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[Serim Merec]

Best way to tell if it's too short is for you to put it on for us

By my guess, though, is that it should be fine. Based on the proportions of the dome vs. the visor size, it appears to be approximately the same as my HPB helmet, which is approvable

I'm not a metalsmith, so I don't know what to do about the split, but I would want to weld it Because welds look cool! 8)

[bassplaya]

Hey so got a little more bashed out I think I'm finally happy with the depth

Here's the back...


And the side...


And front on my noggin...


Hopefully soon I can start bashing out the visor and cheeks, and just a question to whoever is reading this; how well do epoxy work for holding metal together( something like jb weld)

[Serim Merec]

Sizing looks pretty good to me 8)

I'm not so sure on your epoxy question... Allow me to contact a professional and get him in here

[Dresdon Acacin]

Serim said metal and epoxy. While they o work in conjunctioon, JB Weld has a stronger hold on roughed up(say with an angle grinder) metal. That being said I reccomend you do both JBweld AND some poprivets incase the glue goes. You can also cement stuff in place with JB SteelStick/KwikSteel quite effectively as well-I often use it for example if Im putting a brass fitting into an aluminum gauntlet flamethrower, if I can't screw the  fitting in  and use a nut or something to secure it I will drill a hole jsut big enough to get it through and then cap the end off(while paying due diligence to maximise the surface area the putty is going on) and it's on there for good. Btw I reccomend KwikSteel or jb weld in place of bondo, if it scratches you wont be seeing pink, blue, brown, or grey.

[bassplaya]

Perfect! I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me sirs, everything about this build has been a learning experience. I've gotten more done in Tue past two months from taking people's advise than in years of planning by my self. I'm gonna check out the depo today for some flush rivets, in, and kwicksteel

[Zophar Ptay]

That dome is looking great.   Where's mine?  I demand TRIBUTE!      Coming out tomorrow?

[bassplaya]

So you wanted tribute well here you go, finally got something coming together even if it's still rough right now. Only a few more whacks before I'm ready to start buffing her up

[Zophar Ptay]

... where's mine? 

Looks great.  did you just bear those cheeks into submission or are they a separate part?

[bassplaya]

Oh I beat them into submission, still needs a couple of adjustments in the visor area and the cheeks are a little tcw death watch looking it's coming together

[Dresdon Acacin]

Hey not bad its looking good. For the cleanup I reccomend either a cupped wirebrush wheel, or lots of emmery cloth.   

[Zophar Ptay]

Do you have plans to hide/disguise the join between the dome and the sides?

[Dresdon Acacin]

What I've done for that in the past is run a piece of flatbar around the rim of the helmet and put some JB SteelStick putty to hide the seam.

[bassplaya]

We'll I decided I'm gonna take the advise you gave me last time acacin and I bought some jb weld as well as some steel stick to finish up that dome connection. So far this is just to check for fit but I plan on trimming a cunny hair oit of the visor area and wrapping and riveting the face close enough to fill that seam. And just to make myself happy I think I'm going to rivet the bottom of the mandible together

[Dresdon Acacin]

if they will be countersunk, put a rivet every inch, it wont do you any trouble to. Also you can mash the popped ends of the rivets inside with a hammer to help with the fit as well if they prove uncomfortable against your forhead. In my bucket I have split flex wire loom that acts as a cushion just above the visor opening, works as both wiring conduit and padding...but tahts getting ahead of the task at hand lol.

[bassplaya]

No that's good I like fore thought, especially if it'll get my bucket electronic. It sure is a experience doing rivets for the first time, even doing all the prep to the studs they still go a little wonky; but I'm making progress half way and thatgap has almost disappeared nice

[bassplaya]

So got a bit more bashed out and cut out the visor I think I'm close on this one now just a couple final details then I fan start greebling and painting, and yes I have yet to fill any cracks between the metal.

Front view...


Side view...


Back view...


This one is a close up of the shrapnel/blast damage, my mando is gonna have a mini grenade launcher as well as a belt of detonators so I figured heavy damage on areas not covered by the duck and cover technique...

[Dresdon Acacin]

Great job vod it's looking really good smoothed out and more defined.

[bassplaya]

Just a quick photo of what my armour is looking like so far, any suggestions appreciated.



Double selfie...


Sorry for poor picture quality.

[Dresdon Acacin]

Not bad, your gut plate looks a little tall though, where does the bottom of it sit in relation to your bellybutton? you get best mobility if it's about about there.

[Zophar Ptay]

Looking swank, my man.     First time seeing it all together!    My comments are dependent on how accurate the pic is.   Sometimes the pics don't quite show relative locations too well.    I would suggest that you trim the outside points on the chest a bit because they look like they are touching the collar.  I don't believe that will block approval though so it's up to you.    The only other comment I'd have is the same for the bottom outside corner touching the ab plate.  Personally I would trim the notch in the ab plate a bit deeper so they aren't quite as close, and that would help reduce the gap in the center as well.  But same deal.. I'm fairly certain neither of those are deal-breakers for approval so if you are happy with it then move along :-P

What's next?  Gauntlets?

[bassplaya]

Right now dresdon, it sits about an inch above my belly button. But, I have purposely left the bottom of Tue plate un rolled so I could adjust that area in my final fitting, same.reason the diamond is missing actually. And I should mention I'm pretty sure my camera adds a tiny fish eye effect when I take the pics this close.
Good eye zophar, that is another of my intentional oversights, just need to dish the chest plates a little to fit but wanted to see it with the flack vest before I got too carried away. Hopefully I'll be able to bash out some gaunts (just made a new blue print for a pair)after I get you yours of course.
Mobility is definitely going to be a main focus on this kit

[Zophar Ptay]

In that case: carry on, my wayward merc.

[Serim Merec]

I... Can't see anything wrong with this from a CRL standpoint... But I guess that's a good thing!

Really the only thing I'd mention is the spacing. The gap between your chest and your ab starts at a comfortable distance at the top point of the ab plate, but then narrows as it goes down from there. This is gunna be hard to explain... I, personally, would go to the little wingy things on the outside edges of the ab (I'll call them kidney flaps for now) and cut from the top to make it shorter. I think this would help with Dresdon's thinking it looks tall, and correct the spacing at the bottom point of the chest plates... I hope that makes sense? From the top of the collar to the bottom of the ab down the middle is perfect since it comes to your belly button, but on the outside edges, right when the chest plates bottom point meets the kidney flaps, it gets a little tight.

That's the best I can do to explain! Obviously they're metal plates, so don't cut if you don't understand, and also take some more opinions before doing anything since you could be just fine how you are

Keep it up! It's looking exciting! I think there's only one other Merc with a full metal kit down to the helmet right now

[bassplaya]

Ah perfect thankyou serim, I'm hoping when I do the final touches to the plates that that gap opens up a bit but now that you mention it I think I'll look into trimming the tops of the " kidney flaps", like you said it'll cut down on the too tall look and keep from removing too much at the bottom.

I really want to get to a point with my metal bending, where I can start producing metal pieces that have enough quality to start a sales thread. this has been a really fun build and the further I get the more ideas I get for designs and attachment methods. Most likely gonna start another dome when I'm completely done this kit

[Serim Merec]

I mean, these plates you've got here look awesome! I have no doubt, with some practice, you could sell metal armour!