It is becoming truly rare to find a vehicle big enough to use with 6-inch figures at retail, and when you can find them for a steal, you have to take full advantage.
For those new to this vehicle, a little background: The Corps Elite Beast Bomber is one of a two vehicle assortment that showed up at Walmart stores this past winter. Made by Lanard Toys, they are built and intended for their 1:18 line, which, sad but true, has become much more exciting than G.I. Joe has been in nearly a decade.
The Beast Bomber was actually released overseas for the 2015 Holiday season, and it was a bit difficult to get. I bought one pretty much at first sight (Spring 2016), and I paid more in shipping than I did for the plane itself. This bomber, though stylized, was a surprisingly on-point representation of the mighty B-25 Mitchell medium bomber of WW2. I had to have it.
And after building it with all of you on the Front Page, I absolutely have no regrets — it is still one of the most satisfying builds I have ever done. It was worth every penny. When I walked into Walmart and saw the Beast Bomber on a pallet for $30, I didn’t get mad … I bought another! And when I saw them hit clearance this weekend … I bought several more!
Thanks to it’s large size and fairly open interior, the vehicle is pretty easy to convert into a bigger scale by gutting the spartan 3.75-inch seats. And the rugged build is pretty forgiving in terms of making additions and modifications. Obviously, this thing is begging to be made into a warbird, really just needing propellers and some cosmetics, but there’s no reason you can’t get more creative …
If you like the jet engines, keep ’em! For something a little more modern, I did one in USAF SEA (South-East-Asia) camo, and added a tail from the TRU Heroes Hercules for a B-57 Canberra styled-version. I love me some Canberra — classic British design, Cold War pedigree, and an almost unknown Vietnam career.
Anyway, I did add rectractable landing gear from a Joe Conquest X-30. It’s a little chunky, but it works! It’s not really done, IMHO, though. I’m going to fair over the turret hole — I thought I would like the sighting bubble, but … I don’t. And, don’t laugh, but I’m debating on propellers. That could turn it into a passable A-26/B-26 Invader.
But what it you want to do something more ridiculous? The second build I started was actually a twin-engined, single-tail Cold War-ish bomber, resembling a Il-28 “Beagle” of Soviet vintage. It was okay, but too similar to the factory style and the B-25. So what if we changed something like the wings? I tested it with that Hercules’ wings, and that wasn’t too shabby either. But after getting really cheap extras, I decided to do something a little more drastic.
I made it a four-engine bomber.
Since there isn’t really a legitimate Warsaw Pact bomber like this, that meant I’m free to do whatever. I literally just cut and fit two wings together and epoxied them. I kept thinking about those classic “boss battles” of the great shooter video games like Metal Slug and Contra, as well as flyer shooters like 1942, After-Burner, and UN Squadron. You know the type I’m talking about, right? The music changes, and there is a massive, barbette-covered monster that takes the top third of the screen and rains fire on you.
So, again, with cheap parts, I added three additional turrets. The tail one meant I had to return it to factory forked tail, but with those huge wings, I think it’s okay. I like the bare metal finish and the Red Star markings, but I am tempted to something a little different. Maybe a little cliche, but it looks so “bad guy” I am tempted to make it Luftwaffe. Suggestions? Let me know.
The best part of these, though? I have two more, just waiting for the right ideas to bring them into service. So, if you’re looking for a great base for a great price, you can’t go wrong with these bombers. So far, I have seen only a couple Joe customs, but one of those was a Cobra Rattler variant, which just makes sense. So if you’re feeling a little brazen, see if you can’t grab one of these on clearance, and let your inner aviation nerd go nuts.
