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Back in the 80's I used a hair spray called Stiff Stuff to make my hair super big. It held my hair up even in the rain and humidity of Hawaii. I remember that if the bottle leaked around the neck, the product would dry like resin, making it impossible to remove the cap. It would take at least 4-5 washings to get it out of my hair. So I'm guessing that if you can still find a can of Stiff Stuff, it would work beautifully to protect that weathering!

So the first half of the forearm cover strip dried great, the excess peeled away pretty easily (beginner's luck I'm sure), so I joined the two arm pieces together on Thursday night. That went fine as well so last night I went ahead and glued in an inner strip for reinforcement, so that's clamped with magnets and curing. Next will obviously be gluing on the second cover strip. Today I cut out and trimmed the shoulder straps, removing the rear large tab and one small tab. I'll be cutting up some scrap to fill in the first handful of recesses as others have done for gluing purposes. I also trimmed and rounded off the lower corners of the thigh ammo belt. And then I attacked the first bicep, it's trimmed for 15mm cover strips just like the forearm and it's snug when I bend my arm, so all is well there. I've got to make the cover strips for it and then I'll be gluing it up too. Starting to feel like I'm making good progress this week as pieces disappear from the laid out pile on the floor that I posted last Sunday. That's it for today, I'm hoping tomorrow that I'll be able to get a decent amount of work done as I'll have the day to myself.

Do you have a Bon-Ton store near you? If so, it won't be there much longer. Some 260 stores in 24 states are closing and have been doing sales out the wazoo for the last several weeks. They've recently put their store fixtures up for grabs, including mannequins. Not sure when they started that, but the ones I saw today have been marked down several times. Here's what my local store in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., looked like this morning: Geez, would you look at that? I thought I'd wandered onto the set of the Westworld lower level. I've been thinking about making a mannequin but when I saw a pop-up ad about Bon-Ton's last days, it occurred to me that they might be selling fixtures so I went to check it out. Glad I did. I grabbed this torso mannequin: The price for this? Less than 20 bucks; to be exact it was $19.50. Seriously. It's perfect for how I intend to use it and I'll be able to put the entire upper part of my TK armor on it. If I ever want to add the legs later, that'll be easy to do with some simple PVC stands inside the armor pieces, propped up below the torso. This mannequin is on the large side, and the shoulders match mine pretty closely, which is what I wanted. And -- what are the odds!! -- it even has six-pack abs like mine. Wait, did I say six-pack abs? I meant just a six pack like mine. I have two six packs, actually, and both are in the refrigerator where they belong. Anyway, if you're looking for a mannequin and have an about-to-be-closed Bon-Ton near you, check it out. You're welcome. A.J.

Awesome! Regluing the pesky middle hook closed them up better

The ”ultra strong” was the bad one so to speak - easily washed - and you don’t want that Sounds like that’s the one to use And the field pack is approved

A small gap is acceptable for basic approval, and half an inch is O.K. for Expert Infantry. For Centurion level there is no gap allowed.

That pack looks superb! Great tip on the hair spray, too. (Note to self - ultra strong...) [emoji1303][emoji1]

Got some protection for the field pack, both from weather and to be less obvious on the way to a Troop It`s not a perfect fit but I have a few changes to make and that may fix that too Changes you say? Yes after initial hype was over and I started examination and the reference of screen packs I felt some changes were in order. First the frame, it should be closer to the seed trays, I had Shawn move the trays closer together (as per reference) thus making that gap on the top instead, guess he didn`t think to shorten the frame (and to be fair I also missed that and the other fixes on the "signing-off photos he sent before shipping) but that´s no biggie, I actually first opted to assemble it myself but later changed my mind to have more time to work on the FOTK...so all is good, now I get to say I DID work on the pack First up dismantle some parts Almost made a bohoo when marking were to cut and making it to short but disaster was averted and I made my cut at the top mark and then used the cut-of to mark other end. Put it back together and yepp that works Lab pipe was still a go even though the frame got shorter, they vary in lenght between packs and I like the longer version better and the "Look Sir, droids/move along" packs lab pipe is somewhat elusive, it`s missing in some scenes to be back in the next and the lengh of it has yet to be confirmed atleast for the "Look Sir, droids" version of it as far as I know so artistic freedom it is (the ref pic saying "look Sir droids is another type of pack Davin Felth but not the one I´m emulating, it`s just to show the lab pipe) Shorter version The mortar tube however was to long to begin with as as seen below in comparison, the top should be about level to the mushroom cap and the radar dish should have some black backing (didn`t have anything for the backing so have to revisit that) and also sit a little lower. When making this post I also noticed that the "shells" configuration is a bit off, they are afixed to a plate and that should sit lower on the tray and the individual positions of them are also off . I`ll have a think and see if I will correct that. I started by removing the control panel and luckely it was glued with E6000 (or similar glue, I can`t be sure) so I pryed it off and the leftover was easily rubbed off Then it was a matter of removing this little guy and after a few failed attempts I opted to cut it close to the end and just hack away That did the trickSo I glued that and the control panel back on with CA glue, not having learned anything about the advantage with E6000. Then drilled some holes for the "tubes" put them on and it was time for weathering I´ll might do some tweeking but overall I´m happy with it so I sent pics to GML for approval And here it is all tucked in safe and sound and.....that reminds me @CableGuy the hairspray was the culprit, I was puzzled to why the weathering on the suit came of so easily in the rain when I had a really hard time removing it from the EFX helmet and so, upon inspection of the spraycan it says "easily washed out" - GAAHHHBut...atleast the mystery is solved, the can I previously had used ran out on another project and I just figured any can would do and the one I got was labeled "ultra strong" but I guess one have to read the fine print

Sskunky, thank you. Zsherman, thank you. Ok guys, I have a question for those of you who have a Rogue One kit. Do you have issues with the lewer leg armor (shin/calf armor) rotating outwards when you walk? Even with the flex seal lining on the inside and the foam under the knee, these pieces keep rotating when I walk. They do not fit loosely, so I have no idea why they are rotating and how to stop it. Update, Well I have masked off and painted the two outer teeth on the helmet. After my last group of photos I noticed that when I removed one of the lower leg armors the Velcro pulled away from the armor and took the paint with it. For whatever reason, the paint did not stick to the primer here. So I masked off the area and repainted it. After 45 minutes, I applied a layer of clear gloss and let it dry. Tomorrow, I will reapply Velcro and it will cover most of the area. And here are the new pics of the helmet. Once FISD decides to update my account to Stormtrooper I will be able to apply for EIB and Centurion. And that is it for the update. Thanks for the interest.

Hiya, Just be careful of the corners. TKUK have been known to overcut the corners of the main belt. Here’s an example of how they should be. Note the 45 degree corners, approx 1cm. It can be made closer to the originals by reducing the overall length of the ammo belt. If you have a picture of yours we can see how it’s been supplied. :-)

This is awesome. I can’t wait to see this finished. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk