Ensi

This is looking very promising! You can definitely do this before the premiere. I want to see many pictures!

320-400 is fine for the first step of sanding the outside, might take a bit longer but better safe than sorry. I used 320. For the inside of the armor i'd recommend 120 then 220 grit

Some sort of filler for the surface imperfections, paint, and more sandpaper! Great to see another Jim kit in the works

Why didn't I think of this?! Great advice! I just eyeballed it and I notice now I could've taken more off. One ony my spats just barely go onto the shin and is just pressure fitted on. The other one is too small so I have to sliiiightly overlap the shin and then secure the spat with small squares of velcro. You can either do velcro or if your spats are too roomy for that you might have to cut them up and trim. 2 strips of velcro, but I wish I did as Darren and went with magnets and some straps. This would also be the screen-accurate way!

Back of the ab plate? Do you mean the opening of the ab-piece in the back?

Awww yes! Exciting! Remember to give the insides of the armor a good sanding and a wash before you try it on This is going to be great

Yeah same here. I'd recommend you go get a sheet of matte black vinyl wrap for cars or similar and cut out your own. And get more than you think you'll need

As hankey said: And I also read it helps focus your vision out of the bucket, can definitely see that one. Oh and the most important reason why is it looks cool as poodoo. If you want to go über accurate though leave it white. Good choice on Geeky Pinks! Can't go wrong with her. Awesome that you're gonna start a thread, takes a while to document everything but it is so worth it. Plus you dump a lot of knowledge and information out to those new builders and get the chance to get answers from the more experienced ones on that costume. The tent I used was a small 2-person "go to a festival and leave it there" type of tent, it's really cramped and not a lot of space so I could really just paint a big piece at once or both thighs/shins etc. Also if you don't have a proper respirator and you're going to do this, GET ONE. Painting inside such a confined space without a proper respirator with filters is just asking for trouble, also wear clothes you don't care about.

If you want it to be screen accurate a seam/overlap is the way to go: Also on the thighs: If you want to get it as accurate as you can i'd recommend talking to your GML about it as it is he/she that's going to be approving it. Would be a shame to not be able to make it accurate because of a CRL that is being worked on as we speak.

The third dot on the picatinny rail on the forearms on both the executioner and the TLJ TK seems to be black:

Blacked out the inside of my bucket today with some spray rubber. Didn't use PlastiDip because the place that sells it here is always out of stock. Some seams on the outside of my Anovos helmet were kind of big, so I made sure to put masking tape as well as I could in them to prevent the spray rubber from oozing out. And it worked! Masked off: A few coats: After: Looks like a proper helmet now! Going to let it cure for a few days before I add the velcro for the padding, fans, and the wireless mic. Went with 4 coats as per can instructions. Received my Stanley chest, 240 litres! Not sure if this will be too big for me or not, we'll see. Also pimped it out with some patches and reflective tape:

This armor looks really promising. Can't wait to see you build this and hear your thoughts

Both the 5min and 4hour Loctite Epoxies i've used are rock solid, haven't had an issue with them but would recommend using the 4hour if you have the time. E6000 works really well with the fibreglass as Dustin said, and only way it is coming off is if you WANT it to. Clamp it down/use magnets if you can and leave it alone for 24 hours. When I removed my ab harness I really had to work to get it off haha. Snaps are not going anywhere. I've also used a lot of the Loctite 60sec Universal Glue (which is cyanoacrylate based) and with enough force you can get it off too. As with any glue, surface preparation is key. On the shin boxes/holster/greeblies/external parts I roughed up both surfaces with 60grit, etched some marks with a file/sharp object, and cleaned with IPA (as in rubbing alcohol and not the beer ). For the snaps I already sanded all of the insides when I got the kit so it's good.

I wouldn't use a brush as you leave brushmarks like that. I only used spray paint for the entire build. Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Thanks, was really discouraging at the time but when life gives you thin fibreglass rip that #%&* out and fill it back up! I am noticing a spot in the same area with the same problem, i'm just not going to touch it

So turns out my "paint bubbling" wasn't bad paint, it was the flexible fibreglass layer that was super super thin in that spot and it cracked, so I ripped what I could out: Filled it: Sanded it back: After painting it I noticed paint failure just above the same spot, sigh Didn't even bother to prime this area, just did several light coats: All my parts are now cleared! Woo! About my wetsanding of the clear: The amount of orange peel I get from my spraycans, non-optimal conditions, and inexperience means that I have to sand back a LOT of material to get it flat. Tried it on some pieces and almost always hit through the color and into the primer, so i've decided to not wetsand the clear. Under better conditions and temps I could lay down heavier coats of clear and have more material to work with, but it's almost winter so that'll eventually come later. I really hope the clear will provide better protection for the paint during troops. Really a shame because the wetsanded parts looks sooooooo good Removed my ab straps because there was water trapped underneath the masking and it was left for several days, started to smell funky. Looking into a different way to do the harness right now, thinking about adding snaps for removability. Also made a shoulder support system without drilling holes in the yoke. I'm afraid it'll compromise the structural integrity. Heatbended some ABS plastic and E6K'd them into place. I will see how this will hold up, maybe make some metal ones as suggested by someone on the Jim FB build group. Before: After: Started adding the decals back, these i'm cutting out of vinyl car wrap I got from eBay. Blaster has yet to arrive..

I use Imgur, made a tutorial over in the HOWTO section: There are tons of hosting sites but it's all personal preference really.

Looking forward to seeing your progress! The executioner seems to be very popular

Thanks! I wanted this build thread to be as if I were to build an FOTK myself for the first time And shame about Anovos.. I think Jim is going to get a few more orders right about now haha.

Yeah it's not really a big problem, others have had WAY worse. The paint I used is an acrylic too but more "all purpose use". Been absolutely perfect no problems except this

Just when you think you're almost done... Paint failed on me on the ab-boxes. I think it was a combination of humidity, applying too thick of a coat, and not long enough flash time for the underlying coat. Paint has bubbled up and seems to have lifted the paint. It's super soft in these areas and would NOT hold up to the wetsanding (to remove orange peel) that i'm planning to do. Back to the sandpaper and rattle cans!

The top 2 layers flex a good bit but the inner polyester webbing layer is tough as nails and won't budge. I glued all of my layers together and when I glued the inner webbing I had to glue it in a "round" formation (not flat on table) if that makes sense, same goes for regular screw assembly I guess.

Just make sure to measure and mark it with the belt kit ON yourself and with all the armorparts (ab/cod/butt), or else you'll end up with wrinkles

You know you are painting a TK when your shoes look like this! Been busy sanding, painting, lint-removing, clearcoating, and cursing the past few weeks. The tent really helps, but sadly there's been a lot of rain so it's made things challenging. I'm trucking on and the time of day doesn't stop me, so I am even painting at night. Must look really weird to my neighbors seeing me going out into my tent wearing this to paint.. Noticed some cracks starting to form in the ab: It's not really noticeable, but I wanted to prevent further cracking so I added some fibreglass mat and resin to the backside to kill some of the flex. I also plan to get into the ab section by lowering it down over my head instead of flexing it around my body. Also noticed some cracks on the yoke and codpiece, going to just apply some epoxy to the backside on these. Done with clearcoating most of the parts, i'm doing it as fast as I can as the temperature is starting to drop towards winter. What i've found to be really helpful is to have a spreadsheet of what parts you have done this and that to. Only some parts left now! Window/door seal strips have been purchased and is gonna go on the shoulder bells and other various areas on the armor where it rubs the most, tips on other places where to put it is appreciated! Other things: The maker of my 3D printed F-11D/SE-44C kit told me the shipment had been lost and he is printing a new one, just hope it is soon. Also ordered a Heston blaster and pistol on the sick sale he had, had to get a US friend to order it as he doesn't ship internationally. 240l Stanley chest has been purchased and is on its way from the UK! TRamp has been ordered and i've also received my wireless mic kit from eBay.

Ahhh!!! Painting mishaps! You just gotta truck through it, think of the end result Looking good!