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jinxed

Sandtrooper
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Everything posted by jinxed

  1. Brad Click - TD 14192 Requesting Sandtrooper Access. https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=28423
  2. Thanks! GML was hoping to complete my review by end of week, so if there's changes I'll know soon. Yea, my belt was goofy in the last pic. It wasnt like that in my submission pics. I took it off to get a pic of the side rivets, then stuck it back on still in the helmet. You know you cant see a thing in those. The wife snapped that one as I was walking around.
  3. Well, I got the final details done on the armor and submitted application photos to my GML. Hopefully soon, I'll get that ID# then start working towards PO!
  4. THAT is super cool! Adding a film frame would be a nice touch. I have a SubAssault game that will eventually get made over, but also found another "macrobinocular" type toy at the thrift store that's a working night vision. It'll get made over too, but both will be kept in working order. Nice to have lights and sounds already built in sometimes. Plus the kiddo loves to play the sub-assault. Going to have to keep my eye open for junk 8mm. Such great potential.
  5. WOW!! Ok, so things escalated kinda quick. We dont frequent the conventions and are pretty much out of the loop on that kind of stuff. But for the last couple years, my wife has been volunteering a booth at the Denver Comic Con for the library. So for grins my kiddo and I have dressed up in something and tagged along basically to check out the other cool costumes. This year she was working Sunday, which we decided would be cool fathers day gig. Saturday afternoon I found out that my armor maker Cal from Far Away Creations was going to be down there with his landspeeder. There was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to get a photo with it in my kit. That said, I had been wrestling with my weathering, and hadn't even started the helmet, boots, belt, and pauldron. I had no pouches attached, no idea if my mic set up would work, or even how to get it in the armor. Regardless, I basically pulled an all nighter rushing through the minimum bits, and threw it all in a bin Sunday morning as we headed out. I met up with Cal who graciously let me use their "behind the booth" area to suit up, and just like that, my first public outing. Heck of a way to test out everything. My shoulder pouch isnt dyed yet and was just strapped to the pauldron, way outta whack. I rushed the helmet weathering and it's really ham fisted. I didnt have time to work on my TK Boots, so the CaBoots had to make the cut. No fans in the bucket and my sound was feedbacky and hard to hear. BUT...I was in heaven for about 3 hours! Got some great feedback from other con goers, and more importantly some 501st members. Nothing fell off or broke, everything seemed to stay put, and felt pretty comfortable. Biggest issue was my voice box. People couldnt hear me. If I turned it up, feedback was horrible. So for the day it was mostly thumbs up and waving. A few details to take care of and I should be able to submit pics to my GML and get my basic approval!
  6. BIG thank on this Hausi. I had a couple days I thought the wife was going to bury me in the backyard. I played around with the "wash and dab" and finally was getting some results I liked AND could replicate. I basically took almost everything off and re-worked it back up. Still not 100% happy with all the areas, but MUCH closer to what I wanted it to look like. It's weird, I thought things like the ammo belt that were really detailed would be most difficult, but for me its the bigger smooth areas. Time to take a huge breath and do the helmet... Here's where it's at now:
  7. Well. I've lost my way. I kept going with what I had, adding in the "oil layer" and although it looked genuinely dirty it was just way too much. I actually think it looks cool, but much too far away from what I see on screen or where I want it to be. I tried to lighten it, but totally killed it. My rag was removing all the nice subtle areas I wanted, and not doing a thing to the overly dark areas. Man trying to paint ABS is just a binary operation...it's either on or off, no in between. I have been trying over and over with different techniques but just cant hit the mark. If I do come up with something I like, I can't replicate it on a different piece. Especially having issues getting any kind of subtle weathering on the big areas. Being an artist, this has been particularly frustrating.
  8. OK, something about curiosity and a cat...or cat litter. I ran across the street and picked up a bag of "fullers earth" and a can of aquanet. Cost me a total of $2.89 I did a little test on a scrap ammo belt. Certainly a messier procedure. What say you to this??
  9. This is the part I have been dreading. I actually like weathering stuff, but THIS is such an elusive thing. SO much conflicting mental acrobatics going on. Many reference pics show the actual armor looking completely slathered in gunk, others look quite minimal. The old on film vs real life conundrum. Early on I decided that the PandaTrooper tutorial was the way to go. I actually really like his finished submission pictures and have been striving to achieve that quality. Got all the paints, supplies and went to work. Working the pieces one by one, close up, I was content. Then I pieced the back together and took it outside for a photo as a way to step back from it. Immediately I felt like it looked way too splotchy. The darks too dark and the lights too light. It looks crusty, not dusty. So I pulled a couple pieces back, and this time used the paint much more sparingly smearing it around instead of dabbing it on. Then used a bit wetter rag to blot off the excess with less dry time. It looked a bit better and "less is more". So I re-worked everything I had done thinking I had it....but I'm still on the fence. I dont want all the features to look like they are cartoon outlined but I feel thats what I got going on. I am considering switching to the hairspray/grout? I have to say I quite like the results Rob achieved in his thread. Especially the all over dusty effect without harsh lines and spots. That bust shot with the pauldron is awesome. My concern is with the hairspray always feeling tacky and adding a weird glossy lacquered look? This was my first go Too splotchy so I wiped down the majority, and did another pass much lighter. Took a comparison shot. Thinking I was happy, I reworked the rest of the pieces I had done. Still not sure it looks right? Maybe it's just being too close and not seeing the whole.
  10. OK. I need your eyes. Before I weather everything, I want to be sure there's nothing jacked up. I re-did my shoulder strapping per some suggestions. It helped a ton with the gaps and rotation, thank you!! Mainly I'm concerned with the build/spacing/details on the armor. Photographing bright white is tough! Some things I'm not happy with, or know is missing: I got my neck seal from Darman on FIST, but cant get it sit right in the back. It's sticking out pretty bad and nothing I do makes it better. So for now, ignore that. I am still waiting on my S-trim for the bucket. Yes, my Caboots are not correct, but I got them when they were. TK Boots is out of 9 D so until I can find some, it's the best I have. I have silicone hand guards to glue on my gloves, but wanted to be sure my arms were sorted to adjust spacing.
  11. Just waiting on S-trim and bucket will be complete and ready for weathering!
  12. Well, I'm not sure what was more nerve racking, painting the tube stripes and coach lines, or skipping coffee to do so. No need to send emergency crews...I'm fully caffeinated now. So I did some testing on the tube stripes. Initially I planned to mask the top and bottom, then paint the lines and remove tape to clean them up. Didnt like the super crisp ends with wavy centers. Decided to draw them in pencil and just freehand fill them in. I think they have much more "tidy messiness" to them. Then came my big worry...doing the coach lines on the grey. I tapped into every bit of my past hand lettering and sign making experience, which isn't a ton. BUT, I am super chuffed with the result and VERY relieved it's done without too many glaring bodges. Went ahead and did the vocoder too while I had the black paint out. QUESTION...is the vocoder supposed to be gloss or matte? I have a dullcoat if needed, but was thinking that the weathering is pretty much going to dull everything.
  13. Got the ears as close as I'm able. Butchered a hardhat and got my insert ready. Then dismantled it to get some color on it. First and second coats of grey done. Really cool how these start to come to life with the details. Freehanding the paint was a nice zen step in this process. Gonna have to lay off the coffee when I get to the coach lines. Thought about using the tube stripe decals to trace as a "stencil" , but I think I'm just going to freehand those too.
  14. Thanks @Airborne Trooper - I had some leftover elastic so I took your advice and just added it to the back of the existing straps. Made them MUCH more stable. Also made new shoulderbell straps in nylon. Even without the extra elastic, that helped quite a bit. Got back into the helmet. Walked downstairs to my work area and forgot I left the table light on...this kinda stopped me in my tracks. I'll never tire of this.
  15. @DarthStevius and @sand_dorn Thanks! Had to step away from it for a couple days. I got working on the ears and frustration rose pretty solid. First one went really well and easy, second not so much. I had to re-drill a couple holes in the bucket that I didnt want to. Still not crazy about the fit, but it's together. Got the lenses installed nice and clean though! Decided to work on making a neck seal and focus on some of the other stuff a bit. I think I'm going to remake my shoulder straps. Something is funky with the front/back/shoulder bell recipe. The elastic strap to the bell is pulling the shoulder elastic which makes it all droopy. The bells just wont stay aligned. I thinking of making new shoulder straps with the same visually correct elastic, but gluing some nylon webbing under it. Maybe replace the elastic to the should bell with nylon too?
  16. Thank you for this feedback. Yea, I don't want the brow super low, more just level. Maybe @ 1/4" below the trim showing. I think I'll go ahead and cut the additional teeth too. As for the bicep/forearm gap, I didnt have any strapping in place for them yet in the above pic. The forearms are just sitting on my thumbs. I wasnt sure on using straps to the biceps or going the foam route. I decided to go with straps that are currently waiting for glue to cure. Should be able to try em on again tomorrow. I'm hoping the way I placed them will help pull the shoulder bells forward just a bit.
  17. Took another big step and finally got up the nerve to cut out the helmet. I was so freaked to mess it up. Scoring and snapping the other parts feels much more controlled, but a dremel to ABS?! It's like trying to cut a straight line with a red hot scalpel in warm butter. But, it did raise a question of dentistry...6 or 8 teeth?? I'm leaning towards cutting out the extra holes for a couple reasons. First, I like it. The other has to do with the actual helmet. I think because the ABS used is thicker, that the detail is not quite as sharp. You can JUST barely see an indent for that last set of holes. I penciled in where they would be. I think on a sharper detailed bucket, even if you leave the last hole solid, that the shadows still create the illusion of the hole. On this one, I think it would totally disappear. So my thinking is to go ahead and cut it out. I THINK that ANH TD's were seen with both. At this point I'm not emulating a specific TD, but if I were down the road, then this might hinder higher PO approval yea? BTW, I will have and orange pauldron, but I prefer a lower/straight brow bucket and from my research none of the screen captains were low?
  18. Test fitting the lower half and finished the strapping on the shoulder bells and biceps. Still on the fence about connecting the bicep and forearm, but need something to aid keeping them in place. Wondered if it might help keep my shoulderbells from rotating backwards too? Fairly happy with the gaps and overall fit. Unless something is glaring, I will cut and finish assemble the thighs and strapping. Would like some input on the sniper plate. I have looked at every SWAT submission 5 times deep and cannot for the life of me get a good feel for where exactly to position the height. It's really elusive depending on the viewing angle. Right now it's taped with the outer points lined up with the width of the shin from straight on. It doesnt interfere with the thigh which is nice, but is it too low??
  19. Felt like a big step, but I finally got to test fit the torso. Went OK, but it revealed some issues. Ignore the black fastex belt...it's what I plan to use for the thigh garter, but is standing in for a proper belt I just don't have yet. Also, the shins are only sitting there and are open in the back. This was to test the fit of the torso and shoulder bells, but my daughter wanted me to put on everything I could. - Despite careful measuring, I think several of my straps need re-made to different lengths. Especially between the kidney/tail piece. When I connected the tail to the cod, it pulled the top of the tail out away from the kidney. I really don't care for elastic being somewhat unpredictable, but I fear nylon webbing would be so rigid it would pop snaps like crazy. I was already having issues with the chest/ab straps popping. I know on one side the ab panel is actually pushing up on the snap and popping it, so I have already moved the snap plate up hoping it will solve that. - Tail piece needs massaged narrower. The belt really pulled in the kidney/abs so now the tail sticks out on the sides. - My shoulder bell straps are just clamped in place to find the correct position. Not sure what to think. They are basically touching the shoulder straps at the top, but would create big gaps if I drop them down? However, I have no idea how a backpack strap will fit in there?? - The biceps are only attached via the shoulder bell elastic/hook method, but they were tending to creep up and around. I am considering an internal strap as well to keep them better managed. Opinions?
  20. Well, I think I have the shin issue fixed...or at least minimized. Instead of cutting I figured I should try harder to get the back the aligned. So I taped it up and went at the whole thing with the heat gun hoping to set it. It seemed to work although now I have a slight twist to the seam. I'm going forward with it and hopefully it wont be too noticeable once closed up with the cover strip.
  21. That looks incredible. The weathering is just perfect.
  22. Well, still digging into the shin issue before cutting. My shins were marked inside by Cal before I picked them up, so thats how I mated them, but started to wonder if they were mismatched. Looking closer at them, it appears that the right sides of the shins are identical, and only the lefts are different. So that rules out swapping them I think. It would just create the same issue on the other leg. Also noticed that the right leg as assembled has a noticeably bigger diameter. I didnt think much of it since asymmetry is so prevalent in the armor. Although I am curious if maybe I accidentally received two "outside rights" with one incorrectly marked as an "inside left"? Hard to say, this kit is from 2010 and from my understanding went through a big revision @ 2012. I've reached out to FAC for insight.
  23. More updates...and questions. Taping and test fitting the thighs/shins for sizing is giving me issues. The fronts of the shins are glued and went together really nice and straight. The backs have not been so cooperative. The left one specifically. Despite trying to massage into a better fit, the two haves will not line up even close. The edges are parallel, but top to bottom it's really twisted. I've tried gentle heat, taping, clamping but no joy. There is no way hooks or velcro will hold this long term. There are pronounced return edges, so I cant just trim the seam at an angle. The cover strips would not hide it. That said, would it be horrible if I trimmed the top and bottom where marked to correct the "twist"? The bottom wouldn't be noticeable, but it would create a slight offset to the moulded edge at the top. BTW, the "notched" backs were according to the trim lines. Hopefully this shows the concern and my proposed fix: I can tell the backs of the thighs will also be giving me grief, but for now I'm more concerned with length of the front. Its tough to gauge with everything taped together, but can / should I trim some of the top front down? I know mobility is not supposed to be the first thought that pops to mind regarding armor, but I can't bent forward/down at all. The top digs in something fierce. Forget bending down to pick up something, stairs would be a no go. Thigh should sit right at the top of the knee cap yea? Thats basically where I had it taped to sit so I cant lower the whole thing. Now, I realize any semblance of return edge would be lost, which is fine. I actually wanted to create the notch on the top outside of the thigh anyway. But my concern is, will I be creating too much gap to the ab panel? Related to creating notches where previously were none...I want to make the kidney notches and trim the butt back because I think the side looks odd just dropping down right in line with the ab. My concern there lies with the kidney plate. It's flush top and bottom with the full length of the ab/cod piece. Usually when I see the notches, it's to create a transition between the lower edge of the cod to the butt piece. Meaning the kidney is longer. On mine, I could create a nice notch if I come from the seam between the ab/cod back @ 22mm and trim the butt edges to match. Here's a crude overlay with the idea. Also laid in about an inch trim off the thigh. Too much gap? Overthinking stuff that will be covered by a belt and pouch anyway??
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