No big whoop here; I just figgered I'd do first what everyone else wants to do: turn their Rhino into a full-fledged APC. The 'copter got set aside until I can do something good with it (thinking about something akin to the Space: Above and Beyond HeadHunter fighter).
I glued the front section of the lifting plate in place (that's where the engine sits, between driver and front gunner). The rear lifting plate I cut in half and glued the rear half in place.
The front half of the rear lifting plate (where the copter actually connects and sits), I made removeable with the insertion of some PlayMobil SystemX connectors. I added in various doo-dads and slivers of 1mm plexi for detail.
I re-did the front cabins so they opened along the seams I thought more proper (although this gives a tighter fit to the hole). I re-did the side doors so they opened like proper doors. I added in a total of 7 extra seats, for a total crew + passenger capacity of 13 (considering the right rear seat is reserved for the rear gunner and not occupied while he's gunning away). Three of the seats face rearward, up against the back side of the engine compartment . The other four seats sit in two back-to-back pairs, facing outward to the side doors.
Due to the constant yammering about "budget this" and "budget that", the BattleForce 2100 team is often forced to cut corners in the equipment they use, despite being the premier test-bed team for new technolgies.
The Rhino dual-purpose vehicle had a prototype laying in storage. The helicopter had failed in the final days of testing due to sabotage that's still under investigation; but the main vehicle was still in working condition. Since enough had been learned to put the Rhino in full production, the prototype was squirreled away and forgotten.
SciFi needed a tough-as-nails vehicle to carry his troops to the front line, and handle the punishment it would encounter there; so he dug the Rhino base chassis out of storage and had his team gut the interior of its helo-hydraulics and install seating for an additional 7 troopers.
