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Its time to get dirty!


sith_241
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Well, my ABS ATA kit showed up today. Going to start trimming and gluing tonight after work hopefully. Should hopefully be a much faster build than my previous TK kit since i know what im doing now!

Will post some photos once i have some interesting progress to share!

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Bro I wish you have a great build and hope for you to seek the following while build up:

1 Have tons of fun

2 Have tons of fun, again

If there's anything we can assist you, the Mos Eisley Troopers will kindly walk you in your new dirty path!

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yay fun!! it is the most satisfying thing in the world to work on your suit and see it all come together. Including the dremel burns, ABS scrapes and cuts, and pre-fitting pinch bruises haha. :lol: Post lots of pics!

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Well, the long weekend allowed me to make an amazing amount of progress. I have the arms and legs fully assembled with cover strips and the torso pieces are ready to be strapped.

Helmet is around 35% complete.

I have to say the ATA kit simply flies together...its a treat to build.

Photos when i get home!

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As promised, PHOTOS!

Torso pieces laid out. All are fully trimmed and ready for snap plates tomorrow. All the arms and legs are assembled but some are still curing up so i didnt bring them inside. Imperial inspection crew is helping out.

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Pieces in various stages of gluing. E-6000 is the way to go building your arms/legs. It gives a great, flexible bond.

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ATA stamp. Great lid!

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Assembled helmet. I decided to go with the raised brow like in Pandatrooper's build. I cannot recommend his build as a tutorial enough for the helmet...its excellent.

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Other ear piece

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Profile

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This shot shows how i put the shins together. I use a backing strip and join the 2 halves together...then glue on the cover strip. Makes a bullet proof joint. I figure this should help someone. Also, i do not use the rear cover strip as i am skinny enough to just overlap the back of the legs.

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Another shot.

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Super magnets i got at work for gluing. The big ones will stick through my arm.

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The crew is posing. He needs a big Imperial decal.

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Yours truly...blinking of course. I forgot i have to open my eyes without lenses :P

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More to come...fitting should start up tomorrow.

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Looking good, but i would take a little more off the ears.

Keep up the good work trooper ;)

This was the most i could take off and get them to conform to the helmet. The lid back was quite warped. I too would like to take more off, but a test fit with a more trimmed ear left a LARGE gap.

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This was the most i could take off and get them to conform to the helmet. The lid back was quite warped. I too would like to take more off, but a test fit with a more trimmed ear left a LARGE gap.

Copy that.

Maybe you could trim a few mm off, in the round ear are on the ear caps.

Then they would fall longer in, and you could then trim a little more of the ear caps tube area as well.

Then they would not be as fat looking...

Only problem doing that, might be the will fall a little, and not sit/be add as high as now.

But if you get a gap, leave it as it is, i hate gaps as well.

Cheers :)

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Yeah, the ears were after about 4 hours effort.

Photo update coming soon. I am currently re-trimming the ab section because it is waaay big. I could get 2 of myself in the un-trimmed abdomen. I guess it comes from ATA being a 3rd gen cast IRC.

So far 2 inches off, probably will have to take another 2 off the front side.

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Copy that.

Maybe you could trim a few mm off, in the round ear are on the ear caps.

Then they would fall longer in, and you could then trim a little more of the ear caps tube area as well.

Then they would not be as fat looking...

Only problem doing that, might be the will fall a little, and not sit/be add as high as now.

But if you get a gap, leave it as it is, i hate gaps as well.

Cheers :)

Yeah, i had considered doing that. However, it seems the bottom screw would not even hit the helmet anymore if the ear piece pushed out longer. Maybe a long term fix. Im at least happy with how it is sitting for now.

This particular helmet has been a struggle with this and the cap fit. I will probably take the ears off tonight and see if i can shave a little more off.

Here are a few images showing the predicament with the ears

The main problem seems to stem from the lower cheek piece dipping back in sharply under the ear. Because of this, a normally trimmed ear leaves a 5-10mm gap in the front. I literally could not manhandle an ear trimmed that far into the helmet. I may come back and try and take a bit more off but am fairly worried it will gap again.

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Left side has very little material to work with. I trimmed less that the mold lines so no idea why the overlap is soo poor here.

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I think i may end up replacing this lid with another AP lid at some point in the future if the ear issue is too noticeable.

EDIT:

Or, any suggestions on fixing the ears further? Im wondering if maybe flattening out the base of the ears will let it sit down farther without moving the base screw down too far.

Ideas welcome!

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If you take out more from the ear and still have a gap you could fill it with white silicon and seal it for good with

super bonder and baking soda, but the vapors are really toxic so if you do wear protection and don't let it contact with your skin.

Could be a suggestion that work nicely with me.

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Yeah, i had considered doing that. However, it seems the bottom screw would not even hit the helmet anymore if the ear piece pushed out longer. Maybe a long term fix. Im at least happy with how it is sitting for now.

This particular helmet has been a struggle with this and the cap fit. I will probably take the ears off tonight and see if i can shave a little more off.

Here are a few images showing the predicament with the ears

The main problem seems to stem from the lower cheek piece dipping back in sharply under the ear. Because of this, a normally trimmed ear leaves a 5-10mm gap in the front. I literally could not manhandle an ear trimmed that far into the helmet. I may come back and try and take a bit more off but am fairly worried it will gap again.

Posted Image

Left side has very little material to work with. I trimmed less that the mold lines so no idea why the overlap is soo poor here.

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I think i may end up replacing this lid with another AP lid at some point in the future if the ear issue is too noticeable.

EDIT:

Or, any suggestions on fixing the ears further? Im wondering if maybe flattening out the base of the ears will let it sit down farther without moving the base screw down too far.

Ideas welcome!

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Thats a possibility.

I think i am going to start by simply trimming VERY slowly down with a dremel and see what happens. Worst case, i have a small, screen accurate gap!

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Hey bro...

Just looked around your thread and cant read further or deeper ATM, but it seems that what you need to do is just trim the edge of the ear, and not the bottom...

like this:

post-1761-0-01943500-1307406135_thumb.jp

And leave the lower edge as it is...

Again, just want to help but did not read the whole thread.

This might has been suggested, or even not be the problem.

hehehe...

Sorry if this is not helpful.

Ill try to come back later and read more.

Need to go...

SAludos

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Hey bro...

Just looked around your thread and cant read further or deeper ATM, but it seems that what you need to do is just trim the edge of the ear, and not the bottom...

like this:

post-1761-0-01943500-1307406135_thumb.jp

And leave the lower edge as it is...

Again, just want to help but did not read the whole thread.

This might has been suggested, or even not be the problem.

hehehe...

Sorry if this is not helpful.

Ill try to come back later and read more.

Need to go...

SAludos

Im going to go remove the ear in a minute here...

I will report back shortly!

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Im going to go remove the ear in a minute here...

I will report back shortly!

Managed to get about an 1/8" off the ears so they sit lower now. Im satisfied i think. Photos tonight.

Plus, weathering!!

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Sorry about the low quality phone picture. Grabbed it on my way out the door today.

I will attempt to put up more photos tonight.

I am ready for my first full suit test fit and the weathering is nearly complete. Just need to do a second paint pass on the helmet and a few other small parts.

I am using Pandatrooper's weathering method, but i have modified the second paint pass to a lighter brown shade i prefer (mostly because im from the desert so the color looks more real life to me). Im using a ratio of 2:1:1 of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna(? its a beige color from liquitex) and light gray. I purposely dont fully mix the second coat to give some variance to the color and i dont fully coat the armor on the second pass to further the uneven weathering over a piece. This to me best reproduces an uneven long term build up of different soils on patrol.

I can post a weathering thread if anyone is interested or PM me.

I will post photos of the suit later.

enjoy

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Coming out great bro! Keep up the good work.Posted Image

Sorry about the low quality phone picture. Grabbed it on my way out the door today.

I will attempt to put up more photos tonight.

I am ready for my first full suit test fit and the weathering is nearly complete. Just need to do a second paint pass on the helmet and a few other small parts.

I am using Pandatrooper's weathering method, but i have modified the second paint pass to a lighter brown shade i prefer (mostly because im from the desert so the color looks more real life to me). Im using a ratio of 2:1:1 of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna(? its a beige color from liquitex) and light gray. I purposely dont fully mix the second coat to give some variance to the color and i dont fully coat the armor on the second pass to further the uneven weathering over a piece. This to me best reproduces an uneven long term build up of different soils on patrol.

I can post a weathering thread if anyone is interested or PM me.

I will post photos of the suit later.

enjoy

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