Alpha Squad Muskrat and Recondo

Muskrat

Muskrat spent his formative years up to his knees in one swamp or another, hunting raccoon, possum and wild pig. He was able to hold his own against poachers, 'gator skinners, moonshiners, escapes from the chain gangs, and smugglers. Ranger school and JWTC* seemed like summer camp to him. As far as he was concerned, they weren't teaching him anything exotic at all!

"If I had to go chase down Muskrat in the swamp, I'd give up before I started. He'd be sprinkling cayenne pepper in his tracks to throw the dogs off, laying false trails into water moccasin lairs, rigging deadfalls, setting snares, and having himself a good ol' time, never even workin' up a sweat. I'd just as soon go home and watch TV."
* Jungle Warfare Training Center

This is one of my more memorable characters. I picked up the action figure of Muskrat and several others whilst on holiday in Greece one year a when I was 9 years old. It was my first holiday abroad and going on an aeroplane. Whilst there we found a small little shop in the nearby town which had several Gi Joe figures for a really cheap price so spending some of my hard earned pocket money on them bought a good few of them. I got one of the Cobra Divers as well a Hydro Viper and with Recondo on his Surf board had many battles in the swimming pool back at the hotel. Which at the time there was very few children so I had to myself!

Muskrat is another conversion which I based off of the Rogue Miniatures Green Beret with a Anvil Industry Boonie Hat head. The  RPK  the original model had has been trimmed down in to pump action shotgun shape and a spare sword reshaped into a machete. I think it does the trick quite well. I shan't be dong a surfboard for him though lol!

Slightly tilted him so you can his face better.

 Recondo

Nobody feels more at home in the jungle than Recondo does. He is completely in his element there. While other troopers might consider the jungle to be hostile and unforgiving, to him, it is like a friend and anyone else who breaks in are intruders. Even when outnumbered by enemies, he often finds a way to use the dangers of the jungle against them. His vast experience has earned him an instructor status at the Jungle Warfare Training Center.

Recondo was one of the figures I always wanted but never had. So its been nice to make a 28mm version of him for this project. I have been pouring over all figures from lots of ranges to use for conversions but then stumbled across the base model sitting in my lead pile primed black! So in the strip pot he went and a little bit of converting and he is done. Recondo is a Wargames Foundry Backstreet Militia all I did was a simple head swap again for an Anvil Industry Boonie Hat Head. The hat isn't quite right but its close enough for me. I had thought of using one HF Troopers heads but didn't want to spend that much on a figure just to use the head.

I decided to keep the fatigues the same as his comic counterpart. The Green bothers me a little bit as its perhaps not quite khaki enough. The original action figure had some camo patterns on his trousers but I felt using the same green as his hat and back pack might of been a bit to much. Once I've had a browse for some more paints I may return to him in the future but for know he is finished and ready for gaming with.