gazmosis

Hey Manny: Sorry for the delay on the application response. I am back from vacation so let's look at your armor!!!! CRL Requirements: All necessary submission photos are present. Great looking application! Thank you. This is a great build and the TM armor is a custom fit for you. Well done! Before I can pass you however, I need photo clarification of one aspect of your armor. Because of the awesome attention to detail of the rest of your armor, I am sure this is just because of resolution or poor lighting but I need to be absolutely clear because stranger things have happened. As much as I squinted, looked at repeatedly and blew your photos up, the tube stripes on your helmet look black. We all know they are supposed to be a medium blue. Clarify this for me and there is no problem with a pass!!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: Hyperfirm can get a little enthusiastic in regards to their weathering techniques. You can tone down the weathering as suggested by the other troopers but it won't affect your applications. The only suggestion I had that is a cosmetic change and won't affect application results is changing the flat black on your helmet vocoder to a matte finish. Centurion Suggestion: Make sure you submit all required Centurion photo points. Again, I am sure your tube stripes are correct but we need to be clear about this. I want to approve you so get me that pic as soon as you can!

Leonard: As your other trooper brothers have stated, very nice work. I appreciate you following up on this. Your work paid off and I am sure you agree that your changes, though subtle, make a huge difference. With that, I would like to congratulate you on your Centurion award!!!! Well done!!!

amazing work! Your research REALLY paid off!

top notch on that paint work so far!

This is a treat Diana!!! Such great progress and a great mod job. Sorry we didn;t catch that shoulder bridge issue before you glued it in place. A couple things I noticed while we are on the subject of paint. Your ab buttons seem really small. You might want to touch those up. Second, the pinstripe around the helmet details can be daunting without the proper brush that I don't see pictured in your brush cup. It has always been a benefit to me to use a long bristled (3/4 inch long) thin brush. It will hold the width of the pinstripe better than trying to do it with a tiny short bristled brush. It will hold more paint and allow you to make your overall strokes longer and more even. Practice first on some scrap plastic. Draw a pencil line and follow it. Do this until you are comfortable with your technique. But I believe the brush is crucial.

Hey Matt: Thank you for your EIB application! This kind of thing makes me drool. A trooper that matches perfectly with what was in the film paired with a screen used based suit speaks for itself!!! Let's look at your armor!!! CRL Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted. Your armor contains all the required elements to pass EIB with flying colors! Congratulations and welcome to EIB!!!!!! Kudos on your armor AND your application.Well done! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: RS always constructs their armor with extra material on the sides. Although this favors troopers that need a little more room, it causes excessive overlap on troopers that do not as well as incorrectly positions the rivets on the left side and the male snap on the right. I would look into Germain's suggestion to trim off your overlap to make your seams line up perfectly. You have the room to do that! Centurion Suggestions: I don;t see to many things I can comment on. Make sure you have all your pics taken that are required and look into that ab mod to reduce your overlap. I know you are going to do some paint touch ups as well. Great job and congratulations again!!!!

Thanks guys! Germain: I will mask off the surrounding areas because the t-tracks will be painted a different color than the surrounding gun. The entire gun will have a different color. I am not going to leave it black. The folding stock that I have is way too much off color from the black to leave the main receiver color black. I plan on matching the receiver color to the folding stock to it doesn't look so pieced together. It will be a subtle difference but different nonetheless. Dark gunmetal gray will be the overall final color.

Ok, now that I have some paint on some part of this blaster I feel a little better. But now is what we (including me) has all been waiting for........the crinkle paint on the main receiver!!! First, I am trusting Vern on this bit of info, but apparently there were some parts of the original weapon that DIDN'T get the crinkle finish. This includes the front most muzzle, the mag housing, and on the doopys kit, of course the front grips. I also masked off the ejection port and stock hinge nubs. those front grip were a pain in the booty to mask!!!ALAS....the moment of truth. I shook the hell out of this can for over 5 minutes. I set my phone for a 5 minute timer. This is the manufacturer's recommendation of time between coats. It did work in the test run. ......... OK paint applied...(head spinning from fumes.......)Directions on can: "do not spray indoors, use with adequate ventilation"...oh boy. Again....the crinkle finish is a time thing. It will NOT occur like a paint mishap where it lifts the undercoats almost immediately. This should be about 2 hours before this happens. SKIP TO NEXT MORNING: IT WORKED!!!!!!! I will remove the tape and it will have a long time to cure as I will be away for a week.

The thinning of the shrouds is a cool mod but not practical at this point of my build. Like you said: too much chance of something going bad here. Put that in the "for the next build" file

Hey Greg. I don't leave until tomorrow so I can fit your EIB application in. So let's take a look at your armor!!! CRL Requirements: All required photos have been posted. Your armor meets all requirements to pass. Welcome to EIB and congratulations!!!!! Other- Armor Fit /Assembly: I noticed that you repainted the ab buttons-good call. RS always paints them too small. They do look a little shaky around the edges. This is an easy fix by dipping a brush in thinner. Dab the excess off so the brush is just damp and massage the edges you don;t want until the paint dissolves. You will see the difference with cleaner lines around the buttons! I hate to say this, but your arms are on backwards. On the forearms, there is a raised ridge that the cover strip sits on top of and on the other side there is not one. The raised ridge should be on top of your arm. This will also change the "thumbprint" in your bicep to the proper left arm. This won't affect your application but it is nice to wear your armor properly Centurion Suggestions: I have no real construction changes to suggest. When you submit your pics, make sure you take one with the drop boxes of your belt aligning with the end of the belt. They seem a little far in. You may want to dab the Thermal Detonator screws with a black marker. Not a requirement but it is more accurate. Make sure you have all required photos taken and you should be set. Congrats on your pass again!!!!

Updates!!!! UPDATES!!!!! (drools)

Hey Jason! Sorry about the wound! Hope it healed up OK. Anyway, thank you for correcting the upside down control panel on your Thermal Detonator. It looks a lot better that way !!! With your correction I would like pass you to EIB status! Congratulations!!!!!! Now, to your list of upgrades for Centurion, there will need to be some upgrades on your Detonator. First are the metal clips. The belt hook portion looks way too long. Here is a set of clips to give you an idea of how tall the rear portion should be.and again, refer to the pic of the screen used detonator above. You may also notice the width and thickness differences. The more accurate ones should be made from 1/16th aluminum roughly 1 inch to 1 1/8 inch wide. This is available for a good price at Lowes is you have one nearby.Your screws look to be phillips head drywall screws. Many people use slotted panhead screws that are 1/4 inch or 6 MM across the head which come really close to the originals. A little touch with a black marker and you can't tell. Let me know if you have any questions. Sorry for the delay on the response.

Damn.....never thought about thinning out the shrouds!!!! Nice work!

You got some mad talent with that iron, Aaron!!! You are off to a wonderful start.

It's about time to get some ACTUAL paint on this blaster. First I wanted to get the gloss black onto the pistol grip. I wanted to mask the rest of the trigger group off as much as possible.I used an automotive gloss black for the greatest endurance. I will let this cure for a day before I try to paint anything else on it. I want this to be like iron. Next up was something that needs a great deal of attention. The scope. As you saw, I started with an acrylic cast scope. This helped out in that fact that once painted, it will have the appearance of lenses without actually being lenses. Anyway, after masking off the lenses, I hit the scope with several coats of matte black. After this dried, I wanted to tackle the color filling of the letters. I used the white crayon approach. However, I did not rub the crayon into the letters. I heated the crayon in a brass cup and dripped the hot wax onto the letters. I then carefully knifed away at the wax until the letters were all that was left. I then rubbed it down with a t-shirt to remove any residual crayon. I am happy with the result.Next was the weathering. I have an M 47 that I am using for my guide on howe the black has weathered off. I will use a thin bristled brush for the tiny details and a broader bristled brush for the dry brushing.I will use brass enamel for the color. This took a while but I am really happy with the way it turned out.Hopefully i will make some further progress soon.

probable

The ocean of plastic in which to swim!

Wow...thank you , Jason! Oh and by the way Tim, the set screw measured 6 MM across the top and was a total of 10MM long

Where the overlap is, trace the vertical outline of the kidney onto the ab and cut the ab. You have no idea how sweet it will be to have that seam be perfect on both sides when the ab and kidney butt directly against each other. I am drooling to see this! As for the belt, take that measurement after you have done your trimming and you have a final fit.

Did your 7/8" spring fit in the barrel on it's own, or did you have to stretch it to get it to fit? Also, what size is that allen screw in the magzine? I almost bought one yesterday, but I didn't know the size of it. The spring fit without any modification to the diameter, Tim. I did, however, stretch it to come closer to the Sterling spring look. Yeah, Tino, that set screw needed to be replaced!

FINAL MOD, DARNIT!!!!!! After close look at the allen set screw on the back of the mag housing, it is a pretty terrible mold. It was necessary to get a new set screw.I drilled out the old one and it was a good decision. It looks nice.WELL SLAP ME A CALL ME PEGGY! It is time for some paint!!!!!!! I wanted to make on thing for certain first. Do the power cylinders clear the edge of the holster?? Now that the cylinders are marked, I can start the masking process. I will paint most parts seperate and do a final assembly at the end. this took some planning seeing as some parts get the crinkle paint I am going to use and some parts don't. It will be easier to paint the gloss black pistol grip with it off the gun than on. I need to hang things and stage it as not to touch anything. It's primer time!!!!!

I have a verification of truth to this but it was not on ABS it was on HIPS. Perhaps ABS can just withstand more or the plastic has different characteristics that makes it resistant.

The larger screws are for mounting the face to the cap in case you don't have a rivet gun. Btw....I would probably hit the edges of your teeth a bit more to square them off. They look a little Twinkie like when should be square.

Wow Len! Tell me that doesn't look WORLDS better!!!!!!! Don't pull all your hair out. It is an easy fix regarding your shoulder/bicep issue. Grab a helper with a pencil. Put your shoulder and bicep on. Lower the bicep until it is both comfortable and has the proper coverage then mark the bottom of the shoulder onto the bicep with the pencil. Glue a strap into the inside of the molded outer ridge of the shoulder bell. Once that's dry, place the bicep into the shoulder bell and align it with your mark. Glue the strap either to the inside or the outside of the molded outer ridge of the bicep. Cut the strap to length prior to gluing!!! Almost there, Sir!!!!!

That's what this is all about!