February 8, 2026

I’ve been repurposing a number of Atlantis the Lost Empire vehicles for use with my Trench Crusade collection.  Until this week the Atlantis vehicles I’ve been doing are the versions that were sold in the Disney Stores (I got mine at the swap meet).   This week I decided to repurpose some of the Happy Meal versions… Audrey Ramirez’s Oil Tanker and Vinny’s Tinderbox.  These are chunky versions with huge figures in the drivers’ seats.  Getting the figures out was not easy.  On the Tinderbox I had to reconfigure the cab in order to make it compatible with 32mm.  The Oil Tanker was a significantly bigger job because I decided to make two of them into armored scout cars.  Having cut off the drivers and oil containers, I added a Duplo to each in order to raise the height of the rear of the vehicle.  I then covered the rear with Evergreen plastic, modified the drivers’ cabs, and added a gun and a commander’s observation hatch.  I’ve provided a picture of a finished Tinderbox and the original Happy Meal Tinderbox, and a picture of two of the repurposed Oil Tankers (one unpainted and one painted) and a picture of the original Happy Meal Oil Tanker.

I ended this past week repurposing an Atlantis the Lost Empire Command Car into an ambulance for my Trench Crusade collection.  The most difficult element of this repurposing was extending the rear of the car so that I could add double doors to allow stretchers to be put in the car/ambulance.  That was done with pieces of Evergreen plastic.  With that done I added a cross to the front of the ambulance, some cargo to the roof, and a slightly modified driver (a new head with helmet).  I then gave it a new paint job and added medical decals to the cab doors.

February 1, 2026

I began this week giving a new paint job to a Buzz Lightyear Hyperspeed Armadillo I found at Savers’ thrift shop for $3.50.

I next turned my attention to repurposing several Atlantis the Lost Empire vehicles for use with my Trench Crusade collection.

During my repurposing and painting of the Atlantis vehicles, I took a little break to build the Shrine Anchorite (Trench Crusade related) which had just arrived in the mail.  While I don’t plan on painting it right away, it came in a lot of pieces, so I thought it best to get it put together rather than risk the loss of a piece.

With the shrine built I returned to repurposing and painting Atlantis vehicles: a cargo truck (Vinny’s Tinderbox), a command car (Rourke’s Command Car/roof hatch, crew, cross, and sirens/loudspeakers added), and three Water Tankers that were repurposed in the form of armored vehicles. I added crosses to all three and a hatch and commander to one of them.  I did a fourth Water Tanker as a water tanker.  I added a large cross and gave it a new paint job.  I think these Atlantis vehicles are perfect additions to my Trench Crusade collection.