Stormageddon

For some reason I can't get the images to work, the site just keeps freezing. I did get the back sorted. It was me just being overly anxious. Once I added the strapping and glued the shoulder covers on it looks ok. My main worry about reshaping the wrist is that I'll deform the rest of the forearm in the process and it'll be a write off. As it is I can use it, so I might just leave it for now. If I try for EIB I'll have to address it. I'm working on the legs right now. I just trimmed the back of the shins and found that the left one was a bit tight. I lucked out as it still fits, but I need to be a bit more careful. Free time is hard to come by, so I tend to rush.

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://s1377.photobucket.com/user/markl9999/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsnju9zu8e.jpeg.html' class="bbc_url" title="External link"><img src="http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah47/markl9999/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsnju9zu8e.jpeg" alt="image_zpsnju9zu8e.jpeg"></a><br><br><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://s1377.photobucket.com/user/markl9999/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps4g2ze5uw.jpeg.html' class="bbc_url" title="External link"><img src="http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah47/markl9999/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps4g2ze5uw.jpeg" alt="image_zps4g2ze5uw.jpeg"></a><br><br> So I'm back on the job after a long hiatus. I now need to address the left forearm again. I would like to reshape the wrist opening to make it rounder. I had trimmed off too much from one side so I don't think I can just pull it apart and retrim it. I was about to try hot water, but thought I'd ask the resident genius pool for ideas first. <br> I've made quite a bit of progress on other items, will post images later.

After a bit of a pause due to life etc... I've gotten a bit further. I think I need to pull apart the left forearm and trim some more. The wrist opening is pretty narrow vertically, but I can live with it if I can reshape the opening to look rounder. I'm also having trouble with the chest and back plate where they meet at the shoulders. I know they shouldn't touch, but the width of the front part, that'll lay under the plastic straps, looks really off compared to the back. I was following a build thread where the rear was trimmed to match the front. I think now, that they had older shaped pieces. My question is whether this is how it should look and I should stop whining, or whether I have work to do. I haven't been able to find any good pictures to compare to yet. Once I have this sorted, I'll be able to line up the shoulder bells and finish the arms. I'm waiting til my boots arrive before doing the shins.

Ok problem solved. I took the arms apart and glued then back but starting with the more curved, front, side. The back was straighter and fit flush. The biceps went together nicely but I think they may be a little big at the top. I'll post pics later.

Hmmm, makes me wonder if i can use the heating iron i got that i was going to use on return edges. I think it'll be alright after some work, but not what I was expecting right at the start. I also just found out the the snaps i have have to long a post for the size of the strapping i'm using. Looks like all my coats and shirts will be getting new snaps at some point.

So first major hiccup. I glued the firearms one side at a time using an interior shim. I find that I can't make the last edge flush as it won't bend around the shim enough. There is a distinct ridge that even stacked magnets can't pull together. The shims don't seem that wide so I must've messed up the trim if the arms somehow. Hopefully the dremel and cover strip will cover the problem.

Finally got round to glueing. I need a lot more clamps if I'm going to make any decent progress, but I think 100 magnets might suffice. This is all taking a lot longer than I'd hoped. Mainly because I'm paranoid about messing it up. I'm pretty much following Navajo Bro's build thread, with many others used as reference. I'm probably going to do the thighs and shins next, followed by the chest. I want to be able to get to the shoulder bells soon, as I think they'll need a lot of work.

I trimmed the forearms and they feel good. How do you trim them for length? I was going to cut a curve out so I can bend my wrist, a little like the cut out so you can bend your arm. Would it be better that way, or to just cut back the whole bottom of the forearm keeping the opening flat? I also trimmed the biceps. Having done some more reading, I think I'll bring the tops in a bit more. That part isn't visible and I read that it can push out the shoulder bells if it's too wide. On that subject, how did you size your shoulders? Just by trial and error and trimming incrementally? I think I'll have to shorten them and also make them a little narrower too.

So, first cuts..... Looks like I need to taper the left a lot more. Should i take it off the inside piece or the outside? I was a bit cautious as I was a bit worried about fitting the handguard through the wrist hole.

I don't need them, so if anyone's interested pm me. Also, for any of the other sandtrooper pieces . I sounds pretty scary right now. My aim is to cut the absolute minimum, so that I have less chance of messing up. It looks like I may have to trim the shoulder bells too, but we'll see.

So after receiving it, I did a lot more reading and think I'll be doing a lot of trimming. I had assumed the sizing was more to do with girth, rather than height, I'm 5'8" 180lb and dropping.... I think I'll be learning to do the dreaded return edges after all. I do have a few questions, which hopefully won't sound too dumb. Firstly, can anyone confirm whether or not the chest plate is ok for centurion? I have no idea if I'll even get close to that, but it'd be good to know. Also, I'm not 100% on which way around the shoulder bells go. The ridge has a definite angle to it, so should it be pointing forwards or backwards? It looks like there's a bulge on one side and it's flatter on the other side of the ridge, so I imagine the bulge goes to the front. Finally, for now, should I do the arms and body before doing the legs? It seems like it'd be easier to size the thighs while wearing the cod and butt pieces.

------------- Here's the more or less finished bucket. I had some trouble with the ears, but my main issue was that I wear glasses and they pushed up against the lenses. I switched out the acetate for a harder material, the rectangular face protector type, plus added thicker padding above the eyes. This pushed the helmet forwards and even with my larger frame glasses, they don't rub on the lens andymore. I'm reducing the batteries for the 5V fans to 2 instead of 4 each. I'm hoping that will make them quieter, but still should move a decent amount of air together. Still no voice changer, but I'll probably end up with the Rom/fx at some point. I really wanted everything in the helmet, so may have to go with mic tip speakers too. It's all starting ti add up to a pretty sum now. I have my order in for the rest of the suit and hope to have that just after Christmas. Just finished my Hasbro/Doopy conversion too, so I'll add a couple of pics of that at some point.

I have no idea how to rotate the images......

I spent last night assembling it, the ears were a huge pain. I think I must've messed up gluing the cap and dome as the brow is very wonky. I had to realign the brow trim to hide it, but the material is almost hanging off at the left ear. There are gaps around both ears, but not too bad I think. If I say I'm going for screen accurate, that might help disguise some of my mistakes. I have the hard hat liner to go in next, but was wondering if people prefer to use foam padding instead? It might be a bit of a pain to line up the tabs for the liner so that the helmet sits right. I imagine the foam would be a lot more forgiving to work with.

Just trimmed the teeth, which was a bigger pain than I thought it'd be.I should probably trim them a little more but I think I'll wait a little until I've made some progress on other parts. There is a lump on the right eye socket and some more in the right Mic socket. I'm not sure how to deal with them yet.

Edit

I ordered just the helmet as I want to take it all slowly. As long as I'm prepared for DragonCon 2016 I'll be happy.<br> I like what I see so far from the kit. I just started drilling out the teeth and the ABS is a bit tougher than I was expecting so I went out and bought a cordless dremel. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I found a couple of tutorials but I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions. Given this is my first attempt, I'm unsure how strong the E6000 bond will be, for example to fit the hard hat liner. <br> Anybody near Suwanee with some time on their hands?<br> I also have a Hasbro blaster with the Doopydoos conversion on the way. I'm very excited to get going.