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A tedious job, but you will win in the end, don't loose hope

I haven’t exactly made the progress I was hoping for, but we’re moving forward regardless. After the test fit, I’ve realized I really need to start focusing on proper strapping—specifically suspenders for the abdomen, along with straps for the chest and back armor and a system for rigging the arms. The thighs and calves are still areas of concern, but I have a few ideas for those that I want to tackle later once I’ve sorted out the belt, which is still a bit TBD at the moment. It wouldn’t be a proper update if I didn’t talk about the helmet. This shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point, but… the paint reacted. Again. After a lot of research, trial and error, and some troubleshooting, I’ve come to the conclusion that something in an earlier base coat is reacting with the newer layers. The reactions are appearing in the exact same spots, even after thoroughly cleaning the surface between coats with mineral spirits and isopropyl alcohol. This happened after applying what should have been a light coat, which immediately began to run. At this point it almost seems like the paint has simply decided it doesn’t want to adhere whatsoever. I know Glen mentioned earlier it could be from a previous coat going on to thick, which is still a pretty likely reason for all of this. If that is the case, there's probably some uncured paint from those thicker coats somewhere in the middle of all of this mess. Which leads me to the most current plan... which is to sand it back down to primer—and probably plastic in a few spots—and start fresh. I’ve also decided that while we're at it to take things a step further and switch paints for the white. I know I’ve mentioned my frustrations with Rustoleum as a "brand", but realistically a spray gun and booth just aren’t in the budget right now. Automotive spray options like Duplicolor are significantly more expensive, especially online. That said, I’ve gone ahead and ordered a six-pack of a different paint that uses an acrylic base rather than enamel, which I’m hopeful will eliminate the compatibility issues I’ve been fighting: One of my other working theories is that the enamel top coats didn’t play nicely with the automotive-style primer underneath. I can’t say that’s definitively the cause, but between that and the still-off-gassing heavy coats, it's enough to warrant the decision to try a different system (or in this case, paint blend). The new paint arrives Wednesday, so in the meantime I’m pushing to finish priming the rest of the armor. Which, of course, means returning to everyone’s favorite part of this process: spot putty and sanding. I started by revisiting some of the more prominent pieces, like the chest and back plates: These weren’t necessarily bad to begin with, but if I’m putting in the effort to make sure the helmet comes out right, I might as well hold the rest of the suit to that same standard. It’s definitely crossed my mind that fiberglass armor might have been less intensive at this stage, but after reading a number of those build threads, I think I’ve landed at roughly the same point they reach when dealing with pinholes and cracks. The main difference is that I’m battling layer lines while they’re not. After a while it started to feel a bit repetitive working the same pieces over and over, so I decided to mix things up and bring in the finished leg parts I had just plastic-welded earlier in the week. Which reminds me—that was also when my Milwaukee M12 soldering iron decided it was time to retire permanently. So that was another unexpected delay. The primer went on beautifully (as it usually does)… right up until I dropped one of the pieces in the yard. Can you tell which one it was? So for now I’m back in the familiar holding pattern of: putty → sand → primer → sand → putty → primer I’m letting the next round of spot putty cure before hopefully getting a coat of primer on later this evening. I also suspect I’m about to run out of primer again, which seems pretty on-brand for my planning skills. Hopefully I’m a better trooper than I am a supply officer. But, there’s still plenty left to tackle. I’ll probably move on to the forearms and biceps next for finishing work, but with any luck I might be able to knock out all of the helmet greebles before the weekend ends—you may be able to spot the forehead trim and one of the ear pieces on my Bondo station. That would at least count as a small win for the Empire. Anyways, back to sanding/puttying and re-watching the first season of Andor.

TKID: 42659 501st Profile: https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=30939 Requesting 501st Access and Detachment Access/Membership for [Captain Phasma - The Force Awakens]

I'll get around to it... sometime