Hasbro Star Wars Power of the Force 2 1/6 Biker Scout Trooper (Reworked)

From Wookiepedia :
Scout troopers, also known as biker scouts, were specially trained soldiers of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps. As light-armored variants of the Imperial stormtroopers, scout troopers were specifically trained for activities too complicated for regular infantry troopers. As such, they were exceptional additions to the Imperial Military as reconnaissance troops, spies and survivalists. They were especially excellent marksmen, and thus they were regarded as the finest snipers in service to the Galactic Empire. Hence, they were particularly useful as assassins.

Their wide-range of skills inevitably created feelings of pride and self-importance amongst the scout troopers. As a consequence of their bravado, they developed a fierce rivalry with their infantry counterparts, as well as everyone else in the military who was of equal or lower rank. Their most infamous activity was arguably in the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. Although they were stationed in an environment most suited to their training, the scout troopers were unable to prevent a small team of Rebel soldiers from destroying the shield generator that protected the incomplete Death Star II. An entire legion of Emperor Palpatine's best soldiers, including many scout troopers, were annihilated by a few Rebels, assisted by the Ewoks, an indigenous species of Endor.

Hasbro actually released two 1/6 scale Biker Scout (yeah, I like to call this "Biker Scout" instead of "Scout Trooper") till date. The first one being a Target's store exclusive and the figure was packaged together with his vehicle, the speeder bike. It was released under the Power of the Force 2 (POTF2) series in around yr 2000. The second was released under the Star Wars Saga series in around yr 2002. Only the figure without the speeder bike and based on a quick comparison of the Biker Scout, there seems like both had different tooling on majority of the parts. The most glaring difference is on the gloves where the POTF2 version had early Hasbro's 1/6 trademark of giant oversize claw-like hands while the later Saga version has a pair of proportional hands. Click on the above hotlink to see the difference... if the pictures are sharp enough.
I own(ed) both versions in my collections earlier but was tempted by a buddy to swap my Saga version with his Marmit Orange Sandtrooper - which I eventually did. So I am left with a mutated hands Bike Scout in a massive steroid body.

Biker Scout is one of my favorite character in Star Wars, can't bear to see it left in that sorry form.It is inevitable that something need to be done to it to make it display worthy.
First thing is to tear down the body and kick out that pair of oversize claw and also the chesty body. These are good only for the trash bins and that is where they ended up... its true. I uses a Dragon (DML) 12" body in replacement. A small hole was cut around the bottom of the helmet, hot dip it softer and push it into a chosen small DML headsculpt.
A pair of DML German WWII Fallschirmjäger's glove with bendy fingers are used in replacement.
Next, I noticed the tummy pouches were actually sew onto the belt which is wrong. They were promptly removed, reshaped, and re-attached into it's rightful place. However, the pouches seems to be oversized I noticed... perhaps another upgrade later.
The rest of the gear are original to the figure.
What happen to the Speeder Bike? you may ask. It is in storage. I'm more a figure collector than a vehicle person. I know, a Biker should have his bike but that's me ;)

I am really satisfy with the rework while still patiently waiting for Sideshow or someone else to make a high quality Biker Scout. My dream came true when Sideshow toys announces a Biker Scout (thank goodness they are not mandatory with the bike!) in mid 2014 - 14 years after I have my Hasbro one!
Collected my Pre-ordered Sideshow Biker Scout a couple of weeks back. Still in the box. Will open it soon for another blog entry. Stay tune!