Zarlon

Yes sir...I finished that part last night. Tonight I'm going to work on the scope and try to get some painting done.

I got some more work done tonight because I'm on a roll and don't want to stop. I was able to find some bolts for the front end at Home Depot during lunch today and spent the first part of the evening using the Dremmel to cut the head off of the bolts. It was fun to let the sparks fly! After quite a while of cutting I finally got both of the bolt heads off. After the cutting comes the gluing....and now the waiting. It takes forever for this stuff to dry! I finished off the night by gluing the handle in place and once again holding it with painters tape. After everything dries tomorrow I'll be ready to start painting. I guess I need to decide what I'm going to do about the scope.

Thanks Tim! so far I haven't screwed it up as bad as I thought I might Its really been a lot of fun!

I think so. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the scope. I like the empty tape roll idea for the back but I'm having trouble cutting a good circle.

So I was able to get some more work done tonight so it was time to break out the E6000. I didn't have any rubber bands so I gave in and used the painters tape. Hopefully everything holds overnight. I still have to glue the front end on but I need to try and find the bolts for the front of it. Anybody have an idea as to what size bolt I should be looking for?

Looking good Tim! I've got your thread bookmarked for when my turn comes up. It's amazing how much research is required to build this armor set.

It turned out very nice! Great job!

I think my blaster is going to be very weathered

Well I finally got some time to continue working on this build. I'm getting close to the painting stage but first I have a lot of sanding to do... After the sanding it was time to try my hand at using Bondo. Let me tell you that this stuff: 1. Stinks 2. Is messy 3. Makes me realize that I am not an artist! As you can tell I used a lot of Bondo which of course means a lot of sanding once it finally dried. Up next ....time to start using the lovely E6000.

As Andrew said, it is just a matter of patience. It takes a while but it does come apart eventually.

:Looking good Andrew! I need to think about the scope detail. I like that idea but I've been a bit hesitant to try it out. It looks like I need to do some more research

I've been enjoying your armor build as well. It gives me something to look forward to!

Thanks Tim! I don't have a ton of time to work on it so It's taking me a while but I'm enjoying the journey for sure

Don't worry about that at all! I just want to get as much detail as possible on this thread so others can benefit from it. I don't really care how it gets here

Awesome! I couldn't get to my computer after I put up the post yesterday so I couldn't respond right away. I'm glad you were able to figure it out! I'll try the replacement batteries as well. Thanks for the tip!

OK here is what he did: The LED is a standard 1000 Candela Red LED that he pulled from his drawer. He doesn't have any more detail than that but said you should be able to find something with 1000 Candela. As mentioned in the thread before this he didn't actually remove the resistor instead he soldered a jumper wire to bypass the circuit. Attached is the back of the PCB before and after so you can see exactly where he put the jumper. BEFORE: AFTER: I hope this helps!

Your build makes me want to get mine faster February isn't going to come soon enough!

Thanks Glen! I'm having fun with the build and I'm learning some new things as well. It's been a win - win so far

He explained everything to me but I need to take some pictures when I get home tonight. It looks like he didn't actually remove the resistor he just bypassed it. I'll try to get a picture of how he did it and post it when I get home.

I was able to make some more progress today My goal for the day was to drill the new holes where I had removed the rail earlier. The first thing I had to do was move the LED wire out of the way to make sure I didn't drill through it when I drilled the new holes. Next up was to tape this template for the holes onto the barrel of the blaster (I used the 38.1mm Tube Template LETTER Paper). I ended up cutting most of the template out and just left two rows that I taped to the side of the barrel. From here I inserted a small drill bit into the Dremel and drilled out a hole in the center of each circle on the template. After that it was time to drill out the rest of the holes. To do this I used a 7/16" Speedbor drill bit. I got this one at Lowes and it ended up working perfectly. Once I installed the drill bit into the drill it was simply a matter of carefully drilling the holes. I did find that after drilling the first two holes the template fell off. It wasn't really a big deal since I had already pre-drilled a pilot hole in each spot. ***Fun game...count how many times I used the word drill in the sentences above After that I sanded of some of the leftover plastic, put everything away, and treated my family to a nice Thai food dinner!

I'll ask my coworker if he has the specs when I get into the office on Monday. I had a drawer full of LED's in the lab and pulled this one out of it.

I got the new LED light installed while I was at work this week. As mentioned earlier I had help from one of our electrical engineers. He removed the old light and added a bigger and brighter LED. He also removed a resistor on the board to make it even brighter. As you can see from the photo's below the LED is actually clear until it turns on and becomes red. Here is the old one... and here is the new one...

That's good to hear! If I ever get good enough to try for Centurion I'll need to replace this blaster anyway. I want it one to look nice but if it's not perfect I wan't be too disappointed. I'm just glad it's turning out ok and I haven't screwed to up too bad

Since I'm in the mood to share I thought I put up some picks of the other gear I've received so far. My ATA helmet arrived so I'll have plenty to do once I get the blaster finished. I also got a surprise from TK boots. They originally said there was a ten week lead time on my boots but apparently they received an early shipment. I had a nice surprise in the mail yesterday when I got home from work. . While I was at Home Depot I also gave in and bought the Stanley Storage Box so I don't lose all of these things I'm buying.

Thanks for the confirmation! I just got back from Home Depot and ended up getting a grey 2 in 1 for the primer layer, a metallic silver for the base layer, and flat black for the final coat. All of these are a paint + primer combo so I'm not really sure if I need the grey layer at the bottom. I might return that can. What do you think?