Diana's RS Props Build- ANH Stunt

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Actually, Rust-oleum is the second paint name i've often heard when it's about painting a helmet

 

The s-trim is the rubber thing you put around the helmet neck opening which should have a "s" shape:

[kylebeagle[TK]]

Inspirational build to this stage!! WOW!

 

Note: The break in the "S-Trim" is toward the front of the helmet position in the middle of the vocoder.

 

Nicely done!!! 

[Haribon72[TK]]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I hope the helmet comes out great!!!       I'm so happy that your "engineer" is totally involved.     Please let me know when he "turns to the darkside" and gets his armor!!!

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I hope the helmet comes out great!!!       I'm so happy that your "engineer" is totally involved.     Please let me know when he "turns to the darkside" and gets his armor!!!

 Won't be too long until we convert your cousin to our dark and evil ways.  His armor is on order.  He has tried to back on the whole idea.  But, I told him to at least give it a try.  He's my best friend and it's been such fun working on the armor together.  He's not convinced, but he's willing to try.  My mentor, Kyle, stopped with his family for a bit yesterday to help on a piece of the RS strapping.  His wife was commiserating with my husband on being married to folks obsessed with Star Wars.  I was thinking maybe we should start a support group...

 

"Hi.  I'm Jan."

"Hi Jan."

"I've been the spouse of a Star Wars addict for 10 years.  He says he is going to cut back, but it seems every year it something new and different.  It never ends with him-"

 

The group would be full.  I think.

 

The helmet is looking good. Thank you for your guidance.  We applied four coats of primer, let it dry overnight with a fan running, and then started on the coats of gloss white. Once all the coats of paint are on, we're going to let the helmet "sit" for a week, as per the paint thread that Germain forwarded above, to let the paint settle for a while.  

 

After the coats of primer dried, prepped for the gloss coats by sanding with 600 grit sandpaper.

 

 

The engineer stressed you could by feel exactly where you still needed to sand because it has a slightly rough texture under your fingertips.  Once everything feels smoothy and silky under your fingertips all over, it is ready for painting.  He insisted I feel this for myself.  Uh... OK.  Right.  This isn't weird.

Check it out!  Scootch is a shinie.

Edited December 4, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[Toddo[TK]]

I love me a Scootch bucket.

[gazmosis[501st]]

http://www.weberspump.com/How long have you waited prior to topcoating the lid? The primer for plastics needs time to fully cure or you risk wrinkling (paint lifting) I have always let it cure for at least a week. The link in the beginning is a source for the "s" trim. it is part R102 in the ad window glass section.

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Inspirational build to this stage!! WOW!

 

Note: The break in the "S-Trim" is toward the front of the helmet position in the middle of the vocoder.

 

Nicely done!!! 

I won't go looking for the thread now, but someone posted a picture of the break central at the rear. Maybe they were done both ways?

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

I won't go looking for the thread now, but someone posted a picture of the break central at the rear. Maybe they were done both ways?

 

 

It just seems smarter to me to put it at the front but yes, you can put it at the rear

[Haribon72[TK]]

Great update Diana!!!    Yes, let the helmet hang out for a week before you start up again.    

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Great update Diana!!!    Yes, let the helmet hang out for a week before you start up again.    

Great advice.  Thanks.  Scootch is just hanging out on his pedestal enjoying being the centerpiece of the living room.  Doesn't seem inclined to go anywhere.  Even though we're doing almost all of our building on the weekends due to work, (and then cramming a lot in at once), we're not planning on rushing anything.  If we do, we'll just end up having to redo it again.  Plus, we're having a lot of fun building the armor together.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

We built all day on Sunday.  This is the first chance I've had to update the thread, although husband has been gently reminding me everyday.  The interest, enthusiasm and time he's given the project has been amazing.

 

By early Saturday evening, we ran into a "roadblock" and  it looked as if we couldn't go any further.  Not only we were missing missing five screws on the chest brackets, but the tool we had for punching snaps was not compatible with the RS strapping.  The snaps that came with our fancy kit were 3/8" and our plier kit was 5/8."  We hit every store in our town and the next look for a 5/8" kit and came up empty.  We texted cousin Walter, and he'd suggested an alternate tool that had worked on his armor.  We found the tool at our local hardware store, (and we'd had to go out to get paint for the Scootch anyway), but the tool stubbornly refused to comply with the RS snaps.  We were tired.  We were frustrated.  It wasn't a good frame of mind for building.  We decided to call it a night.

 

I spoke with Kyle the next morning and was updating him on everything we'd done the day before.  I told him about the 3/8-5/8 issue.

"We can't do any more strapping without that tool.  So, we're going to order it online, and once it comes in we can finish the strapping."

"Uh, Diana?  I have the tool for the RS straps."

"Can I borrow it?"

"No. I'm going to selfishly keep it from you."

 

Wise guy.  Kyle was swinging by my side of the county later in the day anyway and said he'd drop it off.  He also had spares of the screws RS hadn't sent.  Whoa.

 

While we awaited the arrival of Santa Kyle, we decided to finish up a few last pieces.  We still needed to do the sniper pack and ammo belt.  Shouldn't be too hard, right?

 

Hah.

 

So many of these tasks would probably go much faster if I was just four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier.  But, few of us have a screen accurate body.  So, you work with what you have and make the armor fit a real world body.  

 

"Your shin is too small and the sniper plate is too big.  It's not going to fit," my engineer stared at the two pieces.

"Heat bend," I said.  "We just have to make it work."

 

We found the following tutorial very helpful as worked on the shins.  It is entitled: "Assembling Greaves/shins" and includes a tutorial on bending armor using a heat gun.

 

Molding the sniper plate to fit my "too small" shins as husband refers to them.  Seriously, I think they're quite buff.  Not sure if there is a better way to hold on the sniper plate using something other than a clamp?  On one side, the clamp left a melty mark.  The engineer sort of bent it back out again, but there's definitely a little section there that looks like it took a bit of blaster fire.

 

Was hoping I got a picture of it, and I did.    This is the blasted area right after the clamp was removed and before husband started cursing and scorching his fingers trying to fix it.  There was no clamp damage on the other side.

 

More updates to come.

[Buffstormtroop]

So informative! I'm ordering my suit soon from RS, you get what you pay for, that's why I'm gonna be spending a lot! Totally worth it!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Well... at least it will give you more surface for the glue to hold, and it's still better to have it on the inner side than the outer  .

 

Nothing major to me!

[Buffstormtroop]

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

The blast mark heat bended back out and husband did not fuse his fingers into a Mon Calamari hand, so we were good to move on.    

 

The "assembling knee plate" tutorial included detailed instructions on how to rivet the knee plate and the engineer thought this sounded like a fine idea.  But, something was niggling at the back of my mind from the costume requirements.  We went to our trusty orange binder and looked it up.  

 

There it was under level two certification: 

"Sniper knee plate must not have visible rivets or fasteners attaching it to the shin."

 

Husband still wasn't convinced. "Not visible rivets could mean they need to be painted white."  

 

True.  So, we checked with Kyle.  "Glue."

 

I felt bad for my engineer.  He said the rivets would hold it better on my "small shin."  Seriously.  Not small.  Buff!  Anyway, we glued the sniper plate.  And, ironically we had to put those clamps back on.  The same ones that left the melty marks.  And, as if glue already wasn't on the oogey list for day,  some of it actually starting dripping down the side of the shin like thick 'ol Jabba drool.

 

Thankfully, there was a package of cleaning wipes inches away.  Turns out those wipes are awesome at getting glue off before it dries.  But, you only have to be lightning fast.  Like Han-Shot-First fast.  Once it dries, you either scrape it off with a craft knife, sand it down, or join the Mos Eisely Police Department.  Definitely a handy item to have when gluing.

 

 

We moved on to the ammo pack.

 

We loved the reference picture in the Tutorial on legs.

 

The engineer decided to achieve this affect using a mug from our favorite coffee house.  We drank the coffee first.  Mmmm.... coffee.

 

Used our curved Lexan scissors to follow the trim mark.  These scissors have been awesome.  Just right for trimming the RS armor.

Getting a heat bend onto the ammo belt.

Re-used the "half moon" rig from the chest plate to create something that would hold the thigh in place for adding the ammo belt.

 

 

 

Modified chest rig with holding the thigh in place.

 

Ammo belt being added into place.

 

 

Finished piece.

Edited March 14, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[Haribon72[TK]]

Looking good Diana!!!

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

I don't know if that would be do-able, but it would be good to shorten the front cover strip so it ends before the bottom ridge:

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I don't know if that would be do-able, but it would be good to shorten the front cover strip so it ends before the bottom ridge:

Agreed, trim to the top of the ridge. Coming along nicely

[Toddo[TK]]

If it makes you feel any better, I end up with glue-covered fingers with nearly every build.  I wear gloves sometimes,  particularly in building my astromech, but then I just glue parts of blue latex glove to my work.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

If it makes you feel any better, I end up with glue-covered fingers with nearly every build.  I wear gloves sometimes,  particularly in building my astromech, but then I just glue parts of blue latex glove to my work.

Gloves would probably be a wise idea.  I did glue my fingers this week.  I finally pried them apart with nail polisher remover.  I thought I'd have to wave the Vulcan greeting at everyone.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Kyle arrived with the five missing RS screws and the tool we needed so we could finally add in all the snaps.  Our hero.   We could finally finish the strapping.  

 

My engineer had been getting a bit... ah... frustrated visualizing which little strap went where and compared the whole process to being given a couch to assemble from IKEA without a manual.  "They give you all these parts and screws, but no instructions."  

I shrugged.  "And, so you have to search out other IKEA owners online and ask them how they put their couch together."

My engineer looked thoughtful: "Except they all did it a little differently."

I smiled: "Look on the bright side.  When you're done, you get to join their Sofa Owner's Club."

 

Ah, but anyway, Kyle was kind enough to loan us his armor for a few days so my engineer could see a 3-D representation of the couch.  Er, armor.  It made a huge difference.  We were able to fly through the rest of the strapping in a few, frustration-free hours.  The engineer was very happy.

 

As beloved a tradition as these build threads are, and no one loves them more than me, has anyone ever considered actually writing an armor building manual?  Does one exist?  Just a thought.  

 

So, we used the Dremel to sand back the shims we'd added in.  We needed these because our return edge wasn't quite large enough, but we would have added them in anyway.  They provide extra strength in a high stress area.

 

 

Since we now had the proper tool, we added the snap to the abdomen plate.

 

 

 

We discovered in doing fittings that the snaps were too big so we ended up adding in a second set to make it fit, but hey, it leaves room for that growth spurt I keep dreaming about.  

 

 

This meant I could actually put the armor on without tape.  Forgive my unsnapped crotch.  We weren't done with that piece yet.  I looked at this picture and went: "Blegh.  Chest piece is boxy."  So, my answer to everything these days seems to be heat bending.

 

 

And, this is the chest piece after the heat bending.

 

And, we finished strapping up my cod.  Huh.  OK.  Wow.  That could sound strange out of context.

 

There's a helpful little marking to show where to put the snap.

 

And, now I've got a snap in my cod.  Yeah.  Not sounding any less weird.

 

Shot of the interior strapping.

Edited December 4, 2014 by AsBlondeAsLuke

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

I don't know if that would be do-able, but it would be good to shorten the front cover strip so it ends before the bottom ridge:

Thanks, Germain.  Very good to know.  I will do my best to shorten the front cover strip and make it as screen accurate as possible.  Thank you for pointing out this detail.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

It's starting to look incredible! That second torso shot is awesome

 

About the butt plate snaps, even though some armors had only one snap like you've done and like the RS suit, Centurion requires 2 to be present. Like three of the armors on the pic below:

[Toddo[TK]]

I love the way you look at your parts and say "nah, that's not good enough."  It really is resulting in one of the best builds I have ever seen.

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

I love the way you look at your parts and say "nah, that's not good enough."  It really is resulting in one of the best builds I have ever seen.

Thanks, Todd.  We didn't put ourselves under the pressure of a deadline to get it done, which I think helped a great deal.  It will be done when everything is done right.  The way I see it, there will be always more events and troops.  We're limited to getting things done on the weekends, but it's become a fun part of the routine in the household now.