Zv288bot

Looking at every other build thread on here I think it’s a part that got dropped in the box and doesn’t actually belong to the kit. I didn’t reach out to Walt to ask, honestly I literally just tossed it yesterday. I think it was a knee plate for one of those tank drivers. Thanks for the comment! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I sanded the area down and applied a layer of Devcon. This stuff smells so bad. Make sure you do it in a ventilated area, wow. Under the visor, I had the piece of sign and applied bondo to smooth out the sides. I’ve moved into glazing & spot putty. I will hopefully lay another coat of primer and see what areas will need attention after that. So excited! It looks like a helmet! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I got some moments in 50 degree weather to get outside and and do some bondo and sand and fill and bondo and sand fill and sand and fill and… So I applied a liberal amount of E6000 to both sides of the mask to mount the visor before I do any more finishing work on the visor. And flexing the visor cracked the bondo. So glad this happened now. I’ll go back and sand and fill and add a layer of Devcon plastic welder. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I also glued all of the belt boxes in place. Again, just a dab of E6000 behind every elastic band. I am also adding a piece of Velcro to the back of the belt. This will be we’re the strap for my cod piece will attach. And lastly, I cut some EVA foam (floor mats) strips to use to reinforce the bottom and side walls of the pouches. I wanted to keep them as “open” as possible to maybe use? I am down to just the helmet and blaster holster. Just need some warmer weather. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Getting down to some minor fit “clean up” items. So here are the snaps after I got the placement as close as I could get it. I used E6000 to glue the nylon webbing to the interior of the chest plate. Using some magnets to hold them in place until the glue dries. Again, while just looking over the fit,I realized the shoulder bells where sitting too close to the chest armor especially when I compared it to reference images. So I added a block of EVA foam to raise the shoulder bell. I am securing this with E6000 as well. I also realized wondering around the house that I started to feel some discomfort with the knee armor/plates. The bottom of the plate started to dig into the underneath of my knee when standing up. I’m just adding some more EVA for comfort. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So as I did some test runs to help make final adjustments for a better fit, I need this bund to be held in place. If I don’t, I’m gonna end up looking like those scouts in the Mandalorian LOL. I’m doing a lot of these measurement myself while wearing it looking in a mirror. Definitely not the easiest thing to do. The blue tape if basically marking for me where the chest plate ends. I decided I would add 2 Line 24 snaps to the front of the bund that would attach to the inside of the chest plate. As used in other parts of this build and following the success from my TK build. I am using nylon webbing to secure the other side of the snap. I will suit up and hopefully mark the area so I can glue the nylon webbing on the chest plate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ugh, I need to sing the rain rain go away song at this point. My patience has totally disappeared with my old age. Anyhow, I realized that I need to still bondo my holster as well as mount it to the boot. I did swing by home depot today to pick up a piece of plastic for support in the boot. I got a piece of plastic used for picture frames. I’m hoping it won’t be to brittle. It did splinter when I tried to cut it with scissors. I wound up doing the old score and snap with an exacto. Using Chicago screws to mount everything. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some Chicago screws that I ordered arrived today so I took the opportunity to glue on side to the helmet bolt covers. Weather is not permitting me to be able to do any additional work on the helmet. I’m gonna use the same screws to mount the holster to the boot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s pretty cold here so it’s cramping my “getting my bondo/paint on my helmet on!” off! I realized that I do need to trim down the bund. I originally made it back in July when I didn’t have the hard parts. I specifically made it longer because I had no idea what I would need knowing making it smaller would be easier. I thought I had pictures of it before sizing it down. It was sticking about a good 1 to 2 inches above the elastic strap. I realized that I want to attach the bund to the chest armor. So I “shaped” under the arms to go lower to he hidden by the elastic strap on the side but still have enough fabric to attach to the chest plate and enough to go above the back plate without any concerns of “pulling out” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks guys [mention]AradunFF [/mention]@chopper. I will check those out! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The top of the tank greeblie was just painted black and I used E6000 to mount it to the top of the tank. I went heavy with it. There was a lot of area to cover. The bicep parts I painted as well. I used The paint I bought to use on the helmet once I have it ready for paint. This Rustoleum paint is glossy white but I am not liking the contrast to the white used for the ABS. I think I may need to research paint a little more when it comes time to paint the helmet. Almost forgot, I added the Tank decal as well. Getting super close! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m really not excited about the overall cast of the nose aerator or mic. I am going to take a file to grooves and try and clean the up. This is the raw cast. After hitting it with Primer Filler. I went back in with a mini file and just made the grooves more pronounced. I like the look much better. And here they are painted! Ready to be installed once I get the helmet complete. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used this fill and primer to just try and get some of the sanding marks taken care of. I just did one coat before I painted them with their permanent color. It’s cold her in Georgia and the weather isn’t conducive to painting. Not to bad. I painted these with a “closer to the decals that came with the kit” gray. Now to just go and paint all of the small details with black paint! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I sanded all of the greeblies today. They are cast resin and definitely needed some clean up. I took them to the belt grinder. I marked off an area each to have the thickness more consistent with each piece. I marked them with a pencil and sanded down to the line. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok, did a test run to see how it is all coming along. Again I made the bund back last year before I got the hard parts. I will cut it down to fit with the chest and back piece better. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here are some pics of sewing the straps to the back of the pouches. I just went for placement. Making sure they where as close to the same as possible. Here is another shot of marking the areas for the straps. Cod piece. Same deal, couldn’t really make this without having the hard parts. Now that I do we are chugging along. Stitched the free handed pattern inside out. Attached the strap that will connect to the back of the bund. Just add some fluff. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I spent most of the day working on the belt today. More specifically these pouches. Mid last year I made one using [mention]ScaryGuy [/mention]pattern. Then I let it sit because I couldn’t really size anything with the hard parts. Anyhow, not gonna lie, was dreading these. I made 5 (?!) of them before landing on the 2 I used. Originally I was going to use these plastic mesh pieces to add support to the box. It didn’t quite pan out so I’m gonna just cut some EVA foam instead. I and just doing a general fit test and pouch placement test. So I forgot to sew the straps in while I was putting the pouches together! At this point I am just gonna sew them to the back of the pouch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So glue has dried. I have the boxes temporarily in place. Once I am happy with the spacing I will add some E6000 to the back of the straps. I applied the front buckle to the belt using E6000. I’m hoping that will be strong enough to hold. Time will tell. Here is the belt. I need to finish up the pouches for it, E6000 the boxes in place and it should be all set. This is the front of the belt from the inside. The belt fastens with Velcro. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The belt. I basically found a narrow tactile belt that I really liked for a base. I created a “sleeve” out of the same material I used for the bund and cod piece and slid the belt in to cover it to make it match. The belt with the cover comes in just under 2 inches. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While I was working on this I just pushed through and sewed and E6000 the straps to the front and back buckle. The belt is going to fastened close in the front by Velcro. So for the back of the belt. I decided to do the same as the rest and add an elastic strap and E6000 the strap into place. No idea about mounting the front buckle yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I originally was going with floor mat EVA foam to fill the boxes in but I thought it stuck out to far and made the boxes sit funky on the belt. I found some craft foam that was half the size and felt way better about it. Again, I looped some elastic and E6000 it into place. Once it completely drys I will thread the belt through and when the placement is correct I will E6000 the elastic strap to the belt. Once so sanded the boxes to be relatively all the same depth I literally pushed the box into the foam to “score” the pattern to cut. This is the craft foam I ultimately went with. It was half the thickness and I felt it just conformed to the belt better. A couple of globs of E6000. I will place on end of each of the elastic strap into the glue and sandwich the craft foam on top. Not to shabby. The front and back buckles will need a different method. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Working on the belt boxes. As mentioned in previous threads the come without any back. I decided to fill them with some craft foam and add an elastic loop to the back of each box. Once I have them in place I will E6000 them into place. I took a similar approach with my ammo pouches on my TK. Two “buckles” come with the kit. One for the front and one for the back. Slots need to be cut to feed the buckle straps through. I just scored all of these with a exacto knife several times until I was able to cut through the plastic. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Speaking of blaster! I couldn’t be 1000% more happy to have guessed correctly. I literally created this blaster in tinkercad based on reference photos and TV stills. Not having any idea of the actual size of the holster check it out! This shot is where you can see, like [mention]ScaryGuy [/mention]mentions the actual holster is pulled in a mirrored image. It should be opposite and honestly would probably hold the blaster almost perfectly. Here are some more reference boot pics. Walt has the flat part on the outside but it really should be on the inside. The angled piece should be on the inside. No worries, it will work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I glued the gun holster together. Honestly I forgot about it. I noticed from some of the other build threads that the pieces are actually butted against each other as opposed to over lapping. I am using some CA glue and sign parts to glue it together. Since I will need to bondo and paint I figured I should add the extra strength since I hopefully will be carrying a blaster around in this. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got the shoulder Bells attached today! Just like my TK shoulder bells. This set up makes it really easy to attached them myself. I actually also put the whole top on like a shirt. It took some wiggling around but it worked. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk