bwattsup

Well done as always Eric. I always enjoy your WIPs/tutorails. Quick question though. Did you basically use elastic in place of shoestrings for the entire length, or just the bottom portion of the shoe? Just curious.

Nice review Jim! Thanks for throwing in all of the comparison shots for reference. I'd love to have one of Duff's blasters as well in the future.

I think so too Neil. I just want to do it right the first time. I really don't care how long it takes. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to attach all the front portions and still remain a little flexible. My buddy called me a "Biker Scout Engineer" the other day. lol. I kind of like the ring to that. Thanks Leo! She's not done yet...but getting a little closer each day.

Best of luck on this Daniel. Super ambitious of you. I'd like to think one day i'll give this a whirl too.

Which greeblies from DJ are needed with MC armor Patrik? Are most of the ones that come with MC ok, or should most be replaced?

Nice work Daniel. I'd really love to learn how to vacuum form one day. It's especially impressive that you actually made the majority of your costume from scratch. Cheers!

Nicely done!

"selected evaluators" has a nice ring to it. Sounds like Christmas is coming reeeeeeeeal early for some scouts. Lol Again Duff, great job on this project! It was a joy to watch unfold.

Is this kind of paste pourable Nate? I plan to make some later and experiment.

I thought there had to be a chin cup too for Lancer? I don't see one of those Great job on the build! I can't wait til my MC armor arrives.

Sorry it's taken me awhile to post these bro! Better late than never :/ Great job!

Lol. It'll be be done one of these days. I'd like to think soon, but probably not.

I made a chin cup for my helmet as well. Once I finish my build, I’m planning to perfect the process and make a tutorial. I have this store in my area called “the ReStoreâ€. It’s a second hand building supply that’s run by the charity “Habitat for Humanityâ€. One day as I was walking through, I found some ABS covers that were 2’ square and an1/8th†thick. I snagged them up for $2 apiece. During my research phase, I measured out the chin cup in the gallery pics. Last week, I converted the measurements to a piece of that 1/8’ ABS. After cutting it out, I folded the sides and front lip using the heat gun and paint stick method. I sanded everything, and then applied some Apoxie Sculpt in the cracks. I also slotted out the area the elastic is going to pass through. Here are my progress pics. I just have to paint it now.

I finally painted some primer on my first piece. And I’m pretty satisfied with the results. I have a little work to do on the right side. Just a couple of places the transitions are off. Most of the other lines that can be seen are because of the different material types used. They’ll go away on the second layer of paint. Here’s what the faceplate looks like today. I Sharpied the lens shape to give me a reference point while I was reworking the lines. I’m going to redraw the outside edges before I cut the lens out. I’ll probably get a chance to do that soon. I threw in a couple of comparison shots for a reference. Faceplate Comparison Shots: Faceplate (Multiple Views) Faceplate (Side View) Faceplate (Zoomed) Here’s a close-up of the facial lines. Facial Lines (Zoomed) This is the new brow shape. It’s a little thinner, and flows into the forehead better. The line underneath the brow is now a little higher as well. Faceplate Brow The snout also changed quite a bit. The transitions are much crisper then they used to be. Faceplate Snout I filled in a couple of areas so I could correct the waviness of the faceplate. It’s hard to see, but I think it’s going to look better once some paint is applied. Faceplate (Recess Fill-In) I drilled a hole in the sides of each cheek for that modification I was talking about. I’ll be getting to that soon as well. I also extended the bottoms of the cheeks all the way back. I did this in case someone saw the faceplate in the raised position. Faceplate (Cheek Modification/Underline)

That's a hell of a lot of zippers to remove. :/ Yikes!!!!

Very nice Duff! Great job!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my bucket. And there’s a good reason for that. I had to adopt a “more working, less writing†attitude about this project. Yes, it’s getting closer to completion, but I still have a loooooooooong ways to go. The pics in this post do not completely represent where I am right now on this project. I just wanted to catch everyone up on the amount of work I’ve been putting into my bucket. I am hopefully going to take some pics today of what it looks like now. A month ago, I promised to show how I made the “cheeksâ€. The reason I didn’t show them then, was that I had to go back and redo a bunch of stuff on the faceplate. I was battling symmetry on both sides. It wasn’t til I actually measured it out, that I realized where I had erred. One side was off by ¼â€. I had to perform a “shift†of the face lines. During that process, it made me study the reference pics even harder than I had before. I saw lots of things that made me unhappy, and I went back and corrected them. My faceplate now is almost complete. The only things I really have left on the faceplate are to cut out the lens, sculpt around the cutout, and make the bottom V-plate. But…I’ve got plenty to do everywhere else. Like I said….looooooooooooooooooooong ways to go. Lol For the cheeks, I started with the brackets I made from ABS. I glued them to the faceplate with some ProWeld. After mounting, I found that they were a little too thick when the visor was attached. I sanded some off the sides of both brackets until they gave me the basic look I wanted. I then placed a large block of Apoxie Sculpt in the bottoms of both brackets. I needed a larger amount of material there because I have a special modification planned. Next, I coated the tops of the brackets with some thin strips of Apoxie Sculpt. I then recklessly spread some more material to the top of the brow and smoothed it out with water. After drying, I sanded the first attempt down. This is when I realized my first attempt was waaaaaaaaaay off. My brackets were not in the same position on both sides. I kept sanding, and then adding material until they were basically the same on both sides. I can’t even remember how many attempts it took me to get it “rightâ€. Even when it was “rightâ€, it wasn’t because of the shift I had to perform. Cheeks - Pre-Sanding: Cheeks - Post Sanding: Cheeks - Build Up: Cheeks - First Attempt: Cheeks - Multiple Attempts: The hardest part of making the cheeks was the transition to the forehead/brow. It wasn’t until I spread the Apoxie Sculpt out further on the brow, that it all started to flow. There are some really tricky lines on the Scout helmet. During the process of trying to correct the cheeks, I worked on some things in parallel. I wasn’t happy with the slope of the brow so I sanded some more out. I’ve since sanded even more out (the complete top layer of ABS), and replaced it with Apoxie Sculpt. Also, that “small detail†line I put under the brow has been sanded out too. It’s been replaced though. I’m one of “those†guys that will keep doing something over and over until I get it just right. That’s just the way I roll. I did some work on the snout as well. First, I added some Apoxie Sculpt to the inside in case I sanded through the plastic. Second, I elongated the inside top portion. I’m trying to get as much length as possible so a longer backing plate can be used. The SC snout base isn’t as long as those used on a LW/MLC type bucket. I also crisped out the inside vertical slants. After adding some more material to the bottom tips, I sanded those to the width that both verticals are going to be. I also added some more material to the inside top flat portion to level it out. I’ve actually done more work to the snout, but I didn’t take pics along the way. I guess that was part of the mantra too. As for the facial lines, I kept playing around with them prior to the shift. I just wanted to include a pic to show just how thick these things had gotten. I was like a mad scientist that just kept piling more on. It wasn’t until I started to subtract (a.k.a. sand away) that I was satisfied. The top of the helmet was another thing I tackled. I had used some Squadron White as filler because it spreads like putty. It just doesn’t work well for large gaps. When I rinsed the top in water, it caused pinholes in the Squadron White. I Dremeled the spots out, and filled them again with Apoxie sculpt. The top has since been sanded, and a coat of primer applied. I got it completely flat on top by taping a sheet of 600 grit sandpaper to a table. I then worked it back and forth until it the ABS and Apoxie Sculpt seamlessly blended. Afterwards, I feathered it all out. Like I said, new pics will be coming soon. OK….back to the cheeks. These are the pics prior to the shift. This is where I was about a month ago. I was pretty happy at the time. The only thing that kept bugging me was how different they were from side to side. The left side seemed thinner. The right side was thicker. I tried to compensate by sloping the outside right edge back. It worked, but wasn’t “greatâ€. That’s when the tape measure came out, and I saw how wrong I was. Before I talk about the shift, I just wanted to share a reference pic that I found on the interwebs one night. I’ve never seen it posted anywhere on the BSN. When I found it, it was like I had finally found the “missing linkâ€. It really helped me understand the flow of the facial lines a lot better. Once again, thanks UK Scout. I know I thanked you previously, but this really helped me out when I needed it the most. The shift! Man this was a doozie! I basically had to shift over both of the right side facial lines by a ¼â€. It was nerve-racking to say the least. I also had to correct the upper snout on the left side. It too moved about 1/4â€. As you can see, I went way beyond plastic to perform this task. All of the facial lines have changed in some respect because of the shift. It was close to starting from scratch again. Just glad it’s done. I’m going to try and post the most current pics today. I made lots of little adjustments to the faceplate. Plus, I made a chin cup for that lancer status I’m striving for. Update coming soon! I promise it won’t be a month this time.

So glad I have a Harbor Freight close to me! It's definitely been a $$$$$ saver lately!

Good deal. Figured it was something simple.

Oh, just thought of something else. You still have long hair? You might need to tuck it some so the back of the liner grips closer to skin.

If that liner is as tight as it will go, then switch to another liner. They are supposed to keep it from moving in every direction. When you wear a welders shield, it front loads the weight. If that's not an option, then add some weight in the back to balance out the helmet. FYI: the accurate liner is a welding shield liner

Just so you know bro, the lens clip thing isn't standard with an SC. Jeff hooked you up. You I guess have 2 options: 1) shave/cut/sand the lens in the area that touches Or 2) Trim your snoz off I'd go option 1. Lol. Others may have a better solution though

Thanks, and welcome!

Good Luck with your build Ani!

Nice! I can't wait to see the results!