A little update to thinly disguise yet ANOTHER question:

So everything is undecorated now (except the GL as I ran out of paint) and my finishing paints have arrived which is nice. I have to say then even with a nice coat of the primer and hanging by wire from the roof of my dad's garage it's already looking AWESOME! (I should have taken some pictures of it all!)

One slight problem, the matsu Thompson kit parts had a wonky barrel, whoever drilled and tapped it didn't do it very straight and when I assembled it (properly) for painting it was a mile (at least, maybe 2) out so I ended up drilling the hole out a little bigger and using epoxy glue to fix it in correctly.

My question is: How many coats of undercoat should I use? A friend of mine who has painted other kits (never a M-41A) in the past said TWO undercoat + 1 finishing coat but I'm wondering if this is overkill as the coat I've given it seems to have covered really well.

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

i always used 1 coat works well enough

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I'm the one they warned you about

I don't have a clear picture of what you are describing inside those shrouds. Does it look like this?


...or have you already come up with a solution to securely attach that GL?

BTW, that looks to be one fine kit that you have there. Well worth the money.

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Tom

I have a solution that I think will work rather well. In the picture Matsu posted on page 1 he showed that there shoudl have been a little spacer that slots on to the bottom of the thompson and the GL mounts on that. I drew up this spacer and took it to a local machine shop who are going to knock me one up out of aluminium. (They said they will probably get it done for me "next week")

The little bit of flash (which I have now removed) was kinda between the thompson and the grenade launcher and was part of the shroud. My kit appears to be quite different inside than yours and is currently hanging from my dad's garage roof (where I sprayed it on Monday). I'm probably going up there again tomorrow to do a bit more work on it (drilling and tapping holes to mouth the barren support/vent and the stock and to do a bit more undercoating) but I'll try to remember to take my camera this time and take a few snaps for the boards!

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

I'd like to introduce you to a close personal friend of mine...




Just the counter to add (soon as my techno-ninja bloke is able to help!)

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

cue Woody in 3...2...1...

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Alan T. Alien
1st Lt Smith, SA "Sidewinder"
A13/TQ1.4.19720EX CMA
Founder of UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters
Founder of Special Armaments Section (Heavy Weapons)
"People don't understand. people like me"

Wot'choo'talkin'bout'sidewinder?

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

You'll see. Ttaskmaster's will-power can't hold out for long.

Yup, Woody'll be feeling this thread in his bones, right about now........

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Steve
Corporal in 69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes.

"I'd like to die at the age of 80 in my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my c**k."

*worried*

Did I do something wrong?

8 slots, not 10?
Olive drab, not Bess brown?
Pulse Rifle without a counter?

How the hell do you expect me to sleep tonight???

Edit: Arggggh... "he" is online now... should I be worried or pleased with myself?

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

Yeah yeah...

It was the first thing I noticed, though...

*sigh*
This is gonna sound silly, I know...

No, not really, mate.
Long story short: I don't like seeing fingers on triggers, is all.

Hahahaha! Well as a REAL firearms user (shotgun) I know where you are coming from... to be honest I took a few pics tonight of the completed gun and when I was looking which ones to upload to my photobucket account I thought "oooh, it looks a bit odd with your finger NOT on the trigger" so I took a couple more and posted them instead!

But like I say... I hear you, and understand where you are coming from. I saw some guys at memorabilia in B'Ham the other week actually pointing weapons at punters for photos! Replica or not, this is a no-no in my books (unless the person specifically ASKS for it!)

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

i too hate fingers on triggers
in this day and age it pays to treat a replca like a real firearm

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I'm the one they warned you about

No biggie, Tyger...

The guys tease me about it, but I do take it seriously. Had this stuff drummed into me since I was a kid anyway, but I've been on the bad end of it too. Never again, thanks!!

'Sides... Good weapon handling is Screen Accurate, anyways - See Al Matthews's comments during the Quadrillogy documentary on the USCM weapons

yeah didnt he drill it into everyone to handle them as real weapons etc?
i remember a similar thing on the thin red line where the cast were put through a boot camp to act as a unit

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I'm the one they warned you about

You gonna weather it, Tyger, or keep it nice n' shiny?

I'm not sure, it's already got a few scuffs on the paint so I might weather it to disguise them... never done "weathering" before and I feel a bit scared taking wire wool to it!

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

I know how you feel.
I'll probably keep mine 'as is' and just let it pick up wear & tear...

I think that's how I will go about it... like I say, it's already got a few dings on it, and I guess it will look more authentic if they are real rather than added for effect!

In my job I work for a lab furniture design company so we have our own joinery factory, I've had a word with them and they are going to make me a wall mounted display thing for it which will be cool. I'm borrowing heavily from the Hollywood collectables style. I'll get it sprayed up black and dry brush it with a little silver and I think that will look rather cool hanging on my wall.

What I forgot to add was the solution for mounting the GL to the Thompson worked like a dream... I surprised myself how well it all held together and now I'm anxious to get the counter installed... all good things to those who wait. Having to rely on someone else for stuff is a pain in the arse. I was convinced I could do it myself but having had a quick chat with him a few weeks ago he made it sound far more complicated than I initially thought (he's going to fix it so I can get maximum battery life out of my display). I don't want to keep pestering him but godammit I want my rifle finished!!!!!

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

Typical Electronics Engineer (I worked in Production Engineering in a Telecoms Factory for 5 years) they have to scare you with how hard things are otherwise you might discover that they're not and then the mystique of their job would be gone!

Always remember one man's Science is another mans Black Magic!

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Cheers

Winch

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow I shall fear no evil for thou art with me. And together we'll kick ANY bugs ASS!"
You know who you are!

I used the same trick with CAD when I started working where I am now 6 years ago... Mwhahahahahaha! (They STILL think I'm some kinda CAD-master, if only they knew!

Anyway... I caved in and went to see Mr Electronic's Ninja... he said "I'm a bit busy this week, and probably next week too so if you pop back in 2 weeks I'll give you a hand!

TWO WEEKS!!!!!!

Forget that... I'll give it a go myself... how hard can it be, right?

Expect a mushroom cloud over Loughborough in the next 48 hours. Quite how I'll get THAT kinda reaction from a 9V battery and an LED light is anyone's guess, but if there is a way, I'll find it!

Hahahaha!

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

Careful... A particular PA did that with her job. Then my other half took over the role and accomplished in half a day what it would take the previous one several weeks to achieve!!


This gonna be a static counter?

Yeah, I was gonna have it display "76" (my birth year) but decided today that "95" would be better.

The parts have cost me next to nothing and I have SOME basic knowledge of electronics... if I ruin any of the components then I guess it's not the end of the world!

I was treating the LED display as a single component that needed one resistor, but having spoken to that guy he said I have to treat each segment as an individual component to maximise bettery life and therefore I need 11 resistors (one for each segment).

The tricky part is laying it out on the veroboard but I've sussed that, now all I need is time* and a soldering iron.

*I'm having my lounge re-plastered out on Saturday so need to be using my "not at work" time this week to strip wallpaper, rip skirting board off and pull carpets up, not faffing about with electronics... as much as I'd like to!

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Gamertag: Tyger Cheex | PSN ID: TygerCheex
Wii: 5383-1168-6978-3404 | Steam: tygercheex

Dude, if someone has told you that wiring a static counter is technically difficult then you've been led down the garden path. It's a touch fiddly maybe.

I'm meant to have a Masters degree in Electronics and I see no reason why one resistor for all LEDs would be less efficient than separate ones (if you have the LEDs in series at least...). But, I just studied for the exams then forget it all. So, I'm open to hearing the explanation for that assertion.

Hopefully Spat will come along to comment on how hard it is to wire these counters!