My Parasite… Almost Complete
Okay, I’ve teased it and now I finally have a couple of pictures of my first “custom” toy. First as a reminder, here’s the pile of puke version:
My stomach hurts. Now here’s my version (click to enlarge):
As you can see, I went with the standard Cobra red and black seen on classic vehicles like the Stun, HISS, and even the Night Raven (this is before I had heard that there ever was a repaint done in those colors). I removed the top catapult contraption. As much as I like catapults, it just didn’t look right on top of this vehicle. So instead, I put a HEAT viper up there. Nothing is scarier than seeing a giant gun wielding maniac dressed all in yellow, nor as deadly.
What I really like about this vehicle is that it fits so many dudes. As I’ve said before, my favorite vehicles or playsets tend to fit a ton of figures. In theory you could put 17 Cobras on the Parasite, but that’s pretty unrealistic. Once they have their gear on and are even posed a little, you take up a lot of room. I do enjoy the fact that my entire six pack of Toys R Us Vipers fit inside this thing.
Now I just need to get some stickers with this and all set. The only thing that I’m a little unhappy with is the fact that the clear coat didn’t work as well as I wanted it to. It was too thick, so I didn’t use much so now I have to be ultra careful with this so the paint doesn’t chip or scratch off.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
This is really stellar work.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Looks awesome!!
July 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Lookin’ good!
Excepting, of course, the fact that the Toxo-Viper on the opposite side appears to be wielding a machine gun, totally out of line with his specialty. Geeeez.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
LBAM, I can’t stand that gun he came with so I just gave him an upgrade. Pretend it shoots toxo bullets or some shit.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Great job!
Since I’ve never seen these in person (that I can remember at least), which guy is the driver? Does the dude in front drive AND control the big turret? That seems like a lot of work for one lowly Viper.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Head over to joecustoms.com and share this with everybody on the board there. Great bunch of guys over there.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
The driver used is W.O.R.M.S., the vehicle driver for the Cobra Magot (I know such colorful codenames).
Great job on the custom, definitely an upgrade in the color scheme there. A troop carrier that doesn’t make people think it’s carrying a bunch of circus clowns is definitely a plus.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I say it best when
July 17th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I say nothing at all
July 17th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Looks good!
July 17th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Your repaint is vastly superior to the original, kudos man.
July 17th, 2009 at 11:31 am
fantastic.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Wow, that looks bloody gorgeous! Super clean paint, man.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Yeah, thanks everyone for your comments! If you have a parasite and want me to paint it, let me know. hehe It was fun. In order to get it not drippy and spotty, it’s all in the wrist.
Yeah Shawn, thats Worms. He looks better without his helmet (notice I don’t have the super rare antenna), but I figured he needs the armor cuz he’s so exposed. And yeah, I guess he guns and drives which would be impossible in real life.
July 17th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
what paints did you use? I’m going to do mine this weekend if you get back to me fast enough. I have stickers on mine too, so I was going to try and use a heat gun to get them on intact and then re-apply them. Think that will work? or should I scan them and just make new ones?
July 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
First of all I took the whole thing apart. Its a bit nerve wracking moving the clips, but you should be able to unclip it using some pliers. The hardest one to unclip is the chin gun, because it’s three clips. For that one I just squeezed two and pulled it out at an angle.
Well I just used gloss black spray paint. I think it was Krylon (sp?) For the red, I used some Hobby Spray paint that was in a smaller container. I am thinking that I should have used a primer just to get a better application, but I was hot to do this.
I would spray evenly and fairly lightly back and forth, let it dry and then try again. It took me a few hours to do in total.
I tried to use a clear coat spray, but that stuff sprayed to unevenly, so I’m not sure how to protect the paint from scratching when it’s done.
As far as stickers. I have no idea. I just tore them off and used goo gone to get rid of the residue. The parasite in the cobra logo is cool, but the problem is that it’s on a green background. If you’re set on keeping them maybe scan and try the heat gun?
This is my first project of this type, so don’t go thinking I’m an expert here…
July 17th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
So, not only does W.O.R.M.S. have to drive, but he also has to control the big turret and most likely the chin guns while a bunch of dudes just hang out in and on his ride. W.O.R.M.S. is one hardcore pissed-off dude and I now fear him.
July 18th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
a friend of mine had that when we were kids. the alley vipers and heat vipers would have matched the old one better!
looks totally good though.
July 20th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
decided i’m going to redux the parasite and the paralyzer tank. I used to have the paralyzer manned by Alley vipers, but I think i’m going to make it an IG vehicle, maybe use some gold on the missles and gun.
Thanx paul i’m waiting for my catapult and rounds, then i’ll be set to tackle this.