VAMP Mk2 Paint Upgrade Project

Just yesterday, I posted the results of a paint job on one of my Ninja Combat Cruisers and I thought that I would go through a few of the steps I did for the paint job.

The first step is to just disassemble the thing. There are about a dozen screws that need to be taken out in order to take the VAMP completely apart. I decided to not paint the dashboard, primarily because I didn't want to lose the stickers. I'm sure I could have stuck them to some wax paper or something, but I didn't want to risk losing any of the sticky-ness of the dash stickers.

Interesting observation about the two pieces of the roof section.

The pegs from the roof that insert into the body drop down into openings that have holes in them. See those green arrows? I'm thinking that small screws can drop down into each hole and the roof can be secured.

This picture shows one of the two holes for the front section of the roof.

Paint job done and everything is just pieced together; nothing screwed back together yet.

Looking around at Home Depot, I discovered this paint. The Satin Hunt Club Green doesn't sound real macho and military, but I thought it looked pretty good. I decided that I wanted a green, but that I would be content with what the vehicle might have looked like had Hasbro actually molded it in a shade of green. The key in painting a GI Joe vehicle is to make sure the paint can has something like "ALSO BONDS TO PLASTIC." Very important!

Here are the four screws installed in the back of the body to secure the back part of the roof. The screws are a little too big, but they did the trick.

Two front screws secure the front section.

I used a total of six screws to secure the roof to the body. Once those were finished, all that was left to do was to put the chassis and the bumpers back on and screw in all of the screws that came out of it. No screws left over, so it was successful!

I like the shade of green that I wound up with. It really dried nice and smooth and almost feels like it's the natural color of the vehicle. It doesn't really feel too much like a paint job. 

Once we finally get settled this fall and I find my other VAMP Mk2, I think I will paint it the same color as this one. I really don't think I need another for different environments. Sure, a desert one would be cool, but I'll be living in North Georgia, a bit far from any deserts. While the chances of snow will be greater, I don't think I need to make a winter ops version. I'll stick with another Satin Hunt Club Green VAMP Mk2.

What are your thoughts?

Got any custom vehicles that you are working on?

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