JollyRajR

School back in session so I had to put aside the box o' goodies.. But, starting to chip away at a few things conceptually.. TLJ cod piece on the way from KB Props.. Chatting with Geeky Pink regarding getting a bespoke set of disco pants (imagine that said with a proper English accent.. heh.. bespoke..) Lots of little fixes planned.. The pictures Justin posted are sort of the "wiring under the boards" pics.. There are a few things I know I'd do differently, but I was under the deadline of finishing this first round before school started back up.. (took pics Wednesday, staff meeting was the next day.. oof.. close....) Paint used is from Lowe's: Rustoleum Universal Bonding Primer ("StopsRust") in light grey. (usually 2 light coats.. some pieces were covered in 1) Then, at least 2 days of drying time for most parts.. Followed by a very light 400 grit sanding for adhesion.. Rustoleum Automotive Gloss White Enamel (5 coats minimum, maybe 6 or even 7 if I lost count.. This kit does have lots of small bits..) and Gloss Black.. The kit was almost entirely seamed with Bob Smith Industries thin superglue and baking soda.. Lots of sanding.. Use a real vapor-protecting set of filters on your respirator--I made the mistake of trusting P-100 filters would suffice but those fumes can really get ya.. But I digress.. Harbor Freight to the rescue with some very robustly backed sandpaper (think something like a fabric backing.. easy enough to rip, but not likely to easily rip) in 80, 120, and 240 grit.. (wish they did something finer than 240! this sandpaper is pretty decent longevity wise.. The roll is like 4 inches by 25 feet (!!).. More progress as thing settle in and after I find out lead time for the pants..

Progress has been a bit slow due to being quite busy for school... Buuuuut, it's spring break time! Hallelujah! Maybe some headway.. Many thanks to @MrPoopie for detailing out the boots.. Some thoughts on the boots: Removing the big plastic AlpineStars logo on the shin part isn't necessary because the leather underneath is cut from the factory.. No gain to be had there.. If it needs to be shaped to remove interference, it'll probably be done with a dremel or an angle grinder.. (swatting a fly with a howitzer? yes!) Paint was 3 bottles of Angelus Leather Acrylic Paint White (Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196T961O/) and 1 bottle of the shiny top coat from them.. Angelus 610 High Gloss Acrylic Finisher White (Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018R47K94/) If you enjoyed using white out on stuff as a kid, apparently this stuff is for you! First coat: Second and maybe third coat: Final look: An album will be kept here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/57785272@N00/albums/72177720297979765 Next on the docket: Perhaps getting some off-the-shelf pants that can be modified to be Treadie Pants so we can at least get a level 1 version of this outfit.. And, finding someone with experience putting together an FOTK so I have some clue how this armor comes together! LOL.

Beginning stages here folks.. But, a little bird chirped in my ear and I have poor impulse control.. 🙃 Gathered so far: Alpinestars boots Most of an Imperial Surplus kit.. TLJ Black Series helmet for modding Geeky Pink gasket set Pretty sure I've got boots and gloves from other troopers.. Rough'd in the armor with trimming.. Progress speeds and slows depending on my school workload.. Lately? Been behind the 8-ball..) doh! RajTN-92688

Mine started peeling at the corners after about 15-18 troops.. I redid them with shoe goo and the past 7-8 troops they've been solid.. My vote is for shoe goo.. I held mine in place with rubber bands and a bunch of cosmetic sponges.. I put the sponges in places where I was trying to get better adhesion (like near where the sole meets the shoe body..) and then rubber banded to keep em in place and it seems to have worked.. Just... don't be like me and glue the dogbones too low.. Whoops.. Gotta fix that for Lancer..

Visited Chris Ruiz for some tune-ups to my soft goods.. Here are some updated pictures-- New cod piece.. He attached it at the same height as my old one, so there shouldn't be any issues with being pulled too tight. I test-fitted it with jeans and it was just like the previous in terms of where it hangs (so to speak..) 2019-05-27 14.50.58 by JollyRajR, on Flickr New pouches, as well.. 2019-05-27 14.53.14 by JollyRajR, on Flickr 2019-05-27 14.57.18 by JollyRajR, on Flickr And, a shot of the velcro on the bund to show that it's actually 2-inch.. (Sorry for the awful photography. My bedroom gets terrible lighting in the afternoon).. 2019-05-27 14.57.56 by JollyRajR, on Flickr

No worries, I'm just posting updates so I can check them off the list.. If needed I can reshoot the photos to show the changes all in one thread, or reshoot the application all together if that's helpful. This is sort of my change log. Also, new gloves arrived. 😊

Ok, pretty sure I have the white dot and helmet bolts lancer'd out.. I believe I also showed the 1/2" tank strap elastic in earlier photos.. Here are pics for your consideration I'll get on ordering another pair of Wampa Wear gloves and perhaps talk with Chris about some soft goods..

These bolts are unfortunately too short for my bucket.. My 1" bolts are borderline being too short as is.. Hehe..

Here's some before/after on the bolts.. (or vice-versa based on the photo order.. heh..)

Here's a little before/after on the bolts.. My bolts have been painted, I'm just waiting for them to dry.. Same with the white circle for the tank topper-- I brought it down to smaller than the circular greeblie and it should be good to go.. That appliance white paint takes daaaaaaaaays to dry, but when it does it should be rock solid.. After looking at pics of the 3M bolts, I took the size down from 1".. I think it'll better fit the helmet, as well..

Hi all, I wanted to share some bolt stuffs.. I have an MLC fiberglass helmet, and the design is such that I'm not able to use the correct 3M plastic bolts for the lid.. I did, however, get approved for basic with elevator bolts (1/4-20) from Lowe's. However, it's one of the things holding me back from achieving lancer status. Here's how I gave my bolts a dished appearance-- I chuck the elevator bolt in my cordless drill.. I hold it in my left hand, point it straight up and use my thumb to hit the trigger and spin it up.. Meanwhile, in my right hand I have my dremel tool (I use the flexible wand extension on it, works great for applications like this..) with a reinforced cut-off wheel.. While it's spinning, I apply the cut-off wheel to the face of the bolt and start relieving material.. A few minutes later, I'm left with a dished bolt.. My best guess is that my 1" bolt heads are oversized, so I also took down the overall size.. This is achieved in a similar way, by grinding down the edge of the bolt.. Periodically, I hit the face of the bolt to remove any sort of lip that builds up.. In the end, I think what I've got are some pretty decent facsimiles of the plastic bolts that don't fit my bucket.. I clean them up by spinning them up and apply several grades of sandpaper.. The primer really covers any tooling marks either way.. The paint I used for the medium grey is just an automotive primer in a can.. A high-build 2-in-1.. My bolt on the right has had a year of trooping, so it's picked up some Endor dirt.. My other dished bolt is drying, otherwise I'd have thrown in a pic of it completed.. Hope this helps some folks ..

Oh, the enthusiasm is all with you guys being willing to be a sounding board for these updates.. I appreciate it.. I thought the white circle might be a bit large.. I'll knock it down 10% more.. Easy enough.. I'll dish the helmet bolts a bit more, and smooth out the transition from center.. I'll have more photos tonight or this weekend. 😊

Here are two birds with one stone hopefully.. The 1/2" elastic instead of 3/4" for the tank, and the reduced size white dot.. I can go down further in size as needed.. I'll be repainting it white since I used an orange sharpie as a guide for shape.. Thanks again for all the help

If this meets the standard for lancer, I'll prime and paint.. if it doesn't, I can smooth the transition from the center on outward.. It really looks deep in the first photo because of the light, but I tried to show multiple angles there for contrast..

Just like one would expect, the drill's power pack runs out of juice in the middle of concaving the bolt.. But, it's looking really favorable right now.. I'll post a shot to show off the bevel when I get the pack charged up in the next 20 minutes.. I'll also take down the white dot to more like 1/2 inch diameter.. Ah!! I had just redone my boot adhesive and moved the dog bone off the sole.. Heh! I'll fix that asap as well.. Back in about an hour with pics..

Okay.. Question time Helmet-- The bolts I have are elevator bolts from lowes. They're metal and flat, but I'm not able to use the plastic bolts because I need a longer threaded piece due to the way the MLC is put together.. If I'm thinking correctly, the center of the bolt is sunken in a bit (concave).. I'm thinking what I can do is spin the bolt up on my power drill and use my dremel tool to relieve some material from the center, moving outwards, to give the appearance of concave. Looking at a screen used helmet, it looks like there's just a little bit of a dip in the center.. I'll grab some extra bolts and post pictures of my progress until I get the right concave.. White dot on back-- The dot is too large, it sounds like.. Can I get a percentage change for how it should be reduced? I'm not a visualizer (I have aphantasia, the inability to see with a "mind's eye"), so I go based on reduction by percentage.. That's the logical side of my brain and it makes sense. Hehe.. Flight Suit-- When you say reduce the left/right by 1", is that 1" off each side, or 1 inch total from center (1/2" off each side).. I'll break out a sharp razor blade and a straight edge and see if I can make it happen without having to unstitch.. Boots-- Should not have the dog bone cross the sole at all, then, correct? Thanks again for your detailed input.. I think I'll be having Chris Ruiz make me a new cummerbund and pouches, and a new cod, if he's up to it..

Thank you, I appreciate it. May I ask questions via this thread, and post updated photos to fix the problem areas? Or will I need to shoot new photos for all the fixes? (occurs to me that yeah, I used 3/4" elastic for the tank.. Duh!! That's an easy fix..).. And, my apologies for the picture situation.. I've got dropbox, so I'll figure out how to properly sync pics here..

Thank you for the feedback, I will get to work on correcting the issues that I can, and replacing the ones which I can't 😊

Hello all, thank you for your consideration for Lancer status for this kit. Helmet: MLC, fiberglass Helmet snout: Darth Voorhees, I believe. It's the only piece I can't remember who I ordered it from. Chest, back, tank, shoulder bells, belt, forearms, biceps, knees, thermal detonator - MLC, fiberglass Bicep T-Bits - Studio Creations Thermal Detonator Greeblies - Studio Creations Tank topper - Darth Voorhees, rubber Blaster - Darth Voorhees, rubber Flakvest, cummerbund, and flight suit - Max's Sci-Fi Creation Shop (now defunct, sadly) Boots - Chris Ruiz, Chrisx909x Gloves - WampaWear I have 102 photos for submission (with a few duplicates in there possibly because of lighting.. sorry!), but posting them here would probably be a problem size-wise. They're in a flickr album located here-- https://flic.kr/s/aHskT2KRZ1 Each photo should be able to be zoomed in on (sorry for the poor lighting, I have as many lights as I can on and it still needed flash often times) with ruler for measurements where necessary. The description for each photo appears when you click on the first photo and scroll down a bit, in case it isn't evident what piece you're looking at. If you click on the first photo in the series, scrolling through them in detail mode should be as easy as clicking the right-arrow or using the arrow key on the keyboard). I'm happy to reshoot the entire submission during daylight, or arrange them using a better medium (imgur, perhaps?).. Thank you! Raj R. - TB-92688

Lots of options out there for amplifiers.. I use one of these -- http://a.co/9RkbYlx It gets plenty loud broadcasting out of a pouch, and doesn't typically feedback.. I've taken the microphone apart (removed the thingy that goes around your head, and just kept the swing-arm and microphone) and attached it with velcro inside my helmet.. I have also used it with my iphone and the Trooper Talk App (had to buy a microphone splitter).. It allows a great deal of modification (static burst, which isn't appropriate for us, radio noise, background loops, pitch, tone, etc)... But, it does introduce a little bit of vocal delay (about .10) which can be a bit confusing and I've had some cut-out issues.. So, when I troop with it next I'm going to try a different microphone splitter.. If that doesn't work, I'll keep running the voice amplifier as is, because it sounds great. (At $14.95 for the app, and $10 for the splitter, it's still much cheaper than a dedicated iComm unit.. Even though those iComm units sound really good!) I just like Trooper Talk pitching my voice down a little bit.. Makes me sound tougher.. lol.. Anyway, just one scout's experience.

I saw one of their DLT-19s at a troop today and I was quite impressed. The TK who had it said he really likes it (he has the full electronics package on it, too, for sound).. It also breaks down for transport which was cool. I'm going to check in for the DLT-19X..

Hey all, uncharted territory on this MLC armor, it seems. Here are some pics of the DVH tank topper compared to the MLC tank. I'll do some more free handing w the small indent for the tank topper with a dremel like I did the thermal detonator. Will this placement work? I provided an alternate placement as well. Seems like the MLC tank is slimmer than most? I can align to the curve of the outside of the tank, or to the flat line against my back. It's tough to adjudicate this since the reference pics from the CRL are a different set of materials. thanks in advance! Edit: I suppose some trimming of the DVH topper to better match the curvature of the tank would be in order depending on placement.. I suppose I'll eventually have to buy an alternate back piece for when I apply for Lancer status.. Everything else I've built with this kit has been with an eye towards doing it Lancer.. Except, I can't get myself to cut up a perfectly good one-piece fiberglass tank/back

I'll be happy to add MLC's armor to the comparison as soon as I finish.. I'm tantalizingly close to finishing the build.. Down to the nitty-gritty.. or the neeblie-greeblie? Should be good to go in the next few weeks..

This is a fear of mine.. That glued parts will pop off in Southern California heat.. So, I'm securing parts like the snout using small screws (6-32s...) .. Just did my snout and it's on there like gangbusters.. Used the thickest part of the casting and drilled it with a 7/32 drill bit.. Used the screw to make it's own threads and bam..

...I ordered them from SC since I couldn't find anything.. But, that brings my kit much closer to actually being able to appy! Yay!