Spectre

Apparently you can make your own bubble lenses using green lens material (get it from any decent welding/hardware store) and a hot spoon. You heat up a spoon and slowly push out the lenses. You could try that first and see how it turns out..?

Hey all. I'm going to start making finishing strips, is it ok if they are about 14.5 mm wide? Cos the plastic strips that came with my AM kit are about 88mm wide so I can't get six 15mm strips from that, only 5 and then a 13mm strip. So I am thinking of cutting six 14.5mm wide strips...is that OK? Could I get approved with that?

Ok. What about the forearm? Should I maybe trim a bit more from the inner part? It can be trimmed at the elbow end a bit, but if I trim the wrist end anymore I will never get my hand through (I've taken the return edge off and I can still only just get my hand through). I'm making some finishing strips at the moment, is it ok if they are about 14.5 mm thick? Cos the plastic strips that came with my kit are about 88mm so I can't get six 15mm strips from that, only 5 and then a 13mm strip.

Hmm..the bicep seems a bit too tight and the forearm feels a bit too loose. >.< Not sure what to do about it.

Ok I think I have trimmed down the forearm enough..although the gap between the armour and the inside of my elbow is still a bit big, and there is a bit of a..gap? at the elbow end of the forearm. (see below) Does that matter or will the finishing strips cover that anyway? Is that too big a gap?

Hmmm..freely you say? I think I could wait for delivery, I've already spent about $500+ more than I thought I would spend.. and waited so long I might as well wait a bit more. Besides, now that I have my armour (and I have to finish my blaster still) I think I might as well keep trimming and stuff until I have the right glue and paints. Thank god! I was afraid I had maybe matched up the wrong sides together and cut wrong. But that's good that they are the same.

Also how do I tell which pieces are meant to be left and right??

Thanks Julie. Surprisingly Bunnings (our main hardware store in Aus) doesn't have E6000....I was quite disappointed. They also son't have Vario pliers. >.< I tried notching the overlap but I couldn't get it right so I just cut off the overlaps. I've got one of the biceps taped together, I just gotta get to trimming it to size better. Thanks Brian! I got a royal blue from Bunnings (they didn't have humbrol paint so I couldn't get what I needed. >.<) but it will be to dark if I have to use French blue, it was pretty similar to Midnight blue though. Ok, now to trim my biceps and forearms! I can't glue anything for now...unless I use my Araldite..would that hold up OK? Or should I wait until I source some E6000?

Mmk, I think I'll try shaping the biceps first. I've heard that using heat guns can cause really bad warping to occur. Apparently you can boil a pot of water, sit the piece in the water for a bit, and then hold it in shape while it cools without risking damage to the pieces. I might try that...might. I'm gonna go get some more done on the forearms now I think.

Ok. I cut off the overlaps completely on one bicep part. Currently it is stuck together with tape. It seems to fit rather well, but also has a bog oval hole rather than a circle. Can I trim the return edge on that too and have it circular?

Ah ok, if I trim that off it should be all good. For the biceps, do I cut off the entire overlap? Or do I only cut off half of it? Is this how much I trim off of the forearm return edge?

I've trimmed about 9mm off of each side of the inner part of the forearms. If I trim any more I won't be able to get my hand through the hole. Does that matter? Or will I be using velcro to attach the parts on one side? How it started Where I'm at I feel the hole at the bottom is too oval shaped, so should I cut the forearms so that it is round and then just use velcro to get it on and off?

Ok, is that where I cut off the overlap part on the other part of the bicep? (the outer part) and then join them with about a 15mm strip of ABS?

I have about 4 open in separate tabs at the moment, but none of them are making any sense to me. :/ I can't tape the biceps together because the return edges (is that what they're called?) Keep blocking the pieces from lining up. >.< Should I trim the return edges so they line up properly? Or should I cut a slot in one of the pieces like in this build? http://forum.501tag.com/index.php/topic/9337-anfo-tk-td-build/page__st__20 I am so confused, and I don't want to cut something and then realise I shouldn't have.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I just realised I have absolutely no idea what I am actually doing... I am starting with the biceps, but I don't know where to start with the biceps. It's sorta fail that I don't actually know how the parts go on, like, which way they are meant to face.. With the biceps, does the 'thumbprint' part face outwards from my arm? Like this?

YAY! I picked up my armour today! I am soooo excited yet also a little worried about starting. As you know I got the AM kit, and it came with both the ANH and the clamshell handplates. It also came with both the normal knee plate and two diamond knee plates (not entirely sure why.. ) It looks so shiny and sharp. I'm gonna get started on the forearms and biceps, as they seem to be the best/most common starting point. Also, just cos I know you guys love brown boxes...have some pics! Resized to 86% (was 960 x 720) - Click image to enlarge Resized to 86% (was 960 x 720) - Click image to enlarge Wish me luck!! Oh and I also got a pair of the newly designed TK boots. they are super comfortable, but I got them a tiny bit too big, there's about 3cm - 4cm between my big toe and the toe of the boot. Ah well, s'all good!

All done! Fits nicely too.

Ok I've just used dodgily cut (by me) foam rectangles for now, and they seem to have worked pretty good. I switched them around and took photos of both ways, one seemed to kep the helmet up too high, and the other lowered the helmet a bit. I am planning on cutting the foam into a star shape hopefully to let the helmet sit a little lower. This setup made it sit way too high I think. That bit of foam there on the lens works wonders for stability and keeping my nose from being cut by the lens material. I feel that this setup has lowered it a lot, and I think it is almost ready to be glued in. Switched the thicker foam to the back, and the thin foam to the top, this lowered it a lot and made for a bit more comfort.

Thanks for the help guys. Yeah the liner is pretty hard to attach and would be very impractical. I bought a bunch of foam today, and am gonna start sculpting it soon.

Thanks Eric. I'd rather avoid that much hassle though. I'll try some other things and see how I go though, I may have to resort to this.

Hey everyone. I am up to the point where I need to add a hard hat strap webbing thing into my helmet, and I was hoping I could get some pointers? I could just super glue it in, but if I put it in the wrong spot the first time...then I am boned. The problem is I cannot fot my hand in there to mark where I need to attach it. :/ Any tips/advice/pointers would be appreciated. Spectre. P.S. this is what I am going to use. I could just superglue these tabs in, but I don't know where.

Voila!! Externally the helmet is finished! I just need to find a way to add the hard hat innards into the helmet, then I need to put a tiny bit of padding on the lens material near my nose, then she's all finished. Resized to 86% (was 960 x 720) - Click image to enlarge The mesh and lens material were relatively easy to attach. I just roughly cut the mesh to size, then superglued it to the helmet. The lens material I drilled a couple of holes in and am using the screws from the ears to hold it in place. I sanded it a bit for my nose, and where the pop rivets were puyshing it out. Resized to 86% (was 960 x 720) - Click image to enlarge

Ok, I think I have finished painting! Well, mostly, I may still have to do some very small detailing on some parts.. ---Before you look at the pictures do note that the photos make the gray on the ears and teeth look a lot darker than it is--- After I finished painting I got some paper towel and put some turps on it and rubbed all of the stains off of the helmet that I had made. Then I very carefully used the corner of the paper towel, after dabbing it in turps, to clean up the edges on the ears, vocoder and teeth. As I said, the gray looks incredibly dark in the photos, but it is actually lighter than that.

Ok I did some painting tonight. I could not get a hold of the specific blue or grey paints, but i think I got the colours pretty damn close. I did the teeth, vocoder, and ears. I still need to do the grey over the top of the ears, and I need to do some find detailing to the teeth and vocoder still, but besides that it's all good. The gray is actually a little brighter but the lights made it look dark. I'm gonna touch that up a bit tomorrow. Same with the ears, gonna touch up the black and put the gray on.

Ok. I'll be careful, I've heard that it's risky to drill/cut resin.