Lorelei's 5'4" ATA ANH-S Centurion-Hopeful Build

[Rat[TK]]

I bought a big bag of them from Home Depot. Here's what it looked like whilst clamped:

Yes that looks quite familiar from my own build.

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[TheLorelei[TK]]

4 hours ago, Harbinger said:

I bought a big bag of them from Home Depot. Here's what it looked like whilst clamped:

Somehow that picture makes it seem so doable! Trimming the knee down now, and will acquire those exact clamps (but from Walmart) tonight and set it a-gluing. Thank you!

 

And I'm glad you've caught up, @Rat . 

[Frank75139[501st]]

I read every other page. And if I see that Swede, Greg, Tony, Glen, Daniel, or Frank the Tank have posted, I figure they already got whatever question you had, covered.

Frank- $5 says Lorelei will get her sniper plate on straight and centered.


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Your on, I’ve got no faith in her ability at all! Lol


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[TheLorelei[TK]]

24 minutes ago, Bud Spaklur said:

I read every other page. And if I see that Swede, Greg, Tony, Glen, Daniel, or Frank the Tank have posted, I figure they already got whatever question you had, covered.

Frank- $5 says Lorelei will get her sniper plate on straight and centered.

Haha! Safe bet. I'm well taken care of.

 

24 minutes ago, Frank75139 said:

Your on, I’ve got no faith in her ability at all! Lol

 

 

WELL I NEVER. Y'all... honestly my jaw dropped before I started laughing. Excellent motivation, and I'm going to prove you SO wrong, Frank, and prove you SO right, Matt! Haha.

 

While I blob about a bit after dinner, here, have an update:

 

Yesterday after work I stood outside for two hours in the sub-freezing weather painting Smudge. Ever notice that Testor's doesn't have any application temperature guidelines? I did.  These were my results:

Well, those, and I painted the vocoder half a dozen times, hating it and wiping it each time. Speaking of wiping, a cosmetic wedge sponge soaked in mineral spirits is my best friend while painting. Those sponges are the bee's knees!

I left the pieces in my heated workroom overnight and did some more painting this afternoon. Full sized pics this time because I am SO fond of how it's coming along:

Lower edge of left ear will be cleaned up as the black is too wide.

Touched up the hovis:

and admitted to myself I could not freehand the vocoder shape, opting to sketch it in with pencil like so:

How's this look?

The frown was being annoying so I think I'll mask that before painting.

I'm going for the full hand-painting experience on the tube stripes  having figured out that I paint best when employing sharpshooting breath control techniques, I'm confident I can pull it off.

 

Enough dilly-dallying - off to get my knee ready!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

53 minutes ago, Frank75139 said:

Your on, I’ve got no faith in her ability at all! Love

 

 

lol where's the love Frank at least throw out a wink emoji 

[TheLorelei[TK]]

3 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

lol where's the love Frank at least throw out a wink emoji 

Right?! Just straight threw it out there. Hence the shock!

[Frank75139[501st]]

Right?! Just straight threw it out there. Hence the shock!

Better?


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[TheLorelei[TK]]

5 minutes ago, Frank75139 said:

Better?

 

 

Totally. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Vocoder looks very good to me. Paging @CableGuy as he is the tube stripe police, he’ll make sure you are on the right track.

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Vocoder looks very good to me. Paging [mention=31976]CableGuy[/mention] as he is the tube stripe police, he’ll make sure you are on the right track.

You rang, Sir. ;-)

Lovely job on the traps, tears and vocoder so far, Lorelei!

For the tube stripes, I’d just suggest the ‘approximately a pencil width from the cheek’ rule. This is for the actual stripes themselves, not just the edge of the template (if you’re using a template).

If you’re using a template such as the “Dave-M” template, see the below for the correct orientation. The front few stripes should lean towards the frown.

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/44755-tube-stripes-anh-stunt-dave-m/

Keep up the amazing work. :-)

[TheLorelei[TK]]

11 hours ago, CableGuy said:

Keep up the amazing work. :-)

Thanks, Dan. Good to know my vocoder has passed muster with you, at any rate! The pencil width tube stripe placement guideline seems like such a silly unit of measurement but I've seen it referenced in so many places, I'll go by it.

 

4 hours ago, Bud Spaklur said:

Is JustJoseph standing by as ear police? It appears she’s going to be installing those soon.

Lorelei- it’s coming along nicely. Good paint job so far. Looks like you’ll be good to go once you slap one more coat of gray on the traps. I haven’t seen an updated “To-do” list in awhile. Maybe I skipped that page?() What do you have left and what’s your plan after the knee?

I'm lighting the ear-shaped bat signal for @justjoseph63 - if there's anything I need to know, it would be good to know now. Though of course changes later are no big deal.

 

Thanks, Matt.  Yep, they're all awaiting another coat of grey to even things out. And nope, you didn't miss a thing, I just haven't pasted the to-do list in from the note in which it resides in a bit, primarily because:

 

I'M GETTING SO MUCH DONE!

So much I can barely keep up on the posts.

For instance, I finished my butt-kidney connection AND mounted my drop boxes a couple days ago and entirely forgot to mention it. See? Drop boxes.

And this is weird but I couldn't think of a better way to exhibit just how stable the new connection is:

Pressure from either direction has no effect on alignment. I am loving the polyester webbing.

Yes, I still need to trim the butt and sand the kidney seam.

Last night I got the clamps y'all apparently have - $7 and change at Walmart for 16 in varying sizes and my GOODNESS y'all HOW did I not have these for my whole build??

(This is without a doubt among the better photos I've ever taken. Has an air of a Renaissance painting about it.)

I decided to trim the top after installing to avoid overtrimming like last time. So ignore the tallness, please.

 

So alright, Matt, here's what's left. Ish.

 

BUCKET: Finish painting bucket, Install speakers in hovis, Assemble bucket

LOWER REGIONS: Trim buttplate, Size cod and connect to ab, Cod to butt elastic (soft stuff)

SHOULDERS: Trim shoulder tops, Connect shoulders, Reinforce shoulder straps (?), Apply to chest, Trim shoulder bells, Size bell strap, Sew in shoulder bell snap

NECK SEAL: Make neck seal bib

TORSO: Polish kidney seam, Repaint ab buttons

[TheSwede[TK]]

Submission pics this weekend then

[TheLorelei[TK]]

9 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

Submission pics this weekend then

That's my goal!!!! Shhh! I've been trying to not say it to avoid, I dunno, the bad costuming spirits from gathering.  You really think it's possible?

[TheSwede[TK]]

5 minutes ago, TheLorelei said:

That's my goal!!!! Shhh! I've been trying to not say it to avoid, I dunno, the bad costuming spirits from gathering.  You really think it's possible?

Yepp - but don´t - saver the build as you´ll likely miss it when completed...oh wait, you have that RS kit to build - crack on

[A.J. Hamler[TK]]

Ya know, Lorelei, even though we started at different times, did things in different order, had different issues and successes, and different treatment from Frank (he's much nicer to me, I think), it looks like we're wrapping up at the same time, taking our submission photos at the same time and probably submitting at the same time.

 

 

[Frank75139[501st]]

It’s a race, then! $5 says Lorelei will finish first. Oh snap!


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Your on and for the record the sniper knee looks off, I want to confirm it’s straight before admitting defeat.

Ya know, Lorelei, even though we started at different times, did things in different order, had different issues and successes, and different treatment from Frank (he's much nicer to me, I think), it looks like we're wrapping up at the same time, taking our submission photos at the same time and probably submitting at the same time.
 
Don’t tell her this, she’ll catch on that I don’t want her to succeed. I was trying to keep that a secret. PS get your armor done I’ve got money on you!
 

That's my goal!!!! Shhh! I've been trying to not say it to avoid, I dunno, the bad costuming spirits from gathering.  You really think it's possible?

You better hurry, Roddie, our GML (yea I remembered) already said there would be no approvals during the election.




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[TheLorelei[TK]]

12 minutes ago, Frank75139 said:

 Roddie, our GML (yea I remembered)

 

It's at the top of the page - I'm betting you just scrolled up.  Now let me paint!! I'll reply to all you guys as soon as I can bring myself to put the brushes down!

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Shoot, nope, the previous page. Never mind.

[Frank75139[501st]]

Oh boy.....Lorelei - I have $5 riding on you now. (Did you piss Frank off or something? He’s really changed his positive tone with you to one of doubt.) And you better hurry because I remember when Frank was getting approved, it took him a couple attempts and close to a month for approval. My GML approved me in one day....true story.




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It takes about two weeks. They might be able to get it through faster but I was shot down a few times and it was 2 weeks each time.


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[Rat[TK]]

I read every other page. And if I see that Swede, Greg, Tony, Glen, Daniel, or Frank the Tank have posted, I figure they already got whatever question you had, covered.

Frank- $5 says Lorelei will get her sniper plate on straight and centered.


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Exactly Matt.

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[TheLorelei[TK]]

8 hours ago, TheSwede said:

Yepp - but don´t - saver the build as you´ll likely miss it when completed...oh wait, you have that RS kit to build - crack on

That did cross my mind, especially this bucket completion sprint. I am cherishing this time with Smudge, despite moving quickly. The number of times I've held his face or cap at arm's length and grinned wide... I'm loving this part of the build, and I was dreading it all along.

 

8 hours ago, A.J. Hamler said:

Ya know, Lorelei, even though we started at different times, did things in different order, had different issues and successes, and different treatment from Frank (he's much nicer to me, I think), it looks like we're wrapping up at the same time, taking our submission photos at the same time and probably submitting at the same time.

A surprise, to be sure! I guess it's sort of like when you get to IKEA at the same time as a couple people and they stop by the couches but you stop in the kitchens and you end up passing each other a few times and never dream you'll end up at checkout at the same time... but there you are. Completely different trips but somehow similar in length.  And it makes sense that Frank would be nice to you, since he's an Attaché and is supposed to interact positively with people from his garrison in particular. OH WAIT. 

 

7 hours ago, Bud Spaklur said:

My GML approved me in one day....true story.

Really? Ugh. I mean, uh, congratulations.  Looks like A.J. and I will just have to set new garrison records to sneak in before elections, then! And for the record A.J. is legitimately done with his squeaky clean build, whereas I still have paint residue and untrimmed pieces. So, I've lost track of who, but SOMEbody's losing five bucks.

 

I got less done today than hoped, but still some stuff. I'm going to clean up the tube stripes tomorrow and if I even remotely dislike them I'm wiping them and starting over, possibly with a stencil. The frown needs shaping at the corners, another coat, and edge modification. The traps need stripes. I wiped the ears because the more I stared at Set for Stun the more I realized they were painted too far out; the repaint was done with masked edges.

 

Sketched, masked, painted teeth:

Gave traps and tears another coat of grey, then dotted in beginnings of tear stripes:

You'll see the completed tears below with the tube stripes, which I masked with model masking tape a pencil's width from the cheek when viewed from the top.

I don't know how tall y'all's templates are, but the guideline I saw was 13/16" and when I masked it at that it looked like this:

which is practically half of the visual space of the tube and just not how it's supposed to be according to my reference pics, so I thinned it down to 5/8". YMMV.

Much better!

Go easy on them, they need cleanup like I said...

I like this angle:

And I didn't get pics of them painted or with the first coat of grey on just the middle, but here's the new ear line:

And that took me 'til 11, and boy am I beat. Goodnight, you people with your completed TKs. Oh yes and I didn't see my sniper knee today or I would have photographed it.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Your work so far has been incredible, Lorelei!  I wish everyone would pay as much attention to details as you have.  Your ABS belt placement is spot on, and I am blown away with that posterior/kidney connection.... genius!

As for the ear placement, (lol), you know my feelings on that.  If you can cangle them (I have the feeling you will find a way) I would do it.

  

 

I haven't seen a knee plate mounted so tightly against a calf like that in a long time.  GREAT work!  You might want to trim down the top some, though.

 

   

[TheLorelei[TK]]

4 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

As for the ear placement, (lol), you know my feelings on that.  If you can cangle them (I have the feeling you will find a way) I would do it

Thank you very much for the kind words, Joseph. And those ears - you know I'll find a way - it's just going to require a good deal of "facial reconstruction" due to the notoriously wonky right seam of the ATA bucket. To have the right ear at any more of an angle means the bottom of the ear is entirely on the cap. The face barely stretches as far as the end of the trap. Did I overtrim it? Frankly, I don't recall trimming it at all and while I somehow have no pictures of my bucket from the side view when I got it, one photo on a slight angle seems to confirm my suspicions that the edges were quite straight already so I didn't bother trimming them. What I figure I'll need to do is shim the face, doing even MORE painstaking smoothing than on my kidney because of how visible it'll be since the ear won't cover the bottom half at all, then trim the cap back, effectively moving the entire seam location. Oh, and rework the ears as necessary. While I'm up for this for the sake of accuracy (of course I am), it's also a ton of work and if it won't keep me from basic approval (do you think it will?) it's something I'd rather keep as an EIB/Centurion upgrade than another hurdle to even submit for basic.

 

Phew, that was words.

 

Before I go paint - the secret to my knee sitting so flush was that I didn't stop at sanding up to the base of the curve of the bottom edge; I actually sanded down the back of the knee until it was perfectly flat from the back, too. The other non-secret is those clamps, which I love and will likely attempt to legally adopt. But anyway the knee may look awful! I don't know yet! I'll see it this afternoon  at which time I'll trim down the top, which I was only holding off on to ensure coverage of inner shin.

[Frank75139[501st]]

Thank you very much for the kind words, Joseph. And those ears - you know I'll find a way - it's just going to require a good deal of "facial reconstruction" due to the notoriously wonky right seam of the ATA bucket. To have the right ear at any more of an angle means the bottom of the ear is entirely on the cap. The face barely stretches as far as the end of the trap. Did I overtrim it? Frankly, I don't recall trimming it at all and while I somehow have no pictures of my bucket from the side view when I got it, one photo on a slight angle seems to confirm my suspicions that the edges were quite straight already so I didn't bother trimming them. What I figure I'll need to do is shim the face, doing even MORE painstaking smoothing than on my kidney because of how visible it'll be since the ear won't cover the bottom half at all, then trim the cap back, effectively moving the entire seam location. Oh, and rework the ears as necessary. While I'm up for this for the sake of accuracy (of course I am), it's also a ton of work and if it won't keep me from basic approval (do you think it will?) it's something I'd rather keep as an EIB/Centurion upgrade than another hurdle to even submit for basic.   Phew, that was words.   Before I go paint - the secret to my knee sitting so flush was that I didn't stop at sanding up to the base of the curve of the bottom edge; I actually sanded down the back of the knee until it was perfectly flat from the back, too. The other non-secret is those clamps, which I love and will likely attempt to legally adopt. But anyway the knee may look awful! I don't know yet! I'll see it this afternoon  at which time I'll trim down the top, which I was only holding off on to ensure coverage of inner shin.

 

 

 

 

  Let’s find out I’ve got $5 riding on that knee Can’t let Bud Spaklur win  

 

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[shashachu[TK]]

On 1/23/2019 at 10:07 AM, TheLorelei said:

Thanks! Did you use adhesive Velcro, or glue it on with E6000? Wondering if self-adhesive is strong enough.

Yup, just the adhesive, and so far it's held up just fine. Velcro industrial strength. I don't, however, often troop with my blaster in my holster (if I don't want to hold a blaster I'll usually just leave it in my bin) so not a ton of weight is on my belt typically.