PGHtrooper21's First AP build[*AP]

[PGHtrooper21]

After that was done, I began to work on the “face†of the Helmet. I drew out lines on the eyes with a pencil and drilled some holes in the eyes for me to get my blade in to cut it out. I started out first using the “utility blade†and then I used the ‘Xacto knifeâ€. I was thankful I had on my gloves. I slipped and cut my glove. I got a little nick. If I did not have the glove on I would have went to the ER.

Using both types of blades came in handy with trimming out the eyes. Especially, in the corners where it gets tight. After, the eyes were cut out; I used some sandpaper to smooth out the edges.

[PGHtrooper21]

Next up was the teeth. I am going for “ANH Stuntâ€. I got the drill and drilled out the teeth with the two drill bits that I used on the “ear capsâ€. When that was finished I used my “Xacto bade with a point tip. I put the tip in the back and started to carve it out. I then went to the front and trim there too. I kept doing that till I felt that it looked right. I was doing that till I finished all the teeth. Then I used “jeweler’s files†and “sandpaper’ to smooth out the roughness. When that was finished I drilled out the center hole on the side and cut out the “Flare†with “curved scissorsâ€.

[PGHtrooper21]

Next up, I began to work on the back part of my helmet. I drilled out the center hole and cut out the trim line. I used a “hole punch†at the top corner so the corner will not split. I got this from studying “Mike’s†build. Thanks for this helpful tip!!!!! After that, I got out my “brow trim†from ‘Seals Direct’ “Square U Channel†“no52â€. I put the trim on the brow marked off where I need to trim it and cut it and placed it on. Then I got the front “Face plate†and lined up the center holes and screwed in a screw on each side to see how it looks.

[PGHtrooper21]

What do you think? How are the eyes and teeth? How much more should I trim off the “ear caps�

Andy

[PGHtrooper21]

Tonight I began to clean up the faceplate “eyes†and “teethâ€. I used a “Hobby knife†that I picked up at Harbor Freight Tools. I liked this one better that my other “Xacto bladeâ€. The reason is that it has a rubber grip for better support. I also picked up a “Stainless Steel Fillet Glove†to protect my other hand. Also, I used “jeweler’s files†as well.

I first used the “Hobby blade†to trim the area. Then I used the “jeweler’s files†to smooth it out. There were three types of “files†I used were, a flat, round and an oval one. The flat one was used on the “teethâ€, while all three were used on the eyes. I tried to get an even “rectangle†shape. I kept filling till I thought it look right. I did noticed that made the smallest left side one a little wider that the one on the far right.

For the “eyes†I started out with a “utility blade†to get some of the rough edges out, and then I went to the “files†to smooth them out. I also used the “hobby blade†to round out the “inner points†of the eyes. Then I used the oval and round “files†to get the “round†look. I used the flat file and the others as well and kept filling by tracing out the “eye shape†by going over and over and over. After I was done, I wet a paper towel and wiped off the dust and used a dry piece of paper towel to dry the face plate.

How does it look so far?

 

Andy

[PGHtrooper21]

[PGHtrooper21]

[PGHtrooper21]

I was at Home Depot the other day and I came across a “Dremel†that I liked It was a “Dremel Stylusâ€. What I liked about it was that it was light, easy to handle and powerful. 5,000 to 25,000 rpm’s. It can handle like a pencil or pen when writing. I bought it to do the sanding. I also found some Stainless Steel mesh gloves at our local food market, “Giant Eagleâ€. Since cutting my finger, the blade cut through my utility glove. I rather be safe than sorry.

I used the sanding drum to sand around the eyes. There was a lip in the back of the eyes I wanted to “touch upâ€. The “Dremel†handled well. After that I began to work on the ears. I read on “FISD†not to cut too close to the “trim lines†on the “curve†part. So when trimming I tried to cut further away from the lines and “clean them upâ€. First, I “sanded the “round†part, I then took out my “blade†and cut out the “curve†area in a curve motion. I then used the “grinder†and “sander†bit on the “Dremel†to hopefully make the “ears†fit.

I then tried to match up the ears where I wanted them. I know that twill have “gaps†between the “lid†and the “capsâ€. I “trimmed†the “brow†so the caps will not “rub†on them. When I felt I was happy with the placement of the “caps†on the “helmet†I brought out the drill and began to drill the “holes “. I got the “screws†and screwed them in. There are some gaps, like I said before, I knew about that. The pencil marks on the “Ears†are the “trim linesâ€. I have to use soap to remove them.

I found out how small the “AP†“helmet†really is. When I put the helmet on and the bottom front part was close to my “throatâ€! I have to trim the under part out so I can put the helmet on with the “S trim†on and so it can feel comfortable wearing it.

How did I do?

Andy

 

[PGHtrooper21]

[PGHtrooper21]

I was not happy with my first attempt to paint my helmet. I rushed and did not like the outcome. So, I decided to remove the paint by brushing and wiping thinner and using a “Xacto knife†began to scrape and remove the paint. After the paint was removed I washed the helmet with water and soap and dried it with a paper towel. I used “Blue Painters Tape†to tape the areas so the paint will not run.

 

Taping the teeth was rough. I keep ripping, removing and resizing so that I will not get paint outside the “Teeth†area. Also I trimmed the tape with a “Xacto knifeâ€. I used “Grey Humbrol†paint for the “Trapsâ€, Tears†and the Teethâ€.

 

[PGHtrooper21]

After letting the paint dry for a week, I wanted to work on the “Black†outline of the “traps†and “tearsâ€.

I was debating on whether using a brush or a “Sharpie†“Paint Marker†I discovered at JoAnne Fabrics and Michaels. I read from another thread that someone used a “Sharpie Marker†to outline the “traps†and “tearsâ€. I picked up some fine brushes for the detail work.

I wanted to have a painted on look for my “ANH Stuntâ€. I was inspired by a thread today that showed up close views of “Original†ANH Helmets. As various people have said on these boards is that the originals are varied in paint mistakes. I used that as my inspiration. Sometimes I am in between trying to be too perfect or I tell myself, that the original suits were hasty put together and unless the person is one of us, people might not notice.

 

As I was taking off the tape there were some places where I needed to scrape off some paint. I used a Xacto knife for this. I decided to use the “Sharpie Markerâ€. If anyone goes on this route, you have to shake the marker for a bit and press down on the tip a few times to get the paint flowing to the tip. Keep repeating this process a few times. I liked doing this better than hand painting. It was giving the same “Painted lookâ€. You are in more control. Although, at times the shape of the helmet comes into play. The part that was the hardest was the lines in the “traps†and “tears†they are not as neat as I wanted them to be.

I also decided to use the “Sharpie†to paint the “vocoder†and the outline of the ears. I thought that turned out well. I was worried about painting that. I used a pencil to outline the “vocoder†and fill in the lines.

Any opinions?

 

Andy

 

[PGHtrooper21]

[seantrooper[TK]]

for the vocoder, remove the paint so it looks more like this (rough edit in photoshop, but you get the idea)

 

 

sean

[PGHtrooper21]

Back in June I went to my Dr.’s for a checkup. I got diagnosed with “Benign Hypertension”. After 5 months of taking Blood Pressure Medication and exercising I am about 10 pounds lighter and my blood Pressure is dropping I got in the mood to continue and finish my AP Build.

[PGHtrooper21]

AP Helmet Redo.

 

Back in August, I decided to redo my helmet. I was disappointed with the outcome of using “Sharpie Paint Markers”. I saw the “Sharpie Paint Markers” and though to give it a try. Mistake number 1. At first, I tried to use “Sand paper” to remove the paint. I even tried to use “Mr. Clean Magic Erasers”. Bad mistake! It made it worse! Mistake number 2, the “Sanding” and the “Magic Erasers” caused the paint to smear the helmet.

Here are some pics of my AP Helmet before the redo.

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/008-1.jpg[/img]

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http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/020-1.jpg[/img]

[PGHtrooper21]

So I decided to “Spray paint” the whole helmet. So I went out and bought a couple of cans of “Krylon Fusion White Gloss” spray paint. I took my Helmet apart, I got some newspaper and some rocks to hold down the newspaper and went out across my street and set my helmet on the wall and started to spray paint the individual pieces of my helmet. I sprayed a couple of coats and let it sit dry for a few days and put on a second coat and let it sit dry.

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/001-6.jpg[/img]

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/002-6.jpg[/img]

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http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/011-4.jpg[/img]

[PGHtrooper21]

Just discovered an error. I just posted the same pics on Garrison Carida cadet build thread and they are there. But they are not posting here? I do not know what is up?

 

Andy

[xaoslord]

The [/img] became part of your hyperlinked images. Here is how they should look:

 

Edited November 14, 2011 by xaoslord

[PGHtrooper21]

The [/img] became part of your hyperlinked images. Here is how they should look:

 

Ray,

 

THANKS!

 

I will check it out at home. I have a Word Doc as my journal with the links in them I will go over and look at them. I was ready to pull my hair out last night.

 

Andy

[troopermaster]

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Here ya go. To fix I flipped the little switch in the upper left of the editor to switch to bbcode mode.... and pasted the following:

 

[/color][img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/001-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/002-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/003-5.jpg]
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[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/006-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/007-5.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/009-4.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/011-4.jpg]

 

Nice sunset

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

 

So I decided to “Spray paint” the whole helmet. So I went out and bought a couple of cans of “Krylon Fusion White Gloss” spray paint. I took my Helmet apart, I got some newspaper and some rocks to hold down the newspaper and went out across my street and set my helmet on the wall and started to spray paint the individual pieces of my helmet. I sprayed a couple of coats and let it sit dry for a few days and put on a second coat and let it sit dry.

 

[PGHtrooper21]

Here ya go. To fix I flipped the little switch in the upper left of the editor to switch to bbcode mode.... and pasted the following:

 

[/color][img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/001-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/002-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/003-5.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/004-4.jpg]
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[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/005-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/006-6.jpg]
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[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/011-4.jpg]

 

Nice sunset

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

 

Here ya go. To fix I flipped the little switch in the upper left of the editor to switch to bbcode mode.... and pasted the following:

 

[/color][img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/001-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/002-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/003-5.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/004-4.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/005-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/005-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/006-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/007-5.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/009-4.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/011-4.jpg]

 

Nice sunset

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

 

Here ya go. To fix I flipped the little switch in the upper left of the editor to switch to bbcode mode.... and pasted the following:

 

[/color][img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/001-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/002-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/003-5.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/004-4.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/005-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/005-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/006-6.jpg]
[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/007-5.jpg]
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[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/011-4.jpg]

 

Nice sunset

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

 

THANKS ERIC. Even though I live in the city, we have some nice sunsets!

 

Andy

[PGHtrooper21]

<P>[img=http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/012-4.jpg]</P>
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<P>[img]http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/pghtrooper21/023-2.jpg[/img</P>

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Edited November 15, 2011 by PGHtrooper21

[PGHtrooper21]

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Edited November 15, 2011 by PGHtrooper21

[PGHtrooper21]

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Edited November 15, 2011 by PGHtrooper21