Another Mattel Eagle Retrofit

[collectinmikey]

Hey Paul, That sounds cool, I hope that was really you on e-bay I was talking too and not someone that has no idea what I was talking about, speaking of that, There is a "buy it now" rescue eagle on there now that I made a few years back, The buggy there is the one I have been talking about. If your in the Seattle area , that would be cool, you can pick up the buggy and I could show off some stuff I have been working on. I could also just send it to ya on a trust deal for a future trade or whatever, I'm easy goin. Wow , you are lucky to be in an industry like that , dealing with toy things,and have some good contacts. I have been thinking of ideas to add lights and sounds to a ultra probe and raising,launch pad with some real steam jets for effects I have dream-t up. I would appreciate your advice.

[help]

great job great piece! how did you pull apart the ship pod? I see its clean was it cut or did you use a bracking agent to loosen the glue? again nice!!!!

[Designasaurus]

I was lucky with this particular Eagle. The command module was either poorly assembled in production or the glue itself had become brittle over time. When I got the toy the seams were already starting to fail. With a a bit of squeezing, a razor blade, and little patience I was able to pull the two halves apart.

I have another Eagle in the workshop which looks like I should also be able to seperate the command module however most of the other Eagles need to be carefully cut open. Luckily the there are three posts inside which can be used to register the parts during reassembly.

By the way, thanks for the nice comments!

[david_b]

Originally Posted by Designasaurus

Mick,

RE: Moonbuggies, yup I discovered the Tonka ATV a while back. I have several untouched examples sitting in my workshop. I have a modified one sitting her on my desk all gleaming yellow and waiting for labels and detail painting. (I also have a small BudyL (sp?) folded-metal buggy that's a little larger than a matchbox car. The shape's not quite right but painted-up it looks plausible as an alternate model of the Amphicat.)

Ignorant question, but is the Tonka ATV the right size for the Mattel Eagle..? I'm looking to find one on eBay..

David B.

[help]

thanks good luck with the other nice case of old gun rack cant wait to see these on ebay!!!

[Designasaurus]

David b: Nope, the Tonka atv is just a bit smaller than the entire passanger pod on the Mattel eagle. It's 6" long and 4" wide which is aprox. 1:18 scale. This makes it look almost twice the size of the 1:12 buggy which is accurate for a 44" Eagle.

Since the Mattel Eagle has strange proportions and should really be about 2 or 3 inches longer, the closest moon buggy model/toy our there seems to be the one cast from the origional 1:12 studio model. It's still too big to be "accurate" but it looks right next to the toy, especially since the original Mattel action figures were also pretty big. IN fact the figures look just right sitting in the buggy.

(Makes me wonder if I should get a couple to use in the cockpit of my first 44" Eagle...Hmmm.)

Anyway, as it so happens, our very own CollectinMikey has just sent me one of the old 1:12 resin buggies in need of retoration. My plan is to fix it up, add some new/accurate details, and then recast it so I can produce some scale buggies to go with restored Mattel Eagles.

[Designasaurus]

I should mention that, while it's wildley inaccurate, the Tonka ATV is still a cool collector's item. Dressed-up as a moon buggy they display well as long as they're not sitting right next to an Eagle. Over the years CollectinMikey has made and sold a number of these on t'bay complete with a Mattel-style box.

[OldMattelEagle]

I would be very interested in a new set of doors as well as some of the other custom parts used in this conversion. I really like the bulkhead style doors etc.

[akira97]

Designasaurus

your Eagle is awesome.

I would be interested in some casting you made like the landing pads, booster, ect.. let me know

[tagg]

Hello new member here. Hate to start out with a question but here goes, I was recently lucky enough to get an Mattel Eagle off of ebay in pretty decent shape. However the plastic on one of the corner pods and at the rear corner near the engine mount is seperating with a pretty noticable gap. Should I try to seperate the halves and when i reglue them after my planned improvements they might close up? Plus is there an easier way to seperate the halves than just patience? Thanks for any help guys I'll post pics in my own topic when I make any headway

[Tristan]

Designasaurus will you be offering kits at all? Your Eagle looks incredible. Have you ever posted a tutorial on how to take the MATTEL EAGLE apart. Im afraid of breaking anything. I have new decals but I want her to look as great as possible.

[STracR]

Excellent work. The Eagle looks incredible. I had a Mattle Eagle as a kid growing up and really loved it. It's great to see someone do such a great job restoring and improving one.

[cmdrkoenig67]

That eagle looks wonderful, Paul...Great work. I love the little molded door pieces and computer banks.

Are those scratch-built exterior doors, I see (they look really good)?...Care to share how you made them?

Dana

[dusty abell]

Designasaurus, wonderful refurbish of your Mattel Eagle, your step by step presentation was a lot of fun to read and the results looked fantastic. Seeing the Mattel Eagle always brings back so many great childhood memeories. Great work.

[troy0571]

Originally Posted by Designasaurus

Hi Guys,

Here's another one of my recent Eagle projects. Please let me know what you think esecially if you have suggestions for improving the next one.

As some of you know I'm a toy designer and collector so my interests swing more towards play value and the 'cool' factor rather than historical accuracy. With that in mind I like to 'restore' my Mattel Eagles in a way that keeps the look and feel or the original toy but still offers some visual and structural improvements. Somewhere in the near future I'm going to start adding lights and sounds to my eagle projects.

Here are some images from the recent build...


This Eagle is typical of how the toys usually look when they come to me. This one is yellowed from exposure to UV light. The previous owner also had a house fire so there is a lot of soot and smoke damage that will need to be removed.



Here is the cleaned and gutted main fuselage at the beginning of restoration. You can see the holes where the old interior columns used to attach to the roof and floor of the passanger pod. I've also started adding little detail bits here and there


Here are all of the repaired, rebuilt, and/or newly cast pieces layed out and ready for detailing




These interior components are cast from an orgional weapons rack and a couple of instrument towers I mastered using styrene and various Playmobile bits. After cleaning and painting these will be pressure-fit into the passanger pod.

need your computer banks and gun rack and doors

[Ham Salad]

Originally Posted by Designasaurus

I'm also offering castings of doors, legs, thrusters, and various other bits for anyone interested in converting their own Eagles. If I have time (I'm expecting my second child in a couple months) I'm going to make new interior walls that are a little more accurate with rounded corners etc. I was also thinking about adding small backlit panels. These will also be offered as resin/polycarbonate kits. I'll post more details in the appropriate area of this forum.

Cheers!
Paul

I'd be interested in that....also some retrofit for the openwork exoskeleton, it always bugged me that this was so inaccurate.

[Designasaurus]

Hi Ham. (or should I call you Mr.Salad?)

I have resin kits available for everything you see in my retrofit posts: Interior doors, computer walls & monitors, modified weapons rack etc. I also custom build reproduction chairs. (The next time I'm in a casting mood I'm probably going to make molds of these so I can stop hand-building each one..sheesh!)

I also have resin kits for exterior side panels, maneuvering thrusters, landing gear and main engine bells.

Nothing is "accurate" per say. I remodeled the Eagle from the point of view of a Mattel Toy Designer (which I am) creating parts in the style of the show but which keep to the language of the original toy. The final result is not an exact copy of the filming miniature its just a kick-ass toy with lots of detail.

Contact me at Paul@PaulFitzZaland.com if your interested in any of my components.

Cheers!
Paul

[ALPHA ONE]

Not Sure about the figures, But as for the Eagle, Bloody Nice Job!!

[troy0571]

where did you get the pictures for the computer monitors.

[rads]

Fantastic model. I am doing one myself and will email you re resin kits.

I have a couple of questions which I would love your feedback on:

1. What do you use to split the eagle parts up ie get rid of glued bits so you can work on pod etc?

2. What did you use tout out the supports in the pod?

Thanks in anticipation.

Rads