wook1138

double post

I’ve seen these setting tools in other people’s build thread and never knew where they came from. Thanks. I found the Tandy setting tool difficult at best. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ah, yes. The hearing assist system. I did see the holes earlier and forgot - that makes sense. I did use the original Hovi Mics - so I can certainly see your concern with a heavier Hovi Mic. You may want to add foam or rubber behind the Hovi Mic and under the washer in the back - just to distribute the stress from the tightened bolt as much as possible . I'd be interested to hear how your helmet electronics set-up works out for you. I was very tempted by Ukswrath's system - but decided to take a more cautious approach due to my large melon not fitting into buckets very well.

Interesting. I originally tired using several light layers - it is where I accidentally sprayed to much is where the texture seemed best (Rust-oleum).

Ha ha. Yeah, I'm going to go with the totally valid excuse that I can't show the faces of the kids in the classroom for various privacy reasons. That... and I totally came across as a goof ball. Honestly though, if I could post it I would. The reaction of the kids when I said Darth Vader was a pretty good guy and the Death Star only blew up "bad" planets was priceless.

Looking very nice! You put your ear rank stripe on the front bump - I like it. I did the same thing, but totally by accident. I meant to put it on the back like a lot of people do but grabbed the wrong ear when I was painting. My next bucket is a sandy - and a particular sandy that has the ear bump on the front as well, so both my buckets are going to have the same ear rank. I like continuity, it compliments my OCD nicely. For the Hovi Mics, a little bit of foam padding may work. I was debating doing the same thing. Mine are just bolted on for now. I finger tightened the bolt to the point where the ABS was starting to flex and it has been fine so far. It took quick a bit of tweaking to get them placed where I wanted them. Also, go with the paint! Do it! From what I've seen of your build so far, you will do an amazing job. And there is a certain level of satisfaction knowing you did it.

Ha ha. Yeah, apparently this trooper listens to Elvis Costello. Nothing like slaughtering jawas to "Pump it up". Oh, and I did panic - my wife had to give me a yellow card for language. Luckily I was out of ear-shot (and Elvis Costello-shot) of the kids at the time, so I didn't sully any of their pure and delicate minds. I hear you about the kids not sleeping. That just takes whatever fire is left in a guy and stomps it right out. The armor can get shuffled to the bottom of the priority list pretty quickly - totally understandable. Here's hoping you get some time this weekend.

The video wasn't that bad. I didn't move around a whole lot. When I turned to look at something, I kept my feet planted and twisted my body - which looked really awkward in the armor. I didn't fiddle with my helmet once - so that is good. Since it was at a school, I obviously didn't have a gun so I resorted to the classic hands-on-the-belt pose for some of it. I will have to take video of me moving around a bit more to get a better idea.

Well, I finally wore my armor in public today. I was a special guest at my son's kindergarten show-and-tell day. It was a pretty quick visit and I'm pretty sure I spent more time getting changed/unchanged than I spent with the kids but it was a pretty cool experience nonetheless. It was more of a test drive to see if I could pack and unpack my armor in my Husky 25 gal work cart. Everything seemed to go pretty smoothly. I lost track of how long it took to get kitted up, but I'm pretty sure it was less than 10 minutes. The only glitch was my voice software was playing music from my iphone through the amp for some weird reason. It was easy to fix, but that had never happened before and it created a moment of panic. The kindergarten teacher wanted me to meet the kids first out of costume and make it clear that when I got changed, that it was still me in there. Even with the introduction, a couple of the kids got a bit scared, so my helmet came off fairly quickly. One of the first things I said was that Darth Vader was my boss and he was a pretty good guy. That got quite the response! Let's just say that we agreed to disagree. A lot of them have not seen the movies yet, but they all know the drill. As part of the show and tell, my son had to take questions from the rest of the group. Nearly all the questions were, "I like Star Wars", or "I've watched Star Wars". Ok, not really questions but clearly the excitement was spilling out. Something I wasn't ready for - one of the kids in my son's class is non-verbal. I had totally forgotten this at first. There was apparently some concern about how this child would react. She simply approached me and started touching my armor. She seemed utterly fascinated with the whole thing. I just let her do her thing - if she started to grab at something I just causally shifted away a bit and that seemed to be good. She was smiling when she sat down so I guess everything worked out. The teacher seems pretty excited about the whole thing, but she could not get over the complexity of the armor and the time that went into making it - and why a grown man would do such a thing (ok, she didn't ask that, but I know the look ) So I have to thank my wife for being my handler. She also shot the whole thing on video so I can see how TK-34575 actually looks when interacting with kids. I'll see it when I get home tonight after work - I'm actually nervous about it. Anyway, seeing the look on their faces is something I'm going to remember for a long time. Can't wait to do it again.

Looks great, Mike! The only thing I would add is some white paint (weathering) to the tips of the Hovi Mics. Keep up the great work!

Here's hoping. Thank you again Daniel for all your input!

That is a really nice finish! The paint looks almost more orange-pealed than hammered. This happens when you hold your can far enough away from the piece that the paint actually dries a bit before hitting the surface and leaves tiny bumps that don't level out during drying (helps if it is hot and/or dry where you are painting). Ha, yes! The very reason my bucket does not have a plastidip (or otherwise) interior.

I hear you. My garage is -5°C. I do all my spray painting in the summer. Time for a heated garage. Stupid Saskatchewan. Anyhoo... I would recommend trying the following: on a new scrap piece, spray on a very light coat Wait about 15 min (you might want to take it inside but you should be okay at 14 degrees) spray on another light coat wait about 15 to 20 min then spray on a heavier coat. You want to watch where the spray is hitting the surface. you want to see the paint coating the surface and looking wet and smooth. There is a fine line here before it will run, so it may take a few tries to get a feel for it. Keep the can fairly close to the piece (whatever it says on the can) and use quicker strokes if need be. I found with the hammered paint that it needs to be a bit thicker (at least with the stuff I had). The light coats will help the heavy coat bond to the surface better. You can add another coat if you like - I would take it inside and let it dry for about an half hour or more before doing so. When I did my hammered paint, it was about 14°C (or less) as well. I kept the piece and paint inside whenever possible. Not sure if it really helped but worth a shot. Hopefully this helps.

Thanks!

I can't shed much light on this but... if you have no choice but to paint indoors or in a confined space (and you really shouldn't, but, we all want kick-butt looking helmets and blasters) I would highly recommend acrylics. I use Vallejo acrylics (model air and model color). I believe they have some additives in them (versus traditional artist's acrylics) that give a mild smell, but not bad. Of course, if you are using an airbrush (and you pretty much have to as I do not believe this comes in a spray can) you will get more of the paint atomized or airborne and therefore more stinky, but sometimes painting by brush is just not feasible. Regardless of brand, keep in mind when spraying paint that some colors contain more toxins than other colors (i.e. Cadmium-based colors). Personally, in my limited experience, I have not come across anything out of a spray can that doesn't stink (I assume this is due to the propellant that is used). Especially any lacquer or enamel as most of these stink even when painting by brush. I feel like I'm hijacking your thread, Mark. Sorry.

Hey Mark, I like your paint summary. I too started painting models when I was around 10 years old. When I got older I picked up an airbrush and painted with mainly enamels on small scale models. I did a lot of painting with acrylics (not models) as an adult. I started getting back into the model paints last year and I was pretty confused by what is now available and how one should go about painting props (well, so far it has been restricted to SW blasters ) What you outlined above, lacquer - enamel - acrylic, is pretty much my mantra when painting. But like you mentioned, it doesn't always need to happen that way. For example, I have had luck with coating enamel and acrylic with lacquer (clear coat). For me, it really comes down to timing and how you apply the paint (which is another can of worms). Some paints dry quickly but can degas or otherwise take much longer to truly cure. I find that by using thin coats applied well after the undercoat has had a chance to cure, lacquer can cover enamel and acrylic with no adverse effect (as an example). The timing between the thin coats and the environment (humidity and temp) can also play a part, but I don't really have a system for dealing with that. I just avoid extremes and hope for the best. I treat the Tamiya TS spray paints like a whole separate paint group - between lacquer and enamel - because it just confuses me . I assumed the rustoleum was an enamel. I used rustoleum universal hammered paint and primer (silver) for a base on part of my E-11. It didn't really add a lot of "hammered" detail, but it did make the parts of what would have been the original sterling stand out from the add-on parts (cylinders and counter). At the end of the day, I find that painting a 1:1 model gun with weathering does provide some freedom - it doesn't need to be a perfect paint surface. Also, testing on scrap pieces is a great idea because there are many factors that go into how paints are going to behave - not everybody will get the same result using the same paints. By the way, this build is truly impressive. Nice work! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks, Dan! And again, thanks for your help along the way.

Bottom part looks good to me - as you said, it is hard to pin down a standard for the bottom part. You have very nice definition of the ridges' edges on the front view. The middle ridge extends a little higher than the other ridges on the Dave M. helmet but, again, screen shots seem to vary. That is some very nice painting! Good work. I'm looking forward to what you do with this build!

Here goes nothing... Centurion application submitted.

Name: Greg Bell Height: 5’10” Weight: 165 lbs FISD Forum Name: Wook1138 Legion ID #: 34575 Garrison: Badlands 501st Member Page: https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=27237 EIB Application: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/44175-tk34575-requesting-anh-stunt-eib-status-ap-806/ Armor: AP Helmet: AP Blaster: E-11 (3D printed kit from Blaster Master) Boots: TK Boots Canvas Belt: AP Hand Plates: Rubber (AP) Electronics: Trooper Talk w Aker 1505 amp. Dual fans from TK421 Propstop and USB power source Neck Seal: Geeky Pink’s Phantastic Gaskets Holster: AP Extra Blaster: DLT-19 (3D printed kit from TK421 Propstop) Build Thread: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/43437-wooks-first-build-anh-stunt-tk-ap/ Pictures: Front Back Left Right Ab Detail - buttons Hand Plates Hand Plates (Flexible) Shoulder Bridge Back Shoulder Bridge Back Detail Shoulder Bridge Front Back/Chest Connection Thigh Pack Attachment - from right Thigh Pack Attachment - from left Knee Plate - right Knee Plate - left Drop Box Back Cod and Butt Plate Attachment (outside) Cod and Butt Plate Attachment (inside) Interior Strapping Strapping - arms Ab/Kidney Detail Right (snap and kidney notch) Ab/Kidney Detail left (Kidney notch) Wrist side of forearms Helmet Front Helmet right Helmet Left Helmet Back Hovi Mic Tip Detail Lens Color S-Trim E-11 Blaster Right E-11 Blaster Left E-11 Blaster D-ring detail Neck Seal Thermal Detonator (haven't put those slotted pan head screws in yet ) Holster Attachment - front Holster Attachment - back DLT-19 - right DLT-19 - left And again, thank you for your consideration.

Congratulations on your armour! Research is a very good thing, but when in doubt just post a question. There are many troopers here who are more than willing to help you out. Enjoy the journey! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gregory Bell TK34575 letter size Andrew thanks! http://www.whitearmor.net/eib/certificates/34575-eib.png

Holy cow, Daniel. You have that armour fitted very well. Looks amazing. That’s a really good idea - pictures are one thing but seeing yourself kitted up and moving around really shows how the armour fits. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Helmet is looking awesome! I had the exact same issue with the ears. I have a second AP kit and I was going to try drilling the bottom hole as you described above. Fantastic bday gift, btw. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Woo hoo. EIB approved!! Still over at MEPD these days trying to figure out this dirt thing. Did my detail pics for Centurion and I hope to have that posted in the next couple of days. I'm still picking away at the electronics but I think I have things figured out. I have my first chance to wear my armor in public on Wednesday - so I'm sure a number of changes will be on the to do list after that.