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Post by schnecki on Jun 3, 2007 9:35:04 GMT -5
For a long time we (TJ and myself) haven't been active around here or even wondering about any GM-stuff at all, because the costumes were ready and heavily used for trooping and additionally, we had moved on to different costume projects. But with the release of the action-figure and the European event of the year nearby, we started to modify our armor a few days ago. As you can see in the pictures below we really had to do something on the paint-job!!! After 10+ events the paint was almost completely gone on the heavy-used parts and it didn't really look like battle-damage anymore... Now we hope we have found a paint to last for at least 20+ events... It is a synthetic resin paint (RAL 4004) and matches our old color very well. We will see... at the moment the parts are put all over the flat to dry... The second upgrade that was necessary were the shoulder bells. On the one hand they both looked the same and they were way too undersized especially for TJ's masculine arms... New parts have been laying in the basement for at least half a year, but we always found a good excuse to delay the work... But if you want to wear new shoulder bells at Celebration Europe, you have to start working some time prior to it... And so far everything looks good... The new parts become the right shoulder bells and TJ's old ones are modified as the left ones... Here a comparison old vs. new... When all the armor parts are painted and reassembled we want to upgrade the helmet a little bit and modify the backpacks... Thus still a long way to go... We'll keep you posted...
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Post by admin on Jun 3, 2007 13:28:01 GMT -5
It looks like that new part is cut off an existing item, a curved drainage pipe or something. What exactly is it? It certainly looks like it will work out better for you guys!
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Post by youngling on Jun 4, 2007 14:54:39 GMT -5
That is ausome It looks to me like you used an angled peice of PVC pipe. I was originally going to use one of those as a base for my right shoudler bell but it didn't work out. Well anyways keep us posted.
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Post by schnecki on Jul 6, 2007 3:04:45 GMT -5
Sorry it took me so long to reply, but we were pretty busy... Youngling, you are right, we used a angled piece of PVC pipe for the new shoulder bell, as we had done with our shoulder bells before, but this time the pipe was bigger... It is industrial size so you can't get it in a hardware store .... As we had to paint everything new, we had a hard time removing the paint that hadn't fallen of so far because it was quite sticky, but in the end we managed to get the new paint on as you can see in the following picture... And we are happy to announce that it survived the first "troop" at Fedcon perfectly The night before Fedcon we also couldn't stand our old plastic belts anymore because they were too solid and too big.... So I worked a night-shift and made new belts out of artificial leather we still had laying around... They also worked out well, although one of my pockets kept on constantly falling off.... And now with the CE nearby we modified our backpacks with the action-figures backpack as reference. We are pretty pleased with them and they will get their baptism of fire in London... This weekend we want to mod the pauldron thingies as well and then everything will be store in our more stable trooper-boxes for the transport to London next week. We are still not quite happy with the helmets, but an upgrade or even a complete new-build will only happen after London because we didn't want to risk damaging it critically and thus having no helmets for the CE...
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Post by snowflake on Jul 6, 2007 5:47:43 GMT -5
LOOKS GREAT! I love the job on the right shoulder! Unfortunately i can't make it to London, as i've already been in Los Angeles for CIV, i really would've loved to meet you guys!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2007 7:31:55 GMT -5
Those suits look great. I also like how you guys used solid pieces (almost look like tongue depressors) for the ridges on the right shoulder bell.
If you don't mind me asking, you said that the piping for the right shoulder is bigger (industrial sized). What was the diameter of the pipe before you cut it? I am trying the same thing right now and using 6" PVC and it almost seems too small. I think 7" or 8" would be ok, but I don't know.
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Post by schnecki on Jul 6, 2007 8:16:32 GMT -5
The solid pieces we used on the shoulder bell are made from foamed rubber / fun foam (I don't know exactly what this is called in English...) I will ask TJ when he comes home what exactly the size was... I can't remember... @ snowflake: It's a pity that you can't come to London... would have been great to meet in person...
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Post by admin on Jul 6, 2007 12:23:42 GMT -5
GREAT JOB MARINES! This is what I love to see! And when I see this photo... ... I think... CALENDAR PHOTO! Hehe. Marines in provocative poses (fully armored) for a calendar! hehe. I dunno. I have a twisted sense of humor.
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Post by youngling on Jul 6, 2007 14:20:42 GMT -5
WOW! The new upgrades look ausome. I was really impressed with the RH shoulder bell. You look more better I don't know how to say it. Great job on them.
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Post by apollo on Jul 6, 2007 15:10:25 GMT -5
Great job on the backpack. Everytime I see a pic of a well built fan made one I get blown away.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2007 16:39:01 GMT -5
Yeah it really is nice looking. I love the backpack.
Captain, that is a neat idea. After everybody gets their armor done (or almost done) have someone collect a random cool pic of everyone in armor and someone have calendars made for everyone.
Sorry to steal the thread.
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Post by schnecki on Jul 7, 2007 5:19:38 GMT -5
What was the diameter of the pipe before you cut it? . It was DN 160... please don't ask me to convert this in centimeters or even inch... On the first glance I didn't find a conversion table in the net...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2007 12:58:41 GMT -5
Well, I can try to find a conversion on the net. I have never even heard of that unit of measurement. Did you buy the stuff online or through a construction company or what?
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Post by schnecki on Jul 7, 2007 14:15:50 GMT -5
DN stands for Diameter Nominals and is even an English term.... but I found a nice wikipedia-page.... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominal_Pipe_SizeThere's no DN160 but 150 mentioned.... Hope that helps! We got our pipes from a friend who could order them at work, but they were not cheap... One about 22 $.... Cutting it was relatively easy with a dremel...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2007 14:29:04 GMT -5
Well I will have to look around for anyone who could get some for me. I am guessing (haven't looked at the wikipedia page yet) that it will be either 7" or 8" pipe. I just looks so good compared to mine. That's the thing. You say it's expensive, and if we were talking about making buildings here, I would agree, but $22 for a pipe that you turned into a bell, that's not too bad.
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