MintImperial

Now with minimal sheen.

Looking at the black scratch marks on the screen-used ones, it seems that these are actually the same one shot under different lighting conditions. The grey looks so different in each.

Awesome. Thank you Joseph. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Moving onto my thermal detonator, when I cut the pipe to length, I didn’t have the tools to cut it straight. I’ve corrected this with some putty. I found that Mr.Color number 13 is a really close match to the Humbrol grey sold by Trooperbay. But now that I’ve sprayed the pipe grey, what should the surface be like? I have a feeling semi-gloss/satin is the way to go. I’ve hit it with some gloss clear coat for now but can take the sheen down later.

Here’s how they’re looking at the moment. And with some black ABS paste, I made a little cradle for the magnet. What I like about this particular ABS is the wrinkle texture on one side which, even if the plates come apart, isn’t too reflective and will blend in much better to my undersuit.

In the meantime, I’ve been making some magnetic tabs to keep my ab & kidney plates from moving relative to each other. I’ve noticed that one or the other often rides up so that their tops are not aligned. One way to fix this would be double snaps on 2” webbing as my build has only 1”. But I thought I’d use the resources I have on hand instead. Using some black ABS this time, I cut out thin strips and, using a heat iron, created an S bend in each. Each will hold a magnet on one end that is glued to the other plate.

I will get back to work on that soon.

Thanks for drawing that out. Maybe it’s the camera angle. Right now the plate sits snugly and precisely onto the raised ridges at the top of the greaves. But because one side of the greave slopes downward at the front, there’s no way to mount it flush to the ridges as required in the CRL and still have it level from the front. Here’s a different angle showing how each side rests on the ridges: And here’s how the shin halves match up (left greave is on screen left). Note the top of the ridges at the front. I think this may be a quirk of the WTF kit as other people with it also seemed to have some trouble matching them. Here’s the same thing from behind with the sniper plate mounted. the right side slopes downward, as you pointed out in your image. If I mount it so that it’s straight from the front, it will be too high for the ridge on the right and not meet the CRL.

You can see that the top edges of the sniper plate (among many other things) need some clean-up. I’ll sort that out after Halloween.

Here are some more shots. Thanks Mario.

Oh btw, I’m using E6000 throughout my build. Again, first TK. Don’t trust myself yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess your first TK is like your first child. An overabundance of caution! Second one will be all slapped together without a care in the world [emoji1787] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Also got started on the sniper plate, which, when aligned properly with the top ridges, doesn’t seem to have many points of contact with the shin itself. Seems like it’s just a small surface area on each side and the real heavy lifting is done by the front where it sits over the cover strip. To try to improve the strength of the grab, I filled in the sniper plate stud hollows with ABS paste and I added a tab of spare cover strip material just inside the front to create more surface area contact with the strip on the front of the shin. I’m actually worried about having too much rigidity on the sides anyway, as I need the shins to flex when I open them up and put my legs in. Hope the sides don’t pop off.

Been working to get my armour in decent shape for Halloween, so I’ve been jumping around getting some parts cosmetically mostly there then circling back to fine-tune them later. Rushing the greaves, I made a stupid mistake and trimmed too much meat off the left one. Now it won’t close around my leg (haven’t got around to putting the cover strip on yet, so it may yet close without a gap, but I don’t want to rely on that). Below, you can see my cut lines and the salvaged armour strips (not quite the right pieces) that I’ve held in place with masking tape to extend the sides. I’ve used ABS paste to extend the edges. While it may be messy, and not as strong as the original, I’m hoping that once I have inner and out cover strips in place, it will all hold together. Measure twice. Cut once. Got burnt. Lesson learnt. Here’s the same piece with ABS paste applied inside: I’ll leave it overnight and sand it tomorrow. Doesn’t have to be perfect as the cover strips will sit over it.

Worked on some soft parts today: an item that’s been bugging me for months. I love my Darman Props neck seal with its comfort low-front fit. But the bib has always ridden up and bulged out above my back plate. Today I received a small (almost toylike) sewing machine from Amazon to attack the problem with strips of Velcro. I had tried using self adhesive Velcro but it kept peeling off. Here’s what I did: Sewed loops onto the inside of the base of the bib along the front and back portions. Then I sewed hooks to match onto the outside of my undersuit. Two strips on the front (one on either side of the zip) and one continuous strip on the back (split into three to create a roughly curved shape that takes up more slack on the sides.) The bib now fits snug and taut on the front and back and no longer bunches up over the armour. Don’t have any photos of this at the moment. Sorry.

Thank you Glen. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Test fitting after lots of new work. I will post individual pics soon when I get time. STILL VERY MUCH WIP: No Hovi-Mix mesh. Shoulder bells too far out. No elastic holding up forearms, so they’ve slipped down. ABS belt drooping a little on the front. Canvas belt too long and needs trimming. Holster not attached. No gloves (just Photoshopped black onto bare hands). Thighs hanging too low and no cover strips yet. iPhone is probably not canon.

Oh I know Hemel. Or parts of it. My dad lived there for quite a few years.

Good to know. Thanks Daniel.

Duly noted. Thank you, themaninthesuitcase. Btw, where in Herts are you? I spent much of my early life in Watford.

Just found this great 2-inch, plastic-reinforced, adjustable Velcro tactical belt in the market today. HKD30 about USD3.85. Super solid and sturdy. Going to be perfect as a thigh garter.

It’s not going to rival your collection, but I’m building a little horde of my own!

Thanks Glen. Yes, I’ve got very skinny arms. And I had to remove more meat as the biceps were either clashing with the side of the chest plate or interfering with my shoulder bells. Not too small now, proportionally (I hope). I didn’t bring them down as small as I could have and will still pad them with foam. (I’m also doing this with the forearms.) I should also mention that I’ve curved the flatter outer sides to help make the radii smaller. But they actually present a slightly wider shape when viewed from the front (and slightly narrower from the side, so now fit more snugly into the shoulder bells). Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Slight issue with my biceps. Because my arms are quite skinny, I’ve had to cut quite a bit of meat from the biceps, so one half doesn’t have the ridge any more. This means the cover strip won’t be centred over the seam and won’t grip one side well enough. I’ve decided to use ABS paste to weld to partially weld the gap for extra strength. Looks rough at the moment, but I’ll sand it before sticking the cover strips on.

Am about to put the cover strips on my biceps and I realised that if I pre-shape the strips before gluing, I’ll have a stronger bond with less tension and better adhesion. So I’ve softened them up with a heating iron then placed them in their final position without a hint of E6000. Just a few (not too many) magnets to make them conform to the biceps (without squishing the cover strips themselves).