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DarthBiscuit

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Posts posted by DarthBiscuit


  1.  
    In stead of taking off a full front section can you just enlarge the oval area at the rear, again I would try on all your arm armor before trimming, just to check gaps  

    Man, what's with you and ALWAYS recommending that I try on my armor before trimming?! It's like you care that I'm successful and get approved following the months of work I've put into this thing... I suppose I'll humor you and try it on
    • Like 2
  2. Another super productive day when I don't have to sand or putty! 

     

    I hung a clothes line to hold the thighs for exterior painting. It pretty much worked. It's a little difficult to spray the rear, but I can just hold the thigh and spray that before hanging it. Its been suggested that I install a snap and hang it from the ceiling, but I don't have the interior painted yet. I'll probably give that a try when I go to paint gloss white since I would have already painted satin white inside and can E6000 the snaps in.

    QmG90MV.jpg

     

    I then sprayed satin white inside the shins and sniper. In a couple days I'll wet-800 the putty to prep for gloss white!

    yFtyNrC.jpg

     

    In between coats, I worked on the cod and butt straps. The buttons will go inside the barrel, then there's some elastic, and then it'll be velcro'd to the cod or butt (2 straps on each). I figured velcro will be the easiest way to add and remove those plates (thinking about bathroom breaks...)! Once I fit them, I'll figure out how long to make the elastic understrap that I'll probably snap in (would velcro also be easier, or might that come undone too easily?).

    eVryJIm.jpg

     

    I also tried on the forearms. They're pretty long, in that when I bend my elbow just push up against my wrist. I'm going to trim some off the front (bottom?) to make them shorter, and also a little looser since they'll slide down. 11b30b4 pointed out they have to be trimmed to a certain spot to ensure the rectangular details aren't messed up. I'll have to fix the cover strips though, which will be tricky.

    X8UCuVe.jpg

  3. I made small 1" elastic straps (by folding over my 2" elastic) to snap the biceps to the bells. I also put 2 small strips of soft velcro on each to hold the back closed.

    LGQB6xV.jpg

     

    Pretty good! I think I think they're at a good height! I'll probably loosen the backs a little since they're pretty snug. I still need to work on lowering my chest, but Jim's shoulder straps might not let that happen...They're just too rigid to bend. Maybe I'll talk my wife into letting me get ukswrath's shoulder straps some day...

    71sf2bh.jpg

     

    I also sprayed gloss white on the cod and butt. It went great! Until a little damn fly landed on the butt :6: But I left it alone and can hopefully buff it off in a day or two.

    BxsUwXF.jpg

     

    I then got to my favorite: sanding! ^_^ 400 wet sanding to the primer on the shins and sniper knee. I was hoping to leave most of the primer on, but 400 was too rough. I'll have to spread some more putty tomorrow...

    zrzQJY4.jpg

    • Like 2
  4. I wet sanded the cod and butt to 800. It took a while, but they look good!

    r5q2emv.jpg

     

    I spread putty on the thighs and ammo belt. I didn't go as thick as I have on other pieces, because I'm not looking forward to sanding them...

    4Y7nGbf.jpg

     

    Then I snapped my 2" elastic to hold the bells up. There's a 1" strip of hard velcro at the top end that sticks to velcro on the underside of the shoulder straps. And then I E6000'd a snap near the bottom of the bells and at the top of the biceps. Their placement should allow for sufficient overlap.

    kr5jgRf.jpg

     

    Tomorrow will be a LOT of sanding the shins and thighs while also spraying gloss white on the cod and butt.

  5. 6 hours ago, ukswrath said:

    In all reality it's not hard to do.

     

    Having the cover strip more vertical is important in my book, not to mention your/our GML will defiantly see it and possibly say something about it ;)  

     

     

    Thanks Tony for the suggestion! I agree that it was too crooked and will probably slow down my approval with the GGG.

     

    Since my thighs overlap inward, I'm trying to keep all of my overlaps in the same direction. I spread E6000 across what I'm calling the front of the biceps, so the backs also overlap inward. Clamped the ends and put double stacked magnets in the middle. I tried wiping away some excess E6000 and a little gloss white came with it :icon_eek: Good to know that happens, hopefully when it's cured everything holds on well, but I haven't yet had problems with E6000 on the satin side. I'll probably lightly spray those spots later to touch them up.

    bNETXE0.jpg

     

    I sprayed satin white inside the cod and butt.

    VUQgBE5.jpg

     

    I E6000'd some snaps in the bells. I'll use 2" elastic to hold them on the shoulder straps, so I placed the snaps horizontally. I'm waiting for a test fit of everything above the waist before I add snaps to hold the biceps up.

    xVyQeLH.jpg

     

    Prepped a few more snaps, double-wide this time. Time to order more!

    kZvBjMo.jpg

     

    And then I primed the shins and sniper plate. I didn't look yet, but hopefully not much left to touch up...

    IslzHhs.jpg

     

    I sure do get a lot done when I'm not applying putty and sanding!!

     

    I'm probably taking tomorrow off, since I've got a tee time during my armor time ;)

    • Like 2
  6.  

    For me personally, I would cut the rear cover strip off. Trim the inner and outer thigh sides accordingly leaving enough room on the outer side to glue the cover strip back on. Sand the cover strip down so it's not too thick (if necessary) then glue it like a typical OTTK assembly.  Afterwards velcro the inner seam to make it functional.
     

    That's definitely a route I was considering...
  7. So. Much. Putty. Man, IF ONLY I had spray putty... ^_^

     

    The cod and butt looked pretty good, but I'm hoping another full coat of putty will prevent bad pinholes like the last few pieces I've finished.

    Rbq1XDu.jpg

     

    The shins were pretty bad, so a FULL coat of putty!

    8UiqlGg.jpg

     

    I didn't have time to trim the thighs, and would still appreciate some input. Is my plan to trim 2" causing the cover strip to angle too much?

    • Like 1
  8. I haven’t actually tried to cut resin with it. I just sort of assumed it would be a pain in the an impolite person. 
    did you also resin the forearms and shins?  I never even considered those because they kind of need to be flexible. How did they work out?

    I did resin them, if anything, to reinforce the flexible parts so the fiberglass doesn't crack...hopefully... I'm also planning to use small strips of velcro to hold them together, allowing more flex than permanently gluing them together.
  9. I wet sanded the cod and butt to 400. The primer looked pretty smooth, so possibly not much to fill, except around the edges...

    Kct3M9N.jpg

     

    Then I sprayed gloss white on the bells and biceps. It went great! At one point a bicep half fell face down, but I picked it up and it wasn't too bad, more coats covered it up. I'll check again tomorrow, but I didn't notice any pinholes...

    zmqPSM8.jpg

     

    @TheRascalKing pointed out that I might not need to trim straight down the back. So I angled the top tighter by 2" and left the bottom symmetric. It fits much better, but the rear cover strip might be angled too much. Maybe I can try just 1". How does it look? I'm also going to trim the inside down almost another inch, so there's a more prominent dip like the movie references.

    WPCYDgD.jpg

     

    I also checked the shins again and the length seems fine, so probably no need to take anything off the bottom.

     

    Tomorrow I'll putty the cod and butt, and the shins/sniper. I'll also trim the thighs, based on what you guys think, and putty if there's time!

    • Like 2
  10. FYI you can only save images from the gallery once you open that section and use the thumb of the image DON'T increase the image, just right click the thumb and "save image as" then it should download. For some reason you can't save when they are enlarged :icon_eek:.

    Yeah that's what I did, but they're just 0 KB. Tried my phone and computer, Safari and Firefox...They're just empty files. I'll check the Help Forum and see if that's been a problem for anyone else.
  11. So I test fitted the lower half today... If the thighs are only held up by a strap connected on the outside top, then what's to stop them from hanging crooked? They wouldn't stay straight up, but I don't think I can attach any other straps, right?
    hwftDzx.jpghkUpbIM.jpg

     

    There's a lot of extra space. I don't think foam will fill up enough to keep it from bouncing around. So I think I need to trim more off the back...any suggestions how, while keeping it even?

    1X8xeNR.jpg

     

    I primed the cod and butt! Those went well.

    ie54CQI.jpg

     

    And SANDING... Wet sanded these to 800...what a pain in the wrist! They definitely needed putty though. Hopefully tomorrow's gloss white goes on smooth!

    I2jldlg.jpg

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