I wanted to come up with some armor for a fantasy warrior, but didn't have any good ideas how to make it. Most cool projects I've done were "inspiration" rather than "planned." I had a lot of headless 12" action figures laying around gathering dust, some of which were totally useless (like the original HOF figures). Out came the Dremel tool. I cut an armor breastplate from the torso of the HOF donor body. What an easy solution! I slopped on a little silver paint, and it was ready to roll!

At left is a pic of the armor plate showing the contour I came up with. I put a hole in each corner of the breastplate and fashioned hooks out of 12ga electrical wiring for the hooks that hold it on. In this pic you can't see the battle damage very well... this project has been around a while and has actual battle damage from many Joe battles. The paint used to look smooth and new, but over time it has become rather scarred and battle damaged.

This pic shows the criss-crossed straps that hold the breastplate on. The top of the straps are fixed to the plate, and the bottom of the straps have hooks.

Here's a look at the side of the armor. In retrospect, I should've spent more time finishing the edges... but it was a "quickie" project; I was interested in getting it into action asap rather than spending time detailing it like a model. If I ever make another, maybe I'll spend more time detailing it.

Cutting up an HOF body to use a piece of the chest as armor seems kinda gruesome, but it's quick and effective... and we were pleased with the results. The HOF figure was useless anyhow. I got the idea one evening and by the time the kids woke up the next day, there was a bad guy for Jane (wearing Xena armor) to battle with. Fun!