The badger- dart shooting tank

[mazinz]

I saw this today in my local Walmart and was tempted to buy it. I really have no room or true need, but the cool design made me think of the early 80's or even 70's sci-fi futuristic look or even post apocalyptic. The actual name for this is "the Badger"

This is a remote controlled "tank" like vehicle that shoots 12 darts (sells for $40.00). Though I am in the US I cannot find it on Walmart.com but Walmart.ca (canada) has it. The one I saw however had Blue windows

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/the-badger-dart-shooting-tank/6000108382292

and here is blog link with more info and review (with video of it in action-- oh and I see it has the blue windows also)

http://clickclickbamf.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-badger-foam-missile-launcher_25.html

Though it might be hard to tell from the photo, this tank is not that small. I would love to add some modifications (such as removing the top and actually adding in a "control room" or led lights) to it and create a post apocalyptic machine of Doom or even a new vehicle for M.A.C. (mobile action command) or even Mego's Eagle Force figures since the scale of them would work nice with this vehicle. I think if it was painted in metallic black with some weathering and other add-ons put in place this would come out very nice

felt like sharing for those that might like this sort of thing

[mazinz]

went back to purchase this tonight. I then noticed behind the Tan version they had a cooler Black one. Below is a pic of that with A MAC and Eagle force guys for scale. Stil has a late 70's/early 80's look to it (as far as im conerned). I have a strong idea what I want to do with this

[MegoSteve]

That's pretty cool!

[mazinz]

That's pretty cool!

yeah it has a cool look. I figure if anyone wanted to make a custom vehicle to work with Eagle Force or MAC they could use this

I plan on making it part of the M.A.C. series. I want to keep the color of it in line with the rest of the series, so a total black paint job with orange or yellow additions will work fine. Decals for the side, but most importantly I want to see how much (if any) free room may exist under that shell. Going to try and put in a custom "drivers space" or control room in the back, and possibly headlights and other lcd light fun.

I also want to call this thing M.A.C. "night tracker". I can see them using such a vehicle for late night missions or something that might involve firepower since the actual line had no such things but suggested it might be part of their job.

In my younger years when I did play with these figures, I had them investigate and go up against all sorts of rubber monster oddities (in addtion to just normal playing with them and no monster theme). This vehicle seems like the perfect fit for those rescue or "monster" missions with its sort of retro-ish/futuristic look, which many of the MAC vehicles def had

[mazinz]

finally had some time to tinker with this and removing 7 screws from the bottom, the top lifts off effortlessly.
Unless I want to make a new mount for the casing to sit on, I cannot do my original intent of having the front of the vehicle open up like a door. So instead will opt for a side entrance and create a "control/drivers" section for the figures since this would fit inside.

I would have loved to add another spot towards the back for one of their smaller vehicles to fit in, but I also do not want to remove the missile firing section either. Going to opt for some neat lcd lights. This incs the headlights in the front. a blue light for the control room and I might drill some "slits" towards the back for no real reason but with a glowing red led it will look kind of cool.

I also might then add some outer extras like a working spotlight on the top and another spot for a figure to sit in

If I did this right the photo should show with the top removed

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[mazinz]

I usually work backwards than most with doing any sort of custom. I may have the general idea or even know what I want to do and then something will cross my mind and I will have to re-do what was already done to make room for whatever I now want to add in

At any rate ordered an LED police style lightbar to go across the top. I also know exactly what I want for lights in this thing. Also ordered a custom searchlight that I am going to light up as well.
The control room I am going to add is where I am working through-- I can make fake walls with milliput and print out cardboard graphics to fit into the "walls", or I can use plywood and get the same effect. I might go with plywood since i could technically make a small room that way and just then drill it in place with some screws.

either way I would rather order all the parts I need (mostly lighting) and have that here first.

Also thinking of a way to hinge the section I plan to open on the side of the vehicle (thanks to a dremel). Will prob work something or even using magnets to keep it closed

also might have a few on/off buttons so you can control what lights are on or keep them all on

[mazinz]

ok I added the the top lifting side door (since this toy had nothing of the sort). Used a simple small hinge I picked up at homedepot. I "cut" the door using my dremel. I did some minor sanding but the basic of it is down. I still have to "sand" down those screws just on the part that slightly covers the window (which i can do with my dremel). I also need a slight filler since the dremel cut through a little too thick for the door. I was thinking of that sticky black foam used in normal house windows for insulation or even the small rubber tubing used to keep the screen in your window/door. This way I can close my new side door and not have any visible gaps. the way i have it now, it "snaps" and stays in place

The lcd light kits are on the way, which will probably be set up as a 3 button on/off system. This way you can select what lights you want on or off

[thunderbolt]

you could probably make a gasket out of black craft foam for the door filler.

[mazinz]

you could probably make a gasket out of black craft foam for the door filler.

Thanks for the info. I had never heard of that material previously (of course I know foam , but not black craft foam). Filling in the door jam space will be one of the last things I do after it is fully painted and ready to go.

After this photo was taken I thinned out the plastic in a sort of diagonal on the top of the vehicle and now the side door can lift up a bit more. I also took down the screws by the windows and top.

[mazinz]

all the zillions led lights finally came in as well as a custom green "searchlight"

The one thing I need to do before the lights is the control room. I am not going to lie in that I am probably going to find "control room" paneling via older Mego type sets or other things I stumble across on google and then create my own from these images. At least one of the screens is going to have a giant rubber bird attacking something.

I will then print out these pieces and glue them to thin plywood which will be the control room walls. I also might have the lower section extended- so it has a more realistic look rather than a flat wall.

I am also considering adding an extra vehicle to the back of the main tank itself

[mazinz]

started drilling and placing holes for some of the lights. Also used milliput to cover the exposed screws by the door.

The control room walls might now be just thicker cardboard based rather than plywood walls.

here are two shots for the milliput and placement of the police light bar and the searchlight. Both of these light up. Both are also going to be painted in the same color as the vehicle.

Next I need to use the Alumlite mold putty to make a mold of the front headlights so I can then replace them with clear resin ones and light them up also

IMG_0858.jpg

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[mazinz]

made a mold first and the drilled out the headlights to be replaced with a clear resin copy (made one already). Now I can "light" the head lights.

I also unscrewed and removed the missle firing contraption so I can paint the shell of this thing

[mazinz]

what a nice day for painting. Love the smell of spray paint (rustoleum flat black-- the thicker "2 coats in one" spray- so two coats equals four- works for me)

I figured on building a mini box off the side of the vehicle so a figure can stand outside this while driving. No real purpose other than visual. Going to use a combo of clay art mesh wire and old model kit plastic tray pieces to make this "box"

It is also going to have a motorcycle that can detach from the back

[mazinz]

I gave it a few coats of the flat black paint. I had the blue windows and silver pipes taped up, so I need to touch up those areas with the flat black

I did put in (and held in with hot glue) the resin clear molds for the headlights. Though I do not have the led lights in place yet, I used a flashlight below to show how they will light up and another pic to show how it looks with the lights off. I do have to scrape or just paint over some of the hot glue which was used as a sort of filler for any odd spot between the headlight and the frame of the toy and this way it will neaten it up nicely (or as nice as I can)

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[mazinz]

Ever have it where you see an imperfection and go about fixing it, only to end up screwing yourself and having to do something over again making it worse?

So I had this thing painted nicely. I had in the headlights and I was just touching up around the areas I had taped off (like the blue windows). Well in the front of the vehicle it sort of had a not really noticeable smear of paint. In my way of fixing this today with a brush made more of a mess. I then tried to scrape this new layer off and that proved worse. In the end I had to re-tape up everything and give it another two coats. This worked but now the front on one side has a bit more rough look to it.

In some sense it now looks like the toy was "Slightly played with" or I can have it as "slightly weathered" But if I had just left well enough alone it would have kept it super nice like how I originally wanted it

I was also thinking of making the control room a sort of ghetto Dida display using ziplock sandwich bags glued to the wood panels. This way if I ever wanted to change the design I could do so easily

fun, fun