Update :: Armor Attached + Gauntlets
Ok, I've got all the armor attached. I didn't take a picture before I had it sent to my seamstress to do the button holes for the jetpack hooks and harness, along with a pocket for the chest light battery pack. I get it back on Tuesday, so I'll take a nice photo then. Looks REALLY good. I was a bit worried that the armor was not going to fill the vest, but I'm quite happy with it in the end. Just adding the chest lights now. t if you're looking for a great way to attach the armor, chicago screws are amazing. I don't feel them at all coming through the vest, and they are extremely secure. When doing this method, it is DEFINITELY a two person operation. You need to make sure that the vest is on a form of some kind - you cannot do this flat because when you put it on, the vest stretches and your armor will be off. I put the female end of the chicago screw on the armor ahead of time using epoxy and quick plastic. After it cured, I wore the vest while Audrey used a marker to wet the tips of the screws on the armor and pressed it against the vest to make an impression. Before making the impressions, we had a mirror out so that we could double and triple check that we were happy with the placement. I then took some scissors to the vest (which is quite thick) and proceeded to put eyelets in so that I could attach the other side of the screw.
I used heavy duty snaps for the shoulders in the event that I want to remove them quickly so that I can fold the shoulders of the vest inward for easy packing.
The gauntlets....ohhh the gauntlets. I spent the better part of 9 hours today working on them. They came to me already assembled from FP which was a huuuuge help. Yesterday I had the primer and silver down, along with all the damage masked. So today I had planned to to do...well...everything else. I had Model Master's British Crimson in acrylic for the gauntlets. This colour...was a nightmare. I don't know if it was the bottle of paint (I used 2) or maybe I'm not familiar with acrylics now that I've been working with enamels for so long....but the paint came out looking horrible. First off, the paint in the bottle was UBER thick. I thinned it with water, because it's acrylic, and it sprayed very nice. Issue was that once it dried, it turned into this hideous pink-ish colour....nothing like what I imagined. I thought that the silver was the issue, so I threw down some black and then sprayed the British Crimson again....nope. Even worse...something reminiscent of the 80s. Yuck.
90 minutes of trying to figure this out, 2 bottles later, I just went to my local hardware store and grabbed some Rustoleum Claret Wine. Boom. Went on super fast, and allowed me to make up some time. Coats dried fast, and I was back on the train.
Removed all the masking, then went at it with my enamels for weathering - 140, 79, 33. After it dried, took it in to slice it with my hobby knife.
Added JC27s transmitter to the right gauntlet, added Dakota's rocket (easiest thing ever to paint - sprayed it all matte black and just took steel wool to it), added the gauntlet light, flamethrowers, and foam padding. I still need to paint the hose connectors, install a battery pack for the flamethrower lights, attach hoses, and clear coat. All in all though...a good day. I'm exhausted.
Tomorrow I'll grab the hoses, dye them in coffee/tea, and finish up the gauntlets. Then it's on to the helmet.
I may put my camera up to do a time lapse - it'd be pretty cool to look back at it all and see it put together.
