Thank you, everybody, for your feedback.
First off: Sorry, Acheron I\'m a die-hard Loyalist, no Chaos for me! However, I\'d not mind handing over my design and see what a Chaos man could make of it. (that\'s not to mention, this project has been so involved it\'s tough to imagine doing THE SAME THING YET AGAIN...)
Second: Hestan, thank you for convincing me that I\'m not crazy. I don\'t think pistons are the answer here, though, because the waist is a rotate-only joint. I\'m thinking either add a layer around the topmost ring to thicken it OR set the body a bit lower to decrease the waist length. The good news is, because the waist is not and will never be glued, I can do all that MUCH later and see how things take shape around it first.
And you, dogfacedboy, want my trade secrets? Alright then! Begin lengthy explanation!
I use three thicknesses of card: .06 (about 1.5 mm), .03 (half that), and .01 (half that again). The thickest stuff I use for load-bearing bits and armor plates, and in order to have it join neatly (as on the shoulder guards) I simply bevel the edges with coarse sandpaper. The thinnest one I only use for detail work, because it\'s essentially plastic paper, so the bulk of the structure is made from the middle size. That\'s too thin for beveling, so I use a technique I call \"capping.\" It\'s pretty simple; I just glue into place a piece that is much too big, then cut it down to size (the Dremel is God for this, let me tell you). Of course, no matter how careful I am I still get little gaps with both these techniques, so I fill them liberally with liquid superglue (Loctite Control Liquid is my preferred adhesive) and once that sets I sand it back down to flatness with the coarse sandpaper, then finally with extra-fine finishing sandpaper to obliterate the scratches. I have to say, it isn\'t very material-efficient at all, but I sure don\'t get any unwanted lines in my paint job afterward!
End lengthy explanation! There\'s no magic to it, just a couple extra steps beyond simply constructing.
Back to work with me...I\'m adding armor plates now...
--Fiesta