bzb Posted January 18, 2014 Report Posted January 18, 2014 After many days of impatience, finally got my big brown box! Starting slicing it up late Thursday night. MTK's kit is really quite complete - I'm very impressed with the extras he includes, and also his packing skills! I thought I was good at Tetris with all my DJ gear... Height: 6'0" Weight: 165# MTK (Trooperbay) Kit Kit included: Simulated hand-painted decals, stencils for hand painting, green lens, finished mic tips, split rivets, TD parts, teeth grill, rubber trim, S trim, TD and TK knee plate Neck seal: Darman Holster: Darman E11: Hyperfirm Canvas Belt: TKittel Rubber hand guards: Sonneschein Boots: Lands End Chelsea + Angelus Paint & Finisher $95, $15 Strapping kit: Mr. NoStripes Zap-a-Gap & Zip Kicker: Trooperbay $15 E6000 clear and white: Hobby Lobby $8 Rare earth magnets: amazon (2lb force) 100-ct $13 Paints: Hobby Lobby + Amazon $10 total Aker amp 1505: amazon $42 Cana kit R009: amazon $36 for two Headphone kit: ebay $15 Motorcycle helmet padding: cannabalised old Scorpion bike helmet Helmet liner: Cycle Gear $15 Echo fan kit iComm First day's trim practice on a handguard and forearm build Quote
bzb Posted January 18, 2014 Author Report Posted January 18, 2014 Made some progress Friday night, trimming up some of the smaller pieces. Will sand and polish afterward. Quote
RampantLion[TK] Posted January 18, 2014 Report Posted January 18, 2014 Keep up the good work and I'll pitch in my help when I can. Quote
bzb Posted January 18, 2014 Author Report Posted January 18, 2014 More trimming progress Saturday morning. I'm having trouble figuring out the left and right biceps :? Had a few issues with tearout on the codpiece, so I posted a tutorial on how I'm applying woodworking techniques to this build. Finished TD minus the brackets. Planning on working on shins tonight after I watch Winnie the Pooh for the bililonth time with my daughter. Quote
bzb Posted January 18, 2014 Author Report Posted January 18, 2014 Keep up the good work and I'll pitch in my help when I can. Certainly appreciate it! Your build thread is always on one of my browser tabs. Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 These dang parts need to be labeled After spending 10 minutes trying to figure out which calf is which, I went back to the biceps, since I learned the squared one is the right. Right arm is locked and loaded. OK maybe neither of those, but at least they're assembled. Also keeping an extra roll of TP handy, just in case I crap myself when I screw up a part from moving too quickly. Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 LOL, coming along nicely Quote
Captain Jack[501st] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 Looking good Bobby. Keep up the good work. Plus you get an A++ for being a great Dad. Been there done that wouldn't trade it for the world. Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 Haha, thanks, I'm trying. She sure loves her some Disney (ok, we all do) so I'm trying to get this done as quickly and as nicely as I can to attempt to get into SWW! She *adored* the "bad guise!! bad guise!!" when we went for SWW in 2012. She's fighting Vader in my avatar.Once I'm done with mine, I plan on getting one of the kids sets for my 7-year old son. He's been into dressing up in costumes for years, so how cool would a TK be?? After getting them to hit the sack, I finished up ole Southpaw. I may not have left enough room in them, though, and may have to go back and reduce the returns. Although, I think the left seems more pronounced because of the deep V shape: Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) Can someone point me in the right direction on how to identify the inner calves/shins? I may just move onto the thighs... Edit: re-watched MTK's video. Good visual aid! Shins are in progress. Edited January 19, 2014 by bzb Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 Ran into my first issue last night. After even trial fitting the left shin, for some reason I thought I was working on the opposite leg. Doh. I cut my inside shin rear flap to 7/16". The outside shin rear flap is still 1.25". These should be reversed. My plan is to use a 1" shim glued to the inside of the 7/16" flap. The hard velcro hook side will be attached to it and the miscut 7/16" flap on the inside shin. Then cut the outside shin to 7/16" and attach the proper 7/8" cover strip, with the soft velcro loop attached to it. Does this sound OK? Will the uneven layer of velcro hook from the 1" shim be an issue for me? Quote
Captain Jack[501st] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 Here is a look at my shim. Not sure if right or not just the way I did it. It turned out ok I think. Glued on the outside using e6000 the heated the outside and pressed against to form the shape of the outer side. The Velcro and tucked under the other side. Sorry hope that came out right sounds weird when I type it. Quote
RampantLion[TK] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 Labels are important to prevent those mistakes. The tricky part is getting the top and bottom looking right. You don't want an obvious gap. Some pictures of the pieces fitted (held with tape) may help us to see the situation better and offer more helpful advice. Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) Jack - looks like you installed it on the outer end instead? Interesting. My biggest concern is with the velcro being on a "ridge" because of the shim and calf levels being slightly off. If it was the "loop" side I wouldn't have as much of a corner, but I feel like the "hook" side (which will mount to this shim) is more rigid. Leo - They look fine top to bottom. Also, this is actually the left leg - so the sniper plate will be covering any minor alignment problems. The issue I ran into is I cut the inner instead of the outer calf to do the "overlap" for the velcro. I'm not doing the accurate bra hook method. Edited January 19, 2014 by bzb Quote
Jim13csulb[TK] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 Nice Job! Its coming along nicely, Im currently working on an MTK kit as well, and Im loving every minute of it! Im eager to see how your build progresses!!! Quote
bzb Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) Thighs almost there. Male Thigh gap photo warning Should I leave myself more room than this? I can barely get two fingers in between the armor and my thigh at the top. Edited January 19, 2014 by bzb Quote
RampantLion[TK] Posted January 19, 2014 Report Posted January 19, 2014 That should be perfect, but try walking around with them a bit. Quote
bzb Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Posted January 21, 2014 After suiting up the legs and taking a terrible quality mirror selfie, I think my wife is wanting a costume of some sort... she sure had a lot of questions! The torso is trimmed at the joining lines, but I'm trying to determine how much of a return edge I want on the chest and upper back pieces. Any advice? Quote
bzb Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Posted January 23, 2014 Torso strapped together, using Mr. No Stripes strapping kit. Everything is trimmed except the sides of the abdomen and kidney - need to get a little assistance to get the measurements correct, so it'll have to wait until probably this weekend. Quote
bzb Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Posted January 24, 2014 Some minor progress on my lid. Still got some toofeses trimming to do. Got my son's birthday party coming on Sunday, so I gotta take a break to finish up the Harry Potter stuff. I've been making wands and scarves for the kids goody bags. But I'll be back at it next week. Still got a lot of work on this, but there is a a faint glow at the end of this tunnel. Quote
bzb Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Posted January 24, 2014 So my son got sick today and I had to come home to pick him up While sitting on conference calls, I ended up painting my Chelseas. I opted for brush instead of the HVLP gun... because it's more accurate. (By "it's more accurate" I mean it's too friggin cold to do anything outside, so I'll be damned if I'm breaking out the spray gun ) Angelus Paint in white. 4oz is way more than I need for two boots, but 1oz wouldn't be enough. First coat, very light. Cut in the edges with a flat brush, rest with a round. Second coat. Third coat. Looks like these won't be dress shoes for work anymore. Just finished one last coat on both boots. I'll be letting them dry for about 5 hours. Then I'll coat with the acrylic finisher with a rag. Finally, I'll finish off the mesh with a fabric paint I picked up at Hobby Lobby. Supposedly that will coat it far better than the Angelus (which just soaks right in). Quote
Vader Rocks Posted January 24, 2014 Report Posted January 24, 2014 (edited) Making some great progress there, paint job on the boots look awesome. I've gotta ask, is your "selfie" pic flipped somehow, or are your sniper plate and ammo pack on the wrong legs?? Hope your son gets to feeling better. Edited January 24, 2014 by Vader Rocks Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted January 24, 2014 Report Posted January 24, 2014 Looking good there Bobby Quote
bzb Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Posted January 24, 2014 Haha, yes, mirror pic. Appreciate it, it's even the little guy's actual birthday today - suck! Making some great progress there, paint job on the boots look awesome.I've gotta ask, is your "selfie" pic flipped somehow, or are your sniper plate and ammo pack on the wrong legs??Hope your son gets to feeling better. Quote
bzb Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Posted February 7, 2014 Made more progress here and there after a very busy weekend. Also got my replacement ears from Trooperbay on Monday. Followed a suggestion to apply Bondo on back side of the mic tips, as the ABS is very thin at that point. Hovi mic tips installed New ears installed Getting mah ears did Split rivets on the kidney/ab connection. Planning on covering these with a bit of fleece and a dab of E6000. Quote
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