Sabyre's NE ESB build

[Sabyre]

  I had to take the day off work on Friday so I could be home when this happened.

 

 

  My very own, BIG BROWN BOX DAY!  Yes, two boxes. One for me and one for the Mrs. I couldn't wait, had to look inside.

 

 

 

  All that nice shinny white armor packed up so nice and neat. Time to start unwrapping and see just how much shimming we will have to do. Lol After trying a couple pieces out, I don't think it will be as bad as I feared. There will be a little shimming, but mostly a lot of trimming on hers for her height. Well, now it's time to get these down stairs to our room, A.K.A. the basement, and get one laid out. 

 

  And here it is.

 

 

  I will have a lot of work ahead of me, but I think I am ready. I am finishing up on my ANH stunt bucket, then I will start on the ESB buckets. Hopefully, sometime this next week I will get going on this, the true start to reaching my ultimate goal. My very own TK#

[Mutter]

Niice! Good luck and have fun!

[Sabyre]

  I decided to start off with the buckets, since I had already built one I felt fairly confident this so around. This also will give me some time to continue researching and planning my attack on the rest of the build.

When I built my ANH bucket, I first glued the cap to the back and lined the face up to that, before drilling the mounting holes. I read on a thread that some one had used the preset dimple holes for building their bucket and it lined up, so I thought I would give that a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the hard ware that comes with the helmet kit. 4-long flat head bolts (for attaching the ears, one above and below the ear bumps), 2-short flat head bolts(for the bottom of the ears), and 3-round head phillips bolts(for mounting the face and back together)

 

 

 

 

After mounting the face and back together, I placed the cap on to find that it will not set evenly across the face. The only way to make it work would be to do a good bit of trimming to the cap to achieve the desired look. I decided to scrap this approach and stick to what worked the first time. I took it apart, aligned the cap on the back and mark a center line on the inside. I took the cap off and lightly sanded the inside of the cap and top of the back were they will meet for gluing. I placed the E-6000 on the seam, lined up my center mark, and using clamps magnets and tape set it all in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I had a bit of a wait for that to dry, I decided to move on to the shins. I pulled a set out and looked at them for a few minutes contemplating what my first move would be. I know I need the correct size cover strips for the outside and I wanted to put strips on the inside for support. At this point I don't have any strips to work with so I need to cut what I need. As I was just a little nervous to make the first cut on the shins, I figured this would be a good way to get my feet wet with cutting the ABS. I pulled out one of the spare ABS pieces that comes with the kit and measured. The pieces are roughly 90mm wide and 173/8" long. 6 pieces came with each kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to go ahead and cut out as many strips as I could for both suits. After a rough test fitting, I will have to add shims to the kidney section so I kept enough spare ABS pieces to do that and used the rest to make cover strips. Here is what I figure I need :  Biceps; are 15mm both front and back, Forearms; 15mm both front and back, Thighs; 20mm both front and back, Shins; 20mm front and 25mm back. Now I will be putting inside strips as well, and figuring for two suits, I came up with 32- 15mm, 24- 20mm and 4- 25mm. ** Note the back of the shins will not have inside strips as they are not glued together**  I originally cut eight 25mm strips, but as I was typing this up I realized I was not taking the fact that the back of the shins are not glued into account, so I have 4 extra strips.   There was not enough to cut all of the 15mm strips, but I can get those from all of the excess I will trim off of the armor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After finishing the strips I moved on to the face. Time to cut out the teeth. I will be cutting out 8 teeth, 4 on each side.

 

 

I start with a dremel with a sanding disk to take awat the majority of the material from inside. I run the drum across until  the Abs is really thin of just barely absent.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I am left with after using the dremel. You can see the rough edges around the teeth. I need to smooth these out and remove a tad bit more around the edge of the teeth.

 

 

 

 

The teeth are cleaned up using a set of small files. I do most of the filing from the inside of the face until I get to a point I am satisfied with. I then move to the outside of the face to clean up any areas that still look rough.

 

 

 

Here is the finished product. Now I am ready to mask the face and cap/back assembly off and paint the inside of the bucket. I do this with a flat black two part paint and primer.

 

 

 

 

I did not have any paint left over from the blaster and ANH bucket so we hard to make a trip in to town. While at the store we saw these Star Wars popcorn buckets and they somehow ended up in the cart.

 

 

 

 

By now the glue should be set on the cap and back, so this morning, I started masking them off for paint.Once I had the outside of the face taped off, I placed a piece of tape over the eyes to prevent over spray on the front.

 

 

 

 

Using my exacto blade I trimmed around the eye to remove excess tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now time for the play dough. I read on one of the build threads that someone had used silly putty to fill the teeth for painting. I thought that was a great idea. On my last helmet I just used tape, but that was a bit of a pain, and did not keep as much over spray off the outside of the teeth as I would have liked. I went all over town trying to find silly putty. I could not find that any where. Even the dollar store here don't carry it, so I picked up some Play dough.

 

 

 

 

I filled in the outside of the teeth area.

 

 

 

 Pinched off the excess that squeezed through.

 

 

 

And with one hand on the outside and one on the inside, I pressed on each hole to fill each hole full of the dough.

 

 

 

I sanded the inside of the face, back and cap just a little, to give the paint a rough surface to adhere to. I gave them a quick wipe down with rubbing alcohol to remove any sanding dust and oils, and took them out to paint.

 

 

 

After the first coat.

 

 

 

Second and last coat. Now just wait for it to dry and I can take the masking off.

 

 

 

 

Here is it is after painting. Very little to  no over spray on outside of teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple little spots were I didn't get the tape down good enough. Nothing a little mineral spirits can't handle.

 

 

 

Inside of face plate.

 

 

 

 

inside of back/cap

 

 

 

And the outside of back/cap. Again just a few little places especially around the traps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is as far as I have gotten for the weekend. Later this week I will start putting it together, as time permits.

 

I hope every one has had a great Easter weekend.

 

Thanks for reading, any comments or concerns are welcomed.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Sabyre

[Sabyre]

I noticed that I lost most of the pics from my last post, because I moved them into different files. I went back and reattached them, sorry.

 

Now to update. This past week I worked on putting the helmets together. After removing the masking, I went over them with some mineral spirits and cleaned up any over spray that was on the outside. After letting them set a while I placed the front trap decals and the brow trim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I set the face plate in, centered up the eyes with the traps, got the brow trim at the desired height and clamped it in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After pressing the side of the back plate in to the face plate, I used a 9/32 drill bit, drilled through the original holes in the back plate making new holes in the face plate. It was then just a matter of bolting them together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are both of the buckets done to this point.

 

 

 

  Just for the heck of it. I had to get a pic of the ANH bucket with them.

 

 

 

 Next up is the ears. It may be a week or so before I get a chance to work on them. The wife flew back home to Texas to visit her family, so I'm now too buy babysitting to focus on the ears.    Maybe I can squeeze in some work on other armor parts. They have to sleep at some point.

[Mutter]

Nice write-up and great progress so far! My only suggestion is that you could probably expand the gray area on your traps. There really shouldn't be any white border around the edges.

 

And they never sleep. At least not until they become teenagers. Then they never stop sleeping!

[Sabyre]

Nice write-up and great progress so far!

 

Thank you Greg! Much appreciated!

 

 

 My only suggestion is that you could probably expand the gray area on your traps. There really shouldn't be any white border around the edges.

 

 

Good Eye! This had me puzzled for a bit. I took one of the helmets, removed the decal and tried to move it around to decrease the white edge. Not much luck with that. If I move it in any direction, it would not fit properly. Then I thought, maybe they are the wrong ones. I looked at the decal sheets and the light came on.   One of the sheets is the correct NE Replacement Decals-ESB. The other is not. The helmet I moved the decal on had the correct ones, which is why I couldn't get it to move any. The other helmet had the incorrect ones and just so happens to be the one I took the pics of, in the thread. I have rectified the situation, and the correct decals have been ordered. I appreciate you catching this before I got further along.

 

 

And they never sleep. At least not until they become teenagers. Then they never stop sleeping!

 

So true. My oldest is 9, so I am still in the insomniac stages.

[Sabyre]

  After the kids went to bed, and I couldn't risk running the dremel to do ear work for fear of waking them, I moved on to the shins and thighs.

 

 

 

 

Starting with the shins. With the cover strips on the front of the shins being 20mm, then I need 10mm on each half. So I measured 10mm from the edge of the raised seam on the front of the shin. I did this at the top and bottom on the front of the shin.

 

 

 

I made a corresponding cut in the return edges of the shins to allow bending the extra material after scoring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I placed a metal straight edge along the 10mm marks, and using a box cutter, lightly scored the abs to or three times. After scoring, I folded the edge over until it snapped off.

 

 

 

  This is what I ended up with.

 

 

 

The return edge at the bottom will be fully removed, so I used my lexan scissors and cut away a large part of it. I will clean the rest off when I can utilize the dremel again.

 

 

 

After repeating this process for the other half, I had one set ready to go.

 

 

 

I placed the inner strip in to see how much needed to be cut off.

 

 

 

Using my trusty mechanical pencil, I made a line even with the bottom of the shin.

 

 

 

I then scored a line just above the mark I made, folded it over and snapped it off.

 

 

This leaves a little room in case I have to do any trimming. ( If I could hold still long enough, maybe I could get some pics that are not so darn blurry)

 

 

I used some sand paper and roughed up the inside of the shin and one side of the inner strip, for a better gluing surface. I then placed an ever bead of E-6000 in the shin, placed the strip on top and clamped it in place. I used some rare earth mags to hold down the middle of the strip.

 

 

 

Rince and repeat a few times and I have two sets of shin halves drying.

 

 

 

Now on to the thighs. Basically the exact same process used for the shins.

 

 

 

Measure 10mm from the inside raised ridge, score, snap and there you have it.

 

 

 

repeat for the other half and you have a seam ready to glue.

 

 

 

All of my clamps and magnets are holding our shin halves together, so these will not be glued today. However this will give me something to do just about every night when I get home from work next week. Move clamps, mags, strips and glue to the next parts.

[Sabyre]

 After letting the shins set over night, a little over 12hrs, I glued the other half of the shins on. I did the usual roughing up of the inside of the half to be joined with sand paper, laid a bead of E-6000 and clamped it in place. I set these off to dry for the day.

 

 

 

  About 12hrs later, and its time for the cover strips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I first went over the top of the shin with a utility knife and removed any excess glue that oozed out. Then I roughed up the area the cover strip was to be glued. I placed the cover strip in pace, to measure and cut the strip to length.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I roughed up the back side of the cover strip and sanded down the rough edges on the sides that occurred from cutting them out of the sheets of ABS. Placed a bead of glue and clamped them in place. The cover strips went in place much easier than the inner strip.

 

 

 

Repeated the same process for the other shins.

 

 

 

 

 Now it's back to waiting for glue to dry. Nothing better than the old " Hurry up and wait " game.

Tomorrow, I will try and get the inner strips started on the thighs.

[Sabyre]

 Ok, now that the shin cover strips have had there 12hrs to dry, I can retrieve my clamps and magnets and start on the thighs. There was a little bit of glue that oozed out of the seam I will have to clean up later.

 

 

 

 

  I will do these the same way I did the shins. I started by placing the inner strip in to find the proper length.

 

 

 

  I made a pencil mark where I ant to cut. Using a straight edge and utility knife, I scored and snapped the excess off.

 

 

 

  After using the sand paper to rough up the area to be glued, I placed a bead of glue in the thigh.

 

 

 

  I placed the inner strip in and applied clamps and magnets.

 

 

 

  Rinse and repeat a few times and all four inner thighs are set for there dry time. 

 

 

 

 

  If I have time later tonight I can get the outer half of the thighs glued on. I have to pick the wife up at the airport tonight, so this might have to wait till tomorrow after work.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Sabyre

[Sabyre]

  I haven't got a lot done since my last post, I had hoped to be a little further along by now. We don't have much work in the shop right now, so I volunteered to go work in the field and have been quit busy this week and haven't had much time to build. Hey, I have to make the money to play with my new toys, right?  

 

Anyway, here is what little I got done this week.

 

  In my last post, I had the inner strips glued into the thighs. A day or two later I glued the other half of the thighs on.

 

 

 

  Once they had dried, it was time to glue on cover strips. I first laid the strip on the thigh to measure out how much excess was to be removed.

 

 

 

I marked the strip even with the top of the thigh. Using my utility knife, I scored just behind the line and snapped off the extra material.

 

 

 

  After sanding the edges of the strips, and roughing up the back side of the strip and top of the thigh, I placed the bead of glue on the thigh.

 

 

 

  I applied the cover strip and clamped it in place. I put a little too much glue down, but I can clean it up later.

 

 

 

Repeat a few tome and all four thighs are set for dying.

 

 

 

 Unfortunately this is all I managed to get done this week. Hopefully, I will have enough time in between working this weekend, to get started on the forearms and biceps.

[Sabyre]

 I started working on the biceps and forearms this week. I started out by removing the return edge on the wrist end of the forearms. If at all possible, I will leave what is there on the elbow end.

 

 

 

 

  I started out with the lexan scissors.

 

 

 

  Then cleaned the edges up with the dremel.

 

 

 

  I then moved on to the biceps. I was going to leave some return edge on the tops of the bicep, but after test fitting them, I could not get a good fit so off they came.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Before cutting any thing off, I wanted to be sure the sides were centered so my seams would be in line with the forearms seams. I did this by first, measuring the ridge width. It measured out to be 25mm.

 

 

 

  I made a center mark at 12.5mm and using a straight edge, I made a line bisecting the ridge.

 

 

 

 

  I then placed my square on the table and check to see if the line was squared. Everything was squared, so I was ready to cut.

 

 

 

  I decided to remove 1 inch from both sides of the bicep. This means only removing 1/2 inch from each of the four sides.

 

 

 

  Made my marks and using the straight edge, scored and snapped off the excess material.

 

 

 

   After repeating this a few times, I taped them back together for a test fit.

 

 

 

  The fit was good. Now I needed to trim up the edges on the top and bottom to make a better alignment. I placed the straight edge on the sides and drew a line across the joints for a cut line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  After getting all of the edges cleaned up it was time for gluing. I placed the inner strip in to measure it, marked the length and cut it to size. I used sand paper to clean up the strip edges and rough up the inside of the bicep and strip for gluing.

 

 

 

  Applied glue clamps and magnets, and moved on.

 

 

 

  After the first inner strip had it's 12hr dry time, I prepped the other half same as the first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  As I was waiting on the glue to dry, I started on the forearms. I followed the same steps with these as I did with the biceps.

 

 

 

  As far as fit, I would have gone a little tighter on the wrist end of the forearms, but then I couldn't get my hands through them. I will just have to work around them being a little big on that end.

 

 

 

  As I have what my wife likes to call " Monkey arms", I can't trim much off of the forearms. However, there was a little that had to come off of the seams to make a better connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  By the time I finished getting the forearms set to the right size, the glue on the biceps had their 12hrs to dry.  It's now time for cover strips.

 

 

 

  I placed the cover strip on to measure the length.

 

 

 

 

Marked it, cut, and sanded it down.

 

 

 

  Rechecked it for fit, roughed up the surface, and applied glue, strips, clamps and magnets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   UPDATE 9/26/2015:  I must have done something wrong using the below method of making bicep hooks. All of the hooks I made in this segment failed. When I put the slightest pressure on them they all snapped right at the spot I made the score line to help with forming. I am not saying this tutorial is wrong, I am just saying mine didn't work as expected. Later in my thread I show the new hooks I formed using an Idea found in Locitus' build thread.  Thank You.

   

  I then decided to go ahead and make the elastic hooks for the biceps. I found this tutorial by SIMpixels[TK]. I started with a piece of scrap from one of the leg pieces.

 

 

 

  Measured and cut out 4 pieces at 90mm.

 

 

 

  I then cut all four of them to a width of 22mm.

 

 

 

  I measured out the 48mm point of the back for the bottom bend. I then flipped them over to mark out the remaining bend lines. This is where I found a problem. It is nothing major, but in his tutorial, he shows a 22mm by 90mm piece being used. However, when you lay it all out, the piece should actually be 22mm by 96mm. Instead of cutting four new pieces, I just changed the measurement on the back bend to 42mm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I then continued laying out the bend lines on the opposite side.

 

 

 

 

  Once it was all laid out, I used a sanding disk on the dremel to round off the corners. I then used sand paper to south out all the edges.

 

 

 

  I used a triangle shaped mini file to score the bend lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Then used a heat gun to heat the abs. once it was warmed, i pressed it against the table to form it. This is what I ended up with. They are not perfect, but I think they will work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Next, I will work on getting the forearms finished up.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Sabyre

[Mutter]

You're doing a great job and making great progress! I'm enjoying following this build.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Build thread followed!

 

Great writeup and photos. I know it takes a lot of effort to take the detailed photos and post them. Thanks for doing so. I know this thread will help someone if it hasn't already. 

 

Keep on glue'n trooper. 

 

-Eric

[Tusken RTT]

Really awesome and detailed build- nice work! 

[Sabyre]

You're doing a great job and making great progress! I'm enjoying following this build.

 

Thank you sir! Your build thread is one of many I have used in my never ending research for this build.

 

 

 

Build thread followed!

 

Great writeup and photos. I know it takes a lot of effort to take the detailed photos and post them. Thanks for doing so. I know this thread will help someone if it hasn't already. 

 

Keep on glue'n trooper. 

 

-Eric

 

  Thank you sir!  I am new to all of this. I also find that having to stop and take pictures, slows me down and keeps me from getting in a hurry. That's usually when I goof up.    I have looked over a lot of build threads doing research for this build, yours included.   When I did my blaster build, I did not stick to the picture taking as I should have, and was a little nervous about posting the thread as I went. I followed DarkCMF's blaster build as I went and his documentation was immaculate and very helpful. It saved me a lot of rework I would have found myself with, had he not posted it. This build thread will in no way match what he did, but if it can help some one else out in any way, that's what it is about IMHO.

  I would like to think I am doing my tiny part in the troopers helping troopers creed followed here in the FISD.

 

 

 

Really awesome and detailed build- nice work! 

  Thank you sir!  I hope I can make the end product look in some way as good as some of the other great builds I have seen.

 

 

 

   Ok, after some more research and debating with myself last night, I have come up with a pan for the forearms. I intended to leave the return edges on the elbow end of the forearms. I had them sized the way I thought I wanted. After the biceps had time to finish dying, I test fit them with the forearms. The right forearm was ok, but the left forearm needed some work. I could barely get my arm to bend half way up. I know just wearing the armor will restrict some movement, but this was unacceptable.

  The solution I decided on was to cut the recess in the inner part of the left forearm to match the right forearm. I did this following the same method Mutter used in his build.

 

  Here is the way they looked before I started.

  Left on the left                                                                                       Right on the right

 

 

  I paced the right forearm on top of the left making sure it was sitting centered and not falling off to one side.

 

 

 

 I then traced the outline of the cut out on to the left forearm.

 

 

 

  Here is what I was left with after attacking it with the lexan scissors. I then used the dremel to cut right up to the line.

 

 

 

  I put the left forearm back together and tried it on again. It was better but not quite were I wanted it. Also after cutting it I lost the return edge I was wanting to keep, so I figured I would go ahead and cut the return edge off of the right one, set it back over the left retrace and try again. This is the return edge on the right I was to remove.

 

 

 

  After removing the edge on the right arm, retracing on the left and recutting the left arm, I test fit again. This time I got exactly what I was after. I could now bend my arm almost as far as I wanted. I understand I do not have the shoulder bells, chest plate or ab on and these will likely restrict movement as well, but one step at a time.    Here is how they looked after cleaning up with the dremel and some sand paper.

 

Left on left                                                                                                                                 Right on right

 

 

  Now I accepted the fact that I must lose the return edge on the inner forearm, but I didn't want to lose it on the outside. However, I was left with this horrible looking match up on the seam.

 

 

 

 I decided to compromise. I used the dremel to tapper the corner of the return edge down to meet the inner forearm, to give it a more blended look and not so cobbled together. I also trimmed about half of the return edge off. This helped to blend in the taper as well as prevent it from snagging on my elbow when I moved my arm.

 

 

 

  Here is the difference.

 

After trimming and taper.                                                                                                                Before trimming and taper.

 

 

   Now that the mobility issue has been solved. I must address the fact that the trimming I did, affected the overall fit. I had to trim the sides down about 1/2 an inch on the elbow end and an 1/8 inch on the wrist end. This made them fit even better than they did before I started reworking them.    It did also change up the joining edges at the wrist, so I had to cut them a little as well.

 

 

 

  I did this by using the curved lexan scissors to cut along the front till I had a straight line. I then used sand paper to clean up the edge and smooth it out.

 

 

 

  Here is the finished result.

 

 

 

  Looking from the elbow end.

 

 

 

  Looking from the wrist end.

 

 

 

  Fit is great. Now it's time for gluing. I pulled out some of the left over cut pieces from the thighs and shins. I used one piece, cutting length wise, to make two 15mm wide strips.

 

 

 

  Place one in the forearm, marked the length and cut it down. Used sand paper to rough up the gluing surface and glued it in.

 

 

 

  Here they both sit with the first inner strip glued in.

 

 

 

 

  Now It is time to move on to the wife's forearms and biceps. This brings me to a question I have. I need to trim about an inch to an inch and a half off of the height on her biceps. Is it safe to assume this should be done all from the top?

 

Any direction on this would be greatly appreciated. 

 

  I did get my new correct decals in for the buckets, so as time permits, I can return to finishing them this week

[Sabyre]

  Time for the weekly progress report. It's been a rather busy, and at times, frustrating week. However, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

So, here we go.

At the end of the last post, I had the first inner strips set for gluing in the forearms. Here they are finished and ready for the second strip Monday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 I sued more left over scrap to cut the inner strips.

 

 

 

Marked out two 15mm strips.

 

 

 

Scored and snapped.

 

 

 

Marked for length.

 

 

 

After cutting, roughing up the gluing surface and sanding down the edges they were ready to put in place. The forearms were under a good bit of tension trying to get them to stay closed, so I tapped them to help hold them together.

 

 

 

Here they set with inner strips in place and waiting for the glue to set.

 

 

 

After they had 24hrs to set, I checked there progress. I wasn't too worried about the right forearm, it wasn't near as tough to close as the left one. I started with the left, pulled the clamps and magnets off, and no problems yet. However, as I pulled the tape off the seam popped.   Now, at this point I know the problem must be addressed before moving on. However that is not what I did. I have yet to finish the work on the wife's arm armor, I had work to do on the daughter's room, yard work to do and several other things I wanted to get accomplished in what felt like a short and diminishing time period.

 

 

 

Instead, I thought MAYBE, if I just use extra glue and more clamps on the cover strip, I can fix it. I pulled out some more scrap and laid out the 15mm cover strips.

 

 

 

 I got them cut out and prepped, sanded, roughed, glued, and clamped.

 

 

 

The right one came out fine, so it just got the usual treatment. Here is hoping.

 

 

 

  They next night I was eager and a little nervous to see the results.

 

 

 

After removing the clamps, mags and tape it jumped right out at me. I was right should have fixed it before moving on. There was enough tension to pop the cover strip off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I pulled the strip off and cleaned off the glue. Time to do what I should have done in the first place. Fix it.

 

 

 

I placed the strip, glue less, back on the forearm and clamped it on the ends. I then placed Popsicle sticks on the strip to spread the pressure and put the larger clamps in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for a hot bath to flatten the glue area of the cover strip. I heated a couple pots of water to almost boiling.

 

 

 

Placed the forearm in the sink and added the water.

 

 

 

After letting it set for about 10 mins, I pulled it out and set it aside to cool off.

 

 

 

It worked as planed. the cover strip area is now flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, now the forearm has an egg shape. If you look at the pic above, after I pulled it out of the water to cool, you will notice I did not have the strip or Popsicle sticks on the other side. This caused the forearm to indent in the two areas the clamps were. So, now I have flattened  the seam areas but deformed the rest of the piece.

 

Here it is from the wrist end.

 

 

Elbow end.

 

 

 

The right forearm was ok, so I continued on with adding the last cover strip.

 

 

 

On the way home from work yesterday, I stopped at lowes and picked up the material I need to fix my forearm. I hope.

 

I found this piece of 3/4" aluminum angle.

 

 

I also got some hard ware for connecting the parts I will make with the stick of angle.

 

 

 

The angle is 4 feet long. I cut it into 4 pieces at 12" each roughly. I then placed two of the angles back to back in the vise.

 

 

 

I then drilled one hole through both angles on each end just larger than the bolts I picked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The idea is to sandwich the sides of the forearm between the angles. the 3/4 angle is a little bigger than the 15mm cover strip. This should give me a flat spot to glue the strip to.

 

Here I have everything ready to go. Deep breath and hope for the best.

 

 

I put the brackets on the first side making sure to center them up on the seam line.

 

 

 

Here it is with both brackets in pace and ready for it's hot bath.

 

 

 

I started the water heating on the stove and returned to check on the cured right forearm. There is a little glue removal needed, but all in all ready to go.

 

 

 

Water is heated and ready to go.

 

 

 

Placed the forearm in the sink and added the water. Now for the 10 minute wait. I used a flat sided wooden spoon on the bottom of the forearm in order to 1. not indent the bottom with the clamps and 2. attempt to flatten out the elbow end opening kinda like the right forearm.

 

 

 

Here is the final result. Sides are flat and ready for cover strips and the opening is back to being rounded. I did a test fit and it fit as desired.

 

 

 

I did have one minor issue. I ended up with a crack in the ridge. This was from me trying to manipulate the shape by hand after heating. I did not share any of the pics or steps I undertook in that process because it was a waste of time and effort. This was my reward for attempting such foolishness.   I will repair this when I make abs paste for shimming later on.

 

 

 

Cover strips are now glued on.

 

 

 

 

Now I can move on to finishing the wife's armor parts. Now that I have all of the experimentation out of the way on mine hers should go much smother .

[Sabyre]

 After finishing up my forearms last weekend, except cleaning up oozed glue spots, this week I have focused on the buckets. After replacing the trap decals with the correct ones, I reassembled the face and cap/back. Then I turned to closing up the large gaps on the sides to assist in getting a good fit for the ears. Here you can see the gap on the tubes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I pressed the tube halves together, drilled a hole and placed one of the extra screws and nuts that came with the kit into it. Gaps closed up.

 

 

 

 

 

  They are not perfect, but it does make it a little easier to get the ears to fit good.

 

 

 

The next two pics show how much gap I had to work with to start out.  The back of the left ear was much worse. I could stick my fingers in the gap. Not pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Here is the result of about an hour of work on the right ear. I held the ear on ( no holes drilled or screws placed) marked the parts touching and a little at a time dremeled away what I had marked. I took very little off at a time, taking turns between front and back side of the ear. After getting a fit that was satisfactory, I drilled the top hole and placed the screw in place. I could then force the bottom of the ear into it's final position and check the ear's fit to the side of the bucket. After making more marks, I removed the ear and sanded a little more away to refine the fit. I did this a few times. Only after getting it to fit good, I drilled the bottom hole and placed the screw. Once the top and bottom screws were in place I drilled the hole and put the middle screw in.

 

 

 

It's not a perfect fit ( that I so desperately wanted) but it is better than some of the screen shots I have seen.

 

 

 

This is what I started with on the left ear. As I stated earlier, the back side is much worse. Almost sickening.

 

 

 

I did this ear the same as the right. Again, it took me about an hours worth of work to get it, but I think it is time well spent.

 

 

 

Here is the back of the left ear. It still has a little gap in it, but from were it started there is no comparison. Sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy.

 

 

 

Now I am ready for a little paint on the ear.

 

 

 

  I started out by outlining the ear bumps with the grey.

 

 

 

  Notice the smudges. When painting two sides of an object you are hoding in your hands, don't set it in your lap after you have painted the other side.    The mineral spirits had to be called on to remove a few smudges before continuing. Live and learn.

 

 

 

  After outlining, I went back and filled them in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't get pics of the process I used on the ears, due to the lighting in my work area. I used a #2 pencil to mark the areas that needed grinding, with the poor lighting I could not get a good enough pic to show the marks I made. However, the process can be seen in a thread Gazmosis made here  in much better detail than I could have put forth any how.

 

Tomorrow, after putting the trim up in my daughters room and putting her bed together, I can move on to some black paint on the ears, vocoder and frown.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Mutter]

You did a great job on the ears. They're small and tedious and I know of no one who likes them! The forearms can be a bit of a pain too. Nice job of getting them to come together.

 

"I did have one minor issue. I ended up with a crack in the ridge. This was from me trying to manipulate the shape by hand after heating. I did not share any of the pics or steps I undertook in that process because it was a waste of time and effort. This was my reward for attempting such foolishness. I will repair this when I make abs paste for shimming later on." - for this crack, I'd suggest using some CA glue instead of ABS paste. Dab some glue in the crack and squeeze it together. That's how I fixed the cracks in mine.

[Sabyre]

 I'd suggest using some CA glue instead of ABS paste. Dab some glue in the crack and squeeze it together. That's how I fixed the cracks in mine.

 

   I will keep that in mind when I get to that point. That tip is greatly  appreciated.

[Sabyre]

  Time for a small update. I have managed to squezze in a some time to get a little more done on the buckets.

 

  After the grey on the ears dried, I used a fine line brush to paint the black outline on the ears and the rank bars. A few spots got a little messy and will require some clean up later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  After I finished the ears, I moved on to the frown.

 

 

 

 

  Then, I outlined the vocoder area.

 

 

 

 

  After outlining, I switched over to a larger brush, and filled in the outlined area.

 

 

 

 

  I let the paint set over night to dry. This morning I used a tooth pick and mineral spirits to clean up some of the paint lines. Then it was time to apply decals. I did this following the procedure demonstrated in the Trooperbay videos.  

 

  I started with the tears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Then moved on to the back traps.

 

 

 

  And finally, the tube stripes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  My next focus will be on getting the lens, frown mesh and speaker mic tips installed. I will be working quite a few hours the next two weeks, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to work on the suits. I may not have much to share for a bit, but I will post what I do get around to.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Sabyre]

  After two long work weeks, I finally had a little time this week to get back to some building.

 

As stated in my last post, I am focusing on getting the rest of the bucket done. Installing lens and mic tips.

 

The mic tips I am using are from HyTech Toyz .   I decided on these, because I plan on trying my hand at using Ukswrath's helmet electronics design, which can be found here.  As I am completely ignorant to electronics, we will see how it goes.

 

Here are the mic tips, out of the package

.

 

 

They come with all the hard ware to instal them with bolts. However, the speakers are not deep enough in the tip to put the back plate and screw on. With that in mind I decided I would just glue the tips in.  I will show some of this process a little later.

 

 

  First, I wanted to get the lens in. I started by cutting out a 2 1/2 inch by 15 1/2 inch strip from a tented grinding shield. Sorry, no pics of this, I did this a few months ago while finishing my ANH bucket. I held it in place and using the flash light on my phone to light up the screws behind the shield, I marked their location with a permanent marker.

 

 I then drilled out the holes for the right side. Placed the shield on the screws, and marked out the left side. I drilled them out and put it in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I now have the lens in. I have not put the nuts on to hold it in, due to the fact that it has to come right back out for the EAS system installation.

 

 

Now to install the mic tips. To start with, I drilled out a hole just about the same size as the wire connector on the tips.

 

 

 

Since the connector is not round, and they have not invented the rectangle drill bit yet, I had to use a small hand file to open the hole big enough for the connector to fit through.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, just slide it through.

 

 

 I used hot glue to hold the mic tips in, because I did not want them to be permanently glued. I had to do this a few times. The hot glue did not want to stick.

 

 

 

Now for the EAS system. I got these from Skyminer.

 

To start with, I removed the ear. I want the mic for the system to be directly under the rank bumps. This will be in the center of the two holes used for screwing the ear on. I found that a 3/8 drill bit was about the same size as the mic. You want the hole to be a little snug.

 

 

Once the hole was drilled, I pushed the mic through from the inside out. I pushed it through till the back of the mic was about flush with the inside of the bucket.

 

 

 

I then put a healthy amount of hot glue around the mic on the outside of the bucket.

 

 

 

Then replaced the ear. Notice the ear screws are not yet painted white. I am waiting until I have everything in and working before doing so.

 

 

 

Now I move to the inside. I carefully folded the wires on the back of the mic down, and placed a good bit of hot glue in to hold them down.

 

 

 

As you can see the right mic is now in place. You will also notice the left one is not. I did all of the installation, and when it came time to fold down the wires, I broke one of the mic prongs off of the back. It would be best to pay attention to the direction of the wires on the back of the mic as you push it through the side of the bucket, and make sure they are facing in such a way as to bend and not brake. I ordered a new mic on line and it came in today. I will get to try my hand at soldering and replacing it this weekend. Wish me luck.

 

 

 

 

  That is all I have at this point. My fan system from Echo came in yesterday, so I have that as well to install. One of the mic tips fell off my wife's bucket yesterday. I am beginning to hate hot glue. After doing a little playing around with the mic tips, I believe I have come up with a solution to attaching them to the bucket once and for all. With any luck I will have some positive results to share in the next post.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Darth Havoc[TK]]

You will not be disappointed with echo's fan system. Great job so far

[dobbiest1]

Some told me to use plasti Dip in side the bucket it's easy to remove over spray.

What do you guys think about it?

[Tolo[TK]]

Some told me to use plasti Dip in side the bucket it's easy to remove over spray.

What do you guys think about it?

I've seen the plasti-dip used and on non porous material it is easy to remove. But, I have never tried it in a bucket.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

[Sabyre]

You will not be disappointed with echo's fan system. Great job so far

 

  I have heard nothing but good things about them.

 

Thank you sir.