Khazid

Thank you very much. Just inspired by all the others that have done builds prior to mine.

It would be unique to donate the used set to the hospital, prepped as a display. A nice museum like setup with pictures, etc.

Looking nice, I like the lego frame for putting on the ab button plate. Going to put that in my build book.

Check out my build as well. Lots of photos in the prep work for the parts. There are shots in there of the folding stock that I cleaned up.

Check out Marcus' 3D sets as well. He hasn't started production runs yet, but pm him for details. I have a set coming to replace the ones my MTK kit came with.

Just my opinion here, but when building an item like this yourself the ability to maintain the armor over time is easier. The understanding of how it comes together will help with fitting and even transport. I have found the members here invaluable in support and knowledge. My own brown box is coming soon, but I no longer have a much fear that I did in November. Having built for you is definitely easier, perhaps read some more build threads before making the final call. Good luck with your journey, either way.

Very nice, makes me want to just rush to opening my brown box and get out there trooping...must finish blaster....finish blaster....

When they were back in stock my order took just over 10 days to arrive. I live in CA.

One major modification to do and then it really is time for what I will consider the “fun†part, the painting. Even though the counter was hard, I saved what I believe will be the hardest part for last, the grip. I have three key components to install in the grip. First, I have to drill out the trigger assembly screw to allow for the weapon select button to go in. Then in the actual trigger assembly I will need to fit a micro switch for the trigger and a custom made magnetic switch for the “On/Off†function. I am not looking forward to the latter; I have no idea how I’m going to get this finished. I have an idea though…. First up after drilling the hole for the weapon select button was to hollow out the grip for the trigger assembly. A combination of spade bits and “eater†were in order. Next I built a rough form of the trigger assembly and installed the trigger mechanics. Here you can see, well sort of see (really need to learn my camera…), the micro switch and the pin that will act as the swing hinge for the trigger itself. After some brainstorming, I came up with how I can put in the reed switch. Here you can see some breadboard with the reed switch loosely mounted. The other parts are all pieces that will act as the paddle that will move in tandem with the fire selector. I plan to use “S†as off and “R†as on. The paddle is some of the aluminum tubing that was left over from my spring façade. I tapped it for a screw, which is a computer chip mounting screw that I ground the top off of. The half-moon is two pieces of 2mm abs that have been glued together and drilled out for the entire mechanism. And this weekend was over. Still quite a ways to go on the trigger assembly. I also need to finish the installation of the weapon select button; which will go in the location where the retaining screw goes for an actual trigger assembly. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though. Once the grip is working, I can do the final electronics and then hit the paint. I am hoping that in my next update, which looks like I am on two week cycles, I can have my paint scheme swatches completed and then we can get to the fun part. Final assembly is coming, I hope.

Next I moved on to the speakers. After checking space in the barrel I realized that one speaker at the front was not going to fit, so I made an adjustment to my plan on the fly. Both speakers will now be in the rear of the barrel. That is going to cause me some serious fits for getting all the wiring to fit in, but I think I’m up for the challenge. After finishing the counter, I almost feel like I could take on the whole rebellion myself. Heh… First up was cutting a piece of breadboard to fit. Here you see one speaker installed. The two smaller holes in the middle are to allow the speaker wiring to go to my fast clip plates. Here is the back, wiring and soldering completed. During test fitting the hot glued wires going around the speaker back just didn’t work, the fit was too tight. I removed the hot glue and the wiring now runs directly on top of those speaker backs. You can also see my fast clip plate, which will allow me to complete the wiring and still take the weapon apart for servicing, if needed. Here is a top view. Test fitting, you can just make out the clip plate in the barrel. I also put the scope into place as I have to navigate around the nut at the rear sight location. Here is a view down the barrel. I did have to grind off about 1/32†from both sides of each speaker. This fit is extremely tight, so tight that I might use some wire pulling lubricant when I do the final assembly.

Hard to believe that another two weeks has flow by. I hope all of you that went to C7 enjoyed your time there, I watched some of the coverage on YouTube and it looked like a grand time. Time for some updates though, some significant work has been completed, though the overall progress feels like I am moving slower than molasses on a cold winter’s morning. LOL Here is the finished cover plate and reset button for the counter. I also have my counter box in place for this shot, but it can be removed for working on the electronics. Now it was time to actually start moving components from my test board and into the counter. First up was the wiring of the LED Graph bar. The first picture shows the back plate where the LED’s are grouped into pairs. In the bottom of the frame you can see the five leads that will go back to the Arduino. The top frame is my ground circuit for what I’m calling the front window. Here is a side view of that same work; you can see the resistors that are a part of the ground circuit. Yes, only four are readily visible, the fifth is tucked in between the LED Graph and the dome for the blue Selected Weapon LED. That one is very hard to find in the picture here. The two long contacts coming out of the back are the blue LED. The second shot is what the front window looks like with the components completed and glued into place. Nice and clean if you ask me. Too bad the picture is so muddy that it’s hard to see the details. I really need to practice with my camera more and review shots before moving on, my apologies. Now it was time for the reset switch. You’ll notice that I have already painted it flat black, so the painting has begun! I have always felt that a model’s completion was right around the corner when the smell of paint fumes hits my nose. Oh, if that was only the case for me here. The push button switch is in a perfect spot that naturally wedges up against other parts of the structure. It also stays clear of the screws that will be used for final installation. Another small wedge of 2mm ABS is glued on top of the reset button and in front of the switch. Gives it a little more stability and prevents the reset switch from flying out of the front when the gun is turned with the counter window facing the ground. Test fitting the front window with the switch and reset button. Looking good. Almost like I knew what I was doing, LOL. I remember reading so many stories in the canon of Jedi going into a trance to build their light sabers, almost as if the force was guiding them to which component went next, and where. I feel like I am channeling a lot of that energy here. A top view of the same test fit. Time to attach the wiring to the leads that will go back to the Arduino. I found it very helpful to have this little handy tool to hold everything in place as I was soldering it. Blasted camera skills…point and click my rebel #$$! Ok..got into a serious rhythm with my soldering iron and the components. What you see here are the finished wires from the front window, the MP3 chip and the amp chip. All the power comes in on one wire; there is only one common ground for all the components going back out. That saved me several wires, but there are still 14 of them that have to come back out and work their way into the barrel. That is a lot of work, but after some quick testing, everything still was functioning as intended, so I didn’t burn anything up with my sloppy soldering. Here is what it looks like ready to be mounted. I got the counter put together and all the gaps and uneven sides received filler. I’ll get another shot of that prior to paint, but the filler was still drying. Must leave you some suspense!

Thank you for the kind words Scott

I get on order of 300-600 e-mails a day, nearly all of which require a response of some type. Due to this I may have a slanted opinion on this, so forgive the bias. If a customer takes the time to send you an e-mail, granted that it is not abusive, a response of some type should always be sent back within 1 business day of receipt of the communication. Customer service is paramount, no matter the scale of the business.

I love the picture with the balloon hat. Thank you for sharing!

Great idea on the socket driver, going to put that in my build binder!

I've got a couple, depending on the mood. Ride the Lightning, Metallica Fantasia on a Theme, Thomas Tallis The Gambler, Kenny Rogers Candy Man, Christina Aguilera And that is just a few, consider me eclectic when it comes to music. LOL

Magnet sachets for the win Just a small square of fabric, I use old khaki's that are cut up. Cut the square large enough to be 6x the width of the magnet itself. Gather up the material around the magnet and then secure tightly with a small zip tie (1/8" wide tie). I then use a sharpie to mark the bottom of the magnet with a + or a - so that I know polarity for matching up opposites to bind the item I am working on. The zip tie keeps the magnet from "walking", that is to flip over, the extra material coming out of the top above helps you separate. The material on the bottom acts as a buffer to prevent scratches when sliding. Only mistake I've made with these is not giving the sharpie long enough time to dry and I've stained the surface of the model I was working on. Easy enough to fix during painting, but on armor that would be harder to deal with. Enjoy!

Going to have to rely on the more seasoned vets than I. I think you could still raise the back a little by doing some alterations at the shoulder to pull up the back plate. However; there is large amount of overlap on the kidney, my suggestion will only get you like 1-2 inches at most. Maybe Gazmozis or TK Bondservant will chime in here for you with some suggestions for you. I wish you luck.

I would use a clear styrene abs glue, something similar to Pro Weld. It isn't as harsh as acetone, which might dissolve too much of the surrounding area. It sets up in like 10 seconds and would help fill in some shallow cuts, deeper ones with multiple applications. After that, sand it smooth and use novus to polish it up. I use Pro Weld on plastic model kits, its better than the testors glue as it sets up so much faster. It happens to work on ABS as well

Some veterans will know better than I, but look to change your strapping at the shoulders to pull the entire back plate up. This should allow it to align with the kidney plate. No trimming needed.

Are there available measurement on where to drill the holes? The closest to the edge appears to be about 1/4" from the edge, but I have no idea on the second one. Thanks.

Now I could escape it no further, I had to make a call on the straw. After some helpful insight from Gazmozis, it turns out that the straw is just too big and I need another solution. In the end, I decided to modify the suggestion that Sean gave me. Thank you to the both of you for the input. I extended the drilled hole in the scope itself to go to the front foot. I removed the straw construction and plugged the holes in both the rail and the scope. Lastly, a larger hole was drilled into the front foot and a channel has now been dug, just wide enough to accommodate two wires, to go from the front foot and into the counter via the bracket. I have a picture, but will call it out later as I go through my steps with the counter. Sean, I was wrong about the instability, the bracket and assembly held up just fine. So it was time for the counter, which will house the LED Bar Graph, Selected Weapon LED, MP3 Player, Audio Amp, reload switch and all the accompanying wires/resistors. I have my work cut out for me, so it was time to dig in. First I had to clean up the counter, the details didn’t make it from the pull. So it was time for some magic sculpt. Once that was all dried, I had to separate the front of the counter from the back of the counter. I broke out my jewelers saw, which is always on my hobby bench, and there was no turning back. It was time for “eater†and I dug out the interior of the counter that will run the wiring and be the primary support. At the same time, I created a paper template for the breach cover and then broke out my zinc sheet to cut it out. It took some shaping with pliers and the dremel, then I could attach it to the counter. This breach cover is designed to ride just under the bracket and rest against the barrel, hiding all the wiring that is going to go via a hole I will eventually drill there. I now attached the counter to the bracket via pins created from the pop rivets I used earlier in the assembly. Not bad progress, I am happy with how this is coming so far. Here is what it looks like with the rail put into the barrel. To allow for the servicing of parts, the front of the counter will actually attach via magnets in the back, along with the top and bottom screws, which I will make functional. To accomplish this, the wall of the counter closest to the barrel will be permanently attached. Here are some shots of that. You’ll notice in the first pic listed you can see the channel for the scope wiring that was dug into the bottom of the bracket. The wires do feed successfully into the breach cover I have created. Now it was time to create the shell for the front that will hold the electronics. This will be the outer side, top and bottom. The first picture is the interior support piece that has zinc sheeting on the back layer. That zinc sheeting hits the magnets I have put into the bracket to hold it in. With the support glue set, I was able to complete the shell. The only part I am missing is the front plate, which will also have to be custom made. That will be for another day. All of the shell was created out of scrap 2mm ABS that I had on hand. When glue was drying on the earlier steps, I took the time to create the reset switch by using some scrap ABS. Here is where I am at with that, before adding filler to complete the shape. I have found out my camera really sucks at super close up photos. I need to go back and figure out how to do those shots as I think it is me more than the camera. LOL! Last part that I finished was creating the window for the LED Bar Graph. To try and get it close to the actual Hengstler 400, I shaped a piece of dowel with my dremel, and then heated up some clear styrene with my heat gun to conform to the shape. This will work out nice, and after some finishing shaping, it fits perfect for what I want to accomplish. I hope you all had a good Holiday weekend. I hope to have more updates soon.

Well it has been some time, hasn’t it? Time for some updates! When we last left off, I was finishing the scope and not really satisfied with the “straw†solution for wiring the LED I plan to put in there. I set that aside and started work on the façade that will go into the bolt to replicate a spring, without being a spring. We start with aluminum tubing used for railroad modeling. I used two different types. The 4mm will be the support tubes, while the 3mm will be chopped up into small segments to replicate the spring coils. The 4mm tubes were glued into holes made into the sidewalls of the bolt assembly. I used 2 part epoxy for this assembly stage. Once that was set up, I cut a channel in the tubes using the dremel cut off wheel. Then I marked a rough estimation of how I wanted the coils to lay out. I used two different types of pliers to pinch and shape the small coil cuts from the 3mm tubing. I set them in each spot, checking the fit. At this point I wasn’t concerned about how it looked, just that the pieces fit and that I could get 11 coils in total. Now it was time to glue with the 2 part epoxy again. I stopped every three coils to check placement by loading the barrel with the bolt assembly. In the end, this is what I had. After filling in the remaining channel gaps with Magic Sculpt, I trimmed off the ends and behold, the springs are a reality! In all this was about 6 hours of work to complete. I took my time to make sure the coils would really look like a spring. I am very happy with the results. Going back to the scope, I took another detour and worked out my targeting reticle. I used the scanned image from the trooperbay sticker to get a general idea of how I wanted it to look. Then in Corel Paintshop Pro, a program similar to Photoshop, I broke out the reticle into three pieces. These were then printed onto decal paper and following the manufacturers instructions, I created decals to put onto clear styrene. Here you can see the test set laid out with the reflecter and lens. I then stacked the pieces onto the LED that will go into the scope on my test board and lit it up for a test run. It is difficult to see the 3-D effect from this picture, but in person the effect was very nice. I believe in the final installation I’ll use some Tamya Clear Green to paint that first layer by the LED to diffuse the light even more.

Once you lay down the paint templates you can brush on a thin layer of gloss white, it cuts down on the bleeding.

You could always add another rivet that will be hidden by the ears to get that bulge to "lay" down. I picked that up from some other builds