Vette11

Next up is the forearms. the pics are of the first test fitting, the face was mounting frustration b/c they were just a tick too big, also the inside corner edges were not quite straight and were pointing down to the inside of the arm. every time I tried to slide it on it would grab my base layer and pull up my sleeve. I was very concerned that I was going to rip up the base layer shirt. so I soaked them in a pot of boiling water to straighten them out and it seems to have worked. I did have to trim some of the side edges to get a better fit. I now will have to make sure I get the strips set correctly so I can get my hands into them with the gloves on. test fitting will be today and I will start gluing the inside strips, if I can get some time.

I can't seem to get the text with the pics so I will tell you what I have done and then post the pics. I started with the biceps and they were too big when I put them on. I ended up having to trim out the plastic on the sides to get a better fit. I became concerned that I would not be able to use the 15mm cover strips but it has worked out. from the pics you will see I also have inner strips to help give it stability. the clamps will come off a little later today.

HI Vern, is there a reason I need to bolt the helmet together and do the trim?? my plan was to tackle the bucket last b/c there is still a lot I need to get for it, electronics, aerators, new rubber trim, eye lenses etc....

My first question: when I removed the contents I noticed that the kidney plate and butt plates were one piece. from my research I know that you want to get them as close together as you can for your finished build, do I have to separate them or can I leave them as one piece?

now that the build thread is posted, here comes the news. I won't get a lot of time to work on this so my build time is very precious. I will be taking photos as I go and uploading them when I can. please be patient and as always your input, comments and critiques are always welcome. I became soooo overwhelmed when I first opened the box and took inventory. it took me 2 days just to start on something.... progress has been made, details will follow when photos get published. I hope you enjoy

would someone cue the Star Wars theme music? IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE... the UPS guy must of thought I was nuts when he saw me bolt into the house and come out with a camera.

Welcome Kristi. If am 5'5 and waiting for my first set of armor to ship. can't wait to get started. Looking forward to your build

All I can say Tim is WOW. I can only hope I do as good as this when my armor arrives and I begin. My armor has been ordered, I am just waiting for it to ship. I am so excited I almost can't stand it.

Well that is where I am at for the moment. The Flat black was painted about an hour ago and I will wait for 24 hours and then hit them again for a 2nd coat. then they will dry for 48 hours and then I think I can assemble most of the pieces and see how it all looks together. you may have noticed the conspicuous abscense of the scope and H counter. I have already mentioned that I will not be doing anything to the scope. As for the Counter, I am still trying to decide on the numbers and how I want them to appear. Since that is a modification unto itself I will be taking my time with it. I will be paying for my armor in January so I am looking forward to starting and sharing that build with you. I also became a member of the 501st Fl. Garrison so I am looking forward to meeting up with some of them for pointers. more pics will be posted once I have the basics put together. Thanks for following along

after applying 2 or 3 coats and letting it dry for 48 hours the tape was removed and the barrel was taped up so that the handle, trigger, charge bolt handle, and trigger guard could be painted with a flat black/ I like the color of the hammered black but haven't decided if it is too shiny or not. I want to compare it to the handle and make a decision then. if I decide it is too shiny then I will hit the whole thing with another coat of the flat black

now onto watching paint dry. the first stage was to paint a base coat of silver for future weathering. the second step was painting the blaster with rustoleum hammered black finish. in doing so I taped off the power cylinders, the magazine and the handle. those will be getting a coat of flat black later. I did not tape off the sights or the t tracks b/c I figured that if they were welded to the barrel then they would look the same as the barrel and since this is a blaster we are talking about would probably get as hot as the barrel.

This is a pic of the mag back into the well and the cylinders being glued back on. this fix gave me a chance to adjust the cylinders and make them align with the barrel. I am very pleased with how they came out.

Ok Tuesday. lol I was able to get the mag out of the mag well with no damage. you can see in the photos where the paint stops. I cut just a little below that line and it fits almost perfectly, notice I said almost but I am happy with it. the third pic is the mag reinserted into the well. that is my youngest daughter holding the blaster so I could get a good picture of it

Thanks for the info Andy. Unfortunately I am a little short to be Han...lol. I have indeed fixed the cylinders, the magazine and filled in some gaps that became apparent once the 1st coat of paint went on. Photos will hopefully be up on monday.

Hopefully I will be able to get some work done on it today before the holiday madness starts. 290 miles of travel with 3 stops start this evening so I don't know when I will be getting back on-line so I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah, I hope you all enjoy your time with your friends and family. Happy Holidays and may God Bless you all.

Thanks again to Ian for pointing out my error on the power cylinders. I went right to work on it when I got home last night and it actually went a whole lot better than I thought it would. I contemplated what I could use to separate the cylinders from the mag well, first thought was to use a very small flat head screwdriver and a hammer to try to break the glue apart and separate it. I was worried that would seriously damage both the cylinders mag well. as I was looking through my tool drawers I found the perfect implement: a paint scraper, it has a large surface area and was far narrower/thinner than a screwdriver. I have several hammers of various sizes but decided on a handheld sledge hammer simply due to the weight. I wanted something heavy so that I would not have to sit there and beat on the thing. I wanted to use as few hits as possible and it worked like a charm. it only took 3 moderate taps and the cylinders separated, I then turned the blaster around and did the same thing on the back side. Once I was able to pull the cylinders off I then used my dremmel with a sanding bit to remove the glue on both the cylinder base and the mag well. That was when I noticed that when the cylinder separated it pull a piece of the mag well off with it. it wasn't very big and will be covered up by the cylinders when they are remounted. I took my Testor's model putty and filled in the drilled holes as well as the hole that was created. Today I will sand the mag well smooth and remount the cylinders correctly. I will also look into trying to remove the magazine and try to shave it down so that it fits correctly in the mag well, unless it's removal will cause to much damage to the mag well. I will evaluate it carefully. here are the pics

I thought about that last night. I used e6000 to put the mag in so it should not be as difficult to get out but like I have said before the walls of the well are pretty thin, as a matter of fact a small chunk of the wall came off when I removed the power cylinders but I was able to fix that with epoxy. you might be able to see it in the photos I will post

Oh and I also do not know why my photos keep getting posted upside down. They are correct when the go into photobucket and seem to post correctly when the are transferred over so whitearmor.

Well, God must have heard my prayers, I know he certainly heard me swearing....lol. I attacked the mistake as soon as I got home. I was able to get the power cylinders off with very minimal damage. Holes have been epoxied and will set over night. Tomorrow I will replace the pins and remount it correctly. I do have pictures to post but will have to post them from work tomorrow, so I will have to keep you all in suspense.

Ian, thanks for the input, nope I did not realize the power cylinders were on backwards. not sure how I can fix them at this point. I don't want to go any further into the mag well as I almost went through the wall getting it down to that point. the walls are very thin and if you look closely at the pic you can actually see the shadow of the mag inside the clip. I will attempt to fix the power cylinders, that ought to be fun.

I am hoping to finish the painting and final assembly within the next couple of weeks. please feel free to offer any comments/suggestions or point out any errors that I have made, just keep in mind that I used superglue on the pieces so fixing them is going to be difficult to say the least. thanks for all of the input and for stopping by.