dereferenced stunt build (TM/C)

[dereferenced]

Trimming Butt Piece

 

Before

 

After

 

[dereferenced]

Trimming and Sanding the Shoulders

I also took some time to clean up the shoulder bells.

 

Cleaned up on the left, roughly trimmed on the right.

 

After

 

[dereferenced]

Assembling the Forearms

Since I glossed over the trimming before, I figured I would put a bit more about it. It was very similar to the biceps but I did make a change. Instead of drawing the line on the armor, I drew it on a piece of tape and then taped it in place. I liked this as it let me get a better idea of the amount being removed and what would be left over.

Mark the tape

 

Apply on the seam

I found it easier to keep the amount of space to the curve on the left with this method.

 

Cut along the line

 

Result

I did this from the start on the second since it worked so well on the first.

 

Glue the first  seam

As I posted before I glued the inner strip and coverstrip in one go. It would out very well. First I sanded then let the glue sit.

Large pieces of tape to pull the two sides together better that way they dont separate over night.

 

Wait for it to cure

I gave it some extra time to be sure as my pieces required some force to close.

 

Glue the second seam 

Ok so first I tried to do the same thing as the first seam. Where I glue both the inner and cover strip at the same time. This led to disaster when my cover strip was too high. Then I tried to move it everything got worse. In the end I had to scrape all the glue off for an hour or so as it was not salvagable. The second time around I decided to just glue the inner shim and had much better results. I would recommend doing the cover strip after your close seam is done.

 

You are still left with the problem that you need both sides to be flat so you can apply a cover strip. To get around this I used scrap cover strip pieces taped up and some wood shims as well.

 

Pull the two sides together

First thing I did was add 3 large pieces of tape to one side. Then pulled the two pieces together in the middle and use the tape to hold it shut. I moved it around until I got the bottom lined up. Pull the other tape to get all the ends lined up. Then I marked with pencil in several places. This makes it much much easier when pulling them together with setting glue

 

Inner strip

I also taped the inner strip in place to make sure it would fit. I actually left it here folded back when I applied the glue.

 

Glue and attach clamps

No real good pictures of this as I needed both hands to do it. But I did the same thing with 3 pieces of tape ready on one side. Then pulled together matching up my pencil marks and apply the tape. From there I clamped both ends and started working on the middle with magnets.

Notice the pieces inside and out to get the seams laying flat.

 

Add tape and string to keep the sides from pulling away

The goal is to get the two halves as close as possible and keep that way. I did a similar technique with the biceps. Since there was so much more pull I added string to help out, but the tape alone does a good job.

 

Now I am waiting for that to cure and I'll do the cover strip and clean up all my excess glue.

 

 

 

[fritzthefox]

I really struggled with getting the forearms to close nicely with my TMC kit, too. I learned to go slow and glue one side of one strip at a time and use gobs of E6000 on the inner strip (messy, but I covered the inner strips with white duct tape once they had finished curing, so it looks nice and neat). Liberal use of swear words helped, too. I ended up using a little heat on one of the arms, as well. I dunno if it helped or not. But I finally did get them closed. 

 

BTW, clamping a metal ruler to the ABS when you score the cover strips is a helpful technique I picked up. Helps prevent the dreaded slippage. 

[Tray[TK]]

It is looking great Brian. Sorry I haven't noticed your build until now. YOu seem to be doing a pretty good job getting the parts to go together. When Iglued the halves together I always glued the outside first on one side, then glued the other side and then glued the inside. Then started on the opposite seam starting with one edge, then gluing the toerh edge then on to the inside. I think doing it from inside out or outside in works well enough.

 

One other thing i used was a table to help hold the pieces still as I glued them. It also helps keep everything straight and even. I know of one member who used a can of soup or something like that with a heat gun to round out the forearms a bit more once it was together.

 

Looks great so far.

[dereferenced]

Lack of updates due to travel for work. I am back and settled now so I should be making more progress this week. The forearms came out well enough. Barry I like the idea of white duct tape inside to hide the seams.

 

I have to clean up all the excess glue on the outside and sand out some scratches from a few slips of my exacto knife. I got a pack of assorted fine grit wet/dry sandpaper from Amazon to do it.  This weekend I hope to get the harness system together for the body pieces and arms. I would also like to start the helmet. 

[Scootch[TK]]

Looks like you've done your research. And your pics thus far are great! Very nice work. The work station included. Very nice. Well done!

[dereferenced]

Finally started working on this again yesterday. Decided to make my snap plates for the armor. I used Billhags snap layout pictures to decide how many. After these pictures I made a few extras as I had some left over abs in the correct size. I did not finish hammering all the posts down as it was late and I decided to order a new snap setting tool. I tried vario pliers but they dont work well for the long posts, then I had a generic snap setting tool from joanns fabric which worked pretty well for the male snaps but not as well on the female. In the end I just bought the correct tandy leather setter for the line 24 snaps from ebay. So I will be putting the harness system on hold and working on the helmet!

 

Snaps and rivets

Layout (rivets will actually be places on the shims but I do not have those done yet) 

[dereferenced]

I started work on the helmet yesterday. I cut out the eyes and started on the frown. I am not sure if I need to cut the eyes closer to the nose. From looking at http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16277-anh-stunt-and-hero-eyes-reference-pix/ it seems like I could come in a couple more mm. But I don't think they look that bad now. It just seems the bridge between the eyes is too wide. Any thoughts?

 

 

 

The frown is a work in progress. 

 

I probably need to bring the bottom line down a bit more and perhaps clean up the tops slightly.That and the entire left side. Although there was a lot of variance from looking at http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16270-anh-frown-reference-pix/

 

 

 

 

[Tray[TK]]

Once everything is together the eyes may not look as wide. It is really looking great.

[dereferenced]

Once everything is together the eyes may not look as wide. It is really looking great.

 

Thanks. I was thinking something similar which is why I switched to working on the frown. The eye shapes looked clean to me when viewed from an angle, I was worried about taking off too much which is why I stopped where I did. Once the frown is done and I have the two parts connected I might revisit them. If anything it would be 2 mm or so by the bridge on each eye which would make them look pointier and make the bridge smaller perhaps. I will pencil in what I am thinking of trimming and post a picture later. 

[dereferenced]

Finished cutting out the teeth and trimmed the back of the helmet. First screw is in, now I can start working on the ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why it took me this long but I also had the idea to use my lenses cleaner to blow the dust away rather than doing it myself and getting dust all over my face. Its also good to clean out computers instead of canned air.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2013 by dereferenced

[Tray[TK]]

I know some people have heated up the bump in the right eye to bend it in slightly so it isn't so prominent. I didn't do this. I just trimmed it so the curve was even for mounting the lenses in individually. Yours is looking great.

[McDNet[TK]]

I have the same kit (Yea Tray!!  ) and have just started trimming my shoulder bells and hand guards.  The thoroughness of your posts have been great and I will be using many of these as a reference.  I can see we will have many similarities.  Keep up the great posts!!! I'll be watching!!

[dereferenced]

I have the same kit (Yea Tray!!  ) and have just started trimming my shoulder bells and hand guards.  The thoroughness of your posts have been great and I will be using many of these as a reference.  I can see we will have many similarities.  Keep up the great posts!!! I'll be watching!!

 

Glad it is helping you out some. I have finally got around to organizing my pictures on flickr. I put them into a collection  and then they are broken out into sets for the different pieces. So you can see any extra pictures I take, usually its a lot of in progress shots or different angles. 

 

This weekend I was busy helping someone move and then home for mother's day. Hoping to get the helmet and harness finished by the end of this weekend though. Then I will make a more detailed post on the helmet construction and harness system. 

[dereferenced]

Worked on the helmet more this weekend. Man those ears are tricky! It took much longer than I thought they would, but they are looking pretty good. I think I need to trim the left side top piece so that the black strip appears straighter. I trimmed originally to the mold line, I dont know if I just have it slanted with the way I connected the front and back or people usually add the bow manually. But in the first picture it appears the go down to the right of the picture by the left eye. Either way I think it should be up 2 mm or so to match the other side and I think I can do it easily enough just sanding more off that line. Its too late to do anything else as I'm not changing those ear holes. 

 

 

I will trim a bit more on towards the bottom on the left ear (my left), that way when I pull it towards the S trim it will sit a bit more flush. You can see what I mean in these picture.

 

Then I painted the inside. 

 

[rugbyrat]

Brian,

 

Good to meet you yesterday at the museum.  This build thread is great!

 

One suggestion I have to save time on cleanup.  When gluing cover strips onto the outside of a piece, run masking tape along the outside edges of where the cover strip will lay before gluing and clamping.  Once the glue sets you can pull off the masking tape and it removes the glue that leaks out from under the cover strip.  Less scraping of excess glue.  Its a time-saver!

[dereferenced]

Yes Keith, I really regret having not done something like that on my forearms. I spent a couple hours tonight picking excess glue off my biceps and forearms. 

 

Went a bit overboard on the e6000.

 

 

[dereferenced]

In other news I have been working on my build. I just have not had time to really write up as detailed posts as I would have liked. I have pretty much finished the helmet after having repainted the tube stripes. Initially I painted them too low and the stencils bled through a bit. 

 

This time i used the hand painted stencils from trooperbay. I am much happier with the results.

 

Removing the enamel paint.

To get the paint off I used Testor's Easy Lift Off.

Steps:

1: Using a paper towel to soak up the liquid and then squeeze / dabbed it onto the stripes.

2: Allow it to set for about 15 minutes. You will notice it puff up a little first starting at the edges.

3: Using another paper towel with a bit of the testors, scrub the paint off. You do not have to use too much pressure and it comes off in chunks similar to an eraser on paper.

 

Repeat the process as many times as it takes. It took me 3 to get it completely.

 

You can see its partially absorbed and puffing up on the edges. 

 

This is the second time I let it soak and started to rub it off.

 

Old vs New Below

Notice how much that extra couple of mm affects the overall look. 

 

 

 

For reference this is what my stencil placement looked like. For me it was hard to tell what the overall look would be with the stencil on there. I guess I just do not have that artistic ability to judge from the negative. 

 

Another quick note, if you use the trick to paint white to keep the stencil from bleeding wait a day for the white to dry before painting the blue layer. Even if it is dry to the touch when you put the other paint on it will mix with the white and mess up the color. 

[dereferenced]

Painting the helmet

Figured I would post a picture walk through of how I did it.

 

Traps

Mark off with 3m artists curves tape Then paint the black lines. What I would have changed here is to do the round corners manually. They look ok  with the paint but would have been a bit nicer if I did not go up to the tape. 

 

Then paint the grey area after the black has dried. I did not tape off to paint the grey edges, just took my time. 

 

 

If you mess up and it drips down onto the black you can fix it easily enough my remarking your bottom line and just putting black over it when it dries.

 

Marking off the cheek traps

I tried using stencils I cut out of frisket paper but I had the hardest time getting them to go inside the area. Then I tried with that tape and it worked out well. You can also see how I did the ears. I used the blue tape to get the straight lines and free painted the bend.

 

 

Painting the vents

Again I thought about using stencils I cut out of frsket paper, but I couldn't get them too come out cleanly. I didn't think I could use the tape because the handpainted look should have wavey lines. I ended up stretching the tape to make it curvy. It takes a bit of time but I would not have been able to free paint the lines as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Frown

Again I used the tape.

 

Chin

T/MC Kit comes with stencils for this. 

 

 

Tube stripes

I went over this in my earlier post. The pictures you see in this response with the blue on the stencil is with the stencil too far down the cheek. 

 

Good vs Bad placement, you can also see the difference between hand painted and regular stencils from trooperbay.

 

Finished

 

 

 

 

[dereferenced]

Started working on the legs. I have the front of the shins glued. I opted to not do an inner coverstrip to start as it made it easier to glue if it feels like it needs extra support I will add one later as I already cut them.

 

 

 

I have also roughly trimmed the thighs, dropboxes, and leg accessories. Then I started gluing the snap plates on but ran out of clamps.

 

 

[Tolo[TK]]

Painting the helmet

Figured I would post a picture walk through of how I did it.

 

Traps

Mark off with 3m artists curves tape Then paint the black lines. What I would have changed here is to do the round corners manually. They look ok with the paint but would have been a bit nicer if I did not go up to the tape.

 

 

 

 

 

Then paint the grey area after the black has dried. I did not tape off to paint the grey edges, just took my time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you mess up and it drips down onto the black you can fix it easily enough my remarking your bottom line and just putting black over it when it dries.

 

 

 

Marking off the cheek traps

I tried using stencils I cut out of frisket paper but I had the hardest time getting them to go inside the area. Then I tried with that tape and it worked out well. You can also see how I did the ears. I used the blue tape to get the straight lines and free painted the bend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting the vents

Again I thought about using stencils I cut out of frsket paper, but I couldn't get them too come out cleanly. I didn't think I could use the tape because the handpainted look should have wavey lines. I ended up stretching the tape to make it curvy. It takes a bit of time but I would not have been able to free paint the lines as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frown

Again I used the tape.

 

 

 

Chin

T/MC Kit comes with stencils for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tube stripes

I went over this in my earlier post. The pictures you see in this response with the blue on the stencil is with the stencil too far down the cheek.

 

 

 

Good vs Bad placement, you can also see the difference between hand painted and regular stencils from trooperbay.

 

Finished

 

 

 

 

 

WOW! That's a nice job there!!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[dereferenced]

WOW! That's a nice job there!!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks Eric I'm really happy with how the helmet turned out. 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

I'm dreading the helmet part of my build... but I'll have to get over that soon enough.

 

Yours turned out very nice.

[dereferenced]

Here is a shot of the shins. You will see on the left I cut a bit too much off the top. Luckily this will be covered by the knee plate so I did not bother trimming the other side to match. My right shin I can not tell if I should have the inner side moved down (inner when on, its on the outside now. I thought it best to have the tops sit flush rather than the bottoms. I think they are good enough as is though. I was a bit worried before that I would need to shim the backs however for the most part they fit relatively well. They are tight on the upper of my calves but still close. Playing around with the height they sit on my leg seems to help. I will get shots with the under-suit and boots later this week. I did not feel like getting them out last night. 

 

Right shin

 

Pictures on