Tox's RS build thread

[toxication[TK]]

the coverstrips I indeed still want to triple check.
and the ankles indeed can do with a bit more cleaning out, by the looks of it. Thanks for the tips!

 

Really great to see so much active feedback here, compared to JRS for example. It was really hard to get feedback there on my FO Tie (also the ANH tie, but that is a lot less work)

 

Loving the amount of suggestions, tips etc. I am getting here!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

THT, we're glad to be of service 

[toxication[TK]]

Started working on the belt this morning. Punched the holes in the canvas belt, drilled the holes in the holes in the ABS. Stuck them together with chicago screws:

 

Drew the outlines for the square-round buttons on the belt

 

Drew the 45 degree angles on the ammo parts to cut that off as well:

 

Considering now what I want to do, fasten them with the screw-side on the canvas side or on the outside. Canvas side has the advantage that it is easier to tighten the belt in the end. A little drop of glue on the other side will then ensure that always stays in place on the ABS side underneath the squares.

 

Also going to have a look how to properly tighten the dropboxes. I have cut them out, still want to sand the edges a bit cleaner, but they are basically ready:

and they fit perfectly and snug:

[Pretzel]

Well done on your progress. I think a little drop of glue doesn't hurt to strengthen it I love the way your dropboxes look too! Keep it up. 

[toxication[TK]]

Decided to paint the buttons prior to glueing. Not sure yet whether it is a logical thing, but I did it anyway

 

 

Realized I have no elasticband for the dropboxes, so sending the wife out tomorrow to get me some. that way I can finish the belt as well.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

4 hours ago, toxication said:

Decided to paint the buttons prior to glueing. Not sure yet whether it is a logical thing, but I did it anyway

Realized I have no elasticband for the dropboxes, so sending the wife out tomorrow to get me some. that way I can finish the belt as well.

Good choice, and hold off on the gluing. As easy as they to scratch (being a high point on the armor when lying down) the Ab button plates are the very last thing to install, IMHO.

Also, make sure they are trimmed correctly before installing. Can't tell you how many applicants are asked to correct the size.

 

Keep up the good work. 

[toxication[TK]]

Today I finally made time to start putting some snaps in.. started with the shoulders of both front and back. once this is dried properly going to add more and more snaps so I can start assembling the whole thing into a cohesive costume! Putting them in with e6000.

 

Also made some progress on the belt again. sanded the buttons down so they will fit nicely and look mostly symmetrical

 

The middle button is going to be a tight fit btw

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Hi mate.

Just a couple of things. I’ve read before to be careful of a reaction between the metal of the poppers and the ABS plastic when the glue is touching. It looks like you’re using black nylon webbing for your poppers. Try to keep the glue on the webbing only to avoid any possible reaction with your armour.

Also, you might want to consider the score and snap method with your ammo belt. This isn’t meant as a criticism, however the top and bottom of the belt currently look a little ‘wavy’.

If you use a nice long straight edge (eg long metal ruler, metal spirit level) and gently score many times with a very sharp blade, eventually you’ll be able to snap off the excess and be left with a lovely straight edge.

Also, you could probably get away with losing a few millimetres anyway, so this will all tie in nicely.

Here’s a nice example of the ammo belt. Just a few millimetres above and below. The square tabs a just a little bigger than the circle in the middle so just trim to size. Again, the score and snap method will help to get lovely straight edges.



Keep up the good work. :-)

[toxication[TK]]

4 hours ago, CableGuy said:

Hi mate.

Just a couple of things. I’ve read before to be careful of a reaction between the metal of the poppers and the ABS plastic when the glue is touching. It looks like you’re using black nylon webbing for your poppers. Try to keep the glue on the webbing only to avoid any possible reaction with your armour.

Also, you might want to consider the score and snap method with your ammo belt. This isn’t meant as a criticism, however the top and bottom of the belt currently look a little ‘wavy’.

If you use a nice long straight edge (eg long metal ruler, metal spirit level) and gently score many times with a very sharp blade, eventually you’ll be able to snap off the excess and be left with a lovely straight edge.

Also, you could probably get away with losing a few millimetres anyway, so this will all tie in nicely.

Here’s a nice example of the ammo belt. Just a few millimetres above and below. The square tabs a just a little bigger than the circle in the middle so just trim to size. Again, the score and snap method will help to get lovely straight edges.



Keep up the good work. :-)

The belt is indeed not yet to my liking This is why I haven't done the corners yet.
Going to see if I can cut away a little bit closer to the boxes indeed. Score and snap on the belt is not all that easy, what with those dumb boxes being in the way though. If you have useful suggestion where I can do it from the inside I'd love to hear it!

The snaps themselfs only get glue on the sides, where it runs out from the nylon. I have used these snaps previously in my ANH Tie armor and so far (over a year) no reaction yet luckily. Will keep an extra eye on this though, cause the white armor shows a lot more than the black one.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

7 hours ago, CableGuy said:

Just a couple of things. I’ve read before to be careful of a reaction between the metal of the poppers and the ABS plastic when the glue is touching. It looks like you’re using black nylon webbing for your poppers. Try to keep the glue on the webbing only to avoid any possible reaction with your armour.

 

Or use non corrosive snaps like Fasnap or DOT, marine grade and non corrosive even with E6000

 

Edit, actually not sure if these manufactures make the poppers, I take that back sorry

[ukswrath[Staff]]

As for the belt I recommend trimming the edges down to canon specs, as you mentioned Martjin.

 

Reference photo

 

[CableGuy[Admin]]

The belt is indeed not yet to my liking This is why I haven't done the corners yet. Going to see if I can cut away a little bit closer to the boxes indeed. Score and snap on the belt is not all that easy, what with those dumb boxes being in the way though. If you have useful suggestion where I can do it from the inside I'd love to hear it!

 

.

 

 

Hi Martjin,

 

Here’s a link to an armour maker using the score and snap method. With a relatively low profile straight edge, you should be able to get a Stanley knife or similar in there to score. If you’ve not done scoring before, just apply very, very light strokes to start. Once you get a good line you can start to apply a little more pressure.

 

***please note - I’m not saying this is the definitive or only way to do it - I followed this method and it worked well for me, leaving a nice straight edge. Personally, I went a little closer to the ammo boxes than this video. Skip to around 10:30 for the ammo belt.

 

 

 

[68Brick[TK]]

Looking good Martijn! One suggestion for your belt is to introduce some curve to it (the abs part) before marking holes in the canvas and attaching it. This will lessen the strain of your attaching rivets and will also remove any ripples in the canvas belt when bent around your waist.

[toxication[TK]]

13 hours ago, CableGuy said:

 

Hi Martjin,

 

Here’s a link to an armour maker using the score and snap method. With a relatively low profile straight edge, you should be able to get a Stanley knife or similar in there to score. If you’ve not done scoring before, just apply very, very light strokes to start. Once you get a good line you can start to apply a little more pressure.

 

***please note - I’m not saying this is the definitive or only way to do it - I followed this method and it worked well for me, leaving a nice straight edge. Personally, I went a little closer to the ammo boxes than this video. Skip to around 10:30 for the ammo belt.

 

 

 

 

yeah... true, stanley style knife would work of course.

[toxication[TK]]

Did some more work on the strapping.
Glued the snaps in the upper legs

 

And started on the belt to attach my upper legs to:

The snap-bands are still quite spaceous, so I have enough space to play around with them.

[toxication[TK]]

Did some more preparation for strapping. But first things first, cleaned the shoulderbells more so they are wearable and can fall over the biceps properly. Still pondering whether I should remove more of the return edge. Suggestions are welcome!

 

 

Keep in mind, I did not sand the edges just yet, since I first want to make sure I do not need to remove more. With sanding they will smoothen and get more equal no matter what.

 

As you can see I also started adding snaps inside the shoulderbells for strapping of both shoulder as well as bicep connections.

Started off making a big set of snaps today:

 

Going through them quite rapidly btw

Also prepped the pink shoulderbell I intend to use for the Pink Ribbon fund raiser we have in September.

 

Biceps also have snaps, since I really want all parts to be easy to maintain and separate from other parts

 

Next up is trying to figure out how and where to attach the wide elastic to connect bicep and lower arm. The location of that is still a bit misty to me, seen a lot of differences all over. But that will have become clear once i put it all on.

Hopefully I will also be brave enough this weekend to attach the ABS shoulder straps. Want to smoothen the edges still and possibly sand it down a bit to make it a smooth and tight connection to the chestplate.

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Hiya,

 

Regarding the bicep to forearm, here’s some useful bits.

 

Popper method

 

Glued

 

Most seem to follow either of these methods, with the straps on the inside of the of the elbow (if that makes sense).

 

 

Out of interest, how big are the poppers you’re using? Do you know how strong they are?

I think most builds use between 12mm and 15mm poppers. A bit like this:

 

 

Hope that helps a little. :-)

 

[toxication[TK]]

The poppers I have are strong I have them in my two TI costumes as well. so over a year, with 38 troops in the two costumes have survived without a hitch.

The only difference is that on my TN (First Order) I have them attached with instant glue instead of E6000, as well as that they are more hidden in padding of that armour. Generally when attaching them to the elastic band I add a piece of either webbing or some other firm fabric to make sure they do not come out of the elastic too easily. That is the one thing I have had with my side straps on my ANH TI.

 

The snaps image is indeed what I was looking for!! Thanks! I have it already for the front and back, but hadn't found it for the arms yet

[toxication[TK]]

Added more snaps today, the conectors between lower arm and biceps are now drying. The snap on the cod-piece is also in place.

 

Even now, when I am so close, I feel intimidated by the amount of ABS and work still ahead of me. I thought my First Order TI was a lot of work, smoothening it out, painting it to commercial-paintjob-levels of high gloss. But somehow this iconic costume makes me constantly backtrack and triple, quadruple check what I am doing.

 

Next up: the ammo pouch on the thigh.

cut the edges tighter to the boxes, haven't smoothened them yet. It is too warm to do any sanding today Also didn't cut the round edges yet as I am now measuring and playing around.

I would have loved it if I could have put the middle pouch lined up with the coverstrip, However I do not feel I have enough playing room to get the pouches lined out on the corners of the leg to move it around.

Innerleg:

Outer leg:

 

And the front:

45

(yes, I know I still need to clean up the glue on the coverstrips...)
Tips on the placing and alignment here would be much appreciated!

Shoulder straps... they were still too wide:

So started by marking them off with pencil.

Attempted to do snap and score on them, but they are too bent and too narrow an edge for that to work for me (might work for others of course, but I could not get a proper grip on it). So marked the line with a pencil and used the scissors instead.

After cutting and sanding:

The fit seems a lot better now:

 

Cleaned them under the tap to remove all pencil marks and sanding dust. No more clamps, so not glueing them down today just yet.

 

Now I am off to also cut the edges of my belt pouches a bit closer to the boxes and then the 45 degree corners off of it.

 

Again, all your help, comments and suggestions are incredibly appreciated!!

Edited July 14, 2018 by toxication
Added some more info of this build session.

[toxication[TK]]

Pondering how to connect the elastic band that goes around the bicep. Just glue it down, or do that with snaps as well? Snaps is the pretty option of course, but that is really not needed on this one I guess.

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Hi Martijn,

Don’t worry too much about the thigh ammo pack being off centre. A lot of screen used ones were anyway, so yours is actually more screen accurate that way.



I’m guessing you’ve clamped this for checking the length but, just wanted to check that you weren’t gluing the ammo pack in that position?




The top edge of the ammo pack should line up with the ridge.




Regarding the elastic on the shoulder Bell (that hugs the biceps), most glue them straight to the bell. I did mine with E6000.

Here’s a pic of the “RS suit” and it also appears to be glued in. :-)

[toxication[TK]]

15 hours ago, CableGuy said:

Hi Martijn,

Don’t worry too much about the thigh ammo pack being off centre. A lot of screen used ones were anyway, so yours is actually more screen accurate that way.



I’m guessing you’ve clamped this for checking the length but, just wanted to check that you weren’t gluing the ammo pack in that position?




The top edge of the ammo pack should line up with the ridge.




Regarding the elastic on the shoulder Bell (that hugs the biceps), most glue them straight to the bell. I did mine with E6000.

Here’s a pic of the “RS suit” and it also appears to be glued in. :-)

Thanks for the beautiful detail photos But it was indeed just to see the length, not the placement just yet. In these photos the corners merely look rounded, I understood that the bottom corners should be more than just rounded?

 

As far as the straps around the biceps, glueing them in it will be. A lot easier than snaps.

 

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Yep - many, including myself, have gone for a slightly wider radius curve on the bottom corner; however, those pictures above are of screen used so, if I were doing another suit, I’d follow that as a reference. Can’t get better than seen on screen... lol

[toxication[TK]]

Not much progress at the moment unfortunately. I have decided how to put the ammo pouch on the thigh though. It will get less overlap on either sides so that I can line up the middle box with the coverstrip. It does look prettiest.

 

I was hoping to move along with the bucket a bit, adding the stripes. I have this wonderful template, but it seems on the large side. So decided to first check here for tips.

 

How fer should the stripes go?  Mainly at the front, since at the back it will be part obscured by the ears of course

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Hi Martijn,

Tube stripes should be painted approx a pencil width from the cheek. Some recommend applying the template, then a light coat of white paint (to reduce paint bleed from the blue), then the top blue coat.

Tube stripes can vary from 9 to 16 stripes per side. They don’t have to be even. Mine, for example, has one less on one side due to the positioning of the ears.

Regarding how far forward to come, here’s a reference pic. This is the “Dave M” helmet.



If you are concerned about the size of those templates, I’d highly recommend the TrooperBay “Dave M” style from TrooperBay.
Here’s a thread I posted a while back about the Dave M templates:

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/44755-tube-stripes-anh-stunt-dave-m/



This might help a little, too. This is TK4510, AKA TrooperBay, applying and painting the tube stripes.

Best wishes

Dan