ATA, not so steady, build

[bronco3001]

Alright...I've done very minimal over the last year...started trimming, eyes, and teeth. Today I did thr ears...how does this all look? The rank bumps on the ear are angled down right? I feel they will fit together a bit better after everything is actually held together with screws/rivets, but hopefully that looks decent?

Front Brow Setup:


LEFT EAR:






RIGHT EAR:

[Zarlon]

The brow looks ok to me and the ear angle is also ok. The left ear is good but you might want to trim the right ear a bit more. The bottom looks a little thick. If you have a belt sander you can also flatten the ears a bit, otherwise keep going your doing great!

[bronco3001]

Awesome, thank you! The right is definitely thicker, but I wanted input before I did anything because I was afraid I over-trimmer the left, lol.

Hopefully tonight means the start of riveting it all together! The brow I may end up putting it a bit further down....hard with those stupid clamps

[Zarlon]

One other suggestion for you. Screw it together with screws and bolts before you rivet it. This way it can be adjusted easily until you get the build done. Once everything is finished and lined up, you can rivet it if you still want to.

[Mr Fett]

Yep, and I never even ended up riveting my ATA helmet together. Just kept the screws and bolts in place.

[bronco3001]

Is there a reason to rivet it? I'm following pandatroopers build, so I assumed it was one of those things that just needed to be done, possibly for approval,etc.

[Mr Fett]

Just to create a more permanent hold, but I’ve never had any problems with mine coming undone.

[bronco3001]

Well here we go....this took entirely too long tonight, but had troubles getting it all lined up properly. The right ear is a tad worse than what I wanted, but I couldn't get it any better than this unless I do a whole new ear for it....so we'll go with this for now and see how it goes. I think I ended up trimming to much off the back cap portion on the bottom which made it more difficult.

On the S rubber, is that supposed to cover any part of the bottom of the ear? Mine does some on both sides.

Next task is to get paint and do the lens.

[Mr Fett]

The ears look fine. The movie ones had gaps worse than yours do.

Yes, the S-trim on the bottom of the helmet does go over the bottom of the ear caps somewhat.

[Zarlon]

I agree with Andrew. The ears look fine and the gap is almost unavoidable. Nice job!

[Zarlon]

Just to create a more permanent hold, but I’ve never had any problems with mine coming undone.

I've never had a problem with mine either. The screws work fine and allow for adjustments later.

[bronco3001]

Thanks, I did end up doing rivets to help me hold things in place. I put the lens in tonight, trying to decide if I like the one piece deal...not sure if you can tell but there is a gap along the top of the eye. Not a big deal right?





Just waiting to get the paint and polish to finish the lid

[Mr Fett]

Gaps are good for some airflow. As long as you can't see it from straight ahead, any side gaps are hidden. You're good.

[oldscool]

Yep. I purposely gapped mine. Looking good so far!

[bronco3001]

Thanks guys....while I wait for my paint to show up...I start trimming the forearms and biceps more. The forearms are looking good, just have to do a little more sanding to get them ready for gluing the cover strip on. The biceps I'm not as sure about...I've cut them, but I did it a little backwards from what I meant to do...I was taking my measurements, and instead of dividing what I needed to remove and taking off the edge, i took that number from the bend on the side....so it's semi tight on the arm(bare skin)....not sure it is't going to cause any issues...or if I should just have a bit of a space between the two pieces when I put the cover strip on it....or if it's just right and I should shut up and just continue on.

[bronco3001]

Painting has begun..the right back trap is a bit bigger than the left so eas thinking of redoing it..

[Zarlon]

Looking good. Put all of the rubber trim in place before you redo anything. You might not need change it if the rubber covers it up.

[bronco3001]

sorry, I meant the trap on the back of the lid....no covering that one up lol

[Zarlon]

Yes sir. That one will have to be reduced for sure but shouldn't be too difficult.

[Mr Fett]

Luke, I'll have my ATA on here if you want to see the parts:

http://www.greatlakesgarrison.com/forum ... 76&t=15204