I'm a big fan of the Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon. I'm also a semi-serious modeler, and I have a tendency to try and tackle subjects which require extensive accurization work, kitbashing and/or scratchbuilding.
Put all that together, and you can probably see where I'm taking this
To be more specific, I'd like to convert mainstream 1/35 scale model figures into little Joe and Cobra troops. For example, I can easily envision these Tamiya U.S. guys ...
... as your standard Cobra soldiers. They'd need minor adjustments -- cloth covering their noses and mouths, perhaps AKs or MP5s, Cobra decals -- but nothing too exotic.
Beyond them, though, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm not familiar with figure models and I'm woefully ignorant about international military garb (modern or otherwise), so I'm hoping some of y'all can point me in the right directions. The good thing about my question is that you don't need to have memorized Tamiya's/whoever's catalog; if you remember the Joe cartoon and can think of any military get-up that's even a rough match for the characters therein, your advice could be invaluable!
I'm particularly keen to find approximate matches for the pre-Serpentor Cobra forces, e.g.:
*Crimson Guard
*Eel
*Snow Serpent
*Destro
*CC himself
*Tele-Viper
*Viper
*B.A.T.
(I know, I know. The latter two toys were introduced in the same wave Serpy was. But we saw Vipers and B.A.T.s on the show before Serpentor was actually created
.) The B.A.T. will be scratchbuild-intensive. Eels will be little more than repainted and specially-decaled frogmen figures. I have an idea for a Tele-Viper, and any kind of semi-modern soldier in winter warfare gear will be a fine Snow Serpent.
But where in the hell would I find something even close to a Crimson Guardsman? Forget the helmet for a minute ... can anyone think of a real-life soldier with an even vaguely-similar uniform? U.S. Marines in dress would be a possible starting place for a Guard's torso *shrugs*
As I said, any and all help would be appreciated.
