gazmosis

That is one heck of an inovative idea however, it will still be subject to moisture. To keep everything where it should be, I sewed a small piece of elastic just a tiny bit smaller than my finger is around. My undersuit holds the cord in place up to my wrist and the elastic holds the cord against my index finger so it won't wander. Putting on the gloves is always a challenge but the elastic seems to do it's job. I just make sure to put my right glove on first so that I can adjust the PTT to the right place if it did wander while gloving up. Thanks for posting that link, Eric. It amazes me the brilliance that surrounds us here at FISD. I NEVER get tired of looking at that!!!! That brilliance is exactly why I come here with my issues.

Where my original issue occurred was with the two tiny pieces of metal that show on the back. Once moisture got to the PTT, it seemed to bridge the gap between these two points and thus began the short out. First signs were incredible crackling followed by the PTT not shutting off. Once that happened there was no fixing it. Thanks for your contribution, Eric! I do a lot of woodworking and have a bunch of rubber gloves for applying stains. I am going to try that. These gloves are pretty sturdy and cheap. If I keep the wet IN these it will keep the wet off the PTT.

Oh, Hey Jim!!! I hope you are not offended that I didn't contact you first. Actually, I did last month. I tried teh balloon suggestion but my kid's water balloons must be thin and cheap cause I sweat right through them. I will never stop my hands from sweating, but if I can keep the sweat out of the main glove by wearing a second glove, I should be good!!!! Silk gloves eh, Vern! Sounds sexy.

I think that the consensus states that wearing a different glove underneath rather than altering the PTT is the way to go. Maybe even getting some spray deoderant to shoot onto my hands before suiting up?

You got that right!!!! Our last troop ended with us out in the blazing sun taking garrison photos for about 45 minutes. My hands felt like they were in a bread proofer. If I covered the inside of the gloves in powder, they would come out a pasty mess. My daughter has a bag of mini water balloons and I thought,"PERFECT!" But somehow, it still got wet even though I sealed the end. I don't think that wrapping the end in any kind of tape would work because this would depress the PTT button. It's going to have to be a loose, waterPROOF cover of some kind that won't depress the button. I wonder if I put my hand in a rubber glove before putting my hand in THE rubber glove? Where does one get those silk gloves, Vern?

I bought tk-6294's Aker amp system with the PTT cable. I run the cable down my arm under the ....under......suit and keep it in place with a small piece of elastic around my index finger. Whenever I want to talk, I just press my finger against the blaster and no one knows how it happened. It is a BRILLIANT system because it makes a great "click" both before and after you speak. Now the issue. I have accurate gloves with Karin's handplates. I paid a lot for these and refuse to not wear them. I sweat a lot. I have already shorted out one PTT cable. Mounting it outside my glove is not an option. I have tried wrapping it in a small balloon and it still got wet. I tried covering it in both Plasti-dip and silicone but both peeled off with extended use. Any suggestions before I just need to buy about 30 cables?

WE WANT BUILD PICS!!!!!

No caulk for you!!!!

Think of the corny music and Kenny Rogers......Lady,......you're my knight in shining armor and we love you!!!! Ha Ha Look how funny I think I am.

Looks like a pass to me!!!! Good luck! Great job!!!! People are gonna be blown away 'cause under that armor................it's a lady!

It is all a case of individual fit. Have pics nearby as a guide. Make sure to have on your undersuit when trimming to fit. Some undersuits are compression so if you fit to your arm without it, it may be loose with it. A rule in general is a snug fit without being uncomfortable. You don;t want things too tight then you can't move and risk things breaking or snaps popping, you don't want things too loose or you'll look wonky. Use picture comparisons.

Nice weapon!!!!! I don't mean to sound too critical or nit picky, but I thought the scope rail was supposed to insert into the last barrel hole on top not get screwed into the top of the pipe?

If looking at the lid from the side, you should see the tops a little. You shouldnt see any part of your "squish". Most if not all helmets are thin in this area so don't sweat it but just don't torque it down too much.

If you want something flexible, I have been using plasti-dip impregnated with cheesecloth.

I used a very new razor blade and very carefully worked the corner up until there was enough to stick to the blade. Once it begins to lift press your finger onto the decal that's stuck to the blade and gently lift. If done right, only a tiny, tiny bit of the decal will be stuck to the blade. The will let you line it up the way you want visually, then re-apply it.

I will take that as compliment times 10 coming from the man himself. Thank you!!!!!!

Thanks a ton for the offer, Mike! This just proves the professional you are. Since you are the authority.....did I fix it or is there more tweeking to do?

O.k. After getting in touch with TK- 4510 himself I will make my attemps at repositioning the tube stripes without tearing them. Wish me luck. I will post the "corrected" lid when done.

Thanks for the kudos, Nick!! I have built about 15 but hand painted about 7 or 8 depending on What I feel like doing. I have always liked the hand painted look and since I have found a way to make it come out o.k.,I just choose to do that sometimes.

O.K. , let's start over. I have never seen "R" or "L" on tube stripe decal sheets. What is it about the stripes that makes them left or right? They are just curved bars set in a row. How can this be seperated into left or right?

Still trying to figure out the tube stripe comment. I have reviewed several centurion award threads and the amount of tube stripes is different on every helmet. ??????

I never knew there was a standard for the amount of stripes that are on each side???

Since the vocoder needs to be a matte black, I mixed testors 1149 flat black with the 1147 gloss in equal parts to get this. I think it came out nice.Now that the details are done, I needed to put on the mouth screen. I trimmed it so that there would not be too much excess. I used super glue but I wiped all the surfaces with the priming pen (glue activator). This is the same stuff recommended to glue Karin's rubber handplates to the black chemical gloves. This works great for an instand grab!!!Next I installed all the detail trim. The brow, the hovis and the "s" neck trim. I ALWAYS save the tube stripes for last. I don't know why I see this as the final piece to the project but I do.Once the stripes are in, I needed to dab the screws with some white paint, give it a final wipe down and the lid is complete!!!! Marvel at its glory!!! I want to give Mike(TK-4510) a thanks for being who he is and giving me his blessing to do this build. Sadly though, as deeply in love as I am with this helmet, I need to part with it. I bought this to be my back up for my armor but it is a noticeable shade off and just doesn't match with the rest of the armor. Thanks, though for giving me the experience and hopefully helpign someone else along the way!

A little dab of hot glue and the lenses are in!Now that principle construction is done we can get to making things look really pretty. The ABS is amatte finish at best so it needs to be polished out to shine. The linelike glare at the bottom is actually a 4 bulb light in my shop that you can see in the after polishing picture. I use the compound first then the polish.The "after" pic. See the lights?I chose to hand paint all my details. I didn't want to make this a step by step painting thread which is why I didn't take pics along the way. Just one. Everything did come out nice, though.FYI, the paint I used was testors 1138 gloss gray. I added1147 gloss black in a mixing cup until the shade matched the grey on the decal sheet. Trim was just gloss black. Then I did the vocoder. I actually had to rough up the area first with fine sand paper to give the paint something to bite to. Then I marked it.

I guess I need to tweek this a little.The only tool I used to trim the ears was the rotary tool with the mini sanding drum. Oh, and a pencil. The more I trimmed the better the fit. A millimeter here and there can really make a difference!!Not bad but needs more tweeking.Several more tweeking sessions later and I think I am there.At the top of the ear, I cut a little notch to make up for the ridge that is created between the cap and faceplate. This allows the ear to fit nice against the helmet surface.I'll spare you the adventure with the other side. But all worked out well. One feature that I really liked about the ears was that the holes that marked the screw locations were reworked in the molds to create the recess for the screw head. In other builds, one needs to use a countersink or a larger drill bit to create this. This was a nice touch!!!!! I then drilled out the screw locations on the ears and helmet and mounted the ears. (sorry I didn;t take a pic of this!) I removed the ears and set them aside to be polished and detail painted. Something you can only do with and ABS kit. LOVE IT!!!!! At this point, I needed to make and install the lenses. Welders sheild of course.Although the lenses have a bit of a curve, it is not enough to match the eye opening. A little heat solves this issue.TO give something for the lenses to sit on and glued to, I cut several small squares of ABS and glue them together in a stack until it matches the reveal of the eye opening. I attach them with plasti-weld.