LeMaxim's RS PVC ANH Stunt Build [*RS] (WIP)

[LeMaxim[TK]]

After much research, both on TK and other armours, I finally made it to a full circle and ended up deciding on a TK suit. 

 

From what I've seen and figured there's always need for another TK.  

 

Been a Star Wars fan all my life and, as I mentioned in my introduction, had my first OMG-I-could-make-my-own-armour-experience as a young teen

when I first saw a vacuform machine in use. At the time the machine where making model boats out of white PVC and all I could see was shoulder bells.

 

Now, with a few vacuform pieces at home, the excitement is back. 

 

This is a WIP thread and I'm eager to get this TK built and approved (and myself a member of 501st). I will, however, try to respect the material and my limited experience with this. 

Everyone's a newbie at some point. This is mine.

 

(*Note* As I was writing this post I got two deliveries. My neck seal, and my armour. The game's afoot.   )

 

I will keep this first post updated as I move forward with the build to give myself and any followers or casual readers an easy overview of the progress and the things involved.

 

Please feel free to send me pointers or comments on my progress or any omissions.

 

I am aiming for centurion and hope to build towards that from the start. 

 

I will try to document everything as I hope to learn a lot and to contribute in some way. 

 

 

=====General Information===========================================================

Base: RS PVC ANH stunt

 

Status: Kit delivered and all mandatory parts at hand

 

Build Started: not yet.

Build Finished: not yet.

================================================================================

 

Information resources and Inspirational sources: 

 

General 

FISD General TK resources thread

 

Parts specific

 

Builds

Echo's RS PVC ANH Stunt Build 

Kurtzmann's RS PVC ANH Stunt Build 

Locitus (with friend) RS PVC ANH Stunt Build 

 

EIB references

Echo's EIB application

Kurtzmann's EIB application

 

Centurion references

Echo's Centurion application 

Kurtzmann's Centurion application

 

 

Materials

[ ][ ][ ] = Individual part or group of parts identified and currently being researched / sourced.

 

[x][ ][ ] = Part sourced and ordered 

[x][x][ ] = Part received and being worked on

[x][x][x] = Part finished (possibly pending mounting / attachment)

 = Sub-part of above group.

Followed by part/group name - Source/brand - [Material, if applicable and relevant] OR current status of sourcing-thoughts if it isn't already sourced and ordered.

(for tools and other material I only use two [ ][ ] levels to mark research [ ][ ], ordered [x][ ] and received [x][x])

 

Parts sourcing 

 

Mandatory parts

 

Hard Parts

[x][x][ ] Helmet - RS PVC - RS Prop Masters

[x][x][ ] Armour - RS PVC - RS Prop Masters

[x][x][ ] Thermal Detonator - RS PVC - RR Prop Masters

 

Soft/other Parts

[x][x][x] Undersuit - Extreme Racing via RS Prop Masters (Link) (a.k.a. Stormtrooperundersuit (link))

[x][x][x] Neckseal - Darman (FISD sales thread)

[x][x][x] Boots - TKBoots (Link)

[x][x][x] Holster - Dday (FISD sales thread)

[x][x][x] Armour strapping - RS Prop Masters

[x][x][x] Canvas Belt - Clothears via RS Prop Masters 

 

Optional parts

[x][x][ ] E11 Blaster - DVH (My build thread)

[x][x][x] Helmet Speaker system - iComm + Aker 1506 - TK6294 (FISD sales thread) 

[x][x][x] Helmet fan system - Evilboy (FISD sales thread)

 

Other Material

[x][x] Glue - E6000 (2 x 110 ml)

[x][x] Paints ...

[x][x] Humbrol #5 - Dark Admiral Grey, Gloss - Abs buttons and helmet details

[x][x] Humbrol #21 - Black, Gloss - Helmet details

[x][x] Humbrol #14 - French Blue, Gloss - Abs buttons

[x][x] Humbrol #130 - White, Satin - For rivet heads, screws and other cover ups.

[x][x] Humbrol #85 - Coal Black, Satin - For vocoder and Hovis  

[x][x] Masking tape

...

 

Tools

[x][x] Clamps

[x][x] Magnets

[x][x] Rivet gun

[x][x] Lexan scissor

[x][x] Hole puncher pliers

[x][x] Paint brushes

[x][x] Exacto knife and blades 

[ ][ ] Sand paper

...

 

* a shout out to Nicky, a.k.a. TK-54321 for lending me much of his builders tools.  

 

Progress-o-meter

2013-06-18 - Build thread started (this)

2013-06-18 - Armour kit arrived. All mandatory pieces at hand (save for some build tools and materials)

2013-06-24 - Additional tools and paints purchased.

2013-06-26 - Received Fan-kit.

Edited June 27, 2013 by LeMaxim

[Locitus[Admin]]

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

[LeMaxim[TK]]

While it's awesome I have all parts I need to get this rolling I'm afraid I will not be able to do much work on it this week. My fingers are itching.

 

The upcoming weekend is midsummer here in Sweden. For all you non Swedes (descendants or neighbours) I have to say that midsummer in Sweden is a big thing.

Comparing to other known holidays worldwide I'd say its a bit like the carnival in Rio, 4th of July, and cinco de mayo.

Not all together at once. More like an echo of one of them. On valium. With grandmothers, schnapps, herring and dancing frogs (don't ask. You'll never understand).

 

This is one of Sweden's three major holidays (the other two being Christmas and Easter) where we celebrate one of the things Sweden is currently known for (apart from IKEA and ABBA), namely the Smorgasboard (Smörgåsbord).

 

At any rate. Between the dancing frogs (again. don't ask.) and work I'm afraid I will not get much done until next week. 

[Locitus[Admin]]

Luckily the official Swedish youtube channel (apparently we have one!) put togeather an informative video about midsummer.

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Luckily the official Swedish youtube channel (apparently we have one!) put togeather an informative video about midsummer.

 

LMAO! 

 

THIS. SECRET. WAS. NOT. MEANT. TO. EVER. LEAVE. THE. COUNTRY. 

 

In the undying words of 3PO: "We're doomed.".

[LeMaxim[TK]]

[Q] Open question:

 

As I'm gearing up towards a build I'm researching the paint for the helmet. The Humbrol / Testors options for the outside are quite well covered.

 

Paint for the inside of the lid, however, is still shrouded in a bit of mystery.

 

[?] What paint should be used for the inside of the lid and what are the common/large pitfalls in applying paint to the inside?

 

I know it wasn't done in the on screen lids, but I like the way it looks and hope to find the sweet spot between centurion, comfort and cool.

 

Any input is greatly appreciated.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

IMHO any dull black would do the job. You don't want it to shine for the inside, it would be unpleasant i think !

And regarding the painting itself, i think the major risk would be to spray from to close if you paint the helmet once assembled. Anyway as it will be black, with your head inside and with no light enlightening it I think you really don't care if it's not the best painting job in the world.

 

And of course there's always the risk to put paint on the outside but with a good masking it wouldn't be such a problem. 

 

 

And it's nice for the Nordic Garrison to have a new RS among them, the armor is one of the best (even if i don't like the lid :s). Good luck for your build !

 

[Minuteman]

Most accurate would be to spraypaint the helmet with the HDPE-khaki color (RAL-7034) and then paint the outside white

The interior of most helmets had a white or red paint "dust" over the khaki-green, resulting from bad masking of the helmet while spraypainting the outside.

Red color because the primer was red and white because ..... well, we all know

 

In fact it does not matter what color you choose, you can simply leave the inside white, because nobody will see it.

Use the right lens material, maybe some sort of mesh behind the teeth and your helmet interior will be invisible for the public

[Tolo[TK]]

As I am not a fan of the interior of the bucket black, I've seen people using this: http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Cheers Troopers!

A few more angles to consider.

 

From what you've said I'm leaning towards.

- Assembly

- trying it out

- possible internal paint job in later mod-session

 

Maybe it's wiser to start doing mods after everything is fitted and trooped out at least once.

 

Thanks again for the input.

[Locitus[Admin]]

Maybe it's wiser to start doing mods after everything is fitted and trooped out at least once.

Yeah I'd say so too. It's pointless to mod something if you don't know if you need to mod it.

[LeMaxim[TK]]

About a week ago I received my RS PVC kit and after the initial unboxing and gawking I cleaned all the pieces from any residue release powder. 

 

After fooling-around-fitting I reboxed the pieces and headed of to celebrate midsummer with the family. Since then I have been itching to get started and have

continued doing research on different pieces. 

 

I figured i good start would be the pieces that doesn't require much fitting or which are self-contained (so to speak). 

 

My list as I imagine it right now is.

• Drop Boxes
• Thermal Detonator
• abs buttons

From what I've found the drop boxes should be between 10-15 mm thick and that the TD end caps should be about 20 mm thick and should more or less reach the metal clips. 

 

Anyway. I'll continue my research and will hopefully start building this weekend. 

 

In the meantime I'd like to share to mandatory pictures of the big brown boxes, the unpacking and some goofing about.

 

 

It all started with two big brown boxes that was delivered at my door. 

 

 

The first and the smallest one opened up and, unsurprisingly, contained my helmet kit. 

 

  

 

The second contained the rest

 

 

 

He, he, he... 

 

The unboxing began... 

          

 

Nice Spread...

 

 

... but where to begin?

 

 

Goofing around?

 

     

 

TK or not TK...?

 

What have I gotten myself into? 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this little preview of what's to come. 

 

On a side-note:

Yes. The Boss was watching. (No. I do not mean my girlfriend. She took all the pictures and giggled.)

Yes. I thought I'd break in my TKboots while unboxing.

Yes. I was listening to The Imperial March the entire time.

Yes. It'll be interesting to build this in our studio flat.

Yes. I really feel my inner geek growing and my 5-year old self cannot believe his eyes.

 

 

Next up I plan to do a study of all the pieces in the kit as they were delivered to me.

[nDreaZ]

Early x-mas eh?

 

How's the build process going along?

[TehEl1te]

Haha! I love that last picture... That feeling of loving the sight of all that armor... and that feeling of knowing thats a loooong journey! I can't wait to see this take shape!

[SW1]

Comon make a start already

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Time for some update. 

 

I have been trying to get started and have done a bit of work. To get you up to speed I will make a few posts on my progress. 

 

As I imagine most of us first time builders suffer from I too got quite overwhelmed by all the pieces.

 

Not knowing where to start I decided to document and get familiar with all the included pieces. 

 

So for anyone interested in a RS PVC Fully Loaded Kit. Here's the included pieces. 

Sorry for the picture quality. I shot them with my iPhone. The pictures were meant to document, nothing else.

 

Please Note:

Some pieces were missing from the initial shipment and will be added as soon as I get them (shipped as of now).

The kit came rough cut.

From other RS kits I've seen here at FISD it seems they vary from kit to kit in regards to how the trimming is done. 

My kit came with a few pre drilled holes (cod and ab-side) and pre attached snaps for belt. I don't know if this is a normal "Fully Loaded" service or if I just got lucky, depending how you look at it.

All pictures below are from before I started messing around with them.

Pictures are of all pieces in different angles to show as much details as possible. Generally this means Above-top-side-side-bottom-inside.

 

 

Here goes!

 

Oh. And also. The reason for this catalogue is in part for myself as a reminder of how everything looked before I started, and part for anyone wondering about what pieces are involved and how they look. I felt it would have been helpful for me when I was looking into getting a kit. Finally. Since RS do not supply a "In this box you should find..."-list I thought this might serve as a comparison for others. 

 

Included Paperwork:

 

Helmet Kit:

 

Face Plate (1 piece): 

 

Cap and back (1 piece): 

    

 

 

Ears (2 pieces): 

      

 

 

Helmet Internals and extras (multiple pieces):

      

 

 

Continues in next post due to maximum amount of pictures per post limitation... 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

... the continuation. 

 

 

Armour Kit: 

 

Chest (1 piece): 

     

 

 

Shoulder straps (2 pieces):

 

 

 

 

Abs and Cod (1 piece): 

     

 

Abs Buttons (2 pieces): 

  

 

Belt hard parts (2 pieces (4 if you count the button covers individually): 

   

 

 

Drop boxes (4 pieces):

 

 

 

Back plate (1 piece): 

     

 

Kidney plate (1 piece): 

     

 

Thermal Detonator (multiple pieces): 

    

 

    

 

Butt plate (1 piece): 

    

 

 

Shoulder Bells (2 pieces):

         

 

 

Biceps (4 pieces): 

              

 

 

... To be continued... 

 

Edited July 25, 2013 by LeMaxim

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Lower arms (4 pieces): 

                    

 

Hand guards (2 pieces):

 

 

Thighs (4 pieces):

                     

 

Thigh amo pack (1 piece): 

 

 

Shins (4 pieces):

                     

 

 

Sniper plate (1 piece):

   

 

Cover strip and snap plate material (10 strips of ca. 8 x 50 cm): 

 

 

Fully Loaded Extras:

 

Rubber / Latex Glove (2 pieces):

 

 

 

Canvas Belt (1 piece):

 

 

Strappings kit (multiple pieces): 

    

 

 

Extras: 

 

Things just got picture heavy...    Hope this will be of interest for someone.

 

Edited July 25, 2013 by LeMaxim

[LeMaxim[TK]]

After having documented all the pieces I went on to test my tools and skills. 

 

Since I haven't done anything like this for as long as I can remember I didn't know what to expect. 

 

First I started with a stain test of my holster. I've seen that the holsters sometimes rubs of at the armour and I wanted to make sure if this would be the case for me or if I would be safe. 

 

I tested by simply rubbing a piece of the kit that I know wouldn't be used (ear superfluous material). 

Turns out I have to figure out a way to not get the holster staining my armour. Thinking about putting some discrete textile on the back, felt or something, but I'll put this on ice for the time being. 

 

Next I tested all the tools. 

I punched a hole, scored and snapped, and cut with lexan scissors

   

 

 

This wasn't as bad as I imagined.

 

Empowered by the experiment I decided to do some rough cutting...

 

Very rough... 

 

Next I tried to drill a hole with a drill bit between my fingers 

 

That also went like a charm.

 

At this point I decided to try to trim something for real. 

 

The drop boxes seemed like a good start. Straight lines and mostly hidden.

 

As others have noticed the drop boxes are a bit wonky. I've read that the drop boxes should be between 10 to 15 mm in thickness so I decided to go for 15, as a start... 

      

 

Not perfect but at this point I was tired and needed to sleep. I put the drop boxes away for later. Maybe I'll eventually go for 10 mm thickness to give it nice edges. 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

A few days later I decided that I should get started for real. 

 

From messing around with the armour I knew I had to do a lot of trimming on most parts to get a nice fit. 

This was especially true for the shins and thighs so I decided to tackle them first. 

 

As a first step I simply taped the pieces, as cut-guide, to cut of most of the superfluous material while still leaving enough for later fine trimming.

     

 

Next I prettified the return edges

       

 

I followed the same method with both shins, thighs, and lower arms.

This gave me some confident with the tools and materials and made it possible to test-fit more properly now that the most roughness was cut away. 

 

 

There was still much to do, especially with the return edges, but all in all I felt good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

After roughly trimming the shins, thighs, and lower arms I wanted to continue with the torso. 

Having looked at many reference pictures and read more I circled back to the legs. 

 

The logic to the circling back was: 

The chest piece should be trimmed to look good on top of the ab-cod piece. And somewhere in my reading I read that it's best not to cut the groin area until you have the thighs fitted. 

Oh, ok. Makes some sense... and the thighs need to look good with the shins... and the shins need to look good with the boots... 

 

Since the boots were already finished I figured I'd start from the bottom. 

 

As I sat down to start trim-fitting the shins I started to get nervous. My procrastination reflex started to kick in... 

Then I remembered two things I recently read on FISD.

The first was: "Cut first and throw up after" (sorry. Cannot find source of this quote now.). 

So maybe I should just dive in...

The second was iconoclasta_88's and Troopermaster's discussion about how the original suits where put together (un-ceremonial and quick) in iconoclasta_88's build.

 

Having studied the many pieces and reading that they do not align perfectly I figured that there is no such thing as "perfect" and to get started on my build I should remember that it's more about fun than exact science. 

 

From my previous session I still had much to trim before I got into the fine-fitting state.

 

Reading that the shin-cover-strip should be around 20 mm I decided on cutting them out as a guide when trimming the front. I used my trusted masking tape and hobby knife to score and snap myself some cover strips.

   

 

(it was really helpful to have tape of various width to use as cover strip guides)

 

After much trimming and fussing (all that went by without a thought about taking pictures) I finally had myself a right-side shin to try out. 

     

 

 

The back still needed some trimming before I felt it would be time to move forward. 

   

 

After pouring over threads about how to place the shin hooks I found Rick330's thread about shin closure. From that I figured that I could leave some overlap on the back and simply wait with final trim until the hooks had been fitted and tried out. 

 

At this point I felt quite pleased with the result. 

This, however, was quickly followed by the realisation that it didn't matter how nice it felt to have the shin taped together. To really know if it is good I had to start gluing...

 

The next part was a mess. I'm happy that E-6000 is forgiving, but I would want some quicker response in it too. Not having more than two hands at, ... well..., hand everything turned out quite messy.

I decided I wanted an internal coverstrip. I imagined that would make things easier. Not so much. And as I finally had gotten that installed and trying to fit the external coverstrip I realised I forgot to trim it down. *oh sigh* 

It would have made some nice pictures, but my hand were covered with E-6000 and I didn't want it on my phone.

 

Anyways. Here's my first piece. Right side Shin with front cover strip. Now I just need to wait until it cures so I can see if I dare to continue with the next one or if I need to redo it. 

 

 

 

What I've learnt today. 

I need more magnets.

I love and hate E-6000 at the same time. 

 

All in all I feel great about having gotten started for real. 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Comon make a start already

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

Does this count?

[Minuteman]

Definitely a good start ;-)

Very detailed - many new troopers will find it helpful

[Rezablad3[TK]]

Finally some progress.....looking good mate. I wish my wip is as detailed as yours. Keep up the good work trooper.

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Definitely a good start ;-)

Very detailed - many new troopers will find it helpful

Cheers! If it helps anyone I'll be a happy trooper. It will, no doubt, help me when I get confused along the way.

 

Finally some progress.....looking good mate. I wish my wip is as detailed as yours. Keep up the good work trooper.

Thanks! Don't sell yourself short. You have some great pictures and have asked many questions I would have asked myself. I'll be sure to add you to my source list as soon as I figure out how to make my initial post shorter. Apparently there's a maximum length on posts.

So keep up the good work yourself.