Ever since Sean started selling his ODST kits, I've wanted one. When he posted his latest thread in the classified section I thought "why buy one when you can get two for twice the price?" and jumped at the opportunity to get a couple fo these kits.

I'm not sure if anyone else has posted a WIP thread on building one of these. Then again the comprehensive 81-page instruction book Sean wrote for building this kit are so thorough and well-written that this thread will be mostly for my own benefit. I keep thinking that by showing my progress to the world I'll be pressured to actually make progress so I've got something to show.

So the other day a couple of boxes arrived packed with plastic goodness:


Like a little kid, the first thing I had to do was dig through and find a helmet and visor and try them on with my AR:


It was pretty hot outside when the boxes arrived and it didn't do the rotocast helmets any favors. They were a bit pinched and I had to spend some time with the heat gun working the warps out. Otherwise, they're nice thick castings that look like they'll hold up fine to the occasional bump or drop.

After geeking out for a bit, the next step was to dig through the box and check to see that everything was there and undamaged. It turns out that there weren't any cracks or breaks, so I set about building the lower leg armor in accordance with the instructions:


With everything trimmed, glued, and riveted together, here's what the pile looked like:



As long as I had some assembled parts, I couldn't resist the urge to try them on and stomp around the workshop striking silly poses:




I'm taking a week off from the workshop to go play on a boat. More updates when I get back.


Stay tuned...