February 22, 2026
I began the week painting GrimGuard figures. The first set I painted was a diving team that I will be using as my Nautilus divers. I next painted some GrimGuard figures that will represent Nautilus crew members on deck, dock, and land. With those done I painted some GrimGuard figures for my Trench Crusade collection.
A few weeks ago, I ordered the Combat Cardinal Mech for my Trench Crusade collection. As a figure, what I received was a big disappointment. The cardinal was significantly undersized… not close to either 28mm or 32mm. And I was sent two left legs. The one part of the machine that was great was the turret. I contacted the seller and explained my two-left-legs problem. I told him that I needed the correct leg and that given all the time I had waited for the item to arrive and then to be wrong in terms of legs, I thought I deserved something extra… a second turret. Fortunately, he agreed and sent me two legs and a second turret. I used the two turrets on two armored vehicles I modified from two Atlantis the Lost Empire Stormtrooper Water Tankers. I used the legs to make two walkers for my Trench Crusade collection. They are largely constructed of Duplos covered with Evergreen plastic and odds and ends to give them detail.
With those done, I modified a Stormtrooper Water Tanker to take my I’m-sorry-gift turret.
I ended the week painting seated GrimGuard figures that I attached to a bench on one of my highly modified Happy Meal Atlantis oil trucks.
February 15, 2026
I began this week repurposing the Atlantis Stormtroopers’ Water Tanker. Using Legos to create the interior structure of the rear and cab compartments, I converted it into an armored vehicle for my Trench Crusade collection. I covered the Legos with Evergreen plastic and used Evergreen plastic to make the rear door, window slots, and rivets. The hatches are from the Grimguard collections (3d print; not by me) and the turret is off the Combat Cardinal Mech (a Trench Crusade 3d print figure).
I next turned my attention to two Happy Meal Atlantis Vinny’s Tinderbox toys. They are very chunky compared with the Disney store version, but still worth the time to modify for use with my Trench Crusade collection. I’ve now done three of these, and I’ve given all three different looks.
A few years ago I converted one of the Disney store Atlantis Stormtrooper water tankers into a large cargo truck. I was never really happy with it so I decided to convert it again… this time I’m converting into an armored vehicle for my Trench Crusade collection. It is done except for the hatches and the turret. I’m waiting for them to arrive by mail.
Over the past years (perhaps 10 years) there are two items that I spent hours searching and when I finally found them and had them in my hands, I was so nervous that I might not do them justice that I put them on the shelf waiting for the courage to work on them. These two items are the Firefly/Serenity and the Nautilus… both as close to 28mm as I could get them. In August of 2025 I screwed my courage to the sticking post and attacked the Firefly/Serenity project. From my perspective, it came out great, so here we are in February of 2026, and I’ve pulled out the Nautilus. The two main hull sections total 24” in length and the separate stern fin adds another 2 ½”. My Nautilus was made by The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company (aka HLBS Co.) in the UK. They appear to be still in business.
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.
