Diana's RS Props Build- ANH Stunt

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Hey All-

 

Thanks so much for the feedback.  We took off the ear in question to see if we could reverse it, and/or replace it with one of the spare ones we have.

 

Doesn't look like any of the others are going to be a better fit.  We sanded right down to the "line" on the ears, which was probably our fatal mistake.

 

 

No matter what we do, or which ear we choose, I don't think we're going to get a better fit.  I think we just cut it wrong to start with...  Those ears and tubes are just not becoming one with the Force.  So, we've decided to order a new set of ears and start over again.

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[SCTrooper[TK]]

The ears can be tricky. Here is pic of my CAP kit, notice that I left quite bit of material in the tube area. This can be sanded smooth and with some spot putty glaze, it will look ok. 

The last pic's are the right ear if you were wearing the helmet. Have fun RS armor is the bomb.

[Gizmo]

It takes a lot of practice before you get the ears right. But once you've done a few it will come naturally. They are easily the hardest part of the helmet.Gaps are a big part of how many originals look so they are fine.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Thanks so much for the feedback.  Glad to know we're not alone with struggling with the ears.  We actually get to do another helmet as soon as this one is done, so we get another chance to get this thing right.  The helmet pictured above is a Scootch bucket.  We're going to work on the RS helmet next.  Can't wait actually.

All the final pieces of the RS kit came in today.  The best surprises seem to come in brown boxes with customs' slips.

Woo hoo!  Smaller gloves.  Thank you Rob at RS for finding me smaller gloves.

 

These are the ear pieces for my RS bucket, (which I haven't started yet.)  Love how clearly the lines are marked where you cut.  It's like "ears for dummies."

And, my undersuit is finally here!  All one piece, eh?  Guess once you are suited up, you are committed.  Don't even think about peeing.

 

 

And, the neck seal arrived today.  Seriously, best day since Christmas.

One thing I noticed right away, though, as soon as you combine the neck seal with the helmet, (gasp), it gets hot in there.  No more cool ventilating breezes coming out the gaping hole in the bottom.  Fans.  I need fans.  And, a haircut.  I'm not wearing one of those bala-whatever thingies.  Hot enough here in Cali without adding to the heat.

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[Holnave (evan_loh)[TK]]

It is really really hot. But when you're trooping you end up having so much fun that it becomes bearable (so,ermines you even forget about it!)

 

The ears are a nightmare to work with but don't worry about the gaps. You'll see many screenshots with gaps in them!

Looking really good thanks for posting up your journey

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Damn, it took almost 10 minutes to understand that this pic has been taken from the inside! Nice optical trick 

 

But keep in mind to always cut away from the lines first and then adapt to your helmet's curves. BTW the ear on top of the pic should be the left ear.

 

 

And on this pic, this is a left ear (set on the right side).

[kylebeagle[TK]]

 

 

One thing I noticed right away, though, as soon as you combine the neck seal with the helmet, (gasp), it gets hot in there.  No more cool ventilating breezes coming out the gaping hole in the bottom.  Fans.  I need fans.  And, a haircut.  I'm not wearing one of those bala-whatever thingies.  Hot enough here in Cali without adding to the heat.

 

Here is an excellent solution...

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24372-fs-helmet-fan-system-echos/page-8?hl=%2Bfan#entry329922

[Dday[501st]]

Diana, as far as a balaklava,  vs cutting your hair, look into the Underarmor heat-gear I think it is. They make this awesome balaklava that helps you cool off even though you are covered. On top of that, def invest in a fan kit! You seen pretty DIY, maybe "Ladyinwhite" has some kits in stock. It's a cheap solution, otherwise, there are several people on the ongoing list (tutorial) in my signature who do fans.

 

Thanks for sharing with us!

Derrek

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Derrek-  I'm laughing over your tagline 'too tall for a stormtrooper.'  Why am I not surprised that somebody German ended up too tall?  My family originates out of Bavaria and I have brothers like towering trees.  I'll look into the Underarmor heat gear you mentioned.  Sounds like a great solution.  I know Ingrid so I'll talk to her about cooling solutions.

 

Germain and Nick- Thanks so much for the reference photos.  They were very helpful.  We removed the ears today, sanded them down and pulled out the spare ones provided by Scootch.  So thoughtful that he provides four of them, anticipating noobs like myself are going to totally mess this thing up.

 

Sanding everything down with "plumber's sandpaper." Very gritty stuff.  Feels like about the equivalent of 60 grit. 

 

So, we were focusing on these reference pics to reposition our ears to get a better angle of fit.

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Damn, it took almost 10 minutes to understand that this pic has been taken from the inside! Nice optical trick 

 

Sorry.  Too giddy from opening those boxes from overseas... the smell of the packing tape, the feel of the bubble wrap in my hands, all that crisp, brown cardboard...  No, seriously...just holding my iPhone at the wrong angle.

 

 

This is the top view.  And, you're correct, of course.  It was a view of the inside.  I was impressed with how RS marked the trim lines on the ears.

 

I sent RS a thank you note the same day letting them know everything arrived safely, and how much I liked the way the ears were done.  I received a response back immediately from Rob at RS.  He provided excellent advice on shaping these ears into the RS bucket.

He said the trim lines are a good start, but from there you need to trim them out to get the exact fit you want.  He tends to trim them very thin, but others like to leave them thicker.  He said the ears should touch the helmet with no pressure to bend them.  The left ear when worn tilts back at the bottom to get the best fit and the right sits quite far forward into what he called the "crush" area of the face.  He said it will want to sit there naturally.

 

Last piece of advice was to trim the bottom of the right ear very close (as marked) because if too much plastic is left there it throws the whole thing off.  The left side does not have the same effect.

 

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[Haribon72[TK]]

I love the "after" pictures of the ears!!!

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Ha. I take it that means they're better now? I swear I'm having nightmares now where I'm getting chased my Legions of the things.

[Barcoder[TK]]

He said the trim lines are a good start, but from there you need to trim them out to get the exact fit you want.  He tends to trim them very thin, but others like to leave them thicker.  He said the ears should touch the helmet with no pressure to bend them.  The left ear when worn tilts back at the bottom to get the best fit and the right sits quite far forward into what he called the "crush" area of the face.  He said it will want to sit there naturally.

 

Last piece of advice was to trim the bottom of the right ear very close (as marked) because if too much plastic is left there it throws the whole thing off.  The left side does not have the same effect.

 

Diana;

 

Just wanted to say that this bit of info was extremely helpful to me today. I have spent the last few days fighting with my ears. I was convinced I screwed up the right one...this saved me & my right ear. So thank you for sharing, very much!!!

Great build by the way, I look forward to your progress. Looks like you guys are having a blast!

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Diana;

 

Just wanted to say that this bit of info was extremely helpful to me today. I have spent the last few days fighting with my ears. I was convinced I screwed up the right one...this saved me & my right ear. So thank you for sharing, very much!!!

Great build by the way, I look forward to your progress. Looks like you guys are having a blast!

Woo hoo!  I finally helped somebody else.  So glad I was able to help out with your build.  

[Dday[501st]]

Well, truth be told, I'm from the USA Not much german blood in me, but I live here with my wife and kids, they are German

 

You near ear job is great, very well done getting them to fit on just right. I know that has always been my (and everyone elses) worst part of the build. The trimming required is finess, and takes a bit of time, a little bit sanded here.. a little there and so on.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

OK, I'm stuck on the butt.

 

I can't find good reference pics on exactly how to trim down the butt plate.  Mine is much too big.  (The butt plate, that is.)  I want to make sure once I do it get trimmed down it still lines up with the kidney plate properly.  Anybody here trim their butt plate?

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Look this over carefully, it may help.

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/18243-howto-modifying-armor-for-women/

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Thanks, Nick.  That is an outstanding thread.  One of my favorites, actually.  It's really well done.  We were just having a moment of frustration tonight because two of the pieces weren't lining up properly no matter what we did.  (You know how that goes.)

 

We put a piece of tape down the exact center of the kidney, and the exact center of the butt, and noticed the edges didn't line up properly on the armor.  They're off by about 3/4" inch on one side.

 

I'd contacted Luis (BobaJuice) a couple of days ago regarding his thread about modifying armor for a female trooper and he gave some excellent advice.  He basically said when he was working on it, he basically went for it.  So, we decided you know what, we're just going to have to dive in and attack this thing, alignment issue or not.  I'll post the pics below.  I think we worked it out with a lot of help from a handy heat gun and a shapely fruit bowl.

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

The troopers in the movies were slim British fellows averaging a height of 5'10" and weighing 150 pounds.  But, they're still taller than me and weigh more.  So, there's not a single piece of this armor that comes even close to fitting.  No, not the gloves.  Or, the helmet.  Definitely not the cod.  But, with enough perserverance, we'll make it all fit. 

 

So, merrily we trim, trim, trim.

 

So, trimming the kidney plate wasn't enough, so we reshaped it using the heat gun.

 

 

 We weren't sure of the melting point of the ABS, so we tested it first on a spare piece until we figured out how far to heat it until it went "bendy."  Then, we marked that set point on the heating gun with a piece of tape so that we never had the gun any higher or lower than that exact point.

 

 

The butt plate came next.  We used a fruit bowl to simulate the size and shape of my butt.  (We do still use that bowl for fruit.)

 

Before

                                                            
 

After

 

 

(Sorry, the perspective is different.  I know it makes it look like a flapping seagull.)

 

Ta da!

 

 

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Nice "customization", way to be resourceful. Isn't it so true , sometimes ya just gotta dive right in.... Nice Work D....

[SCTrooper[TK]]

The kidney piece is really tall and you may have to trim it down a little, but I guess you won't know until the back piece is connected. Your mods are looking good, the pieces fit you well. Your not that short, with boots you'll  be about 5' 8".

Panda trooper trimmed armor down and it fit him perfectly, I'll look for the thread.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/10434-pandatroopers-am-build-threadam/  not sure if you had a look at this, could be very helpful in sizing the pieces .

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Hi Nick-

 

>>Your not that short, with boots you'll  be about 5' 8". 

 5'8." Loving the sound of that.

 

Thanks so much for the thread from Pandatrooper.  It was very helpful seeing how he sized down his armor.

We're going to work on trimming the ab and sizing down the chestplate this weekend.

 

I'm puzzled by the actual cod, though.  As husband put it, "How does anybody walk with that thing?"   Granted I don't have any of the actual strapping system in place, but even with the chest plate taped on, I'm feeling chaffing from it.  Can you even reshape or trim the cod?  Or, is it all down with the strapping to avoid chaffing?

 

 Huge chestplate.  Need to do something about that.  But, owwww. Chaffing.

 

Edited December 5, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Regarding your height i guess you could cut the chest plate the same way they did it for Luke's suit but i wouldn't cut anymore than that:

  

 

 

However I wouldn't recommand you to cut your cod until the armor is fully assembled and strapped together to see if it's really bothering you

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Regarding your height i guess you could cut the chest plate the same way they did it for Luke's suit but i wouldn't cut anymore than that:

  

 

 

However I wouldn't recommand you to cut your cod until the armor is fully assembled and strapped together to see if it's really bothering you

Germain, thanks so much for the screenshots.  These are awesome.  Good advice on the cod and the strapping.

 

It is funny how often I get compared to Luke Skywalker.  Whenever I dress as a Jedi, kids ask me: "Are you Luke Skywalker?" I guess maybe I have freakishly similair 1977 "A New Hope" hair.  I guess I should just start answering:  "Why yes, you clever lad.  I am Luke Skywalker."