Zarlon

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It's nice to know that it's not terrible. I think I might leave the right side as is but since I have another set of ears, I'm going for a do over on the left side. I don't like that the gap is big enough to see through to the other side.

One other question. What is the best way to remove a pop rivet if I need to re-position the mounting point on the left side?

Ok guys you asked for it...here is the carnage. The left side is too thin, the right side it too thick, and the gaps look awful. I'm going to try again when I get home from work on Thursday but in the meantime, thanks for all of the encouragement!

So I worked on my ears over the weekend but I'm too frustrated to post any pics right now. I got the right side marginally acceptable but the left side was a pain in the the butt and I've totally screwed it up. On top of that, the bottom rivet holding the front and back together is too low so I can't get a good spot to screw down the bottom of the left ear. I'm going to try again tomorrow with my second set of ears so wish me luck.

Looking good so far! Wait until you get to the ears...I'm ready to throw mine through the window.

Thanks! I've been using the Dremmel mostly for cutting and rough grinding. I've been using the file for the detailed work but I like your emery board idea. I'm going to pick some up on the way home today.

OK...Now that all of the excitement is over it's back to the updates. Once I got the flash trimmed off it was time to work on the eyes. This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but I did have slight difficulties getting them even. In the end I think it came out OK. After sanding down the eyes it was time to tackle the teeth. This was a pain in the butt because no matter what I try, I can't get them smooth. Here is where I am with them so far. I've filed, sanded, and polished with the Dremmel and I still can't get them smooth. It's been a bit frustrating.

Thank you! I'll get there. It just might take a while and I'll be asking a lot of questions.

Holy crap that's intimidating! I've read a ton of build threads but it was still really overwhelming when I opened that box. Somebody please talk me down off of this ledge

Just a quick update but I had to post.... MY BROWN BOX CAME IN TODAY! I'm So Excited!

OK Time for another update. After the inside of the helmet was painted, it was time to start marking off my trim cut lines. I used a grease marker so I could remove any marks that I made by mistake. The ATA Helmet actually had a nicely defined cut line. I ended up cutting a little below it to give myself some wiggle room but the overall lines were pretty easy to see. I drilled a hole in the top corners to keep them from splitting as I cut the flashing off. Once I had the lines where I wanted them, It was time to start cutting.

I've noticed that could be an issue and will pay attention to it. Thanks for the tip!

Everything is looking good Todd! You'll be finished before you know it.

That would have been a great thing to see!

Thanks Todd...Good luck with your build.

So after I took everything out of the box and drooled over it for a bit, it was time to get to work. First up on my agenda was to paint the inside of the bucket black. I wanted to do it before I started cutting everything because I thought it would be more difficult when it was all together. In order to try and avoid a lot of over spray, I taped everything off the best that I could. It was actually kind of a pain in the butt to get the tape to stick to the surface of the helmet. I wanted to keep the ATA and build number visible so I taped over that part before I painted. Once everything was taped up, it was time to put some paint on it. I used the same spray paint that I used on my blaster for the inside of the helmet as well. It took a few coats to get the paint to stick but eventually I got it all covered.

I actually went to Canton High. It's good to know that I'm close to him though because maybe he'll give me some pointers if I get stuck

When I was a young lad my uncle used to perform magic shows at birthday parties under the name SEMAJ the Magician. I remember thinking it was so cool that he was a magician with a different name so I decided to put on cheesy little magic shows for my friends and called myself Zarlon the Magician. Fast forward many, many, years to 2005 when I started playing World of Warcraft and the name Zarlon was resurrected for my Mage. I've used the name Zarlon on message boards and in video games ever since.

I'm in the Westland/Garden City area.

I'm all caught up with your build progress and it looks good so far. I'm just starting my own build in hopes of joining the Great Lakes Garrison sometime this year so I'll be following your progress closely!

Thanks Andrew and congrats on becoming an official member!

That's great news! Thanks so much for the quick response!

As mentioned, I'm going to start this thread with my helmet build so here are the very first pictures of my very first TK bucket straight out of the box:) When I first took the individual pieces out of the box, I was immediately surprised at how thick they were. For some reason I thought the plastic would be thinner and a bit more flexible. The ear pieces are specially hard and a test cut confirmed that I'm going to have my work cut out for me. Looking at this first picture reminds me if my first question. 1. Is it safe to assume the Mic Tips need to be replaced if I'm going for EIB? I noticed the EIB CRL mentions "Correct 'Hovi mic' aerator tips". It doesn't say what these are but I have to assume that the tips that come with the helmet are not up to snuff. Are the versions sold on Trooperbay okay for EIB status?

Hello all and thanks for coming along with me on this journey of fun, frivolity, and i'm sure a bit of frustration. I got an email saying that my ATA armor should be ready sometime this week so I thought I would start this build thread. I had a ton of fun with my blaster build ((Part I) Chapter Thirty Eight...Approval Submission Photos (Part II) Chapter Thirty Nine...Approval Submission Photos (Part III) Chapter Forty...Approval Submission Photos (Part IV) Chapter Forty One...Approval Submission Photos (Part V) Chapter Forty Two...Approval Submission Photos (Part VI) Chapter Forty Three...Approval Submission Photos (Part VI) Chapter Forty Four...Finished!! (Introducing TK-26113)

I'm finally caught up on your build thread. Everything is looking good and it won't be long until your official!