Tenaz

Thank you guys!! Already moving forward with some upgrades, so I will keep posting them here 😁

Thank you!!

This has been approved! TX-26103 reporting in!

Thank you!! And thank you for all the guidance and assistance here as well!

Thanks Andy! And big thank you for all the support!

Got fully suited up and took my app pictures tonight! Just submitted, but will be making upgrades shortly, so please let me know anything you see or suggestions for improvement down the line.

Thank you! If you used the spray max 2k and you got orange peel, I would go straight to 3000 so you don’t burn through the clear coat. My buddy who has a Din and several other kits sent me this video on how to approach the issue. Although it’s done on a car, the process is the same (although I didn’t wax it lol)

Sanded down the orange peel and imperfections on the 2k coat I did in the helmet. Wet sanded it with 3000 and then 5000. Polished it up which ScractX, and was really impressed with the results. Just need to remove the tape to hit the dark grey areas, and then do some detail / greeblie work!

Perfect! Thanks again!

This is great feedback @DoggyDoc! I will work on these adjustments. The forearms is the most intestine as I thought they were positioned right, but as you suspected they are quite difficult to move with as is. Would love for it to be as simple as a solution as I had them on wrong lol

Another update for May the 4th today. Made a lot of modifications based on my last kit up and all the guidance I received. Everything seems just about right, but i would really appreciate some additional insights to know what still needs to be fixed. Here are my thoughts and that I know is outstanding still; - still to add - sniper knee, rear thermal detonator, and forearm rockets (and obviously helmet) -I trimmed my gauntlets rather than adding foam, and went a little too tight. They work, and I think will be approvable, but really limit my flexibility. -chest and back connections under the arms have been secured with elastic and clips, but thinking I will add a cover strip to keep them from popping open / to cover any separation. -need to tighten up the ab plate so chest sits a little more comfortable. - not liking how thick the shoulder straps are. I found a better replacement that I will be ordering, but may be an upgrade down the line.

Helmet progress update: I was convinced to go the 2k clear approach with this, and I’m so happy I did. Flat black duplicolor primer, topped off with the 2k clear. That’s it! And the shine is crazy! I need to wet sand it all a bit to fix some surface issue that came up in the application but I’m very excited about the end product with this!

I was able to get just about all the adjustments on the armor made so that this all fits and sits right. Of course I didn't get any pictures, but I'll try for some this weekend. In the meantime, I started the paint work on the helmet. I tackled the flat black pieces, and now was moving on to the gloss black. I was going to go simple with this, and just use a basic gloss black paint, but after talking to a buddy of mine in another garrison, I'm going to do the 2k clear approach. I will spray the helmet down with a black primer, and then hit it with some passes of the 2k...and hope for the best 😬

Hey Chip! good to hear from you. Once you get the flight suit situated, the rest should flow for you. Here's the link to the strapping video, but this is a part of a larger playlist of videos from him that walk you through just about everything for the 850 kit, so be sure to check those out to help get you started as well. As I pointed out above, there are some things that need tweaking that alter a bit from the video, but its still a good place to start imo.

Thank you @DoggyDoc and @Chaos! I appreciate all the detail you have provided here! For the connection between the cod and butt plate, I cant believe I missed that...smh - well, that will definitely do it lol I'm going to take everything you guys have said, make sure I'm not missing any other lines in the CRLs (other than the things I know I'm still missing), and get to tweaking. Also, overall, I'm following the "Big Pete's" guide on how to assemble and strap this, being that it is from 850, so I figured that was the best place to work off of, but I will do a deep dive into the other strapping tutorials mentioned above

Made a big push last night and was able to get just about everything on that I have (helmet still is a wip). Getting everything on made issues be known which was good, sop now i'll go and adjust; chest to back connections need to be extended as they keep popping off shoulder strap was connected wrong so the whole chest is sitting crooked (hate not seeing these things before taking the pictures) shoulders easily pop off while getting dressed using just velcro, so may switch these connections to snaps forearms need a good amount of padding to keep from moving around lower back plate needs better strapping to keep it in the corect position cod piece attached too low on belt may want to add a connecting strap between cod and butt plate to keep the butt plate down and in place (any better options here?) butt plate seems too long, so need to detemrine if trimming is needed or it needs to be moved up under the belt still need to add greeblies throughout kit Obviously still have a good amount of work to do here, but please call out anything you are seeing so I don't miss something.

Alright - lowers assembled! If you ask me, the gray converse make for a good change to canon;

That’s a great point to call out, and actually a conversation I had that I forgot about (that one line of the CRLs relating to the widths) - smh. That’s all accurate - adjusting the widths would off center the back piece, and yes, as they stand now, the inside is wider than the outside. I’ll leave these pieces for now then, and adjust as needed once everything is together. Thanks for the quick replies and guidance!

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been seeing too. I was just hoping someone could confirm that for me - thank you! As far as the width of the actual space. I can tighten up the outsides a bit, at the cost of expanding the width of the insides though. I assume that would be allowable here given that it’s not seen as easily as the outsides, correct? I haven’t trimmed the width of the plates at all, so can’t see it being a true sizing issue. If I’m wrong and need to adjust something else, please let me know.

Cleaned up the thighs and tried them on with the undersuit pants. They fit pretty nicely, but im unsure about the gap between the front and back pieces at the bottom. The CRLs show that they connect, so I reached out 850 that made the pieces, and they say that they’re not supposed to connect like that. Here’s how one side looks (other side is similar but not pictured);

The rubber mats came within a day, so I got righto work on them. It was pretty cool seeing these come together. Had to try them on with the pants too to get the full effect, although the picture didn’t do it justice, so for now, just sharing the thighs on their own with all the cut materials; After this, I moved on to the upper body strapping. Some fine tuning to do, and proper alignments to figure out, but not bad for a first attempt;

Got pretty much everything trimmed out now. Just some clean up work left really. With that, I’ve started assembling all the components. Slowly but surely making my way through it. Chest and back, shins, shoulder, biceps, and gauntlets/forearms ready to roll. I unfortunately needed to order more thigh ribbing. For whatever reason the cuts that came with my kit were not long enough. Not sure if this is how they were supposed to come or the previous owner cut them. Either way, replacements are on their way so that will pretty much be the next piece to assemble.

more continued progress tonight. Cut out the shoulders, biceps, shins, and some of the thigh greeblies as well. It’s been quite interesting having to examine each piece to see where I needed to cut and see how it all needs to line up against the other parts and myself. For those interested, I found that 850 armor works includes the rubber sheets for the thighs in the kit box. This all being new to me and not having gone though all the parts in quite some time, I at first thought I didn’t receive them, and so they sent me the link for where to get them (granted they need to be cut significantly). Long story short I had them all along, but maybe this will help someone else down the line; Rubber-Cal 03_167_W_FR_04 Fine Rib Corrugated Rubber Floor Mats, 3ft x 4ft Runners, Black https://a.co/d/bFs8Z6Z

Ok, finally started in on cutting the armor out of its shell! Right now I just started with the thighs, as they seemed straight forward enough, and like a good place to practice some trimming techniques. Overall, seemed like a good start. Question to the group - the rubber parts that connect the front and back thighs - I found these being sold from palsticarmsdealer for $170, but are there any alternatives to this -https://plasticarmsdealer.com/collections/death-troopers/products/screen-accurate-sheet-of-hard-rubber-for-death-trooper-thighs

Ohhh! Thanks for this^! I may have to jump on that.