millenium1 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 E6000 all the way for me Constantin, it takes longer to cure but it's amazing stuff for workability when doing the thighs and shins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Thanks, Ricky. Yeah, E6000 is more safe but I couldn't resist the charm of the much faster (i.e. instantly) working super glue. Does anybody have any experiences in removing super glue on ABS plastic using a heat gun ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millenium1 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I certainly would not put a heat gun near the ABS Constantin, warping could occur on the forearms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 As it turned out, the arms could not be salvaged. However, Paul was kind enough to help me out there (Many thanks again, Paul!). This was really a rookie mistake and I can only urge those who build an armor for the first time to learn from my mistakes and use a more forgiving kind of glue (I will use E6000 now). Anyway, no use crying over spilled milk - the show must go on ;-) After some finetuning with my helmet, particularly the ears I did some rough trimming and test fitting of the right leg. What do you think - too much, too little? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daelma Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 NIce building till now dude !! keep it up wish you good luck and much fun more special forces for our Garrision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Looking good buddy! I do envy your legs, I got big meaty chunks, just about able to squeeze them in, haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Thanks, guys. Bas, I'm flattered - I don't often get compliments from other men on my legs, lol OKay, I've made a bit of progress on my armor (will upload some pics later) but haven't made any trimming of the legs yet. The process with the shins seems rather straightforward to me. I will go with 20mm strip joints on the front and 25mm on the back and equally cut the overlap. The thighs, however, are a little bit more tricky to cut on the back. I'm still waiting on confirmation by Paul but my plan is to roughly make the cut like this: The tricky part is that in order to have straight strip joints I will have to make a cut slightly skewed to the left (at least that's my theory at the moment). For the overlap on the top my idea would be to use a gas lighter or a iron to create a return edge and smooth the crossover section. Please feel more than welcome to share ideas, comments and criticism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Bas, I'm flattered - I don't often get compliments from other men on my legs, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3laton3 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 awesome job !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCRIBBLER Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Thanks, guys - really appreciate your support Today I did some test fitting. That is, after I overcame the belt challenge. There are quite a few approaches to this; I roughly followed this route:: 1. Fold the belt in half, marked the middle and aligned it with the center line: 2. Press the belt to the armor to define the vertical line on which the snap lies and put a snap ca 15mm from the ridge on each side (on the vertical line). 3. Press the canvas belt (without the ammo) to the snaps and mark up the touching point with a pencel on both sides 4. Install the corresponding snaps on the canvas belt and attached them to the armor 5. Then line up the ammo part over the belt (optimally have someone check if it's horizontal) and mark with a pencil through the 3 pre-drilled holes of the ammo part. 6. Rivet the three holes (I would advise using extra washers) and ét voila! That's how the final result looked like (no strapping yet, just tape): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Paul has been really great in guiding me through this build; This was his feedback re the cutting line of the thighs (red line was my initial idea, yellow an blue were his suggestion): More to come... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I like your mini-tutorial for the belt, very helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Glad you like it. I'll try to add some more info along the way where I found that generally too little details are available. The main threads I'm following for this build are : TM's very own: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/19340-tms-anh-hero-buildtm/ Geaux Saints: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/21390-geaux-saints-anh-stunt-build-tm/ And also Trooperbay's building videos on Youtube "Building accurate Stormtrooper armour". Today I did the thighs and shins. Almost as usual I have to say I stumbled across some challenges which I didn't really find in any building threads. Foremost - as you all know - the whole armor (intentionally) is pretty wonky and uneven which makes it a little tricky just to draw some straight lines and just connect the dots. To illustrate: In order to use a joining strip of 20mm for the shins I left an overlap of 10mm from each ridge: However, since the shin is curved you have in effect 20mm on the top and the bottom and inbetween something around 15mm. Not a big issue because the strip covers it and you only have a small overlap of about 2 mm on each side in the middle which is not/barely visible (see next pictures). Or have I been doing something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I'd make the ends of the cover strips a bit flatter Constantin.Here a little example (By the way, I'm STILL envying your skinny legs, lol!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Yeah, you're right. I noticed when I saw the picture. Good thing I haven't glued it yet. Next time I'll use a pencil first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Ah glad you noticed it yourself! Only showed it just in case you hadn't noticed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Thanks for pointing it out anyway, you convinced me to actually make the change ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troopermaster Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 On the shins, you should have made the middle section at least 20mm wide and have the top and bottom wider to glue the strips on. The best thing to do is offer your joining strip onto the armour before you trim it and mark out where it will go. You will find the cut is not the same width on the joining edges of the armour because of the wonky nature of the original armour. It's okay to leave the flat edge underneath showing. Try and keep your corner cuts of the joining strips to a minimum or even leave them squared. They look a bot too big. Also, your belt. You should really line it up on your abdomen, not your groin. The belt should look off-centre when positioned correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Great pointers - thx Paul! I've made some changes to the right shin (hadn't started with the left one yet). What do you think? At first I wasn't sure about your comment re the belt but it's always helpful to have a wife around who can offer a second opinion Basically, just turning round the belt did the trick of moving it up a tad bit higher (on the right is a reference pic of Davin Felth) >>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I think, personally, if I were to go with the picture, I'd shift the belt a bit further the other side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Right, didn't pick that up. But since I'm not emulating Davin Felth but just used him as reference for the height it's okay for me. There isn't really a reference shot of the belt of the cantina captain and there was probably a bit of variation anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghoulcinder@hotmail.co.uk Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Ah sorry, thought you were copying the picture, and had forgotten you're doing the cantina Cap'n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 So, this has been quite a productive day. First I've sewn the hooks to the straps. I know you will find this hard to believe but I've never had a sewin lesson in my life, lol. The correct hooks were not too easy to find; I found those pretty close (in German they're called "Joppenhaken"): Next stop were the brackets. There's nothing like the original Also, many thanks to Opi Wan (Alex) for making the brackets for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 In Germany we have a saying: "The first house you're building for your enemy, the second for your friend and the third one for yourself". I can see the same logic applying to the assembly of a stormtrooper armor ;-) Today I started with the left shin. Other than with the right one I did not measure 10mm from the inner front ridge from top to bottom but took 14mm at the top and the bottom and 10mm in the middle to account for the curved shape. This will lead to perfectly matched up shin halfes but leaves a little bit of excess ridge on the top and bottom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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