daryldoak

Here is what I’m using, spray can. https://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-PREMIUM-12-oz-52-White-Gloss-Interior-Exterior-Spray-Paint-and-Primer-in-One-Aerosol-B001944/310275621

Once I get my leg gaskets sized properly I plan to size the leg armor to fit me. Right now the overlapped inners on the thighs and shins are not glued.

Time to tackle the belt build. Started by printing the belt box template sheet. CAUTION: Even though the template is 1:1, the boxes printed on the sheet are too small, and some of the center holes are not centered. You can see the pencil lines I drew on the template: Next I put the belt on the torso, with the spine and butt plate attached, in order to size the belt. It’s way too big for me: So I marked the proper size and started to unstitch the Velcro and strapping from the back of the rubber. Then I used some clips to mock-up the size. The top piece is the rubber belt, the bottom piece is the Velcro: Then I cut the Velcro and strapping and then used some E6000 the reattach the strapping at the proper sizing: Then I cut the rubber to the end of the male clip. This shows how much I cut off of each: Then glued a short piece over the female clip: Then using the templates I marked the holes and used my leather hole punch to make the holes: This is assembled, but I haven’t painted these resin boxes yet: On the armor: Bought a replacement for the large pouch from Trooperbay today, since the DN large pouch is too small for the ABS front panel. Someone in my garrison mentioned that he couldn’t move his head in the armor with the helmet on, so I did a test: Looks like I’ll be good.

I think it will since I used the heat gun to bend the tips and the Velcro isn’t really doing much except holding in place.

I added some Velcro to the center chest and the sides so I could do a rough fit test of the torso with the chest: Then I went about getting the outer chest’s upper tips to properly “close”. I used a heat gun and very slowly “bent” the tips so they would lay nicely on the inner chest. It took a few applications to get it, but I think it turned out really nicely. USE EXTREME CAUTION WITH THE HEAT GUN! I used one quite a bit on my ANH Stunt TK, so I was comfortable with it. Then I built up the inside with scrap ABS so that the Velcro would adhere properly between the inner and outer chest pieces: Then added the Velcro and put them together: I’m happy with how it turned out.

Glued the biceps closed: Drilled the holes for the “kit-kats”: CAUTION the guide holes on the template are incorrect! You can see the difference in the above picture. Added them: USE EXTREME CAUTION when drilling the pilot holes in the kit-kats and screwing in the screws, the screws are too long for these!! I added washers to them. Also, I highly recommend adding these before gluing the shins. It is really hard to screw them in after the shins have been assembled.

I assume you are referring to the Anovos helmet. I can assure you it is 100% asymmetrical. Look at the eyes, the vocoder, etc.

Time to start thinking about making the belt. First I added some hook Velcro to the front tab and side tabs, since the back of the belt is lined with loop Velcro, then wrapped the belt around: It is huge and needs to be shortened: This will include unstitching some of the Velcro on the back of the belt, and cutting the rubber. Not ready for that today. So I moved on to more strapping. I’m going to reuse my garter belt from my ANH Stunt TK (top right in picture), so I made four looped straps that will have buckles on the bottom for adjusting the thighs (top left in picture). And I attached the buckles to elastics that will go inside the shoulder bells (bottom left in picture): I’ll attach these inside the shoulder bells once I figure out how low the biceps needs to hang.

Drilled the holes for the ab boxes: Then attached them: USE EXTREME CAUTION when drilling the pilot holes in the boxes and screwing in the screws, the screws are too long for most of these boxes!! I added washers to most of them.

Removed the tabs on the back of the torso so the spine/butt will sit better: Added elastic to inside of the butt, and a snap plate to the inside of the cod, for the crotch strap: I’ll add the female snap to the strap once I can put everything on and can get it the correct length.

More strapping. After everything dried I gave the torso a test fit: I think this is going to work! Then I added straps from the spine plate to the butt plate, using a technique from equuspolo (Ardeshir), leaving the proper gap for the belt: Glued the greeblies on the chest:

I asked the same question here:

More strapping today. Added elastic straps and males clips to top of biceps: Female clips will be attached to elastic inside of the shoulder bells. Added straps and female clips to inside top of the thighs: Males clips will be on strapping attached to a garter belt. Added straps and female clips the the top of the torso front: And glued strap in the back, these will go over the shoulders with the male clip at the end: Added Velcro to the cod and torso: Added Velcro to the glove plates: Added Velcro to the spats:

Started working on hanging the spine plate. First thing I realized is the slots that I added for torso strapping are not going to work with the spine plate: So I’m going to abandon those slots and do something different for the strapping later. I cut some little tabs from ABS to use and guides for the spine plate and glued those in place: Then I cut some ABS to use as hangers for the spine plate. Used my heat gun to bend them and then glued them on the back: Turned out pretty good:

Shoulder strapping turned out good: Next I trimmed the side opening so I can get into the chest/back easier. While I had it on I determined how much I could trim off of the under chest and back, then marked it with pencil: I’m taking more off of the under chest than the back since the outer chest overlaps. Cut it off, looks good for now: With the outer chest just held in place:

Worked the shoulder bell straps, using elastic and snaps. Glued on the shoulder plate side, snaps with snap plates on the bell side.

Added some ABS to the tops of the shoulder tabs: Painted the ab boxes and some other bits: Also been trying to figure out what strapping system I want to use, and which areas should be elastic vs. nylon. I’m gonna start with the shoulder bells and biceps.

Next was the slots in the shoulder for the shoulder bell support brackets and strapping. I put the chest/back on and marked the top of the shoulder with tape. Then I marked with pencil where the slots would be located. Then I drilled holes to mark the ends of each slot: Next I used the cutting wheel on my dremel to cut the slots. It was pretty nerve wracking since these areas are really narrow, but it turned out ok: Then I sanded them a bit, then did a rough fit with the shoulder bracket and strapping. Looking pretty good: And with me just holding the bell in place: Then I glued the shoulder brackets in place with E6000: Next I decided to cut some slots in the ab for the 2” strapping that I’m going to use as a suspension. I got the idea from Captain’s Drydock on YouTube. I used the same technique as I did on the shoulders, drilled holes to mark the ends of the slots: Then used my dremel to cut the slots on the front and back: Rough fit with the strapping: I’ll also be using some parachute clips to make it adjustable and easy to get in and out of.

Continued working on the holster. After a few filler and sanding cycle, it was ready for paint. After one coat: Looking good: In order to install the hardware, I had to buy the Torx bits. Then I added the center hardware, and found they stick out the back too far: So I dremeled them off drilled the holes in the base and thigh, and then did the final install: I’m happy with how my “Frankenstein” R2Dan metal + DN base turned out.

Added the fabric and gaffers tape to the chest and gaffers tape to the biceps and shins pill holes: Next I decided to Frankenstein my v1 R2Dan functional metal holster onto the base of the Denuo Novo non-functional resin holster. I started by cutting the “metal” part of the resin off of the base, which turned out better than I expected: Think this is going to work pretty good: Then I added filler to correct issues with the cutting process. I also had to shorten the base by about 1/2” since the v1 metal is a bit shorter: And added white paint: The white really brought out the imperfections, so the base is going to take more filling and sanding. More to come on this later.

ABS paste, sand, polish, and repeat, again and again and again…. Getting closer…

Glued on the leg greeblies: Started polishing the side seams with Novus 3, by hand. Going well, but it’s tough work. I think I’m going to get a headlight polish kit with a drill attachment. Gonna need it for the shoulders for sure. Been working on the shoulders. Wow it’s been frustrating. ABS paste, sand, and repeat. I’m still not 100% happy, but I think I’m going to call them good enough and move on to polishing.

Did some very rough sanding on the ABS paste. Results look good on the ab side seams: I think those are good to go for finish sanding and polishing. The shoulder seams are going to need more work due to the overlap: So more rough sanding and then probably another coat of ABS paste

Painted the arm and leg greeblies: Then attached the clips to the forearms: And the biceps: I think I trimmed too much return edge from the inner chest shoulder: Since I was worried about having enough space for the shoulder plate support tabs and strapping slots, I glued some little bits to both sides to fill the gap. Then trimmed and sanded: Then I sanded the lip caused by the overlap on the shoulders, to prep for ABS paste: Decided to tackle the ab seams first, so I taped off the area to prevent any spread and applied to the left side: I used a toothpick, which I thought would help get it into the seam, but turned out to make a messier application: So on the right side I used a popsicle stick, which was much easier to work with: Next, I applied the ABS paste to both shoulders: I’ll let this dry overnight and then try some sanding tomorrow.

No I’ll probably use Velcro. I chatted with equuspolo (Ardeshir) and he recommended overlapping for extra support. Time to bite the bullet and glue the inner chest and back: Started cuttings for a batch of ABS paste: