Dark CMF

Thanks, Diana - your build was truly an inspirational part of even making some of the attempts that I'm making. Thanks, Clint! The blaster build is there, but it is not QUITE done yet. I've got two or three more little things to do to finish it. That will be happening very quickly after (or near the time that) I get the armor about wrapped up.

LoL... You're not the Steve he was referring to in this particular case. I believe, without question, that you are far more helpful than the other Steve. LoL.

EDIT: Double post.

Hey Derek, good to see you found your way over. Thank you, Ian. Jonathan, so far, my "Mythbusters" experiment is busting the myth completely. The snaps, and ABS appear to be perfectly fine after two days of drying. Thank you, Steve. Eric, my plan is to use webbing plates and snaps to attach the cod to the abs. I've been debating just riveting it though.

Definitely getting there in good fashion, Ian. I'm "preparing" to drill split rivet holes in the sides soon, myself. Love the tape line. Will be incorporating that in my build quite soon, too.

Thank you, Bryan. Our second one will be here in late July / Early August, so I'm racing against the biological clock. LoL.

For the test fit, I'll just post the pictures up without a lot of commentary, other than to say that I realize that the butt is not aligned properly during this fitting. LoL Overall, I feel like it is a pretty solid fit right now (granted, it is over street clothes, so I'll try again later with the undersuit) but my curiosity is really at the abs and kidney seam. Currently, there are no return edges there. Should there be, or is straight-up flush-fitting ABS alright? Here's the pics: So, there they are. Anxiously awaiting community comments before I forge ahead - I think. I guess that depends on how long all of you take to chime in. LoL. Thanks for reading/following along/commenting!

So, part of my plans for the weekend's build activities did manage to happen. A great many more (Fix/create return edges, apply brackets and straps) didn't, because someone decided that he was NOT going to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. Sigh... So far behind my mental timeline at the moment. Anyway, some of that stuff DID get done, and I did take pictures of it, so here they are: Before the heat iron, the forearms, and the right bicep. After the heat iron, the elbow ends of the forearms. From here, they look pretty awesome. They're going to need another pass or two to get the outsides looking right. As I mentioned, the actual outsides of the forearms still need some work to get them shaped properly. As mentioned, I started working on the TD. The pipe measures in at 7.5" as it should, but the pipe is so large relative to the caps, that the ends will require some sanding in order to work. The caps are very nearly spot on to the 13/16 that they should be. If anything, they're a scant bit closer to 12/16, and I can't add any material so I'll live with it. Ends of the pipe have been sanded to allow the caps to fit. Based on reading something that TM said someplace, I'm going to drill a hole in the pipe, to prevent airlocking from taking place. Hole is drilled, and the TD is ready to paint. One last look before painting happens. Watching paint dry. Fun!!! Hit the control plate area with some sandpaper prior to applying the E6000. E6000 is applied, caps are in place (which I'd advise you to wait to do until the plate is glued in place, because you can use your magnets on the control plate. I stuck the caps on to see if they fit, and they wouldn't come off, so I proceeded to applying the control plate. I took the soldering iron to the snap plates, and made all of the holes for the snaps. Started to put the snaps in, and remembered that I had not bought all of my snaps yet. So, after a quick trip to Walmart (and Sonic!) I had enough to continue. Here they are. Assembled and ready for installation - once the armor is ready to have them installed, anyway. At the bottom are the snap casualties from the process. I've seen a lot of talk about the E6000 eating plastic when it is applied to snaps and ABS, so I wanted to conduct an experiment. So far, so good, after a few hours. I'll be posting a test-fitting of the torso parts in a short while. I'd like some opinions on how it appears to fit, so if you happen to pause long enough to read through the posts, please weigh-in on it for me. Thanks.

Thank you, Eric. Tonight, I began preliminary work on the TD. Filed the ends to ensure that the caps fit, drilled an air hole in the tube, painted it, and yeah... Watched paint dry. :/ I did also manage to wrestle with the heat iron, the right bicep, and the forearms. Mixed emotions about it at the moment, but am pretty certain that I'll come back prepared to get it done.

Sideways buckets for the win!! Both of my RT-Mod buckets have to go on sideways - with a twist! <-- Doesn't work this way.

I'd say that's a good call. The likelihood of needing a heat gun is probably higher than needing an iron.

Thank you sir, but we'll see how that "other project" pans out before we go throwing around words like master. Of course, I've got to finish the thumbprint, too.

Moving right along... The brackets that I mentioned having received. Looking great so a big thanks to Mr. No Stripes! The Heat Sealing Iron I mentioned having received! LoL. I immediately had to get comfortable using it, so I put a return edge on a spare piece of ABS and decided that I am capable of using it. Then, I got brave... Before Shot... Biceps. Both of which clearly have thumbprints in them. My "Right" bicep, now without a thumbprint (mostly). Steve planted the suggestion and I thought "I want it to be accurate, and I want to make it my own RT-Mod armor. Why the hell not, aside from being afraid of destroying the bicep?" Here you can see that it is not quite perfectly removed yet. I'll be giving it another treatment to see if I can smooth it out more perfectly, but for now I'm really happy with how it is looking. Another quick look at the bicep's thumbprint area. On a side note: Ironing ABS in the house is apparently very bad. I guess it smells horrible. I didn't really notice it too much, but my pregnant wife, who can smell a gnat fart a mile away was deeply traumatized by this act. I suggest that anyone else who decides to use a Heat Sealing Iron on their ABS be either A: Single, B: Home alone, C: Prepared to face the consequences. I was none of the above. Consider this a very important lesson passed on to you all. Thanks for checking in and leaving any comments/questions/observations you happen to have.

Well, I mentioned the Heat Sealing Iron was on the way. It is here. The brackets are here. I guess I can get a little bit comfortable with the heat sealing iron, and get back to some good progress this weekend! I also mentioned snap plates, and being me, I took some pictures Here they are: Heat Gun/Sealing Iron Combo by Hangar 9 on smile.amazon.com - less than $40 shipped, and a donation went to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Not too shabby! Cutting webbing to the 50mm x 40mm size for the double snap plates, and at 50mm x 80mm for the shoulder's four snap plates. Matching pieces of "soft" industrial strength, self-adhesive Velcro to go on the plates. Velcro stuck on the webbing. Now, all I have to do is sew around the edges for reinforcement, and put snaps on them! Also, I need two more for my shoulders. The webbed side inspires the adult in me with it's strength and dependability - also the fact that it will bond well with E6000. But the kid in me loves the playful Velcro side! And here they are, awaiting a trip to the sewing machine!

Great stuff, as always, Diana!! Loving the updates and I promise you that as I get ready to move in to the cutting/trimming of the thighs of my own build, I'll be referencing yours - among others - to make sure I get it right!!

Congratulations Brenton!! I told you had had this. Slow and steady - just like Steve said, notice a trend here? - and you'll get where you're trying to get to. You put in a lot of work on this armor build, and it shows. You're fully capable of reaching Centurion with some pretty basic upgrades, and I know you feel rushed, but take your time and you'll be good yet again. Again, CONGRATULATIONS, on EIB! This is where all of that vomiting and losing it pays off for you.

All I hear in my head is Vector from Despicable Me: "CURSE YOU, TINY TD!"

Aye, Q. She is at that! Snap Plate construction has begun, using BIDS' build as the template: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/21968-bids-anh-hero-build-thread-rt-mod/ I'll get the pics up eventually. Right now, it is fuzzy webbing. Not really exciting, but still progressing on the build while I await the arrival of my brackets - my heat sealing iron and heat gun did arrive today though, so a new set of skills must be learned soon!

It is looking very cool. I'm curious though, are you uploading photos directly to the site, or hosting them at photobucket or some other photo hosting site?

EDIT: Double Post

Already bought the webbing for the snaps. Since I intend to use the "original strapping method" for the torso, I'll have to create proper return edges on the torso pieces that will require them for the brackets. The other strapping bits and pieces will be done in the manner that BIDS did for his build. Two snaps per web plate, with velcro sewn on for added strength to both the plate, and the elastic strapping before the snaps are attached. My wife suggested that we not stay up past midnight tonight, as we've both been lacking sleep lately, and I said "OH, excellent. We can build snap plates!" She was only moderatly as excited about it as I am.

That's the realization that I came to last night when I wanted to do a "taped" test-fit... LoL. Now... I guess I'll work on shoulder bridging while I wait for my brackets and heat sealing iron to arrive so that I can put the torso together. I guess that I could always begin the maddening process of learning to make the necessary snap plates, too. Going to have to get it done eventually. :/ LoL

It's all a lot of fun once you get started - yes... There are moments of anxiety. I'm frozen on the idea of cutting the thighs to fit, and waiting for my strapping kit to arrive so I can get the torso put together for test fitting them. Outside of that though, it has been a great experience so far! You'll be fine, look at all of the people that have managed to do it before you.

Thanks, Ron... You actually answered the question that I've got swimming around in my head next already. That was whether you should wait on the thighs until the torso is at least "fittable" for testing. Seems like a better approach than my taping everything together to test it. EDIT: Just realized that it changed pages here, and I didn't thank Sean for weighing in on the thigh cutting. Thank you, brother!!

Thanks for sharing that, Sean! Jesse - Congratulations on your approval! Did you have to do any cutting to the thighs? Thank you Evan! Would you believe I was slightly chastised for sharing that particular picture of the cake, because it was not completed in that picture. She put some more decorations on it before calling it done so I could take it to work with me. LoL