Manzilla's ESB AM 2.0 Armor Build

[Manzilla]

Hey all. I thought I would go ahead and throw my hat into the ring for my AM 2.0 ESB build. I had already finished my Doopy Doo kit and after watching intently all of the new AM armor builds on this site, and getting great tips and info, I was motivated to start mine. FYI, I was one of the people that received the two left shins, but Mighty Tank, being the upstanding citizen that he is, already took care of it, so I am ready to go.

[Manzilla]

First after staring at my helmet for at least 2 hours I decided to just go for it. After lining everything up, I glued the top to the back. Yes, I used CA glue instead of E6000. Crazy I know.

[Manzilla]

I cut out the teeth, yes only 4 on each side, and got those all sanded down. It came out really nice, but you will have to take my word for it as I forgot to take pics 

Next I cut the rubber brow trim to size and affixed all the decals except for the tube stripes (more about that later). I also drilled out all the dimpled holes.

[Manzilla]

After a test fit I realized how all the screws go. 

These are for the ears:

 

and these are for connecting the helmet together:

 

 

[Manzilla]

Like this::

 

The two other holes that are drilled out will be for the ear pieces to connect to. I tested it all together and it lined up pretty well.

[Rystan]

Looking good, Bryan!  Glad to see you've started strong.  I'm almost to the point of taking the helmet screws out of the bag on my own build, you'll save me a few minutes for sure.

[Manzilla]

Next I taped up the front of my helmet and the inside teeth and eyes:

 

And did this:

 

I will be doing the back tomorrow

Edited August 17, 2014 by Manzilla

[Manzilla]

I decided to tackle painting my earpieces. What a pain! I ended up making a tape template, but I still have a little clean up to do:

 

I will be doing the gray tomorrow

[Manzilla]

Oh here is a quick pic of my Doopy Doo:

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RL]

 

I will post more later

Edited August 17, 2014 by Manzilla

[Manzilla]

OK, quick question. These are the only tube stripes I received in my kit. Which one should I use for this ESB? Stunt or Hero?

[Manzilla]

Looking good, Bryan!  Glad to see you've started strong.  I'm almost to the point of taking the helmet screws out of the bag on my own build, you'll save me a few minutes for sure.

Thanks Mike. Your build has been an inspiration for me to get started. I am also grateful for all the good tips and what you have done so far. It will definitely help me on my own journey.

After I get the helmet together, I am going to use Mighty Tanks suggestion of using a screwdriver to get the ear piece on. Hopefully, that will work and I won't have to do any extra trimming. This is me crossing my fingers.

[CRISTONAMO]

You need to order ESB decals and replace the ones on your helmet. ESB decals are different then ANH. Those tube stripes are both for ANH.

[gazmosis[501st]]

http://trooperbay.com/te-derived-esb-stormtrooper-helmet-decals/Seek out trooperbay. He will have the correct decals for an ESB helmet

[Manzilla]

Will do. I have gotten a lot of stuff from him already.

[Manzilla]

I will have to check with them to make sure the ESB decals fit the AM helmet. This is from the website.

"These ESB stickers are accurate in shape and color. They will only fit ANH style helmets, specifically ATA, TE, TE2, AP, GF, SDS, VT, CAP, GINO, Oakley types. These will NOT fit FX, TM MRCE or KW’s ANH series."

[Manzilla]

I found some on his site that fit the NE Helmets. Would this be the same ones?

[gazmosis[501st]]

If they are ESB

[Manzilla]

They are. Thanks Steve. I am going to order a set right now.

[Manzilla]

Finished painting the ears, vocoder, and the teeth last night. I have to clean up the teeth some on the ends though. I also removed the incorrect decals and will be replacing them with the NE ESB ones from Trooperbay.

[Manzilla]

I went ahead and started to put the helmet together. Here are some pics:

 

The left ear was a bear! I tried the method that Mighty Tank gave with the screwdriver and all that did was make me mad 

It actually started to spread the hole out. I finally got it together (I Guess) and have to use a bit of bond and paint to fix the gap by the screw.

I am gluing down the part that is sticking up in the front on the bottom. One thing I noticed however, is the top part of the ear piece was warped a little. Not sure if it is really noticeable, but you all can let me know.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Manzilla

[Manzilla]

Also, here is the gap on the left ear. Is this going to work. There really is no gap on the back side.

[toybiz[TK]]

Great to see another ESB joining the ranks!

 

Look forward to following your build.

 

Adam

[Manzilla]

Ok, so here is an update. I was having major issues with getting the hard hat liner to go into my helmet. I couldn't get the tabs to stay. So I went to my local Army surplus store (which was awesome by the way) and picked up some pads for my helmet. It was super simple to put in using velcro on the inside of the helmet and just placing the pads accordingly. It is very comfortable and fits well. Here is a pic:

[Manzilla]

Next I decided to tackle the forearms. After biding my time and watching everyone else get to theirs, I decided it was time. First I did a test fit on my arms and taped them together:

 

Then I marked where I was going to cut and did this on all four sides:

[Manzilla]

Next, I took my metal ruler and clamped it to the forearms, lining up the lines I had marked before hand. Notice I clamped the ruler upside down because of the cork board backing:

 

The next step was to score along the ruler with my knife:

 

Once I did this about three to four times, I bent the ABS over at the score line: