Darth_Nickel

After taking the bucket apart (it was assembled with hot glue), I decided to remove the FX seams (I've done this before). One side effect is that it creates even a more dramatic "cliff" look on the back of the FX. It's already present on the FX (one of the worst parts/looks of the FX in my opinion... Here I've glued the bucket together and I'm adding a support "ridge" along the back of the helmet. This gives the appearance of a little more accurate back….for an FX Here you can see some of the issues with the plastic... man it needed some love. Here are some shots where I started fixing some of the issues with the plastic. I've started with the tubes under the chin. There is some ripple there, so I'll remove that. Continued next post...

Now that I'm getting close to being done, I thought I would post the project here incase anyone cared or could use some of the information. A garrison mate received what I believe to have once been a FX. He paid a good price, but more than what i personally think he should have. I don't believe it to be first generation FX, by any sense of the word... The plastic was in pretty bad shape (ripples, odd pull lines, yellow...), and the assembly was less than to be desired. The ears were loose and poorly attached to the helmet. I've never seen resin ear caps... you know what I mean.... resin? how odd.... The vocoder was molded into the plastic... how can that be.... Any who... in order to help out, I offered to work on the bucket to try and turn it into something a little nicer. Since I pretty much was free to do as I wished, it's been a fun project. I hope the owner is happy with the results. Here are all the progress shots. Please let me know what you think. I'll try to point out interesting things as I go along... Before shots. Then I started to strip it down.... this was NOT fun.. well sort of... perhaps a little. The lenses were interesting. Looked to be hand made bubble acrylic. Very interesting... Continued in the next post.

Pretty amazing work Matt. Well done. You did it like a pro!!

I modified my wife, by purchasing a new Coach purse. Now I can fit a cell phone, money (never makes it out though....), room keys, a bottle of water, car keys, and a power snack no problem. It's just a damn shame she won't come out when I troop. Found that a little ironic....

sweet. Mike... I'm going to need some blue tube stripes very soon... this is perfect.

I sent you a PM. I forgot about our discussion on this before. Sorry...

I have 2 squirrel cage fans blowing on my lenses. I've found the best trick is to keep the air a flow'in...

Matt, I would assemble, then paint. Glue and paint DO NOT MIX when trying to form a bond. You will end up getting a bond to the paint vs the plastic. I'm also not a fan of directly gluing a strap. I prefer to rivet and/or snap a strap to a spare piece of plastic, then glue that to the armor. I think it looks cleaner, and you get a better bond plastic to plastic. My preference is to use CA vs ABS glue, Plastic welder, e6000, etc... That's just my style. I like the instant satisfaction of CA with a little kicker. BTW.... Welcome to the FISD

I just saw this Rob, sorry I couldn't help out. I can't wait to see how it looks. I love the bucket guts photos...

Don is correct. I've never seen it close. I've seen both side pretty much agree to disagree and move on. No one can produce anything to say one way or the other without some type of manipulation to the picture (i.e. up the contrast to produce a green tint, remove the red to produce a gray tint, remove the blue on one and red on the other to create orange... remove them all together and add those funny eyes....) This is why MR made both.

A funny doctor I see Nice bed side humor. I like you Mike.

Mike, looking GREAT man. Very nice. My 2 cents (if you are counting....) Hand paint the traps It's just such a cool look.

very nice!!!! is it a v2 or v2.5? Looks like a V2?

Well done!!! It's looking great man. BTW... what was the second bucket, with the seam you were working on? Was that a new ANH?

Well done Kevin. I like the hero!!!! Scott is right, you don't see too many of those around!!!

lol... I suppose you have a point... chocolate shake with nitro. I'm going to use that one Nice work so far on the bucket my friend. Are you going to go another round of bondo to smooth? What's your plan of attack?

Mike.... what the hell man... I thought you knew better. That's not a coffee... that's a shake... You had so much going for you too man.

nice work Mike!!! I'm interested to see the bondo area progress. That's not an easy fix, as I've made more work for myself many, many, many times that way. Nice work man.

I've got a post around here somewhere that shows this. I'll try to find the pictures. I added 2 listening devices (1 for each ear).

Congrats David!!! Well done.

I brushed the inside of one of mine. I actually like it better than the other one I spray painted. I used Testors Gloss enamel (and lots of it...). Turned out nice.

Always impressive Mike.... always. nice work, both ESB and ANH. Very nice.

yep, looking good man.

looking good!!!Interesting strapping on the butt plate. Can you share more? One more thing, just something I noticed since my arms always are getting pinched. You may want to trim down the top strip on the forearms. That way you don't have that overhang and it may help if you are getting any pinch there.

WELL DONE!!!! I think everything looks great Alain. Very nice job man. So the lenses... what's up with those? What are they made out of? What's the gasket? I love to see how people put lenses together, so it's just a little obsession of mine. BTW... that is a hell of a blaster man.