TrainWreck

Also remember that a lot of the armor makers have a long waiting list. I'm currently on ATA's and won't see the armor until next March. The time waiting can be spent saving for the armor, making weapons, collecting other materials and items needed for the build, etc. I actually went off while I'm waiting and built a Tusken and got my approval. From getting on the waiting list to completely finishing my TD I expect it to take right around a year total. Just break it up into little chunks and do one thing at a time. Completing and finding all the pieces is half the gun!

Thanks. I think with shipping I got both for around $40 total. So I attempted a fix on the end of the strap using some thin scrap leather I have and barge cement. Unfortunately the ball that you use to latch it so so large that it pull apart at the broken seams but at least it's on the bottom side and will stay closed now. Not sure how it will hold up over repeated use but eh. If it doesn't end up being utilitarian than oh well. I also went ahead and weathered my MP39 lightly brushing some acrylics on. The lighting in my house is terrible so I'll have to wait until day light to see how well it came out and get a decent picture.

So I picked up what was being sold as a Czech Vz24 Mauser Leather Ammo Pouch on ebay. It looked exactly the same as the small Spanish pouches posted on here so I took a gamble and bought it. Unfortunately the leather is so brittle that I pulled off the end of the front strap by accident. I'm confident I can repair it somehow and will look into restoring the leather. It appears to be the exact same dimensions as I have seen posted on here and frankly the real weathering it has been through seems awesome to me (despite the leather being so brittle). What do you guys think? Also I managed to score a beige set of M39 canvas pouches for $11 on ebay. I just spray painted the one with the tool pouch black though I still need to weather it.

Two!

8

6!

4th!

Rock on brother! Well done!

So OK! I got a bit side tracked with a Tusken build (501st approved now) and putting together my ATA bucket. But I'm back to it! First off for this new round I got out my old trusty pandatrooper templates and got a good transfer on to some woof for my receiver plate and did some slight modifications. ...and I've started getting all the piping cut and placed. I bought a size too small for my front barrel but some cutting and gluing with a yoga mat later and I got the right diameter. The plan is just to Bondo that whole part. Not much done but it feels good to get back to it. I ordered an original Lewis gas regulator key and an Enfield strap swivel this week so should get those in the mail soon. T-21 here I come!

Thank you sir!

So I just won these in eBay for $11. Obviously some dying and painting is in order but I think I did well.

They sell out pretty frequently. You just have to jump on it when they are available. I think the trooperbay price evens out when you figure cost of shipping from the UK. It might be $10 or $20 more expensive in the long run. I had no problems getting a Doopy kit delivered to Texas when they had one available.

Yeah I was wondering that myself since I'm a DZ and won't even see the rest of my armor until early March.

Very very cool! Thanks for doing this!

This is what it ends up looking like which I know a lot of guys really don't like.

The thing is if you don't sand with an incredibly fine sandpaper you end up with a bunch of micro scratches that pop right out when you weather. Ultimately I like how it looks but had to go over some of those areas with rubbing alcohol to tone them done. I'll see if I can get a close up of one of those areas. I would recommend doing the details with enamel and the weathering with acrylic as it is far more forgiving than enamel once it starts drying. I just bought some cheap tubes of acrylic from walmart. Good luck and I can't wait to see what yours looks like!

Just found this sitting in a gutter in the middle of no where. I'm thinking it must have flown off a vehicle. 😉

So you need to be committed to the crack for my technique. I basically sketched it out in pencil, lightly etched it out with a wood screw, then first used the same gray paint as the traps but wiped it off almost immediately so it would sit in the etching and then I used pandatrooper's weathering tutorial for the weathering but as you apply and wipe away paint more and more of it gets left in the etch which gives it that look of depth. For the paint drips I used testor gloss white enamel paint (note that it is not the same white as the plastic but that gets blended with weathering and also note that all of the detail painting was with enamel and the stripes and weathering with acrylic) and I literally just let a drip fall on the face from my brush. you have to keep the surface of where you want the drip pretty flat so the paint doesn't run off and then let it sit at that angle for a few minutes to set. Then don't touch the drip at all for 24 to 48 hours while it completely drys. You can always wipe and redo if you don't like how it looks but the reason I mentioned the color matching issue with the white enamel is because if you don't wipe immediately you'll end up with patches a different color than the helmet. not a huge issue since your weathering but just take note that those areas will "hold" the weathering differently than bare plastic. My helmet had a variety of different white paints applied and sanding done before I weathered which is how I got the patchy look on some of my helmet but those techniques aren't necessarily recommended because you can ruin the helmet pretty quickly. I just happen to be decent at turning my mistakes into weathering (which is one of the reasons I'm going TD firs). Hope this helps.

...and for the most part I think I'm done with the weathering. Not an exact copy of the docking bay helmet really but a good approximation I hope. Any thoughts?

BTW I've found rubbing alcohol works pretty well with clean up.

OK. So this is what I've gotten done so far (I ended up redoing the stripes 3 times before I was happy with them). I'll probably start the weathering tomorrow.

Yes sir. 😁

...and yeah I'm pretty decent at blending my mistakes into weathering...

Well as far as the blue showing through yeah. It's requiring about 3 layers of paint to get the shaping right without bleed through. The white not matching the armor is a second debate I'm having with myself. I am adding approximate paint drips to match the screen used helmet which has left me wondering if I should just go over all of the white with a base coat (something that should have been done before all of the other painting but as stated above hard lessons learned). It's not very noticeable from about 3 feet away but any close inspection will show where the paint vs plastic lines are. Luckily I am good with taping (present issues I'm have not withstanding) so it wouldn't be too much for me to tape over my painted parts and the do a single white spray coat to add a little consistency to the overall appearance. Then ultimately when I het the rest of my armor I can start off with that coat. I've been making extra work for myself for as long as I've been cognizant. 😉

I've been using the basic Testors paint which I believe is enamel. The French blue is testors model masters which I know has an acrylic line but I'll have to go look. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the white I've been using to clean up the lines I'm pretty sure is enamel. I enter these projects with the understanding that I will be redoing parts of it. In reality I have four to five months before I see the rest of my armor so I have time to play with this. In some ways these "hard lessons learned" can be the most rewarding part of the experience. I had planned on doing all of my weathering in acrylic though. Thanks for the advice