Greaves Between Gentlemen's Best Scales

Here's my first attempt at psudo-making scales using the kit from Gentlemen's best. I don't have many tools, so the precut acrylic sheets were a godsend to me. I used 60 grit > 400 grit > 800 grit for shaping (highest I could find at Home Depot, would have liked 1200 too) and polished with Novus 3-2-1. The wedge was the hardest and most time-consuming part to hand-sand-taper so it's not as thin or tapered as I would have liked, nor does if mesh perfectly with the scales. Nevertheless for a night's time I'm very pleased with the result and may order another pair in the near future.

Here's the razor how I got it from Dylan. The blade was great, scales, not so much...
http://i56.tinypic.com/2cz3703.jpg

And with the new clothes:
(if only I had the same after shave...)
http://i56.tinypic.com/2142uqq.jpg
a few hairlines here and there, probably could come out if I sanded down more, but my fingers started aching...
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/4028/dscf1435l.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2119/dscf1437v.jpg
tight and centers on closing
http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/3057/dscf1443.jpg
translucency for cool scale factor points
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/5873/dscf1442u.jpg

I know I have much to learn and more to work on, but it's nice knowing that with the help from this forum and some elbow grease, even a newb can pump out a set of scales if need be. Definitely not a model for example, but maybe inspiration for those not-so-handy people like myself.

Looks great, well done. That colour acrylic is good because minor imperfections are not too easy too see.
Give youeself a pat on the back.
G.

Looks great. Nice job!

Looking good.

Here is a little constructive criticism for you though, I would have made the scales a little narrower. From your picture showing the translucence, the blade looks to have a lot of extra room in the scales. I like to have the scales a little bit closer to the actual size of the blade. This is my opinion though, so take it for what its worth.

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree, the scales are a little wide for the blade. Maybe the wedge was thicker, the blade would sit farther in in scales although it's already pretty thick as it is. The cutouts came from the website and I didn't have much time to shape and narrow them (I did all the sanding during the Bears/Packers game). I think you can send a file with the outline you want and they'll cut it for you so maybe I'll do that in the future.

Congrats! It does look nice. The translucence really glows.

When looking for a walk in for fine grit sandpaper, don't forget to check out the local autoparts store too. Usually you'll find up to 2500 grit in the chain stores. Often higher at independents, when they support bodyshops.

Good Job.

+Sz

Nice job!
As others have pointed out, the scales are really wide. Was that a standard size that's listed on the site? If so, I only know of one razor that would fit those scales properly and it's a 9/8 fairly hollow Hess. Not too many of those around, I don't think...

I don't generally use any sort of computer based application to aid in my scale building. I just trace the blade onto a piece of paper and then freehand the shape of the scales around the shape of the blade. Then I cut out the scale shape and transfer to my scale stock.

They have a few different scale styles on the site. The one I chose was their longest offering at 6 - 3/16" but I chose based on the vintage inspired shape, not size. Maybe next time I'll try to freehand a cutout to scan and send.