June 30, 2024
A couple months ago I bought the big/huge Clone Turbo Tank on eBay. With shipping it cost me $40 and given the fact that it is missing a lot of parts, $40 was a lot except when you take a look at the outrageous prices people are asking for parts... one middle side panel is $40. Anyway, my plan was and is to replace the missing side panels with ones I scratch-build out of Evergreen plastic and replace the missing weapon on the rear command unit with something cheap from the swap meet. Yesterday, I found the weapon I needed; not the original but nice looking. I used a 25mm base as a connector between the weapon and the Turbo Tank. Now all that is left is everything else.
I got this Ramco Big Caeser at the swap meet this weekend for $10... wonderful deal. I spent the weekend taking it apart so I can repurpose it for use with my 28mm figure. It was a hell of a job, and I have taken a lot of toys apart for repurposing over the years. One of the nicest details of the toy is that it actually has stairs going from the deck to the oar level. That said, I now have it disassembled and ready to put back together again and get painted. Blood was involved.
A couple weeks ago I got a broken toy at the swap meet for $1. It’s part of the Lanard/Walmart The Corps Elite/First Response collection from 2016. Mine was missing the cabin cover and main armament, but what I saw when I first looked at it was a platform for another Hondo pirate vehicle for my 28mm Star Wars collection. I lined the interior of the cabin area with Evergreen and JTT plastic and moved the secondary armament from the side of the vehicle to a center front position. I added a spotlight to the position originally held by the secondary armament. I added some pieces of Evergreen plastic to the front panel of the cabin to serve as a control/instrument panel. Lastly, I added an awning over the cabin area using Evergreen plastic and some scrap plastic I had on hand.
Rather than spend approximately $160 for 4 missing doors/panels for my Clone Turbo Tank, I built my own using Evergreen Plastic, a pair of earrings I found at the swap meet for a dollar that serve as gun mounts, and two guns taken off a broken piece of cast-off toy also found at the swap meet for another dollar. I probably used about $6 worth of Evergreen plastic in making the doors/panels so the whole project cost me less than $10. They still need some fine sanding and the entire tank needs a paint job, but I'm pretty happy so far.
June 23, 2024
Last weekend I found the Juggernaut by McFarlane Toys at the swap meet for $5. This is the second one I have found over the years, and I love the way they look and convert for use as a 28mm Steampunk/Victorian Sci Fi piece. All that is really required is removing the large head from the driver’s port and replacing it with a 28mm figure. It takes a little time and care, but it is reasonably doable. I then attach a smoke stack to the rear using Evergreen plastic to give it that Steampunk look. The figure and the stack are all I paint. It does require basing because it won’t stand upright on its own.
This past week I picked up a couple of Netflix Rebel Moon Dropships from Walmart for $14 each. They are a perfect size for 28mm use. I decided that dropships need an exit ramp which these did not come with, so I made two removable ramps out of JTT and Evergreen plastic and based them in Standard Milliput. I haven’t painted the ramps or the ships as yet because I’m still thinking about the colors I want to use.
June 16, 2024
My workbench time this week was spent piecing together an Imperial AT crane. It was featured in one of the episodes of Mandalorian, and it occurred to me that it would be a fun, if imperfect, scratch build for my Star Wars collection. All I needed were the makin’s. I’ve had a Playskool/Hasbro AT AT that I got at the swap meet for $5 as a broken toy several years ago. That gave me the legs and undercarriage. A couple months ago I got a 1994 Fisher Price Alpha Interceptor that was largely incomplete, but the part that was there looked perfect for the base that would sit on the undercarriage and provide the seat for the crane. That was $4. Last week the swap meet provided the final piece of the puzzle… the Thomas Train Cranky crane; the big one. Those big Crankys are hard to find these days, and on eBay they run between $70 and $100-plus once shipping is included. So, it was with great joy I found the one I needed for $4. The unrelated parts went together well with the addition of some Evergreen plastic to fill the gaps.
June 9, 2024
I began the week modifying and painting a SkullForge 3d-printed carbonite prisoner. Once that was done, I completed the last two of my Noti mobile homes which gives me a total of eight.
I next turned my attention to modifying and painting a 2005 Hasbro Land Speeder for use as one of Hondo’s pirate vehicles. With that done, I turned my attention to repurposing a Todd McFarlane Spawn Air Cycle which will also become one of Hondo’s pirate vehicles. I got both the Land Speeder and Air Cycle at the swap meet over the last couple weeks.
June 2, 2024
Two weeks ago at the swap meet I purchased a broken 1994 Kenner Batman tank that is called the Ice Hammer. It was missing the cover from the front hatch, but that was not a negative for me since I was looking for something with an open fighting platform that I could convert into a Star Wars’ pirate vehicle to serve as part of Hondo’s fleet of vehicles and ships. I removed the bat wings from the rear of the vehicles and replaced them with an armored shield on the side to serve as added protection of the engine area much as the Germans added shields on their late war Pz. VI H tanks. I then gave it a paint job, but once painted I realized it needed more character, so I added a removable awning over the open fighting platform using a Renedra plastic awning supported by wire rod poles.
With my pirate vehicle completed I returned to working on my Star Wars’ Noti (hermit crab) mobile homes. This is from the Ahsoka series.
