Swannee's Pre-Approval Thread

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking better, only thing apart from (as you said) cleaning up a couple of lines, is the masking line in the grey, it is pretty noticeable, perhaps the DO's @Deployment Officer Team will chime in with their thoughts  

 

[CT 1977]

9 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Looking better, only thing apart from (as you said) cleaning up a couple of lines, is the masking line in the grey, it is pretty noticeable, perhaps the DO's @Deployment Officer Team will chime in with their thoughts  

 

Thanks, Glen. Yeah, I noticed that when looking at the photos. A little emery cloth and touch up paint should level it out. 

[CT 1977]

Trooping in Richmond VA.

 

 

That's me in the middle...

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking great trooper, looking forward to seeing you with a legion TKID soon  

[CT 1977]

Finally getting around to working the bucket a little more. A bit more cleaning up than I anticipated but I think I'm close. Take a look and let me know.

 

 

This trap has a little spot I need to buff out once the new paint drys

 

 

 

Once I get the vents painted, should be tomorrow, next will be the ears and the tubes. Any recommendations on which I should do first?

thanks!

Bill

[CT 1977]

1 week from today is "Return of the Jedi" at the Richmond Symphony. I was hoping to have something ready (officer, Jedi, etc) but too much life going on. 

Below are some photos of work on the traps and tears. I have some touching up to do but overall pleased with the outcome using templates.

 

 

 

 

 

this one below is particularly messy but pretty sure easily (not quickly, though) fixed.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, just watch the angle of the template, angling upwards on side. Bottom of the corners should be sharp not rounded. I'd probably do a way with the last line, not much gap between it and the outside line. A touch up should get rid of most of your bleed.

 

[CT 1977]

18 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Nice work, just watch the angle of the template, angling upwards on side. Bottom of the corners should be sharp not rounded. I'd probably do a way with the last line, not much gap between it and the outside line. A touch up should get rid of most of your bleed.

 

good stuff! I see what you're saying and I already know how to fix it. I just did the touch up work that i'll post below, but with the knowledge that this trap still needs the work mentioned. Thanks!

[CT 1977]

This is the trap I'll be fixing next.

 

 

 

Left Tear

 

Right Tear.

 

Let me know what needs to be fixed (although, I think I see some spots on the photo that weren't apparent prior).

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

When you compare to screen references you can see the outer lines are quite thin, if you can get the outer lines a little cleaner will look a lot better.

 

Bottom of this side is a little wobbly  

 

 

 

 

[CT 1977]

Yep, good point. Definitely needs a fix. I'll get it on the next session. Thanks.

 

[CT 1977]

Taking a short break from the build to mix it up with the 501st and Rebels at the Richmond Symphony and Return of the Jedi.

I even got to meet Master Windu!

 

Fellow troopers.

 

Jedi protecting Mon Mothma

 

Even had Jawa's.

 

My wife won first prize in the raffle - Han and his Tauntaun. (had to keep my eye on those Jawa's).

[CT 1977]

I still have a little painting left but thought I'd get started on the ears. I've already trimmed a set but the right ear just wasn't working, the left was fine. So, below is where I knew I was going to have some problems because of the space between the two sections so I corrected it on the third photo. 

 

As you can see, the left side has a bit of a space but in placing the ear over it, I can definitely work with it.

 

Much better!

 

I got started on trimming the ears and, since this is my second "whack" at it, I'm going very conservative and making only small trim changes. I think I'm on a good "path" here, but any input/advice would be welcomed.

(back view)

 

(front view)

 

Now, time for a little bike love....got to get some work done on my single-speed mountain bike to get it back on the trail. (rough being ADHD - projects never end).

[CT 1977]

Hey Glen, been awhile since I've been gone but I'm starting to get back into it now. Starting back on the ears and I realized I need to order some new ones. I originally ordered from ATA and don't have that information to contact him to order some more. Would you happen to have that information? Thanks in advance.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

2 hours ago, CT 1977 said:

Hey Glen, been awhile since I've been gone but I'm starting to get back into it now. Starting back on the ears and I realized I need to order some new ones. I originally ordered from ATA and don't have that information to contact him to order some more. Would you happen to have that information? Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately we lost Terrell ATA to Covid December 2021, a massive loss to our community. It was heard some time latter that someone purchased his molds but to date we have not seen any sign of them or any production of kits.

 

A few things you could try.

 

You could also put a WTB advert up, ATA always sent 2 pairs of ears with his kits, unfortunately I passed my spare set on to another trooper so I can't help there but you may find others may have a pair lying around.

 

What I would suggest is trying to get with other members locally and do a comparison of the other makers as they white can be different from one make to another. 

 

How bad are your ears, if you want to post a few photos and see if they are salvageable. 

[dblcross[TK]]

On 2/28/2021 at 4:21 PM, CT 1977 said:

I'll try putting it on sideways and see what happens.

We pretty much all have to put it on sideways. The Trooper Twist

[CT 1977]

17 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Unfortunately we lost Terrell ATA to Covid December 2021, a massive loss to our community. It was heard some time latter that someone purchased his molds but to date we have not seen any sign of them or any production of kits.

 

A few things you could try.

 

You could also put a WTB advert up, ATA always sent 2 pairs of ears with his kits, unfortunately I passed my spare set on to another trooper so I can't help there but you may find others may have a pair lying around.

 

What I would suggest is trying to get with other members locally and do a comparison of the other makers as they white can be different from one make to another. 

 

How bad are your ears, if you want to post a few photos and see if they are salvageable. 

glenn, thanks! I'm getting ready to head out right now but I will take some photos for you to look at. Thanks for the other tips as well. Brought a hook up with some folks locally as you suggested. Very sad to hear about ATA/Terrell. Also, I'm not familiar with WTB...is that a site within the forums? Thanks again.

[CT 1977]

The right one is looking OK. Still a little bit of work to do on the back part.

https://imgur.com/PBTUOCy

 

 

It seems to be the left side that I'm having the difficult time with.

 

 

I feel like I cut the angle to go up into the curve too soon. Possibly with some trimming in the curved part I could possibly recover it but I feel like if I had another one I wouldn't be spending so much time on this one just to find out in the end that it won't work. Let me know what you think.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

28 minutes ago, CT 1977 said:

I feel like I cut the angle to go up into the curve too soon. Possibly with some trimming in the curved part I could possibly recover it but I feel like if I had another one I wouldn't be spending so much time on this one just to find out in the end that it won't work. Let me know what you think.

I think you will be ok with those, you just have to remember that you trim anything touching to allow the non touching areas to come in more. Can be quite tedious as you have to attack this a little at a time.

 

Also adding the "step" will allow the ears to sit better on the top of the ear.

 

 

ATA's ears are quite thick around the round top section and can be trimmed quite a lot.

 

This is one of the best ATA builds I've seen on the helmet, you can see the thickness of the top sections are a lot narrower than yours

 

 

You want to follow the helmet, if you run a pencil around you will get an approximate line. You may be able to see that you have more meat on the top of the ear and this needs to come down more. Your trim line around the inner corner of the cheek is not quite in the right spot.

 

Crude but should give you the idea. Just remember what ever is touching needs trimming slightly to all gaps to be filled

 

Compare to one of my ears (albeit I've built a few helmets in my time)

[CT 1977]

OK, I think I see what you're saying. If I trim the rounded part to make it thinner it should be able to extend further to reach the tube. As far as the step, yeah I saw that on this exact post, which I have bookmarked to use for this part of the project. That's great information and I appreciate you getting back to me. The touching base from time to time with more photos to get your thoughts. Thanks, mate!

[CT 1977]

Hey Glen, I got a really good suggestion from my occupational therapist (I recently had joint replacement in my knuckles of my index and middle finger, which makes taking photos as well as most anything to do with this project a bit more of a challenge). She does leather work and suggested that I practice with the original ear before I tackle the second year. So this is the original ear or the number one ear that I felt I had messed up. 

 

 

My main question is as you can see, a few drill holes that are apparent outside of the lower portion of the ear. The question is do you think the rim gasket can come up far enough to cover this up, or meaning that I trim it enough to where the gasket can cover it up. The following photos are of my helmet looking at various views from the bottom.

 

 

 

 

I am cautiously optimistic about how well I was able to recover that ear however let me know what you think about the left ear, good and bad, And if you think that this number one year can be used. Also any additional tips and thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help on this.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

4 hours ago, CT 1977 said:

I am cautiously optimistic about how well I was able to recover that ear however let me know what you think about the left ear, good and bad, And if you think that this number one year can be used. Also any additional tips and thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help on this.

I think you are a bit stuck with those holes as they are quite high, you don't want to remove too much lower rim because this allows younglings to look up inside the helmet. I would glues some scrap abs behind those holes then fill with ABS paste, sand with wet dry sandpaper and use water, stops the sandpaper from clogging, use varying grits and finish polishing.

I wouldn't trim more than this.

 

If you trim here the gap should be reduced, albeit I think it would pass as is

 

Would also be interesting to see the angle of your ears, although "ideally" they should follow the angle of the rear traps, this is only a suggestion and not a must.

 

Nice work BTW, I think these are saveable, little bits at a time.

 

I had "trigger fingers" sticking tendons in the hands so know exactly what it's like having finger issues  Surgeon said he'd never seen anyone with trigger fingers on the middle fingers on both hands, told me to stop flipping the bird to people 

 

[CT 1977]

16 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I think you are a bit stuck with those holes as they are quite high, you don't want to remove too much lower rim because this allows younglings to look up inside the helmet. I would glues some scrap abs behind those holes then fill with ABS paste, sand with wet dry sandpaper and use water, stops the sandpaper from clogging, use varying grits and finish polishing.

I wouldn't trim more than this.

 

If you trim here the gap should be reduced, albeit I think it would pass as is

 

Would also be interesting to see the angle of your ears, although "ideally" they should follow the angle of the rear traps, this is only a suggestion and not a must.

 

Nice work BTW, I think these are saveable, little bits at a time.

 

I had "trigger fingers" sticking tendons in the hands so know exactly what it's like having finger issues  Surgeon said he'd never seen anyone with trigger fingers on the middle fingers on both hands, told me to stop flipping the bird to people 

 

Ha, yeah, flipping off those rebel scum . Thanks for the tips and encouragement. I retired last summer and recently got a part time gig at REI, I'll be working the next three days but will have some time after that to work on the ears. Then, more hand surgery on Friday for carpal tunnel syndrome from the swelling from the original surgery. After a couple weeks, maybe sooner, I may be able to get back to it.

 

I should have some updated photos by Thursday. thanks again.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

7 hours ago, CT 1977 said:

Ha, yeah, flipping off those rebel scum . Thanks for the tips and encouragement. I retired last summer and recently got a part time gig at REI, I'll be working the next three days but will have some time after that to work on the ears. Then, more hand surgery on Friday for carpal tunnel syndrome from the swelling from the original surgery. After a couple weeks, maybe sooner, I may be able to get back to it.

 

I should have some updated photos by Thursday. thanks again.

 

This getting old poodoo sucks 

 

 

[CT 1977]

 These are the photos of the little bit of work i got done today before my Dremel battery died. This photo is ear #1 at the upper location which I just can see making up enough space to bring it to the tube "curve-out". The second photo is with the #1 ear closer to the tube but shoes the helmet side-seam. So, I started to work on the #2 ear.

 

 

Here is the #2 ear that I think has better potential. If you look at the pencil mark, it looks possible that, removing material to that line, will bring it to the "tube-curve" and still have the upper helmet seam covered. It will definitely involve very small changes to bring the lower part of the ear to congruence with the rest of the tube. 

 

 

And yes, getting old sucks and is not for sissies! Its a good thing, even though we're getting older, we're not growing up

Let me know your thoughts on my progress. Thanks.