My first build - Big Brown Box[*AP]

[Hads]

Hi there guys,

 

After biting the bullet 2 weeks ago and ordering an AP kit I came home to a big brown box today

 

Now where to start?

[Rich330[TK]]

Now where to start?

 

By opening the box?

 

Congratulations and have fun!

[SW1]

By opening the box?

 

Congratulations and have fun!

And also sending lots of pics on your build look forward to seeing your build any help just ask here on the FISD all very helpfull troopers helping troopers .

[Rich330[TK]]

Actually, here's a serious answer ...

 

For AP, you can't beat Pete's build pictures as a guide ...

 

[TK_LEPER]

Actually, here's a serious answer ...

 

For AP, you can't beat Pete's build pictures as a guide ...

 

 

Totally agree! This was my AP Build Bible!

 

Jess

[Hads]

Hi guys,

 

Well after a year sitting in the box it came in, Ive finally made some really good headway and about halfway through my build with 4 weeks left on my planned deadline.

 

So here are some thoughts I posted on the Outpost 42 forum:

 

So after staring at all the pieces sitting in a box all week,I decided to dive right in ... and proceed to nearly ruin my sniper knee ... especially after finding out how delicate a piece it really is

 

I figured it was a small part and one I could churn out in an evening without too much hassle ... that was my first mistake. My second mistake was trying to use a scalpel knife for the scoring,all I ended up doing was making wonky channels instead of nice straight scores.Thankfully when I found my bigger and heavier craft knife,cutting was alot easier.

 

So after doing one wonky side of the inner sniper knee,I managed to get a nice clean cut on the other side,except now the first side was trimmed closer than the second and I figured it would be something I had to live with ... and then I noticed the hairline fractures working its way from the inner to the bottom of the knee. Had I cut too much more it may have ruined the knee but good ... thankfully I didnt.

 

Moving on,I started to cut the rest of the knee and while Ive worked with styrene before,its interesting how this abs has great overall strength,but put enough scoring and pressure in the right places and you come away with a clean cut.

 

After cutting the rest of the knee I started trimming and sanding the edges some more to even out the wonky bits and give it a smoother appearance. If funny how I have a definite eye for detail and yet if I ponder on something too much I end up screwing it up ... then I remind myself of the costs of this kit and I take a look at the bigger picture

 

Now that Ive finished the sanding I have come to the following conclusions:

 

Im glad I jumped in and made a few mistakes as its gotten me over the first hurdle of "Where to start" and the second slightly higher hurdle "What if I mess it up".

 

Ill probably do less trimming/sanding as I go as its hard to know how much to do without knowing how the piece will sit and look on the body.

 

That this build will take me some time,but its gonna be awesome time spent

Edited August 18, 2011 by thehiflyer

[Hads]

Heres my progress on the bucket upto a month ago:

 

Cut and trimmed the eyes and left a substantial amount on the bump,might trim it some more,not quite sure what a good size is,so well see.Trimmed and filed the teeth,decided to do the ANH Stunt after all so I went with the four teeth.Cut and trimmed the ears and applied the trap and tear decals.

 

Test assembled the bucket and found my ears werent fitting properly so I trimmed some more and now they fit on the front but not on the back Will have to get a hold of AP Mark and see if I can get some more ears off him.

 

After overtrimming the ears I fully assembled the bucket with the lens,aerators and brow and I gotta say even with the dodgy ears...its awesome and I cant wait to finish the rest!

 

I wore it around the house for about half an hour seeing what dumb stuff I could do with it on and to get a feel for it and ended up I sweating up a storm in it so once I paint the vocaoder and ears Im making some new lens and getting fans and foam

Edited August 18, 2011 by thehiflyer

[Hads]

Heres my current progress report from earlier this week:

 

Ok, so the last month has been pretty full on working on the build and Ive finally got a slight rest period while I wait for stuff to show up so I thought Id post my progress. My current goal is to make the blu-ray release with a 501st acceptable build and then upgrade it to a EIB and eventually Centurion status so if I ever wanna dump it on a mannequin itll be as screen accurate as I could get allowing for an awesome collectible that Ill be proud of. So heres my current progress:

 

Helmet-

Loosely assembled with decals,lens and mesh installed. Waiting on my Aker 1506 voice amp, Memorex wireless headset and Icomm static burst unit from Jim Sauter over at the FISD: http://forum.whitear...?showtopic=8256

 

Initially I was only gonna get the Amp and Headset but our dollar was incredible(at the time in the .86-.87 area) so I figured the static burst unit would be the one thing to really drive the suit home and I took the punt and given our dollar now,Im really glad I did. So from what I understand Ill put the wireless mic, wireless receiver and 9 volt battery unit in the helmet and the amp, icomm and wireless transceiver in the chest armour. The amp will have two inputs so I can run the mic and imperial theme off an mp3 player if I want or more appropriately a voice chatter loop

 

I bought and roughly installed a 12v fan running off a 9 volt battery on the weekend and walked around the house for an hour or so doing "housey" things to get an understanding of where I should put the fan.I had it straight on for a while blowing into my nose and mouth and it was a bit overwhelming, so Im still moving it around but I think Ill wait until I put the mic and stuff in before trying again.

 

For the mesh Ive been looking for a good wire but I just cant find the perfect one just yet so Ive settled on an old metal speaker cover from a broken alarm pod/dock and it sems to be doing the trick and as its a sturdy metal Ive been able to kind of mount the fan to it, so thatll do for the time being.

 

Im on the look out for some accurate mesh for my hovi's so theyll have to sit on the backburner for now. I just realised one side of the helmets tube stripes are wonky and dont match up with the other side, but since the APs wonky anyway you cant really notice.

 

Later done the track for EIB and Centurion compliance Im gonna hand paint the traps and tears and re-paint the frown and ears with the proper humbro enamels that I ordered from www.hobbycity.co.nz online (so far the only place Ive found locally that stock them).

 

Ive ordered some new ears from Mark ABS-80 as I think Ive become more adept at cutting and I not only overtrimmed them but did some nasty surface scratches in the process- that's what happens when you rush.

 

Only thing that I really need is some padding/foam but thatll wait until I install the mic and some new darker lens material so you cant see my glasses

 

Armour-

Ive just finished cutting the armour, that was the hardest part for me so far as I was so scared of ruining it, which also lead to my one year hiatus... idiot... anyway, the best advice I can give is to JUST DO IT. Simple yes, easy no, but its gotta be done. Initially I was doing the score and snap/score and try and cut and then stuff it up and just hack away at it and then put it down and try again later, then I did some reading on "hot knives" and thought thatd be a great way to go. And it is. If you do it properly.I improvised and hammered a soldering iron into a make shift hot knife and it worked great...at cutting through the abs like butter and leaving a lava like ripple in the area around the point of contact which actually made my later attempts at freeing the part from its plastic prison HARDER and creating some crazy noxious fumes.So I thought Id think better of it and just upgrade to a better rotary tool instead for all the big chunky bits and sticking to the score and snap method for the smaller bits.

 

Through some trial and error Ive found marking the line in pencil to really help get your mind to focus on the task at hand and fill in the blanks of the softer areas of the pulls. After marking I take my craft knife and run it over the line just like a pencil.The key for me is in the angle; 90 degrees is too unstable, as is 30 degrees as it become to "light" and can veer off line suddenly. I prefer roughly a 45 degree angle with very little pressure and then going back over it a 2nd time for fuller effect. Using too much pressure tends to pull it out of the 45 degree angle and opens you up for going beyond your mark or veering off as you hit a curve.Once I score a section I go back and add perpendicular score marks from my line to the edge of the abs at regular intervals and then add little notches at the edge of the abs and my perpendicular score mark to help the snap.This is especially helpful if youve got very little area to work with because you thought a homemade hot knife would do a better job at cutting than getting you high.... Anyway grab some pliers and snap away, applying enough pressure that it literally snaps away. If the piece your snapping is too small because youre an idiot or youre high from plastic fumes then be careful as you may be damaging the inside from the leverage of the snap.

 

Some of my edges are a bit raw still, but after talking to some local guys, Im gonna be trimming some more anyway during my fitting progress so thats good enough for now. Ive still the minor accessories to cut and trim anyway, so I think Ill start on that next.

 

Blaster-

I bought a seconds e-11 blaster resin blaster off a local guy thats in need of some touch-ups. As he explained, it was one of the first pulls from his molds and bears tell tale air bubbles and minor faults. So far Ive sanded it back, filled some gaps with knife putty and re-sanded and re-puttied. Id say Ive got at least another round of filling to get it to place I like before moving on to sanding the other pieces and assembling.My father in law is helping me out with aluminium for the rail and trigger guard so all that leaves is to make a d-ring and fix a few things with sculpey and get ahold of some t-tracks. Im probably gonna go with blastech t-tracks as Ive spent the last month looking for something off the shelf to no avail.

 

Boots and Undersuit-

Im waiting for TK boots to get my size back into stock and in the meantime Ive borrowed some boots off another local guy in case the TK boots dont show up in time. Im getting an undersuit made up for me with a built in neckseal which is totally awesome.

 

So the next dramas will be fitting,trimming,re-fitting,gluing,finishing strips,snaps,strapping and no doubt more fitting and trimming.Yay.

 

Through all this Im already looking at my next project. I wont do another set of armour just yet, but when I do itll probably be a Captain Fordo clone with interchangeable parts so I can do the std clone captain, arc captain and phase 2 arc captain Fordo. BUT before all that Im looking at small upgrades like the heavy weapons trooper and some more imperial helmets, probably starting with a scout or snowie but I have always had a soft spot for the royal guards (even if they were jobbed out in ep3)

 

Anyway,time for bed... Photos to come...Ive only got 4 weeks left...

Edited August 18, 2011 by thehiflyer