Tee-Bowls' CAP-W ANH Stunt build (aiming for Centurion)

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Hey everybody,

 

I got my big brown box earlier last month and I've been chomping at the bit to get started and after moving to a new location (sorta) I finally was able to! I've had my mind set on striving for Centurion since the beginning because you either go big or go home!   Hopefully my skill level can catch up to my aspirations.

 

 

I decided to get started with the forearms and biceps and thanks to some tutorials here I was able to figure out which forearm/bicep is which.

 

The right forearm was calling my name so it became my first victim...I mean subject.

I first cut out all the inside and return edging.

 

I moved on to trimming the sides.

 

Next I took the Inner Forearm and trimmed it but got a little overzealous...

 

Luckily I was able to use some Zap-A-Gap to well zap the gap!  Although in my haste to fix it I didn't snap a picture of the fixed section.

 

I sized the forearm before any other glue was even allowed within 20 feet of the table.

I used the standard 15 MM for cover strips on my Forearm and i taped it up without the cover strip mainly because I trimmed too much off all my sides and I figured it my hand and arm fit with the pieces close together then they would definitely fit with the added cover strip.

 

Speaking of Cover strips!

The two strips on the left are my cover strips and the two on the right are the inside strips I was going to use for added support. The strip I used for the bottom of the forearm didn't quite work out as well as I planned but it looks good on the outside! At least I hope it does.

 

I spent a few hours last night and a few hours today finishing up the one forearm. As the build continues I hope I can start to gain some confidence and pick up a little speed because i spent like 20 minutes just staring at the pieces trying to figure out what to start with. 

 

Thanks for checking out my build! I wouldn't have been able to make it this far with out reading thread after thread of previous builds so any help is greatly appreciated! 

 

Time to get started on the other forearm and both biceps! Sleep is for the weak! 

[mikedwelle94[TK]]

Ayyy. Congrats on the new kit. Will be watching your progress.

The whole raw kit certainly is intimidating to take in all at once. Looks like you're going about it the right way so far 

[Tusken RTT]

Great job getting started!  Definitely dont get in a hurry!  I made plenty of goofs in the beginning that would never had happened had I simply taken more time and did one more step of research on the computer before cutting and/or gluing.  

 

Looking at your coverstrips, is it the photo hopefully?  They look a little misshaped, like not cut evenly?  

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

It might be the picture or maybe the angle I took it at, but on the left side I have my cover strips and the right side I have strips I glued inside the joints for added strength/support.

 

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Well I finished off both forearms and biceps but when I wore them together I felt like C-3PO.... So now i'm taking them all apart to try and make them fit better.I'll also have to deal with the same issue with my legs. Stupid short limbs and average torso  . 

 

On a good note my latex hand guards and rubber gloves from Sonnenschein came in and they are amazing and I think they look better than plastic hand guards!

 

 

Time to search the forum on how to make a size change....

[Sonnenschein]

2 tips:

 

1. To cut the cover strips, just score the ABS with an x-acto and a straight edge and snap them off. Clean, straight cut

 

2. Order a set of new forearms from CAP. You are going to have a hard time making them wider.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

The forearms are apart and I need to make them smaller I think. The forearms pretty much get stuck to the Biceps and i"m not getting any good range of motion with my wrists either.

 

The old cover strips I used before are gone but HIPS is so hard to cut/keep straight after I score and snap it off. I wish I had taken pictures before I took everything apart. 

 

Would it be too weird/impossible/horrible if I got ABS for the cover strips?

Edited June 5, 2015 by Tee-Bowls

[Sonnenschein]

 but HIPS is so hard to cut/keep straight after I score and snap it off. 

 

Sorry, I can't follow you there, I think.

 

How about secureing the straight edge on the HIPS with clamps, score it a few times, then line it up with the edge of the table, and pull hard?

 

Then take a sanding block and smooth the cut line out

 

Edit: If this kit has TE lineage, you will find that the left forearm/biceps a quite differently shaped and much smaller

Edited June 5, 2015 by Sonnenschein

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

When I make the newer Cover Strips I'll give that a try with the straight edge and clamps. My kit is TE derived and there is definitely a difference between the arms.  

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Well after a hiatus away from my armor and an E-11 from Derrick at Phoenix Props, I finally started to get back to work on my armor.

 

I made some major fitting issues in the beginning and I tore almost all the old cover strips off of everything. I was pretty much at stage one again except for my Left shin since I didn't want to destroy the Knee plate.

 

 

One problem with leaving the old cover strip on the front was/is the back is now too far apart to be covered by a reasonable strip. I'm on a massive deadline and it doesn't help I wanted to get my armor done months ago.

 

It was going to be a 5 cm strip along the back of both shins.

 

 

Although I quickly realized how bad this would look. Even though they fit quite well.

 

 

It would probably damage my chances for any level besides basic approval.

 

So after a bit of deliberating I finally realized I could make some shims for the inside of the shins!

 

Hopefully I can do this an avoid the horrid giant back cover strips. Time to search the forums for shims!

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So before getting back to my shins, I decided I wanted to finish off my biceps and then my forearms. I had to take everything apart to make it fit better on my arms. Cutting the biceps without losing their shape was a little challenging but I think/hope it all worked out for the best. 

 

Here are the biceps cut to a better size and wider cover strips to make it fit around my arm this time without numbing my arms.

 

 

Glued everything together pretty easily this time. This is the few from behind, the left is on the left and the right is on the right.

 

 

Here they are from the front, the left is on the right and the right is on the left. (I think) 

 

 

Time to get back to work! I've set myself a Halloween deadline that I'm hoping to make (without rushing myself to the point of making mistakes).

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So I had originally planned to start the helmet last, I felt I needed to get started before it was too late and rushed.

 

Setting up everything before hand to make sure I have all the correct pieces.

 

 

Matching up everything before trimming.

 

 

Luckily Scootch has made tutorials on making his helmets, so I'm not completely lost on what to start on.

Removing the huge brow/forehead from the face plate was a good place to start.

 

 

The next step was trimming the face plate.

 

 

 

Making lines to cut out the teeth was the start of a nerve racking process.

 

 

Then came cutting out the teeth.

 

 

 

The first two cut quite easily and gave me the confidence to finish them off.

 

 

Moving on to the other half was a little more difficult due to the way I was holing my blade.

 

 

Here are all the teeth cut from the front to give them the initial shape.

 

 

Afterwards I realized the teeth should also be trimmed a bit from behind.

 

 

 Makes them look much nicer this way.

 

The finished product from the front.

 

 

The teeth from the inside of the face plate.

 

 

If I haven't trimmed enough please let me know but I think it looks pretty OK.

 

Tonight I plan on getting the eyes cut out and maybe more. 

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

 I was able to get started on the eyes last night and I think they turned out great!

 

I didn't want to cut out too much of the eye at first because it's a whole lot easier taking away and sanding than it is trying to build it back up.

 

 

After making my lines and feeling comfortable with them, it was time to start cutting.

 

 

One eye completed!

 

The second eye was a little bit easier after I had a little confidence.

 

 

And the view from behind.

 

 

I hope I've cut enough off but not too much. If I need to cut more off let me know! I hope to get even more completed this weekend. Stay tuned! 

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

More progress!

 

I was able to line up the face plate with the cap to drill the holes for the inside screw.

 

 

 

Here is a test fitting of the face plate and cap.

 

 

 

 

And here is a test fitting of the brow trim.

 

 

Started working on the ears.

 

 

 

I couldn't help myself at this point, I had to do a test fitting! 

 

 

Started sanding and trimming the right ear facing the front of the helmet or the helmets left ear.

 

It looks decent from far away. I'm just nervous about cutting off anymore.

 

 

A little bit closer to the front.

 

 

The ear from behind.

 

 

That all the updates for now.

 

If anybody has any ideas on how to fix the ears it would be greatly appreciated. I'm just nervous about messing them up. Thanks for reading!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

The parts that are touching will need to be trimmed down a little until you've got the ear touching or as close as you can get. Can you take a profile shot of your helmet with the ears on. Just want to make sure you have the ears on the correct sides. 

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Sure! Here are the profile shots. The left ear facing the helmet isn't really attached to anything right now as I'm still trying to sand them down a bit.

 

 

 

Hope I have them on the correct way. 

[riddeth]

Hi tyler, i think you need to flip the ear. you put the left ear on the right side and vice versa 

Edited October 21, 2015 by riddeth

[Khazid[TK]]

Yep, ears are on the wrong sides.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Thanks guys!

 

I switched the ears around and luckily I hadn't ruined my existing ears by having them backwards.

 

 

 

I've been shaving them down as well.

 

The Left ear on the helmet.

 

Front view

 

 

Back view

 

 

The Right ear on the helmet.

 

Front view

 

 

Back view

 

 

Here a look of both ears from the front on. Are the ears looking ok so far? Is it better to have ears that are a little thicker or them being too thin?

[Khazid[TK]]

I personally like ears on the thinner side, but the basic shapes you have are fine.<br>

Just a tip, your right ear should slide closer to the front of the helmet. It should cover that seam made by the joint of the font cap and back cap.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Thanks for the catch on the right ear! I adjusted it as well and trimming the ears even more. My main light was taken back to the office so i had to improvise. Ignore the bad lighting.

 

 

 

 

I also added the screws underneath the ears. I'm planning on heat forming the bottoms to fit more flush.

 

 

 

Here is the other side.

 

 

 

As well as the adding of the screw.

 

 

I decided to try out adding the bottom U trim. Is there a certain way it's suppose to fit on? They both look the same to me. 

 

 

 

So this is a far away shot of the helmet.

 

 

 

 

Going to be adding the mic tips and hopefully moving on to painting!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Much better. Only recommendation I have is cleaning the ears up a little bit more. The disc part could use some smoothing. Lay a piece of sandpaper down on a flat surface and rub the disc part back and forth.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

I plan on sanding the disc sections down soon.

 

I heat flattened the bottom of the ears to give the ears a cleaner look.

 

 

 

After taking everything apart the real fun began. Taping everything up so I could spray Plasti-Dip on the inside of the helmet. This way the inside of the helmet has a clean black finish.

 

Taping the eyes and the teeth were the first steps.

 

 

 

After taking of those sections it was time to add tape around the edge of the faceplate and cap.

 

 

 

It was then time to spray everything.

 

 

 

Here is the Plasti-Dip I used.

 

 

Letting it dry over night I started to trim the belt for later.

 

 

Hopefully the coat comes out good and I can start to finish off the helmet and eventually more pieces.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So the plasti-dip came out great!

 

 

 

During a test reassembly I added the mic tips in.

 

 

I figure it was time to drill my holes for my EAS microphones.

 

 

A close up of the system. Minus the speakers or headphones. I haven't decided on which to use yet.

 

 

So to install the system I needed to drill some holes for the microphone to hide behind each ear.

 

 

 

Then to drill a tiny hole through the ears themselves so the microphone can pick sound up.

 

 

Now when the helmet is painted the rank stripe should cover up these holes.

 

 

 

After drilling, I took everything apart for the coat of white glossy paint.

 

I taped the faceplate up and the cap again.

 

 

 

Cut down the ab buttons.

 

 

Time to finally re-do the arms in the correct size with new cover strips.

 

 

 

 

I decided on a Krylon spray paint and it was a bad choice. Stay away!!! The nozzle sprayed paint all over my garage and caused major drips.

 

 

 

 

The next day I decided to start trimming in preparation of a new paint.

 

The kidney plate was roughly trimmed. I'm going to need to add some shims later to the abs and kidney.

 

 

The butt armor was easy enough to trim and I'll add the snaps later on.

 

 

Trimmed the chest plate.

 

 

Trimmed the rest of the ab buttons.

 

 

A pile of trimmed parts.

 

 

Trimmed and angled belt.

 

 

Started to trim the ab plate.

 

 

The next major step was to take care of the TD.

 

My trusty Dremel helped sand and bevel the PVC pipe.

 

 

Here's one side sanded down.

 

 

The end cap fitted on.

 

 

The other side of the TD.

 

 

Both end caps.

 

 

Tonight I got new paint (Rustoleum) and I hope it turns out better than the Krylon.

 

 

First up was the TD pipe.

 

Used Rustoleum again for the pipe but this time gray.

 

 

The painted TD pipe.

 

 

The belt was next.

 

 

The end caps.

 

 

The final part of the TD.

 

 

The shoulder straps.

 

 

The outer drop boxes. The insides need to be trimmed down to fit.

 

 

The Butt armor sprayed.

 

 

The back plate.

 

 

The Front.

 

 

Shoulder Bells.

 

 

The Biceps.

 

 

The Forearms.

 

 

The repainted Face-plate.

 

 

The repainted Cap.

 

 

The repainted ears.

 

 

The screws for the helmet.

 

 

And finally a shot of everything that was painted tonight.

 

 

I hope this paint comes out better than before. I'll try to get even more accomplished tomorrow!

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So even with changing of paints and sanding off the old before adding the new one I'm still getting cracking! Ugh... Its even worse now. I'm not sure what to do...

 

 

Can this be stopped? Or is my piece ruined?