GI Joe Custom Project: Iron Sycophant

A few years before transforming robots would captivate this young kid of the late 70's, I would become a fan of Hasbro's GI Joe franchise. I still have several vivid memories of my childhood, receiving certain figures, vehicles and playsets. While I may not have stuck with GI Joe all the way through the Real American Hero's life span, I was always a fan.

Hasbro introduced so many different play patterns with the original A Real American Hero (ARAH) toy line that I believed helped the line's overall longevity. One of these play patterns was the introduction of different themed subgroups within the Joes or the enemy, Cobra. One of these that I always enjoyed was Destro's Iron Grenadiers. I never saw Destro as firmly a Cobra character, but one who was just along for the ride, leeching off Cobra to get what he wanted. Eventually Destro would form his own army that he dubbed the Iron Grenadiers. 

As a kid I only owned a Destro and his Despoiler vehicle and the A.G.P. vehicle. I wanted more of course, but money and space were always an issue with the ARAH line. Hasbro would make several different vehicles for the Iron Grenadiers, but most of them I'd never own yet alone see in person. Eventually I lost my desire to play with most of my GI Joe toys, giving way to Transformers. 

Several years ago I decided to try my hand at customizing some old GI Joe vehicles, re-purposing them for Cobra. I had seen a lot of cool customs at that time in the forms of HISSTank.com and on YoJoe.com. I really had no idea what I was doing at the time, but it was fun. I did 4 different projects of sorts before I had to call it quits due to the change in seasons. I quickly found out that spray painted plastic did not do very well once the temps outside started to drop, so I hung up my spray cans...that was until earlier this year. By the way, I have galleries of my previous custom jobs over on the main GI Joe index page.

I decided to go with more of a theme this time around with my custom vehicle painting. No more would I stick to Cobra blue and black, but I'd try my hand with the Iron Grenadiers theme. I had to think long and hard about what vehicle to choose to start with. Preferably I wanted to try a vehicle I never owned as a kid, but one that wasn't too costly and didn't have too many parts. I eventually settled on the Cobra Parasite from 1992. This gaudy neon colored troop transport had potential, but those colors had to go. Once I was able to find a near-complete vehicle in my price range, I pulled the trigger. Once it arrived I removed all of the accessories and parts and gave them all a bath in warm soapy water. Once dried, I started to tape off sections and get to work painting. I decided to stick with black as the base, highlighting the various parts in red and gold. For being my first custom project in a few years I was very happy w/ the final outcome.

I chose to use the red on the vehicle itself, using the gold for the various weapons of the vehicle. While the shade of gold isn't a direct match with the gold plastic Hasbro used in the 80's, it's close enough for me. If you're wondering what those gold round things are on the side, those are landmines. Originally there was a catapult on the top that would actually fling the toys, but mine was incomplete and I eventually had another idea on how to use the now mostly flat top of the vehicle.

At the time I decided to go with the Parasite as the base for this project, I didn't realize their was a tow hook on the back bumper. This lead me to doing another project, which I hope to share very soon.

After I completed this vehicle I actually had to go out and purchase an Iron Grenadier action figure! Like most adults who grew up with stuff like this, my childhood toys were sold off long ago and due to space constrictions just haven't re-bought many old ARAH vehicles. 

I have come to like this vehicle however and I think it makes a pretty decent trooper carrier. There are six seats in the inside, but I'd image it'd be a tight fit if all the seats were occupied. There are also plenty of pegs around the vehicle for additional figures to "hang on" to the vehicle.

Since my vehicle was lacking the catapult on top, I began wondering if this vehicle I was "creating" could also double as a transport of sorts for Destro's Despoiler? Turns out the top of the vehicle was a near perfect fit for Destro's chariot.

I rounded out the vehicle with a few replacement decals I had and a few Iron Grenadier logo decals. I used flat black Walmart brand black paint for the base, Krylon Fusion for the red and Valspar metallic gold paints. Because I'm still a novice at this I didn't try to seal coat anything because I wasn't sure if it would ruin what I had already painted, but thankfully there aren't a lot of moving parts on this vehicle so if I'm careful, the paint should hold up fairly well.

I had a blast painting this toy over the course of a several weekends this summer. I had so much fun that this project gave me even more ideas that I would eventually see through. I have one large project still in the works, taking a lot more time (and money) that I originally anticipated. I'm not sure if I'll keep this or part with it, but with the Joe brand essentially dead at the moment I find it fun to revisit a line that brought me much joy as a kid.

P.S. - I've been asked how I came up with the name Iron Sycophant and honestly it was pretty easy. Since the original name of this vehicle was the Parasite, I just searched for a simile to parasite and I thought sycophant sounded cool! 

GI Joe: A Real American Hero - COBRA Customs (Part 4)

It's been several months since I pasted the 3rd part of my custom GI Joe Cobra project I had worked on. Funny story actually regarding this piece. The problem of having so many toys crammed into one room is that it's very easy to misplace items. Lately I've been trying to clean up some of the clutter and utilize eBay again to move some unwanted items so I can focus once again on my first toy love, Transformers. This is the last custom Cobra piece I made, and it's one of my favorites.

In the past I took both GI Joe and Cobra vehicles and painted them the classic cobra blue and black for the Cobra rank and file. In part 1 I took the Joe's A.P.C. and "Cobra-ized" it. Part 2 I took a cheap CORPS! helicopter I found at Walmart and re-purposed it into a new Cobra F.A.N.G. In part 3 I took the Cobra M.A.G.G.O.T. and gave it an overhaul.

After doing 3 vehicles, I thought I'd try my hand at a play set. Originally I wanted to use the G.I. Joe L.A.W. from 1986. It was simple enough and I thought it would be an easy task. Then I looked back at the 3 previous projects and I thought I should step it up a little and go for something different. That's when I stumbled across the Joe's Check Point Alpha. At the time I didn't realize finding an inexpensive, yet complete Check Point Alpha could be troublesome as I got a good deal on one shortly after selecting the toy to be the base of my next project.

This would prove to be easier to customize than I thought so there went any challenge I had set for myself! In the end however this would prove to be my favorite piece, just edging out the Cobra A.P.C. I sold the 2 of the 3 customs a while ago, but this one somehow ended up on the window ledge behind the light blocking curtains. I'm not sure how long it sat there before I found it the other night! It still looks just as good as when I painted it though. I thought about trying to keep it somewhere, but I've just about sold every loose GI Joe figure I had so what's the point? I had a blast making it and just as much fun sharing it with others.

I don't know if I'll ever customize anything else for Cobra, but the 4 projects I tackled over the course of a few weeks was a blast.

GI Joe: A Real American Hero - COBRA Customs (Part 2)

In the midst of buying up Cobra figures when Hasbro's 25th Anniversary line of GI Joe was on retail shelves I decided to tackle another Cobra custom, but this time on a slightly smaller scale. I also decide to use a non-Joe universe vehicle for my project. Lanard Toys the Corps! were plentiful at Walmart and most importantly cheap! While I loved the 1983 version of the Cobra F.A.N.G. helicopter as a kid it just didn't seem to age very well. I thought if Cobra was going to have single manned copters in their aerial fleet the vehicle needed a little more "beef". I liked the look of this Rapid Assault Copter and since it was only 5 bucks I thought it would be a good candidate for my upgraded F.A.N.G. project.

Since I had previously used the traditional Cobra blue and black on the A.P.C. I still had a few cans of spray paint left so I went with those as the base colors. I wanted to make it blend in if you will with the Cobra Viper so I picked up some silver and red paint to accent the black and blue. First thing was to take apart the copter for easy painting. Thankfully the whole mold was only held together by 3 small Phillips head screws. Once apart I sprayed the body blue with the landing pads and rotor blades being black.



The engine surprisingly was a separate piece of plastic and fully removed from the copter's shell during disassembly. This made it really easy to paint. I first painted the engine a shiny chrome like silver. It didn't dry as shiny as the spray can's cap, but it looked good. I wasn't sold though on the look once completely dried so I took a clear coat spray to the whole engine. Once that dried it gave it a very nice almost weathered or worn look to the engine.

Once everything dried it re-assembled the copter and decided to go ahead with the finishing touches. We all remember that the F.A.N.G. came with 4 small and slender missiles that attached to the landing pads. This version looses 2 missiles in favor of 2 larger missiles. Of note is the missiles can attach to the sides of the landing pads or underneath the wings. Originally missiles were a dull gray color so I went with a bright red. Once dried it matched the red plastic used in the original missiles very well. This copter also came with 2 optional wings that you could attach to the sides of the cockpit. These were already molded in black, but I went ahead and painted them black anyhow since the shade I used was a bit darker. Another homage to the F.A.N.G I tried to include was the red bands on the rotor's tips that I did free hand. The only original piece that I didn't paint is the large twin barrel gun that attaches to the front of the copter. I like this gun so much better than the pea shooter on the original F.A.N.G.! 

After a Cobra emblem decal was applied to the copter's nose and little bit of time the copter is complete! I really like the outcome and it's probably one of the customs that I plan to keep. The colors turned out to match the Cobra Viper figure very well. Again, this was a very easy custom and I intended to use more of the Corps! vehicles, but perhaps that will have to wait for now. 



GI Joe: A Real American Hero - COBRA Customs (Part 1)

Growing up in the early 80's I was a huge fan of the GI Joe "A Real American Hero" line of action figures and vehicles. Sure my interest waned a few years later when Transformers showed up on the scene, but thanks in part to the low cost of the Joe figures I had a good amount of toys to play with. One thing I noticed even back then was that Cobra didn't get a lot of vehicles in the beginning. I wanted to change that. Thanks to inspiration from other fans across the 'net I wanted to try my hand at customizing some older GI Joe toys and effectively "Cobra-ize" them. Before I share the any pictures just know that I am a rookie when it comes to anything along these lines. My creations may not be all that spectacular, but it was the best I could do w/ my skill and the materials at my disposal.

I wanted to start off by adding a troop transport vehicle to the Cobra ranks. Why Cobra was never given a proper troop transport is beyond me. I don't know if kids army built or troop built back in the 80's, but chances were good that some kids did have multiple generic Cobra figures and could have used a troop transport of some sort. This is obviously was the G.I. Joe A.P.C. vehicle. I got lucky when I was looking for this toy as I found one where the decals had never been applied. This helped a lot as I didn't have to take the time to remove the stickers and or the residue left behind. I started off by spray painting the canopy black. I liked the camo look of the original and would have loved to replicate a black & blue camo, but again I'm not that talented! The body was then painted a Cobra royal blue. I didn't paint the interior of the A.P.C. in either the cockpit or the transport area. I did paint the lap bar black, but no other changes were made to the interior.

The windshield was original clear translucent plastic, but I didn't like the look after I painted the cockpit frame royal blue. So I carefully tape off the areas and painted the windshields black. I know it's not really realistic having opaque windows, but I like the look a lot better.

The back bumper also doubles as a handle as the A.P.C. could be used for a make shift carrying case. I wanted a little diversity in the overall color scheme so I painted it black. That is when I noticed some tools and accessories molded into the rear of the vehicle. I don't think I ever noticed those before either as a kid or when I bought this piece to customize. I guess the dark olive green plastic did a good job hiding these details.

Most of the paint used was the basic Walmart brand spray paint, but I wanted to use some better quality paint since I decided to free hand the details on the back of the vehicle. I grabbed some Testors model paint and some fine tip brushes and gave it my best. I thought the outcome was rather good. It definitely brought up some much needed color and helped break up the blue and black.

All that was left was to apply a few Cobra emblem decals on various parts of the vehicle and done - a proper troop transport for the Cobra ranks! This was really easy (with the exception of the wheels maybe) and a lot of fun. I made this several years ago and still have it on display. This was my first ever attempt and I thought it turned out so well that I tried my hand at a few other things which I plan to share in the coming week. So, did I do a good job for a rookie? Comment - let me know!