbrushes, Testors paints, Folk Art paints and Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero issues #73 through #76.

The base figure was not modified in any significant way, other than the swapping of the legs and the lower arms. The entire figure was then repainted according to the references.

Note: I deviated just a bit from the reference pictures in that I went with a tiger stripe pattern rather than a blotchy type pattern. I kept the colors the same.

Once the figure was painted, I gave him a light application of Testors Dull-Cote to seal the paint. The last detail I needed was the two ammo & grenade pouches worn on the front of his LBE (or what we Marines used to call a "War Belt"). I found one in my parts box that was an exact match (I got it in a trade as part of a big batch of fodder, but I think it came from a Platoon figure). I needed to have two of them, so I made a press mold of the pouch using a block of Super Sculpey. After curing the mold, I made several casts of the pouch (you never know when you might need more). I painted two of them and super glued them in place. They are actually attached to the bottom edge of the vest so that they appear to be on his War Belt right where the suspender straps connect, which would obviously be the proper placement for these type of pouches.

Footloose (Infantryman)

Footloose was an Infantryman that was introduced as part of the 1985 wave of ARAH figures. He was one of my favorites, despite the moronic way he was portrayed in the cartoon series.

Parts: Head (RoC TRU Footloose), Upper torso, Lower torso, & Arms (RoC Tunnel Rat), Gloved hands (bbi Elite Force), Legs, Webgear & Knife (25th Anniversary Greenshirt), Helmet (bbi Elite Force Soldier), Backpack (ARAH Footloose v1), M16A2 Rifle (Marauder, Inc.).

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

Reference: Photos of the ARAH Footloose v1 figure.

This was as simple as replacing the head, hands and legs on the base figure and then painting it. The paint scheme was based on that of the ARAH Footloose v1 figure. The backpack was modified to fit the new body style by Dremeling off the post and then drilling a small hole. A short length of plastic rod was super glued into the hole as a new post. After painting, he was given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Cover Girl (Wolverine Driver)

If Cover Girl was supposed to have been this beautiful model who traded in the runway for an Army Motor Pool, then how come almost every figure made of her was so darn ugly? The only really good head sculpt was on the DTC comic pack figure, so when I got my hands on a couple casts of that head, it was off to the races...

Parts: Head (cast of DTC Comic Pack Cover Girl), Entire Body (RoC TRU Dial-Tone), Arms & Jacket (X-Men: Origins Wolverine).

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

Reference: Photos of the ARAH Cover Girl figure.

The hardest part of this figure was tracking down the arms and jacket. It seems that I waited too long to pick up the Indiana Jones figure I had planned on using and ended up hunting the clearance aisles for a worthy substitute. Once I had the arms and jacket from the Wolverine figure, the rest was pretty simple. I cracked the torso and replaced the arms. The pegs on the original hands did not fit the new arms, so I ended up filling the holes with a bit of Super Sculpey and then pushing the hand pegs into the sockets. Once in, I boiled the arms in water to cure the Sculpey. The jacket was trimmed at the waist so that it fell at the appropriate height on her torso. The head was a cast of the original, so it had to be Dremeled out to fit the neck post. The paint scheme was based on that of the ARAH Cover Girl v1 figure. After painting, they were given a light application of Testors Dull-Cote.

Cobra Snow Serpents (Polar Assault Troops)

This is the second Cobra Trooper "female conversion" I've done (the first one was the Tele-Viper).

Parts: Head (Star Wars TFU Juno Eclipse), Entire figure (25th Anniversary Snow Serpent)

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

Reference: None.

This figure was much easier than most female trooper conversions, mostly because the character is wearing a bulky snow suit. This meant that I needed to make the figure a bit smaller in stature as compare to most male figures, but I didn't really need to worry much about making it look overly feminine (if you can see curves through a snow-suit, it's too darn tight). So what I did to accomplish this is basically a shortening of the limbs. The legs were easiest. I cut the boots off at the point where they met the snow-suit leg and then used the Dremel to hollow almost half of the lower leg. When I was finished, the boots could be inserted into the lower leg. The new head also lent to the appearance of a shorter person. Assuming that an unaltered Snow Serpent would stand around 6 feet tall, this dropped the female trooper's height about 3 inches or so compared to the unaltered figure. I started to look into shortening the arms, too. I had planned to do this in a similar manner - Dremeling out the gloved forearm so that the arm would fit into it. But I found that when you put all the gear on her, the look was pretty good without risking the potential screw-up in modding the arms. So I left them alone. I used a clear plastic band to attach the helmet to her webgear, as if she had taken it off and hung it there during a break. Should I decide to put the helmet back on, I can always switch them out again. The hair was painted a dark brown and the entire figure was given a light application of Dull-Cote. When the two figures are placed side by side on a flat surface, the top of the female Snow Serpent's head is now approximately flush with where the male's nose would be. In truth, I wanted her to be just a bit shorter, but I didn't want to overdo it and have the body end up looking disproportionate. So I theorized that realistically a taller, longer legged trooper would be more likely to keep up with his or her squad as they snow-shoed across the polar ice and decided that I was happy with it.

Sgt Humpty (G.I. Joe Marine)

This is the second version of Sgt Humpty that I've done. Those who remember the first version I did know that the head sculpt is of my likeness and my nickname in the Marine Corps was "Humpty"... so he is me.

So as I grew close to the end of my Iron Grenadier project, I started looking for a similar multi-figure project. I eventually decided to do upgrades of the original 13 Joe characters, since I didn't own all of them in the modern era styling. Most of them will be simple improvements to the existing figures, because I thought the majority of them were pretty good. While planning it all out, it occurred to me that it would be kind of cool to give Sgt Humpty a wardrobe change and make him fit in with those iconic characters...

Parts: Head (Sgt Humpty), Entire figure (25th Anniversary comic pack Hawk), LBE (25th Anniversary comic pack Hawk), Helmet (bbi Elite Force Marine), A.L.I.C.E. pack (25th Anniversary comic pack Gung-Ho), Tactical Pistol (Marauder, Inc.), M16A2 Rifle (Marauder, Inc.).

Supplies: Dremel, X-acto knife, sandpaper, paintbrushes, Testors paints, Polly Scale paints, Testors Dull-Cote.

Reference: None.

The original head was removed and tossed into my parts box. The LBE and A.L.I.C.E. pack were painted with a variety of greens to simulate the various shades found in green nylon web gear. The boots were painted to resemble the green canvas-sided jungle boots that I so loved during my service (seriously, I'd still wear them today if they had lasted all these years). The head cast was hollowed out with a Dremel so that it would fit the neck post. The skin was painted a fairly dark tan, so as to imply the tanned features common to troops who spend so much time outdoors. The hair, eyebrows and mustache were painted dark brown, as were the eyes. I dry brushed the brown on the sides and back of the head to simulate the USMC haircut that I don;t think I will ever outgrow. The M16A2 assault rifle is from Marauder, Inc. I'm kind of nostalgic for that weapon after spending so many years carrying one around.

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.