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Simon's ANH Stunt Build [TM]


TK-32700

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Edit October 2017: Moved all pictures in this thread to a new host.

 

After many months (years?) of lurking, I have finally started my build. It is as terrifying and scary as I thought it would be. I barely know how to hold a shop knife, let alone using it to trim a Stormtrooper suit... But I am trying my best!

 

I actually got my big brown box about a year and a half ago (in February, if memory serves). For those who understand Norwegian, here is an unboxing video: youtube.com/watch?v=CANnpkNO29Y

 

Obligatory picture of all parts spread out on floor:

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(I know, I know, the knee plate is upside down...)

 

I started trimming it, but due to more pressing matters taking priority, I had to postpone the build. It has been waiting in a box in my bedroom since.

 

Recently I started building again, and figured it is time to do one of these build threads.

 

I started with the arms and biceps. Thought it would be an easy start.

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Left biceps:

UARHY342lSei08BT3taXD0OdUpYvGSgtdlO0bYXl

 

I think I used too much glue on the cover strips. Some visible overflow: 

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Both biceps:

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9JIYleBGsL-ISP6uZUvyNDzDeo5HoqqB4Kqb7HX6

 

Arms:

l7Hao9ap0Jc8h-tc8TBIY2F35JzcRyOC8iAWWFFb

 

EZig_HTVUvc94QpDBZ5g0jJlDZeVmUbfkR3aPuK6

 

The specs states no return edge. Is this acceptable?

rOqRir-2vJOTQ58JP3Vch6-A7LNVCKYNNi2oa1xq

 

I hope to have the suit battle-ready by mid-September. I am spending my summer vacation at home, so I have lots of time to work on it.

Edited by SimonBoba
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If you're using E6000 glue, you can attack the edge between the cover strip and the plate with a sharpish scrap piece of ABS until the glue starts balling up, then you can grab it and pull it off... It's really satisfying when you get a long strip up at once.  (:

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Hi Simon, some of your cover stripes appear a bit long to me. Maybe you can shorten these a bit!?

 

From what maker is that armor?

Edited by T-Jay
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Thanks for all advice! I have been tinkering with the arms and biceps all evening, and they are starting to look better.

 

On 2015-7-19 at 7:06 PM, Kredal said:

If you're using E6000 glue, you can attack the edge between the cover strip and the plate with a sharpish scrap piece of ABS until the glue starts balling up, then you can grab it and pull it off... It's really satisfying when you get a long strip up at once.  (:

 

 

Haha, yes, it was oddly satisfying!

r7_bhiASlNM9gjKPhDyOGqCRme_sgNqy_k9eHqAX 

 

On 2015-7-19 at 6:22 PM, Locitus said:

You can take a little bit more off of the forearms.

 

I have removed about 3mm from the right arm. It looks more correct immediately:

 fMn0wYei2Z1oasr7FcWqNx9VHY1_XTjEFoazxOJz

I might sand it down some before moving on to the left arm.

 

On 2015-7-19 at 7:48 PM, T-Jay said:

Hi Simon, some of your cover stripes appear a bit long to me. Maybe you can shorten these a bit!?

 

From what maker is that armor?

 

I think I made the strips this long to hide the difference in height between the two halves. But it looks like it is possible to make them a bit shorter.

 

The armor is Troopermaster 1,5 mm ABS.

Edited by SimonBoba
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Well, that is exactly the same armor that I have :) 

 

Mine was build by Paul himself. To see how he shaped the cover stripes, just use the link in my signature. Or you can ask for pictures of any specific parts, here or via PM...

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Thanks T-Jay, will do!

 

I've done some more work on the arms. I have removed more of the edge on both forearms, and the cover strips on the forearms and biceps. I had too much of an edge on the biceps, which made it difficult to hide the height difference. Took some of it off, and shortened the strips. I still need to smooth out the rough edges, but I need to do a supply run to get more sandpaper first.

 

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Yesterday I also glued the shins. 20 mm wide strips in front, 25 mm wide strips back. I am happy with how they seems to have turned out, but I'll do my final judgement once I'm sure that the glue has set. It was a bit cold in the store room last night (14°C at the lowest), so I'll give it a few more hours before removing the clamps and magnets. Just to be sure.
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I want to do the accurate shin hooks, but am a bit worried that the holes will rip after a while. Do any of you reinforce the holes in any way? 

 

Edited by SimonBoba
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Who's skipping leg day? Not this recruit!

 

The glue on the shins has set nicely. The left shin did slide a bit due to poor clamping, but it will be mostly hidden by the knee plate. I might make som ABS paste and fix it later, but I will let it be for now.

 

I did a test fitting before I did the final cut and gluing.

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Front:

JFGmql6U7RC4pKJeTx8KYyYQZJz_aqDxzUSiBzM2

 

Left front:

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Right front:

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Back: 

2b5BOXQQW8R7ODjo54bTN3FVHTrFc-naFnJp1SK0

 

I going to sand the edges some more. That right leg does not look right.

 

When I am done with that, I will glue the strapping. I made them with the help of a nearly 50 year old sewing machine – a Singer Golden Panoramic 670G from ca 1967.

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After that, I will move on the knee plate. I'm thinking it requires lots of glue, clamps, magnets and patience. 

46zGFj3_1DTWT4X-ipdDPtDUaj_nmBAuKf2A8Jq-

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Edited by SimonBoba
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After that, I will move on the knee plate. I'm thinking it requires lots of glue, clamps, magnets and patience.

What I did was put some glue on the inside edges of the kneeplate and the front of it that touches the coverstrip, then clamp it in place and kind of trickle more glue from the top into space between the edges of the kneeplate and the shin. You can do this in stages too.

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The knee plate is glued and clamped, and should be done in about 20-24 hours. Possibly. The northern Norwegian summer temperature is working against me, wildly fluctuating between 10° to 25° on any given day. It has been difficult to maintain an ideal curing temperature in the room where I let my pieces dry. Never thought that would be an issue during this build!

 

While I wait for that, I have moved on to the helmet. I trimmed the teeth and eye holes back when I first got it. I decided back then that I wanted a black interior. I might have chosen the screen accurate green today, but it doesn't matter. Black is fine.

 

I've always found that a low brow looks more menacing than a high brow, so I did some fiddling and found my preferred placement. The brow is resting about 3 mm above each outer corner of the eyes, with a slight upwards curve. The center measures 5 mm above the eyes. I like this look, so I have mounted the faceplate.

 

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After that, I started trimming the ears. And I have made a mistake. I overtrimmed the right ear. It fits nicely in the back, but have a huge gap in front. I wish it was the opposite.

 

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I could try trimming the back some more, and moving the ear slightly down and back. The gap should become less prominent then. Right now, I am contemplating on letting it be, or obtaining a new set of ears. I don't know, I have to figure something out.

 

Edited by SimonBoba
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I would trim the back of the ear to allow you to pull the front closer to the tube. You may need to trim the circular part too just to help a bit. Don't worry if you have a slight gap, it's quite normal. People try to make a water tight fit when it isn't necessary.

 

Good job with the build so far :duim:

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Thank you both!

 

Using pencil marks and sandpaper only (no scissors or powertools), I took some flesh off the back and the circle on the right ear. The gap is much less prominent now, and I'm feeling more confident that it will look good when mounted. Next up: the left ear.

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Just a quick update. I've just checked on the knee plate. The glue has cured, but it has slipped slightly to the right during the night. It's nothing you would notice when looking at it.

 

BFf5Tc4Lxarm8G4ytQlY_AAAnzokQdqfKsN-zWZh5GspVcp7P0Lq_1ux78XHAZrM2gBMbDxIPEIIYq_p

 

Edited by SimonBoba
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Another quick update, but no pictures today. Not much has been done since the previous update. I took the weekend off from the build, after having spent many hours on Friday trying to get the ears right.

 

Today I marked the placement for all of the split rivets, snaps, brackets and screws on the torso. I haven't yet decided if I want to do an accurate, permanent strapping with the split rivets, or if I want use snaps on the inside.

 

While I contemplate on accuracy vs. practicality, I have started gluing straps on the arms, biceps and shoulder bells. I used 25 mm wide black elastics for the shoulder bells, and 57 mm wide black elastics. For some reason, the local fabric shop operates with inches when it comes to elastics. Because of this, they didn't have any of the accurate 50 mm wide black elastics. I had to choose either 37 mm/1,5 in. or 57 mm/2,25 in. Crazy imperial measur... Oh...

 

Now I have to let the glue cure. This is the downside to using E6000. It take forever to glue something as easy as straps.

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The arm straps are mostly done. I still haven't done the one on top of the shoulder bells, with the sew-on snap connecting to the shoulder straps. I want to take more accurate measurements first, so that will have to wait until I actually have a shoulder strap to measure. 

 

Other work that has been done:

- Added insoles to my TK Boots to get a better fit.

- Glued latex handguards to gloves.

- Tried on the black compression undersuit, feeling like a ninja. But I'm a bit disappointed. It turned out that the pants have very visible, light grey seams that didn't show in the picture on eBay.

- Pretrimmed the belt ammo boxes and the thigh ammo boxes.

- Pretrimmed the drop boxes.

- Fitted and trimmed thighs. Started gluing them.

- Reinforced the aerator sockets on the helmet using Sugru.

 

I noticed something when working on the helmet in different lighting conditions. The plastic has yellowed. This has not happened to any of the other pieces, and as far as I know, the helmet are made from the same material. I'm trying to think why this has happened. None of the parts have been exposed to direct sunlight over time, and the box was not stored close to any heat source. The only difference I can think of, is that the helmet were wrapped in bubble-wrap, but I don't understand how that would result in yellowing. Anyway, it is not that noticable yet (I didn't notice it until now). And if the yellowing continues, I think I have most of the ingredients to make Retr0bright.

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When I came home today, I noticed that lingering E6000 smell from previous legs in this build. It smells like hope and dreams and sticky fingers!

 

The thighs are coming together nicely. I had to reinforce one of the front cover strips, so that set me back 24 hours. The other one looks good for now, but the glue is still wet. Once I free up a couple of magnets, I will tackle the back cover strips. I keep coming back to the forums to check how wide they should be. The built-in search never agrees with me, but using Google site search, it seems like the consensus here is 20 mm wide. But also that they should be the same width as the shin strips for consistency, and mine are 25 mm. The screen used once were all over the place, so I guess it comes down to armour proportions and personal preferences.

 

Last night I heated and bent shoulder strap hooks. I first tried the method from one of the howtos on the site, but between the measurements and the grooves, I could not get it to bend right. Next I tried just bending the plastic over a flat carpenter pencil. The pencil I used is 15 mm wide and 7 mm thick.

 

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That went surprisingly well. And I didn't even burn my fingers!

 

Right now I am working on the cover buttons for the belt. How large should the square be? I have marked 25x25 mm, which will fit snugly between the ammo boxes.

 

TN23Ek5g-Ft6E3yDf5YB9Esx7ov7CrJ13EHMFfhj

 

Edited by SimonBoba
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Drying E6000 is the smell of progress, success, VICTORY! haha  :peace:

 

Ok a little over the top but I bet it got you fired up didn't it? ;)

 

Cover strip measurements:

15 mm for the arms

20 mm for front of legs
20 mm for back of thighs
25 mm for back of shins
 
If you're interested I have a little bicep retaining clip tutorial on a AM build thread, follow the link and drop about 3/4 of the page, this may help.
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