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...


And with the new clothes:
(if only I had the same after shave...)

a few hairlines here and there, probably could come out if I sanded down more, but my fingers started aching...


tight and centers on closing

translucency for cool scale factor points


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.