Addertime

After much self-deliberation, I decided to add the knurling as Tino suggested. I didn't want to do it, I wanted to move on but in the end, Kev's words kept haunting me.

Amazingly authentic. I'm still in awe at the weathering and aging techniques you used.

Definitely going. It'll be worth the jet lag.

It's the nature of armor. I used to do medieval reenactment and very few people could put on their armor without help.

Lookin' good!

I thought orange peel was screen accurate... Enamel is tricky stuff. It will not blend flawlessly as it doesn't melt the layer below once cured. This makes it hard to to spot touch ups since you can't really feather the edges. As you have a light area to cover also, gently sand the orange peel until it's no longer obvious and evenly respray the whole area.

Stormy's favorite piece is the sniper knee. Sorry for the couple of blurry shots. I didn't have my glasses on when I took these photos and they all looked great on the 1" camera monitor.

After I posted my BBB photo last night. I put it aside. It was late and I was dead-tired after a trying week. I puttered around and did a few things and then, as I was heading downstairs to bed, I decided that I needed a "win". So I went back up and sliced the tape on my BBB. Now, I fully intended on doing the whole ceremonial unboxing thing but I was too beat and just wanted to see my new kit. Opening the box, I recognized Paul's packing from other TM build threads. It felt instantly familiar having seen it numerous times here on Whitearmor.net. I carefully cut the tape and unwrapped the first bundle. As the pieces emerged, I began to get very excited and by the time I finished the bundle, I felt very emotional. I sat there on the floor, looking at the formed plastic arm I was holding and thought, "Wow. I've waited for this moment for 40 years." I really didn't know I would feel that way but it was an unexpectedly powerful moment for me. I continued through the unpacking and in the end sat there marveling at how cool it all was. The workmanship and attention to detail even in the packing were very impressive. I went to bed a very happy guy. In the morning when I awoke, I wished I had documented the unpacking. I felt like I missed out on being able to relive those moments... but then I also wondered if the documentation might has made the process more clinical and less of a visceral experience. We'll never know but I took some photos tonight as I repacked the box to have room for my ongoing blaster build, among other projects, and will begin the build in earnest very soon. So, here they are, the bits and bobs that will become the TK.

Thanks Tino! Your 2014 thread was part of my inspiration.

Today was BBB day! It was unexpected as I had picked up a package earlier in the day and was told by the mailroom that there was nothing else for me today. Near closing time, the secretary who usually picks up my mail IM'd me and said the mailroom told her I had a large box waiting and it was too big for her to carry. I went back down and was again told there was nothing for me but I was invited in to look around for myself. I poked around a bit and then I saw a pile of courier packages which needed signatures. I saw a large box with a few smaller ones on top and as I moved them, was ecstatic to see my name on the tag and Paul's as the return address. I then noticed that it had arrived last Friday! Still, I was riding high so I let it go but I was really glad I took the time to look myself. So, now it begins, my first armor build, and I can't wait until I have time to dive into it!

Good stuff! The rear sight came out nice and the mag housing is similar to my own as I used 1mm aluminum and needed to add thickness too.

Yep. They're big. I get tired just watching myself lug them around in SW Battlefront. Looking forward to seeing your build.

The second attempt looks great! I'm at about this same point in my scratch build and find this inspiring. I went all aluminum on the mag housing and was planning to leave the top blank since the power tube assembly covers it almost completely but I may rething my plan now that I see what you did here.

This is such an epic build. Not only was this thread the primary inspiration for my scratch build, but the plans were invaluable. Thanks for this, ZeroRoom!

Interesting stuff Tr00per. The finish examples I've seen online are all over the map and this explains a lot.

Thanks, and yes... er... no... um... Heh! I have a great knurled, steel knob which I was thinking I might use to create the effect after-the-fact using putty like I saw in a few other builds but after I finished this piece, I realized I probably could have used a soft hammer toe tap the knob at I rolled it along the flat aluminum piece. I like this idea a lot and may have to redo this piece for that reason. We'll see. I'll think about it and move on to something else for the moment.

The Tube - Part 3 Front Sight Guard Time to create: 45 minutes Cost of materials: €0.40 After making a couple of plastic versions as tests, I decided to create this piece from 2mm aluminum for durability and really, because I find aluminum far easier to manipulate than plastic. I bought a piece of 30cm x 50cm x 2mm aluminum at the hardware store for about 8 euros and it's been a great material with which to work. I spray glued my plan piece and adhered it to the substrate, as always, and then locked the piece in the vise. I cut the shape using a cheap jeweler's saw I got from Amazon. I tried a few different cutting methods and the jeweler's saw proved to be the best way to cut very close rough cuts with no deformation and I love the narrow kerf. After cutting, the fine shaping was done with small files and sandpaper. I spray-glued some sand paper to a dowel for shaping inside cuts. The shaped piece was bent with care while locked in the vise. I made a balsa form when I shaped the plastic prototype and used the form as a guide for my aluminum guard. A few times back and forth from the vise to the form and the piece was pretty close. The sight is next but I'm still waffling on whether to build it like a real one and cut a slot in the tube or to cut a semi-circle out of the base block. ____________________

Yeah... the end cap is a piece I'm still debating for my build. If I only had a lathe again. Anyway, digging the build and your work on the folding stock has given me hope as I've been losing sleep over how to create it.

Thanks. I drilled a small hole where the lug will be to help with the attachment.

That looks pretty nice. I look forward to seeing how the electronics work out.

Outstanding and inspirational work all around. Love the finishing techniques!

The Tube - Part 2 Ejection Port and Muzzle Guards Time to create: 20 minutes Cost of materials: €0.00 The ejection port and muzzle guards were cut from a tiny piece of scrap 20mm pvc conduit from the trash bin. It was a good way to go as the pieces were already curved and required very little shaping. I cut the pattern and as always, used spray glue to adhere the pattern pieces to the tubing. I used aviation snips to cut the rough shapes. Then a bit more snipping and some final shaping with sandpaper. Lastly, I adjusted the curve with pliers and test fitted to a piece of pipe. Perfect fit! Here's what they look like on the tube. I used JB Weld for the attachment and will go back with a second application later to create a fillet resembling a real weld. _____________

Thanks all for the encouragement. More to come!

Several months ago I was looking for a project. I used to build things for a living and now I work in a more virtual environment. I was nostalgic for a hands-on, low-tech build of something... anything... and finally set my sights on an E-11 largely due to the amazing depth or resources available here on FISD. The criteria for the build were simple... create something cool with easily obtained materials and simple tools, build it with very little cost, have fun doing it and do it all without annoying the neighbors. I created a small shop in the corner of my basement storage and armed with a dremel, cordless drill and hand tools, began creating my new toy. I've been working on it for an hour here and an hour there since late January and it's about halfway done. I figured it was about time to unveil my progress. Sadly, I didn't look at my build photos along the way and a lot of them weren't very good so I'll just cover the highlights of the build up to this point and try to be more diligent as the project goes forward. I'm formatting each aspect with time, cost and a description of what I did. The "Time to build" does not include r&d or do-overs and the "Cost of Materials" is based on the amount of material used for the actual build and doesn't include tools purchased or failed experiments. These numbers are basically the, "If I had it to do over tomorrow, I could build for this." So... here we go... _______________ The Tube - Part 1 Time to create: 4 hours Cost of materials: €0.75 I went with a standard pipe build using readily PVC electrical conduit. I wanted the appropriate wall thickness of a real Sterling and schedule 40 PVC seemed way too thick. I found a perfect tube on my first outing and purchased a 2 meter piece of tubing for €2.95 Using a plans found on this forum, I imported the .pdf files into CorelDRAW and redrew them using the imported images for scale. I wanted the seam on the bottom instead of the top, as they were originally created, in case the seam didn't line up perfectly... and it didn't. There was a slight overlap and lining it up was more challenging than anticipated. I drew a line on the pipe (cut to length) and taped the plan along one edge to the pipe and spray glued the paper plan rolling around the tube after spraying and giving the glue a moment to tack up. I drilled the vent holes using the stepping technique and all went fine until I hit a snag toward the end... my drill index used to go with my 1/2" chuck drill press I used to use in my old shop and my 3/8" cordless drill wouldn't accept the last four sizes I needed to use... After a bit of thought, I decided to just try reaming the holes by hand to reach the appropriate bit size. I wrapped a piece of cloth around the bit and bore only took a few twists to bring it up to size. I advanced through the last few bits and got all the holes to the correct sizes. Granted, it took another hour plus and I felt it in my forearms for a few days bit, short of buying new drill bits (which I considered), it was my best option. I scored through the plan with an Xacto knife to indicate the postions of the various other pieces such as the sights, ejection port, etc. and then cut the ejection port, and charging slot by drilling a starter hole and then repeatedly scoring the lines with an Xacto knife. I left the magazine side intact and would later drill a hole for wiring the electronics. __________________

SW Battlefront is a daily, or rather nightly, event in my house.