kme1682

As helpful insight from a different perspective: There's at least two of us that have an elastic between butt plate and cod. It was a helpful "stay-safe" to keep the butt plate from arcing out like a car spoiler and for the cod to have an awkward outward slant. It's not required, and many troopers may find it's not necessary. I felt it gave a better look for the way the armor sat on my frame. My understanding is that there was similar reasoning for the other alpha75. Best, -K

Hi Tyler, I am happy to chat in reference to helping all builders (fan sculpt and licensed builders) with that part of the back. On my TFA TK, we are addressing some slight cracking where there is a seamless bond on the back. Right now, the crack is only on one side and is hairline thin. Although being a point of stress is certainly a factor, I think the greater causative factor is the bondo we used. My understanding is that plastic weld and ABS slurry would have provided better flexing, and we may not have had an issue at all. With a different timeline we would have used a longer curing bonding agent. Additionally, the part of the armor that extends over the shoulders onto the chest provides more stress to twist outward or inward toward the center of the chest depending on the frame of the wearer. I've noted this in the thread about TFA TK issues and solutions. The stress of the torque could contribute to cracks of the weaker points in the assembly. It is possible that a proper fit to the shoulder/chest width of the wearer would eliminate torque of that part and ensuing cracks. Best wishes, Krista

I agree. I think the creativity of many minds finding solutions may come up with an alternative to the kit supplied buckle. I look forward to seeing how others make their belts. -K

Hey Dean, I understand. It's difficult without a defined sized object to properly scale. The belt connection isn't exposed, so you'll be able to use any method that works best for your build. The drop boxes can be attached by any method that will not pull through the belt. We used 1/4" chicago screws. As far as I can tell, the screen/TFA exhibit belts are also non-porous/non-weave like rubber. While the ANOVOS kit has used a separate canvas belt and rubber belt overlay, I don't know if that will change over time. I found it helpful to utilize the sew-on velcro with the canvas. I don't have my kit near me to measure the width right now. I imagine you'll need the overall width and the width of the horizontal raised ridges. Best wishes for your build. -Krista

Hey there, Chiming in on the knee gaskets. When we get to modifying the gaskets (again), we're going to follow the route of velcro the knee gaskets to the armour. I just have to double-check that I actually have a knee when doing that, or if it looks like one column/tube of armour and rubber. If so, I really will look like robby the robot! -krista

Hi Dean, At the risk of being too forward, I would recommend using the movie trailer screen shots and the TFA exhibit to base your design, if you are creating your own belt. I believe our intent is to post helpful threads in FISD for the ANOVOS TFA TK kit assembly, but if I were creating my own belt, I would want to use primary source material. As good as the kit is, it is still secondary source (academically speaking). Any inadvertent or intentional variations in the secondary source will be passed along in your creation, and I believe the spirit of the fan-made sculpts are to utilize primary source material, while being aware of methods and materials used in other sculpts. It is also helpful protection when considering the very strictest sense of "recasting." All that said, I believe we will have a section for the TFA TK kit that will touch on the belt preparation, assembly and attachment to costume. Best wishes for your work! -krista

Hi, Thank you for your time investment in making these. I'll echo the note from Jeroen due to the way the shoulder can have a little gap between the shoulder bell and the back-shoulder. However, perhaps the gap will be so minimal that the advertisement won't be seen to any noticeable degree. Although, perhaps "imperial" is screen accurate; I haven't seen the movie yet, and didn't assemble the mannequins at the TFA exhibit at Celebration. A helpful note about fitting the gaskets to the wearer. I would caution an advisement for sewing the gasket to the underarmour, especially the knee gasket. Unless the sewing advisement was for the shoulders only, and I missed that point. Apologies, if so. Some of us who are lithely framed are attaching the knee gaskets to the armour itself. (Not permanently- something like Velcro- see Clint’s build for reference.) I found that the rubber knee gasket was chaffing/shredding against the ABS armour when keeping the knee gaskets close to my under-armour. If I sewed it to my underarmour, I would have a gap between the thigh and gasket, likely shin as well. It appears that a more ideal possibility for some body types is to attach it to the ABS armour and not the under-armour. Lastly, I’m a little concerned about the handwash/line-dry aspect to sewing the gaskets to the under armour. I look forward to hearing how others fare with this method. I would prefer to have my under-armour interchangeable, especially if I have a multi-day troop planned. I don’t know how long it would take to line-dry the underarmour to wear the next day. In this case, I'm assuming I’m just sewing the shoulder and possibly the elbow, pending forearm fit/gap. Again, thank you for your time and diligence with this alternative! Congrats! Warm regards, -krista

Re Abplate: Interesting. To me another facet of costume engineering for the TFA TK are the chest-shoulder-back proportions. For some broad-shouldered folk the seamless back/curved shoulders need to be wide enough to allow movement and stay in proportion. The same is true as well for the smaller framed folk where the chest-back-shoulders could exceed the actual shoulders of the wearer. Since the back plate has a detailed proportional feature, it doesn't seem as simple as shimming/trimming the back to fit the wearer. Ultimately, those on the extremes of broad/narrow shoulders might require a proportional sculpt to fit correctly. hmmmm..... -krista

Glad to help. I learned a ton in this build, but it was immediately helpful to have my husband Sean on my build team. He's done a lot of clones, and he knew which techniques we could employ reasonably given the time frame. He also had the science down to an art. For example, I agree a dremmel is incredibly useful. In my hands a dremmel trim would look like a drunken manic did it, since i had not used a dremmel enough. However for him, he made beautiful clean edges on tough to dremmel areas. I used the Lexan scissors A LOT. I had eons of experience with scissors. So we tagged teamed using the tools that we both had expertise. If I had the kit now, and didn't have a 16 day deadline, I would take more time to do as much work myself as possible, so I'd learn even more. Moral of the story: even if your kit (whatever it is) isn't simply trim/glue/paint, it's not catastrophic. There's resources around, and isn't FISD troopers helping troopers? Best wishes to you and all those considering the TFA TK. - Krista

Hi Melissa! You were so kind and respectful, I was delighted to be helpful! - Krista

Hi Joe, If we're speculating, then yes I could easily speculate that some portions of the armour could require seamless look. For example, there are two parallel details boxes on one of the shins. As I understand from some of the more experienced builders, while some may attempt a vacuform of those boxes as part of the shin-sculpt, there may not be the angular definition required. So another route would be to adhere the boxes on after the vacuform of that part of the leg. I don't subscribe to the mindset of "this is THE way" to build; there are limitations to every method that may require the employment of another in order to make the costume appear to as is if it came off the screen. -Krista

It looks like we're going to have a new round of TFA TK's. Huzzah! Since this information would likely pertain to any build, I'm putting the information here on FISD. Please feel welcome to add to the "stuff to do" list. I'm a FISD forum neophyte, so if this thread needs to be moved, please feel welcome to do so. Stuff to do while waiting for your TFA TK kit (from whomeever) - Visit the FISD TFA site as more info continues to be added. (Congrats, you're here already!) - Prep your work area for a lot of trimming and sanding. Have a container for the ABS scraps to make ABS slurry, use as shims, or to make fun slurry figurine souvenirs. - Purchase quality trimming gear to save your hands. (Lexan scissors are excellent!) Purchase heavy duty extra large band-aids to wrap around your fingers/hands to prevent blisters. Worked very well for me. - Purchase your strapping/Velcro/Chicago screws, or chat with people who have ample supply and are willing to share. Purchase your sanding and painting supplies (we've compiled a list that should be coming out shortly.) Purchase mask for fine particulate sanding, be kind to your lungs! You may wish to see if anyone near you already purchased paint and has extra from their build. Additionally, you may want to wait on purchasing black paint until your kit has arrived, and you determine whether it's needed. - Make friends with an expert clone armour/kit builder. The techniques used in clone armour will serve you very well in this kit, and likely in any fan made sculpt as well. - Learn about various methods of bonding such as ABS slurry, bondo, plastic weld, CA glue and other methods/ agents of adhesion*. Try out a few test methods so the technique quite operational by the time your suit arrives! (Notes: Of course, I recommend learning in the safest way possible. Notice personal protective gear needed whether it's nitrile gloves, respirator, ventilation, etc. Many of the Alpha 75 TFA kit builders were pressed by time due to Celebration, thus some of the seamless methods used need to be placed in context of the turnaround time to have adhering agents and paint cured in time to pack the kit for travel. Your build may allow for using agents with longer curing times. We've compiled a list of the various agents recommended during the initial build. There is no doubt that some builders have favourites, but in your build it would be most prudent to evaluate the benefits and burden of each agent such as ABS slurry, auto bondo, plastic weld, etc. to determine which would be best for the fit of your kit and your style/activity of trooping.) - Gather a build team to help you trim, keep you focused and enjoy the TFA TK journey. Make an armour build party music "mix tape," or listen to the dulcet sounds of dremmels and belt sanders to get you ready for action! - Begin a meditational practice to help you find that "zen place" after hours of trimming, sanding, painting... or maybe that will be the meditational practice! Other preparation ideas? *Although there are better ways to say "agents of adhesion" it sounded funny to me, like some nefarious ensemble... Beware the Agents of Adhesion and the Post-it Prowler! EDIT : Your Ideas Added Here - Don't Panic. There's time for a quality build before the movie. - Many of us used chicago screws that are 1/4", however I found it would have been helpful to have a slightly longer post. Most of my velcro was 2", but I also trimmed a lot depending on its purpose. I think it's cheaper to buy the long roll of velcro than the little strips. My strapping was 1" and my elastic was 1", 2" and 3" wide, depending on the use. - In theory, items like velcro/strapping/elastic could wait until you have your kit trimmed and your gaskets tailored to fit. Some of us used painters tape to get a better idea of sizing before adding in velcro/strapping, etc. In that preparation method, you'd have some gauge of the supplies (cost) needed. Like most armour, modification after use is likely needed to get the fit "just right." - Dedicated scissors to cutting industrial velcro. Scissors can get quite "gummy" after lots of cutting industrial sticky velcro. Of course, a proper cleaning solvent could work wonders as well! - Obtain/borrow belt sander. For straight and curved pieces. Invaluable tool when used well. Use the time before your kit arrives to get used to the belt sander. - Consider balaclava acquisition prior to troop. Neck and head (even with neck seal) can be seen when viewing at particular angles. Balaclava also provides ease in sliding helmet on/off. Suggest lightweight balaclava for indoor and moderate temperature events.