TM ANH Stunt build by dday

[Dday[501st]]

Total time in Build to date: 32 hours (updating as I work on the project)

 

So, completely unbeknownst to AsBlondAsLuke here on the forums and her great WIP thread, it lit my fire to do another build. I found that I really enjoyed building my first and second stormtrooper suits, and so I figured why not a 3rd!

 

The only thing I get frustrated with is the ears on the helmet. I know thats a big one for a lot of people. Time time, I have more patience and have done it a few times so I'm hoping for great results on those ears!

 

So I was able to find the type of armor I like the most, a wonderful, fresh TM 1.5mm set from Paul. Complete with latex handguards, belt, and holster, what a wonderful set!

 

I got the boxes the other day and they had to sit over the weekend unopened because I just didn't have any room in the workroom for it.

 

Sunday I started a little bit on clean up, but my heart wasn't fully in the job, so I took up the mantle again on Monday, full of fire and 2 hours later, the work room was clean, the work table expanded and I was ready to start unpacking the kit. Now trust me, the workshop was a MESS. So I'm surprised I got it clean so fast.

 

My goal is to track how many hours I work on the armor until it's finished, just to know. I estimate a total of 24 hours of actual work time (not including glue drying and so on). I will be adding al photos to the first post, and bumping as I add new photos and progress. It's great to read a WIP, but sometimes, you just want to look at page 1 and see everything!

 

I may run into a photo limit, not sure, so I will reserve a few posts below this one, just incase!

 

 

Day 1 3.5h

 

Here is the full setup unpacked and sorted in it's untrimmed glory.

 

Trimmed up the arms and got them ready for gluing, and sanded and prepped the latex handguards.

 

Trimmed up the kidney and butt plates

 

Setup the biceps gluing and curing overnight

 

 

Day 2 3h (so far, there are more hours left in the day yet!)

 

Biceps are cured and solid, clamps and magnets off

 

On to the forearms

 

I trimmed up the backplate and a bunch of other pieces since all my clamps and magnets were in use. I got 40 more magnets this afternoon though. So I was able to glue up a few more pieces.

 

 

Painted the buttons while sitting the office working.

 

Putting the new magnets to use

 

 

Day 3 2 hours

 

Just some little things done, amazing how fast 2 hours can disappear.

 

Made bicep elastic hooks, glued in the bicep straps, glued on the rear cover for the shins and some other small detail oriented things that don't need days in the telling.

 

I like to make my hooks a little longer then normal, because I found that the ones that are small have trouble holding the elastic in, it is always sliding out.

 

Day 4 4h

 

More odds and ends done, got the thighs almost done, strapped up the back of the armor. I found I was out of black elastic oddly enough, so I had to order some more before continuing with the strapping for the arms and sides.

 

 

I'm unhappy with the T-Det, so getting new end caps so I can make it look right. I ended up cutting them to short.

 

Day 5 4h

It's days like the last few where I look around after 4 hours and I think.... "Jeeze, I've been here 4 hours"... and sometime feel like there is nothing to show for it. But it's the little things that make up a big one I guess.

 

 

 

I'm waiting on attaching the chest and Ab until I've finished the torso strapping so it's easier to move it around when I'm working on the side connection. Just need the new elastic I ordered today.

 

 

First cuts on the helmet. I think tomorrow will see the helmet almost finished, I've got most of the day to work on the build, so I don't see why not!

 

Day 6 2h

 

 

Day 7 4h Maybe 4, maybe 5. I did this in my office in between working and such, so hard to really clock how much time was spent.

 

 

I like to cover the entire painted area in black first, this gives the next layer a smooth look, instead of there being a visible line where the black and gray overlap.

 

 

So Tube stripes... I take this image put together by Pandatrooper. You have to size it right, the Tube stripes need to be 2cm tall (I'm pretty sure, might be off a little!)

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/14867-tube-stripe-masking-templates/?hl=%2Btube+%2Bstripe+%2Btemplate

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5178/5520780364_c355c5e795_z.jpg

 

I use his idealized ones vs the "hand painted" because once I'm done cutting and painting, the idealized amazingly turn into hand painted.

 

Once you have them sized and printed out, tape them down over some tape that seals well. I'm using PVC plumbing tape, since it gets a good seal, and it's all I have laying around. The tighter it seals to the plastic (and still comes off!) the better.

 

 

Then you just cut over the pattern and boom, instant template. Take out the stripes you have cut out and carefully place the template over your helmet in the right position. Take your time, it is easy to get it warped and in the wrong position. Once you have it on there and positioned right, go over the edges where the paint will go with a fingernail or the butt of a a paint brush to assist with sealing it, this will help stop additional leakage.

 

 

Two coats and let it dry for a couple minutes or so, then peel it off.

 

 

 

I didn't seal this one well enough to the helmet, so there was lots of bleed through.

 

The other side was sealed better and didn't have as much.

 

Bleed through is easy to fix though, once it's dry you just take a toothpick and scrape the excess off. You need to wait a few hours until the paint is hard to do this, otherwise you'll just end up smearing the paint around and making a bigger harder cleanup job.

 

Day 8 1 hr

So, helmet is finished...well, mostly. There is one rear trap that I'm not happy with, as I was moving it around, the wet stripe paint got smeared... so that means a complete wipe down and redo.

 

 

Day 8 Part 2 1 Hour

 

 

Day 9 Part 1 2 Hours

Ok, so the elastics came in today. I've been doing a made rush to get everything set and gluing. I'm not using instaglue like the originals, and there are a lot of parts to get settled in so I cut, snapped, and glued everything I could until I ran out of all my clamps and 40+ magnets.

 

Things remaining right now are: Elastic/snap from shoulder armor to shoulder bridge, elastics/split rivets on the left side, elastic/split rivet/snap in the crotch, elastic/snap on the right side... new thermal detonator caps, elastics/hooks for the shins. Sounds like a lot.... Maybe 2 hours left.

Enough of what I haven't done, how about what I did!

 

For the connection from bicep to forearm, I decided that half glued and half set with snaps would be the best way to go for this specific build. It looks like there are 4 snaps on the forearm, but those are the magnets holding the gluing elastic down. I feel it's easier to get into the bicep then the forearm to attach snaps, it is just more natural for the hand.

 

The thighs will use the belt system like the original suits. Basically you have a thin leather belt around your waist, about 1 inch or so wide that you slip through the loops in these to hold them up. I never liked the system where the thighs snap into the torso, I always felt it was pulling me down. Another alternative to this is the garter system like Vaderdave and some other sell. Thats always an option, just simple separate the elastic from the armor (E6000, I love you) and glue in a snap plate, done deal. But I like this system, simple is good.

 

The chest and back connections are something interesting to work with. There is the replica way, with both sides solid glued together, and now the clamshell doesn't open all the way, you slip your head through and snap at the waist. I decided for this one, a little more flexibility is in order. So I'm going to do it like this... The left side is will be fully glued down front and back. Down on the torso, the split rivets are keeping the left side shut all the time, so there is no reason to waste snaps on the shoulder connection for this side. However, on the right side, it is the opening side. So I have glued down the elastic in the back and added a double snap plate in the front. Now the wearer can fully open the armor and lay it out if they wish.

 

I also finished the belt by connecting the drop boxes, but no photos because I didn't get any. I'll have some in part 2 tonight.

 

So thats it for now...more to come tonight after I get the rest of the non-gluing parts completed and tomorrow will see me doing the final parts of gluing... then it's just waiting on the new TD caps.

 

Day 9/10/11 3 hours

 

Wrapping up odds and ends.

 

 

I put the torso up on mr. sexy here to get an better view of it.

 

The side rivets don't line up because the manni is posing and his hips all thrust, so it messes up the lines a little bit.

 

His arms are bent, so it's hard to get the biceps on around the bend so I won't be putting them on, maybe I"ll rig up something to make it work without the internal arms setup to display the finished suit soon.

 

Final photos:

 

 

I figure I could put these in there as well.. The suit getting pack up and off to it's new owner.

 

Helmet in

 

Legs and arms in

 

Torso and belt in

 

Stuffing on top to fill any small gaps

 

Build done.... I have post-partem depression now.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Dday

[Dday[501st]]

reserved for updates

[Dday[501st]]

reserved for updates #2

[Dday[501st]]

reserved for updates #3

[Dday[501st]]

reserved for updates #4

[HawkFan24]

Can't wait to see your progess

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

When you know what you're doing, building a Stormtrooper is pretty straight forward. I think your time estimation should be fine!

[Palpatine1977]

Awesome!! Looking forward to seeing the build progress

[Dday[501st]]

Bump for new progress in post #1

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

It's all looking good and progressing fast!

 

You can take off more of the forearms front return edges though. There should be none:

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[Dday[501st]]

Thanks for the reminder. I remembered when I started that the bottom edge of the bicep and forearm have 0 return edge on the lower ends, but wanted to double check... then forgot

[Palpatine1977]

Wow, looking amazing so far! Coming along very quickly

[Dday[501st]]

Sadly no progress today, I've gotta hit the road for work, but I'll be back tomorrow afternoon!

[Dday[501st]]

Bump for Day 3 updates. Mostly little detail things done. Getting pretty close to having all the big work done, then comes small detailing and the helmet build.

[Palpatine1977]

Bump for Day 3 updates. Mostly little detail things done. Getting pretty close to having all the big work done, then comes small detailing and the helmet build.

 

Looking very good so far Excited to see the helmet build!

[Dday[501st]]

bump for progress added.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Sniper knee plate looks so easy with TM 

 

And indeed the end caps seem a bit short, they should be around 20mm:

[Dday[501st]]

I've attached a FX sniper plate and TM sniper plate, both were pretty easy, but the TM is the best, obviously between those two.

 

In General, TM is super nice to build. It just works. Paul has really a great product and I love building them.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Dday

[Dday[501st]]

updated the photos in post #1 for day 5 progress.

[Dday[501st]]

Bump. Day 7, Helmet 90% complete.

 

I should be getting the required elastics tomorrow in the mail and I will put the final touches on the suit. Maybe 5 more hours in the build...

[Palpatine1977]

Helmet looks awesome!!

[Dday[501st]]

Helmet finished this morning... mostly. Not happy with the rear right trap.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Helmet looks great, but actually i've never seen a helmet with so few vertical lines in the rear traps. They're usually 11, or 12, or 13:

Edited April 8, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[Dday[501st]]

Yes, I agree. I erased them completely and am starting them again

[Dday[501st]]

So, Now I'm happy with the helmet.

 

The elastics didn't come in the mail today, crap. Should be here tomorrow and I can put them in and get the suit done! Updating the main post as well.

 

Edited April 8, 2014 by Dday