From Trash to Treasure

A few days ago, I sent out an inquiring tweet about the big goofy spring-loaded missile launchers from the GI Joe: Rise of Cobra figures. These things are so over-sized and drew the wrath of GI Joe collectors everywhere. I guess they forgot about Hasbro's prior use of big spring-loaded launchers back in the waning years of the original ARAH GI Joe figures.

My intention was to just trash them. I was tired of them taking up valuable storage space. Fellow Joe collector, Greg Schueller, sent a couple links to some very interesting uses of these "things" - here and here.

 I decided to give it a try. I had actually dumped them in a trash can and had to retrieve them. Fortunately no "icky" stuff had been dumped on them, so it was a clean retrieval!

Apparently, this was a popular missile launcher for Hasbro to include with the ROC figures. I have no idea which figure or figures they belong to and I really no longer care. The key element in reusing these launchers is to have a bit of imagination. Initial steps are just to test fit them together to get an idea of how they can be combined. The little soft plastic pistol grips usually need to be removed to get a better idea of how they can be placed next to each other.

This was one of my first attempts. I had trimmed off the grips and decided to try this configuration. Sometimes the launchers don't quite fit smoothly next to each other, so a little bit of sanding is needed.

Just a few drags across a piece of sandpaper can smooth out some edges and allow for a closer fit. The sanded plastic also takes super glue much quicker and the pieces stick together rather quickly. Watch that super glue on the fingertips!

Now this is interesting. the bottom launcher came from a ROC figure and the top came with the Rock figure from one of the Ninja 3-packs from RET. Reusing ROC junk for RET junk. Oh well!

 Here is my first batch of "things" that I have created from the launchers. I really have no idea what they are supposed to be. Mainly set dressing for dioramas, I guess. I think that they look pretty cool. Power conduits, energy transfer units, whatever. Pretty neat idea and pretty simple to create.

Scrap Iron approves!

The next step will be painting. I'm thinking a base coat of cheap gray primer as an initial layer and then add detailing with other paints. That means that I need to actually go out and buy more paints!
I guess this also means that I need to create some sort of set to use them in. Probably some sort of nefarious Cobra lab involving diabolical weapons development. Who knows?
I'll keep posting further progress of my "greeble" creations. Stay tuned!