Hey all,

here's something I've worked on the last weekend. Here's a Cobra pilot - I want to use him in a custom Cobra troop transport helicopter I'm thinking about doing.

Parts used
Head: Backblast modded
Torso: Cross Country
Arms: Beach Head
Waist: Cross Country modded
Legs: Airborne

I'm sure this has been done before, but I'm glad I now have a generic copter pilot for Cobra

This was also my first try at dyeing a figure - I used Rit dye Navy Blue. The end result was a much darker shade of blue than the one you see here, but at least it covers better all the scratches and chips that may eventually appear on this figure.

So after I ended up with a dark deep blue figure, I painted on Citadel Regal Blue for the typical Cobra trooper blue, and some black on the vest. The red is Citadel Blood Red I think. The advantage of having dyed the figure in some shade of blue before is it'll act as a base color closer to the Regal Blue I painted on and will not show through as visible as the original colors would when the chip paints (the original colors on Airborne legs are light sand, on Cross Country's chest and Beach Head's arms it's green).




Now since this was my first take on dyeing, obviously I ran into some kind of problem. Well it seems I let the legs in the pot too long, and the plastic melted and holes appeared on the back of the thighs. Has that happened to anyone else? How do you go around this? Is that considered as "warping"?



Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with the overall look. I hope you like it as well!

So wait: Those are dark green Beachhead arms dyed Navy Blue? WOW!

Awesome job on this guy. Turn down the heat and check more often to prevent warping, but honestly that's not TOO bad.

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Well I'm GLAD you asked the question, I just realized I forgot 50% of what I wanted to say on how I did him... and thanks for reminding me that!

I've updated the previous post to add the part where I explained that I painted over the dyed parts, using the dye Navy Blue color as a base colour... (and that's just because I couldn't get the right shade of blue from just dyeing, otherwise I wouldn't have needed to paint on top of it...)

Sorry for the confusion everyone

I'm not sold on the head choice myself, but the end result is very impressive. This one definitely looks like it would fit in with other Cobra troops.

Personally the actual sculpting on the helmet reminds me of the vest on a Tele-Viper, so I could easily see this figure as a maybe a HQ kinds version of the Tele-Viper rather than a field (v1) troop.

Nice work and awesome parts combo.

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Very nice work. It does look it would blend it well with other Cobra troops.

Do you have the Chap Mei Skycrane to put him in yet?

Unfortunately I don't have that vehicle yet, it's nearly impossible to find here in France. Another copter I would love having is the BBI Pavehawk: http://www.aviatornut.com/bbi/pavehawk/pavehawk.jpg

That one is equally impossible to find in this part of the world though.

I never thought of the Backblast helmet as a pilot, but it works really well. The head looks big for the thinner body parts you chose, but not completely out of proportion.

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remster_9,


I belive that the problem with the back of thighs (big holes) could be due excessive time in hot water. i belive that the dying process is a mixture of dye ink and hot water, right? So the excessive warm from hot water promotes the reduction of stress inside the plastic, open the holes, since the plastic part after injection have many portions of internal stress, specially where the injection poit is. In this case, right there on the holes grow up!

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Thanks for the detailed explanation! Those holes are due to overheating indeed, as in excessive time in simmering water. I didn't know why holes were forming at those specific locations, but the injection points explanation makes absolute sense.

Now I feel a little wiser, and you now what? To add insult to injury, I managed to recreate that exact same problem of holes growing up - this time on a Flint torso. I'm becoming a master at this

I agree that the head choice doesnt really fit well, but love the overall part use and work on the fig. Def a fig i'd love to add to my collection.. hint, hint..

Thanks for the comment

I personally don't see the head as an issue - but well, I could be biased I think it would be perfect if I could somehow add a mic to that helmet, I'll have to look into that as I don't even know where to start.

As far as making this little guy available... well let's say I'm not completely opposed to it I'll see if I can maybe make another one.

I think the head is great, and sells the figure.

I'm really impressed by this one. It's not often that I see a straightforward ARAH custom that's rooted in common parts that strikes a very uncommon impression.

Well done.