Well, it's time to get back to basics. My first kit, Echo, was much beloved, but carried a few fundamental flaws and novice mistakes. Now that I've gotten my hands thoroughly dirty, it's time to fix her up.
A quick glamor shot. Notice...
-Sloppy/ splotchy damage masking
-Inconsistent damage (the helmet's massive "hit" was caused by painting mistakes that I rolled with. Meh, it looks cool.)
-Modern nylon pouches. They weren't bad, just... "meh"
-Marine vinyl vest. Seriously, this thing is like a sauna during the summer.
Not the only issues. If anything, I can disguise problems...
-The plates are lined up crooked. It's hard to tell in most photos and is mostly disguised by the sleeveless trench coat.
-Vest was a rough-cut job. It fits fantastically due to design (I'll share templates and give a look under the hood), but was poorly sewn and has a couple of issues (extra flaps over the shoulders in lieu of sewing and zippers that'd work much better, adhesive residue from sticky velcro related to said flaps, holes from the first attempt at mounting that turned out horribly).
-Shoulder bell flaps have a tendency to Gundam out. Not necessarily a bad thing, but looks a bit off with the sleeveless/ short sleeve thing.
-The plate's shapes are slightly off, and the gaps are a little on the small side.
Here's a look at the current state of it...
It's held up well these two years (aside from the collar plate cracking in half- you can see the point where I fabricated a metal bracket for the front and back and secured with rivets. I like the look, and will probably replicate it for the MK II).
So, for the "what's new," or the parts we're rebuilding...
New templates. Smaller than the originals, but hopefully large enough. I'm not looking for giant gaps, mind you, just "rule of thumb." The collar plate is a little longer than normal and will probably be trimmed down slightly. At the end of the day, I want an overlap with the back plate (Will start working on it as the project progresses).
Here's a quick line-up on Cin's Kraam Vest (will most likely contact him for another; the man does good work).
It looks a little on the large side in the pics, but the local ruus'alor had misgivings, saying they might be too small. As I said, they're slightly smaller that the MK I plates. The chest plates are thinner across, certainly. Any other trained eyes wanna comment?
Edit: The plates need to be shifted around a bit to ensure proper spacing, I see now. The gap between the chest and ab plates is a little large.
New knees will need to be fabricated. The old ones were cannibalized for parts during Cin's build. It happens. The next go around will be constructed more along the lines of the Boba/ Jango standard, instead of the chopped custom knees.
Last but not least, MK I was a sintra job (modified Schubi-won;
never again). This time around, well, it seems I got ahold of a slightly damaged hood from a Toyota Echo (it has a kind of poetry to it, if you think about it). I have my work cut out for me (heheh) prepping it, but in the end, steel is really the only way for me to go.
To recap, we're going to build/ acquire/ fix up:
-New plates
-New vest
-New leather pouch belt
-New knees
-Strip and repaint the bucket
-Modify the trench coat/ Switch it out for a Kama
-A couple of new greeblies (pilot-style leg flares, comms equipment, bino's)
-A decent combat knife for either chest or leg mounting
And, at the end of the rebuild, I may end up casting my lot in with the Brigades as a Recon kit. Just a maybe.
There's really no established timeframe for the completion of this rebuild. Only real caveat- It
will be ready for CVII.
Oya, vod. Let's get building.