A Slightly Disheveled Medium and a Pristine Big Brown Box Arrived Today - Dark's RT-Mod ANH Hero (and Stunt) Build Thread

[I'm Batman[501st]]

You'll be done by about 5pm tomorrow I reckon. Looks like it's all done for you!

 

And even though you're known for your photo taking, I can't believe you paused long enough to take a photo of the actual truck!! Lol!!

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Nice, well packaged armor. Top notch service and armor. Nice Tim, I'm sure you are ecstatic . That Cat Photo Though....lolz

[CorrosiveHitman]

good luck with the build mate, I'm sure you will nail it.

[TrainWreck[501st]]

Congratulations Tim! This will be fun to watch.

[PGHtoolman]

 

 

 

Put a cover on the grape soldier!! <<<<in the worst DI voice ever>>>>

[dkmwong]

Awesome write up and pics !!! I am new to the scene and still looking? Where did you order this from?

[aicire]

Ericia, yes they are. Rob builds them as part of his standard service.

 

Had I not built the Walt80, I'd have kept the Stunt in kit form so I could have the experience of building one.

 

As awesome of a build as the Walt80 is.... it doesnt compare to building a full size lid.

 

But, regardless, I am extrememly thrilled for you. Looks like all you need are a few minor adjustments to size it up to your build, and start assembling.

 

Enjoy

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Put a cover on the grape soldier!! <<<<in the worst DI voice ever>>>>

 

LoL...  It is actually in my right hand, behind the boxes.  I carried it because I planned on meeting the driver at the truck, but remember she was deceptively fleet of foot, so I never got beyond the doorway, in which case I'd have put it on. 

 

As awesome of a build as the Walt80 is.... it doesnt compare to building a full size lid.

 

But, regardless, I am extrememly thrilled for you. Looks like all you need are a few minor adjustments to size it up to your build, and start assembling.

 

Enjoy

 

I'll build one eventually.  LoL. 

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Awesome write up and pics !!! I am new to the scene and still looking? Where did you order this from?

 

Hey there Dana, welcome to the FISD!!!  

 

If you check out this link, you will find all of the information about the vetted armor sellers:  http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/

 

Good luck!

[Snaps[TK]]

Congrats Tim....can't wait to see your build. You're going to love it more than you already think!

 

Also, you were one of the first people to welcome me to the FISD a few months ago and I really appreciated that.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Slangen

[millenium1]

Can we have some photos please!!   

[kevnaminute]

YES!

 

Get that armor built! We need you at the Biscuits game and would love for ya to come on to Green-vegas if ya could in August as well!

 

Any Q's, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Also, did Rob's come pre-trimmed? (If so you lucky son-of.......half the fun is posting pics of the armor and asking everyone 'OK, where do I cut?')

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

YES!

 

Get that armor built! We need you at the Biscuits game and would love for ya to come on to Green-vegas if ya could in August as well!

 

Any Q's, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Also, did Rob's come pre-trimmed? (If so you lucky son-of.......half the fun is posting pics of the armor and asking everyone 'OK, where do I cut?')

I'm feeling pretty confident about both of those troops at the moment, but I'm going to be missing about 80% of the "fun" according to most observers.  LoL.  The bucket is built, and the armor is seriously trimmed.  I don't expect that it should take me too long. 

 

E6000 is drying on the biceps, and I'm researching the forearms at the moment, because I want to make sure that they are sized/shaped properly before I start cutting.  :::gulp::: 

 

(More photos tonight, I suppose!)

Edited June 12, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Congrats Tim....can't wait to see your build. You're going to love it more than you already think!

 

Also, you were one of the first people to welcome me to the FISD a few months ago and I really appreciated that.

Thank you, Steve.  Happy to welcome you!!

 

I wouldn't have believe it was possible, but you're on point with your statement.  Putting the biceps together last night, I really do just love this process more than I could have thought possible.  (This might be a sickness that we all share.)  I feel very accomplished just looking at them, while they're still curing. 

[mikedwelle94[TK]]

Hey Tim, nice kit. I'll be watching your progress. 

[Snaps[TK]]

Thank you, Steve.  Happy to welcome you!!

I wouldn't have believe it was possible, but you're on point with your statement.  Putting the biceps together last night, I really do just love this process more than I could have thought possible.  (This might be a sickness that we all share.)  I feel very accomplished just looking at them, while they're still curing. 

Ah but it's a great sickness...lol! Every piece you do feels like a great accomplishment. A buddy of mine whose done a couple of non SW costumes and props told me when I first started my TK build that once you do one, you'll want to do another....he is so right! I Have plans to do a clone trooper after I get my first couple of troop outings done.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Fun with magnets:


Neodymium magnets, N52 strength, awaiting separation. There were 100 of them, until I had to play with them and see how far they would jump. The 100th one jumped about a foot and a half, and broke on impact, leaving 99. If anyone knows of a good, smart, easy way to separate them that won't leave your fingertips feeling like your nails were getting yanked out on the next day, please share it for the benefit of others.


Separated into stacks of three.


Magnets taped up to protect them and everything around them.

Next up: Biceps, welcome to the gun show. :/

Edited February 24, 2019 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Just a few pictures of the bicep build. This was pretty simple, because they fit. No cutting necessary yet - outside of cover strips.

 

A look at one of them, taped together, ready for some intimate time with E6000, magnets, and cover strips.

 

One look at them, ready to sit for 24 hours.

 

And another, showing the magnets on both the inside and outside.

 

I do still need to add inner strips for the seams, but that will probably wait a little while.

 

Next comes the part where I'm afraid to cut the forearms and ask where they should be cut.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

As I said... I'm not sure if/where to cut these. I'm going to have no choice but to use wider cover strips than the 15mm ones that were supplied by Rob, at least I believe that right now. There's no way to get my hands through them, and if I flex out my forearms right now, it separates the tape on the sides. They'll just have to be a little bit wider.


First one, showing the outside edge of the forearm.


Another look at the same forearm.
 

I've aligned the second one at the top, and marked the wrist area with tape where I believe it should probably be cut. I'd love some feedback on them.

Here's the second one with the tape near the wrist.


Another look at the same one.


Here's one more look at the second one. I'll probably make myself stop making that face while my wife takes the pictures for me, eventually. LoL (big thank you to her though, for doing so.)

So yeah... First-cutitis has set in for me. I've looked at so many reference photos, and read so many build threads trying to figure this out, but since this is the first bit of cutting that I have to do, yeah... I just can't go "Okay... Cut HERE!" Thanks for understanding.

EDIT:

Another picture showing both of them, side by side, close-up.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Snaps[TK]]

Wish I could help you more except the golden rule I did which is cut off less than you think and measure again. I used a dremel with a sanding bit rather than actually cut. Takes a little bit longer but better than knife getting away from you on your cut lines.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TrainWreck[501st]]

I don't know if this is my phone Tim but almost all of those pictures say "This person moved or deleted this image."

[millenium1]

A lot of your photos appear to have either been moved or deleted?

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Yeah... I rearranged photobucket because it was being stupid... Sorry. I'll get it fixed a little later this morning.

 

EDIT:  Fixed them! 

 

In looking more at the screen shots, and my armor (I just love saying that - even though it is pieces right now, and not exactly armor just yet) my concern really is the elbow end of the outside. 

 

The "tracks" run up to the end of the elbow on the screen shots and pretty much every build that I look at.  I know that I don't want to/shouldn't try to "recreate" that curve and cut the elbow end of the inside. Should I consider cutting off the outside above the tracks, and then trim the bottom of the inside to match the length of the outside?  I'm inclined to think that they'd be too small if I did this, and then I'd have a lot of black showing in the arms, which isn't screen accurate.  I suppose that answers the question for the most part, but I'd really appreciate some advice, because I feel like I'm stuck between two different screen accurate arguments here.

 

Help me FISD, you're my only hope!! 

Edited June 13, 2014 by Dark CMF

[maxsteele[TK]]

Hey Tim,

 

I'm looking over some RT-MOD builds, and I'm not sure about trimming length of the forearms.  You'd be cutting off dimple detail and I'm not sure you'd want to do that.

 

The cuts you can absolutely make are taking off the return edge on the wrist ends completely.  This will give you more room to get your hands into the forearms and may help you to determine the fit better.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Thanks, Ron. 

 

After reading your post, and further review of a lot of GREAT RT-Mod threads (Darth Aloha/BIDS/swmand4/jmm7375) I feel much better about where I'm at.  Lee (jmm7375) did and said nearly the exact same things that I was saying here earlier.  LoL  I hadn't found his build thread until today actually and I'm SO happy that I did. 

 

At this point in time, I think that - just like you said - the return edge is the place to start.  I'll cut that down, and tape one back together and see how my arm fits into it.

 

Question, based on what I read in one of the threads, how much do your forearms swell when you are trooping?  Someone mentioned that it was very difficult to remove their forearms after trooping even though they fit just fine during the test-fit/build processes.  How much "extra" makes sense to try to have in there?