SIMpixels

Good to see you've made a positive start Andy. Keep it up and well be on a troop together in no time! Si.

Hehehehe. Awesome pics of awesome armour Steve.

Thanks fellas. Have now completed trimming all the torso parts: And the glue on my detonator front panel is drying: All in all, a productive day.

Good to know, thanks Paul. The edges here are about 5-6mm and the bottom is about 9mm at its widest in the middle.

Thanks fellas. Right. As I'd never attempted anything like this before I started with the drop box inners (with the idea that if I made a hash of it, it'd be hidden away.) Thankfully all went well and I completed both drop boxes fairly easily. With my new found confidence I picked up my back panel and, with some reference pics open, began to pencil in my cut lines. Once satisfied I trimmed & sanded smooth. Opinion time folks, do I need to cut any more off or are these edges about right?

Unfortunately not, I was so into it that I didn't stop to take pics. But you're right, I did a primer coat and a satin black coat (or two) & let that harden for a couple of days. Then, using a flat ½" artists brush and a paint mixture of gunmetal grey and pewter I dry brushed it. I had a piece of cereal box card at the side of me, dipped the tip of the brush into the paint and then firmly ran it over the card until there was hardly any being deposited. Then, gently brushing the remaining paint over the areas that would potentially get worn, the colour slowly builds up. I never try to complete an area in one go as there's so little paint on the brush that a few strokes later you need to reload. I used the same technique on the scope but using metallic brass paint. As I was doing it I noticed a little chip in the black paint on the main scope body, so I turned that into a scratch using a finer artists brush. You can probably just make it out on the photos. The grip had the same satin finish as the rest of the blaster, but rather than mask it all off & paint it gloss, I just got out the T-Cut and buffed it to a shine for that plastic look.

Thanks bud, it was my favourite part of the build. Took me back to my youth painting Warhammer figures.

Thanks Vern, you can't please all o' the people all o' the time though eh? Although, I'll certainly keep your suggestions in mind for my next E11 build. Cheers, Si.

Thank you Glen.

Many thanks Daniel.

Cheers Daz, I just hope I can do a decent job on my armour too.

The day has finally arrived, I am now the proud owner of my first set of armour and it's by the awesome fellow that is Troopermaster. I have no doubt that I will be asking an abundance of questions and taking a plethora of pictures, so let me begin by posting the obligatory brown box shots. And so it begins.

Thank you Ken, hope it helps.

And here it is all finished. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, not too bad for my first blaster. And I'm glad ive managed to complete it tonight as I've been reliably informed that my first set of armour arrives tomorrow. Woohoo! Hope you've enjoyed seeing this blaster build, I certainly enjoyed undertaking it. Si.

Thanks Andy. You'll be pleased to hear its finally finished. But before I get to the pics of it, here's how I did the scope... This pic kinda speaks for itself. I bought a cheap monocular, stripped it down and used the internals where I could. You'll notice the raggedy looking scope, that's the result of rubbing it down after my original painting debacle.

Awesome work Paul, loving it!

Great stuff Phil, hopefully won't be too long before I'm trooping along with ya.

Thanks fellas, I'm pleased with my results so far.

Cheers Phil.

Just a quick update with a couple of pics. I've completed the weathering on the blaster itself. I'm fairly pleased with the results. Still awaiting my scope parts before I can finish the modification. Once that's finished I'll add it (and the counter) and consider the job done. Some shots of the plain black base prior to weathering. And the completed weathering.

Thanks Rob, I went with the flat black base & dry brushing on the blaster itself (finished it last night, pics soon folks) and tried my buddy's tip about using hairspray between coats on just my scope. Sadly that didn't work out, my top coat went all mottled so I've stripped the scope down again to repaint. So glad I didn't attempt that method on the whole thing as I'd be weeping right now. I shall try it again, this time without the hairspray. I'll give sanding and drybrushing together a try as you suggested.

Great job!

Stunning work Rob, I am loving this! I had the same idea about my doopydoos scope, have already purchased the OHP inkjet film for that very purpose. Just awaiting my monocular to strip out the elements. Care to share your AutoCAD file of the scope graphic? I'd change it up a bit to suit myself but it'd be a great starting point. Any .dwg version up to v.2012 would be great. Si.

It was my understanding that it was supposed to be upside down with the arrow pointing towards the front of the blaster. I don't suppose it would affect Centurion status either way though.