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Action maannnnnn...


themagicnumber

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Sooo..I was kinda bored as yet another rainy day stopped me going out with the car and I realised the 'worst' (most damaged/in need of replacement/ugly) part of my car is the shell due to it being so badly damaged. I didn't find much in the way of originality in the available shells and the prices are pretty shocking so I set about trying to find something a little more individual.

The answer was right under my nose, free of charge..I'd grabbed an Action man car at a car boot for one of my boys a few years back and it looked like it might fit the bill. A tough ABS shell that was kinda based on a Scooby. It's proper name is a Hasbro Action Man Arctic Rally car if you're interested from around 2000.

On closer inspection the car was over 12" wide (stock shell's about 6.5) but the perfect length so I set at it with a screwdriver and got it in bits, removed the windows and extras, took the dremel to it and removed just a 2" slice lengthways down the middle as I wanted to keep the body as wide as poss before committing too big a slice because I wanted to keep it looking reasonably in scale *probably gonna have to remove more in hindsight due to wheel clearance on bottomed out suspension*.

Cut and shut the body with some apoxy as a trial run (JB weld when I'm happy with it's size), removed all the tabs and junk that were on the inside as screw holes etc for the original toy, heatgunned the shell to give it a bit more of a suitable shape, filled the holes that had junk in before, cut out higher arches (still working on those) and gave it a sunroof as the original roof was sat on the engine head and finally found an old rear wing and mount that I like (upside down) on the boot :D

Lots yet to do...

I need to get the body width right..maybe another inch from the middle..really don't wanna do that though as it's gonna make the windscreen look weirdly slim.

I need to work out the wheel arches better.

I need to build something inside the shell for the body posts because the shape of the bonnet makes it sit in exactly the wrong place and the rear end is floating on nothing :P

Then once I'm happy with it I'll JB the two halves back together and begin working on finishing the filling of holes, removal of stickers and give it a kickass paint job/theme..once I decide what to do.

 

Anyway I dunno if anyone's interested but I've got progress pics and will update as more gets done.

 

Here's a shop version..I gotta hunt through a room full of toys to find those window grills :D

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Chopped out slice

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..which gave me this..

 

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temp glue job with epoxy (check out my awesomely straight cut there)

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..but it already looks pretty cool..

 

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Edited by themagicnumber
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Awesome! !!....amazing what bordum can lead u to do...lol!!.

Thanks man. I just really hate those flimsy lexan shells and the price of the thicker one's is crazy even unpainted..I'm pretty sure this is way more fun :D

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Aslong as u keep It rubber side down..it should last....

This shell is tough as ****, way tougher than any rc shell I've seen..I'm more concerned about snapping the body mounts/posts when I flip/crash this..hopefully the new RPM one's I've just bought will be tough enough. I've used a super flexible rear wing to help absorb impacts anyway.

 

I'm confident it'll be fine..and if you mean due to the join in the middle..I take it you've never used JB weld? :D

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This shell is tough as ****, way tougher than any rc shell I've seen..I'm more concerned about snapping the body mounts/posts when I flip/crash this..hopefully the new RPM one's I've just bought will be tough enough. I've used a super flexible rear wing to help absorb impacts anyway.

I'm confident it'll be fine..and if you mean due to the join in the middle..I take it you've never used JB weld? :D

heard of it....Never used it though. ....heard it's good. .....
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Brilliant!

Anyone wishing to follow suit, check fleabay..the late 90's onward, Hasbro issue kit (as per the OP's base vehicle) is everywhere and costs nowt. You'll also pick up proper 'vintage' vehicles (both Palitoy and cherilea) for very small money....

No prizes for guessing what Noj has been viewing over the past few days.... ;)

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You could probably solvent weld that and actually fuse the halves together.

 

Can we have Action Man back in it?

It's a nitro, so a little too much gubbins in the way for an action man as a driver unfortunately. Although I'd love too..only if it's an eagle eyes one though ;)

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Brilliant!

Anyone wishing to follow suit, check fleabay..the late 90's onward, Hasbro issue kit (as per the OP's base vehicle) is everywhere and costs nowt. You'll also pick up proper 'vintage' vehicles (both Palitoy and cherilea) for very small money....

No prizes for guessing what Noj has been viewing over the past few days.... ;)

Yeh if you search action man car you'll get a bunch of different vehicles that I think would work with some tweeking..anything for a 12" figure's gonna be good for this size truck/truggy etc, too big for the traditional 1/10 scale though. Just struck me as a great way to get yourself a pretty much unique shell.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got a chance to do some work on the shell today. Got it JB'd together, got the first pass of filling and sanding done and chucked a bit of primer on it before the heavens opened again.

Next session I'll get the filling and sanding done and try to figure out what body work needs to be done..first the ugly bulge I've created in the bonnet/spotlight thingy..it's tempting to cut it out, fill it and sand it to a better shape, but I think I'm gonna have to put up with it as one head-on smash will just break that piece of filling. I need to figure out cutting out light lenses and fitting buckets for the head/brake lights, I need to decide whether or not to add flared arches over the wheels (probably not cos I'm lazy).

 

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It's taking shape I did the black a/m looking beetle some years back took a good beating & I only had to add an alloy plate on the rear of the arches to mount it on original savage mounts . Great to think outside the box. Look forwards to seeing the paint & decal work.

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It's taking shape I did the black a/m looking beetle some years back took a good beating & I only had to add an alloy plate on the rear of the arches to mount it on original savage mounts . Great to think outside the box. Look forwards to seeing the paint & decal work.

Nice. We have quite a few car boot sales round my way so this summer I'll be looking out for something....original..for my next project shell for my nippers Losi :D

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Had a few cans needing to be used up so this got a blast of purple and black in the same coat and a little squirt of silver for no good reason other than I thought it'd look cool :D

 

I'm not gonna bother with fitting working lights - this is a nitro and I'll never drive it at night, also my time, budget and space is limited. It's gonna be for bashing so I'm not going all out.

 

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The beetle with firing missiles??? Please say you left them working ;)

. Yeh this one but no missiles I got it from local booty for 20p as had no extras with it just http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Action-Man-VW-Super-Turbo-Car-Rare-in-vgc-with-missiles-/201302141479?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2ede8aea27
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