WIP: 1/144 NG Leo Type IV Custom (Part 2)

Welcome back!  This weekend, I intended to finish sawing Leo's skirt armor off its torso.  Until I was up to it, however, I decided to work on the other parts I'd be using for Type IV; in this case, the arms from the Tallgeese kit.

These are the parts that make up each arm (excluding the polycap hands).  The parts for the shoulder armor (Top) would overlap the shoulder (Center) which would attach to the forearm (Bottom) with a polycap joint.  But if I fully assembled the shoulder first, removing its seam lines and painting it would be a problem.  So . . .

Starting with the shoulder and forearm, I trimmed the pegs and attached the polycaps (Circled) to each before applying liberal amounts of plastic cement (Top) to the rims of each part.  Here I learned that for old kits like Tallgeese, it's a good idea to trim the pegs of all the parts and make sure they fit together; otherwise you're stuck with large gaps in between.  It's also important to stick in those polycaps BEFORE  using the cement, because once that cement sets, you can't go back and fix mistakes.

Once the cement was added, I squeezed the glued parts together so that excess cement would seep out.  So that I wouldn't be squeezing parts between my fingers for the next few hours, I used plastic clamps I got from the dollar store.  They're cheap, but they do the job right.

Because my camera didn't get it, the red line indicates where both parts for the shoulders are permanently welded together, erasing the seam line.  I'll eventually smooth it out with sandpaper (BTW, I'm holding up this part with a stick).

Next I modifed the shoulder armor by taking my knife and creating a channel in the holes connecting to the other pegs of the shoulder.  Once they're painted . . .

I can slide the shoulder into the armor . . .

And it doesn't fall off.  This could be a problem once the weapons and rear verniers are attached, but that's a worry for another day.

Before gluing the armor together, I've decided to shave some of it off to better resemble Leo's.  After breaking out my hobby saw and cutting along the lines I drew . . .

I sanded the rough areas and voila!

I know this photo's dark and fuzzy, but you get the idea.  Leave a comment or two and let me know what you think so far.  Until next time, it's off to the movies, again!