Khazid

Considering it was too late to go banging a hammer against my anvil to set the snaps, I went back to my bucket. First up was making a template for my frown mesh out of a piece of heavy card stock. The pencil shape is the rough shaping of the external frown, so the template allows for overlap inside the bucket for adhesion. After trimming the mesh to fit the template I prepped the inside of the bucket for the epoxy resin. Glue does not like paint. I used a craft stick to brush the resin into the sanded down areas and held it all in place with blue tape. The resin I like to use is a two part mix that sets about 5 minutes and fully cures in 20 minutes. Once the resin was cured I removed the tape and completed the installation of the lenses. I then took the time to clean up any areas missing the flat black by repainting those areas. I checked the lens installation to make sure that there are small gaps to allow for air flow when my fans are blowing, this will help reduce fogging. The first picture is a view from the top, the second a view from the bottom of the lenses. Here is an audience view of the front of the bucket. It is starting to look like a Stormtrooper! Moving on to my Mic Tips; they needed to be painted externally with satin black and the mesh installed. The white areas around the base are to keep the threads from being covered in paint, making the final installation extremely difficult. I now had to lay out my electronics plan to make sure that I was moving on the right path. Here is what is planned for the build: 1 - I-Comm – will be installed in the chest plate. 2 - Headphones – these will be disassembled and put into the bucket to work with the EAS system. 3 - Evilboy Fan Kit – I am going to remove the battery box, but will keep the fan setup to integrate into the bucket. 4 - Voltage Regulator – the Anker puts out 9v, but the electronics can only take 5v, this chip reduces that voltage and will allow for the system to function without causing issues. 5 - Blank circuit board – final circuit integrating the switch, regulator and other various components will be put into a piece of this. 6 - Capacitors – various sizes will be used to clean up the power supply coming into and out of the regulator. This will help prevent line noise from the fans bleeding back into the EAS via a ground loop. 7 - Microswitch – will allow me to switch on the fans and EAS after putting on the bucket. 8 - Power coupling – the Anker external battery will plug into here at the back of the bucket, providing power to the system. 9 - 20mm Fans – going to use these as exhaust fans to remove warmer air from the top of the bucket. 10 - Power cord – runs from the Anker to the bucket. 11 - Anker Battery – External battery that will provide a longer life than other rechargeable packs. Supplies power at 9v, which I will regulate down to 5v. On preliminary tests of the circuit, this battery will run all 4 fans and the EAS for approximately 11 hours before needing a recharge. Should be long enough to cover even the longest of troops. 12 - EAS system – will allow me to hear what is going on outside the bucket. I will have a little line noise from the fans, but with some tricks I figured out from other electronics hobbyists, I should be able to reduce that noise to a faint background hum. 13 - Aker booster – The I-Comm and throat mic will be plugged into this for that TK sound for the audience. 14 - <Not Pictured> - LED for current draw on battery, throat mic, various wiring etc. for the installation. With that in mind, it was time to put together the exhaust system. My plan is to hide the exhaust vents within the painted rear stripes on the rear traps. This meant I needed small fans that would stay quiet, but move at least a little air. I decided on 20mm box fans. This mod is NOT for the faint of heart. If my camoflague fails, it will ruin the bucket and kill my chances of both EIB and Centurion. I used a pencil to outline the rear traps and a rough outline of the box fan. I then took my paint templates and using a sharpie, drew in where the final stripes will be painted within the shape of the fan. Here is where the delicate part came in. Using a model pin vise, key hole file and hobby blade I was going to now cut very thin slits within the shape of the lines. The key was to not take up the entire width of the stripe, shooting for about 0.33mm of width at most. Taking a tiny bit, the pin vise was used to perforate the section. The hobby blade would connect the dots, and then using the key file I gently worked length of the incision, completing the “vent”. Once that was done, I put down the rear pad that will be in the bucket for the back of my head and then created a template for the fan box using heavy cardstock. To help me keep perspective, I used pencil lines to draw the shapes of the rear traps. The second picture gives a zoomed in look on the template. To make the fan boxes the templates were traced onto 2mm scrap ABS. 1mm styrene was cut on angles and installed into grooves that I dug out with a Dremel to make ledges. The fan will be installed onto the ledge, but will leave the center of the box open to allow for air flow. Here is one of the completed boxes, waiting on the next step. A little fine tuning with a hobby blade on the ledges and the nuts for the bolts can be installed. These are just glued in with a little CA Glue. I later added Magic Sculpt to fill in the gaps between the walls and the nuts. This is a terrible picture, but here are the completed fan boxes. They are ready for final installation. And that is all for this week. It was a good push and I hope to keep pushing now to finish this over the next few weeks. Let’s look at what I got through this week: Updated Final Checklist: Add Velcro to boots. Going to use the hooks on the boots and the loops on the inside bottom of the calves. For sections of the calf at the bottom not getting Velcro, attach moleskin 1/16” from the edge. Install split rivets in left joint of Kidney & Ab plates Install split rivet in cod plate. Install “Han” snap in right hand side of Ab plate Install male snaps in the butt plate Glue shoulder bridges to the chest plate Make snap plates for strapping. Strap armor to fit. Paint rivets on armor.Ab & Kidney rivets Thigh ammo pack rivets Assemble BucketCap attached to Front Ears Attached S-Trim attached Install Bucket InteriorInstall lenses Install Frown Mesh Install Fans Install EAS Complete electronics to external battery Paint bucketTraps Tears Vocoder Ears Interior Submit photo’s for TKID, then EIB and lastly Centurion.

Build Log – 9/7-9/13– Bucket & Details Let’s do this! Several updates to mention and this week I have been putting in some hours to try and get this TK done. This meant some jumping around in the areas of the costume trying to knock out those little details. First up is posting the completion of the knee plate. Here is what it looks like now that the clamps have come off. This first view is a bottom shot, looking up from the base of the left shin. Front view Side view (from outside of the shin) Side view #2 (from inside of the shin) While it is not as perfect as I would like it to be, this is where the plate naturally wanted to sit on the armor so I just went with it. I like how it came out overall. Moving on to the thigh ammo pack, first up is the front view. Side view (from outside of the thigh) Side view (from inside of the thigh) The outermost box is a little wonky, but I am happy with the overall finish of the thigh pack. If it comes down to it, I can use a little heat to get that box bent in a more natural lay. It warped when I glued down the pack to the center line on the front. Now I could mop up some of the details on the fitting before going back to my bucket. First up was adding moleskin to the bottom of each shin to protect my boots. Fit my garter belt system together and got it working with my thighs. The belt is 3” webbing with 3” industrial elastic for the front of the garter and 2” industrial elastic for the back. The elastic is sewn into the belt and attaches to the thighs via velcro. This way I can adjust the tension on the thighs as needed. The male snaps are now installed in the butt plate. The split rivet is now in the cod and the male snap is in the right side of the ab plate. I then moved on to making snap plates. Taking spare ABS I cut them into pieces of 20mm x 25mm then used my tabletop sander to round off edges and the tops to reduce the chance of snagging my under suit. Thirty two in total in a tray ready for the next step. With my drill press set up for depth I took some scrap strips of wood to make a temporary jig. Here you see one of the snap plate blanks ready to be drilled. The bench is all set for me to assemble the plates, I will be putting Tandy Line 24 male snaps into all the drilled holes. ​

Build Log – 7/13-9/6 – Nothing, nada, zip & zero Yes, the subtitle is correct, there was no building going on at this time. Life came around and a myriad of little details kept me from being active both here and with my build. It happens, but I’m back in the saddle and it is time to get this TK finished!! ​

You can check the PX here. One warning though, the armor kits are sized to the owner as built. If you are not the same in height, weight, etc. A used kit will more than likely not fit well.

1) The drivers are on the dame pin. For my chips it was the closest jumper to the edge of the chipset. 2) I used a tinning technique that I learned from an online tutorial. Tin some solder to the wire, then brush flux to chip and wire. Finally hold wire in position and use soldering iron to fish the "joint". It was by far the hardest to do for me as I don't do soldering by trade.

Andrew, those messages come up when the Arduino software has not yet found your board. I had to switch around the lorts a little to finally find it. I think if you launch the software first, then plug in the chip to the PC it is easier to get a good connection.<br> Sorry for the delayed response, life has taken over the last 8 weeks.

Nice work Tony! Lots of solid pointers in this build.

The dremel is good for rounded corners for taking down additional return edges you want to scale back. For primary trimming the score and snap is by far the easiest way to go. If you do dremel, keep it on low speed. The faster it turns the higher the friction. At some point you are melting the abs and mot sanding/cutting.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I will do my best to continue posting my techniques as the build nears its end.

Sadly, my build has hit the wall. Work is in over drive for the coming season and that has me putting in consistent 20 hour days, five days a week. Then add in family time on weekends and my TK is crying.Next week is our annual vacation to celebrate our anniversary, so the next two weekends are out too. Looks like my next available build day is 8/15. I am so close now...the bucket is coming along nicely; I cannot wait to share the mod I am doing to provide better air circulation. Just a tease of what is to come. I am still here though, just not moving forward very fast. For those if you following my journey, do not rush to finish. Let your build progress as time allows.

Thanks, I got the idea from some advice Gazmosis gave in another build thread a few months ago. I hope to have more updates soon. Keep ip the work on yours!

You're welcome. When you're there, look for Rustoleum hammered black. That is a great color for the "metal" parts of the gun (everything except the grip). Just knock down its gloss with some dull coat of flat black sprayed from 20+ inches away.

I cannot take credit for this idea, I have seen others use the foam trick; thus it is in my build bible to have foam on hand for final fitting. Thanks though Tony

You can fix the cylinder base with some thin plastic (1mm or 0.75mm styrene). If your local hobby store doesn't have that, pick up a for sale sign at your local hardware store and make a new plate that way. Some filler (green stuff, magic sulpt etc.) along with paint and no one will know except you.

You can also put some medium density foam on the inside of the left thigh, in the back. Put it around the last 2-3 inches. That will pull the thigh towards the knee joint. Do that after you fix the alignment that Tony pointed out, if you are still overlapping. It also looks like your chest plate is way high. I am no expert, but I am fairly sure the CP should overlap the AB Plate by a couple of inches. Looks great though, you'll be done in no time!

Neither the cod rivet or the screws on the strapping system are painted. What you listed as needing paint is good to go. Make sure to check the three bucket screws as well (gloss white).

Very doable to hit 8/23, but don't rush it just to hit a date. Easiest way to get through a lot real quickly is don't wait for a section to dry, just move on to the next parts. Just don't hit the wall like my poor build has /sigh

If you look at the reference photos, you'll see the brow trim was in several different places. As long as it is close to what you see in the references, you'll be fine. The Trooperbay lens material is pretty thick, though I don't have anything to compare it too. He sends out a piece as a part of the MTK kit. You can check out what the thickness may look like in my build thread, from the most recent build log I posted. I hope that helps.

I got my breadboards at Radio Shack.

Nice another PP build! Keep it up Richard, so far so good.

Arms 15mm front and back. Legs 20mm front and the backs should be the same width, but sized for comfort. The most common for the backs of legs is 25mm.

Back plate looks great. The chest plate is too high, looks like it could come down at lwast an inch, maybe two.

For your sanding stopping at the 600 will be more than fine enough. Save the 1k and 2k grits for fixing surface scratches

Flux will also help. Lightly brush the wire with flux then touch your iron to it. This will remove any impurities from the wire, like oils from your hands as Tony has mentioned. You should be abke to tin without issue from there.

Start with a little return edge on every piece, then remove to match the CRL's (i.e. no return edge on forearms at the wrist). When doing your final fitting, you'll find return edges in some places (i.e. butt plate) give one heck of an armor bite, so you'll start trimming back in those places as well. It is much easier to remove the plastic in little bits than it is to try and fix a mistake by adding it back.