kaptinkaos

Morning! So, I got a second coat of black on last night right before bed. That speeds things up a LOT cause now I'm onto filling the grey in, One more coat of grey later today and I might be able to get the vent stripes in tonight before bed. I base coated the vocoder and hovi's with gloss black so those need some satin lovin', but I think it's coming along nicely! I really should get a proper lamp so the pics don't turn out so crap all the time... lol! Still prepped for the tube stripes... They'll go on later today. Gotta figure out which rank bars I wanna paint in too... Any suggestions?

Pics... Or it didn't happen... LOL!

I agree! I'm not a fan of flat black, but most of my bikes over the years I have painted satin black, lol! I might just turn my Beemer into a shiny white trooper-bike though... Paint's drying now. Got a coat of black on the hovi's, vents, cheeks, ears, and vocoder. Also slapped a coat of grey into the frown. Got my lens cut, but not fitted yet. I'll wait till I'm done the ears completely before fitting the lens in. Not much to do tonight as the blue I have is not the shade I want for tube stripes... I did get my stencils on though and it's only a matter of finding that right blue tomorrow and then blowing them on. I have to make a trip to the plastics store and also PM Hobbycraft anyway. Picking up a buddy's plastic for his R2 build! Gonna be a sweet winter time project I think. I'm pretty confident that I'm going to be ok for the timeframe to finish. I'll need all day tomorrow for 2 more coats of paint, maybe 3. It's the drying time that kills me... I've fired up my "drying room" again though and it's about 145F in there. I bet that'll speed it up. Hopefully the company that's coming this weekend won't mind the stale paint fumes where they sleep, HAHAHA! I had to laugh today... a friend came over and said, "Hey, that thing is all bumpy and ugly though... are you going to sand it down and make it normal?" ........ I coulda slapped him. Dan, if you read this... this is a CANNON lid,

Ahaha... "Fun" is not how I would describe it. Imagine yourself a complete OCD freak with a dash of ADHD, 6 cups of coffee and 2 charged Dremel batteries... The thought scares me and I was just doing it! In all honesty, it was fun. I can't believe I didn't screw it up! I was very cautious though... those ears must have been on and off at least 15 times each for small little adjustments. Grind a little here, smooth a little there, etc. They do look preeeeetty good, but I think I'll do as I said before. I'm in a crunch for time so I will leave them as is for now and I'll fiddle with them more after the AIDS walk. I've only got two days for paint now as it is and the little changes I'm going to make won't be noticed by anyone at this event outside of 501st members. Polish and paint prep time! Cut some schnazzy tube stripe stencils (Thanks again Panda!) And I'll get the hovi's in first coat of satin black. I'll probably get the first coat of black on vocoder/vents tonight too after dinner and a visit from some company. Other than that I'm pleased with progress. I've learned a LOT about building these lids in 2 days and even more about the word "patience"... LOL!

That was going to be another question of mine... They do look fat, but they are approximately the same proportion as Panda's in his ATA lid build. To me, it looks like there is a lot of extra material on the ears, but they seem to be sitting so nice as is, lol! I'm into hour 5 of just working on these ears, my brain is hurting, Here's some shots of the left ear. Let me know if it's too messed up. Looks like about the right gapping I'm going for though. Hmmm... I dunno if slimming the ears down is a good idea. I might totally screw it up and be earless! Maybe I'll mount them as is and keep them till after this Sunday's AIDS Awareness walk. That way I'll at least have a wearable lid for the troop, LOL! And again, be critical. My feelings can take it! I may tear it down and slap some black paint on it to dry over night. That way all I'll have left is grey and airbrushing the tube stripes. I need to be finished by Friday morning... I hate time crunches.

Ok... I think I have finished my right ear, but not so sure I haven't messed up on the left. I think I might just be over-critical, but maybe not. I'll drill the holes for it and mount it after I post this and take a really good look. *crosses fingers* Here's some pics of the ear madness, lol! Right: See anything glaringly wrong? Please, be critical. I can take it and anything that might help this be a better built lid I will take, Besides, I have no pride, I just want it to look awesome!

Hmmm, I'll think about it. I still have yet to even rough trim the ears so I have a long way to go yet, lol! Thanks for the idea though Banano!

Oh, quick question before I hit the sack... Satin black for the vocoder, gloss black and Humbrol #5 grey for vents/frown/ears, but is it satin or gloss black for the hovi's?

Phew... I didn't screw anything up! I think the teeth might need to be opened up a tad more... What do you think? Ready to rivet... I hope. I think it turned out well! I was going for a cannon-ish look if anything. I didn't want angry or move along so I kinda went somewhere in between everything. And another side-by-side now that it's together. Really makes that AM lid look... large, lol! I am definitely NOT doing the ears tonight. In fact, they haven't even come out of the box. I will have aaaaaaaaall day tomorrow to fiddle with them and I should really do that after a good sleep. It'll be my first set of ears on a screen derived lid so I'll need all my brain cells (5 or 6) firing at once while properly ramped up on coffee, I'm not going to polish it yet either as I'd rather do that just prior to painting (of course leaving the "to paint" areas unpolished). I need to source out some better padding for the interior of this lid too. The foam I have is MUCH too thick. I think I have some high density stuff around here somewhere. Should work ok if I use it like a baseball helmet liner (little nodules all over). Ugh... I am seriously dreading those ears... Cheers!

Omg this is nerve wracking... but exciting!

My AM lid is, for the record, very sturdy and a great pull. BUT... it is 10% larger than any of the "screen derived" lids aka ATA (like these two), TE, T/MC, etc. I'm REALLY slim so the difference shows up even more, lol! I'm super happy to have these kits now and Ataworks has been really great to do business with! I'm on the wait list for a full set of ATA that will either be a Sandy or a second refined and screen accurate suit (formal events and stuff). I may sell my AM lid to a buddy of mine that is building a set of AM armor right now as he has a much larger frame to go with his height, To contact ATA go here: http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=11538 or PM Supertrooper here on FISD. He's a great guy and communication/shipping was excellent! So, onward and forward, I'll be following Pandatrooper's "How To" for ATA lid noobs like myself (I'm a lid noob period!) very closely. http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=14806&hl=helmet&fromsearch=1 Another big thanks to Pandatrooper for all his GREAT tutorials! I'm pretty handy, but I really really really like having a thorough step-by-step just to make sure I don't frig this up... Going to trim one up and sand/wash/cut eyes and teeth and I'll post some pics shortly. Cheers!

Heyo! After a week of working in the field I come home to find THIS!!! My ATA lids finally arrived, yeehaw! Hopefully, just maybe... I can get one completed for this Sunday's "AIDS Awareness Walk" here in Calgary. I'm not gonna rush it though as worst case scenario I rock the AM lid, What a scaling difference. These ATA's will suit my *ahem* slender frame a lot better. Maybe I'll make the second a MNS, Off to bed for me for tonight though... Was up 7pm-7am for my tour and drove 600 miles today to get home. I'm beat! I will post some pics of initial progress tomorrow night. Cheers!

Aaaaand now comes the reason I was pushing hard on my build, lol... Just got the call to head out to the field. Might be home in a week, might be home in a month, Gotta pay bills though, lol! I'll stay in touch on my lappy though!

Ooooo... That's a nice feeling seeing that "Member" gone and replaced with "501rst Stormtrooper[TK]"...

Sweet! Thanks!

Thanks Darth Aloha!!!

Lol! Thanks man! Speed wasn't the goal and was only possible due to the huge help from everyone on this board, my garrison board (Badlands) and the 2 years of preparation I had before ordering this kit, Granted, yes... I am a crafty dude, but it wasn't possible without everyone's input here, the massive amount of info available and Pandatrooper's great tutorial threads!!!

Thanks man! I think I'm going to do the back of the rivets where the holster attaches to the belt with snaps also. That will help with sag tremendously. I thought of just sewing some velcro on and might still just do that... I dunno. Gotta wait till my holsters are done being sewn tomorrow morning. Good luck with the rest of you build!

It's official! TK-3484 reporting for duty!

Heya! TK-3484 requesting 501rst access please, Thanks!

Cool man! I was just mentioning it because I just finished a run of ANH holsters that are screen accurate http://www.badlands.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=4992. I also did so for MUCH less than any asking price of a finished holster. (I coulda got you one of mine, )

Isn't the holster sewn on the wrong side?

Looks awesome man! I'm just diggin' into my Hasbro I got today for $20. I am antsy waiting for my Doopy's full E-11 kit and this looks like a fun project, \

I found one, It was $20 CDN, but cheap enough for me to justify getting it and modding it up, lol!

I went with "medium" length rivets for the knee plate and ammo boxes on the thigh if you're talking about the pop rivets used in a handheld press type riveter like this http://www.canadiant...t.jsp?locale=en. Make sure you pick up some aluminum "backing washers" too so the rivet doesn't pull through the ABS. Medium length should be more than long enough to get through. I haven't riveted my holster to my belt as I'm just in the final stages of finishing a run of 6 I made myself (http://www.badlands....&p=54696#p54696. I'll probably use proper double back type rivets that you hammer on for my holster to belt too just so the match the ones I used on the holster itself. Edit* Make sure you use aluminum pop rivets... not stainless steel, The stainless ones could pull right through the washer and the ABS.