Well, here we are. It's 2025. As Oscar Martinez, accountant at Dunder Mifflin, once said, "Time is an S.O.B." I never did finish this build. I could come up with a lot of excuses as to why, but a lot of stuff has gone down in my life since then. But life is good. I'm a perfectionist, which doesn't mean I do everything perfect, it sometimes means I don't do things because I can't do them perfectly, and I hate making mistakes. I still have the armor, and I'm actually making a HUGE push to finish this by August 8th. Enough is enough, and I work great under deadlines. I've really been hitting it for the past 10 days. I'm feeling equal parts encouraged and discouraged at the moment. Things I've completed include:
Forearms trimmed and glued.
Biceps trimmed and glued.
Thighs trimmed and glued.
Shins trimmed and just need the final gluing to attach them to each other. They still need the velcro on the back.
Buttons installed into nylon straps and glued in the abdomen, butt plate, and other various places.
Ordered the belt, holster, neck seal from Trooperbay. Got some paint and rivets coming in a second order
Bucket is almost done (one ear still needs to be attached, it's a real bugger; bottom seal needs to be put on, and helmet padding added)
No trim pieces installed yet, I'm saving that for the end.
If I had to sum up my progress to a casual observer, I'd say I have to add a bunch of strapping, then I could test it out for mobility and pinching. I really feel like I'm rounding that last corner and on the cusp of the final stretch run.
I'm using two build guides: Navajo Bro's guide is sort of my "main," and Sean's AM 2.0 build is my secondary guide. Both are tremendously helpful.
Lastly, I did see that this thread is in a purgatory of sorts, and hopefully I can bail it out and get it reinstated in the main build thread forum.