Iron Grenadier (Dog Handler)

This is the first in a series of Iron Grenadier support troops based on the characters found in HissTank's RPG. I thought it might be fun to create a group of soldiers who fulfill specialty functions to assist the regular IG combat forces.
















Parts: Head (25th Anniversary Iron Grenadier), Body & Webgear (RoC M.A.R.S. Trooper), Submachinegun (25th Anniversary Specialist Trakker), Dog & Leash (RoC Night Adder).

Flash-Drive (Data Retrieval Specialist)

Having made figures of my son and daughter, as well as more than a couple figures of myself, it was inevitable that I'd get around to making a figure for my wife, Jenny. Flash-Drive is a data retrieval specialist. You need info? She'll get it. While Flash-Drive doesn't normally operate in the field, she has been known to accompany teams in cases where first-hand knowledge is required to get a job done.

Parts: Head (Star Wars Deena Shan), Body & Laptop (RoC Cover Girl), Belt (RoC Reactive Armor Duke), Backpack (RoC Gung Ho), Cat (Golden Compass figure).

Iron Grenadier (Heavy Assault Troopers)

Like most Iron Grenadier fans, I've been looking forward to the release of this figure. While I love everything about it, part of me wishes that it had been done in the classic color scheme. The urban camouflage has grown on me, but I decided to see how he looked in black armor with red and gold trim. I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. I'll definitely keep some of these guys as they come out of the package, but I think I'll probably end up repainting an equal number like this.


















EDIT: 05/29/11 - I painted a second one of these guys to match the first. This one is the squad machine gunner, so he kept the "Smart Gun" that he came with. The more I dabble around with these guys, the more I think that I will repaint all of the ones I buy. I'm really liking the way these look!

Sgt Humpty (Iron Grenadier)

This is now the third version of this character I've done. This one is a bit different, though. I haven't abandoned the back story for the previous Joe-based versions - I just re-imagined the character as an Iron Grenadier. In keeping with my actual military background, IG Sgt Humpty is a mortarman and forward observer. He is assigned as the Fire Direction Controller for Castle Destro. He sees to the day-to-day training of the mortar crews, as well as the pre-plotting of all defensive targets around the Castle grounds. In combat, Sgt Humpty accompanies the IG leadership into the fight to coordinate on-the-spot fire support, while leaving the actual supervision of the mortars to his hand-picked team leaders.

Parts: Head (Sgt Humpty), Entire figure (25th Anniversary Iron Grenadier), Load Bearing Equipment (25th Anniversary Short Fuze), M1911 Pistol (RoC Breaker), Holster (PoC Night Fox), M41A Pulse Rifle (Marauder, Inc.).

Banshee (Iron Grenadier Assassin)

Last month, I debuted Cheesehead - a character based on my son Adam. While I was working on that figure, I was also making a figure based on my daughter, Kate. Kate is definitely a Daddy's girl and usually wants to be involved in whatever I'm doing. She knows that I am a member of the Iron Grenadiers team in the role-playing game on HissTank.com, so when I asked her, she immediately decided that her character should be an Iron Grenadier, as well!


Parts: Head (RoC Cover Girl), Helmet, Pistol, Sword & Swordbelt (25th Anniversary Iron Grenadier), Torso (RoC Baroness v13), Arms & Legs (RoC Agent Helix).

IRON GRENADIER ASSASSIN
Code Name:	BANSHEE
File Name:	Maue, Kathryn A.
SN:	N/A
Primary Military Specialty:	Sniper
Secondary Military Specialty:	Intelligence
Birthplace:	Paris, France
Grade:	E-4 (Corporal)
Like most of the Iron Grenadiers, not much is known about Banshee prior to her involvement with Destro’s organization. It is believed that she was a freelance assassin-for-hire, amassing a nearly perfect record over a ten year period. At some point, she was recruited by the Baroness to be one of the first in her “Iron Maiden” program.
In Irish mythology, a banshee is a feminine spirit, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. Banshee’s many targets could attest to the appropriateness of her code name – if any of them were still around to do so.

Castle Destro

Any longtime readers of my blog know that I'm a big fan of the Iron Grenadiers. To date, I've made 18 custom Iron Grenadiers. I figured that it was about time I created a home for them. Castle Destro is the ancestral home to the McCullen Clan, who have designed and sold weapons for centuries. The current Laird of the Castle, James McCullen Destro XXIV, usually referred to simply as Destro, is the CEO of M.A.R.S. (Military Armament Research Syndicate). This project took almost a month to complete and the step-by-step construction details can be found here.



Ground Floor (Tracked Vehicle Bays):










Second Floor (Wheeled Vehicle Bays):









Third Floor (Destro's Office / Command Center):










Fourth Floor (Hangar Bay):











Roof (Battlements / V.I.P. Landing Pad):










Additional Photos:

Rug Rat (Dreadnok)

Rug Rat was one of the Dreadnoks introduced during the DDP comics run. He was a diminutive character recognizable by his ever-present hat and sunglasses.

Parts: Head (Slayer Design Studios), Body (IJ: KotCS Mutt Williams), Vest (PotF2 COMMTech Han Solo), Rifle (25th Comic Pack Ripper).

Rowdy Roddy Piper (Iron Grenadier Instructor)

In 2007, the powers-that-be decided to make wrestling superstar Rowdy Roddy Piper a member of the Iron Grenadiers. He filled the role of Combat Training Instructor and was responsible for training IG Guards, Iron Anvils and Undertows. He was the final character that I had not yet made for my IG Army.

Parts: Head & Legs (Build-n-Brawl Roddy Piper), Arms, Torso, Sword & Belt (25th Iron Grenadier), M41A Pulse Rifle (Marauder, Inc.).

Razorback (Iron Grenadier High-Speed Assault Vehicle)

This is just a repaint of the classic Razorback, inspired by my overwhelming desire to have things uniform and standardized. Essentially, I just wanted my Razorback to match what I view as the "standard" Iron Grenadier paint scheme (you may be starting to notice a pattern here). The vehicle's two main body pieces and the engine cover were painted gloss black (NOTE: I actually wanted the body to be flat black, but the decals adhere much better to a glossy surface. So my solution was to use gloss black, apply the decals and then use Testors Dull-Cote to dull the shine). The clear pieces of the cockpit canopy and the gunner's turret were cleaned with Windex to be as perfectly clean as I could possibly get them. Then, I sprayed the inside of each piece with Testors Candy Apple Red. By painting only the in side of these pieces, I hope to avoid the paint rub that would definitely have resulted on the turret bubble. The missiles and cannons were sprayed with Krylon 14K Gold Plate. I have not found a better gold spray paint than this one. I had planned to order decals from my usual source, Ruben Jiminez, but then I realized that the original decals used a lot of black which would not have been visible on this vehicle. So instead, I improvised. I hand painted the numbers in gold and then trimmed some red tape to the proper size for the stripes on the turret housing. After the detailing was done, the whole thing was given a liberal application of Testors Dull-Cote before the clear red pieces were put on.

Snake Eyes (Desert Fatigues)

This was something that I did quite a while a go, and it's been collecting dust on my workbench. Snake Eyes is normally the guy dressed all in black, but there are some environments where that might not be the best option. I wanted to explore that a little bit and see what the results were like. This is almost certainly going to end up on ebay, but I figured I might as well get it out there and see what people thought of it first...

Parts: Head, Sword & Scabbard (RoC City Strike Snake Eyes), Body (PoC Dusty), Uzi (25th Snake Eyes), Suppressor (Marauder, Inc.), Backpack (RoC Gung Ho).

Cheesehead (Badger Driver)

This figure was created specifically for the Pimp Daddy Destro My Ride Contest at HissTank. The contest's Vehicle Category involves making a dedicated vehicle for a character that never had one before and the Figure Category involves a new character to be the driver for a vehicle that didn't come with one. For the Figure Category, I decided to create a driver for the G.I. Joe Badger vehicle. The character is loosely based on my 7-year old son (in the respect that he wanted it to be him and helped me decide on the background). I had a lot of fun working on this! Hope you dig it!

BADGER DRIVER
Code Name:	CHEESEHEAD
File Name:	Maue, Adam T.
SN:	073-16-AB02
Primary Military Specialty:	Infantry
Secondary Military Specialty:	Motor Transport
Birthplace:	Sun Prairie, WI
Grade:	E-4 (Corporal)
Cheesehead has the typical Midwesterner’s temperament – he takes things as they come and not a whole lot gets him upset. He was born and raised just outside of the Wisconsin state capitol and grew up rooting for the UW Badgers and the Green Bay Packers. Upon reporting for his Greenshirt assignment to the Joe team Motor Pool, Clutch immediately began calling him “Cheesehead” in an attempt to get under his skin. Instead of getting upset, Cheesehead just accepted it. No one was more surprised than Clutch, when Cheesehead elected to keep his unofficial nickname after his final selection to the main element of the Joe team. He requested and was assigned as a Badger Driver. It didn’t take him long to upgrade the armament and put his own personal flair on his vehicle!
Cheesehead is easy-going and affable – until the shooting starts. The last place you want to be then, is in his gunsights. The guy just doesn’t know the meaning overkill!

General Mayhem (Iron Grenadier General)

Yet another in my series of Iron Grenadier customs. General Mayhem was originally introduced as part of the 2006 G.I. Joe Convention set. He was formerly a SPETZNAZ (Special Forces) commander in the Russian Army and was intended to be Voltar's replacement, but since my Voltar is still alive and kicking, I had to figure out a way for the two of them to co-exist. My solution was to make General Voltar the commander of all conventional IG forces, while General Mayhem commands the IG SpecOps forces.

Parts: Head & Helmet (Slayer Design Studios), Entire Body (25th Iron Grenadier), Pistol (25th Red Star), Belt & Holster (25th Battle Armor Cobra Commander).

Voltar's Violator (Iron Grenadier Commander's Cycle)

This vehicle was created specifically for the Pimp Daddy Destro My Ride Contest at HissTank. The contest's Vehicle Category involves making a dedicated vehicle for a character that never had one before and the Figure Category involves a new character to be the driver for a vehicle that didn't come with one. For the Vehicle Category, I decided to create a vehicle for the Iron Grenadier's field commander, General Voltar. Because the contest required you to name the vehicle, I'm calling it Voltar's Violator. I had a lot of fun working on this and got to use an old vehicle that has been sitting in my fodder box for nearly 10 years! Hope you dig it!