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GilFran007 quest for 501st approval


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Hey troopers,

I did a test fitting of my armour last night and snapped some pics. 

LOL.....it was my first time putting everything on and had to get my wife to help.  I realized that I should have put the bucket on before the forearms so I just left it off.  I did get some pics of me in my BS helmet as that was easy to slip on.....but I didn't include those (plus I was goofing off in the pictures....lol).

I believe I have everything fitted and aligned properly.  I've since thrown the suit onto my mannequin and will commence the weathering (....after I do up my new RS bucket ;) to SWAT requirements ).

Any constructive comments would be appreciated.  At this point, I'm shooting for the entry level basic approval.....but will be following several SWAT level initiatives in some areas.  As I can't pick and choose on CRL specs, I'm just looking to clear basic with flying colours!

bZLgRYz.jpg?1

DYs2waY.jpg?1

 

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Everything I can see in the 2 photos appear to be up to snuff for basic. Since you're getting ready to weather, I would recommend at least loosely emulating a trooper for SWAT. It'll at least give you a foundation to work with going forward. I'll let someone with better pouch knowledge chime in about those. Belt placement is where it needs to be. Top of forearm to bottom of bicep is correct. The only thing that everyone will say and the hardest to achieve is getting those shoulder bells rotated a little forward more to close the gap more.

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Thank you Jason,

The pouches for now are just the large French pouches.  I have an MP40 pouch and small Spanish pouch inbound from Blaster.  I will be looking to emulate the infamous Tuck & Roll Captain :)  I'm studying that weathering as we speak.

Closing the gap in the shoulders is tough.  I'm probably putting it into the redline for getting AP shoulders to fit.  I saw the tutorial where another trooper steamed his bells and applied pressure to the top of the shoulder, allowing them to "squish and sprawl" out.  I wasn't sure how cured e6000 would react to steam so I haven't tried that yet.

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17 minutes ago, GilFran007 said:

Thank you Jason,

The pouches for now are just the large French pouches.  I have an MP40 pouch and small Spanish pouch inbound from Blaster.  I will be looking to emulate the infamous Tuck & Roll Captain :)  I'm studying that weathering as we speak.

Closing the gap in the shoulders is tough.  I'm probably putting it into the redline for getting AP shoulders to fit.  I saw the tutorial where another trooper steamed his bells and applied pressure to the top of the shoulder, allowing them to "squish and sprawl" out.  I wasn't sure how cured e6000 would react to steam so I haven't tried that yet.

It's one of those things where you just try your best and then settle haha.

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As a bonus, today was LBB day......my RS helmet from their May the 4th sale arrived today. 

After being spoiled by Mark's perfectly trimmed and flawless AP bucket, I now have my work cut out for me with this offering:  The RS helmet is quite 'primitive' and visceral......the pieces do not fit together seamlessly, there's lots of blemishes and bumps from molding off of a screen used helmet.....I love it!!!  I think she'll make for a beautiful sandy helmet.....if putting it together doesn't kill me :) 

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Throw those other pouches,a backpack and some dirt on it will ya!! ;)

Basic should be a walk in the park, and  roughly modeling it after a specific trooper will only benefit you in the end.

Good luck! :salute:

 

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The shoulder bells are not bad to begin with though. I've seen far worse get approved. If it ends up really bothering you, I know AM2.0 makes larger bells and I think Walt's Trooper Factory does too now. What some guys do is when they glue in the elastic band on the top of the bells, they put them off center so they are rotated forward more. We always try to keep the front of our armor as close to screen specs as possible since that's what gets photographed and seen the most. Stick with close as possible to stock cover strips in the front and go larger in the rear, for example. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all your inputs.  I 'm okay with the shoulder bells for now......for now ;)

I just wanted to post an update on my RS bucket.  I've had lots of fun with this so far......until the tube stripes.....whoever decided that tube stripes need to be hand painted was evil.  Though I'm not shooting for PO or SWAT just yet, I want to ensure that I can do as much as I can with what I have.

Tube stripes were redone twice.  This time I used a superimposed side shot of the helmet to map the stripe placements.....I think I was slightly off scale on the right side , maybe by 1/4".....but I'm not painting a 14th stripe in.  I'm happy with it thus far :)

Qa4MCCE.jpg?1

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On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 5:54 AM, Airborne Trooper said:

Not bad! Hopefully you used a template so you're not exactly 100% painting them by hand. Love the RS helmet. I'd love to own one someday. 

I didn't.  I just used masking tape to give me the clean terminations at the tops and bottoms.....the rest is all me.  LOL

I'm pretty happy with the results.  I'm sure I can get it marginally better by using templates, but the means don't justify the ends :)

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a quick question to those in the know.  I want to emulate the old school construction as much as possible.  I'm using the star foam inside for the padding.  Preliminary test fittings find it quite comfortable actually....moreso than my bump helmet padding that I installed in the AP bucket.

Has anyone found any issues taking the star foam route when padding their helmet?

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If it works for you, go with it! Plenty of guys stick with the screen used method. I like my hard hat liner. Fits great, allows air flow, and my eyes line up perfectly. Plenty of guys plastidip or paint the inside of their buckets black. I choose not to. 

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My RS bucket is complete.  I must say that the RS feels like a 70's kit.....it's far from perfect and at the level of quality that would be expected for a 70's sci-fi film budget........  I've gone as old skool as I could with the guts and the only thing new that I have on the docket for her is a cooling kit....I even got a bit of masking tape tacking down some of the edges of the acetate film as it is almost like candy wrapper, it's so thin...

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Here is a comparison with my AP bucket (which may go up for sale :O)......in my RS build, I've got all the paint runs, cracks, tweaked hovi mics, ear gaps.....all of the ugliness that makes it beautiful.....LOL.  Such a fun kit to put together.

4AvV6Nt.jpg?1

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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