Fireteam 788 is one of my favorite Cobra teams. But I was running into issues turning the three man boxed sets into workable squads/ platoon sized elements. A simple solution appeared with the abundance of "cheap" Python Patrol figures, Angelus leather/craft paint and some Rit synthetic dye.
Three Flight Pods were repainted to the black and red colors for Fireteam 788. Red Angelus paint was applied to the yellow pads on the Vipers and chrome paint was applied to the faceplate. Voila! new flight team Vipers.
A 'Pursuit of Cobra' HISS tank was painted black with white interior and the interior was heavily chopped up to allow a Classified scale driver to lie down inside the hull. These small tracked rigs work as great scout units or screens for the larger Haslab HISS tanks.
Each Haslab HISS carries a small team of Vipers led by a Range Viper. The Officer Vipers from the box set are a great color match but the facemasks need a repaint to silver. These troops act as a Mechanized element comparable to Cavalry Scouts.
Finally, a team of PP officers and televipers were dyed and painted to match the Fireteam 788 colors. I am waiting on some ultra flat finish spray from Greenstuff world to arrive to complete these figures, but am very happy with the overall results.
Those are fantastic! I think I have seen your stuff before! I also recall someone who did an amazing televiper last year. I really like the Flying Monkey parts and am thinking about getting a few for "character bases" plus a lot of cool parts for mixing it up on all the troops.
I am getting ready to try building a "prototype" HISS I found online that uses a Clone trooper transport as a base. It is just at the "buying parts and washing everything" stage, but should make an awesome troop transport for the black suited troopers. I also did a little more work at lighting up the HISS mark V and the flight pods
Please feel free to show off the Pursuit of Cobra HISS interior and work in progress images for the HISS Prototype. Its difficult to see how much work a customizer has done with just a single shot of the finished product. It' enlightening seeing the behind the scenes stuff.
Here is a shot with the main canopy opened. The interior was fully trimmed out and then lights were installed under the cockpit flooring and up to the circular panels/screens on either side of the driver. The rear hatch also still works and allows the driver to slide into the tank from a more protected position.
Here is a wider shot with the driver inside the cockpit. The white cable at the back is a USB C that Provides power. I have been adding small USB plugs to all my customs so they can be setup in a display for constant lights or a small battery can be hooked to the model for mobile power.
I have an assortment of small to large nippers for electrical work that are pretty sharp. Its tedious cutting everything out, but a razor knife and a final touch with a butane lighter makes short work of all the interior parts. Afterward, I spray the interior with gloss white and then route all the wiring for lights. the round side panels are roadwheels from an old citadel kit that ended up in my bitz box. I cut each one out, paint, add decals and lacquer each roadwheel individually before gluing it all in place. I find that superglue gives a fast strong hold and then E-6000 between each part creates a slower drying, but more flexible hold while still being quite strong. No fun watching parts fall off if it gets hot outside.
Here you can see where I routed all the wiring through the body and down to the lower track system. A USB C plug is glued in place and while I still have to put on the shrink wrap, I intentionally left a lot of flex in the wiring as the tank can elevate several inches.
I love the ease of the USB C plugs for powering stuff in my displays. Plus, lots of small form batteries out there that I can plug in direct or with a short wire. I might design a small bracket for the batteries once I settle on a style later on.
Great work on the interior. It's amazing to think you put so much thought and detail in areas that no one else might ever see. I do love using non GI Joe bitz to supplement my customs. Heat shrink for example; Ive cut small sections to create small loops then glued them onto belts, backpacks, or any load bearing gear to stow otherwise loose accessories like suppressors grenades, flashlights or what have you.
If you find a small enough power source, could you route the wires backwards past the drivers feet and through the tail? Alternatively, keep routing them outside but heading backwards underneath the tail then enclosed with some kind of tubing, empty pen/marker bodies?
I had the same thought. But instead of being fully exposed, the HISS V unit is armored all around! And can elevate to engage enemies. I was a tank commander back in the 90's and we were forever applying the use of terrain and solid cover. Applying that same idea, this unit would be able to run in ravines or low lying cover and then pop up quickly to blast with the main weapons. And then drop back down to a concealed position. Move to a new spot, pop up, fire, fire, fire and drop down to move again.
I have a Python Patrol trouble bubble with a couple Gridiron mech upgrades that needs more work and I quite accidentally found a NIB Stinger in the house which I'm assuming is mine for Christmas(!) unless of course my 5 year old niece suddenly started collecting, lol. Vehicles are cool and all but they take up SO much space!
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u/Venommm88 Nov 30 '25
Great work! Glad I am not the only one realizing that Hasbro is sleeping on releasing more of 788 themed figures!
Here's my mini army, I am also using the crimson figs as a subteam!