pandatrooper

Make sure you sand the area you are gluing (both surfaces) before spreading the E6000. It will be a much stronger bond. For the forearm you can trim most of the return off the wrist before assembly. Yes its fine if you need to work your hand through.

Glad you guys find it helpful!

Did some more of these pop up? http://cgi.ebay.com/STAR-WARS-501ST-LEGION-CHALLENGE-COIN-SILVER-FREE-S-H-/260748507819?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb5d27aab#ht_500wt_1156

Most people have concluded that they are a tip / internal from a 70's British faucet fixture. To paint the tips, I usually wash them with detergent, flip them face down and stick them on some masking tape, spray with Satin Krylon.

Goo gone works great for removing residue.

Not too sure what you mean? The rivets under the ears are just 1/8" rivets.

Thanks, glad you guys like it! Hope the tutorial was helpful. The ATA ABS is really nice, I was quite jealous building this one knowing it wasn't going to be mine to keep! But I will get one to build for myself in the future, I have plenty of other things to keep me busy for now.

Completed ATA ABS helmet #1 as delivered to it's new owner. I hope this is a helpful guide for those building a helmet, it just takes some extra time and care and you can build an awesome helmet too.

Teeth fully painted with 2 coats Other details complete (ear rank missing as it was added last) He looks like Mr. No Stripes! For the tube stripes, I hand cut decals from sign vinyl. You can use a brush for painting the stripes, but I like to use an airbrush. Remove the ears, and apply the template in the correct location (stripes should be approx. 1/4" away from the valley) I mask the area with masking tape. I also taped paper in place to avoid overspray on the lid I usually do about 3 coats or passes with the airbrush (I am using Testors French blue in a Iwata HP-B airbrush) After the paint has dried slightly, I peel the template away (I don't wait for it to cure fully because I do not want any puckered edges in the paint) Finished Left side Right side To paint the vents, I cut some more templates from sign vinyl. I hand drew them for an organic look, and cut them out. Then airbrushed them with black. You could also simply run masking tape above and below the vents and brush paint them, but since I have the airbrush out it was just easier to do this at the same time. For the duct lines, I simply use a round tip brush with black paint to paint the lines in. To paint the mic tips, I sand them slightly and wash them in detergent to remove any mold release. I simply stick them face down on some masking tape and paint them black. After they are dry, I sand the edges of the tips slightly to make them look a little more "worn" and add the mesh (run some CA glue on the inside edge and press the tips in. Some people like to use a round tool to make it look like they are pressed from the inside. Installed mic tips For the lens, I cut a notch out for the nose area. The bolts passing through the ears will hold the lens in place. I simply drill alignment holes for them in the lens.

Polishing. You can polish the lid if you like. The ABS is already shinier than HIPS, but it can shine more! I like to polish it with the lid assembled, so that the majority of the helmet is shiny, but the recesses are slightly less shiny. It's a cheap optical illusion that actually adds depth to a helmet. I polished the left side only in these pics to demonstrate. I use Meguiars cut polish to smooth out the helmet. You can also wet sand it and use Novus. Unpolished side Polished side (notice how sharp the highlights are) Painting I use a pencil and mark the areas where I will be hand painting the details. Use reference pictures from screen used helmets as a guide. First coat using Testors modelmasters semigloss black. Everything will need 2 coats to be opaque. For the vocoder I use a round tip brush. First coat on the other details. I do the black first, and then "cut in" the grey. Don't worry about what the black looks like, as it will be covered. I do all the black for all the parts in 1 pass, so as to not waste paint or time cleaning brushes. I use a flat brush for most of these parts. Second coat of black makes it a lot more opaque. I let each coat dry overnight before top coating. First coat of grey on top of black Painting other areas grey. Concentrate on getting the black outline to be a consistent thickness First coat on teeth, I'll clean it up on the second pass Wait overnight before the next and final coat of grey

Joining the face to the cap and back. I like to do it with the brow trim on, just be sure it's the exact height I want. I use small clamps to hold it in position. On this lid, the brow is raised up, but not curved like the "Move along" trooper. More canon look. For alignment, I place the end of the lens openings just a little in front of the temples. Drill the ear rivet holes I always install a washer inside to back the rivet. Rivet both sides. Now you can "hinge" the face up for down to adjust the brow height if you like. Lower...? Or higher...? I liked it slightly higher, so I clamp the halves together, and drill the holes for the bottom rivets (which are hidden under the ears). This is a good point to check and make sure that the lower edge of the back doesn't need to be trimmed further, and that the ear will actually cover this rivet without blocking where the lower ear screw will go. You can choose to roughly trim your ears to test this first. I've built enough of these that I know where to drill, so I just drill the hole and rivet it shut. I draw pencil marks along the ear indentations as a GUIDE. Do not cut along these yet! I usually trim up to 1/4" away from the pencil marks along the cheek tube area, but the round part, I trim right up to the pencil line. First test alignment. Obviously, it needs more trimming but this is to demonstrate where to cut. Getting better. I usually rough trim the front and back of the ear, then do a second pass on the front and the back, then concentrate on getting the front right, and then finish the back of the ear. One tip is to install the upper bolt through the lid for consistent alignment during test fittings. I simply use pencil marks. Back Keep adjusting the ear until you have it fitting how you like. I use a Dremel sanding drum to make adjustments quickly, but I still usually take about 35 mins per ear for fitment. I like to drill the holes in the ear before the helmet. I countersink the holes slightly so that the bolts sit a little deeper. I will line up the ear and drill the upper hole, then bolt the ear in and drill the second hole (stunt) and bolt it up TIGHT, then drill the lower neck opening hole. This will make it fit more flush. Repeat for both ears.

Trim the back edge and neck openings Overall trimming complete, sand the edges if you want to remove any burrs / flash Mark the eye openings with a pencil, follow the indentations I cut the eyes out with a Dremel wheel. For me it's faster and I am confident in my Dremel skills that I don't screw up. If you want to score and snap, go for it. Sand the openings smooth I Dremel the backside of the teeth. Leave some of the material for depth. Clean it up with a hobby blade File to shape if required I like the long "Twinkie" shaped teeth (straight sides and round ends) At this point, I wash the face and cap back with detergent and water / dry to remove any plastic bits, dust and release agents from the molding / forming process.

I had the distinct pleasure of assembling the first ATA ABS lid. This is just how I do it, it's not the way everyone does it, it might not be screen accurate assembly to 1976 standards, I use unorthodox tools - but who cares! Get over it. Build, troop and enjoy. The pulls are nice. Plastic is slightly off white, not as beige as AM, very similar to TM. This is ATA ABS #1 The face pull is VERY sharp. The sharpest I have seen, and I have built a lot of lids now. Ears Plastic is pulled with a clear sticker coating to prevent scratches / damage. Simply peel this off. Update: Helmets made after November 2011 may or may not have the clear film. I mark about 1.25" above the eyes, and use a plastic strip to draw a line. I also mark the cap back edge for the ear area (will be covered by the ears) Punch or drill a hole at the intersection to prevent the plastic from tearing Trim off the excess

I think you can either build it and retain the formed ridge on both halves and have the biceps be a little loose if that the proportional look you want. Remember, just because you have skinny arms doesn't mean you need to build the armor skin tight - it's not going to look right, you'll be like a stick figure! Also, the bicep you are working on is the "bigger" of the two biceps. I don't recall on TMC, but the ROTJ derived suits had 2 different biceps, the left is smaller than the right. I have skinny arms too, and when I built my ATA, I retained the ridges. They are a little loose, but once it's all strapped together it fits fine. You could also retain the ridge on the outer bicep half, and remove the one on the inner half, and place the cover strip on top. Again, depends on how you want it to fit. Also, that ridge on the outer bicep doesn't look like it's 8mm wide, it looks wider?

Hey Paul, I usually include a star foam that's bigger than screen accurate for customers so that they can resize it if necessary. I figure it's better to include something bigger that can be cut down slightly than something that's too small, and I would have to send another piece of foam later. If you look closely, I included a long football shaped piece of foam just above the lens for the brow area. You can remove this to make it smaller as it was not on the originals, again I only include it to make it smaller fitting. You can also simply trim the "prongs" of the star down, maybe remove about 1" at a time to make it smaller. Just test fit it each time. In regards to the helmet, it currently does not have accurate neck trim (I ran out of the screen accurate stuff) so it's simply some brow trim wrapped around for now. The traps and vents are all hand painted, the tube stripes are airbrushed with hand cut vinyl templates. I'll try and post some more pics of the ATA ABS lid today. For anyone wondering, the ATA ABS is a fantastic lid and exceptional quality for the price. I know I'm going to get one for sure after working on this one! It was an honor to build ATA ABS lid #1.

This is what I do: Teeth - flat brush Ducts - flat brush painted black, cut in with grey flat brush, round brush for vent lines Temple traps - flat brush painted black, cut in with grey flat brush Rear traps - flat brush painted black, cut in with grey flat brush, round brush for the vent lines with masking tape on the top and bottom to keep the ends sharp. If I don't have time to habd paint the lines, I hand cut vinyl templates for the vent lines and sirbrush them. I freehand the lines and cut them a little uneven and then airbrush them with an Iwata HP-B.

Meguiars cut polish will take it out. Look at my ANH thigh tops thread in the paint / mod section and watch my youtube return edge videos. I go from using a Dremel / rough file to glass smooth with no scratches visible.

Great work! If you make an accurate version of the Gatchaman helmet, count me in for one!

I layer between Krylon and Rustoleum with no problems. Temperature, humidity and dry times and good prep work are the keys to a good finish. I personally think the Fusion stuff is a scam. I've done tests and it sticks no better to plastic compared to primer and topcoat.

You have to be careful as gun laws are stricter in Canada than many other countries. There are very specific laws against replicas and their use. The only time I have been stopped was when I trooped at the Relay for Life cancer walk. My blaster was holstered and I was stopped by RCMP. They asked to see it and I started to reach for the holster and they told me to stop. They reached for it and when they realized it was very light and made noises, they were OK with it but they said not to pull it out on the street. Keep in mind that wearing a "mask" and bandishing something that from a distance looks real can cause people to react in a very cautious way. We did a troop in a mall last week and security mentioned that they are now very cautious and do not allow masks of any type to be worn in the mall since there have been lots of smash and grabs at jewelry stores. This has been prominent in the news with a thief dressing up as Darth Vader. Our garrison also has specific rules re: blasters and sabers which I agree with (eg: no weapons at school or hospital functions etc.) Check with your local garrison. Also, just wandering the streets at a non troop brandishing a blaster is a bad idea. Save the blasters for garrison events IMO.

Troop em. I was expecting these giant wavy cover strips that weren't even straight. Look troopable to me.

Did you follow the instructions here? Are you using the proper tools? ------ If you used E6000 for assembly, you should be able to remove the cover strip by using a hobby knife to cut through the glue and pry the strip off. One thing I find that helps is to sand the seam down when the 2 halves are joined to flatten it diwm a bit before gluing the strip on. It also roughens up the surface for gluing.

Most screen accurate sized helmets are approx. same size. It depends on construction (you could move the face forwards or backwards slightly and tilt it) it also depends on how big or small you cut the neck opening and the padding used as mentioned. The RT-mod helmet is slightly larger than screen accurate. FX helmets are huge but not screen accurate nor accepted in the Fisd EIB Expert Infantry program.

Looking forward to it. I just built a TMC and it's great. For those just starting out, they do a great service by labeling almost everything. Very helpful!

You seek Tandy leather line 24 snaps. ----------- 30-35 snaps should do your whole armor.