I'm gobsmacked, the IR sensor was waiting for me when I got home from work today, thats just head spinningly fast



Not one to stand on his lawrals, I set about installing it as neatly as I could.


Measured against the helmet liner, I noticed it might fit between the two headband lugs, saving me having to cut around one of them and then gluing it to the IR sensor.



After a bit of post trimming/shaping of the cutout in the liner, I now have an IR sensor installed




It's such a snug fit that when the liner is in place, I can't move the IR casing at all. Movement of the lens itself is unaffected, and I even had to stiffen the action a little so it didn't just drop down from gravity wanting to play with it


The list of things I need to do to it is finally getting smaller at least

8Ball,
Kudos mate. This is a damn fine build.

_________________
What ya gonna do when I TECKNO HUG Youuuuu!!



Pvt.
STEAD,J "TECKNO VIKING"
A06/TQ1.0.22140E1

Skype: ulthur1

Nice job buddy your one of the lucky ones I can't use my IR Sight cause my noggin is to big

_________________
Sgt Dan "Coop" Cooper
A03/TQ1.0.72144E1
UKCM 501st Regt. 1st Batt. The Bucketheads

"Civies We are Leaving"

Thanks cooper, it's definitely taking shape now

Thanks for the encouragement techno viking, glad to hear I'm on the right track

Well, it looks like I'll be making the another one sooner than expected. I was looking for helmet bands on evilbay and ended up getting a helmet that had one with it. It wasnt too much, and I had been tentatively planning a second one, though I'm going to make it fully functional.

First up is turning the resin cam into a functional one using a micro cam, and I will also try to relocate the cam mic to the resin boom mic (I can trace wires through the boom arm tube). Moving the mic will depend on how it's been implimented in the design though, a hardwired mic is difficult to move, but not impossible, and soldering is one skill I'm rather good at, but some designs are too much to bother with.

The battery pack needed to run the micro cam is almost the same dimensions as the radio pack, so it should fit in a lobster plate pouch quite happily, and the cam comes with a receiver, and various power packs and cables to hook it up to a TV/monitor.


I also have some coated wire of a similar look and diameter to the screen used as well that I can use for connecting it all up, and I'll be doing away with the quick connectors as it'll be a perm install.
Terry used proper WWII era helmets I think. I found out that post WWII helmets have lower sweeping sides. If this is correct, it might be why I'm having trouble matching positions up with the referance pics :p

Hi guys


I got down and dirty with the lobe plate over the last few days. Just need to give it a hard resin shell, then a bit of sanding/fine tuning and she'll be ready for primer

First I gave the thicker foam piece a little more shape, I wanted my plate to have that little hump like the one in the referance pics I have:





(You can see the trouble I've had trying to line up the cam properly, but I think I nailed it now :p

Better to measure three times...

Looks awesome man. great job!

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Thanks retrogarde

Just finished up the foux rivets for the helm cam, one more job ticked off the list.

The little split in the lobe plate was caused by me cutting too far round when I was trimming the exess off mid glue session (doh!), something I had to address.




Now, wheres that PVA glue......

Leave it as battle damage

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AKA: Simon

I hadn't thought of that, might well do something along those lines.

Thanks for the suggestion

A bit more progress on the lobe plate today, with luck there will be more to come.

Found the kids big bottle of PVA glue and borrowed a little (PVA is a great primer for resin), got a fresh paintbrush and went to work.

First coat on, time for the next one


One two skip a few....


....last coat on, just waiting for it to dry, then I'm mixing up the first batch of roto resin

I put two coats of resin on and sanded back ready for the next layer. However, it looks like I've run out of paintbrushes, but I can pick some up tomorrow when I'm in town.




Still a few lumps and bumps to work out, but damn that roto resin is a pain to sand. Not sure if its just the type of resin it is, or if it's still a touch green (soft), but it seems to resist the sand paper somewhat. I may yet put a layer of filler on as it'll most likely be easier to sand smooth than this resin, will see what its like tomorrow.

Didn't get time to do anything with the helmet this weekend/bank holiday, will be back on it tomorrow.

It's close enough to being finished that I've started thinking about it's pait job, and which paints to get.


Talking about paints, I found out Humbrol log all suggestions and interests regarding past and future products, and that if enough interst is there, they will consider reviving a discontinued product, so did my part for the original #170

As a backup in case they had no immediate plans on reviving bess brown, I also asked if they would let me know what colours were used to make it, and at what ratio so I could mix my own at home.

I'm still awaiting an answer, fingers crossed.

Looking good! I don't know if you've settled on colours yet but here is a list of what I use which to me looks great and very screen accurate.

Humbrol 30
1 part Games workshop black to 3 parts Games workshop Castellan green
Games workshop mournfang brown
Games workshop tau light ochre
Humbrol 147

Yes these will look way too bright before weathering so mix up some MIG black smoke pigment powder with white spirit so its just thick enough not to run and then rub off with a rag.

Thanks nick-a-tron, just the ticket

I can do a pretty decent flaked/chipped paint effect, but never really got deep into weathering, so any hints/tips on that front is awesome.

The GW green to mix with the black for the dark geen is Castellan green.

Cool as bud, thanks tons

Discovered that a fresh Stanly blade makes a fantastic shaper for the resin

Nice n smooth

Very smooth! Great work.

Humbrol answered my email today, here is the reply:


Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that no. 170 Bess Brown will be produced again, at least for the remainder of this year. I am also unable to help with colour matching or mixing and can only recommend colour matching using our Wall Chart: http://www.humbrol.com/humbrol-wallchart/.

Please do take my apologies that I am unable to help.
-----------------------------------------------------

Kinda what I was expecting, but if the enquiries for bess brown keep rollin in, they may change their minds

I'm a little concerned with the cavity under the lobe plate, the resin just isn't stiff enough and I don't want a finger/thumb to puncture through during handling.

To address this issue, I decided to fill the cavity with resin which will also preserve the smooth finish I've managed to achieve on it

I was going to need a very small funnel, luckily I had a top to a sherbet fountain which proved ideal:


Next I made a hole in the lobe plate (took a lot to make myself actually do this )


A very good fit


Oops, your belly buttons showing :p


Won't take much to smooth it out again, then I can finally get some primer on this bad boy

The lobe plate is done, and the helmet is now ready for primer at last (tidied up the edges a little more since this pic was taken)

Wow. I never realized there was a cutout in the lob plate for the camera. I went back and checked my references pics and there are! Thanks for for teaching me something!

Charlie

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