ehinote2187

So, on to more of my build. I wanted to start on the bucket because I love helmets. Here's some progress pics of my helmet build. The ear gaps I'm particularly proud of. At first, there was quite a gap. But, after trying to refit over and over, I put the ear pieces back on and decided to very gently heat up the plastic around the ear gaps with a heat gun, used a towel to form it better to the contour of the ears. I think it came out well. So, after many tries and fittings, I think I got a good shape of the helmet down. On to putting on the cap! Voila! Now for painting the helmet details! First, the vocorder. Looks nice, huh? I used the base decals that came with the kit so I wouldn't have to do too much detail work (hehehe). I did paint in the stripes into the cheeks and back. As you can see, I was able to largely align the stripes on the cheeks and back. I have since gone back and cleaned them up, made them more symmetrical, and fixed the ones that are just horribly out of alignment. I'll post a pic of it fixed later. I went on to fix the shims as they were assembled wrongly by my "friend" long ago. Added shims to the back, heat formed it to contour it better, and got the back cover strips on. I'l be doing more work to blend the paint better (Had to paint in order to get the color to match better with the shims) with the rest of the ABS. Attaching sniper plate! That's all for now. I'll take some more progress pics tonight and get them all uploaded and posted here. Wheee!

Hello everyone! Just getting this thread started to show y'all my progress. I've got an AM kit, bought 2 years ago, and am finally building it. I decided to go ESB because it isn't done much far as I know in Houston/Star Garrison. I'll be posting pics of it later when I get on my desktop, but I've gotten most everything done on the upper body and legs. I'm currently adding shims to my thighs so they'll fit lots better. The only thing that isn't done is my lower torso, but as soon as I get more snaps and webbing in, I'll be fitting it to my body and add in shims. I'm quite a large guy, so you'll be seeing lots of shimming on my armor, but I think it is going well. Here's a few pics to start off: These are my biceps after having to fix them. A guy was helping me with my armor when I first got it, but he didn't measure my arms when he put them together. After much research here I got them apart and put shims in to fit better. Also, I won't be going for EIB or Centurion unless it isn't too far off and only needs minor tweaks. I just want to get in the 501st and have fun. I do appreciate any advice! Thanks for looking!

I recently painted my vocoder. I looked at many screen caps to determine how to go about it (and many were different from each other). I used a fine tipped brush to paint the outline. I followed the curves of the raised parts as the basis for the outline. Then I filled the rest in with a 3/4" flat brush. In another thread on what paints to use, it originally pointed to a gloss black, but it has since been deemed inaccurate to use gloss black. I had a bottle of Testors Semi-gloss Black #1139 on hand, so that's what I used. Hope this helps.

Glad you're back! Your videos have helped ease me into getting my armor done. Thank you so much!

How much of a gap is there supposed to be between the ear pieces and the helmet?

Excellent. Thank you.

What paint color did you use for the pipe?

Andrew, It's not that I'm ruining the snaps (I've figured a good 5 hammerings gets a good snap bounded), it's that I'm using a lot with various projects I have going on. But I didn't know that about the rounded vs squared anvil. All the boundings I've done did the round taper thing. And as is, I'm running out of snaps, so I don't want to go and experiment without more snaps. But I'm willing to try something that has better security!

Ah, very good. Thank you! Yeah, I have it together with some tape right now, and it looks.. off. I'll look over your build and see what I can do.

Biceps are *hopefully* finished! BEHOLD! You can see inside the shims I put in to expand them, and while I had extra slurry, I put it in all around them for extra security. What do y'all think?

Hello everyone! First, I'd like to say, if you saw my 'Expanding Biceps' topic, they are painted and look great! I'll post some pics of them tomorrow or something. I thought I'd try and get started on my new bucket as the old AM helmet is no longer approvable. I got the AM 2.0 Helmet, and am just looking at it. Is it really that easy to assemble? 1) Seems like the sides are easy to put together, as there are guide holes/notches. I just drill them out and bolt together? 2) Does the top/dome get glued down everywhere it touches on the front and back plates? It looks like the brow strip gets fitted to the front of the dome, so I assume it gets glued to the piece sticking waaay up onto the dome. If I can think of anymore questions, I'll post them. And if none of my jargon makes any sense, I'll post pics to point out what I'm talking about.

I'd be interested to know. I've been going through snaps like crazy! (multiple projects)

The link I posted above is after the expanding, filling, and sanding. Yet to be painted. I'm very pleased how they turned out. I'm about to go to get some bondo and paint to start finishing it up. And it wasn't so bad to me. I've built 5 proton packs before. Damn things are nearly all bondo/filler hahaha.

Progress! I have fixed my biceps a great deal. I got back to work and got them apart, chopped off the fold over joints, shaped them a bit better with a heat gun, glued in expansion pieces, filled in the seams with ABS slurry, sanded them down, and put on cover strips. They are sanded down now waiting to be painted. I may do a bit more filling with some bondo, but as of right now, it's not all bad to look at.

Awesome! I got back to work today (last night actually) to try and fix my biceps. I nearly did what you did, but instead used an array of leftover ABS plastic I have to expand my biceps. Needless to say, there will be slurry/bondo/epoxy filling/painting required, but I am confident I can do that. They're now a good shape for my biceps, but I may need to reshape them just a bit for them to fit just right. They kind of look rectangle-ish right now, but I like how they fit better now.

I was at it today trying to get the pieces apart only to be met with the knife I was using to separate them with my hand. It got lacerated (5 stitches, yay!). Needless to say, I will be not working on much for a bit. Looks like I'll need to be getting a butcher's glove. I did it all for the glory of the Empire. lol

Thank you! I think I know of a way to use the folded over cover to give me more room on my biceps using the tips you gave me. I'll think about it some more, and I'll let you know how it turns out. And it was glued together with ABS adhesive. I've already separated one of my thighs because of some tweaks I have to do. It was nerve wracking, but I got it cleanly off.

Hello everyone. I acquired my armor around 2 years ago, but it has been shelved for a long while. I'm now getting back to assembling it for all the fun and shenanigans that will be happening the next few years. My biceps were assembled by someone else that did "typical" measurements (he just did them without measuring my biceps). They were tight then, and they're just as tight now. What are some ways to expand the biceps? I've heard of using a heat gun with a towel wrapped around the bicep to expand it. I've been thinking of popping the seams and redoing them with extra plastic glued to the main pieces. Yes, I know filling them will need to happen on the seams, but I can do it. What do you all think? Pictures for reference: