Cricket

Working in my nerd room today, and Cameron decided to wander in, pick up some armor bits and try things on. And he let me take photos of him!!! He is typically shy when it comes to photos, except when he's got a helmet or mask on. So, yeah, it's a big deal today. I don't have the chest and back plates strapped in yet, so he's holding things together loosely on his own. I even got the boy to crack a smile for me!!! He adores that blaster. Question for those of you who have strapped the FOTK... does the waist belt inside simply cinch around the waist? Or is it attached to the inside of the ab? I'm trying to wrap my mind around how it fits. I get the suspenders part, but I'm seeing that the suspenders are attached to the ab and a belt. Any tips or guidance is appreciated! EDIT: nevermind about the belt question. I think I figured it out.

I got a piece attached!!!! Yay!!! All right, it's not a lot, but it's progress. I had no idea as to how to attach the cod to the ab, then I referred back to Tony's FOTK build thread, and voila- there was everything I needed to get me going. This 3D print isn't the same as the Anovos armor, so I had to wrap my mind around what mods I needed to make. First, I realized that I needed to make some cuts at the belt line to accommodate the cod snaps. I still haven't lost my fear of cutting this armor yet. But it went a lot faster than expected. Next, I installed the male snaps into the cod piece and verified that they would fit into the holes I just made in the ab. All good! I also drilled holes for rivets to attach the webbing inside. Installed the female snaps and webbing together. This was my first attempt on this part. I remade it later with a bit of ABS sandwiched in the snap for easier removal. Here is everything all assembled together, rivets and snaps with ABS. I was pleasantly surprised with how well this all attaches together. It looks like it'll allow for some great mobility- much more comfortable than the OTTK suit. All apart so you can see how things look... And inside view, looking down at the bottom of the ab. This is yet another reason why I'm really glad I haven't done the final paint yet! I have my sights set on rigging up Cameron's suspenders next. I had started work on them earlier, then got distracted with putting the cod together today.

Hey, wondering if these boots would work for the FOTK kit. I was able to find these in white, size 4.5, which is a little big for Cameron, but much closer to his size than anything else I've seen. They have a zipper on the inside. The rubber trim on the sole could be painted black. I know it's missing the swoop seams, but this is for Galactic Academy, and they won't care that those little details aren't there. Thoughts? Thanks, troopers! EDIT: After looking at these and comparing them to the CRL, I've gone ahead and snagged them. Should be a nice upgrade over the slip on shoes Cameron currently has. Now, if anyone sees an Anovos FOTK lid for sale, please let me know!!! Cameron is giving me grief about the seam on his current helmet (an adult Rubies Deluxe conversion). I am considering getting him an upgraded helmet as a surprise for his birthday in November.

Okay, I've stepped off the ledge. Solid advice there, Lou. Thanks! I know there are other things to work on for this kit, but they aren't nearly as much fun as getting that gloss white on the parts. Ah well, time to get to building snaps and whatnot. Hey, thanks for that, Daniel! Much appreciated. I'll just have to be more patient! I can totally use that kind of thing, and I don't own any. Well... now I do. This was a great suggestion for sure! Halogens get too hot for my liking, so I picked up something similar over on Amazon with LED lights instead. They should be here before the weekend (yay!). Soon I'll be outside painting at night, with nothing but the fireflies to keep me company. I spent the rest of my afternoon shifting gears and wiping down all my armor parts again, especially cleaning that back plate. It had all sorts of smudges from the ABS and aluminum dust work yesterday. And I realized that I still needed to mount the thigh bracket on the thigh before painting anyhow, so now I'm actually glad that I didn't pull the trigger yet on painting (ha, see what I did there?). I drilled the holes all the way through the layered bracket first. One last test fit over the area where it will be attached. Everything lines up, so it's a GO for glue! Glued into place with e6000 and secured with tape as the glue cures. I will be further securing the bracket to the thigh with M3 and M4 hex button screws after painting (so there will be no issues with the holster staying put). And now it's time to get my plans for strapping this kit in order.

Sure! That came from @The5thHorseman F-11D 3D print build PDF. He is a stickler for accuracy. Trust Germain, you must!

Kind of both. Outside for laying the paint on, then in the garage to gas off for a bit in the shade, then inside to finish curing (because it's drier and cooler indoors). My garage doesn't have central air/heat, so it ultimately is more humid/hot in the garage (even with the door open) than outdoors. I'm considering maybe painting outside at night on evenings when no rain/storms are forecast (if hubby lets me borrow his huge studio lights). One estimate I just received for painting the parts is $350 (including helmet). I've already got $90 invested in 2k gloss alone at this point. :/ I may have to just be patient and finish the paint on my own. Grrrrr. Alas, the paint shops I've asked won't allow it. And my kids schools don't have workshops that would allow painting like what I need to do. Good suggestions, though.

Halp!!!! Someone please talk me out of taking this armor into an auto paint shop to be painted. Every morning I wake up thinking that TODAY (or maybe tomorrow) will be the day when temps are cooler, humidity is below 85%, and rain is not in the forecast. Every morning I look at the daily forecast and weather monitor outside, and my hopes are dashed. And the forecast for 10 days out is always showing either rain or storms every day. The only time when the temps are below 75F and humidity is below 85% is after dark, and I can't see well enough to paint then. Gah. Aside from the price, someone please outline all of the downsides to getting a pro paint job done. The only big reason I can think of is that touch ups will be a major pain in the butt.

Freed from sewing that neck seal, I set to tackling the shoulder brackets. I relied exclusively on Tony's tutorial here, and it was extremely helpful! Thanks @ukswrath as always for blazing the trail for us and leaving a map! I started using his measurements as a guide, knowing I'd have to size it down anyhow. Here is my paper template cut to size, but you can see it's too big. So I pressed it into the space and made marks. Here are the measurements I ended up with. I omitted the little tab thingies on the outer edge because I don't really need them as reinforcement. The chest/shoulder/back area on this print is quite strong. I used this aluminum sheeting for my brackets. It's thin enough to cut with tin snips, but also strong enough to hold the shoulders up. I have a lot of this on hand because when I bought it through Amazon, it only came in a 6 pack. Lots of material in case I mess things up! I traced my template on the aluminum and cut it out. I bent it slightly and tested it for fit. It looked good, so I made the opposite side bracket. I then took the leap and made holes into the shoulders. This part was so scary for me!!!! But it worked out, and the brackets fit nicely. I made all three holes on each side, and marked the brackets with where I needed to attach the snaps. Drilled those holes out. (This was easy!) Set the snaps. Verified fit. Again. Scuffed up the side that was going to get the glue, and stuck the brackets on. I'm too lazy to drill a bunch of holes in there. I'll let everything cure over several days. I'm really glad that I haven't finished painting yet. Those holes look somewhat messy, and I know I would have been gutted to mess up the paint! This piece of armor is pretty dirty after all the cutting and trimming. Will give it a good cleaning before painting. Weather still not looking to cooperate with me for at least another week now. Ah, well. More time to think about other strapping that I can tackle in the meantime!

A happy find today! I was about to get started on making Cameron's neck seal when I realized that I was missing about a yard of pleather fabric I had bought about a year ago. I was going to use some of it for the bib, so off I went to my long-term Nerd Supply Bin (a 50-gallon Husky bin stored away in a closet in the guest room) to see if it was stashed somewhere in there. Alas, it wasn't in there, but I found something better: a neck seal! This is a neck seal I had bought from Trooperbay (I think?) when I was working on my very first TK. I've ended up buying other neck seals since then, and I had totally forgotten about this one. It's small- about 14 inches I think? Anyhow, Cameron's neck size is about 12.5 inches. Close enough. He tried it on, and it pretty much fits! I will add a little extra loop velcro to one side to help secure the little bit of extra flap overlap. Easy mod- and much easier than making an entirely new neck seal for sure! Now, still wishing I could find that pleather fabric I'd been looking for. I don't need it now, but would still like to know where it went.

Hahaha! Thanks for that suggestion, but I've already got an amp system in the works for Cameron. In his previous kit, I rigged it up similar to my TK, with the amp velcroed into the ab, and the mic wires running to the lid. That said, I'm eagerly waiting to hear when you plan on releasing that FOTK sound glove setup you were working on. Nothing would be cooler than my mini FOTK sounding like a full-sized FOTK.

Looks like you're definitely going in the right direction, Emma! Since you're planning on shimming the kidney/ab, it would be a good idea to take care of that first before tackling the cod slice. I don't envy you having to do the shim work. Any sort of sizing mod on a TK kit is never fun, though! Keep up the good work!

Sorry, but you have a conservatory and a lounge in your home? Niiiice!!!!

Finished the other cloth box today. Let's just say that sewing boxes is not my thing. These turned out adequate for my liking. The additional layer of fabric involves an extra level of challenge that I neither anticipated nor enjoyed. Glad they're done. And assembled on the belt. Good enough, I think! I still need to sew in closure fasteners for the fronts. They're too small for an amp or trading cards, unfortunately. And I'll be adding some foam blocks inside to help them keep their shape. I bought three HUGE sheets of EVA foam last year from The Engineer Guy (a local FX supply store here in Atlanta), so I've got more than enough to stuff these pouches. Seriously, the EVA sheets are larger than a standard Twin sized bed. Two of them are 1" thick each, and are different densities. My husband asks me from time to time if he can get rid of them out of our basement, and I always respond, "But... PROJECTS!!!!". See, I can make blocks now.

Both!

Okay, then! I made Pouch #1 today, and it wasn't all that difficult. This is the pouch that has the hard cover to it. I began by cutting out two rectangle shapes of black canvas. Then I drew "fold" lines so I knew where fold and where to cut. I don't have exact sizes that would work for all troopers, sorry. I've got this specifically sized to fit the smaller belt for this kit. I found a photo of what another trooper used to make his box pouches, and figured it would help as a guide. The two pieces are stacked here. I clipped them together and cut out the necessary areas. I sewed the two halves together, keeping the end of the flap open so I could turn it inside out to hide the stitched areas. Then I flipped it inside out to show the right sides. I worked on the corners to sharpen them up (forgot to take pics of that!). To the left you can see my prototype pouch. That pouch is just one layer of fabric, and I really didn't like it at all (even though it was much easier to sew!). Two layers adds nice bulk to the pouch and helps it keep its shape. Before proceeding any further, I realized that I needed to sew on the belt loop. I folded in a piece of scrap black canvas, tucking in the raw edges. And sewed it together. I trimmed it down to fit the belt and pouch. Here's what it looks like when attached! I sewed all the edges on the inside, then flipped the pouch out to hide all the stitching. Here's the result: a boxy pouch. I made the front flap roughly the same size as the plastic cover piece. That just made more sense to me. I will be gluing the plastic part on the flap once I get it fully painted. I'm guessing it looks okay? Feedback on this would be appreciated!

Ah, the pouches and the neck seal! I will be sewing a neck seal with the same material that I used for the gaskets. And I already have the black canvas material for the belt pouches, but I forgot that those need to be constructed. Easy enough, though! Thanks for the reminder about those. I bought some pleather leggings already. I don't know if I can convince Cameron to let me cut them short, though. He was running around in them yesterday pretending to be a rock star. Wish I had that on video. And shoes... I have some faux-leather white slip on Vans style shoes that he wore with his previous kit. I even painted the bottom trim black so they would look more like FOTK shoes. They were really big on him when he wore them late last year - so big that he had to wear three pair of socks to keep them on his feet. His feet have grown a lot since then, and more comfy on him now. Should be good enough for trooping. I know that he would love a set of trading cards. Will definitely be getting him a set once he's ready!

Thanks for the kind words, troopers! It really means a lot coming from such an amazing group as you all! Keeping up my momentum on the gaskets, I finished everything today! I started by sewing the sleeve to the other side of the vest. Then to finish the edges, I simply folded them under, making sure it fit Cameron correctly as I made my adjustments. It's not the most elegant solution, but it'll do. I sewed two pieces of 1.5" elastic at the back. This allows for good movement. In the front, since there's not a lot of room for a buckle, I opted to sew in some loop velcro on either side of the vest in the middle. I sewed some hook velcro to a short piece of 1.5" elastic to make a closure of sorts. Again, not the most elegant solution, but it works well to keep the vest closed. And it's easy for Cameron to attach, so win-win! Here are all the finished gaskets. Can you tell that Cameron was a little tired of having to "try on-take" off the vest? He was a real sport about it, though. I think I had him in and out of the thing about a dozen times as I tried to figure out how to position the elastics and figure out the lengths for connections. And now I'm at the point where I can't work any further on the kit. :/ Everything is waiting for the last coat of paint and clear coat. The weather isn't cooperating at all, and won't be improving for at least a week. Grrr. Ah well. Maybe time to clean the nerd room, I guess? Anyhow, thanks for reading, and I'll be back in a few weeks once I've got everything painted.

I finished the additional bicep/forearm gasket, then decided to dive straight into building the shoulder gaskets. For my pattern, I asked Cameron to donate a shirt that he didn't wear anymore, but still fit loosely on him. I marked roughly where the gasket vest would fit on the shirt, and then cut it up. I made a similar style vest for my shoretrooper kit, so I'm somewhat familiar with how to make this from scratch. I traced out the pieces of the cut up shirt onto headliner foam. I made sure that the front and back halves were well marked, because they are different! Same for the shoulder/sleeves. Here you can see how I clipped things together. Beginning with the sleeves, I attached a corresponding piece of ribbed fabric to the foam. I sewed along the bottom edge with right sides together (where my finger is pointing). This results in a nice finished edge at the end of the sleeve. Once sewn together, it looks like this: Next, I used some adhesive spray to attach the fabric to the foam more securely. Then I flipped the fabric and stuck the two halves together. Easy! Next, I stitched a length of hook velcro onto the end of the sleeve. Setting the sleeve aside, I moved on to the chest/back part of the vest. I attached the fabric to the headliner foam with the basting adhesive spray first. Then, I sewed along the shoulder seams. Because I had raw edges on the inside seams, I finished them off with a zig-zag stitch that emulates a serger stitch. This way, there shouldn't be any fraying of the edges inside the vest. Here's how it looks. Then I attached the sleeve along the shoulders and sewed things together along the curve, making sure that the raw edges were also finished with a zig-zag stitch. Sleeve on! Here's what it looks like before the final stitching, all flat. Next, I sewed under the arms and along the inside chest to close off the sleeve and vest half. And that's all I had time to finish today! Tomorrow I'll finish the other half of the vest assembly, then connect the halves with a few elastics in the back and a quick connect buckle in the front. I'm thinking that I'll make some black bias tape to finish the raw edges of the vest off... or I might just do a zig-zag serger style finish instead. Still trying to decide on that. I've got the pieces for the knee gaskets already cut out, so those will be easy to quickly finish. Very happy with how these are turning out.

First time making gaskets. Started with this photo. Figured it wouldn't be difficult to emulate this kind of thing on my own and save some money. Using shiny ribbed black pleather and headliner foam to add bulk. I took my measurements from the bottom circumference of the bicep. I want the gasket to fill in the space, not fit skin tight. For Cameron, it's 10 inches in there. I added three inches for seam allowances because I was sewing two pieces of fabric together first. Total piece I started with was 9x13 inches for the biceps. Attached right sides together, securing everything so it wouldn't slip while sewing. After sewing three sides, it looks like this. Clipped the corners and extra material along the seam allowance, then flipped it right side out. To finish the open end and hide the raw edge, I folded in the edges like this. Secured the folded in edges: And sewed along the outer edge to close. Next I secured strips of hook velcro to the material and sewed them on. Next, I folded the long ends together with the right sides together, lining up the edges. Sewed the edges together with a 1/2" seam allowance. This closed the bicep gasket. Laying flat, it measures 5 inches- exactly the size I need for Cameron's biceps gaskets. Finished. And seam side is clean. I had Cameron try it on with the armor pieces. The armor is currently in "scuffed" state because I'm waiting for a cooler, drier day to paint the armor with the final coat of white and 2k gloss. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to finish the rest of the arms and legs. I think the shoulders might take me a little longer than these simple tubes, but I know I'll get them tackled eventually!

Can anyone guess what I'm working on today? If you guessed a BELT, you're right! I'm using Tony's outstanding FOTK belt assembly tutorial for this. Cameron's belt is smaller overall, at just 1.5" wide instead of the typical 2" width. And it's currently looking something like this when sandwiched together. Mmmm... FOTK belt sandwich... I sewed the webbing around the female part of the quick-release buckle. Then I realized that I needed to drill a hole into the ab for a snap. My first hole on this... I've made many, many holes in armor, and for some reason, this time seemed to terrify me. Ah well, progress won't happen until holes are made. And thus, the hole was made. And a snap was set into the armor! I set the corresponding snap into the webbing of the belt as well. It fits! That's all I had time for today. Will be painting belt boxes this weekend!

Let's discuss the thigh holster for the blaster, shall we? I printed out a functional thigh holster bracket (found over on Thingiverse) and scaled it so it would properly fit Cameron's thigh armor. The files aren't perfectly accurate, but they'll do for the most part. Scaling it to fit involved a bunch of eyeballing and scaling in Windows 3D program, but I got it right. It came in three pieces: base part to attach to the thigh, a middle bracket, and an upper (smaller) bracket. Typically, I'd just glue them all together with E6000 and call it a day. But even though I printed these in ABS, the bracket needs to be quite structurally sound because it's intended to be fully functional. Time for a mod. After lots of thinking, I decided to reinforce the bracket piece that holds the most weight (where the screws of the blaster lock into the holster) with a layer of sheet aluminum. I had printed out two of these parts due to their small size, and I used one of them as a template. I traced the bracket, cut it to shape with some tin snips, and drilled out holes where the screws would go. Here is a rough beginning: The big dog-leg hole was my biggest challenge to get cleared out. A little more drilling in the middle, more trims with tin snips, and sanding with a metal file, and the hole was clear. I hit it with more sandpaper to smooth out rough edges. See, it fits! This piece is now quite strong, and I won't worry at all when Cameron holsters his F-11D. Here you can see what I had to work with. These parts are covered in spot putty right now, and the 3D "screws" leave a lot to be desired. Much better with actual screws, amIright? In case anyone was wondering, the screws I'm currently using on the modded bracket are M3s, and that's an M3 ball bearing on there as well.

Sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch. Hang in there, Caleb. Looking forward to when you will be able to cut armor again! We'll be here!

Don't overlook the awesomeness of baking soda and CA glue to make CA cement as a filler. Have you tried it yet? It cures the CA glue almost instantly and fills, resulting in a weld stronger than the parts themselves. And it sands like a dream. I applied a small bead of glue to the inside edges of the parts, then apply another more liberal bead to the inside (hidden) surface areas when you hold the parts together. Typically I would tape off the outer areas to help keep the parts lined up and to reduce oozing on the outside of the part. Once the liberal bead of CA glue is applied, then generously sprinkle the baking soda all over the bead while holding the pieces together. I apply enough so that I can smoosh it down with my finger (wearing gloves) and along the bead line, pushing the baking soda into the joints a little bit. It really works nicely.

I realized yesterday that I still hadn't attached the ab boxes on the ab piece. Time to bust out the E6000! Thankfully these two boxes have little grooves on the back so I could align them pretty much where they need to be. The larger middle box (not pictured) and the box to the right of it also have little grooves in the back of them for easy placement. The rest needed to be eyeballed on. I allowed a day for the E6000 to cure, and then it was time to paint. This part of the build is soooo flippin' satisfying. Two initial coats, and lookit that shiiine! As I proceed with the white gloss, I'm seeing areas that have very small flaws that I missed. And I can safely state that I'm finally at the "Good Enough" part of the build, so the small imperfections don't get to me now (you know what I mean... it's the stage when you don't care about itty bitty details enough to continue along with building). When I see something I overlooked (such as small pinhole in a Bondo'd area), I tell myself, "Battle damage!", and move along. I have really had enough of the fill/sand phase. My wire hangers arrived today (yay!), so I'll be able to hang and paint more parts in one session. If weather allows tomorrow, next up will be Round 2 of gloss white on the pieces I wet-sanded today.