Unused Vehicle Concept Art- GI Joe Armored Transporter

When I started this blog, I mentioned that I would be showcasing some of the rarer items in my collection, like prototypes or pre-production artwork. Here is the first such entry, some presentation artwork for an unused vehicle concept, a GI Joe Armored Transporter. It was vehicle that would have been used to transport equipment, like tanks, etc.

Presentation Artwork was a stage in the design process of GI Joe toys where new ideas were shown at line meetings in the form of artwork or sketches. A designer would "present" the idea for discussion and approval by assorted department heads, marketing, etc. While we got many great figures and vehicles out of the vintage GI Joe line, there were many, many more things that didn't make it past the initial stages of art or prototyping, and only exist as rough representations of the designer's concept. This is the case with the Armored Transporter.

It was first designed and presented in 1985, for potential release in 1986. When it wasn't used, the designer pitched the idea again at a later meeting, but again, it didn't make the cut. As such, there are two finished renderings that exist for the concept, both of which I have here. This is the earlier piece, dated 1985, with most of the original Hasbro Confidential logo intact. Please bear with me as far as the pictures go, I am still working on my photography skills, and had a tough time with the flash on these. The art is pencil and marker on vellum, taped to presentation board, with a decal for the GI Joe logo.

The second image shows the full piece, with the title and Hasbro logo. In 1985, the GI Joe line still had a somewhat realistic military feel, and this concept was a definite extension of that. It had a very real world feel to it, a common sense, articulated military transport, with a cab and a trailer, that could defend itself via hidden cannons and rockets inside the flatbed if needed. It is shown hauling a Mauler tank, which gives us a good idea of the size that this would have been.

The smaller sketch at the bottom shows what the transport would have looked like in "deployed" mode.

This is the title and logo, I find it amusing that Hasbro kept a supply of the Viper and falcon glider stickers on hand for uses like this.

This is a close up of the Hasbro Confidential logo. The top of it was torn off, unfortunately, but you can clearly see the date and the in house identification numbers. Each piece of art was normally signed by a designer and a witness.

Here are a few more shots, like I said, I was having a tough time getting a good pic so I took several angles and close ups.

The second piece of art is basically the same, the color had changed and there were some subtle differences, but the main concept was unchanged. There is not a Hasbro logo on this one, possibly because there was already an established project number for it? I don't know.

Here is an angled shot, you can see the rocket launcher is much larger on this one.

One thing I find interesting is the reversal of the representation of modes in this second piece, showing the more action oriented "weapons deployed mode" in color with the secondary sketch illustrating the more practical "transportation mode". Perhaps marketing didn't appreciate the transport aspect over the combat mode? The increased size of the rocket launcher could have been a marketing suggestion, as well. designers were frequently told to make things "bristling with guns and missiles" for greater action and playability.

Regardless, I think we really missed out on a cool piece here. It would have fit nicely in with the 1985-86 line of vehicles, interacted with the established Mauler, as well as providing a practical military vehicle in the same vein as the Bridgelayer or APC.

I've never shown this on line, and not many people outside of a close circle of friends have seen it. This is my first real "reveal" on this site, and as such, I would greatly appreciate no one stealing the pics (yes, I am asking nicely, and I am hoping I won't be sorry later for not watermarking everything before posting). But please, feel free to link to this blog. I am really trying to get something going here, and I have a lot more stuff I can show if things go smoothly.

GI Joe scale Processed Plastic Army Troop Transport Truck

This could be cool, it could be nothing special, but I haven't seen it before, so I am writing about it. It is a 33/4" GI Joe scale Army Truck from Processed Plastic Company of Montgomery, Illinois. The company has been around forever, and still produces a ton of stuff that most of us wouldn't notice, unless we were looking to buy something for a 6 year old. They are probably best known (at least by me in my toy collecting circles) for producing the best small scale (1/35th or so?) army men and vehicles from the 1960's to the 1990's

Honestly, I never thought there was much of a collector market for those little army guys. I didn't even think there was any single well known company that made them, since most of the ones I see are just dollar store, "Made in China" junk. I only learned about them in the last couple years, from a friend who collects them. Do an eBay search for Processed Plastic Army men and you'll see a wide range of items and prices for examples in all conditions. I've sold a few that went for way more money than I expected, for sure.

Which brings us to this piece, a 1/18th scale (certainly closer than most Joe vehicles) cargo truck. I remember seeing a lot of grocery store and discount chain blow-molded junk when I was growing up that was meant for use with GI Joe or Star Wars, but I have never seen this before. I got it recently in a lot of older GI Joe vehicles and figures, from the 1980's. It has the same look and feel of the "Army Men" style plastic, but feels sturdier, with metal axles and hard plastic tires. There are decals to represent the headlights and front grill, as well as some details like the classic Army star on the hood and some generic military looking numbers and US CONVOY markings. It is well detailed, with rings in the bumper, a trailer hitch, and a nicely detailed cargo tent.

I mentioned it to a friend who collects Processed Plastic military stuff, and he had never heard of it or seen one. He doesn't even remember much PPC stuff in the Joe scale, (save for a large tank which looks to still be in production) and he has looked for several years both at shows and on line.

 Right off the bat, it is pretty obvious that it was made to hold figures, whether it came with some of it's own or it was made for use with other military lines. GI Joe figures need to sit sideways a bit because their feet are a little long to fit in front of the seat, otherwise they drop right through the hole in the roof with ease.

 Here is a shot from behind, with the cargo tent still attached.

Removing the cargo tent shows dual rows of seats that, while simple, fit a seated Joe figure perfectly, the side clips holding the figures tightly in place. It holds eight figures, and apparently had a flip down door that this one is missing. The tent attaches firmly with snapping clips.

The under carriage is more detailed than I expected, and the center is marked with the name of the company. It is nice to see "Made in the USA" stamped on it, too.

While it isn't a licensed piece and wasn't made to Hasbro's ARAH line standards, it certainly has a nice feel, heavier and sturdier than I would have expected. I have no clue exactly when it was produced, my buddy says the company either went under or stopped producing around 1982, but being that they are still around, I am not sure how accurate that is (and I am too lazy to wiki it right now). I have to say though, the feel, the style, and the look are unmistakably vintage, and fits nicely with the first couple years of the Joe line. It also represents an interesting "missing link" between the classic Army Men and the GI Joe line of the 1980's. It is a fun piece, and while the Joes had their APC, I can imagine running Cobra down in one of these, or maybe using it to transport some ammo crates or roll in a convoy (honestly, if this piece was ever available in black or blue, it would be THE BEST Cobra truck).

Final update on the HAZARD project

So, when I said "All I have left is X,Y, and Z" the other day, well, those were the most labor intensive parts. First up, I finished laying the black paint in the armor lines of the canopy. The purpose here was too show off the canopy's detail, and break up the overall orange in a critical place.

I used a small brush to lay down a thin bead of watered down black paint in each indented line, then wiped off the excess. There was some clean up necessary, because the black paint dried quickly, or stained the orange, so i had to buff it out and apply another few light coats of orange to cover it. It faded the black lines slightly, but they still stand out.

That left the treads, which had already been painted orange in the key armor areas, then masked so the tread and bogey areas were still visible, then sprayed black. They were then masked a second time to leave only the bogey areas exposed, as seen below. A metallic charcoal was applied lightly to the bogey areas, the same color used for the cannons. Both of them will be dry brushed with bright silver to bring out the details.

This left dry brushing and of both the treads and the cannons, and touching up of the orange and black wherever it bled. I'll admit, I got an orange brush on paint that was as close as possible to the krylon color of the tanks, but it doesn't match, and shows in some places on the armor plates of the treads, but I think the blemishes that it covers up looked far worse.

I had to power through the clear coating, because the weather was just not cooperating with me. To get the best results with the matte finish clear coat, there needs to be little to no humidity, and of course it rained all last night and then the temp rose to 80 over the coarse of the day, so conditions weren't optimal. I tried to offset this by using a hair dryer to dry the clear coat quickly and avoid the coat getting cloudy. So i was running outside, spraying each piece, then running inside to blow it dry. And it was past midnight. I'm not very popular among my neighbors.

That is it for the painting labor. Tomorrow I start assembling and stickering them, and there will be finished pics posted on Hisstank.com and Facebook.