Hedjii72

So I was about to try Panda's paint stick method for bending my Thigh Ammo Belt on my AM armor, when upon inspection, I noticed the grooves in the center of each flat section between the boxes. Clamping down over those with popsicle sticks or paint sticks would keep the plastic on either side of the groove flat, prohibiting bending along that natural groove. Would that be wrong? In other words, are those grooves sculpted in to allow it to naturally bend there when you heat it?

Having a chuckle at your magnet injury! Those things have a way of surprising you, don't they? Several of mine broke into fragments upon jumping together.

Tragedy!!!!! Heat guns are EVIL! Evil, I tell ya! I tried to use a heat gun to make my shoulder bells a little narrower at the bottom. Well, it really messed up the return edge on both of them: And what's worse, I now have a CRACK that formed when I tried to slip it over the bicep piece. I'm fearful the stress on this piece will make it worse. This is the first moment I have not had fun with the build. I guess it happens. What do I do now? Anyone have any spare shoulder bells?

Oh, geez, you're right! I forgot about that. I think I should be alright. I actually fitted it with the return edge. Then I dremmeled off most of the return edge, so it should give me a little bit of wiggle room. Hopefully the velcro closure will have some tolerance too.

Tom, I can't begin to thank you enough for all your guidance and support on my build! Thanks, Bro!!! Shin Closure: I have a question about how to do the cover strip and closure on my shins. When I trimmed the shins to fit, I decided to use the trimming for the cover strip as it had the same general contour of the shin back. When placing it on the shin, I also have not yet trimmed off the upper edge. As you can see in my pictures, it offers me two different choices for doing the cover strip. I'd appreciate anyone who'd like to weigh in on whether the coverstrip should be below the contoured upper edge, or hook over it. I've looked at all the screen caps, and I can't tell what would be more screen accurate. Also, I don't have my boots yet, so I can't really tell if I'll need to trim the upper edge of the shin for mobility anway. ****************************** THIGHS I've also been trying on my thighs a lot. Unfortunately, I don't like the way I trimmed them. I should have cut them on more of a taper, because the lower part fits around my knee area well, but the upper thigh is a little tight. Measure twice, cut once! So I have a solution I wanted to put up here and see what y'all think: I taped up the thigh with a bit more room at the top so it is comfortable. This creates a tapered gap. I figure I have as much width as the cover strip will hide, about 20 mm. If I strengthen the inside with a wide inner shim that spans the gap, the cover strip ought to hide the taper completely. Make sense?

Um... Wow!!!

What a jaw dropping presence! So cool.

Amazing difference. That will totally transform your look!

I'm sorry if this is obvious, but is sanding required/recommended anytime you paint ABS? Like, for tube stripes and traps? How do you get a shine back once it's sanded/painted?

After trimming about 2 inches off of each of the straps on the chest and back plate, I taped everything up and did a test fit to see how the back, kidney, and butt line up. I have not yet trimmed anything off the sides of the back plate or chest piece around the rib area. How is this looking, and how do I determine how much to trim off the sides?

Here's a picture of my lower torso all taped together. Is it normal for the bottom of the butt to not line up with the crotch of the cod? Is the gap there a big deal, or is that normal?

Started to paint the helmet tonight.

Solid advice, Tim! Thank you. I did a preliminary cut of the kidney plate and just threw everything on that I could. It's all held together with tape and such, but I'm getting there. Please look at these critically and offer any feedback or criticism! Any glaring mistakes? I know the chest piece needs to come way down, but I haven't trimmed that yet. Does the entire ab and cod piece need to come down too? The thighs are a source of worry for me right now. I have very skinny legs, and wanted to avoid the "church bell syndrome" of having the thigh pieces way larger for my knees. So I trimmed them pretty tight. Perhaps too much. Do they look ridiculous? I know they have to be raised with straps still, but... I haven't glued the backs yet, so I'm thinking I might try to add an extra centimeter of comfort by leaving the back open a centimeter, shimming the inside, then covering it all up with the coverstrip. Would that work?

Is friction alone enough to keep it in place? I haven't finished my AP helmet yet, but I have an SDS helmet for display and the dang trim is always slipping off.

Do you glue S-Trim on, and if so, what kind of adhesive does the job?

What I did, I read from one of Panda's threads, is glue the fronts first, then gently and carefully use a heat gun on the front edge to bring the backs closer together, closing the gap a bit. Just be very careful with that heat!

Thanks, Brian! I hope to polish the helmet to bring out some more shine. Do you all paint first and then polish, or polish first and then paint? I wonder if a polished surface will help or hinder using a tube stripe template?

Here is mine! Just arrived today. Rs Props, Master Replicas, SDS Stunt

As I was taking these photos, the DHL delivery man brought my SiMan/RS Props helmet! Couldn't help but take a comparison photo, just for fun.

Let's switch gears and look at my AP Helmet progress. I'm fairly satisfied with it, considering it is my first ever helmet build. The ears, as predicted, were a bear. But I'm happy with how they ended up. I have humbrol paints, a tube stripe template, and some s-trim on order from Trooperbay. Still need to get some better mic tips.

After removing the kidney plate and examining the line I'd drawn, I was discouraged to see it looked slanted instead of parallel. (the line is photoshopped for enhancement) I guess I better try again.

OK, as for fitting the torso, I've been a bit intimidated by this part. Is this the right orientation for the kidney plate? I've looked at a lot of "Which Way Is Up for the Kidney Plate" threads, and it still is difficult to tell. Here I am trying to draw the line for my kidney cut. I'm thinking my ab plate needs no trimming on the sides? This really is difficult to do. As you can see, my butt plate is sagging. Am I not raising everything high enough?

I've been working a little bit each day for weeks now. I gotta say, this is a LOT of fun! I used to put together a lot of figure model kits back in the day... monster models and stuff. This is like a giant model kit! But made to fit me. I am pretty, shall we say, meticulous, so I tend to work s-l-o-w-l-y. Here are my biceps. The very first pieces I cut and glued. I erred on the side of loose with these, admittedly. Ignorant of how it'll all feel once it's strapped in, I played it safe. I'm sure many new troopers have done the same. The cover strips you see in the photo, I cut from the extra material provided with the kit (for an optional plastic belt). Stupidly, I cut all of my cover strips for the arms and legs at the same time. Unfortunately, once I taped them on, I noticed they are just slightly a different color of white, almost pinkish. It's not a dealbreaker, but I notice it. So I am in the process of carefully cutting new cover strips from the scraps that I trimmed off the arms and legs. I think I should have enough, but that leaves me with a lot less abs to make my snap plates from. I will use the sheets of styrene for my snap plates I guess. I dunno. What do you guys think? Should I just stick with the lovely cover strips I already cut? Here are the forearms. Again, the cover strip you see is the slightly different color. Now that I look at the photos, maybe it's not that bad, but still... The shins. I haven't trimmed off much of the return edge yet, because I want to wait for my boots. (TKboots is out of my size for a few weeks.)

Now that is sharp!!

Great picture! What a living legend!