I won a vehicle lot with ten MOBATs. All are vintage and seem to be complete, sans the commander's turret machine gun of course (did the vintage version actually come with that gun, or is it another Pimp Daddy Destro where you've never seen it, but your cousin's girlfriend's uncle's ex-wife's step-daughter's boyfriend's younger brother had one?). I kinda wondering what to do with them. I've got the best one for keeping as my official 1982 version for that group, maybe doing a bit of a mod for the ME 1982 characters with another. I know there were two(?) Crimson Guard versions, one black with a red turret the other red with a black turret if I'm not mistaken that I may paint up, but the rest I don't don't know if I want to keep "stock" or do something with. Because of it's fairly solid, few parts design, it's not an easily modifyable vehicle. What have you guys done with MOBATs that was a bit out of the ordinary?

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Well, let's see.

You got your MOBAT.

There's the CAT from '85 which was all black w/crimson highlights.

There's the '98 version.

There's the '03 version which was red/crimson w/black highlights.

And then the '08 version from the Target Pack.

Yojoe also lists an all black Canadian (ien?) version with Cobra stickers and a European Action Force version.


By my count that is seven out of the ten, leaving just three to do.

I recommend doing one in tan to match the Mauler MBT, maybe one in Slaughter's Marauders colors, and maybe one in in Sky Patrol colors.

Or do one in a crazy camo like one of the US Navy's WWI destroyers.

Maybe just kit one out with all the extra stuff tank crews attach on the outside (tarps, personal gear, netting, etc).

How about working up a pallet for transporting in a C-130?

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The Mauler tan version crossed my mind, even might try to "Maulerize" it more than just it's colour.

Sky Patrol would be cool if I could find Chrome-in-a-Can

Slaughter's Marauder's might be doable

The Crimson Guard versions are a definite

As for making one "Real" ("real"izing?) that also come to mind with a good camo paint job, extra bogies, storage rack on the turret and all that...might even see if there's a way to give it a driver's hatch in the hull so it's not just a one man MBT.

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I've wanted to do that somehow: pull the electronics, cut the driver's viewport and fit a seat. But the hatches they molded on are so small, there's no way to use them. You'd have to fit a new hatch, which on that vehicle would probably look out-of-scale (it's a really small tank for being loosely based on the Patton).

And that Mauler/desert version would be killer!

I've wanted to make "Tank Tread Roller Blades" out of a pile that I've got...I'm curious if they'd be able to crawl along with me standing on them.

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Also, what does it take get one of these apart? If I remember correctly, the MOBAT came fully assembled out of the box, maybe the machine gun and battery cover had to be put in place.

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I've always wanted to gut a MOBAT and turn the shell into panels that can be glued onto a larger tank. Then I would hollow out the larger tank and try to create a crew section that looked like the crew section from GI Joe #5.

I just don't have the vehicle customizing skills to do it.

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They're easy to disassemble. I got one a while back in hopes of scratch-building a Sno-Cat-type vehicle on top of it, and getting it open is just a matter of unscrewing the top from the base. Once you're inside, I seem to remember the turret being held on by a ring that's screwed into it, so that's easy to remove as well.

You can always send me one.

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I've made my own replacement guns using a large Bic pen (large round ones w/removable cap), Tropicana OJ juice box straw, and large coffee stirrer/straw. Wrapping the ends with blue masking tape to take up the slack and add some "detail".

Paint doesn't match in this pic, but its just a test shot.



Also, since I can't afford real ones, I made my own C.A.T. and Canadian Cobra tank. No pics of the Cobra Tank, though still needs some stickers.

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With all the Joe/Transformer crossover customs lately you could try a Warpath or even Blitzwing, although a Mauler would be better for Blitzwing.

Nice idea on the machine gun. I like the way you CAT turned out too. Looks factory.

A TF crossover would be cool, I'll have to take a look at what my choices are. Blitzwing was always on of my favorites as a kid, I may try that.

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