Jonny Quest. The original 1964 version was greatest animated television show ever. I'll argue that one all day long!
This is another project I've been thinking about and buying figures for the last several years. Nothing says adventure more than the Quest gang! These guys were traveling all over the world, fighting evil scientists, legendary monsters, rogue generals, pirates, Nazi's, madmen, experiments gone bad, dinosaurs, native warriors, master criminals. Searching for lost treasure, missing scientists, chasing a robots spy, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention all the neat gadgets they used throughout the 26 episode series. It's like James Bond (with a heavy emphasis on Q Branch) and Indiana Jones all wrapped up into one brilliant package. This cartoon had it all, and it stills holds up today!
Well, today I finished Roger "Race" Bannon - special agent, bodyguard, and pilot. Race works for Intelligence One and is charged with protecting both Dr. Benton Quest and son Jonny, as well as adopted their son Hadji. Race was definitely the muscle of the group, and easily the figure I wanted to do first.
I really struggled, and honestly searched for a very long time, trying to find a proxy to represent Race. I even questioned on many occasions why no one has ever done the Quest gang. As I mentioned earlier, I think the Jonny Quest cartoon was hands down the best cartoon ever done. How is it possible no one has never done these guys before?!
Race really didn't wear a lot of different outfits throughout the series; a winter one, a karate one, and swim trunks, off the top of my head. So it was pretty easy to decide that the classic red shirt, gray pants outfit was going to be what I wanted, though I do think a winter version of Race would be pretty neat. I also really wanted a figure holding an automatic rifle, something similar to the very first picture above, but just had no luck at all. It was when I found Hasslefree's post-apocalypse Barney figure that I finally felt I had something that represented what Race was all about - action first!
This figure is supposed to be an alt universe version to their regular Barney figure, who is based off of Fred Jones of Scooby Doo fame. This figure did need modification for what I wanted though. He originally had a katana strapped to his back, as well as a pouch/bag on his left hip. I used an Xacto knife to cut both pieces off, and then sanded everything down.
I'm not very experienced with green stuff, so unfortunately his back isn't as smooth as I'd like, but I'm sure not very noticeable except to me :) Gray primer was applied to get him ready for paint.
As usual, I started with painting the skin first, then went to Race's distinct white hair.
I had quite a difficult time finding the right shade of red, which was extremely frustrating! I tried four different colors of red, until finally deciding on one, and I'm not even 100% happy with that. It's hard to find that balance between being bright enough, but not glossy. Below is one of the first reds I tried and ended up painting over because it was too dull.
As with all my Chicago Way figures, going forward I have decided on clear bases for all my pulp figures. The Hasslefree figures are super easy to cut at their feet to get them onto the bases. Pins were drilled into his feet that then went into the base, that way no glue is required. No need to worry about the 'frosting' that happens when super glue touches the clear base.
Super pleased with how Race turned out and looking forward to completing more Quest figures, including the plethora of bad guys. The main focus will be continuing on the Ghostbusters project, but I feel that having Jonny Quest as a side project will really help if I get stuck, need a break or creatively get off the track with the boys in gray :)
As always, thanks for looking!
Ivor
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