themaninthesuitcase

I like to use "poor mans fibreglass" for repairs. It's quick and very solid. I try to tack the fabric in place first with a few dots, then once happy flood it afterwards. Don't be tempted to use accelerator though, it can yellow the armour.

Perfect is the enemy of done. Looks like you've done really well, and I look forward to seeing further iterations. Spoken as some one who can't ever leave things alone and has piles of versions of stuff literally next to him.

Welcome to the FISD Ben!

I've cleaned (the outside) my armour exactly once. It's covered in marks and scrapes. I know they are there but on a troop no one will notice them. Some spend hours cleaning and inspecting after each troop, I am not that person!

Hi welcome to the FISD Once you’ve had a look at the links above but before you buy anything head over to the UK garrison and have a chat with our armourer team with what you intend to do. This can help prevent any nasty surprises down the line. We’re pretty lucky to have some excellent armour makers in the UK so there will be some good options for you without needing to worry about import issues which is nice given the current state of things.

The best way I've used for this is to upload to YouTube and have them as an unlisted video. If you then copy the link here it should auto embed if you use a browser (not tapa talk) Nope, you'll need to keep it hidden I am afraid. Most people in the UKG have them inside the chest plate. I don't have a tramp (too spendy for me) but after a few options I've ended up with just a speaker in my chest and a mic. I don't worry about effects as they always ended up being more trouble than it was worth.

It's been super weird seeing peoples photos from MCM this year having not been there. Looks like you all had a good time and hopefully I'll be back with you next year.

Thanks Germain, I've got those now. Baked in or not the step file hopefully will be a bit easier than working on the raw meshes which can be really slow for tasks like Booleans and so on. If I need to make any further modifications I'll see how I get on with these.

How are you judging what it sounds like? What you are hearing in a helmet is nothing like what others hear. Are you taking video or similar?

It would be nice to have them if you don't mind! Some of the mods get very slow in fusion working with the meshes so if I was to go back again having the step would probably speed things up a lot!

Welcome to the FISD!

Hi Ben, Welcome to the FISD. I am also in Hertfordshire (Hemel) so any questions do feel free to PM me! I haven't done the new induction process as that's new this year but trooping I can help with! Trading cards wise there's 2 real options, we have UKG ones (here) and there are FISD ones (here). Personally I have UKG ones, if you want one drop me your address in a PM and I'll post you a couple. You may need some extra permissions for accessing them (which may need to you to complete the induction for the UKG) so if you have issues let me know. Guess I should go look up what the new induction process is! Chris. FISD DCOG and attaché for UKG.

There’s a long running issue with Thingiverse when you use download all where that happens on certain things. If you just download the individual files they should work just fine.

I have a printer so if you send some dimensions and stuff I can come up with something for you.

Those look good, a shroud could be knocked up to hide that gap.

12x12 square push is proving a hard to source. I found some "lens cap" style buttons but they are industrial style and you're looking at £7 ish each for the lense and a switch, and it's a bulky swich. Lot's of options at 15mm though, do you have some measurements from the printed ones? If you can use a momentary then you could probably use a small tactile and we could design a 3D printed Cap for it.

Bit of progress on this: I started to paint the grip section. First was 2-3 coats of satin black to act as the base coat. I then carefully masked this up to spray the white grips. I used a mix of Tamiya and Frog Tape for this. I like these as they stick well, don't really bleed but also come off easy when done. I then covered the bulk with some decorators masking film. I did a bit of a bad job on the butt and got some over spray I also had a few small corners that were tricky to mask and so were not as clean as I wanted in the tight corners. To fix the butt I carefully masked along the edges and then sanded with some 2000 grit to remove the worst and re-key the surface. I then just lightly dusted with more satin black until I got a nice finish. This has left a more of less seamless paint repair. To fix the smaller corners I sprayed some of the spray paint into a cup, you don't need to spray much as you get a surprising amount quickly. Then I used a small brush to touch up the bits I needed. The paint is pretty thin so you make need to do a second coat on a few bits if needed. If you want to re-use the brush then you'll need to use something like IPA to clean it before it dries and ruins the brush. I also painted the "Visor" (Sight?) assembly with satin black. I then added the wheel and pinned it in place with some brass wire. To cover the hole I used a drop of 3d printing UV resin and cured it with a small UV torch. This was then sanded flush, a small bubble filled and sanded again. A quick pass with the spray can and this part will be done. Finally after doing a new trigger for my F-11D I decided to do a new one for this too. It's based on a real Glock trigger, though a little simplified. I just wanted something a little more realistic looking as the supplied ones are a little chunky and this seems to be a nice medium. I've done a resin version, which needs to be cleaned, which will hopefully look a bit nicer. I've not decided if I will clear coat the white yet. The First order stuff is all gloss, but not a ultra high gloss. Basically "from the mould", not polished. The gloss paint seems to match this far better than a clear coated white but I'll be losing some durability this way. That said the un-clearcoated gloss black on my E-11 is still going strong after a few years so maybe it will be fine?

Hi Tom, There is a list of vendors we keep that has proved reliable before, and there’s currently one FO vendor listed. This isn’t by any means a complete list, having a look at the more recent build threads might also be helpful.

Prefect is the enemy of done. So I've been messing about again. With new trigger 1 in place I decided I preferred the placement of it to trigger 2 (the rear blocky one). So I wanted to make this the switch that activates the torch. I now am able to use both triggers with a switch should I want to, with would be brilliant for a full sound and light effects if you're into such things. I am not I just want the torch and the red LEDs to work. I've changed the new trigger to allow the use of a micro switch which works really nice. The biggest issue was securing it, I could have used glue or something like that but I wanted to be able to remove/replace it if needed with out having to reprint the part. After a lot of messing about I opted for two M4 grub screws which centre on the mount holes on the switch. Sadly these will be visible from the outside but will be on the body side, and black in a black part so you will need to look for them to see them I think. The micro switch fits along the length of the blaster so the trigger will act on the switch nicely. The positioning is just perfect so that the switch will also act as the return spring, and gives about 3-5mm of trigger travel. It's not a huge pull but it's enough to know you're doing it. The extra big hole in the above part is to allow wires to come through from trigger 2 if needed. The microswitch being offset gives the room for the wires. Once sanded the holes blended in a bit nicer, I've tapped them M4 with a tap so the grub screws go in nice and easy and should mean the paint won't get trashed at assembly. The rear barrel will sit above the black part so I've updated it to add the extra holes for the wires from both the triggers to be able to come through. This is printing as I type. I also did an inventory and have noticed I either never printed or lost a few parts so I'll need to get those printed.

Use a drill in short blasts letting the rivet cool regularly. A damp cloth to help cool it won't hurt either. If you let it get too hot it will warp or even melt out.

Looking at your account there should be 60 posts, does that sound right? Your build thread is here:

I did some sanding today between jobs and decided it was time to glue the "folding stock" parts together. The seam needs to be filled, but I actually got a pretty good line with just the glue so filling shouldn't be too labourious. I also decided to re-model "Trigger 1" whilst I am mucking about with fusion. The supplied one is a big blocky and chunky and I'm not a fan of it. I saw in a Facebook group some one did one based on a real one so I did the same. Now I am no gun nut so I just googled and ended up using an H&K MP5 as a basis. Now it's not exactly canon but it looks better, will hopefully feel better and also I could add a switch if I want to. There should be room for a small tactile switch, though a micro switch would be better. I did rotate the angle from the reference image to match the model as I'll need room to get to trigger 2 but I'll do a test print and see how it goes. Again I've only ever used 1 fire arm in my life so don't expect too much here, I just wanted something a little more realistic.

And we are back in business! E3D delivered the parts nice and fast but it was project time that was short. I rebuilt the whole print head with new plastics and it's gone together much better as the parts were better printed this time. I've printed and rough sanded the new TLJ style rear barrel (with some extra holes), a new Hengstler bracket (also with extra holes) and the TLJ End cap (not sanded). I recently swapped to use esun PETG and it's proving to sand really nicely, considerably less work than the PLA and PLA+ I have previously used. I also quickly threw the back end together for a rough preview and I think it's come out really nice. I need to print the new clip but that means swapping the resin in the Elegoo Mars which is just a faff so I keep putting it off. I also need to check I actually have enough black resin left. Really all that's left now is a few coats of filler primer on the new parts and getting it all smooth then final colour and electronics. So another 24 months then? In seriousness there isn't a huge amount left that's not filling and sanding. The electronics will more be a case of fitting, and ordering a the connectors I need for that. Winter is indeed coming so not sure how I'll work around the cold and wet but I'd like this done by spring now if I can.

Hi Frank, The forums software was updated recently and the need to use email was changed by that, it's not something we can control unfortunately. If you PM me we can go through and validate some details and then get your old account back. Thanks.

Thanks Glen I meant to add the link when I posted but clearly forgot!