Sithping

Straight home from work today and hit the biceps with a blast of Sahara beige. Then the right bicep was treated to a splash of colour with Toyota Red. Peeled off the liquid latex to reveal the layered weathering, added a mixture of grey and brown aging spray and allowing to dry. Next will be the yellow stripe detail...

Finally! The biceps are assembled...these bad boys took a bit of work, from the alignment to the trimming and sanding..really glad to get the first coat of primer on them ready for painting and weathering. Cover strips glued in place. Clamps are your friend for this job. Glue area marked and sized for inner bicep with gold pen and chevron for trimming. Secured together with CA Next, 2 part filled the front facing cover strips, then sanded for priming. Primer applied, hung to dry.

Left gauntlet painted with cab yellow and Ford nordic blue...liquid mask was added between layers..will peel when dry...also Halfords matt black lightly sprayed over the blue.

Forearms, the tricky part is now out the way..alignment and sealing them fully closed was a bit of a task, anyway they have been filled, sanded and primed then a first pass with the liquid latex and Sahara beige..this will be followed up with additional paint on the left gauntlet with blue and yellow.

Some assembly test...

Sprayed the abs section with the relevant paints and applied liquid latex between coats to reveal layers for weathering.

Today I worked on the abdomen section sanding, priming, applied masking fluid and sprayed the first coat of Sahara beige.

The abdomen lower armour is my next part to work on. I have extended the waist size by 30mm both sides at the bottom and approx 10mm at the top of the ribs, I had asked my GCO to cast his eye over the positioning just to make sure I had enough for the back plate cover before I fixed it in place with CA. Originally I was going to apply the filler straight to the edge of the joint, but I had thought it may crack under the stress of the flexibility of the ABS, so I templated the shape of the area to be filled and transferred it to a strip of ABS the same thickness as the join. This was perfect for minimising the use of filler and made the joint perfectly flush and much stronger. Next I plan to sand all the abdomen area and hit it with a coat of dark brown primer. Oh, and nearly forgot I reworked the weathering on the shoulder bell and added some to the chest piece. The saga continues....

Thanks Matt!

Following up on the shoulder bell I painted the black and white bands today. I also weathered and painted the belt boxes, shin buckles and cover strips.

Made the decision to go with the Captain and painted up the necessary with Ford Nordic Blue. I also applied some liquidtex for the weathering. If you look closely enough I also added a light mist of Halford matt black for the aged process to the Nordic blue...this is just the beginning of the weathering effects lots more to add further down the road... I marked out the lines for the white and black stripes on the left shoulder bell, Bottom black line 13.5mm White band 48mm Top black line 15mm More to follow soon...

Lots of details added to the upper armour tonight, back vent details fully fixed and secured. Also buckles, straps and raised slot details added. Plus belt greeblies, thermal detonators and slug shells sanded and primed. Test fit 🙂

First pass of SB on the back plate and collar.

More details added to the back plate along with collar, primed with Montana dark brown. Had a wee test fit with the chest and back joined together. Next jobs are 1st coat Sahara beige on the back piece/collar, then locate and fix securely front buckles and straps.

Absolutely! As mentioned all pieces have had their 1st coat of Sahara beige, this helped me see better any areas needing filled. Lots more painting required 😉 Thanks for the feedback guys!

Wip update, shoulder bells prepped, primed and painted with 1st coat SB.

With the weather being good for a change I managed to get some painting done. Few pieces sanded, prepped and painted with Montana dark brown and with the first coat of Sahara beige it feels like it's starting to come alive...

Thanks Matt! I use a store called graf city based in Wales.

Well a little sunshine always helps with my motivation, so I continued some more with the shore...(hey that rhymes)😊 Shoulder slot details and straps test fitted and secured inside with velcro. Hand guards prepped and painted with Sahara beige. Shoulder buckles sanded, prepped and painted with Montana dark brown and Sahara beige.

Progress made over the weekend... Hand guards prepped and painted with Montana dark brown. Hip plates prepped and painted with Sahara beige. Greeblies added to ab section. Detail cut out and reinforced at back plate shoulder tabs. Vent box recess at rear and lower half painted halfords matt black.

Had my first test shot with the Montana cans tonight and added the greeblies to the back panel detail. Also had some sanding on the collar to address, then tried it on the mannequin with the back and chest pieces to see how it looked. It's a slow burn for me finding the time to work on the Shoretrooper, but I'm enjoying the build so much when I do get the chance to work on it.

Congratulations! Well done Matt! Looking forward to welcoming you to the Garrison on your forthcoming service to the Empire.

Got myself a half bust mannequin to assist me with the build.

Hi Matt, almost there...good to see your build nearing completion. Hope you get your flight suit back soon.

Noted thanks Sir!