It's happening! [*CAP]

[cryoburn[TK]]

OMG! I can not wait until I get my first brown box! I am supper excite for you, and will be following your progress in hopes that it will help me. Congrats!!!!

[zebrabuse]

I see a stormtrooper being born. Nice work!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

No turning back now! (not that you'd want to)

 

Looking good!

[Grimez]

Lots of progress, and more to come. I spray painted the helmet and put on the greys just now, i'll let it dry while I do my next shift at work. Luckily the spray paint dries completely in like 10 minutes. Here are the next two steps i've gotten done so far. When I get back i'll do the blacks, then decals tomorrow morning or later in the night.

 

Post spray-paint:

 

 

Post greys:

[Grimez]

And, the grand reveal! (basically). I still need to wrap up the mic tips, S trim, and let the lenses finish curing then probably do some touch up paint work - but for the most part my impatience got my to finish the helmet tonight.

 

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

i hope those are decals, your temple traps are far too high

[Grimez]

This is as low as they can go.

 

[Grimez]

I've started trimming the torso, the chest and back plates are basically done - need to heat bend the shoulder straps. How much of a return edge should the butt, kidney, and ab plates have? 

[Grimez]

Ok, i've been test fitting the kidney and ab plates together to see how the rivets on the side will work. For it to be a snug fit, the ab and kidney plates overlap. Should I send the rivet straight through the kidney into the ab plate or should I just trim them down until there is a space in between the two?

[jnnfr72[TK]]

Here are some threads that should help...

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/7713-howto-making-your-tk-as-accurate-as-possible/

 

I would say don't get too snug, and you can use padding for the AB / Kidney if being loose is annoying. It's better to have not much black showing,

in general but I don't know about trimming off too much from the ab or kidney. Course, maybe that's best for your build...? Do you have some pics of

yourself with the AB / Kidney taped on?   I bet some other troopers will chime in.

 

I've gone back to this pic time and time again.

 

I know some troopers have a return edge, and I had intentions of doing them on my armor, but I had too much trouble with the heat iron I bought.

I used a hair dryer just as much as the heat gun I bought for the bending parts... like the battery knee part and the shoulder straps. 

 

I have not read the whole thread - but found something on return edges.

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27412-return-edges/?hl=return+edge#entry347428

 

Your build is looking awesome! Keep up the good work.

Edited July 29, 2014 by jnnfr72

[maxsteele[TK]]

Ok, i've been test fitting the kidney and ab plates together to see how the rivets on the side will work. For it to be a snug fit, the ab and kidney plates overlap. Should I send the rivet straight through the kidney into the ab plate or should I just trim them down until there is a space in between the two?

 

You want 3 rivets on the ab and 3 rivets on the kidney.  Don't use one rivet to go through both pieces.

 

If you find you're having an overlap when you fit the pieces to your body, find the point where you want the two pieces to touch edges, mark, and cut the extra away.  I know my kit is different than yours, but here is a before and after with my ab / kidney connection.  Here is before I did any trimming at all.  You can see the overlap:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the after, where I marked the midline that those pieces overlapped, trimmed it to fit, and installed the rivets on the left, and closed up the gap with the belt tightening on the right:

 

 

 

 

[jnnfr72[TK]]

 Aweome pics and explanation, R.

[Grimez]

Ah, so only one side gets the rivets? I was wondering how I was going to get both sides with only 7.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Ah, so only one side gets the rivets? I was wondering how I was going to get both sides with only 7.

 

Yep!

 

3 rivets on the left side ab plate, 3 rivets on the left side kidney plate, 1 rivet at the bottom of the crotch on the ab plate.

 

Here's a great thread for rivet placement:

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26886-split-rivet-placement/

[Grimez]

Alright. Is there an exact placement for the cod rivet or should I just eyeball it? Also, are there any good strapping tutorials out there and places where I can get the needed pre-made fabric? (I can't sew and I don't really have any intention of starting.) Once I drill the holes in the torso spots I should be good for final painting and assembly.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

The kidney piece is upside down, thats why the edge is leaning forward.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Alright. Is there an exact placement for the cod rivet or should I just eyeball it? Also, are there any good strapping tutorials out there and places where I can get the needed pre-made fabric? (I can't sew and I don't really have any intention of starting.) Once I drill the holes in the torso spots I should be good for final painting and assembly.

 

For cod rivet placement, take a look at screen-used armor:

 

 

 

For strapping, it depends on what type of strapping you wish to do.  I did snap plates glued inside the armor and straps snapping into place between them.  Other people use the bracket system where you drill holes in the return edges, install brackets, and there's a small bit of elastic that runs between two brackets.

 

I studied lots of EIB / Centurion build photos where they show their strapping systems and made mine fit to me.  No sewing was required.

[maxsteele[TK]]

The kidney piece is upside down, thats why the edge is leaning forward.

 

I'm not sure what you're referring to?  The only pics of kidney pieces in this thread are the ones I posted, which are of my kidney piece, and it's certainly not upside down  There's also one other example ab / kidney pic that Jenny posted, but that one is correct as well.

[Grimez]

For cod rivet placement, take a look at screen-used armor:

 

 

 

For strapping, it depends on what type of strapping you wish to do.  I did snap plates glued inside the armor and straps snapping into place between them.  Other people use the bracket system where you drill holes in the return edges, install brackets, and there's a small bit of elastic that runs between two brackets.

 

I studied lots of EIB / Centurion build photos where they show their strapping systems and made mine fit to me.  No sewing was required.

 

Where did you get your elastic and how did you go about installing? I'll probably go the snap route.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

I'm not sure what you're referring to?  The only pics of kidney pieces in this thread are the ones I posted, which are of my kidney piece, and it's certainly not upside down  There's also one other example ab / kidney pic that Jenny posted, but that one is correct as well.

I was referring to the CAP armor.

[maxsteele[TK]]

I was referring to the CAP armor.

Oooh, are you saying that the kidney of CAP armor was cast upside down and that's how it is for all CAP armor?

[maxsteele[TK]]

Where did you get your elastic and how did you go about installing? I'll probably go the snap route.

I got my elastic from Joanns. One inch black ribbed elastic. I made snap plays using pieces of black webbing with a hole burned into it with a soldering iron and using #24 male drizt snaps. Then I cut pieces of elastic to the lengths I wanted to hold pieces together and installed a female snap in each side.

 

You'll see plenty of examples in centurion build threads.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Oooh, are you saying that the kidney of CAP armor was cast upside down and that's how it is for all CAP armor?

No, The piece is simply needs to be turned the other way.

[Grimez]

I got my elastic from Joanns. One inch black ribbed elastic. I made snap plays using pieces of black webbing with a hole burned into it with a soldering iron and using #24 male drizt snaps. Then I cut pieces of elastic to the lengths I wanted to hold pieces together and installed a female snap in each side.

 

You'll see plenty of examples in centurion build threads.

Would these be right? Three yards would be plenty. 

http://www.joann.com/black-braided-elastic/11384468.html#q=black+elastic&start=12

 

These seems to be the right snaps, might need two or three packs though.

http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Heavy-Duty-Snaps-White/dp/B001HZQZVU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406778330&sr=8-3&keywords=dritz+%2324+snaps

 

Not having much luck with the white canvas strips for the shoulders, what search terms did you use for that?

[SCTrooper[TK]]

You can tell it's upside down buy this.

The line should be vertical, not slanted forward.