Cookie Monster's Jimmiroquai FOTK

[Cookie Nomster]

This evenings progress below.  Only three pieces remain:  thighs (2), abs.  

 

Unfortunately, I found a low spot on the chest plate that will need to be addressed with apoxie sculpt.  If it was anywhere else on the armor, I'd probably ignore it, but I'm afraid it will show up under paint.  The chest plate is there for all to see, so it needs to look good.  If you look in the picture below at the chest plate, you can see a circular pattern of grey primer in the middle of the chest plate (near the bottom of the chest plate, if it were oriented properly).  I did not notice this low spot at all until I was sanding by hand and observed dust collecting there but not other areas around it.  Felt it, and sure enough, circular low spot.  Annoying!  But fixable.  If I get a few minutes tonight, I'll get the apoxie sculpt mixed up and put on there so I can sand it tomorrow with the remaining pieces.   

 

Regarding the calfs/shins, I think I will glue them first prior to paint.  Still undecided on clips, but leaning towards painting them separately and installing last.  

[Cookie Nomster]

Quite a busy weekend in terms of armor production.  Most things went well, some things not so well.  

 

Continuing on where the previous post left off, I had to finish sanding armor pieces.  In the previous post, I mentioned that I found a low spot on the chest plate.  I addressed this with apoxie sculpt, and went on to sand this down so it was silky smooth.  Also finished up the abs and the thighs.  All pieces are now sanded.  

 

 

I made one "grave" error with the chest plate - I should have re-primed the sanded area with filler primer, but I didn't do that (simply because I'm inexperienced).  More on this failure later.  

 

In a previous post, I showed some air bubbles on the mitcheg1 helmet beak.  This was unfortunate because painting was mostly completed on this piece.  First, I sanded the area down to remove the paint.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of air bubbles in this particular piece of the helmet.  As I sanded, more were revealed inside the plastic.  This picture below demonstrates:

 

Ugly!

 

Very frustrating, so I set to work on it with apoxie sculpt.  My intention was to basically create an entirely new beak line on the bottom of the beak with the apoxie sculpt.  I was successful in this, and the sanding results were satisfactory.

 

Picture is a little blurry, but no more air holes

 

Next, I switched focus to the shins.  The front and the rear pieces of each shin had some variances in the lines where the two pieces married together, so I worked on sanding the lines such that when they are glued together, there aren't any huge gaps.  Results look something like this (I know its not lined up perfectly for the picture, but you get the idea on what I was trying to achieve)

 

Worked on sanding the lines down a bit so the front and rear calf pieces match better

 

Still to be done - glue these pieces together on the outside of the leg, and add leg boxes on the left leg.  I plan to use two-part epoxy for the job, and this is yet to be done as of when this post was written.

 

So, at this point I now had armor that was mostly sanded and ready to be painted, so I decided to start painting.  I did two coats on all the pieces shown, and will let it dry for 48 hours before doing anything else.  The process I plan to follow is:

• Two coats about 5 minutes apart (done)
• Dry 48 hours
• Inspect, light sanding on bumps and bugs (believe it or not, bugs like to land on paint and get stuck).  Size of defect will determine sand paper grit
• Two additional coats, 5-10 minutes apart
• Dry 48 hours
• Inspect, light sand as needed
• Gloss Coat (2 coats, 5-10 minutes apart)
• Dry 48 hours
• Inspect, sand as needed
• Gloss Coat (2 coats, 5-10 minutes apart)
• Dry 3-5 days
• Compound & Polish

This is a very drawn our process, but I want it to look good, and patience appears to be key when painting.  I don't think I have enough gloss coat for all the coats I want to do, so I will be headed to the store to pick up more.  In actuality, I really would prefer to do 3x coats of paint, but I don't know if I have the time or money for it (mostly...I don't want to spend the time).  Here are some pictures of today's progress:

 

 

 

 

You can see the beak there....it looks great!

 

 

 

 

In general, I'm very happy with the paint and how it's gone on so far.  I got some experience from working on my helmet, so I know that multiple coats will be critical for this paint to look good.  

 

Now, about that "grave" error I mentioned earlier.  My failure to re-prime on the chest plate shows a visual defect right on the middle of the chest plate.  The problem?  The apoxie sculpt, when sanded, is significantly smoother than the surrounding fiberglass!  The apoxie sculpt is so good that it's TOO good for the material it's matched up with!  I have a super smooth spot surrounded by an area with tiny little air bubbles that would have been covered up by a primer.  In the pictures above, you cannot see this defect.  I'm on the fence as to what I'm going to do.  My initial course of action will probably be this:

1. Continue with planned re-coating of paint
2. Observe after dry time
3. If defect still painfully obvious:
   • Sand down the area to fiberglass
   • Re-prime with filler primer
   • Re-paint

I'm really hoping additional coats of paint fill things in a bit, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this ain't gonna happen.  Live and learn.

 

I will say that this armor is just covered in defects.  You might as well dip it in bondo before you paint it if you want perfection.  In general, I don't have the time to achieve perfection, but if I did, I'd be spending a crapload more time with bondo.  The paint just picks up every little defect known to man.  Ah well...it'll still look good in the end (I hope).  

 

Still to do:

• Glue calfs
• Paint abs and calfs

 

At least I made a good amount of progress this weekend...hope it's worth it!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Great work Vince

[SkulShurtugalTCG[501st]]

I hear you on the small holes. It's quite frustrating to look at the raw fiberglass when you take it out of the big brown box, barely able to find anything wrong with it - then go through your entire priming and painting process and find more holes than Swiss cheese.

 

If it helps, I personally only covered up the biggest, most obvious holes. The smaller ones I left. I find that it adds a bit of personality to the armor--and it's really only visible REALLY up close. Flawlessness is definitely achievable, and if you aim for that, all the better! Just for me, personally, I'm okay with tiny flaws here and there. It just makes me feel all the more that my armor is mine.

[JAFO[TK]]

I hear you on the small holes. It's quite frustrating to look at the raw fiberglass when you take it out of the big brown box, barely able to find anything wrong with it - then go through your entire priming and painting process and find more holes than Swiss cheese.

 

If it helps, I personally only covered up the biggest, most obvious holes. The smaller ones I left. I find that it adds a bit of personality to the armor--and it's really only visible REALLY up close. Flawlessness is definitely achievable, and if you aim for that, all the better! Just for me, personally, I'm okay with tiny flaws here and there. It just makes me feel all the more that my armor is mine.

I have to admit I was quite surprised how few pinholes I found. Enough but not that many. The v4 kit and new mix seems to be a lot better.

[SkulShurtugalTCG[501st]]

Just goes to show Jimm's dedication with this. I'm sure plenty of other kit makers would make one version and stick with it. This is his FOURTH version and he's made comments about things he still wants to change in the future. Makes me all the more happy to use his armor.

[Cookie Nomster]

I've been slowly making progress.  Weekends in October are insane busy for me, but I need to get the painting done this month before the temperatures drop out of the required range.  We had some rain here that set me back a bit, but this is a good update.

 

Nearly every piece of armor had, up to this point, received one coat of paint.  However, the key exception was the shins.  These needed to be glued together.  I used two-part epoxy for the job, hopefully it will hold and flex a little bit.  

 

 

 

These pictures were taken several days ago, and once the epoxy had dried, next step was to install leg boxes on the left leg.  I actually did that today.  A gain, two-part epoxy was used.  I suspect I'll have to revisit these boxes tomorrow and do some minor sanding and perhaps some gap-filling with CA glue around the "seams."

 

 

One area that hasn't gotten much love lately is my mitcheg1 helmet.  In previous posts, I had to do some repair filling and paint-work to the beak.  I'm pretty satisfied with how that turned out, and the only thing left is gloss-coat on the beak.  But I turned focus to the main bulk of the helmet itself.  Over the last two nights, I've put in several hours of painstaking hand-painting on the helmet.  The below pictures detail the progress.

 

Helmet with painters tape, prior to removal

 

 

I was very happy with how well the automotive refinishing tape worked out.  This stuff is the real deal, there was absolutely no paint-bleed, and the lines were very crisp.  I highly recommend it, and will continue to use this on future project.  In fact, at this point I will probably not use decals for the black portions of the armor, and will hand-paint black areas using the tape to mask off areas and get straight lines.  

 

After night #1 of painting

 

After night #1 of painting

 

I used a foam brush to paint the grill - this was much more effective than using any kind of traditional brush.  The foam "pushed" the paint into the holes.  

 

After night #2 of painting

 

After night #2 of painting

 

The lines are not perfect.  There's only a certain level of perfection you can obtain with handpainting, even when using model paint brushes.  I believe the screen-used helmets actually leveraged decals for some of the black stripes.  I might go out tomorrow and buy a small can of gloss white to do some minor touch up in some areas, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with the bucket so far.  

 

The other area of focus has been spray-painting the rest of the armor.  There were some areas that needed to be sanded and re-painted because of overspray.  The other day, my thermal detonator blew off my sawhorse and luckily was only slightly damaged in some non-visible areas.  The thermal det is by far the most fragile piece of armor in this kit.  I wish it was a little more reinforced.  Many people have filled their thermal det with expanding foam.  I did not do this, but I might re-visit the idea if I drop it again.  

 

You can see helmet clips being painted here, along with touch-up on biceps and thermal det

 

Abs are looking pretty good...this is after the second coat of paint (second day of painting on it)

 

I previously mentioned that I might need to sand down the chest-plate and redo it.  I've now applied three coats of paint (actually six coats, but 3 separate days of painting) to the chest plate, and the defect is mostly not visible.  I know its there, but I don't think it stands out like it once did.  I'm not going to sand anything down at this point unless I must do it.  

 

 

I had a little mishap with a paint can that required me to sand and re-paint the cod.  I've been following the same procedure with each new can of paint (shake, spray to check paint quality, then spray armor) and of course the one can I don't follow procedure spews crap out onto my armor.  Otherwise this paint has been pretty good so far, but I'm burning through rattlecans quick.

 

 

I still have some painting left to do.  There are some things show here (belt boxes, helmet clips, and calf that still need at least one more coat, and the left calf has not yet been painted at all due to boxes just going on today.  I'm getting close to being done with white paint.  That will be followed by black paint on thermal det, and various "decal" locations.  Then, gloss coating will be last.  Following that, wet sand with 1k  grit paper, and Meguiars compound + polish to get a nice shine on the armor.  I haven't actually tried the armor on in a long time, so I hope everything will fit well.

 

I also have some minor strapping velcro work that still needs to be done once painting is done.  

[JAFO[TK]]

I've been slowly making progress. Weekends in October are insane busy for me, but I need to get the painting done this month before the temperatures drop out of the required range. We had some rain here that set me back a bit, but this is a good update.

 

Nearly every piece of armor had, up to this point, received one coat of paint. However, the key exception was the shins. These needed to be glued together. I used two-part epoxy for the job, hopefully it will hold and flex a little bit.

 

 

 

These pictures were taken several days ago, and once the epoxy had dried, next step was to install leg boxes on the left leg. I actually did that today. A gain, two-part epoxy was used. I suspect I'll have to revisit these boxes tomorrow and do some minor sanding and perhaps some gap-filling with CA glue around the "seams."

 

 

One area that hasn't gotten much love lately is my mitcheg1 helmet. In previous posts, I had to do some repair filling and paint-work to the beak. I'm pretty satisfied with how that turned out, and the only thing left is gloss-coat on the beak. But I turned focus to the main bulk of the helmet itself. Over the last two nights, I've put in several hours of painstaking hand-painting on the helmet. The below pictures detail the progress.

 

Helmet with painters tape, prior to removal

 

 

I was very happy with how well the automotive refinishing tape worked out. This stuff is the real deal, there was absolutely no paint-bleed, and the lines were very crisp. I highly recommend it, and will continue to use this on future project. In fact, at this point I will probably not use decals for the black portions of the armor, and will hand-paint black areas using the tape to mask off areas and get straight lines.

 

After night #1 of painting

 

After night #1 of painting

 

I used a foam brush to paint the grill - this was much more effective than using any kind of traditional brush. The foam "pushed" the paint into the holes.

 

After night #2 of painting

 

After night #2 of painting

 

The lines are not perfect. There's only a certain level of perfection you can obtain with handpainting, even when using model paint brushes. I believe the screen-used helmets actually leveraged decals for some of the black stripes. I might go out tomorrow and buy a small can of gloss white to do some minor touch up in some areas, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with the bucket so far.

 

The other area of focus has been spray-painting the rest of the armor. There were some areas that needed to be sanded and re-painted because of overspray. The other day, my thermal detonator blew off my sawhorse and luckily was only slightly damaged in some non-visible areas. The thermal det is by far the most fragile piece of armor in this kit. I wish it was a little more reinforced. Many people have filled their thermal det with expanding foam. I did not do this, but I might re-visit the idea if I drop it again.

 

You can see helmet clips being painted here, along with touch-up on biceps and thermal det

 

Abs are looking pretty good...this is after the second coat of paint (second day of painting on it)

 

I previously mentioned that I might need to sand down the chest-plate and redo it. I've now applied three coats of paint (actually six coats, but 3 separate days of painting) to the chest plate, and the defect is mostly not visible. I know its there, but I don't think it stands out like it once did. I'm not going to sand anything down at this point unless I must do it.

 

 

I had a little mishap with a paint can that required me to sand and re-paint the cod. I've been following the same procedure with each new can of paint (shake, spray to check paint quality, then spray armor) and of course the one can I don't follow procedure spews crap out onto my armor. Otherwise this paint has been pretty good so far, but I'm burning through rattlecans quick.

 

 

I still have some painting left to do. There are some things show here (belt boxes, helmet clips, and calf that still need at least one more coat, and the left calf has not yet been painted at all due to boxes just going on today. I'm getting close to being done with white paint. That will be followed by black paint on thermal det, and various "decal" locations. Then, gloss coating will be last. Following that, wet sand with 1k grit paper, and Meguiars compound + polish to get a nice shine on the armor. I haven't actually tried the armor on in a long time, so I hope everything will fit well.

 

I also have some minor strapping velcro work that still needs to be done once painting is done.

Nice work! So are you going the Meguairs over a clear coat, or considered the same thing?

 

How many cans of Universal did you get through. I've actually tracked it down here in AU so looking into a bulk order.

[Cookie Nomster]

Nice work! So are you going the Meguairs over a clear coat, or considered the same thing?

 

How many cans of Universal did you get through. I've actually tracked it down here in AU so looking into a bulk order.

 

So after painting, my process will be:

1. Light wet sand w/1000 grit where needed (knocks off dust, dead bugs and small nodules/imperfections)
2. Apply multiple gloss coats (same as clear coat, except supposedly with gloss finish)
3. Perform a light wet-sand on each piece.  
4. Meguiars compound
5. Wax / Polish

This will be a tedious process, and may take awhile to do.  But the gloss coat should add good protection over the paint.  I might submit pictures for approval prior to finishing all of this.  

 

I purchased 12 rattle-cans of Universal Gloss White, and so far I've used 10 full cans, and just started into the 11th one.  One can was bad, and had a giant leak, so much of it was wasted.  I suspect I'll be left with one can when its done, but we'll see.  

[JAFO[TK]]

12 was what I had in mind. Perfect!

[Danvers14]

Looks amazing Vince! You're doing great.

[Cookie Nomster]

Quick update tonight.  Painting has continued on select pieces.  I now have satisfactory coats on every piece of armor EXCEPT the left leg and the helmet and armor clips.  Those are undergoing first and second coats respectively.  

 

The left leg has the extra boxes, so the first two coats went on this evening (~5 min apart).  Second set of coats will go on in 48 hours.  It looks good in the picture, but up close you would see it clearly needs a second coat.

 

First two coats put on this evening

 

I moved on to the helmet and body clips.  The helmet clips have had primer and 2-3 coats already, but they were unsatisfactory and there was too much paint on them, so I ended up scraping some off.  They will require one additional coat after tonight.  

 

Now, the body clips are an interesting story.  I haven't complained much, but I'm a little irritated with the clips I got from Justin Morrison of the Emerald City Garrison.  Good guy, and I haven't raised the issues with him yet, but you'll see what I'm talking about.  His clips are 3D-printed and have much sharper lines and an overall cleaner look than the clips that come with the kit.  They are indeed good looking...that is until you put paint on them.  Then the defects in the 3D printing are painfully obvious - at least in the set I got.  The clips were £20+shipping.  I ordered my clips with the holster, which is an awesome holster and one of the better ones you can get.  Perhaps I got a bad set of clips.  

 

 

As you can see from the picture, many surface defects that require work - and there are defects with every single clip.  I don't know much about 3D printing, but it could be a crappy resolution, or something else.  These clips are small, so its annoying to work on them.  My approach was to fill holes with gap-filling CA glue, because I'm not going to do the apoxie-sculpt on these.. they're too small and I don't want to get into the sanding.  My clips won't be perfect, but I'm annoyed with the quality for the money.  I do recommend Justin's holster, its nice...but I'm less likely to recommend the clips based on my initial experience.    

 

Anyway its not pictured, but I also laid down a gloss clearcoat on the helmet beak tonight (one of at least two planned), as I plan to start wrapping up the helmet soon.  Additionally, my MICH helmet pads arrived from Amazon for the inside of my helmet.  With regard to the helmet, I'm considering ordering a couple fan and mic kits from Ukswrath, but so far I'm on the fence.  Might just do the research and build one myself, as the cost is high for the Ukswrath kits and we're talking about low-technology here (you pay for convenience).  Plus, it'd be nice to just learn the low-voltage electric stuff so I can fix my own parts if/when they break.  I already know how to do home electric, so I can't imagine this is difficult stuff, just time consuming.  

 

Highest priority right now on the armor is gloss clearcoat, as the weather is rapidly degrading.  Luckily, in 2-3 days, all my white spray-painting should be done.  Also, I need to paint black boxes on the armor prior to clear coating certain pieces (abs, forearms, shins, thermal det).  I will probably spray-paint the black on the thermal det after taping and bagging everything else off.  It will look much nicer than any brush or sponge if I spray.  

Edited October 11, 2016 by Cookie Nomster

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking great Vince, almost there brother

[Cookie Nomster]

More work accomplished last night, starting to feel like the final phases of this build.  The night began with 1000 grit sanding of parts that won't require additional paint.  I'll run a damp rag over the parts this evening to collect any dust, but they're ready for gloss coat.  

 

I then brought the pieces inside that need black boxes applied.  I'm using the same paint I used on my helmet, a Rustoleum oil-based Satin Black.  Note to self - don't buy oil-based again (it's a pain in the an impolite person!).  I had spray paint, but this would have required more work to apply (bagging of armor in addition to taping).  Furthermore, the black will match my helmet, so the entire armor set will have matching colors.  

 

First step was taping off everything using automotive masking tape.  This worked well on my helmet, so I figured I'd give it a try again.

 

 

 

 

I also used this opportunity to clean up some lines on my helmet that were bothering me.  Probably nobody would have noticed, but it irritated me so I fixed them.

 

 

After taping (which took as long as the painting, if not longer), I moved on to paint application.  I used a combination of three brushes, a sponge brush for large areas, a standard testors model brush, and then a tiny detail brush, also made for model airplane painting.  

 

Paint applied with tape in place

 

Freehand, no tape used.  Fairly easy given the recessed nature.

 

My overall biggest concern was the thermal detonator.  This is one of the most visible and widely eyed pieces of the armor, and I was really concerned about it.  There is alot of area to paint, and straight lines are pretty important here.  The taping job was a challenge.  This area will require significant touch-up this evening, as the tape didn't do a very good job in this case.  However, I did achieve a straight line around the left side of the thermal det, which was very important.  In the pictures below, you can see where I clearly need to spend more time (these were taken after tape was removed).

 

Tape removed, clearly need to touch up the lines.  

 

Clearly more touch-up required here, but I'm very happy with the outside circular line, which is straight.  Maybe I should have used electrical tape

 

Freehand - no tape used

 

In general, I'm very happy with the finished results on the forearms, hand-plates, and abs.  I did not work on the calfs, as one of the units still needs another round of white paint, and I'll just work on them together after I measure spat distance.  

 

Tape removed....pretty happy with finished product

 

Freehand.  I'm going to check if I need more black on the circle, might be a few spots that need a second coat.  

 

In general, aside from thermal det, I think these other pieces are ready for clear coat.  

Edited October 12, 2016 by Cookie Nomster

[Cookie Nomster]

Two updates in one day  !

 

Initial coat of gloss clear for the majority of the armor.  Pieces not receiving clear coat today:  right thigh (holster still needs to be applied), both calfs (left calf received final coat of paint today), center belt boxes (still needs black paint), thermal det (touch-up required), helmet and armor clips (another coat of paint applied today).  The rest received first round of clear, and helmet beak received its final coat of clear and is ready to go on to the helmet.

 

 

The helmet also received clear coat today, targeted around the black trim.  It really makes the trim pop, nice and shiny.

 

 

 

 

You can tell how shiny the black gets with the gloss clear applied.  Looks pretty nice.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Yes indeed 

[Cookie Nomster]

Another night of progress on the build.  I've really been able to get some time in the last week or so...I think the wife secretly wants me to finish the build before Halloween.  I'll be happy if I'm approved before Rogue One...not that anyone cares about FOTKs when Rogue One comes out 

 

Anyhow, the objectives tonight were to conduct another round of clear-coat spray onto armor that received it yesterday.  There was one unfortunate event...yesterday I noticed overspray on the chest plate.  I re-examined today and concluded it would require sanding.  Unfortunately, I had to get down to the paint.  Luckily, I didn't have to go deep into the paint, and not across the whole chest plate.  So I sprayed a coat onto the affected area, and will revisit tomorrow for a light 1000 grit sand, then clear coat.  

 

Other pieces of armor were fine, and I sprayed what will likely be the final round of clear on them.  Admittedly, 4 light coats of clear probably isn't enough, I'd prefer 6 total (one more night of spraying), but I'm a little impatient.  I'm also eager to demo my polishing technique on one of the knee plates (small and easily fixed if it doesnt work out).  

 

After spray, I spent time this evening focused on touching up the thermal detonator, and painting the center belt boxes.  I think both will be satisfactory, and will get clear coat tomorrow.  

 

Demonstrating technique used for center belt boxes (left:  tape has been removed; right:  tape still on)

 

Tape removed, nice clean lines

 

Results of thermal detonator touch-up.  Looks much better.  Still not perfect, but its so hard with straight hand and tiny brushes

 

I hope to keep the momentum going this weekend.  Next task will be attaching the holster to the right thigh, spraying a very light coat of white on it, followed by clear a day later.  Also, I plan to get the black leg boxes painted on the calfs, and that should wrap up black paint.  Demoing polishing technique will also occur, and if it works well, I'll polish the beak on the helmet prior to glue so I don't have to bang it around much after glue.  Remaining on the helmet are still the lenses and inserting pads into the bucket.  Plenty still to be done, including some velcro strapping on the biceps and calfs.  Clear coat still needed on several lower parts as well, including both calfs, right thigh, and chest plate.  

[Cookie Nomster]

Rollin' rollin' rollin'!  

 

Today I worked on mounting the holster, clear-coating a few pieces, and the last of the black paint on the armor.  I did run into some more unfortunate problems with the notorious chest plate.  It has been the single piece that has given me the most trouble - and for no good reason!

 

Anyway, lets start with the holster.  I'm using Justin Morrisons (Emerald Garrison) 3D printed holster.  It's nice, but pricey as I've previously mentioned.  He can be found on the Jimmiroquai FOTK Facebook group for sales.  First step was figuring out where I wanted the holster.  Checked the CRL, and then gave the holster a slight press into the thigh so that the screws would mark where I needed to drill.  I proceeded to drill holes.

 

 

The holster shipped with two screws, a washer, nut, and tension washer.  The obvious biggest concern will be the gap-filling around the holster.  So, I used two-part apoxie and put some on the bottom of the holster prior to mounting.  I didn't use much, and kept it mostly around the edges.  The holster has to slightly bend to contour to the thigh, so I wanted the glue for the extra hold.  I was hoping the glue would help fill gaps around the edges.

 

 

Unfortunately, there were too many "imperfections" (I use this word for lack of better term...holster itself is fine, referring to fit against armor) in the 3D printing process.  I decided to use silicone to fill in the remaining gaps and give the mate against the thigh a nice fit.  I honestly did not want to break into a $5 bottle of silicone for about 1/2 teaspoon of material...but so it goes.  Had I planned better, I should have done this at the same time I added my left calf boxes.  

 

Silicone applied and finger used to smooth around edges

 

I had previously checked the CRL and noticed that the screws had been painted over in the images, and the holster didn't match my paint job (it was sort of a tan white color), so it went outside for a light coat of paint.  I had to buy another can of paint last night because I was basically out.  

 

 

I'll probably give it another light dusting tomorrow, and then clear coat after 48 hours.

 

Moving along, next thing I did this evening was clear coat the freshly painted belt boxes and thermal detonator.

 

After gloss clear

 

Thermal det after gloss clear

 

I'll hit these again tomorrow with another round of gloss clear, and that'll be it for them.  Belt boxes will then be ready for mounting (which will be one of the last things I do on the build).  

 

You'll recall that I had some issues with chest plate (overspray, requiring sanding, and re-painting).  Well, I broke my own rule and did not wait 48 hours to spray gloss clear.  It had only been 24 hours, but I kind of forgot that, and I suspect that's what lead to the problems I had.  I gave the chest plate a light 1000 grit sand, wiped it off with dry cloth (probably should have used damp cloth), and proceeded to give it a spray.  Walked away, came back and immediately saw scaling.

 

 

The scaling occurred only in the areas of the newer paint, other areas that already had clear were unaffected.  Dammit!  I will come back tomorrow, re-sand this, probably with 200-300 grit and evaluate the damage.  Probably will require some re-painting, then gloss again.    

 

After I got the kids to bed, got to work on the calfs, and the last black paint on the armor hopefully.  I'm talking now about the black strip right above the spats on the outside of the calfs.  Taped it off first, followed by brush painting with two brushes.

 

Taped off

 

After tape removal.  Will let this dry tonight, then hit it with gloss clear tomorrow.

 

Hoping to get some work in this weekend, but it might be tough....feeling that Halloween pressure!

[Cookie Nomster]

Back in action tonight with a few small tasks completed.

 

First, gloss coat on the chest plate, right thigh, and calfs.  Chest plate still needs two more coats, calfs need one more.  Right thigh is probably done, but might hit it one more time.  I'm cutting it close, as weather here is now maximum highs of ~60, and lows in the 30s and 40s at night.  Luckily, I'm damn near done with spraying.  

 

Next, I moved to the helmet.  First, I drilled holes in the helmet beak for air movement and for a place to have glue to seep and grab.  Second, I sanded down the areas which would be contacted with glue using a rough-grit sponge.  Then, I wiped the area down with a damp paper towl to get the crap off prior to glue.

Holes drilled, light sanding for glue to grab

 

Then it was time for glue.  I mixed up some two-part apoxy and applied it to the helmet and the beak itself with a popsicle stick.  Then, small clamps and magnets, protecting the beak using some thin cardboard.  

 

 

Finally, I took the respirator and used Testors Enamel model paint with brush to get the silver applied to it.

 

 

I will probably give that two coats of clear, then get it glued to the helmet after the clear dries.  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Excellent work on the holster mounting. Everything is looking awesome.

[Danvers14]

I just have to say thanks Vince-your step-by-step strapping really helped me out! I hope you can get your FO wearable for Halloween! I can't wait to see what it looks like! And if you can, let me know how your garter system works.  

[Cookie Nomster]

I just have to say thanks Vince-your step-by-step strapping really helped me out! I hope you can get your FO wearable for Halloween! I can't wait to see what it looks like! And if you can, let me know how your garter system works.

 

Thanks Molly!  Sadly...I'll doubt my system will be ready for Halloween.  I'll update in my next post, as I made some good progress tonight.

[Cookie Nomster]

Well, unfortunately I suffered a setback on my helmet.  Evidently I cranked the clamps down a little too hard...just enough to make a minor indent in the beak.  I tried to resolve the problem with a coat of clear gloss....but then I accidentally oversprayed.  As a result, I had to chip off the clear coat, sand the paint, re-paint, and re-clear.  I put the first coat of clear on today along with second coat of paint.  I'll wait 48 hours and spray additional clear on, then I can get installation of lenses and pads.  Sadly, it looks like I'll miss the Halloween target because of this

 

There is still plenty to do on the armor. The last coat of clear went onto the chest-plate today, and tomorrow I'll add gaffers tape to the pill-holes.  I've already added gaffers tape to the pill-holes on the biceps and on the forearms.  

 

Forearm with gaffers tape shown.

 

Bicep pill-hole w/gaffers tape

 

Here's the inside of the forearm.  You can see I have velcro over top part of the gaffers tape, which may not work out long term.  This is the sticky-back velcro.  The part that is attached to the fiberglass also has CA glue in addition to the sticky-back to help secure it into place.  If it doesn't work out, I'll create a velcro extension off the gaskets and push the velcro further down inside the forearm.  

Inside view of forearm

 

I also did some sewing this weekend.  I had to add velcro to the gaskets where the biceps piece sit, because right now they kind of slide around.  Had an issue with my sewing machine that necessitated investigating the bobbin area, where I had a tangle, so that slowed me down.  

 

 

I also did some sewing on one of my pouches - specifically the belt pouch that has the outer white piece attached to it.  I added velcro so that I can attach the white belt plate.  I considered using snaps but I'm all out  If it doesn't work out, I'll order some snaps and go that method.  By the way, a leftover velcro box fits perfectly (with a little trimming) into the pouch, and pushes it out so it looks like a nice box.  Won't need any foam here.  

 

Black belt pouch which will have white plate attached

 

Knee caps and hand-armor also got velcro applied using combo of E6000 and CA Glue

 

 

Here is the method I plan to use for my knee-plates.  It's similar to steamboatphans methodology utilizing shock cord and clips.  Here's a picture of the clips applied tonight:

 

Clips face inward and black cord will loop around behind my knee and on top of gaskets.  

 

I'm using gloves purchased from Imperial Boots, and they come with the velcro already sewn to the glove.  

 

Unfortunately with the Imperial Boots version of the glove, there have been many reports of the glove staining and/or changing color due to sweat.  I havent worn mine much other than trying on for size, so I'll be keeping an eye on that.  Many other people have had an issue with this though, so I'm a little concerned there, especially given the cost.  

 

I also worked on the calfs a bit, and installed some velcro.  Not all velcro work is done - need to do the gasket-attachment velcro, and I will possibly require foam as others have (I don't know if I will or not, still need to try them on with the velcro).  Also, some people are using velcro on their boots to connect with a piece inside the calf to keep it from spinning...not sure if I'll need to do that or not, we will soon see.  

 

These pictures were taken when installing the velcro, so the calfs are "inside-out" to allow installation and dry-time without attachment to each side of the hook and loop.

 

Finally, I plan to utilize the velcro approach for the thermal detonator.  Some CA glue was used as well to help keep the velcro on.  

 

Rear of thermal detonator

 

Rear of abs

 

The remaining things to do on the armor are:

• Gasket / Velcro attachment points in thighs, calfs, and bicep
• Spats
• Belt (received JAFOs kit, but haven't started work yet)
• Shock-rope for knee caps
• Helmet:
  • additional coats of clear on beek
  • Lenses
  • Helmet pads
  • Fans and audio (this will be done after approval submission pics)
• Check fit and function of all pieces.  This is a key part that I haven't really been able to do yet without the final strapping fully complete
• Add soft-side velcro to areas that rub

Edited October 30, 2016 by Cookie Nomster

[Cookie Nomster]

I was going to post this update sooner, but Photobucket was down for awhile.  I'll just go at this chronologically, as I did some work across a few different days.

 

After the last update, I went for a full-suite up with everything that was done up to that point.  First time I've done it since paint, and in some cases, first time certain pieces have been on at the same time as others (for example, calfs had never been on with other parts of the armor).  Before I get into the findings, here are the pictures of what it looked like:

 

 

Note: some straps are hanging out at the bicep / shoulder bell connection (simply because I did not snap that strap in place for the photo).  This connection will be completely out of view normally.

 

Now, the major findings:

• This armor is a pain in the an impolite person to get on!  I've never worn armor before, but I'll definitely need to work out the proper order of assembly.  And...its a HOT kit.  I was sweating just kinda walking around.  
• I was majorly unhappy with the chest-plate connection.  I walked away from this fitting with that as the biggest takeaway.  It looks good in the picture, but it would not stay in place.  Velcro points were not connecting at all, primarily due to the addition of the thermal det, which changes connection angle against the yoke; plus the flared edges of this armor kit don't allow the chest plate to really directly contact the yoke except on the edges.  From previous pictures, you'll recall I have a strap that runs across my chest, and it has one snap-plate connection to the chest plate.  This is not enough.  My planned solution is three snap connections.  Additionally, I may use a velcro strap near the top of the chest plate to connect it to the yoke (underneath of course).  Pictures further down in this thread on this snap-plate implementation.
• My thigh mounting belt is not going to work as-is.  Basically...I can't get into the armor and have it adjusted in the right position.  The result is that the thighs hang down too low.  This can be fixed by adjusting the velcro, but I can't adjust it with the thighs on, and I can't step into the thighs when the belt is connected to the chest strap rigging as seen in this previous post.  I have a couple options:  1)  Disconnect belt from the shoulder rigging completely (which I tested and confirmed it works better) 2) reduce length of the actual velcro connection inside the thigh (strap itself), thereby allowing less contact but raising it higher 3) adjust the rigging so that i can get the thighs on with the belt, and then snap the belt into the chest rigging straps that extend down to the bottom of the abs
• It does not appear that I will need velcro connections on lower half of knee gaskets to calf armor.  I barely fit in the calfs with the gaskets...its a super tight fit and I probably should have extended the calfs a bit as many others have done, but I think I'll be ok.  It's tight enough that I highly doubt I'll have any problems with the calfs rotating around as some others have reported in the Facebook group.  
• The clearcoat does NOT like flexible areas; specifically the calfs.  You have to open them a good bit to get them on, and the clearcoat does not flex.  Paint seems to be doing fine, but the clear is disconnecting from the paint in high-flex areas.  

I was really frustrated with the chest plate after suiting up...so much so that I took a day off.  The chest plate has been a point of contention, so I was really bummed that my strapping was not satisfactory.  I resumed work, and decided to remove all velcro from the yoke.  Most of the yoke is not visible when the chest plate is on, but there was a ton of glue and buildup from velcro sticky-back that wasn't coming off with some major major work, which was simply not worth it given the point that nobody sees where I was working.  I sanded it multiple times, used Goo-Gone, and re-sanded, more Goo-Gone, and so on for about 30 minutes.  Then I dried everything off, made sure the rest was bagged and taped, then gave it two coats of white.  

 

 

As of this post, this is still the condition that the yoke is in...I'll probably give it another blast of white tomorrow while weather is still good.  Probably will NOT clear-coat, since I expect some flex here and nobody will see it.  

 

The next thing I started work on was the dreaded belt.  For some reason, I've been really dreading the belt and dragging my feet on it.  But finally I got started.  I ordered JAFO's "Belts of the First Order" kit, which ships out of Australia.  Fast shipping, got it in about a week.  Price was a little higher than some other vendors here, but quality appears to be high.  

 

First thing I did was line up all the layers, and use some gaffers tape to hold it together while I tried it on around my armor.  I did this multiple times to ensure I knew where to cut.

 

 

I ended up cutting only a few inches off, so the fit right from the box was decent.  Then, I moved on to glue the top two layers together.  

 

 

As you can see...I used E600...and I do not recommend it.  I found the next day that E600 won't bind well to both sides...the belt will disconnect easily.  Use CA glue, it grabs both sides.  

 

Then I moved on to belt-boxes.  I used a snap-plate methodology with the included Chicago screws.  Belt boxes come with the armor, not the belt kit.

 

 

Although it's not pictured here, the next step was to go to the sewing machine and sew into the third layer of the belt (the inner-most facing to the body), which is a nylon strap basically.  I added velcro to the front and back of the strap, which are the connection points to the armor.  I added this velcro via sewing before I connected all three layers permanently with belt boxes and so on.  

 

 

I used CA glue to connect the nylon inner loop of the belt to the other two layers at the back of the belt, as there were no Chicago screws to hold everything together there.  Also, you might be wondering how I got the white-plate on the black pouch.  I sewed Velcro onto the outside of the pouch, and added velcro to the back of the plate...it's not going anywhere.  

 

Here are the armor connection points:

 

Finally, here's what it looks like on me:

 

 

 

I'm pretty darn happy with how the belt turned out.  And it grips the velcro like a son-of-a-gun.  

 

I moved on to the beginnings of the chest-plate fix.  Had to order more snaps, because I was out.  I created two additional snap-plates on the chest plate itself, and built a new strap that crosses the chest and connects to both sides under the yoke.  

 

 

I haven't tried it on yet, but will soon, as I expect to need some help.  

 

Anyway, this is where I am now.  Definitely some setbacks, but I'm learning as I go.  Many of the items I listed in the last post remain, but I'm inching closer to the goal-line.  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Almost there Vince, keep up the good work