Jeep's costume choices:

[jeep]

I have a LOT of surplus to draw from, a HUGE airsoft collection to draw from and I have been a GIJOE fan since 1981, When I got CLUTCH and a VAMP for my 9th Birthday.

I think I can pull off most of the early green joes, grunt, rock and roll, breaker, short fuse , zap, hawk, steeler, flash and grand slam would be a little more work. I am just undecided.





I am leaning towards clutch right now, as he was my first gi joe figure, the temptation to re body a Jeep into a VAMP is great though. decisions................

[otter]

The nice thing about the early Joes, especially the first wave is that their uniforms are pretty simple. I'd say Scarlett or Snake Eyes have the most complex of that first line.

Looks like you'd just need a set of OD green BDU trousers and a shirt (easy to find), boots and a black shoulder holster.

A few years ago, my friend and I took a VAMP, measured it and blue printed it for a full scale mock-up. We thought we'd try to start off with a four wheel drive that has the same wheel base and stance and go from there with this sheet metal for the body. We weren't sure if it's a rear or front engine vehicle.

We got the plans drawn up and looked into cost etc, then the winter season hit in the mountains of Colorado and the work slowed down. We never got past the design/research phase.
We were going to do it as a test for our selves. We were going to start a business of turning Suburbans into kit car Hummers.

It may not be 100% accurate, but if you can do some body work, look into the Hummbug or the Bug-vee. They are both kit cars that look similar to a Hummer,. but built on a VW Bug pan. They are really cool and realativly inexpensive.

Good luck to you.

[jeep]

I have done a ALuminum CJ8 Tube grafted on a jeep CJ6 already, The tube made of 3/16 inch aluminum, since the VAMP is slab sided it looked do able, if I had a TIG welder which is what holds the project up. I have a wrecked jeep Cherokee with a brand new engine sitting under the pine out back for a drive train, wheel base I have not scaled out yet but look similar to a CJ7 or YJ wrangler, I can get a wrangler frame for next to nothing around here. It would be cool but in the end it is probably a pipe dream for now. Thanks for the information though.

If anyone is considering ROADBLOCK here is a link to a inexpensive airsoft replica. Although I have had to wait over 9 months for mine. Airsharp also makes a M1919 30 cal if some one is doing KWINN.



I thought real hard about doing Rock and Roll or Tunnel Rat.

Because I own this M60 replica. but decided against it because my beard comes in red/brown.

[otter]

That 50 cal looks awesome! As does the M-60. I'm assuming that the 50 cal doesn't weigh the 120 lbs the real varient weighs.
How much did that 50 cal set you back? I've got a friend who is restoring an old M-151 Jeep and wants to mount an M-2 in the back.

[SNAKEEYES]

I too had the VAMP as my first vehicle in the JOE line back in my youth. A full sized one would be awesome if one of you guys could pull that off. Then we could use it in the Dragon Con parade and march as a JOE group for the first time.

[jeep]

My M2 set me back $550. if I had ordered earlier it would have been $450 if I had waited a month It would have been $795. The issue is that each one of these is hand crafted in a garage (with a CNC router) At these prices a whole lot of a airsoft enthusiasts snapped them up, completely over whelming the artist. I have waited over 9 months for my order that I expected a 8 week turn around on. People are PISSED! Airsharp has decided not to take on any more orders until all the old ones are completed, (so a mob does not burn down his house) Right now I have a UPS tracking number that has gone no where in 5 days............sigh. The good news is the model kit was a mere $200 that is sans mechanism. If you can't wait, they are still selling pattern kits for a $50 or so that you over lay on stock and cut out yourself and glue together. That is pretty reasonable. The M40 E4/mk43 is made by STAR it is on a steep discount if you search around a bit, I paid $320 instead of full price of $750, ARES make the same replica with vastly improved internals for $450. If you plan on skirmishing with it, GET the ARES.
Project VAMP, also known as a pipe dream.





I put this aluminum Jeep CJ8 replacement tube on Dads' Jeep CJ6. It is made by AQUALA Industries inc. I have considered contacting them to see if they will cut panels for a vamp that would fit on a YJ jeep wrangler frame. They are capable of doing it, it is just a matter of if they are willing or not. I have not done enough serious measuring to see if it is even feasible. My reasoning behind this is the tube is some of the best money we have spend on the 8 four wheel drives we own (5 jeeps) the VAMP and the early jeeps are all flat panels the drive trains are simple and compact enough to fit and the steering issues would be easy to solve since weird swaps are common place on jeeps. The only sticking point is figuring out if the body can be made at a reasonable cost and whether or not it will fit on a jeep frame (which one)


These handmade tubs are manufactured with 5052 marine grade and 6061 aircraft aluminum with a nominal thickness of 5/32". It set us back $2800 shipped several years ago, they are better than $4000 now and still worth it, I'll never do another steel, fiberglass or even kevlar jeep body again. We had another $400 in the wiring harness and I have the drive train already. Maybe if I win the lottery?

If you have any Airsoft replica question field them to me, If I don't know I can usually find out pretty easily.

[otter]

Fortunatly I work for a steel shop, we do a lot of structural. We're allowed to use the tools on off-shop time. My friend works the plasma table, but we'd have to come up with the $ to cover the cost of the sheet steel. Putting what we need in the computer and having it cut out is a great help. Plasma tables rock. She and I made some undercarriage protection for her Wrangler this same way.

Right now we're in a state of lay-off, so the time is there, but the cash is not. Fortunatly she has some of her own scrap sheet steel and what not, so she's going to help me with my pack and computer for my Mainframe costume.

I imagine regardless of what those CJ tubs are made from the shipping is a bit spendy.

I'd think if you use the XJ, you may have to use some back spacing on the wheels to get the right wheel stance for a VAMP. Isn't the XJ a uni-body? How would you go about converting it to a new body?

If it's a two door, you could cut the top off, remove the doors, leave the B-pillar to the front of the back windows, then cut off the rear hatch frame. You'd have the basic shape going for you, then maybe add some sheet metal to the outside to give it the flat surface of the VAMP.
Use some tube steel for the roll bar. I'd make some tabs to hold a piece of plexiglass in place for a wind screen, in case you want to drive it on the roads, not just in parades.

The front clip seems a bit FUBAR on the XJ as it is, so with a bit of fancy metal work, you'll get that nice sloped hood, high fender look.

Cut out the wheel wells a bit, for bigger tires, and fender flare them, you'd have a durn good representation of a VAMP.

[jeep]

Shipping was not to much of a problem for us in the past, I work for a union trucking company that may or may not survive, heck I may be laid off in three weeks my self which would snuff out this little pipe dream but good.


I was considering using the drive train from the XJ, its the old body style and sheet metal is very hard to find for the early body, we are about decided to part out and junk, It does have a brand new motor in it. The XJ was my brother's he had just put the motor in 10 days before Christmas 2007, and lent it to a army buddy so he could go home for Christmas who promptly totaled it in a auto accident on the Turnpike. The army buddy's auto insurance did not cover the jeep and he stiffed my brother for the damages. Both of them ended up going to "the sandbox of unspecifiedistan", and although they are back now the Jeep XJ languishes under my tree.

I was figuring on either a Wrangler or CJ frame as a starting point although a CJ5 may be closer since the VAMP is a door door. I'll get a chance to do some serious measuring at the Jeep show this summer. The biggest concern I have is fire wall height and hood/ engine clearance. I have a lot of friends who are part of the professional rock crawling scene, I may be able to lay my hands on there cast offs and suspension knowledge. But a full on tube frame while nice is way out of my price range. The problem here is "Otter" Whaley may be to busy with his own projects and I have not discussed this madness with him at all so it would come out of no where. I'll probably see him at the jeep show in a few months anyway. Basically what I am considering is a mild rock buggy with a VAMP body wrapped around it. The body itself lends itself to this;



Otter's comp buggy but I would want a two seat with a small bed











THe over large wheel openings would allow a 33" or 35" tire with out lift springs and the deep front wheel opening would allow a spring shackle reversal with out body interference so I would not have to do a body lift like on my red CJ8. This is looking more and more doable. Although the hood height on the VAMP may require a 151 cid 4 cylinder motor. (yuk) So my Cherokee drive train may not work after all. Although the windshield rake between the VAMP seems identical to the CJ7 this would allow the just of the jeep windshield frame and accouterments. Seat and steering wheel, door openings are all pretty close.

* Images are from google images and posted with image shack, these are not my jeeps this time. I half can't believe I am discussing costuming a jeep!

[otter]

Using the red as a guide for the VAMP body on the YJ, your CJ8 might indeed be the better choice as the YJ's rear deck behind the B-pillar doesn't look big enough to accomodate the rear gun.

The VAMP has great angles of approach/departure, but you'll have to mod some kind of bumper/protection on the front since that steering gear box sticks out so far in the front. Same thing for the front leaf spring schakles.

You may even be able to lower the seats a bit and keep the roof line a bit lower.

The VAMP still seems like it's a rear engine design, simply because of the slope of the hood and the vents on the rear deck. That's a pain in the kiester conversion tho. Especially for this thing.

I was thinking dressed tube buggy as well. Lots of those rigs have rear engines, so you could get the more authintic looking sloped hood.

I seem to recall that the rear gun on the VAMP is a set of twin 30 cals (I could be wrong), so it appears you've got a template you can use.



This little rig is one of the vehicles that was proposed for the competition for the vehicle that would become the HMMWV (Hummvee). Sorta VAMPish looking, maybe inspiration. I know one of the vehicles in that competition was made by Lamborghini, based on the LM002 four-wheel drive. If you haven't seen one of those, it looks like a four door VAMP. Lots of bad-assativness.

[Law]

Welcome to the boards Otter. Looks like your bringing tons of fun to the party!

[jeep]

Project pipe dream is over, We ended up fixing the Cherokee last summer and I got laid off partial last October, I have not worked at all since Feb. So no VAMP for me At least not for a couple of years.

In other news, I may switch choices up to 1982 Breaker or Footloose, Right now I am leaning towards Footloose,



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I have some multicam fatigues to serve as cammies, woodland would be to dark multicam is closer to that pea, not quite tan color. I would just need to get a LAW and some tan LBE, so patches and done. Thoughts.

[Law]

Go with what you got or what you can afford. Costuming should be fun not (too) stressy no?