Madmartigan

Is there a difference in the top versus bottom of the kidney plate? The way I have it trimmed, it seems to flare a little more up and out on one side versus the other when held vertically and I'm sort of assuming that the more flared part would be the top to accomodate the wider part of the back. Make sense? -Chris

Got my Tandy Line 24 snaps there and they will more than do.

That's been my plan, at least.

Those ab buttons were for an FX upgrade. With ATA you'll be all set.

Definitely. Was going to see if he'd reply to the post first, rather than fill his PM box. You noticed I coined a new term? "Appling-like shine"?

So, I was really not happy enough with my first attempt at painting my TE2 bucket. It was okay....but not up to par with what I've seen from others. Last week, I sanded it down, hit it with the Painter's Touch white primer again, sanded that down with 800, 1000, 2000 until it was smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom.... Then I hit it with the Rusto Professional. Second attempt = Major improvement! The whole faceplate and the dome now have that Appling-like shine. But the frackin back is still dull. It's like 65-75% of the helmet is perfect and the last bit on the very back is not. Not sure why, since I painted the whole thing with the exact same technique and followed Mike's directions to the letter. I guess my question is: what now? It's been about 4 days. Can I spot paint and just hit the back part with another light coat and hope it works out? Should I add an acrylic gloss coat to the whole thing? I want the whole thing to look nice and it's not fair!! Advice? -Chris

That answers my question about whether Paul sculpted it into both.

Someone should seriously jump on sculpting it. Maybe not THAT big, but can you imagine a group of about 4-5 TKs in otherwise normal armor with those on??

Are you using a powered microphone? Does that need a battery change?

Doing the same. Those 25mm strips come in really handy closing up the shins!

Heehee....new avatar and siggy.

Did plenty of work over the last several days, though I didn't really document much of it. Knocked out the biceps and forearms on Day 2 -- after rough trimming everything on Day 1. Then over the weekend I got the calves together. Those are easily my least favorite part to do. Ended up ripping them apart and readjusting a couple of times -- thank goodness for E6000! And for Pete/Stukatrooper's pictorials! Here's where we are now: I might need a smaller helmet.... I love Photoshop. Working on the thighs today and maybe breaking out the Rusto to continue the repaint on my TE2 bucket. More to come! Chris

Been trying to get some armor from you for a while, Paul, so you know I'll be interested once this is ready! Maybe as a stunt set. I think you're motto should be: You can play football in this. The official TK armor of the NFL.

Great stuff, ain't it?

Actually, this isn't that suit. He built that for himself out of 1.5mm HIPS only, and then eventually put it on the Bay. That one was fully assembled, where you can see I have a ways to go. Chris offered to pull a suit for me if I ordered this plastic myself and had it sent to him. So, I did! Two sheets of 2mm and 1 sheet of 1.5mm. I've not seen any indication of where the 1.5mm suit ended up yet....

After quite a while of trying to acquire an armor kit -- including months waiting on my fully paid for Laws armor -- I decided to ask someone I consider to be a really good guy (if sometimes a little controversial) to do me a solid. I had an order of plastic sent to him and a short time later, I got this in the mail today: As far as I know, it is the only high gloss 2mm/1.5mm HIPS suit CAP has ever made. I think it's fair to say it's the only one in existence -- as I know there are both thinner 1.5mm ones and thicker mostly 2.5mm ones that have been made by others. But this, I think, is the perfect balance. I call it my CAP Signature TK Armor. It's fantastic! The larger pieces are high gloss 2mm HIPS that is very flexible, but incredibly sturdy while still being easy to trim with hobby scissors. Chris didn't have time to rough trim the pieces, so I got them almost straight off the molds. No matter -- took less than 2 hours with my Hobbyco plastic scissors to get to this state. And no painting!!! (YAY!!) I'll post more detailed pictures as I get it together -- including the helmet kit once he finishes pulling a good cap and back. Let's just say I'm thrilled and this now means I should be ready to apply for EIB inside of the next two months. Cheers! Chris

It's gorgeous, Pete. Fantastic job and an inspiration to those of us still working on pulling a suit together. Congrats!! -Chris

Brindil, Lidnirb, Vyndra -- Uldaman Horde. p.s. all of whom may get shelved when TOR hits.

I'm sure someone else may know better than me, but if you have the three bottle Novus kit, you may be able to take care of the heavy scratches with it and then buff it out to look pretty normal.

Thanks guys! Mark -- let me know if you have those Stomper t-tracks, though it may be cheaper to get some from Smitty since he's in the US. I actually took the plunge today and ordered some casting supplies from Smooth-On to cast my Eagle Hengstler. Since I needed to order supplies to cast my Gatchaman helmet I'm working on and may be casting a few other little things, I figured I might as well learn a little on something smaller. =) BTW -- I wasn't going to do a build thread per se, but might as well post some progress. I started with templates from the BBC and a Doopydoos PVC pipe buildup kit. But the PVC seemed bigger than the barrel of my MR E-11, so I went looking for other options at Home Depot. Came up with this: -------- It's a 22" waste pipe from the plumbing area. More expensive than PVC, so you want to get it right the first time (I didn't...and it cost me another trip. lol). But it's thin walled, so it's easy to work with when drilling all the holes. I used a uni-bit (after the holes were shoddy the first time with normal drill bits) and just marked with a Black sharpie the width above the 7/16" depth and it worked like a charm. Here's where it was when i started yesterday (below my modded MR). I've actually made more progress but haven't taken additional pictures yet: --------- What I love about this pipe is that 1) it's metal and really light and 2) with the 1.5 templates from the BBC, it's a dead on match for the MR diameter. Believe it or not, that's the Doppydoos front sight. I hated that it was once solid piece, so some very careful small drill holes, gentle hacksawing, filing, filling, sanding later and I have a nice two piece sight that is very close to an original. I've already mounted just about all the other parts and made a scope rail and Hengstler bracket. So, once I cast the Hengstler and get some t-tracks, it's just about time to paint! More to come! C

Yeah, Shiv -- what would you need to paint on AP armor? I'd think the Novus alone would be able to fix any small "mishaps". And a few dings can always be considered weathering. I would think the problem with painting is that you'll likely never find a perfect match. If it's the helmet, not a problem -- since the originals were painted white and didn't truly match the ABS armor anyway. But any other part, and you'd likely be signing yourself up to paint the whole kit.

Working on a pipe based blaster and I've already been using a Doopydoos conversion kit, but does anyone know where I can score the last few parts to complete it now that Tony/Stomper is on hiatus? Still need: One Resin eagle Hengstler Power cylinders -- 2 sets. Rather avoid the costly RussRep ones, and I can't find stuff to scratchbuild my own. T-tracks - 1 set Suggestions on materials to make the recoil spring inside I wish i had any talent at moldmaking and casting, since I have an original Eagle Hengstler. Just don't think I'd be able to do it justice and pretty sure I'd have to repaint it after using it to cast. TK506 seems to be out of stock on most stuff. Anyone else selling any of these? -Chris

I just checked their site and they are "exchange only". Call your CC company and tell them it was ordered by mistake by your son or something and get them to reverse the charges. You can do much better, but if they ship it you're stuck.

Nice! Now I don't have to look for film cases AND I can get a shiny sticker or other chotchkie!

Keep you eyes on eBay.uk., I suppose. Odds are they weren't taking them to join the 501st or to display.