bpresson

HUA

Greetings all. I was approved back in April, but didn't have enough posts until now to update my status in this thread. I'm not a prolific poster. In 1977 I was 13yrs old and when I saw Star Wars the first time in a theater I knew I was going to have to have one of the costumes one day. Of course marketing wasn't then what it is today, so you really couldn't get your hands on stuff unless you were connected, or a great fabricator (of which, I am neither). I found out about the 501st a few years ago at Rose City Comicon. They had me sign up for the local garrison forums, and got me connected to whitearmor.net. I wished I had lots of build advice, or stories to tell about my build, but I just didn't have the time or the space to do my own build. I wound up having my build commissioned with RSProps. I feel like a slouch, and too unworthy to apply for EIB or Centurion because I wouldn't have earned due to my own efforts. I have such admiration for all you that have done your own builds. Besides, ultimately, all I really cared about was getting active in the 501st, and it's charity efforts. I wanted to get trooping. As silly as it may seem to some for a 50+ yr old man; Getting my armor, and being able to troop with other members is a childhood dream come true. Brian

I finally got everything fixed. The epoxy created a great bond, and sanded very well. I had a lot of problems with painting. It would be either too bright or too dark. I finally went to McCollum's autobody here in Vancouver, Wa to ask if they could recommend a way that I could blend, or match, or fade the paint in. Bill Little spent a bunch of time explaining how I could go about doing it, and in the end he just decided to do it for me, and it turned out perfect. He refused any payment. So I wanted to give him and his shop a shout out for doing that. Since I had a trooping event coming up on Friday, it was imperative that I got this finished in time.

Andi, I wanted to let you know that I was unable to make the acrylic powder and liquid to work. It applied and sanded very well (though the liquid was a foul substance). However I didn't stand up to much flexing. I did however find an epoxy by Loctite (marine) (http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/epxy_mrn_s/overview/Loctite-Epoxy-Marine.htm) that applied well and creates a strong bond over the crack. It also sands well and takes paint. Thanks to everyone providing feedback and assistance, and I hope that my experience with this is beneficial to someone else. P.S. I will try to post pictures of before and after, but I've been having an issue with the forums taking my google photo's links. P.S.S. I removed the information about the paint. Once it dried it had almost a gray look against the PVC white of the plastic. I'll have to do some more matching.

I seem to be unable to upload pictures. I'll look to see if there is something in settings.

Thanks!

Andi, Thanks bunches for that tip. I can't get you a pic today, but I can probably get one tomorrow. I'm heading out this morning for a friend's birthday party/cookout. I can tell you that it's cracked behind the thigh elastic. Like a fool, I kneeled down to pick something up and elastic pulled too hard on the interior of the plastic and cracked it. I would have to effect the repair from the outside, or try pulling the elastic off (which I'm not confident I can do that. Where do I obtain the acrylic powder and or liquid? Beauty supply?

I recently had an accident at home that cracked one of my thigh pieces. My TK armor is made from PVC. I thought about just using some superglue, but that would leave the residue on the finish. I suppose I could do that if there were a way to buff and restore the finish. I did look through the forums, and I didn't find anything that specifically addressed fixing cracked PVC. (though my forum search skill are notoriously bad). I'm sure that if there isn't any viable repair method I could request a replacement part from RS Props. Any help would be appreciated. Brian (TK-88406)