Stormie & Mu -chilling at the crib........

[SteveD]

Stormie and Muton are sat around in front of a somewhat huge (and inexplicably black and white) fireplace, taking some down time between jobs, and reminiscing about the old days….



“And do you remember the fun we used to have leaving the Barons helmet outside in rain so it went rusty that time??? They called him Baron Gingerblood for weeks after that didn’t they! Hilarious!!!”

“Until he shot that Shadow for laughing at him – I did feel a little bit bad about that……”

“OH! OH! What about that time when we went around and nicked all of the viewer scopes and support legs off of Red Lasers entire fleet of Laser Exterminators!!! That was absolute genius!!! Honestly – the look on his face!!!



“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA – he was well pissed off wasn’t he! That had to be the funniest one ever!!! Ahhhhhh – lad – I miss those good old days! The Hijinx we used to get up to eh???”

“I KNOW! Such fun!!”



“What ever happened to all of those viewer scopes and legs anyway? I don’t remember ever giving him them back, do you?”

“erm…….welllllllll…………”

“You’ve not still got them have you?

“Errr – I think they may be downstairs somewhere…..I think they’re in the Secret Storage Cave somewhere???”

“Shall we go and have a look? If they are still down there they may be worth a bob or two?”

“Might aswell…..”

A few minutes later……



“Bloody hell Mu – it’s freezing down here! And what on earth is all of this crap????”

“Well, you know how I don’t really like chucking stuff away don’t you?”

“yessssssss”

“Well, it goers a bit beyond that – I have this, well, tendency to, erm, hoard stuff….”

“Well, lets be having a look through all of this crap and see what we’ve got here eh?



“Right, what’s this – first of all – what’s this….”

“well, you know how I’m almost indestructible?

“yes”

“Well, they used to use me for testing missiles – firing them at me and all, to see if they hurt or not. These are a few which I caught, and kept for sentimental value…”

“And why the green ones?”

“Well, one time Baron had this plan, that if he made the Shadowtrak missiles look like Z Force ones they might not think anything of it when we shot them at them – they might’ve just thought it was some of their own missiles coming back to them…”

“ahhhh, right……weird idea…”

“yeah, never really caught on – hence I kept a few as keep sakes…..”


“Now – what about these?”

“oh yeah – those were for the Barons idea for Shadows to be stuff other than Red. There were the white ones for the snow, the black ones to hide at night, and then there were the green ones to hide amongst Z Force, but that sort of got canned when the missiles idea did, as we figured out that the best way to get disguised like Z Force was, well, to just wear green and take Shadows helmets off…..”

“Oh – yeah – and there’s them old Halloween masks from when I dressed up as Red Laser and you dressed up as Red Jackal! That went down a storm (pun intended!) didn’t it????”

“Yeah!! I nearly scored with the Baroness as she thought I was Red Jackal/Destro!”

“Yeah, until you offered to show her your weapon, and started showing her your head radar thingy!”

“and why did you keep them all then???”

“well, I kept hearing from all the Shadows how much they liked Head, so I thought I’d keep a few – can’t say that I saw much pleasure in it to be honest, but hey, each to their own….”


“right – what one earth are these then….”



“Ooo – that was in my angry days! I found one of them old series 1 dudes in his little crappy skidoo thingy, and he wouldn’t let me have a go, so I got a bit angry and pulled his legs off!”

“Owww! You really were a beast in them days weren’t you!!”

“I know – I’m not proud….”

“so, well, pop these to one side eh, and forget all about them times….”

“please”



“bazookas?”

“yeah – nicked a few off the Shads after they kept firing them at me…”

“fair enough…..”



“Ahhhh – right – here we are….”



“bloody hell lad! There’s loads of them here!”

“yeah, I, erm, kept them all…..and the legs……”


“Red Laser will no doubt still be pissed at us….”

“I don’t remember them being filled in on the bottom like this though???”


“Yeah, I, erm – filled them with metal, and used them as dumbbells for a while…..”



“OKAYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Anyway, right, that’s that little lot out of the way – but what on earth is this lad????”

“I was told never to open that. I think it’s called the Ark of the Lost Palitoy. It was in that underground chamber where they used to keep the Kraken in ice. I brought it from there. I got told that it is magic, and that everything that ever got sucked up by Mum’s Hoovers back in the day magically got transported into it. But after watching Indiana Tree and the Raiders of the Lost Ark I got too scared to open it, so I just put it down here….”

“Right lad – be brave, lets get this thing opened….”

“Are you sure….”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We could melt, like them Nazis did?”

“MUTON!!! You’re almost indestructible, and I have a reckless disregard for my wellbeing – we’ve nothing to fear – get the bloody thing opened…..”

“Okay……………………….”



“oooooo – shiny! Not melting are you old pal?”

“nope, I’m fine!”



“now what on earth are these…..”



“erm – hats?”

“not just any hats! Z Force Radio Operator hats!!! And there’s loads of them in here! In loads of different colours!!!”

“Cool!!! I like hats!!!”



“You and I both lad.”



“Bloody hell! So that’s where they all went!”

“Cool! We shall be the most dapper dudes around!!!!”

“So that’s what was in there! Still not melting are you?”

“No, but there is something else down the bottom here – let me just get me arm in…..”



“Is that what I think it is……”



“I do believe so….”



“AERIALS!!!!”

“Fantastic!!! I love the Little Mermaid……”

“No lad, not that sort….”

“oh…..damn…..”

ALL OF A SUDDEN, SOMEONE ELSE APPROACHES…..



“well boys – aint this an interesting little haul??? Way I figure is you boys and me are going to make a few pounds….”

“Really????Cool??? Usual deal?”

“Usual deal – 75 to me, 25 to you, with you doing all the hard work….”

& “DEAL!!”

[SteveD]

So, as you may have guessed, that was a somewhat shameless way of plugging what I’ve been making with the final batch of the mould stuff I got the other week. Lots of repro parts! Some better than others.

First, the heads and bazookas.

Been offering them for a while, but it’s just really to say PM me if you need any repro bazookas – they’re not perfect, and can be a bit brittle around the viewer, but look okay on display, and are reasonably priced at £1.50 a pop (plus postage).

The heads are as in the store, but I can now offer them in lots of colours, not just red, which can make some customs easier. Black, white, yellow, green and red. And any combination of them too.

Red Laser/Cobra Commander head, of Red Jackal/Destro heads are a very nice cast, so good for customs and saves wrecking an original. The neck pieces are very, very brittle on them, but if you wanted to snap it off and them dremmel them they would be good for 25th style, or are usable with care with O ring style from that era of torsos?

I can do them at the same price as RAH heads from the store.

SHADOWTRAK MISSILES:-



Original on the right – repro on the left. Simple to cast, so come out very effective. Cast in black, so you can tell them as different from originals (and they look messier around the hole at the back, as I just sink a little drill hole into them)…



I can do them at £1.50 a pair plus postage (obviously if you’re after a few bits and pieces from me, they will all post together).

As you see – they can be done in any of the colours I can do heads in so interesting for customs maybe? The Z Force green ones look especially cool. Z Force Shadowtrak anyone????

LASER EXTERMINATOR REPAIR KITS




These are the support legs and viewer scopes, which come with transfers on as shown (original is on the right – repro on the left) – so basically ready to put on.





Now, a few words about these. The leg is slightly twisted, and whilst looks really good on display some of the more fiddly parts can get little air bubbles in, and as can be seen from the close up pic it sits a little wonky when looked at closely.



Also, on the original it also has a little groove that hooks onto a tab under the chassis that holds it up whilst towing. Whilst I dremmel out a groove (I’ve made them solid to make it clear they are not originals, and also to make them stronger) it isn’t enough to hold the leg up under towing (as you can see in the pics).



As I’m guessing most of you will display these “stationary” I’d expect this not to be a problem.



Due to the amount of work it’s taken me to do these and the amount of plastic used to make each (the viewers are also filled to provide strength and make it easy to see they are repros) I am asking £5 PER KIT for these (that gets you the leg and the scope, already transferred as shown – basically ready to just pop on).

REPRO AERIALS



To say that these little sods are fiddly is a gross understatement! I end up throwing away 5 that are unsatisfactory for every one that is okay. Available in black for Silent Attack, green for ATC and red, white, yellow etc for – erm, you to use your imagination with!

Again, these aren’t perfect – they can be a little tight to push in, and I recommend extreme care when putting them onto the ATC/Silent Attack etc as they are so small and the plastic is brittle, but I guess that’s why everyone is missing one!

I need to ask for £2.50 per aerial plus postage to allow for the amount of hassle these take to make.

I will also be putting a tiny little hole in these – probably at the base where the plastic is thicker, to make it clear they are a repro to anyone looking closely.







And finally – HATS!!!!!!



Original is in middle, rubber one is on left, plastic one is on right.

I tried these in rubber (far left) but whilst it looks okay it is very rubbery, and I suspect will attract the dust and get grubby looking. Even after a few days of drying it still seems tacky to the touch, so I recommend them out of plastic. They are very thin and brittle again (I’m pretty much stretching the limits of what this type of casting plastic is meant for!) but they look the part I think.

Not a bad colour match, all things considered (as I’m sure the customizers amongst you will know – Z Force green is a nightmare to match in paint – so you can imagine what it’s been like doing it in plastic dyes!)

Original:-


Repro:-


Original is slightly darker green:-





Now – the backs of these can sometimes come out a bit like this:-



But as you can see in the pic – the originals weren’t much better!

Best advice I can give with these is be careful with them – they sit on the heads nicely – but if you force them down they can crack up this back bit. DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU!!!

Again – many colours for you to pick from and use for customs:-



Even though it’s a different mould to the Space Force hat (no logo and slightly different design) it doesn’t look too bad:-



Black ones look pretty cool:-



And the possibilities are really quite endless:-


“How bloody demeaning!!”

I’d point out that like original hats these are taken from they are designed for the generic Palitoy head – Radio Op, Space Captain, Ironblood etc. They do fit the balaclava heads of the like of Sonar Op and Space Pilot, but it is best if you intend to use them for these figs to let me know. I can then take them out of the mould before totally set and pop them onto the head of the figure in question. This stretches them ever so slightly whilst the hat is still more pliable, and makes them fit a lot better. If not, they do still fit, but the risk of cracking is far higher!

Anyway, that’s what we’ve got! I’m really pleased and proud that these worked.

I’m after £2 per hat for these please, again, plus postage.

As always, if there is anything there of interest, PM me, or for non members contact me at REDSHADOWSLTD@LIVE.CO.UK

This is likely to be the last batch of moulds I make for a long time, as it is quite time consuming and I have a rather busy six months or so coming up, but hopefully I’ve got lots of the ‘commonly missing’ parts available now.

And finally – apologies to anyone with current orders with me – to allow me to get these finished I am running a little behind with orders – I’ve now put the mould making stuff away and am right back on top of orders, so should be with you all very soon.

Cheers!
SteveD

[SteveD]

PS - Sorry Baron - really wasn't sure where to post this. I put thefirst bit under dios, then it seemed natural to follow the second bit on from it, which clearly should have been in Misc Customs. Or something. Anyway, feel free to move it, then I can try to track it down, in a sort of virtual version of "Where's Wally".

[SteveD]

Just thinking about it - if anyone wants a viewer scope without the sticekrs for the HAL then obviously i can do them that way too. Or if anyone has a HAL cannon with stickers on I'd love to trade it for something so I can scan the stickers?

Would I be right in saying the support leg on the HAL is really dark green, or is black too?

[Double-Tap]

ohhhh mate, you've outdone yourself this time.

great stuff

[SteveD]

I never noticed before how shifty looking this looks!
It's as if he's about to do in

"How come he gets the yellow hat....."

[Dr Von Poopenheimer]

Cor blimey you've been busy!

[Red Laser]

I need to get myself sorted out with what I owe who but I woulld love the laser exterminator set.

[Sundance]

can you not do brown aerials? just asking cuz i wonder, what with the v2 Silent Attack Kayak, why you've only done black and green...

(might have to get one of each later...)