Phat Rob Posted November 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 Happy Veteran's Day everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying themselves and their families as we honor and recognize all who have served this country. Today's share will be a mini-drop showcasing the shoulder bridges. As you can see on the front side, I've got the front tab and two ridges overlapping the chest piece. Even at this placement you can see that it pretty much already touches the creases on the chest. From the back side you can see that the shoulder bridges extend all the way down until they almost touch the back detail. Also you'll notice that the shoulder bridge is waaaay off-center on the right side there. Looks like I'm gonna have to realign that shoulder bridge. So yeah, I'm thinking about moving the shoulder bridge further down the front to have the front tab and three or four ridges overlapping the chest piece. As always, any thoughts, concerns or suggestions are most welcome and appreciated. Thanks, guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 Hi Rob, most cases three or four ridges are ok. and the rear tab is usually removed, but I would recommend to wait till the end to do so just in case you need it. Also you can take a look to the Gallery Section for ANH Stunt HERE Reference images 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaskedVengeance[Staff] Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 It might be nice to get the rest of the torso armor (ab, kidney, posterior) on so you can check all the gaps to ensure the chest and back are situated properly vertically. But in general I do think you're right that there appears to be room to shift the bridges down the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 Adding your shoulder straps should be done after most of your armor is complete and on, you want to make sure everything is sitting right before adding them. I can't see how they are sitting on the front but screen reference show there is the one large tab and 4 to 5 smaller ridges on the chest plate, although you can have less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted November 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2020 While today's share consists of the ab piece and kidney plate I'd first like to thank you guys for your suggestions regarding the shoulder bridges. Thanks Mario for your insight pertaining to the amount of ridges overlapping the chest piece. I do plan on moving the shoulder bridge forward slightly to have three ridges and tab over the chest area. Ideally, I do plan on removing that rear tab but I won't commit to that until I see a perfect fit. Of course, another fitting will determine how well everything looks. Thank you Caleb for your suggestion to don the ab and kidney pieces to ensure a more proper fit-I plan on doing just that when I check for my next shoulder bridge fitting. Last but certainly not least, Glen, I also appreciate your echoed recommendation to arrange a more thorough fitting that includes more adjacent parts. In the meantime, let's take a gander at what I've worked on... First, I have sanded the abdominal piece to reflect the more angular edges apparent towards the groin area. For the top portion of the ab piece I have kept one centimetre of space from the corner to the edge of the plastic to allow for harness hardware. Next, for the bottom area of the kidney piece I've merely cut along the area where the return edge meets the flash. If there are any other insights regarding the "ideal" or more effective cut for this area I will most certainly consider any suggestions. The top area of the kidney piece has a full centimetre of space between the corner and edge of the plastic. This is to hopefully, prevent the kidney or chest piece from riding over each other. If this is not correct I will make the proper adjustment depending on any suggestions. Soooo as my wife and I were fitting everything last session we noticed a nice inch and a half gap where the kidney plate edge should meet the ab plate corner. Thanks to my big, fat gut I am one of the lucky ones that gets to shim along the kidney plate! Yaaayyyy! Check a look at the proposed shim attachment and the first round of ABS paste applied to the inner and outer shim pieces. Alright, so I'm going to apply another layer of paste and hopefully that'll do it before I sand that mess to a velvety smooth finish. I'll post my results before attaching to the kidney plate. Once I receive the blessing of this community I'll attach the shims to the kidney plate and proceed with paste applications and sanding. Yuck. I'm not looking forward to this haha. Lastly, it's butt plate time! Looking at the CRL and the trim outlines of the butt piece I see that the corners are distinctly more angular. Hence, this is why I plan on retaining those sharp angular corners when I trim and sand. What say you? That's it for now fellas! On our next visit I plan on sharing some more fitting pix and hopefully get a little closer to solving the riddle of the shoulder bridges. In the meantime I await your always helpful advice and suggestions. Thank you so much guys! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted November 14, 2020 Report Share Posted November 14, 2020 All your trim lines are looking good. Just wanted to ask are you using the pieces shown here for the shims as the right one is quite wobbly and indented, if so you may want to use some coverstrip material for a flatter look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted November 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2020 1 hour ago, gmrhodes13 said: Just wanted to ask are you using the pieces shown here for the shims as the right one is quite wobbly and indented, is so you may want to sue some coverstrip material for a flatter look. Yeah that right shim has me a little worried as well. I think I'm gonna cut that top section out and replace it with a much flatter piece I think. Thanks Glen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaskedVengeance[Staff] Posted November 15, 2020 Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 Yeah the right-side shim appears to be a part of the excess flashing. I have some of that exact stuff in my “trash” 2-gallon ziplock bags. Since ATA sends two sheets of spare ABS for cover strips you should definitely have enough to cut some for the kidney shimming.Sent via Imperial Tapatalk Comms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted November 15, 2020 Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 4 hours ago, Phat Rob said: Yeah that right shim has me a little worried as well. I think I'm gonna cut that top section out and replace it with a much flatter piece I think. Thanks Glen. I would however make sure you cut all of your cover strips before using excess material for side shims, you don't want to end up with a piece too small 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted June 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 Oh man, it's been a while lol! And with good reason at least haha! Ya see, I had hoped to have most of the trimming and fitting work done before our first born introduced herself last December. Well, our little one had something to say about that and decided she was ready to hatch a few weeks early! So on Thanksgiving Day appropriately enough, little baby was born! Meet Frances Leonor, the newest member of the Galactic Empire! Coincidentally, she goes by "Lea". That is pure coincidence and not a Star Wars nod I swear haha! After moving across the country a few months back and little Lea FINALLY sleeping through the night I now have the time to devote at least a couple of hours a week to my armor. I've decided to forgo adding shims to the sides of the kidney plate (or was it the ab plate?- idk). This gives me a reason to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle so that's gotta have some worthwhile benefits right? Taking baby steps (No pun intended lol) I'm now gonna work on those little nick-nacks like the gloves, ab attachments and thermal detonator-or is it the o2 canister? Today's progress is just me sharing how I've measured the canister for eventual cutting. For accurate measurements, I've referred to several threads including : Without further ado... Here are my tools of the trade. And the measured pieces. I've got a PVC pipe in mind for the actual canister piece but would like to clear it with more experienced builders first. I've managed to track down a 2.5" pipe which I'll of course, color the right shade of gray. I'll have to do more research on the best paint. And hey it's shipped from my state! https://tinyurl.com/4mck9ke9 care of Ebay. Is this a good find or am I completely barking up the wrong tree? I, of course, will be ordering those super nice clips from Ukswrath. I hope they're still available haha. So that's it for this week's post guys. I eagerly await your well-educated responses and suggestions. Thanks as always! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaskedVengeance[Staff] Posted June 4, 2021 Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 Hi Rob! Great to see you back at it, and congrats on your little one! That's sorta what happened to me in a way; an infant, COVID, and work. I got a little obsessed with my TD build back in the fall, and below is a link to the first of my two current posts on that component. As far as your pipe size is concerned, you can actually simply pick up any 2" (which is measured as the inner diameter) PVC pipe at any hardware store. Instead of a long 8' section, I grabbed a 2' length at Lowes or HD. If you get white or black, you'll need to paint it, but if you get the gray conduit, you can likely leave it unpainted. Part 2 (at the very end of the post) of my TD build goes quite in-depth into the diameters of the pipe, and it's important to know that the original props were 68mm outer diameter, while most US and Canada makers use the imperial (haha) 2" measurements. ATA is no different, which is what my armor is, and the end caps fit the 2" pipe. As for the paint color, I initially painted mine too dark (using Ukswrath's old suggestion), but Andrew pointed out a primer (Testors 1237 spray primer, used in conjunction with a shiny clear coat). Since the TD color is meant to match the gray paint on the helmets of TKs, I actually found Testors 1238 (the spray version of the liquid 1138) to be a perfect match, though I haven't documented that on my build thread yet. Hopefully this is helpful to you! I look forward to continuing to watch your progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted June 4, 2021 Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 14 hours ago, Phat Rob said: Meet Frances Leonor, the newest member of the Galactic Empire! Coincidentally, she goes by "Lea". That is pure coincidence and not a Star Wars nod I swear haha! Congratulations for your little girl Rob!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted July 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) Good Morning! Back for my monthly armor update! Last month was devoted towards finishing the gloves and the thermal detonator, Thank you @justjoseph63 for the glove order and the flexible hand guards! Even if they are essentially chemical gloves they look and fit great! https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49156-fs-rubber-gloves-for-expert-infantrycenturion-level/ The hand guards are also spectacular! To ensure the best centering, the gloves were marked with a Sharpie and blue tape. Before sanding these guys, I etched scoring marks with an x-acto for that added layer of traction for gluing. Good ol' nail polish remover was used for removing the printed text. Here's how the guards sit at the knuckle and with a closed fist. Aaaand open palm... Alright, continuing the work on the thermal detonator here's what we have so far... Thank you to @ukswrathfor the Belt Clips! Superior craftsmanship and hyper fast service! Thank you @MaskedVengeance for your guidance regarding the detonator. It certainly made life easier when acquiring the necessary items for completion. For the detonator body I ran down to the local hardware store, purchased a 2" PVC and sawed it down to size. I eventually whittled it down to 6 3/4", filing down a bevel along both rims. As you see among the snapshot of items used, I bought a spray can of Testors 1238 to achieve that dark gray tone. I have assembled all of the pieces to fit for eventual fastening, Before I fasten everything, I just wanted to clear all of the measurements first. From end to end, the canister is 7 and 1/4". (I know the pic looks like 1/2" but it's not.) The width between the middle panel and end caps is 1/2", There are some different angles to make sure everything sits correctly. I know it's not much but believe me I'm trying. Looking after little LeeLee requires my full attention nowadays but I wouldn't trade that hard work for anything. I will not fasten anything until I receive y'alls well-experienced knowledge and blessings. As always, my humble thank you's for your help and time! I ALWAYS and SINCERELY appreciate it! Edited July 10, 2021 by Phat Rob Forgot to recognize for help 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted July 10, 2021 Report Share Posted July 10, 2021 Hi Rob, those handguards looks great !! About the TD, if I can make a suggestion. consider the allocation of the TD panel in such way that the rounded washer detail looks more to the front than upwards . I suggest to trim a bit the bottom section to allow the panel rotation to the front. Reference Images We are here to help. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justjoseph63[Staff] Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 You are moving along at a fantastic pace James, and are doing all the right things! As I say to all who start a build- Take....your...time, ask lots of questions and post up lots of photos before cutting, gluing or adding hardware. When in doubt, ask. Mario hit the nail on the head about the TD plate placement, so you will be good to go there if you follow his advice. Keep on doing what you are doing and know that we are here for ya'. P.S. AWESOME tip about using nail polish remover to get rid of the text on the gloves. I am SO stealing that idea and adding it to my sales thread. THANKS! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemi[Staff] Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Hello Rob. If I can make another suggestion, you may also be able to trim the left TD cap a bit. The distance between the cap and the panel, looks a little narrower on that side. Reference Image Rob, you are doing an excellent job on your build!. Congratulations!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted August 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2021 (edited) Good morning! And thanks @TKSpartan and @Chemi for your suggestions regarding the final adjustments to the detonator. As you can see, I've shaved off a bit from the bottom of that middle panel (1 cm) and simply rotated said panel towards more even cap-end cuts. I also noticed that for some reason I never actually trimmed, sanded and smoothed the butt plate. Referencing the CRL, the edges are angled. Oof. And now the area I've been dreading. The bucket. So bear with me on this guys. Before I decided to try my hand at completing a 501st approved full TK suit I had ordered my ATA Works bucket by itself just as a project. Of course, this thing is RIDDLED with...discrepancies haha. Oh my lord, here goes... What I'm not sure about are the comm tips and the paint on the grill-but let's be honest I'm sure they need some adjustments. The ear pieces are very much sub-par. It looks like there's a lot of return edge still on that upper section. I plan on severely trimming this to drastically reduce the empty space between the helmet and ear piece. The blue stripes were created with my own stencil (obviously lol) and will need reworking I'm sure. I'm leaning towards decals so if anyone has any insight or suggestions I'm all ears. Any overspray will be washed off. The cheek markings were also hand painted and do not appear symmetrical from left and right sides. Also leaning towards decals while keeping the original black and gray paint borders. The left side looks slightly better I think. Still gonna fix. The black grill lines are pretty rough. Again, I think I can keep the black and gray paint job but would like to paint over the grill lines and replace with some sweet decals. What'choo think? Oh man this is embarrassing. So you can clearly see that the hardhat suspensions are on backwards. Again, all overspray will be washed out thoroughly along with any dirt. Other than that I'm really not sure. All suggestions are most welcome. I feel like I'm 8 years old, my dad just found out what trouble I've been into and the whippings are finally over haha. Thanks again so much for your always helpful suggestions and ideas! Edited August 3, 2021 by Phat Rob Organizing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justjoseph63[Staff] Posted August 4, 2021 Report Share Posted August 4, 2021 The helmet can be the most frustrating part of most people's builds. but yours is coming along nicely! A few paint issues that should be pretty easy to remedy, but hang in there... you are on the right track and doing great! If I could make a few suggestions they would be: As per the CRL for Basic approval, the paint on the teeth should not extend into the gum area. Most of yours are perfect, but there seems to be a bit much on the tops of the ones shown. A little non-acetone paint remover, a toothpick and some Q-tips and you will have it nailed! Note in the reference image how the paint in the tears goes all the way to the inside edges (just like your side and rear traps). NICE job on the stripes! A valiant effort on the tube stripes, Rob, but as you mentioned it would be best to remove the ones you have. If you want to go with decals (no white background) I will send you a set (no charge.. I'll even pay postage). Just PM me if interested. Not the biggest of deals but certainly an easy fix here. The brow trim should be a little shorter. I know the ear gaps are bothering you, but as seen below many (if not most) of the originals did indeed have gaps (part of their charm). Your left one is perfectly acceptable at all levels, but your right one could use a small trim. SUPER nice alignment on the ear screws! Last up, I noticed that there appears to be a small anomaly on your posterior plate. That (and all) areas should have a smooth finish, The reason being is that small areas like that can be prone to cracking. An easy fix with some sandpaper! Keep up the awesome work, Rob, and keep those photos and questions rolling in! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 4, 2021 Report Share Posted August 4, 2021 To help the ears sit a little flusher you could add a step to the top portion of the ear so it sits down a little more were the back plates steps down to the front plate, thread here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted September 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2021 (edited) Happy Labor Day! This well-earned holiday brings you a monthly update focused on the helmet! Let's start with the frown! Using some extra-small q-tips (You can find these at Hobby Lobby.), paint thinner and good ol' 1138 Gray. (That CAN'T just be a coincidence lol!) for touch-ups, I managed to neatly trim those trouble areas. Onto the tears. Using some Gloss Black paint, I expanded the black outline, which of course, resulted in having to completely repaint the tear lines. In this next pic, you'll also notice the difference that decals make in comparison to my previous, hand-painted effort. BIG Thank You's to @justjoseph63 for sending me a set of FREE blue decals! They obviously make a HUGE difference! BTW the sticker was applied before the ear piece was removed to ensure a proper fit. Also note the brow trim's...trimming haha. For these decals, I not only used paint thinner to remove the previously-placed blue paint, but Goof Off, as well. There were some expected stains that I knew would be difficult to completely remove. This next pic shows a more obvious stain. I made sure to use the pencil test to guarantee a proper width from the corner of the cheek. Next, I decided to adjust the black lines as seen on the back gray areas of the back. I used a not-so-successful masking method to produce straighter lines. I'm not sure if it's an improvement-which is a shame cuz this was truly tedious work. Lastly, I removed the lining along the bottom of the bucket to remove the predicted stains. Yup, I see the two prominent stains along the bottom there, underneath the comm-links. I'll be sure to take care of those. Also, as much as it pained me to decide, I'm gonna go ahead and redo those ear pieces. With my experience adjusting all of these pieces, my confidence has greatly increased and I know that I can do better. Aye aye aye, what am I getting myself into, lol? Hopefully, next month I will be showing off those new earpieces with minimal to no space shown between the ears and bucket! That's all I had time for this month, ya'll. (Life is crazy with a baby and a wife who's in grad school haha!) In addition to the improved earpieces, next month I will include work on the hardhat suspensions and bottom-liner mounting. As always, your help and suggestions are most invaluable and appreciated and I can't wait to see what you have to say about the latest and greatest. Take care y'all! Edited September 6, 2021 by Phat Rob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted September 6, 2021 Report Share Posted September 6, 2021 Just make sure the fall of your tube stripes are from the top falling forward. Notice they shouldn't go over the crease line You may also want to look at the spacing of your stripes in the traps, the are a spaced a little differently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted April 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Ah geez...I knew taking care of baby while the wife attends to her Masters studies was gonna be a bear but I still feel sooo lazy lol. It's been 7 months since my last post but I've tried my best to address those callouts from waaaaay back in September. Alright let's get to it! My main concern were those nasty gaps between the ears and cheeks. I like to think I took care of those from both the front and back sides but I'll let y'all be the judges on those. I made sure to carve out some pits for the ear screws so's the screws sit in flush. I also cleaned up the vertical lines in the back (gray areas) and made sure the blue stripes decals are situated correctly. Lastly, I made sure that the harness was oriented correctly within the interior of the helmet. I tried following a very thorough tutorial on this forum concerning cutting/shaping the ear attachments but it completely went over my head. Being a trained artist with both traditional and CG media I'd always considered myself pretty adept at anything visual/spatial but this helmet project proved to be a true challenge. If I ever finish this part of the costume at a reasonable standard of acceptance I cannot tell you how proud (and relieved haha) I will be. As always, I sincerely and truly appreciate your guidance and time! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Real life comes first and sounds like you have had your hands full, great to see you back at it. ATA does have quite wide ears and you could trim a little more if you wanted but as you have some nice gaps now I would leave it and maybe address at a later time (or for higher approval if required) Here are a few references to show how large the gaps were on original helmets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted May 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2022 Good Morning everyone. Today we're starting out with long overdue revisits towards the posterior plate and the shoulder pieces. I got rid of the slight bumps/irregularities at the marked areas. The shoulder pieces have been realigned and recentered. Notice the ridges go over 3 times over the chest plate. Once I have been assured that this is an acceptable placement I intend on cutting off the rear tabs of the shoulder strap. Lastly, for todays post we have the ab control panels. What we're looking at here is how I marked the underside of the mold pull for cutting out. I marked the panels edges at approximately half a centimeter for final cutting. The corners are cut at 90 degrees. Notice the markings for paint application do not touch the base of the raised buttons. Finally, we have the painted panels. For the blue color, I used what I believe to be the last bottle of Humbrol 14 French blue glossy enamel paint on Earth, haha. As always, thank you so much for your guidance and assistance throughout this build. 2022 may be the year it gets done lol! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phat Rob Posted July 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 Good morning fellow builders! This months collection mainly involves creating/placing the snap plates. Before we get into that though, here's some pix of the shoulder straps. First, the corners were marked on the chest plate to properly align them for gluing/installation. Next came the clipping after gluing. The right one shifted slightly after doing this so I had to reattach it. Onto the good stuff! First, let's take a look at the tools used. I opted for old shool hammering in opposed to the punch tool as I wasn't keen on making my fist sore from constant punching in all 7000 snaps. These plates measure at a little wider than 2"x1.5". I don't show my drill, but yeah holes were drilled in before installing the snaps. I've checked out many other builds as well as this diagram to make sure everything's in place properly. Does everything check out? The next set of photos shows my markings for the placement of the split rivets along the kidney plate and ab plate. The last set of photos shows additional snap plates included on the ab plate and kidney plate. I'm not sure, but checking out collections from other builders, it appears as if the split rivets serve as purely ornamental and not necessarily functional. The same applies to the crotch rivets? Is this observation correct? The snap plate on the crotch was heated to apply a bend so as to fit along the curvature of that area. Thanks again for your continued guidance and time throughout this project, I truly appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.