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TKZombie

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Posts posted by TKZombie

  1. The 1.5mm is more flexible than 2mm which is more rigid and has a heavier feel to it when wear, i.e. stiffer like armor. 

     

    I have both kinds, the 2mm is more durable, the 1.5 is more flexible. The biggest difference is how you plan to assemble it, if you want to go with the original wire strapping method then you need to go 1.5 as the 2mm doesn't have the flexibility that type of connection puts on the edges and can crack. 

    • Like 1
  2. Well I'm still hindered by last weekends dislocated rib, so I'm only able to work briefly before feeling strain on the area and the muscles around the rib. Progress will be slower than desired. I was able to get the biceps cut and trimmed.

     

    The arms come as one piece so they need to be separated. 

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    The set of freshly freed biceps.

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    Cut lines penciled in, likely you'll need to trim the armor down to fit you. I trimmed the long side along the edge but found afterwards it was easier to just draw a straight line next to the edge and cut that approx 1/8" from the edge. So you have straight clean edges for gluing together. The inner bicep pieces have the huge piece of ABS to cut away, I found cutting as much of that away made moving the scissors easier along the cut line when you cut the majority of that chuck of ABS away the plastic is much more flexible to help you conform to cutting you cut line.   

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    Once trimmed I taped these for fit and found I need to take approx 1/2" of each side, remember to line up the bottom so they are flush as these pieces don't line up so keep the bottoms in line. The tops will be hidden under the shoulder armour so you won't see them. 

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    Trimmed to size, note the flush bottoms and offset tops to be hidden under the shoulder bells. 

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    The one side top lines up the other doesn't. 

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    The bottom needs to be flush, need to sand these edges but the strain of cutting was all I could take so I'll get to those another day. 

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    The left trimmed and cut to size. 

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    Both biceps trimmed and cut to size. 

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    I'll have to wait to glue the cover strip as the cover strip you get for the thighs is also meant for the biceps so I'll have to trim, cut and assemble the thighs first then use the left over piece on these biceps. At least after sanding these will be ready for gluing. 

     

    I think i'll move onto painting the trimmed ab buttons next and them attach the torso pieces with the wire strapping and let my rib/back heal more before tackling more cutting as the thighs and forearms have a lot more cutting on them so I need to recover more. 

    • Like 1
  3. I have my TM armor now, the extra long shins are great. Most of the pieces of armor are longer than other builds so I'd recommend the TM I'd your 6'4" my only question is where are you taller? Are you longer in the legs or do you have a longer torso? Longer legs is far easier to accommodate. If you have a longer torso you'll struggle to fit most armor.

    • Like 1
  4. You need fans! Most troops are actually inside in a convention hall those can get hot with all the bodies present, be it hot or not you heat up once you are wearing a full suit of plastic over your body. Lenses fog super fast and then your very limited vision is zero. I have dual fans which great when its warm, and if its not warm I just run 1 of them and that air flow keeps the lenses fog free. 

    • Like 1
  5. Search any fabric store for 1/4" white elastic. <br><br>

    For the shoulder straps use 2" white elastic. I searched several smaller fabric store and eventually found heavy duty white elastic to use. <br><br>

    Same for the black 2" bicep to forearms straps, the 3" thigh straps and 1" shoulder bells and kidney to torso connection very dense heavy duty strapping way better than you can find at a Walmart.

  6. Had a some free time last night so I pulled out the shoulders and shoulder bridges for trimming up! The shoulders have a lot of return edge on the bottom and looking through screen shots there is variations of no edge, to some, to lots so its really personal reference here. I personally prefer an edge, give the shoulder some thickness. My AM TK has a thin edge so I decided on a thicker edge for this build.

     

    Penciled in the cut lines I went with a 5mm edge along the bottoms and will see how it works, it can always be trimmed back later.

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    Trimming away the excess with the Lexans. 

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    Trimmed up and sanded shoulders.

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    Its great the Paul marks each piece of armor in the kit with L or R makes for no guessing. 

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    Shoulders done and onto the shoulder bridges, I penciled in a cut line and trimmed again with the Lexan scissors.

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    Two sets, trimmed and sanded for action!I I got a extra set in case one breaks down the road.

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    I went with a 3mm edge around the bridges.

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    The cut off bag is slowly growing, keep your scraps!!! If you need to make repairs in the future you can melt this for ABS paste and the colour will match your armor. I bag each kits pieces and label them for if that time comes. 

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    • Like 3
  7. I weathered mine using a few paints, the body is flat black then painted dry-brushing with flat steel and aluminum. The scope was hollowed out painted black, then spray painted bronze then a semi gloss black lightly applied and wiped and worn off on some areas. The Tracks are semi-gloss black no weathering same for the grips. The replica hengslter counter was washed with an acrylic black.

     

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    • Like 1
  8. Saturday was spent with the Canadian Garrison doing a visit at Ronald McDonald house for sick kids at McMaster Hospital. 

     

    I'm the tall TK beside Vader.

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    Chewie and I bringing smiles to a child.

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    Sunday I got into some armor building, first up trimming! I used Lexan scissors for the almost all of the trimming, straight edges I'll used score and snap and very rarely a dremmel for difficult areas. After a piece is trimmed I sand all cut edges starting with 150 or 220, depends how rough the cut is and finish at 320 grit. I prefer to sand as I go as I hate just sanding everything at once, same for cutting everything in one go, either one is too much to do all in one go. I likely the closure of finishing a piece as I go. Plus doing all the cutting or sanding in one go would kill my fingers. 

     

    The chest was first up... 

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    I draw pencil lines where to cut to guide me through to cut against. I use my french curves to draw clean sharp lines in some areas especially on the sides of the chest and back and along some of the return edges.

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    Trimmed and sanded.

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    On to the ab plate next. Need to take extra care in the corners to make sure there isn't any rough edges or micro tears as you cut inside corners as that's where cracks will likely form when pieces are under stress.

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    Paul kindly installed the "Han snap" for me using the screen accurate Newey snap I asked for that. If you buy his strapping set you'll get all the original snaps and straps I didn't but Paul provided this one for me. Love these little details it says "NEWEY ENGLAND" 

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    Abdomen all cleaned up ready for wire strapping connection. The split rivets I own have a silver finish and this one in the bottom of the cod is suppose to be brass, so I've painted one brass but trying to source a single brass split rivet for here so I'll hold off on that till later. 

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    Ab buttons in the trimming phase, score and snap for these. 

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    Both button plates finished and placed and ready for button painting then gluing to the plate. 

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    The butt, really tight inner corners to be careful on as you trim. Lots of return edge on this piece, the top I left lots for the wire strapping but the sides I took down more I'll see how it is after its fitted and see if I need to take more off for comfort. 

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    Trimmed and the two male snaps installed. 

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    The kidney plate and those pesky notches what a pain to trim. 

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    All trimmed up!

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    The back plate, forgot to take a pre-shot, it has a lot of thick flashing to cut off so it was a slower trim on this one. The neck edge I took down a lot.

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    So that's the whole torso trimmed and sanded and ready for strapping...was going to start the shoulder bridges but my dog Sam decided he had enough sitting around watching me work and pulled out the E-11 Blaster so I had to shut it down. I'll try to get a few pieces done through the week but mostly this will be a weekend project. 

     

    20160410_191615_zpsw1e5nqqg.jpg

    • Like 4
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