Walt's kids armor project.

[gazmosis[501st]]

I really didn't want to do a full build thread not knowing what this armor had in store for me.

A garrison mate very generously purchased this armor for our garrison. This armor will remain in our area for us to use to hopefully be able to make a kid's dream come true. It will be used first by my mate's son for halloween.

 

First I would like to state what a pleasure it was to work with Walt and the quality of this armor and the sculpts of the molds are fantastic. It is almost like an RS suit was shrunk down it is that high quality. Because of its quality, it has made this a pleasure to build so far. I have mostly pics of the parts so far.

The helmet was a joy to build. The brow trim is a little soft but if that is what's out there in this size, so be it. I did go to the hardware store and pick up screws that had heads with just a bit smaller diameters. All details hand painted except the tube stripes. Standard helmet ones I felt were a little wide left to right so I trimmed them back a bit off the sides.

The hovi tips are adorable. The have these large back ends on them which I cut off.I decided in stead to make an ABS plate with a screw post so I sanded down the back and superglued it to a piece of ABS and sanded it flush.I was able to install the screens after that which have a nice little platform for the screen to sit on in the inside edge of the tip.

No changes needed with the thermal detonator. I did get 3/4 inch aluminum to make the clips, though. The tube needed to be painted.  I felt this project desserved to have the proper belt so I scaled it down to meet the mini angles on the mini waist belt. 2 1/4 inches total width but same construction: two inner layers of duck cloth with an outer layer of denim twill and inside layer of white satin. I sealed the edges with diluted elmers all purpose glue to prevent fraying. The outside: and inside

Although much of the hardware I am scaling down to meet the reduced size of this armor, I am going with the standard 8mm split rivets becaus I have them and I will never use smaller ones. Not worth buying a whole bunch of something you'll never use. You can see here that the split rivets really don;t look too out of place. I did add the kidney notches on both sidesFor any snaps that are showing, I scaled them down from line 24 to line 20. These do make a difference in appearance because of the difference between the two snap sizes. Line 20 is on the right. These smaller snaps look very appropriate for their placements.Mini button platesFuture rivet placementsThese just show how nicely the parts are going together. I am using interior connecting strips then cover strips.The boy is very thin (as most 11 year olds are. I had to take quite a bit off the forearms and biceps which left one of each splayed wide open. It would be too much stress on the parts to glue them as is so I wrapped them and gave them a hot water bath to close the gaps. Beforeall wrapped up ready to bathe!!They came out very nice.

One other thing I changed was the rivet covers on the waist belt. These were molded with the dome and the square which we all know leaves for little gluing surface. I ground down the diameter of a dime slightly and using the same method as in the "how to make replacement rivet covers" thread....made new rivet coversSO CUTE!!!!!

 

Random leg part pics.I added the notch at the top of the right thigh.

 

I will post more pics as more progress is made.

 

[walt[501st]]

You my friend are having WAY to much fun.....

Thank you for all the nice things you said...but ..i said it before and i will say it again....i am but the sword maker...you are the master that weilds it

If i may...the mic tips..i cut them at the same spot and hot glue them in. let it dry then run a drill down the inside...more air for the kids!.

Yes RS was the set i had at the time so ...i love that set of armor...it had massive influence on the molds

Back to you...i love what you guys are doing..

[fokker210[TK]]

Outstanding job !

[Tolo[TK]]

No SpongeBob pants????

 

 

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[Vader Rocks]

Great to see another one of these popping up. Haven't gotten back together with our little future tk for a few weeks since they've been on vacation and I've been keeping busy, but I think i'll have to try that mic tip trick on his. Thanks for posting this build.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Thanks guys! I am so anxious to get this done. We dry fitted the torso on him and it was like the suit was molded from him. Can On my way! one please make days 48 instead of 24 hours!!!!!!!

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Beautiful work thus far, Steve - but I expected no less from you, or Walt's kit. Which reminds me that I should post up my Walt bucket build some time. Heh.

 

One day, I look forward to building one of these for Kellan (and later, Luke) to wear.

 

Thanks for sharing the build, and the fun.

[Dougal[501st]]

Looking great!!

 

Building "cute" Stormtrooper kits in his spare time... That is just what he does!!!

 

 

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[zeroskillz]

Great stuff! I'm pretty sure one or two of these kits is in my future

[Lucasfan7[TK]]

I'm gonna learn so much from this thread:) I can't wait for the kit bro. This looks so good so far

 

 

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[sansei_trooper]

This is great! It will come in handy for my kids armor. Although my son has quite a ways before he'll be big enough to wear it.

Walt you armor looks great in the pics. I can't wait to get the box on Wednesday!

 

 

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[gazmosis[501st]]

Sorry it has been a while, but forward progress has been made. Having never dealt with having to immerse parts in boiling water before, I assumed that if you over fold them, it would flex back out to the desired location. WRONG!!! It will stay exactly where you tie it off. As a result, I had to RE- immerse the parts to stretch them back out. Once all this goofing around was done, things went together well. I ended up deciding on 10MM cover strips for the arms, 15MM cover strips for the leg fronts, and 20MM for the leg backs.Assembly table maddness!!!  The shoulder bridges needed to be trimmed right to the edges and immersed in hot water to be bent. I superglued a few small scraps of ABS under the front ribs to increase the gluing surface and E6000'ed them into place.The sniper plate was a challenge. Thank goodness for the heat iron! It finally went into place, though.I decided to do bicep hooks. I had to mount the one slightly off center due to the thumbprint and the return edge. There was no flat area that allowed it to be centered.

I wanted to get back to the torso. I broke out the cloth belt and the waist belt. I put a slight curve on the plastic belt first, then went back and installed the snaps that hold it to the torso.I popped the belt back off, riveted the plastic belt into place, hung the two sided drop boxes, and installed the new rivet covers. This belt looks incredible!!I was working on another project that required me to have the ab colors out, so I went ahead and painted the ab buttons. All together and looking good!In finishing up the legs, I did come across something I thought might be looked into at a later time. The ammo or thigh pack did not wrap all the way around. as a result, it sits at a rather extreme upward angle. Maybe a change for future suits?The rest of the pics are just random armor parts. The shins splayed open in the back quite a bit when glued up. I tied and set them into a garbage can and poured to pots of boiling water over them. Learning from my first experience, they ended up sitting perfect. I am not even going to install retention straps or velcro unless it is really needed.All the strapping is in and all we are waiting on are the shoes from the UK and the neck seal from Darman. The next pics will be of this young man suited up!!!

[fuumantroop[TK]]

Looks awesome Steve! Makes me want to get one together for my 5 year old!

[gazmosis[501st]]

DO IT!!!! IT is so worth it, Andy!

[walt[501st]]

Um....ya!

[walt[501st]]

I will make that mold longer...but that is exactly how I have mine..the reason. .so the kid can go up stairs easer. .bit i can make it longer

well done on the cover stripe..just an fyi..13 on forearm 16 front of the legs and 20 on the rear..that's the 80% of the full size....

i think you are my new builder from now on

[fuumantroop[TK]]

I know I know! Ill have to rebuild my armor budget first lol.

 

Ill be awaiting that Centurion submission with that armor Steve!

 

Great work on that craftsmanship to both Walt and Steve! Looks amazing!

[DaygoErm[TK]]

I will make that mold longer...but that is exactly how I have mine..the reason. .so the kid can go up stairs easer. .bit i can make it longer

well done on the cover stripe..just an fyi..13 on forearm 16 front of the legs and 20 on the rear..that's the 80% of the full size....

i think you are my new builder from now on

I'm working on the kids armor too, but I'm having challenges with the ears on the helmet. Any advice? They seem big? At least the same size as my MTk armor.

[gazmosis[501st]]

They are properly sized. They do end up a little thick on the outside curve, but it's all good in the end

[walt[501st]]

What!!!!...did MTK copy my ears??....joke..

Yes they flare out quite a bit at the end

[DaygoErm[TK]]

Hey Walt, I got a set of the new decals too for the helmet... Thanks, I'll keep molding little by little.

[walt[501st]]

Cool beans man.....they rock