dougefresh Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 The sides look flawless again! You wouldn't be interested in coming to Denver to fix all the boo-boos in my armor, would ya'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Denvers a wee bit far for an armor party But I bet with some pics we could come up with some remedies. Pm me some pics and I'll fire up the think tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougefresh Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Sorry to derail your thread, Chris. I think I can probably sort things out myself... but, uhhh... let's just say that I *may* have laid the painter's tape a little too close to the glue line on the thighs and shins... and *might* be spending the bulk of my Christmas vacation picking blue tape out of the seams with an Xacto blade. Fun, fun, fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Man and I was worried about a few little cracks, sounds like you got your hands full. So basically you ABS cemented blue paper onto your armor? Sand it out and use some Novus? What kind of armor? Consider painting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougefresh Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Man and I was worried about a few little cracks, sounds like you got your hands full. So basically you ABS cemented blue paper onto your armor? Sand it out and use some Novus? What kind of armor? Consider painting? I *think* it's a GF-- I got it off the big auction site a while ago-- don't gang tackle me all at once.... I was a noob! Hence, my thread about the different helmets. Yeah, I more or less accidentally glued a few pieces of tape to the armor. So far, I've been able to carefully pick/pry most of the tape off with the Xacto... it's tedious as hell, but so far, it's working. I planned on following that up with some ultra-fine-grit sandpaper and some Novus. I got the armor pretty cheap, so I'm not completely heartbroken, but it's been a real pain nonetheless. I'm definitely mad at myself about it. I'm finding out rapidly that a combination of impatience and a lack of modeling skills is not exactly the best thing for building armor. I don't think I'll paint it-- but if I run into too many more problems, it's something I might have to consider. It's been a learning experience for sure. Sadly, I think mine is going to end up looking like a "learner's kit", big-time. Such is the price for being in too much of a hurry and a beginner to boot, I guess. Eventually, I think I'm going to get an AP kit (already bought the helmet) and take another run at it, using my mistakes as a solid foundation of what *not* to do. We'll see.... I'm up for a raise in January, so how fast I can move on the rest of the armor depends on that. The biggest thing I've learned so far is to SLOW DOWN. Getting too excited just makes A LOT of extra work. Live and learn, I guess... Again, sorry for hijacking your thread. Didn't mean to. As a side-note-- I'd just like to say that from my experience, CA Glue is total crap. It's very difficult to work with. As many of you know, getting the long seam on the front of thigh is a bit tricky-- trying to get the entire seam to lay flat is pretty tough. And the CA glue didn't do a good job of keeping the whole thing in place, even with two clamps on each end, and a dumb-bell lying in the center to press the pieces together. I have little "bubbles" in the seam, and the CA glue has congealed in little globs under them. Like I didn't have enough problems already. Ugh.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Well it sounds like you have a good plan in mind, I dont even own a set of armor yet so Youre ahead of me. I hear E6000 is the way to go for ABS armor glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManInWhite Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I believe E6000 is mainly used for gluing the fabric/elastic/velcro to the plastic. I havent heard/read people using it for gluing the armor together, mostly Devcon Plastic Weld or ABS glue is the more widely used adhesives. At least this is what I got from reading the posts on this board, but I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigturc Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I won't derail more than it already has, but I've used this glue since day 1 on the armor, and I've been very satisfied with it! Although it stinks like a 200 year old dead horse, abs gets cemented real good with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I'm not much worried about thread derailment in this thread, its my thread and I got some down time going (waiting for a chance to get to Hobby Lobby to get satin black paint) Once I get my paint I'll drag us back on topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougefresh Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 You're gonna like the Satin on the interior. I sprayed the inside my AP and was totally happy with it-- to me, it makes the helmet look and feel less toy-like and "plastic-y", if that's a word. Also, I highly recommend going with the liner from a batting helmet. Again, it adds something to the realism, and will let ya' troop in comfort too. I also find that it really helps in animating the helmet too-- with the hard-hat liners, etc., your head moves, and then there's a delay until the helmet wobbles around to line up with your face. With the batting helmet liner, the bucket goes where you go. I practiced the "What? Oh-- the uniform" head-weenie in front of the mirror to test it out. Good God, I'm a nerd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I'm using satin black on the vocoder and the rank stripes. I know that I will not paint the entire interior black as I dont want to cover the TE2 personal touch and helmet number, plus I'm signing the inside as my #1. I believe Im going to paint the inside of the face plate flat black so that it does give a more realistic look. The inside of the cap n back will be left white. My dad said he was getting me a hard hat from work. I plan to dremel out the clips of the hard hat and industrial velcro them inside of the helmet. That way I can remove the liner if need be. I know I want to avoid using a chin strap so a system that gets good grip on my noggin is a must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougefresh Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I know that I will not paint the entire interior black as I dont want to cover the TE2 personal touch and helmet number, plus I'm signing the inside as my #1. Oh yeah-- don't want to cover up the message from Guns! I forgot about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Satin Black is harder to find in Testors enamels than you might think. So I ended up getting a can of Krylon Fusion satin black and spayed it into a container and then brushed it on. Turned out great. Got the vocoder and rank stripes done today. I did the Dave M helmet rank. The next step is pinstriping the earpieces or maybe hovies. Havent decided yet. Here's the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 And one more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManInWhite Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 Looking good there. Keep the updates coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketariniii Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 It looks awesome. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Thanks for the comments guys. I pinstriped the ears last night. Today I'm taking my bucket to work and attaching the hovi's. I couldnt find any good screws at home last night to use so I'm gonna fish through the selection at work and find some good ones. With any luck the tube stripes I got from Scott will be in my mailbox this afternoon. Expect some pics this evening. On another notemy friend at work was telling me about something interesting. It's a type of bondo material unofficially called "bumpflex". Its used to repair polyurethane bumpers on cars. Just like bondo but flexes instead of cracking. Sounds like a good alternative to regular bondo on the ears for the next helmet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2007 Hovi's put in today. I drilled holes for both the mounting screws and the speaker wires. When mounting Hovies with speaker wire runs you want to use a large washer with a small screw hole in the middle and about 3/4" in diameter. Now take a dremel and drill a another hole in the washer about 1/8" away from the center hole in the washer about the same diameter as the screw hole. Drill the mounting holes in the mask and in the center of the back of the hovis. Use the washer as a template for drilling the wire runs in the mask and the back of the hovi's. Now put it all together lining up all the holes and you should end up with a firmly attached Hovi with an easy wirerun. Check out how the sharp pull does to shadows. Love this pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Wars Helmets Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Nice work Chris, its looking great Cheers Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted December 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 The exterior of the helmet is now finished. Got my tubestripes in the mail today from Scott M. Definitely the goto guy for tubestripes. Next on the plate is to install padding from the interior of a batting helmet, stay tuned for more stormtrooper helmet building action! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Wars Helmets Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Helmet Looks superb. Your lighting in the pics is great too - nice work! Cheers Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firebladejedi[TK] Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 Very, very nice indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-4510[TK] Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManInWhite Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 Well hmm. I swore I responded to this.......oh well. Like I said (in the post that didnt show up), a very well executed assembly job Smitty. That's what a helmet should look like. You guys make it look so easy. I was wondering how you are going to finish the frown if at all? You using screen mesh? Or are you going to do what Matt stated in the Frown thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altess Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 Wow! Nice bucket! Thanks for the great pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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