Chookaboom's Walt80 ANH Stunt Build

[Clamps[TK]]

I just acquired a new set of plastic, a Walt 80 (80% scale) TK. The ideal height for this armour is ~4'6". It can be trimmed down to 4' and work with a height up to 4'11" (as per maker of the kit). 

 

My daughter is 4'6" and my son is 4'4" (currently). I plan to build this kit based on the mold lines in order to maximize the life of the kit. I will build with the appropriate return edges initially. If the kids have issues with mobility, that will be a likely area I will trim down. After my kids outgrow, I will offer it to my garrison mates to use with their kids as needed. 

 

I am not sure how detailed I intend to be, but I will try to post progress as often as I can. 

 

Here is the requisite armour laid out  - untrimmed. 

 

 

 

Here is the plastic pile after the first evening of rough trimming (aka removing 90% of the excess plastic and flashing. 

 

 

 

end of update. 

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Very cool stuff, Clamps!

 

I'll be keeping an eye on your build.  I expect to be embarking on a similar project in the next few weeks. 

[Mongoose[TK]]

By the time your kids outgrow this kit my kids should be just about in the height range.  Hmmmm, coincidence?? I think not.

[walt[501st]]

And

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good Clamps

[Clamps[TK]]

Sorry for delays. Been out if town and then has a little con to attend yesterday. Blah blah blah

 

Roughy trimming complete. I'll be moving work outdoors for sanding and Dremel work soon.

 

Nothing exciting to show yet. But progress will pick up steam soon.

[Clamps[TK]]

So instead of more Trooping today, it was clean the house and. It the grass day. To unwind i poured a big glass of tasty Bourbon and had a go at the whee little helmet. God Damn I love the smell of ABS being trimmed and sanded.

 

Here is cap and back bolted in position with eyes rough trimmed.

 

 

 

And here it is next toy AP ESB for scale.

 

 

And here we have the faceplate with teeth and eyes trimmed. About 90% happy with trimming. A bit more and I'll be done and move on to evilness that is the ears.

 

[walt[501st]]

If i may...Awsome !!!!can i answer a few question people have as you build??......

Mic tips....yes my mic tips look different then every other tip......i will post a pic of what i had in mind when i made then. or if chookaboom gets to it first...

Cut at the oring looking thing. that way you will have a hole right in the middle..glue that in and when dry..drill out the plastic base...more air flow

[Clamps[TK]]

I hadn't given the tips a closer inspection yet. Will do so later but would love to see your process photos Walt.

[Trigger gta[TK]]

going to watch this one.  can't wait to see it in person and get one on the go for my little guy. lots of updates chookaboom!

[Clamps[TK]]

Ok upon close inspection I have a plan of attack on the tips provided.

 

Here are close ups of front, side and rear view.

 

 

 

Here is the faceplate area where the tips go:

 

 

 

 

Ok so here is the plan.

 

Step one:

 

Trim here to make nice and straight-ish:

 

 

 

Then drill out a decent hole through the base into the fully open main Hovi section

 

 

Then add screens to tips

 

Then drill out faceplate to insert Hovi base.

 

 

I will use e6000 to secure outter and inner areas of contact with faceplate.

 

I will tackle this and ears this week as time allows. Trooping got in the way again today

[walt[501st]]

[Clamps[TK]]

If you remove the full nub. My concern would be that the faceplate portion would be quite bumpy to allow the tip to adhere well when glued. I'd hate for it to get knocked off while trooping or when kids put on or take off.

 

Do you have any photos of this area of a finished bucket using this method?

[walt[501st]]

I dont but i like your idea better..!...see you guys build far better then me....and cover strips on the way

[Clamps[TK]]

Spent a little time with the bucket tonight, I had planned to so some cleanup on the body, but as soon as I got the dremel out and plugged in on the patio, a thunderstorm arrived… 

 

I spent time doing trimming work on the ears first. As you will see, these are not final fitting, I'd say 90% to my liking at this point. I prefer a bit of wonkiness and gap in the ears versus perfectly flush...

 

Left Ear was fairly easy trim and fit:

 

 

 

 

 

Right ear was a real mutter-fudge. but I kept working the sticking points to get things in the right ballpark. 

 

 

 

I then had a go at the mic tips as noted above. I used a 1/2" forstner bit to create the receiving holes:

 

 

I then dropped in the tips. They fit in quite nicely and will allow plenty of surface area to receive the glue (not yet applied) .

 

 

One minor concern I have is that the tips extend too far out of the faceplate, even when full inserted as far back as they will go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and for fun, here is the bucket on one the future troopers:

 

 

 

next steps are to take it all apart, do some fine sanding, finish cleaning up the teeth and eyes and then give it all a wash and dry. Painting will come after that and then final assembly. 

 

 

[Clamps[TK]]

Spent a little time with the bucket tonight, I had planned to so some cleanup on the body, but as soon as I got the dremel out and plugged in on the patio, a thunderstorm arrived… 

 

I spent time doing trimming work on the ears first. As you will see, these are not final fitting, I'd say 90% to my liking at this point. I prefer a bit of wonkiness and gap in the ears versus perfectly flush...

 

Left Ear was fairly easy trim and fit:

 

 

 

 

 

Right ear was a real mutter-fudge. but I kept working the sticking points to get things in the right ballpark. 

 

 

 

I then had a go at the mic tips as noted above. I used a 1/2" forstner bit to create the receiving holes:

 

 

I then dropped in the tips. They fit in quite nicely and will allow plenty of surface area to receive the glue (not yet applied) .

 

 

One minor concern I have is that the tips extend too far out of the faceplate, even when full inserted as far back as they will go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and for fun, here is the bucket on one the future troopers:

 

 

 

next steps are to take it all apart, do some fine sanding, finish cleaning up the teeth and eyes and then give it all a wash and dry. Painting will come after that and then final assembly. 

 

 

[Torisempai]

yeah that is where I am working on atm lol that right ear x_x but yes thank you for posting pics it will help me on my build

Edited May 22, 2014 by Torisempai

[Clamps[TK]]

It's been a very busy last few days with work and life stuff, but I have squeezed in a few moments on the kit, specifically painting the bucket. 

 

I am probably one of the worst painters alive, so my full sized bucket is still decals. No option on this bucket, so it aint gonna be the best paint job you will ever see. That said, I went with the method of laying the blacks first. I decided to cover entire traps and such in black to allow for there to be consistency with the greys when I lay them on. 

 

Here is a shot showing the blacks all down, 2 coats. I am VERY happy with the Vocoder. Everyting else is decent so far.

 

 

 

Now, time for some Testors 1138! Only one coat done so far. I will have to go back with the blacks for some touchups on a few of the lines. Overall, pretty happy with the progress, sloppy, but meh, whatever. 

 

 

 

coat number 2 goes down tonight. By week's end I will have full construction complete and then over the weekend I will finally get around to final sizing, trimming and sanding steps of the body. 

[Clamps[TK]]

Waiting for paint to dry I knocked out the coverstrips. Final length and corner trims will come during assembly.

 

I tested a few sizes and landed with ~15mm for biceps and forearms, 20mm for thighs and shin fronts and 25mm for shin rear.

 

I also cut. 10mm and 7.5mm strip to help marking the individual halves.

 

[walt[501st]]

Sorry late...As per 80%..arms are 13 front if shins arw 16 and rears arw 20

[Clamps[TK]]

Oops. I accidentally typed in my sizes from my full size kit.

 

Should be in the vacinity of what Walt noted:

 

13 arms

16 shin front and thighs

20 rear shin

[walt[501st]]

yeah that is where I am working on atm lol that right ear x_x but yes thank you for posting pics it will help me on my build

...wheres your build thread?....love that black!

[Torisempai]

...wheres your build thread?....love that black!

 

ooo good I don't need to figure out the cover strips # lol 

 

>.> I don't have a build thread but I guess I can make one in the special ops...

http://forum.501stspecopsdet.net/index.php?/topic/2857-tx-3639-jr-mini-build-d/

Edited May 28, 2014 by Torisempai

[Clamps[TK]]

Ok good progress tonight.

Last coats of paint on the bucket. Just need to so a whee bit of touch up work in a few places. And a little cleanup on a couple of spots where I oops'd.


I installed screen in the Hovi. I too, like Wolfman had issues with the metal Screen provided. It's so thin that its shape distorts when cut that small. So I too used black plastic mesh cut to appropriate size.



Then used silver sharpie to colour it.



Dropped it in and added a bit of CA glue.






I then added mouth mesh.



I prefer to gaffe tape it in versus glue. Less messy and easy to remove if needed.




I then added tube stripes. I am tempted to remove them and do full hand paint. But I'm just so over painting right now. Maybe later.





Finally a side project. In plan to take an unmodded Hasbro E11 and do a quick paint job for the kids to use. I don't REALLY need to do it as I have 3 other E11s but what the heck.

This one has not "fired" since late 2012 when my son dropped it. So I finally opened it up and found the positive lead solder connection popped off. This will be a pretty easy fix. But not tonight. Tired = mistakes.

[walt[501st]]

Wow..The mic tip screen!!!great idea....never thought of that!..i had such a hard time with that thing...i wanted to keep them small and thin, but as you see it falls apart..what i did was cut a small peice lay it down on wax paper and coat it with super glue first. It hold together better...your way i like better