tompko

Thanks for the pointers, I didn't get a huge amount of time today, but minus the internal padding the helmet is done

My armourer at the UKG reckoned that my tube stripes were a little large, and after a bit of trawling through here it looks like pandatrooper gives a different size for the templates than they should be. The template thread reckons they should be 13/16" (~21mm), but the desired size seems to be about 15-16mm. Are they different for different films? Are mine now too small? Are pandatrooper's too big? Is the RS helmet tiny? Are my measuring instruments too big? If anyone more knowledgeable could chime in, thanks! I finished most of the painting on the helmet today, the vocoder, tube stripes, trap and tear stripes. I could probably spend the next few weeks tweaking the painting, but if you see anything particularly egregious please let me know. I also made a start on the strapping in the back, it'll soon be time to break out the sewing machine! For the screws on the helmet the CRL says "Ear screws shall be slotted, flat topped, countersunk and painted white.", which mine are but, should they be countersunk in to the plastic? I looked through the helmet shots in the gallery and starwarshelmets but couldn't find a clear answer. Some of the helmets look like the screws have been left proud, and some look like they've been countersunk and then painted in place. I have the same question about the screws for the strapping, again I've looked through the galleries but couldn't find shot which makes it obvious.

After TheSwede's suggestion I stripped the top half of the vocoder off with some white spirit and I'll repaint it when I do the vertical lines in the traps and tears. Today I got the grey done on the traps, tears, ears, and frown. I used pandatrooper's tube stripe templates to create a mask and painted the tube stripes, they still need a little tidying, but I'm pretty happy with them overall. Finally I trimmed down the pieces of the thermal detonator and glued the panel and one end cap in place. I'm not sure how much time I'll get during the week, but hopefully I can get the painting on the helmet finished, and maybe start on the forearms.

You're right, I was following the contours on the RS vocoder, but I can ignore them and sharpen it up.

Thanks for the encouragement one and all. I managed to get some time to work on the helmet today, started out giving it a rough trim and then riveting it together. Then I trimmed the ears and attached one of them, unfortunately one of the long bolts won't accept a nut, so the other ear is still loose. I think the other ear is probably still a bit thick, but I'll wait till the new bolt arrives before having another go at it. Finally I outlined the traps, tears and ears, and painted the vocoder. Tomorrow should be more painting, and maybe a rough trim of some of the rest of the armour.

Two brown boxes, one large, one small arrived from RS for me today, unfortunately the small brown box with my tools in is still on its way, so after a quick inventory all the pieces went back in the box for another few days. Boots, holster, neck seal, and undersuit are all still winging their way to me too. I'm aiming for Centurion, and I've been poring through the EIB, and Centurion forums trying to pick out every little detail I'll need to have. If you have any hints or tips, or notice me doing anything not quite right I'll gratefully accept your advice. Hopefully the tools should arrive before the weekend so I can get started on the helmet then!