[gaiagear]

So it's Firefly's turn to receive his much needed complete makeover. It's one of the hardest update among my Resolute Joe series coz I envision him to steer closer to the classic look, but with loads of modern touch; and yet trying as much as possible to stay far away from the influence of SST version. Have been debating whether to give him a fancy TP-9 or MP-7, seeing them too often in bashes though have me ended up modding a Uzi for him instead. He looks better with a battle proven veteran hardware. Custom parts are pretty much fabricated from junk parts bin. No idea if I'll build Black Out & Munitia to complete the H.I.S.S. team, we'll see. But then again, I'll have to build Barrel Roll as well to complement him and Bombstrike. Firefly's pretty much done, no more updates for him at least in the near future. Now just leaves Lowlight & Snake Eyes waiting for their turn to be revamped.

What I have done so far......
•Head: TTM16 with upper half of the face repainted. Balaclava is custom made from reprocessed old 21C urban camo shirt. Normally I have reservation on using melon head, but in this case my impression is on the favor side; perhaps that has to do with the masked face.
•Multi-spectrum goggle - Custom piece using 21C swat goggles as base, rebuilt with apoxie & junkparts.
•Jumpsuit - 2-piece 21C urban camo bdu converted into one piece jumpsuit. Removed the gigantic snap fasteners. Added centerline zipper, ribbed pattern ankle cuffs & resewed wrist cuffs.
•Turtle neck sweater - custom ribbed pattern fabric. Rit-dyed and retinted with acrylic washes.
•Tactical boots - The bastard child of ACE black leather boots & HT Merrel soles. Inner side walls of the soles were dremeled until almost paper thin and then glued directly onto the boots.
•Waist pouches and harness - modded from assortments of HT/bbi pouches & dropdowns. Larger pouches were lined with styrene panels to give them better shape.
•Slingpack - Playhouse(?) GSG-9 piece with custom pouch for detonator master switch.
•Wrist mounted digital assistance - Modded from fashion doll playset.
•Uzi- 21C conversion with fictional setup.
•C4 - Custom piece. Explosive was traced & cut from rubber eraser, then repainted. Keypad was modded from old 21C swat radio set.
•Pursuit Deterrent Munitions - custom junk parts. Actually 1/100 mecha parts.
•Detonator master switch - modified Armoury radio set.

Normally Firefly relies on his wrist mounted mobile device to activate jamming or charges, but in case the device was inoperable, he still has a last resort master switch packed on the sling pack as backup.

Firefly's hardware, clockwise from top left.
Uzi - a complete fictional setup, but I did take the clues from a few aftermarket mods and spinned it from there.
C4s - modded from rubber eraser & 21c swat radio sets.
Multi-spectrum goggles - Black market item, but modified by Firefly himself.
M.A.R.S. Industries M90 Pursuit Deterrent Munitions - One of Firefly's fav. ambush weapons against G.I. Joe pursuit teams. Built-in cloaking feature allows it to blend in with surroundings and undetectable by latest mine-detecting tools and canine units. Many Green Shirts were taken out or maimed has led the command staff to believe that their latest mind-detecting protocols have been compromised by M.A.R.S. slicers.
M.A.R.S. Industries Tactical Binos - Purchased at Cobra's Troop Outlet, but sent back to M.A.R.S. tech support for software and hardware upgrades.

Not much WIP shots this time, but I did snap a few.
Early wip of the waist harness. I lined the interior of the large pouches with styrene panels just like those camera case inner panels. They are supposedly equipment pouches for Firefly's sophisticated sabotage hardware and satchel charges, so more adequate protection is warranted.

Another wip of the waist harness, probably half way through. Styrene panels already glued onto the pouches' inner wall, now waiting for the adhesive to set.

Quick test fit of the pre-modded pieces.

Last but not the least, Firefly V1

 

[gaiagear]

Thanks gents.....

Cal... I have been meddling with other hobbies. Need to have some fresh ideas on how to approach things. As for using older 21C parts, heh I'm improvising.

Uswin...heh those are Lotte Xytiol chewing gum containers, I ripped the lablels off. They are great dio props.

 

[gaiagear]

Sorry for the belated replies; got tied up with errands whole day.

Thanks for all the feedbacks gents, much, much appreciated. Nothing beats the joy of modding older pieces into something more presentable.

Doug & Chris.......LOL A little pain modding the jumpsuit that's for sure, but I can live with that. It's a great learning process. Will I do it again? Absolutely.

Romeo.....LOL I'm having too much of it.

DFC.....LMAO!! Funny, Chung; I just bought another can of Lotte gum at local Korean super today. Thanks for the norm bud ntw.

gumm....LOL my style is pretty much fixed. Even if I try to alter it, the style is still here. Can't help.

KJ....not particular hard. The key is to line the top & bottom piece correctly. I put an old flightsuit side by side with the urban camo as ref. During test fit, tuck the top piece into the pants, imagine it's already a one piece suit and you'll know approximately where the stitches should go. As for zipper, those tiny zippers are the best. As always, patience is the virtue.
**Edit**
Forgot to add, the mask is a different story. I world much prefer the same kind of material that the regular black balaclavas but only in urban camo. It would make thing much easier. Anyway, I used the black balaclava as pattern and retraced the pattern on the spare bdu shirt, only difference is I made them bigger because the fabric is non-stratchable, got to leave some extra room for it.

 

[gaiagear]

Ed....Thanks Edward. I'm glad he turns out as expected. The jumpsuit requires some patience, but well worth it at the end. The learning process is priceless. As for the accessories, glad that I didn't get rid of those extra parts after finishing off 1/100 & 1/144 mechas, they sure come in real handy with the project. :thumb

PD...Thanks Mike. It was a blast re-imagining him. I didn't have immediate plan to revamp him back then or should I say not ready for it until scored a few old 21C urban camo outfits. Timing is everything, no kidding. LMAO!! I better stock up the gums before someone clear out the shelves.

 

[gaiagear]

Cobratrooper......thanks man. High praise from a Cobra operative.

Rovot, Svantley & Jesse....thanks gents. Lowlight is next, I hope.

Blackops...thank you sir. Pleasure is all mine. You pretty much nailed the locale. Indeed I have the intention to set it up as some sort of hazardous material storage depot. So yes, chemical factory is quite fitting for the dio.

 

[gaiagear]

Thanks, Alex. Yep, finally find some good use of those radio sets.

 

[gaiagear]

Thanks man, still learning. At the end, I'm glad too he turned out all right.

 

[gaiagear]

Cheers, Rennie. Likewise man, likewise.

Modding Joes & SW characters are probably my two mandollie obsessions at this moment. I will try to devote more time on more oddball subjects down the road.

 

[gaiagear]

Chung.....

Not really in 1/6-wise at this moment though. Saw someone did a female Firefly in 3-3/4" the other day, thought that's a pretty cool idea. But hey, I always keep my ideas open. One day all of the sudden you might see me doing one actually. Haven't done femm subjects for quite some time, I'll need to pick the pace up by building a few simple ones just to kick start the vibe.

 

[gaiagear]

Thanks, Mike. It has been a blast reworking him.