[Sky Serpent]

Almost done custom/restore on mine, here are a couple teasers, full feature coming, stay tuned!

[Junon]

I'm working on disassembling a crawler for cleaning and repairs. I want to detach the left arm that connects the launch bay to the crawler. Are there any tricks for removing a crawler support arm? There is a tab on the launch bay that helps keep the arm socketed and I'm not seeing a safe way to work around the tab.

I saw a post a few pages back asking the same question. That user eventually decided to just leave the arm connected.

[redchair]

I will have to look at mine but when I took mine apart to clean it, I took off the gantry doors and flipped it upside down, there are some parts holding the arms in place underneath the gantry and I remember getting them off easily enough but getting them back on was a nightmare, best way to put them on is the same way I took them off, turn it upside down.

[Junon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redchair

I will have to look at mine but when I took mine apart to clean it, I took off the gantry doors and flipped it upside down, there are some parts holding the arms in place underneath the gantry and I remember getting them off easily enough but getting them back on was a nightmare, best way to put them on is the same way I took them off, turn it upside down.

In the end, I decided to leave the arm on and manually clean the gantry outside of a wash tub. That was not a fun job.

I tried my hand at manually repairing the plastic tab on the arm that is supposed to hold the spring. I tried to use the original spring that connected to that arm, but that spring just had too much tension on it. I kept running into issues with gears locking up and the spring wanting to pull the gantry back to a raised state while lowered. So I decided to remove the gears/springs and just manually raise/lower the lift mechanism.

[Hendo]

It took me days to clean mine once I got it and it took up an entire room while doing so. I just need those blaster chairs and one of those rocket guns for the booster and I should be ok. I have extra wheels and wheel bases if anyone is interested.

[ServO]

Ok, so today I became a Defiant owner!
She's not the prettiest, but she's sturdy.
There's a couple of superficial issues with the gantry...a couple of cracked gun mounts, but nothing I can't fix.
I've started the restoration process...trying to breathe some life back into it.
Is it just me, or are the old stickers on this way nastier than other vintage vehicles? Gross!
Anyways, I've got the shuttle back to bare white. The booster unfortunately will require more than cleaning. My plan is to prime and repaint the entire upper half. The yellowing has taken a foothold around the nose. A couple of the hatches are almost orange.
The gantry/crawler is an entirely different animal. No discoloration, but it's really dirty. Im afraid that cleaning project might have to wait until it's nicer outside so I can take it out on the deck.

[Spaceballs83]

I can’t find a defiant in good condition anywhere on ebay. They all have massive yellowing.

[sith_fire30]

Hey all! I just purchased my booster to begin my Defiant restoration project. Happy to say the booster I purchased has already been restored to a certain degree so that makes my work a little easier...missing some pieces but nothing impossible to find for what I know so far about the piece.

Real quick, as a kid I was a huge GI JOE fan but with my father being in the military and having to move so much, I was unable to get the large items like the FLAGG or Defiant. It's only recently while collecting modern Joe figures that I was able to acquire pieces of the past I never had - first being the Terror Drome. No it's time to obtain the Defiant...piece by piece if need be. LOL!

So I have the booster coming...I'll be sure to post an update once I get it in. Finish the restore then begin looking for the next piece. Going to be fun...and frustrating! LOL!

[HitandRun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sith_fire30

Hey all! I just purchased my booster to begin my Defiant restoration project. Happy to say the booster I purchased has already been restored to a certain degree so that makes my work a little easier...missing some pieces but nothing impossible to find for what I know so far about the piece.

Real quick, as a kid I was a huge GI JOE fan but with my father being in the military and having to move so much, I was unable to get the large items like the FLAGG or Defiant. It's only recently while collecting modern Joe figures that I was able to acquire pieces of the past I never had - first being the Terror Drome. No it's time to obtain the Defiant...piece by piece if need be. LOL!

So I have the booster coming...I'll be sure to post an update once I get it in. Finish the restore then begin looking for the next piece. Going to be fun...and frustrating! LOL!

That is awesome! Congrats on starting the journey! Please keep up updated. I can relate about not being able to get any of the huge playsets either - my dad was in the Army so we moved like every 2-3 years. The biggest one we ever got was when my little brother got the 92 HQ.

[LionHeart]

Anyone have spare parts laying around?