Tiger Flit, Cleared For Landing
In late 2021 I got a wild hair (likely due to a youtube rabbit hole) and dug out the remains of my childhood G.I. Joe collection. It was sad. I never had a ton of Joes, but I had a pretty decent collection and my troops definitely saw a lot of action.
All that remained was Tiger Force Recondo, a naked Dr. Mindbender, the Action Pilot (keychain), and several bits & pieces (literally, vehicles and people). I hit ebay for a couple cheap replacements — Law & Order, one of my faves as a kid, and Monkey Wrench. I’d had both, and they were pretty cheap to add in decent condition. I was thrilled to still have Recondo, as he was the pilot of the largest and coolest vehicle I had, the Tiger Fly. Tragically, all I had left of his ride were the wings, engine cowlings, and a few missiles.
Fortunately, I’d previously noticed a super-cheap helicopter at a discount store, the US Army Nighstalker, complete with shitty figure. A plan began to form, though… I wasn’t about to shell out the dough to replace my Tiger Fly, but a Tiger Force revamp of this thing….
I’d had Tiger Force Lifeline as a kid as well, and I even still had his gear. He was soon on his way to me from ebay — Recondo was getting to work, and he was gonna need some help.
I first disassembled the toy, taking care to not disconnect the electronic sounds device. I wrapped that in plastic & tape to protect it from paint. The chopper was already black, of course, but I primed it anyway and started masking. This is all just rattle cans, a nice yellow, a misting of brown at the nose, and red at the rotor tips.
The stickers are repros from Toyhax, which I highly recommend. I ordered the sets for the Tiger Fish and the Retaliator to give me a good variety to choose from as this knock-off toy doesn’t conform to any Joe vehicle, of course. I’d still like to figure out a good way to get the fang-jaw on the bottom of the bubble canopy.
The new collection. Yoooooo Jooeee!
And you probably noticed I bought two of the Nightstalkers. Don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same. I’m quite sure I’ll do something cool with the other one someday, too.