21st RC Humvee rebuild

All that weapons bashing, one after other. Thought I'll take a break and work on something difference. I got a opportunity to purchase either a 1/6 GI Joe or a 21st Humvee. Both asking about the same price, up in the $100+. After a day or two of weighting the differences. I went with the 21st. Reasons being #1. 21st asking $120 bucks. The seller paid the shipping. It came in Fed Ex. So I saved a bag full of cash already. GI Joe will cost around $40 for shipping. It will cost me more then $30 bucks extra, if I buy GI Joe. I thought of purchasing both. But, I'm doing my very best putting away cash for the up coming HT Appleseed, PMC and CIA figures. So, buying both humvee is out of the question. Reasons #2. I think it is easier for me to scratch build the interior for the 21st, then try to scratch build a working suspensions system for GI Joe. But with it working hood, it almost won me over.....almost. Even so the 21st suspensions not exactly like humvee. It's close enough that I don't have to do anything to it but paint them black. #3. 21st got a very roughest tube frame. I can do an lot to the body, and don't have to worry about reinforcing the frame like I will have to with GI Joe. And to which, GI Joe didn't even have a frame to start with. #4. GI Joe wheels looks nicer. But 21st are rubber. That's always a big plus for me. So, with all that. I went with 21st.

I was told that the 21st is about 1/2 scale bigger then 1/6. 1/5.5? And GI Joe is more closer to scale. Since I don't have a GI Joe to do side by side. I pose a figure next to it. I'm thinking...I'm 5'6". So let just say that the figure is 5'6" - 5'10" in 1/6 scale. And I owned a 94's Hummer H1 wagon for several years. So I got an very good idea how big a Humvee is. By the way. When I bought the H1, gas was only $1.25 ~ $1.35.......somewhere around there. When I sold it. Gas was just breaking $2.00+. Lucky I sold that thing. The factory said it get 13 mpg. Like hell it does! I get around 8 mpg. If I push it down hill on neutral, maybe I'll get 11 mpg. I driving 30+ miles to work one way. Always going 65 mph, no faster then 70 mph with the H1. I can't even get full 5 days out of the tank. Only four days at best before it goes dry, even if I'm very light on the paddle. .......Oh, sorry! got side track there. Anyway. So, if the figures is 5'6" like me. I think 21st humvee is damn close! I'm not the kind that will pull out the ruler. I just eyeball thing. Looks close enough....hey, all good.

In this build. I'm want to do a up-armor Humvee. With working doors and everything. Hood? ........No, no working hood. I'm not going to build any one particular vehicle. I'm going to take something here and there from all the reference I collected. And see what I get at the end. I'm keeping all lights and sound working. Hope to anyway. So I didn't cut the wires, and hopefully keep it RC too. At this point. I cut out the bed and sides. I need all that open to mark up the interior. I'm going to use paper cardboard to do all the mark-up, before I do any cutting on plastic cards. So far. I spent 3 days on it. Most of the time. I spent just staring at it. Picturing it in my head what my next step. I still don't have any real plan on how to approach this build. I just went as it goes. Just like all the weapons mod. I just finished sanding down all the cut surface. Making it clean and even as possible before I start any marking up. I'll try to keep up the updating as it goes. Until then, Thanks for looking. Feedback are most welcome. Happy 1/6.