Sentry71

TD complete! It turns out that my shortening of the tube, combined with an oversight of leaving the control panel at almost 4 3/4" instead of 4 1/2", tends to make the grey areas on the sides look rather narrow. I don't think it will be that big of an issue, but what do YOU think? Peel back the E6000 and reduce the panel, or let it go?

I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the suggestion, Aaron!

Tonight was TD night. I followed the recommendations from ukswrath (Trooper Dad to some, apparently, eh Jason?) on his thread here. The PVC pipe was cut down to 6 1/4" (from 7"), and the caps are 3/4" thick. Since the depressions on the caps are 1/2" deep, that should get me to the recommended width. 0.5" cap + 6.25" tube + 0.5" cap = 7.25" overall assembled length I haven't decided if I am going to try the boiling water trick to get the caps on (see the link above for a description). They seem to go on tightly but not so much that I need to stretch them, but I wonder if warming them and then putting them on the tube will prevent splitting later.

Plasti-dip comes in a spray as well. I used that on my helmet interior, and it gives a nice even rubber coating, though not as thick as the liquid.

You've put a lot of effort into your armor, and it will not go to waste there at MEPD. Good luck with your sandy!

Personally, I'm going with Velcro for shin closure. Yes, hooks are more screen accurate. But in the long run, no one will see the difference from the front.

Looks like you have the eyes and teeth cut just right. Excellent work!

I found that the decals didn't quite fit the impressions in the armor to my liking. The left rear trap fit ok, but the right was too big for the space it should have gone into. It is possible I had them backward. The tears also didn't seem to fit right, as if the decals were slightly too big for the impressions in the armor. Had I taken the time, I probably could have gotten the decals to sit right - I just decided that since I had the paints and the brushes, to give it a shot. I will say this - if you go with the paints, definitely get a good brush or two. They will make all the difference in your paint application. I picked up a cheap set of the Testors nylon brushes, and promptly ended up throwing them out. I couldn't control the edges of my lines. Instead, I found my paintbrushes from my WH40K miniatures, and used those. They worked much better.

Here's the most recent photos, including the stripes on the rear trap, and the tears. Ears are done also, but that photo didn't transfer.

Yesterday, I was able to finish trimming the excess plastic, to get to a "trimmed" set. No sizing has occurred yet, so that will come soon. With the nice weather today (before it drops 30 F tomorrow), I opened up the windows and got to painting. I think it turned out well, however: 1) I'm not sure if I need to get the black farther into the edges of the impressions, and 2) I am sure the black outlines need to be thinner. Before I do that, I wanted your opinions. What changes, if any, would you suggest?

Very funny! Did you have to get permission from the store before going in? Would love to do this!

There's a joke about enhancement in there, but I'm not going there.

Great advice, I'll hold off on shooting for 'final' return trimming until later. Thanks to you both!

After getting the return question figured out, I was able to finish up all four bicep pieces, and start on the forearms. I think I may still need to take some return off of the outer biceps.

Will do! Thanks for the tip.

Turns out I was overthinking it. I went through several threads, and found that most return edges on the arm sections are minimized or removed altogether. Good to know!

Aaron, I hope you didn't just break her with that reminder.

Great to see you have the box. Good luck, and we will help any way we can!

You will get help and encouragement to make it acceptable. Seeing your work on the blaster, I really don't think you have to worry about not being accepted - you have the eye for detail already. Thanks for sharing your story with us!

The post contents are just centered... I don't think it's Safari doing it, though. Maybe you hit one of the buttons in the editor? In any case, congrats on the two sets, and I'm definitely looking forward to how you two go about making these!

Possibly. Two extra parts though, and you would be right back on track. It's just a matter of knowing your alternatives. You have done such a great job so far, and this will turn out to be just a minor setback, once you get to the end. Take a break if need be, and come back to it when you are ready. We will be here to cheer you on and help in any way we can.

Looks just like my ANH holster. Great work!

First cuts were made tonight. Cutting out the drop boxes seemed straightforward enough, and were completed pretty quickly. Next, I worked a bit on the sniper knee plate. I think I need to take more off of the bottom, though. Next item that seemed to make sense to tackle was the biceps. As I was following the mold lines for cutting, I realized that I wasn't leaving much of a return edge on the bottom at all. This made me wonder if there are generally accepted rules (not necessarily in the CRL) about what is expected to have a return edge, and what is not. Looking through some Centurion applications, I found several with no return on the bottom of the bicep. I also noticed on Jinsei's thread, that most of the arm parts seem to have no return edge at all (including biceps at top and bottom). Am I overthinking this?

Do the other parts fit ok? If its just the chest, maybe you could get an AM chest and use that with the rest of what you do have?

PACKAGE!!! And inside... I did have to wait a little while longer due to getting the helmet trimmed, but the wait was well worth it. I love that everything was packed really well, and I am looking forward to the challenge of putting it all together.