BID's ANH Hero Build Thread - RT-Mod

[BIDS[TK]]

Well I finally got around to starting a build thread for my TK. Hopefully this might help out anyone going down the same path, & help me out with tips & pointers from those that have built tk's before and possibly avoid making a costly mistake.

 

I've always loved the Hero suit from ANH and even though the vision out of those Bubble Lenses is questionable I had to go that way.

 

After many questions to members both here & on the Redback Forum (my local Garrison) and countless hours online I finally decided on RT-Mod as the best armor option for my body size and the accuracy I want to achieve. My plan is to build for Centurion Level accuracy, and once 501st approved to apply for EIB & then Centurion.

 

I've copied this text from my build on my local Garrison Forum and modified it to suit here so there may be some references that don't make a lot of sense. Several of the suppliers of consumables might not mean anything in the States so if any thing sounds strange I'd be happy to explain further.

 

The following is the list of Armor, Accessories & Options that I selected for my build :-

 

* Armor - RT-Mod from Canada

 

* Boots - TK Boots

 

* Belt - TK4173 (Rob) FISD

 

* Bubble Lenses - Riveting (Steve) FISD

 

* Neck Seal - Veedox (Chris) FISD

 

* Holster - Muppet (Ken) Redback Garrison

* E11 Blaster - Crypto (Martin) Redback Garrison

 

* Grappling Hook Belt Box - VacTrooper FISD

 

* Comlink - Evilbay

 

* Undersuit - Long Reef Surf

 

* Hand Plates - Latex Hero Handplates - Sonnenschein (Karin) on FISD

* Gloves - Black Chemical Gloves - Sonnenschein (Karin) on FISD

 

* Intercom/Static Burst - TK6294 (Jim) FISD

 

* Accurate Brass Split Rivets - SeanTrooper (Sean) FISD

 

* S-Trim (Helmet Opening) - TrooperBay

* Balaclava - TrooperBay

* Helmet Bag - TrooperBay

 

* Hand Painted Emulation Decal Kit - TrooperBay

 

[BIDS[TK]]

THE BROWN BOX OF SHINY WHITE GOODNESS

 

 

 

 

What's got 2 thumb's and LOVE's Storm Troopers ?!?!?!?! This Guy !!!

 

 

Kid at Christmas much ?

 

[BIDS[TK]]

HERO BUCKET ARRIVES - GIDDY-UP!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't begin to praise Rob's (RT-Mod) service & product enough. He's a top bloke, offers excellent service, and an awesome product.

 

Beautiful lines on his armor and best of all the Bucket fits (the first TK bucket I've been able to get on my Melon.

[BIDS[TK]]

Snap Plates & Strapping

 

OK now I've got this box of shiney white goodness I really don't know where to begin. I figured the easiest thing to start on was the strapping on the torso.

 

After talking to everyone I could and research build threads both here and on FISD (Darth Aloha's RT-Mod Stunt build is probably the thread I refer to most often so Eric's choice of Nylon for Snap Plates influenced me greatly) I choose the following suggestions to incorporate into my build :-

 

* Use Quality Heavy Duty Snaps - I went with Mac Lace

* Use 2 snaps on each plate so that if you have a failure while trooping you can continue without a problem and replace it when you get home

* Use Velcro around the Snap for extra strength

* Use Nylon rather than ABS for ease of installation & flexibility

 

Using double snaps I decided to use 50mm webbing, and cut my snap plates at 40mm long. I then melted the edge using a blow torch to seal the webbing.

I decided to use the Loop velcro on the plates to avoid any irritation from hook velcro and/or problems with hook velcro sticking to the undersuit during fitting.

 

 

I glued the loop velcro to the nylon using Zap-a-Gap to hold it while I sewed around the border.

 

 

I then marked out a center line through the middle of the plate lengthways (40mm long), followed by measuring 10mm in from each end widthways (50mm wide) giving 2 center marks. This allowed plenty of velcro around the snaps to hopefully give the best possible strength.

 

 

 

I then used a hole punch to make a hole for each male snap.

 

 

Next came the straps to joint the Back/Kidney/Butt together, and the Ab/Cod. I decided to use 50mm elastic for the straps to allow some flexibility during movement, while still allowing for the armor to be disassembled when necessary.

I made these straps at 85mm long to allow for the 2 40mm pieces of hook velcro with a 5mm gap in the middle for flex.

 

 

Once again I glued the hook velcro to the elastic so that it would be easy to sew.

 

 

 

Look, proof that I used a sewing machine! Interesting considering the last time I used one was about Grade 9 @ High School.

 

 

 

I then marked & punched the holes for the snaps to match the snap plates.

 

 

Then all that's left is to fit the Female Snaps to the straps.

 

 

 

 

OK onto snap plate installation & torso webbing. I decided on 3 snap plates between Ab/Cod, Back/Kidney, & Kidney/Butt.

 

 

 

I marked each snap plate position with painters tape and scuffed the area with sandpaper for a good glue bond. This tape allowed the plate to be placed quickly & easily into position once glue was applied.

As the nylon absorbs quite a bit of glue you need to buy around twice as much as you think and work quite fast when doing these.

 

 

This picture shows the snap plate spacer I made using paddle pop sticks. I made this to fit over the male snaps so that even pressure was applied to the whole snap plate, rather than the clamp just pressing on the snaps.

 

 

I also made sure I protected the front surface of the armor with painters tape to avoid damaging it with the clamp opposite the snap plates.

 

 

As you can see in this picture the paddle pop stick spacer allows an even pressure to be applied across the snap plates.

 

[BIDS[TK]]

TORSO UPDATE

 

After I caught wind of the pending changes to Centurion Assembly requirements and with my AP on Saturday 27/10 I basically put the arm/leg assembly on hold until the vote on FISD closed, and I had more information on the changes.

 

With help from those who came (thanks again guy's) I got the torso fully assembled, including the shoulder bridges & covers.

With my decision to double up on snaps I chose to make the shoulder bridge snap plates using 4 snaps. This meant that each snap plate was 80mm long and glued into the chest/back using the same method as the others (loop velcro on snap plates).

I made the shoulder bridges using 50mm white elastic and attached hook velcro to match the snap plates.

 

 

 

I had taped the arms and legs together to get an idea on fitment and while i realized that my right forearm & bicep are bigger than my left, I didn't take into account that my right pec & trap are also bigger.

This combined with the chest plate shoulder mounts being slightly offset meant that when we copied the left shoulder cover position to the right the chest/back sat crooked.

I'm amazed at how strong a bond the Zap-a-Gap provides, Scope & I took 35-40mins to get the right cover off in one piece to be able to reposition it.

While measuring the shoulder covers we also measured the elastic for the shoulder bridges.

 

The following pictures show the torso progress after the AP (I'm holding the chest down in the 1st picture as I still haven't fitted Chest/Ab Straps to pull the chest down and keep an overlap).

 

 

 

 

After everyone left I worked on the chest/ab straps and got them installed so that the torso was complete and would sit by itself.

 

 

 

The blue tape here shows where I wanted the overlap to sit (center of this tape).

 

 

This shows the elastic chest/ab straps installed. I've cut them a little long so that I can fine tune them during fitting. I've also included a tri-glide buckle in the strap so that these can also be adjusted on a troop if necessary.

 

 

These next pictures show the torso fitted over the undersuit. As you can see it now sits without having to hold the chest down.

I've got some temporary Ab/Kidney shims installed that are made from thick craft cardboard and attach using the snap plates which will be used when I've made the final shims.

This has also been an ongoing hot topic here in regards to Centurion accurate shims so I'll work on this later.

 

 

The suit looks very deep front to back as the crotch strap is not yet installed. Once on this will pull everything together nicely (I hope).

 

 

 

I put the bucket on to get an idea of the feel of assembled armor. I can now understand the limited mobility/vision that everyone talks about.

 

[BIDS[TK]]

ORIGINAL OVERLAP ASSEMBLY SIZING

 

As I mentioned earlier I had the arms & legs taped together where I thought they fitted, using the overlap method where possible, and the butt join/cover strip method where necessary.

 

My plan was to overlap the top of the forearm, and butt the bottom so I could get my arm in.

 

 

 

Biceps were OK with both top & bottom overlapped.

 

 

 

Thighs were overlapped on the front & butted on the back.

 

 

 

Shins were overlapped on the front & butted on the back.

 

 

 

With the vote here being passed to make all ANH Centurion Builds use the Cover Strip Method only I had to rethink this a bit.

 

After talking to many people her in regards to this method, and the fact that while there are some preferred sizes for cover strips, these need only be adhered to if possible. If necessary to allow body fitment these can be increased as necessary, but if possible to keep the increase consistent (e.g. try to keep the fronts to recommended, but increase the rear, and if possible to increase the bicep to match the forearm ect.).

 

The other saving grace was the fact that the cover strip doesn't need to fully cover the flat section of the join. A gap of 2.5mm per side is perfectly acceptable.

[BIDS[TK]]

ARM & LEG ASSEMBLY / COVER STRIPS

 

A huge thanks to Scope & MadamSith for his help (and her patience) with the Arm & Leg Assembly. At the speed I was procrastinating I never would have performed the first cut or join without a push.

 

Unfortunately the 2.5mm ABS I got hold of for Cover Strips was too white (I know right, I didn't think there was anything whiter than a Storm Trooper either).

Suffice it to say that the cover strips that were cut ready to fit were all no good for outer strips and we had to cut a full new set from the 2 small pieces of ABS supplied with my kit, just barely enough.

The cut onew won't go to waist though as I'll use them for the inner strips.

 

Luckily for me, with Scopes help we managed to get all the cover strips cut and ready for assembly.

With his and DarkVoyd's help we got all the arm & leg components assembled using these cover strips.

This just leaves me to tidy them up and install the inner strips for strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To allow for fittment the strips ended up at the following :-

 

* Forearm - Frt.20mm / Rr.30mm

* Biceps - Frt.20mm / Rr.30mm

* Thighs - Frt.20mm / Rr.35mm

* Shins - Frt.20mm / Rr.35mm

[Minuteman]

Nice build so far ! Your double snap technique looks.... heavy snaps everywhere If it works well for you than it´s cool. But the first troops will show this.

I got a question concerning your hero bucket: Is the faceplate a specific hero one? It does look exactly like the stunt with two holes less cut out and the lid has a lower brow. Are these the only differences on your helmet? Maybe a side to side comparison could enlighten me

Have a look: yours:

 

 

The real one:

 

 

It seems like the real one did not had the "marks" for the 4th Stunt tooth like yours.

[BIDS[TK]]

FOREARM PROGRESS

 

Here are the forearms with the outer cover strips cleaned up, and the inner strips fitted and glued in place.

 

This has made the forearms much more solid feeling, and it's actually starting to feel more like armor and less like plastic.

 

I've also removed the return edge off of the front of the forearm.

 

Outer Top 20mm Cover Strip

 

 

Outer Bottom 30mm Cover Strip

 

 

Inner Bottom Strip

 

 

Inner Top Strip

 

 

Left Forearm Fitted

 

 

Right Forearm Fitted

 

 

Removed Front Return Edge

 

 

With these cleaned up and sanded they are much easier to slide on, and now don't removed skin each time. I'm also now less worried about my arms swelling during a troop and not being able to get out of them.

 

Biceps next.

[BIDS[TK]]

HERO BUCKET / BUBBLED LENSES

 

Just some pictures to show the bubbled lenses fitted. I've only got them taped in temporarily to check fitment.

 

These are from Riveting (Steve) right here on FISD. His service is excellent and as he's in New Zealand these were the quickest (and cheapest on freight) accessory I've received for my TK yet.

 

I think they look amazing from out side, and to be honest the vision is not as bad as I thought it would be. Providing I've got my head up high enough in the bucket to look directly through them its ok. It's only when you look through the edge of the bubble that it's an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TrooperJesse[TK]]

dang man you are doing great with your build. I am excited!

[BIDS[TK]]

Thanks Jesse, I read your build thread, have you gone any further? I was nervous as well and I'm lucky enough to have made a good mate in my Garrison who helped me get started, trust me once you've done the first cut it's not so scary anymore.

[TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth[TK]]

Yes Steffen, its a Stunt faceplate.

For me not realy a Hero one. But nice Hero ears und nice green bubble lenses.

Edited November 7, 2012 by TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth

[BIDS[TK]]

Nice build so far ! Your double snap technique looks.... heavy snaps everywhere If it works well for you than it´s cool. But the first troops will show this.

I got a question concerning your hero bucket: Is the faceplate a specific hero one? It does look exactly like the stunt with two holes less cut out and the lid has a lower brow. Are these the only differences on your helmet? Maybe a side to side comparison could enlighten me

Have a look: yours:

 

 

The real one:

 

 

It seems like the real one did not had the "marks" for the 4th Stunt tooth like yours.

 

Hi Steffen,

Sorry mate I missed your post while I was uploading the build. Yeah you're right it does have the marks where the 4th tooth could be cutout, so I guess it is the same face plate as the stunt. Here are some pictures of the buckets side by side, Hero on the Left, Stunt on the Right.

 

Yes Steffen, its a Stunt faceplate.

For me not realy a Hero one. But nice Hero ears und nice green bubble lenses.

 

Hi Dennis,

Yeah Rob has upgraded his Hero Ears to have the 3 Bumps, and when you request a Hero EIB Build he assembles the Bucket with 2 screws per ear. Do you think the extra mark for the 4th tooth will cause me problems with EIB/Centurion?

Edited November 7, 2012 by BIDS

[Minuteman]

Only Mathias can answer this question finally.

But from the CRLs one could assume that 3 cut out teeth are suficcient. With the bubble lenses, the low brow and the painting everybody will recognice the helmet as an Hero. Maybe you could fill the 4th tooth with ABS paste, then sand and polish it smooth?

[BIDS[TK]]

No worries mate, after reading your post I was considering that. I'll see what the powers that be have to say.

[TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth[TK]]

The Hero faceplate has a totally different design from yours. You have to ask Mathias for EIB and Centurion.

[BIDS[TK]]

Thanks Dennis, I've pm'd Mathias for confirmation.

Edited November 7, 2012 by BIDS

[BIDS[TK]]

Got the following answer from Mathias :- "Filling the 4th tooth isn't required but recommended", Maybe I should add "strongly recommended", since the teeth are such an important part of what makes a hero "hero"..

 

I'll see how I got with the rest of the build. I might have a practice run on some spare ABS to make sure I can get the patch perfect.

Edited November 7, 2012 by BIDS

[TK-42779[501st]]

Holy hell what a great build thread. I'll get my ANH Stunt from Rob in December and this makes me even more excited. Great work so far and I can't wait to see the progress.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[BIDS[TK]]

Hey Tony, thanks for that. You won't be dissapointed in Rob's armor mate, it's awesome. I'll keep the thread updated as I make progress.

[BIDS[TK]]

BICEP PROGRESS

 

This shows 1 glued & clamped, and inner strips cut for the other side.

 

 

Outer Top 20mm Cover Strip

 

 

Outer Bottom 30mm Cover Strip

 

 

Inner Strips

 

 

Left Bicep Fitted

 

 

Right Forearm Fitted

 

[BIDS[TK]]

Shin Progress

 

Glued the Front Inner Shims into the Shins.

 

 

Bottom Front & Rear Outer Strips Trimmed to length

 

 

Right Shin Test Fit

 

 

Velcro Glued In

 

 

I wasn't happy with the Gap (shown in the above pictures) left at the Front Top of the shin from the Trim it arrived with to suit Overlap. I trimmed the uneven overlap to give a more symetrical appearance.

 

 

Test fit with both Calves Complete (except for Sniper Plate on Left)

 

[TrooperJesse[TK]]

Damn Looking good!

[BIDS[TK]]

Thigh Update

 

Started on Inner Shims for the thighs tonight. As you can see in the following picture the bottom of the thigh has the mold detail.

 

 

I decided I wanted to continue the shim right through the length of the thigh, front & back, including the mold details for strength.

I cut the shim slightly longer than needed and then hit one end with a heat gun. Once it was supple I quickly clamped the strip between scrap timber (to keep it square & flat) and used a clamp to form a flat "s" in the end to take the shape of the mold detail.

Once cool the shape stays and I then adjusted the overall length to suit and glued the strip into the thigh.

 

During the process I found it easier to heat the end of the strip, and then once supple to clamp it into the thigh which allowed it to form exactly to the shape of the mold detail.

This ensures the best possible surface contact area to glue to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I'd glued in both front & rear inner strips I trimmed the thigh to tidy them up (I had left the outer strips slightly over length when I assembled them to allow for this trim).

 

Here is the front of the thighs after trimming

 

 

 

 

Here are the rear of the thighs after trimming

 

 

 

 

This shows both front & rear inner shims

 

 

Test Fit Progress

 

Now that I've got all the Arms & Legs assembled I got excited & had to put it on to see how it was coming together.

Keep in mind that the Torso still doesn't have it's crotch strap to pull it all together, but at least I could put the belt on to make it a little better.

Also the biceps are just pulled on without any strapping, and the shoulder bells are simply sitting there.

I taped the thighs up onto the Cod to get an idea of the gap at the knees and groin.

All in all I'm pretty happy and seeing it this close gives me more incentive to keep going. Getting very excited.

 

 

I forgot to put the neck seal on, but I think once it's on the logo on the undersuit shouldn't be visible (it's a hero seal so has the large front & rear bib).

 

 

t looks like it's too tight & that I can't move my arms, but it's just that I had to stand that way to stop the bicep sliding down & the shoulder bells falling off.