BlueGrot Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Posted January 27, 2011 Lid received, rare earth magnets, straps, rubber bands, snap buttons, heat gun and glue bought. Ready to do some mods. Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 27, 2011 Report Posted January 27, 2011 Take your time with your mods, we are in no rush to see any results.. Eagerness is the quicker way for a build or mod to turn to the darkside. Twisted and evil it can get, so take your time.... BTW, be careful when using the heat gun. If you have question or need advice, just post. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Posted January 27, 2011 The shimming won't be done for a while, but I'm gonna add snap buttons to some pieces of plastic and mount them inside the thighs. The heat gun will be used with extra care. It's 300 centigrade Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Posted January 27, 2011 I have some questions: 1. Is it common to make a detachable butt & crotch? Sitting and going to the loo might be a large hassle if not. 2. The sides of the crotch is gnawing at my inner thighs. Am I fitting it wrong or is this something that needs to be trimmet out? Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 27, 2011 Report Posted January 27, 2011 I have some questions: 1. Is it common to make a detachable butt & crotch? Sitting and going to the loo might be a large hassle if not. 2. The sides of the crotch is gnawing at my inner thighs. Am I fitting it wrong or is this something that needs to be trimmet out? Answer to Q1: Very common for troopers to split the crotch/cod area from the AB area. Also detaching (un-snap) the butt plate for more compfortable when sitting or using the men's room. Answer to Q2: It maybe the way you are wearing it or it could be that the area was not trimmed properly. If you can post a close up pic of that section of armor, we can diagnose if it needs trimming or not or if it is just the way you are wearing it. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 28, 2011 Author Report Posted January 28, 2011 I have taken some better pics but found I've misplaced the cable, will upload pics as soon as I get a new one. The solvent based glue I tried to use on the snap buttons on plastic plates didn't work, so now I've gotten a two component epoxy glue and some more magnets for it to glue overnight. Have bought velcro strips to properly fit the shins. I'll wait with the larger intrusive tasks until I feel ready and when I feel they are the last big task to complete. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 28, 2011 Author Report Posted January 28, 2011 Apparantly, it's not allowed. Checked with an arts & crafts-supplier. Something to do with shipping fees of hazmats. Quote
Sonnenschein Posted January 28, 2011 Report Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) Mike (TK4510) sells E6000 on his page Edited January 28, 2011 by Sonnenschein Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 29, 2011 Author Report Posted January 29, 2011 The two part epoxy glue worked wonderfully, but I will look into getting some e6000 come pay check-time. Adding snap tabs to the inside of the crotch to keep the thighs in place today. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Posted January 30, 2011 Here is the crotch area and I'm now fairly sure it's not as trimmed out as it should be. The butt piece clearly needs more trimming as there is a mold line. No mold line on the crotch however but it does turn from a clear texture to a rougher one, outlining what the crotch piece is. I am also fitting a harness to the entire ab/chest section to raise this up, further alleviating the problem. Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 With your cod piece, you could get away with trimming a little bit off of it, about 5mm off of the bottom edge. Before doing that, you might need to extend the elastic that connects the butt plate to the cod piece. If the elastic is too short it will make the armor bind on you, thus rubbbing and pinching will occur. Also, I see that your butt plate could be trimmed back a bit. The area that has like a shawdow line around it, should not be there. The TE2 suits were derived from an original ROTJ suit. The original ROTJ suits were trimmed back to that point. The material that is left there is overkill and most people make the mistake of leaving it there. Or, if you wanted to make it really uber ANH,(The original ANH butt plate has a return edge) To make the return edge, you will need a hobby iron. (see the video below and links below about return edges). To see where I am talking about for the butt plate, see the pic below. The red dotted line is where the butt plate should actually be trimmed for that armor: See the video of How To make a return edge, using a hobby iron: More information about return edges at this Link: http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=12972 . Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 BTW, here is how much I would say you could take off the cod area. Make sure you taper the edge to blend like the red dotted line is in the pic below: Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Posted January 30, 2011 Thanks, I've been looking into getting a hobby iron to make the return edge. Quote
Stormy320 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 What's a hobby iron? Hey - it's great to see you having fun and using this armor. I can't wait to see the finished results. I will be mailing you the RIGHT glove this week, don't worry. For those who don't know, I sent him two left's- Doh! Quote
Stormy320 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 I also wanted to add, by the looks of your "self portrait", I think this armor will looks stunning when you get the bugs worked out . Quote
Stormy320 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 ? Why do the fan made troopers have such thick thighs and calfs? Trimming those down will look more accurate...will it not? Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) What's a hobby iron? It is a Sealing Iron used for RC planes to smooth out and seal the material the covers them : http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN101 Edited January 30, 2011 by RogueTrooper Quote
Stormy320 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 I have one of those. How does this help with armor? Thanks Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted January 30, 2011 Report Posted January 30, 2011 I have one of those. How does this help with armor? Thanks The sealing iron or also known as a hobby iron is used to help when are needing to make a return edge after trimming a part of the armor. The return edge gives certain parts of the armor the 3 dimensional look to them like the tops of the thigh armor to give you one of the many points of the armor that have return edges. You can find out a lot more at this link about the sealing/hobby iron. http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=12972 Do me a big favor Jason, lets not go to far with any other questions and hijack Helge BlueGrot's TE2 mod. Lets keep him on target and if you have anymore questions, please start a new topic I think everybody here will jump in and give you their help and advice. Quote
Stormy320 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Posted January 31, 2011 Woo I thought we were talking about BlueGrot's mod's. Oh yea - we were. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Posted January 31, 2011 The calfs were narrowed down to perfect size by adding another strip of velcro to the insides, so instead of a butt joined seam they now look like the stunt ones that were held together by air and wishful thinking. The thighs on screen accurate armor are a bit to big for my lean build, but I think some padding will help, as will padding on the straight one of the arms, it's rocking a bit around at the moment. I've added a nylon strip with snap buttons between the ab and chest and now it doesn't rise above the ab plate. Wooo! If I had more clamps and magnets I could do more of this, but I kind of like doing one small step at a time. Next up is getting elastic between the shoulders and biceps. Quote
BlueGrot Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Posted January 31, 2011 Duckface trooper camwhoring on social networking sites oh yeah. Quote
BlueGrot Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Posted February 1, 2011 Some new pics. Were supposed to be with a better camera, but as it had no battery, a cell cam had to do as I was already suited up. Here, the chest isn't very well attached, and I'm raising the belt to avoid a gap. This however makes the butt and kidney piece ride too far down. I'm thinking a bigger piece of elastic between the crotch and butt to try to alleviate this. Something has to be done here before I know how much shimming is needed to gap between kidney and back. Here you see the same pose showing the gap between the kidney and back. The butt piece also seems too big, but some strapping can be installed I guess. Gratuitous action shot, and the damn flared bicep riding up the shoulder piece. Haven't gotten around to strapping those two together. Right arm piece is off because it's not fitted and rattles around. I've also only roughly stretched the shoulder straps, as I'm not sure where to leave the chest piece. From these pics I recon that it can sit lower than it does? Quote
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