Bally

Ooooo where do you get them from in Australia?

That looks really nice mate.

I suppose I can say now, but that looks so much better than your previous job. The sponge seems to work well. Are you planning on adding any burnt scoring to the blaster hits in the chest piece?

To be honest I'd say less geometrical/symmetrical if anything. I'd be aiming for no two looking the same and definitely less rounding of the edges. But I haven't done mine yet, only had to cam actual field gear. This is what I'm aiming for.

What happened mate? Not happy with the cam job?

I doubt you'll have any problems with that Michael.

Thanks very much for that mate, I appreciate your time. I've gone with the lighter base and dark tape strips, smaller gaps between the centre 3 and then a bit wider for the rest. Even though I've looked at all the cummerbunds including yours a heap of times (and have them all printed out) I've only just now, looking it again, noticed that insignia on your far right-hand (left as you look at it) pouch. Although from memory you may have mentioned it previously.

Any opinions? I need to have a solid plan this week sorry.

G'day mate

It's come time to visit our seamstress and get a cummerbund made so I really need to clear up some questions I have after looking at a lot of cummerbunds. Colour Personally looking at all of the screenshots and the old discussion about the cummerbund that led to the finalisation of the CRL, IMO the screenshots show a khaki/olive drab cummerbund. As someone who has worn a camouflage uniform for a lot of years, it doesn't make sense to me to have cam armour and a grey cummerbund. The CRL also says no MOLLE vests. I can understand not allowing pre-fab vests however again, to me the screenshots look like a vertical form of MOLLE that might take pouches with horizontal tabs for attachment. Just the way I see it. Anyhow I assume it's way too late to reopen this discussion and anything not grey wouldn't be acceptable. Is this correct? Pattern Obviously there have been a number of interpretations on the vertical stripe layout. Again, to me the screenshots show a uniform spacing between the rear/main material and the "tape" that is stitched vertically. Is this an acceptable way to do it or does it have to be the variable spacing and tape width as others have done? Base colour vs overlay Assuming grey must be used, is it best to go for a light grey rear/base material and dark grey stripes over the top, or vice versa? Thanks for your time

We're with you in spirit mate. I'm plodding through the soft gear at a snail's pace. I'm about to throw my cheap boots in the bin because what I thought was a great idea didn't turn out that way. Those snaps on the boots look like a good alternative to velcro on the toe area.

I used to use Saddle Soap to soften up and protect stock whips, but it might not be worth buying a whole tin for 2 small pieces of leather, and you'd probably want to test it on a spare piece first too.

Have you decided on the colours for your paints yet?

Well I've managed to get a few more pieces printed but have been told I can't use the printer anymore, even though I'm using my own material. Pistol grip, lower rail and rear sight pieces. And yeah, as per the WoF plans, that pistol grip is huge. Here it is in my carny sized hand for comparison.

Thanks mate. Looks great. Very jealous,

Continuing to watch with interest mate. What are you using for those strips to attach the backplate?

Magazine receiver done. Edit: and the magazine. The internal supports are still in though.

Rear barrel part done.

After having 2 cracks at the butt which both stuffed up due to filament jamming, the guy at work with the CNC machine gave it a go. Obviously it's done in 2 halves and still needs some tidying up. For some reason the groove that should be in the front end isn't there (might be a CNC issue) and there's a weird groove that's been taken out of one side at the rear. Nothing that can't be solved with some putty though.

Awesome. Thanks for that Grumpy.

While you're on it, I'm pretty happy enough with making my own, but I did have a question of dimensions. How far from the glove did you take the brown up to turn them into gauntlets?

Rear of the receiver and "bit that sits on top" done. Leaving the butt to run over the weekend. 5 hours down, 53 to go.

There is a lot available from 3D pinting/design hosting sites. Just google "3D printed ???" and you'll find them. There are also people around the various 501st Detachments that have designed their own. I got the one that I'm using from here. That's pretty much what the engineer that's looking after it said, i.e.- that PLA handles the heat a lot better. They found with ABS they had to use a piece of cardboard to block the open side of the machine so it didn't get any airflow through it, as well as use the heated bed, or it tended to warp or curl up. My only concern with the PLA is it's strength. I'm thinking for the larger pieces, once they're cleaned up, to make some molds for resin casting, however I've never used resin and will be learning from scratch.

I've put this on the CTN forums but since it's actually for my KT it's more relevant here. 3D models are from Cmdrappo over there. I found out that the guys upstairs at work have a new 3D printer so I got myself some material and got to work. At the recommendation of one of the engineers that use it, I'm using PLA to see how it goes. It's not on the finest setting to save time but it looks pretty good to me so far on the small pieces that have been done and the layering should sand out very easily. Any imperfections are due to issues with the machine. The edges have come up very sharp and even the hole in the back of the trigger for the spring is very defined. Still clearing out the supports from the recess in the large end of the scope so won't bother showing that.

Yeah because the top one had fewer grooves in the tread and the movie screen shots show only 3 or 4 grooves and I'm an anal retentive perfectionist, I was leaning towards them. I like the general look of the bottom ones though. My plan was to play around with a silicone mix (google "oogoo" ) using coloured silicone as the base and use it to fill in extra grooves in the tread and build up the arch externally. If there are blemishes, as Grumpy suggested, weather it and call it battle damage. Plan for the painting is to use white but not go heavy enough to make it solid. Still leave a hint of tan/khaki coming through. I've bought an Ozito brand rotary tool to use. It's a cheap brand but does the job well enough according to the guys at Redback Garrison, and is about 1/3 the price of a genuine Dremel. Will likely use one of the larger round sanding wheels, if that makes sense.