wook1138

Looks great, Eric! You might as well Velcro both boots/shins - depending on what you are doing during a troop, they can both shift around a bit. The Velcro does a solid job of keeping them lined up nicely.

Great job. the only thing that stood out to me was your forearms are riding a bit low. And the belt is a little low too. Easy pass for basic.

Have my first troop with my TD this weekend. I tried on my backpack tonight. I’m not too sure about trooping with it since there will be some thick crowds. Of course that means attaching the shoulder pouch to... what? I’ve decided to use a small elastic strap to wrap around my arm and magnets to hold it in place. Drilled 3/4 hole in wood “ammo clip”. Inserted a couple of magnets. Duct tape another magnet to inside of chest. It holds its position without any other support - sort of. Still need the strap around the arm. Two sets of magnets might hold it in place without any other support. Might. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have the 25 gallon one as well. I second everything Cricket said. And it fits in most small cars.

LOL When a trooper starts making the "to do" list, you know they are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, what's the next build?

This build just gets more and more interesting. Nicely done!

Had a small troop today, so that was good. My voice electronics failed again, so that sucked. But I think i conditionally finished my t21, so that is good. Added the tubing greeblie with some blue wire (sacrificed some cat5 wire). Added sling. Added coil wire. Just need weathering and one other thing. I put a couple of elastic bands around the barrel shroud. I’ve seen other builds where people use tubing. I think it is a bracket for a bipod. The elastic bands are temporary. Screen shot Actual Lewis gun. I will shape a piece of plastic to wrap around the barrel some time in the future. I also picked up some fuel line to test if I can fit it on the corrugated surface without looking ridiculous. My weapons locker is expanding. New member of the family. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think imperial boots are taking orders right now.

Thanks! I'm very happy with how the paint job worked out - first time trying this method. In fact, I like it so much I'm hesitant to troop with it.

At this rate you should have time to spare! Great progress and it looks great!

T21 finally painted and assembled. Just need to add a few greeblies and sling. And clear coat. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats on your BBB day, Mason! And happy early birthday. If you have any questions about that daunting box of white plastic, just ask... we are here to help.

Backpack adjustments. I knew I wanted to trim some length from the mortar tube, but to remove it and make adjustments I had to remove the upper section. I couldn’t access this screw... So the whole thing came off. I also wanted the radar dish to sit closer to the lower end cap. It’s position was good compared to the bottle so it meant I had to trim some off the bottom of the mortar tube as well as the top. I also added a black backing to the dish. Once the tube was unscrewed from the frame, I removed the control panel and chopped off the ends with a miter saw. I had some spare end caps from a thermal detonator. Before So, at the end of the day I adjusted the mushroom cap, shortened the mortar tube, replaced the 3D printed end caps, repositioned (sort of) the radar dish and added a black backing, painted screw in dish white, changed the spacing between the upper end cap and control panel, and fixed the canteen. After Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think I found my preference with the t21 weathering. I’m going to stop here for now. Clear coat and add detailing. The clear coat is going to mess up the cool dirty look it has but I guess it is a necessary evil. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would drill a small hole at the terminus of the crack. Then reinforce the back with another piece of abs. Then perhaps some abs paste to tidy up the crack and hole.

I might divert from screen accuracy. The onscreen t21s looked to be painted black. Actual Lewis guns looked pretty worn. I’ll darken the body a bit, but I like this weathered and worn look that I’m getting with oil paints. I can’t take this blaster to SWAT because of the tubing (or lack thereof) so I might leave it more worn looking. I have to figure out a good method for clear coating. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking great! Those shins really worked out. Nice work! My right thigh did the same thing. I had to glue the bottom half first due to the slight curve of the return edge. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Backpack. So to get level 2 approval, a trooper needs a pack. Although the Docking Bay captain does not have one, the Cantina Capt does, so I purchased a #3 (standard) backpack from CrookKnight. He had a May 4th sale that made it too hard to pass up on. Anyway, the pack arrived today. The pack came very well... packed. Took me awhile to get to the actual pack. However, as impressive as the packing efforts were - it was no match to the brutality of the Post. The plunger head came off - which is fine since it should be mounted at a bit of an angle anyways (which I was going to do if not done so already). One of the seed trays was cracked on the bottom. Again - a little black tape and it will look probably even more screen accurate. A screw for the canteen fell out. I found the screw in the packing, but realized it was probably a little too short anyways - so I'll put in a longer one. I do have another canteen to replace the 3D printed one at some point down the road. So anyway, the pack is pretty sweet. It saved me a ton of work of finding and putting this stuff together. That said, I might make a few changes to make it more screen accurate. I'm not taking this pack to SWAT (if that happens), so I won't go really crazy. I have no idea what is actually required of the pack for PO (L2) but I guess I will find out. The changes I might make are: add small disc to top of lab pipe (upper left circle in pic) mount the plunger at an angle (dashed line showing exaggerated orientation) cut the mortar tube down a bit or lower the whole thing if possible. the white caps are 3D printed, I have ABS ones if needed. I might augment the bee stinger and make it a bit shorter (lower mid of pack) the radar dish (?) or tupperware lid needs a black backing to it and should sit a little lower on the mortar tube. As you can see, a few things are a little high or a little low compared to the reference pic. But I really can't complain, I could just weather this guy and go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Painting T21 wood parts. So I guess a person has a choice with the grips and butt of the T-21. black, or bakelite look, or wood look. I like the wood look so that is what I'm going to do. at the end of the day, it will be very dark so it doesn't stand out as wood - like most of the reference pics. I use a method of applying many washes of acrylic paint to make it look like wood. So starting, mask the area off. The black is primer. Paint white strips with various amounts of water. By the way, I'm using vallejo acrylic paints so water is the thinner. I even used my finger to run the white in to make the streaks. This base layer will dictate the direction and look of the wood grain. Now,this looks crazy but it works. I paint a bunch of different, bright colours in washes. I just slap it on any way, following the brush stroke direction of the white. This will give the brown washes, that I will add later, some more life and variation. I took 80 grit sandpaper to it and scratched it down to the primer and occasionally down to the black plastic below. I add a layer of light brown to neutralize things a bit. Then I sanded again very lightly. I started added washes of brown. Starting with brown mixed with red, and then brown mixed with black. Keep on adding washes of brown with various tones. My final wash was pretty much black to give the wood a nice aged look. then I removed the masking tape. ready for the next step - darkening the metal parts. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mail arrived! I’ll post more info later. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice work, trooper. Easy pass for basic.

This looks great. Nice work. I am considering an E-11D from them. I wanted something a little more durable than strictly a 3D print for trooping. Love the lounge!

You are making great progress. Nice work! Be sure to check out the snap setting tutorial in the "how to" section. And get a snap setter that has the sliding sleeve part that helps keep the snap in place. It'll save you some grief.

Hi Mark. My first build was an AP kit - my second build was an AP kit - what I'm trying to say is that you will be very happy with your kit. For the most part, it goes together fairly easy. AP has put together a very nice and inclusive kit. The only things I didn't see on your list were S-Trim, fans, and a darker lens for your bucket. I got all this stuff from Trooperbay. Mark provides a lens - which is screen accurate - but it is too transparent in person and allows people to see your eyes. He also provides split rivets and some other screws and snaps for any visible hardware. As already mentioned, post lots of pics and ask any and all questions. Check out the Centurion applications and other builds. There are a number of AP builds to refer to, but there are also some very well documented builds for other kits that will provide you with necessary info - see ukswrath's Anovos build or his AM 1.0 build - those two builds helped me a lot. Good luck on your build!

Primed Pattern for tube tube primed Aluminum base coat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk