bearings

How's this look?

Nice work! In order to keep your forearm and biceps the right distance apart and turned the right way, you might want to strap them like this: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/19372-correct-bicep-to-forearm-connection-anhesb-video-and-photo-references/

Haha, I see what you did there. Awesome, thanks for the info guys! I'll post again once I do some painting and attach the D-ring.

I picked up a Hyperfirm E-11 so I can apply for EIB and Centurion and start trooping much sooner than my PP E-11 kit will be finished (I want to take my time and add electronics to that one). This thing is really light weight and seems very durable: I want to tone down the brass color of the scope, what kind of paint should I use for that?

A little bit delayed, but I've been approved! TK-65535 reporting for duty .. I chose 65535 because I'm a software engineer and 65535 is the highest 16 bit unsigned integer you can make Since I've been looking over different troops that I can now attend, I realized I have no idea how to get my armor there and back safely! So, I did as many others on here did and went to buy a 25gallon Husky storage bin with wheels. My wife had some extra red felt, so I lined the inside with that.. looks pretty neat and won't scratch/mark up my armor. Everything fits, even with the bracket strapping system and the torso all as one piece. Arms are all strapped together shoulder + bicep + forearm, which goes inside a shin, which goes inside a thigh. Both thighs then go inside the torso like so: Boots and other small things can go wherever they fit in the corners.. everything but the helmet (and blaster I suppose? not sure yet) will fit. So, that's all for now on my armor. I still need a completed blaster, of which I have 2 builds now in progress So, I ordered a hyperfirm as a short term solution and will continue on my PP E11 build next.. that way I can take my time and do more cool electronics mods. I'll submit for EIB hopefully next week when I get the hyperfirm in and attach the D-ring.

Once it cures it's pretty much solid rubber, not as soft as e6000

Sugru is pretty awesome, I ended up using this for my eyes as well! Also on the sniper plate and on fan attachments inside the helmet. Really neat stuff

TK-65535 requesting access! http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=18298

I've screwed up plenty with enamel paints and have always been able to go back and clean up with thinner/toothpicks to clean it up. If you're worried about not being able to clean up the marker, I'd probably test it on a spare piece of ABS first to see how that goes.

Helmet all done: And I submitted these photos for my application just now! I probably have some more tweaking to do, but I want to say thank you to everybody who has helped me along the way with advice and words of encouragement! This forum has some of the friendliest and patient people I've seen.

Looks like an awesome plan! Looking forward to the build

I'm just wrapping up an AP build myself, there were extra strips of ABS included in the kit to be used for cover strips.

Almost done with the painting, but I have a question! When I painted my tube stripes on, I didn't have the ears on.. and now when I put the ears back I have an overlap of the last stripe and the ear. Should I remove that last stripe, or just let it stay as-is? I have this problem on both sides. Tonight I'll clean up the black outlines and apply the black stripes.

I haven't seen any smaller than that, but might even be able to just place them inside the helmet and they'd be hidden anyway. I have some parts on the way for a voice changer + amp, I'll play around with it soon and post the results! Meanwhile, I cut and bent some aluminum as best I could for the scope rail and counter bracket:

More paint and cleaned up tube stripes

Ok! New boots are good to go, so here's probably (hopefully) the last test fitting. All I need is my AP helmet painted and my blaster finished up. I just noticed that I forgot my TD for the photos, whoops! And.. more painting on my AP helmet: Ignore the horror show of tube stripe paint, it'll clean up nicely after it dries a bit. I feel like the left cheek is too small, should I bring it out some more? Right side seems better. And since I was all dressed up this morning, I figured I'd try making pancakes with armor on for valentines day:

Thanks.. I just looked more closely and I see what you mean. My wife (an actual artist/painter) painted my first helmet, she made me do this one.. so that explains my bumps and imperfections. I'll try to smooth out what I've got already before I put down the grey paint. That, or I'll make her paint this one too

Here's a video of the trigger setup: It's kind of bulky, but it works!

Some progress here, got my sound situation under control and started attaching parts! Will make the scope rail this weekend, hopefully will have a smaller battery pack by then also. I need to finish this one up before my DDay kit arrives!

Also got my hand guards attached:

A couple more updates.. my Bass Amsterdam boots were not working for me. I couldn't close my shins at the bottom, so I ended up going with a different pair of boots. The last coat (hopefully) of paint is drying now! These boots look a lot better and my shins actually close with them on. And finally, the AP bucket painting is underway:

Yep, the helmet came trimmed with holes drilled. All I had to do was screw it together, very easy! I built the ATA bucket myself though, so I already had the experience of trimming ears once

I'm in the US, I bought a pair of the #8's here on amazon. I just tried them on and they fit 100% better in my shins than the Bass Amsterdams that I originally went with. Here's some side by side pics next to my (hastily painted) Bass Amsterdams: Time to paint them now!

You can use a heat gun or hair dryer to get them to bend to the shape of the eye hole a little more. I just did this recently and used Sugru, but I believe others have just used hot glue.

I'm slow, I know.. I know. Almost there.. I think I might be ready to send in my application after today. If we had a CRL for the Darth Aloha style trooper-in-shorts I'd be all over it! Perfect for hot days in Florida: