Picking up planes .......

[raqndallace]

Bought a lot of incomplete gi joe vehicles from original owner - they were stored in a barn for the last 25 years and are SUPER dirty and full of dirt, hay , bugs , spider nests , ect ..... In the lot was this incomplete cobra night raven - always wanted one - so I'm gonna follow the retro blasting vids and restore mine ... Gonna take a lot of work as it's missing a lot of pieces



the very same nightraven after one pass with mothers power plastic polish , got it at o'riley auto parts - in the retroblasting vids they used novus polish , couldnt find that locally but a buddy had good results with this so i tried it - worked wonders !

[raqndallace]

also picked this up off ebay



did the skystrikers dome with the above polish and wow , big difference from the pictures both above and below - check 'em out !!

[raqndallace]

the rest of that lot - paid 40 - all were filthy and caked in mud/ barn debris - but all clean now , inside and out

** the skystriker was a seperate purchase off ebay

[raqndallace]

also bought this on ebay - seller just emailed me and told me he broke the rear landing gear while boxing it up - hope its not too bad

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271957736005...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

this is the sellers photo - i dont have it yet



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its here !! - a quick photo after a quick polish job with that awesome plastic polish ! the right rear landing gear is snapped off - so sad





the canope before



and after the polish

[raqndallace]

this polish rocks !!!!

[The Skull]

Nice work, its a lot of fun restoring old vehicles, one tip for getting that sticker grime off is using rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, here's a video I did using novus, alcohol and cobra repro stickers to restore an APC if your interested

[raqndallace]

rattler post above updated !!

[raqndallace]

thanks skull - how do the cobra stickers rate ? easy to apply ? i have a destroyed skystriker im looking to totally restore

[The Skull]

thanks skull - how do the cobra stickers rate ? easy to apply ? i have a destroyed skystriker im looking to totally restore

I only ever used them and originals, very easy to apply, they come ready to just like the Hasbro ones, I've heard other repro stickers have to be cut out which sounds like a nightmare, the only thing I could say I would like to see them include instructions on sticker placement.

[navy viper]

I've heard other repro stickers have to be cut out which sounds like a nightmare

it takes time , patience & a few tools. I use a glass cutting board, metal ruler & a X-acto hobby knife (all found at Wal-Mart) . I decided when I first started restoring my vehicles I wanted a professional/custom look to them for a couple reasons : 1) it gets expensive , so I wanted to enjoy the process and the finished look of them 2) if I ever sell or trade anything off , it should be fairly obvious to anyone that the stickers are reproductions and not original
I also use white shipping labels from work to place some stickers on , and then apply those to the vehicles. for example I do this with the "TIGER FORCE" logo & the American flag so the colors of the stickers are more vibrant . this keeps the black stripes from showing through the stickers when they are applied on my TF vehicles.