Great Lakes Garrison & Base

building an AP....I always wanted one of these thangs =)


























more to come...

That's a good looking helmet you have there.

That looks like fun Crow.

Sharp looking bucket you built Crow! Thanks for posting the many photos of your progress.

thanks guys. soon to be more pics...today was spent on the ear caps. stay tuned!

One day on just ear caps, WOW! you go Crow

LOL

Update:



The decals begin...


One of my reference pics...LOL



Getting that god-awful white powder off of the Weber's trim. ugh.



First coats of paint on the newly-trimmed earcaps and the frown...



A couple of other things I've done along the way:
1- I trimmed the bottom 1/8" off the back trapezoids so they don't overlap all the edges like they did (still not perfect, but much better).
2- The anal side of me really wanted a bit of white space between the brow and the eyes. So I positioned it that way and drilled the ear holes. Problem was it slowly slid down till it was right on the eye line; I realized the rubber trim was holding slightly up. So, not to be defeated, I placed a small piece of ind strength velcro up near the forehead to tack it in place. Voila. I have my whitespace. That teeny weeny little detail is one of my favorite things about the stunt look, and I wasn't gonna give up! Truth be told, I'd like more of it--like a height equal to the height of the brow material--but I wasn't gonna push it. The AP doesn't seem to be made for that.

Question: Is the left eye supposed to have that odd little curve in it at the bottom? I noticed it, :-/

Cujo wrote:Question: Is the left eye supposed to have that odd little curve in it at the bottom? I noticed it, :-/

YEP!!! Thats hwo you know its the Good stuff some people think it is strange, but the better buckets out there have it. Just like in the Films

Oh...and its on the right side, left in the pic when looking at it

Cujo wrote:Question: Is the left eye supposed to have that odd little curve in it at the bottom? I noticed it, :-/

Yep...I loooove that bump.

moving along...

I can now say that I have actually used a dental "gum stimulator"...to rub down pinstriping:






making a template for the lenses out of white sheet foam. I'll be using a welding visor.:






finally...a painted vocoder:

Here's the latest...




next to my SDS. Notice the acrylic capped ABS is mirror gloss, plus a much warmer white:




Smile!
I sure wish the AP's came in acrylic capped ABS...my armor makes it look dull!




I'm spent!

crow wrote:Here's the latest...

I sure wish the AP's came in acrylic capped ABS...my armor makes it look dull!

if it is such a problem for you, i will be more then happy to take it off your hands for you

It is time for you to become a dirty trooper, once you go sandy you never wish to be clean again.

lol one day Rog, I just might do that...!

The above shot of me in the mirror looks a little odd since it's, well, mirrored. Here it is flipped for hte correct look:



a few more tweaks before I install the hard hat liner.

One thing I wanted to do was knock down the gloss level on the teeth, so I picked up some clear Semigloss enamel. Trick to it is to apply it quickly and with very few strokes, as it begins to emulsify the paint very quickly.



"put the paint down and PLAY!"



Time for a little car wax polishing:




Frown mesh:

a few comp pics.

SDS Battle Spec:


AP:



SDS:


AP:



SDS:


AP:


And...the AP:

"put the paint down and PLAY!"




Cute Golden

That is an awesome helmet! Great job building it!

Dang good looking helmet

I’ll book mark this with interest, I have one waiting to be built at home

What a cute puppy too! Big sad eyes just saying “Please pet meeee”

Great work Scott, you did a really nice job. i have probably built a few hundered helmets in my time and i learned a few things along the way. One thing i learned is triming ABS isnt as easy as HIPS, the buytel rubber in ABS makes it a tuff plastic to work with on certian parts. The way i do the eyes is by using a dremil and a cut of wheel and cut the back off the eye socket, then finish trim with a razor. i also use the cut off wheel to cut off the top of the teeth bumps, then finish trim with a knife. the AP ears are pretty easy to trim, since the mold line is there, doing ear caps without that line are a bit tuffer, i always leave a little mold line in the part. it gives you room to clean up the trimmed part to fit. Always fit the faceplate to dome while the brow trim is inplace or you will get a bad trimm fit or a loose fit between the two. You have done a super job, the lid looks great! now you need some super accurate mictips in that baby..

Thanks Chris! Yep I swapped out those mic tips...before I sold it to a garrison mate! This helmet lives on as a Sandtrooper helmet these days!
It was a joy to build it though....first real armor build project ever for me...
S