Monkeywrench
Monkeywrench
Monkeywrench
Monkeywrench

Bill Winkle was destined to work in demolitions: The Welshman was born on Guy Fawkes day, commemorating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the houses of Parliament. However, it takes a keen mind to work with explosives, and Winkle is no exception. Monkeywrench is a Shakespeare and Milton scholar, able to go toe-to-toe on the finer points of the two authors' works. That is, if anyone's brave enough to go up against him.

Winkle worked EOD within the SAS for a while, but got out in order to have a freer lifestyle. He fixed up a bike and drove it across Europe, then took it to the US for more touring. Along the way, Winkle found himself using his military skills to help out others along the way -- like he was in a late 70's TV road show (like the Hulk or BJ and the Bear). Soon, at biker meets, he was known as the man who was "throwing a monkeywrench" into schemers' plots, and this caught the attention of the Dreadnoks, who recruited Monkeywrench into their ranks.

"A motorcycle by any other name still rules the road. Now get out of here before I put a size 12 in your face."


Fast Draw proved to be a "technically-simple" custom, once his Wild West gunfighter angle was worked out. So, I wanted to be sure to make Monkeywrench technically-complex as befitting a group project. Of course, for the first month I couldn't figure out what to do with him, and was thinking about releasing the character. Then, I was watching "American Chopper" one night when it hit me: I could use Paul Sr. as inspiration. In half an hour I had the basic parts gathered together, and shaped hair onto the Gung Ho head.

I felt swivel wrists were necessary, not just for the complexity of the figure, but for believability when throwing grenades.The arm wraps lend themselves to the wrists, because all their 'lines' allow the cut line to mingle and disappear among them. The explosive device that is on his leg came from a Chap Mei.. Ninja, I want to say. It was a weird figure, who had that as a glove -- supposedly as some kind of ray or sonic device. I think it works better as a bomb he could attach to a bunker or armor.

I know people swear by the results of dying, but I can't stand the process. Maybe I'm too impatient for the harder plastics to soak up the dyes. Maybe I'm more affected by the fumes than others. Anyhow, I gave it a try for Monkeywrench's pants just for the 'stretch your skills' goal.

The bike took several weeks of canvasing the stores to find /anything/ by OCC. I just happened to luck out that Paul Sr's bike was in stock when I finally found the series! I have to say that I'm especially happy for it, as the seatback has a trident. I attempted grafting MW's old trident harpoon onto a shotgun, but it looked dorky. Plus, here's another use for those swivel wrists!

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