TK-JR: Astyanax's Foamtrooper Kids Armor Project

[Astyanax]

Heh, he's outgrowing it right now. But his little brother is waiting in the wings.

[Sentry71[TK]]

Too awesome, Bill. Definitely a project that can be done for my grandson while I wait on my "real" set to be shipped.

Thanks for sharing your work!

[Armante[TK]]

I am in complete awe.

I have a ready-made cloth costume for my little boy. He's only 2, and he may fit it when he's 8!

You've totally gone the extra mile here - very inspirational. Well done, and I hope you enjoy many troops together.

[Red_2[TK]]

Amazing thread!

 

I actually did this last year, using TK409.com's build as a guide.

I didn't plasti-dip, that's a great idea to get it to shine.

 

Missing his knee ammo and tube stripes. Oh well ...

 

[DrDataCenter]

I wanted to once again thank you for this outstanding guide!

 

Still waiting on my armor to arrive, so this kept me busy...

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/yLis8

 

Still working on the bucket...I tried a slightly different approach than yours, and completely underestimated the amount of work to get it done!

[Astyanax]

Thanks for posting the pic, it came out great!

 

Can't wait to see your bucket approach. It was the only thing that I felt shaky on while working on it. It was indeed a crazy amount of work.

 

By the way, did you end up trying skipping the glue layer and going straight to Flexi-Dip?

 

Bill

Edited October 30, 2015 by Astyanax

[DrDataCenter]

On the legs/arms, I stayed with the glue-flexidip-paint-glaze approach, and they do look great.

However, for some reason on the shoulder bells, and chest/'011' pieces I had a hell of a time getting good seams and transitions...they always ended up ugly! In the heat of the moment, I swapped to mod-podge for the chest, and it works wonderfully!

 

Basically, a MUCH shorter drying time with a thicker coating. If you screw up a seam, or the surface isn't smooth enough, just sand it with some wet 400 grit sandpaper, and let if dry for 5 mins. After that, I skipped straight to gloss white and glaze.

 

The downside is that it isn't as flexible as the rubber-coating pieces appears to be. I'll have to wait to have her troop in it a few more times before I fully recommend the mod-podge route.

[Astyanax]

Wow, that is awesome. Please keep us posted!

[kwthames]

Bill,

 

First of all let me say that this is a FANTASTIC tutorial.  Love it.  I am doing the suit for my 8 year old daughter for the premiere of Episode VII for next Thursday night.  I just have one question...

Did you or anyone else have problems with the armor being "sticky" to the touch after doing all the steps?   Just curious.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I will send pics when completed.

 

 

Wayne

[Astyanax]

Yes, the armor can be sticky if you apply the gloss or glaze in too high a humidity. It's like it never fully dries or something. But what I think is happening is that the propellant is not evaporating fast enough for the actual lacquer or enamel to set. And when you throw on another coat, it compounds the problem. The propellant must evaporate, and fast.

 

On top of that, I found that the gloss white paint never fully dried regardless, but I was able to seal it in by selecting a clear glaze that is of a completely different chemical base. Like, covering oil base with water base or acetone. Or covering acetone with water base. Are you using my exact brands or are you approximating? That can make a difference.

 

Regardless, go out and find a gloss clear coat that is a completely different base chemical than your latest layer, and try to only spray when humidity is in the 50% or lower range.

 

That all said, this is a lot of work and one week is a tall order, but I really, really wish you well. Hope you took some time off. Be sure to budget time for the bucket. If you chose to follow what I did with that part, I recommend real Bondo body filler now instead of the spot putty. It doesn't crack but takes longer to sand.

 

Hope that helps. I'm here if you have any other questions.

 

Bill

Edited December 11, 2015 by Astyanax

[kwthames]

Bill,

 

Thanks for your words of wisdom.  I am using the exact combination and brands that you are using.  I think the problem is, I am rushing the layers, not letting it dry long enough and the humidity has been a bit high here in the DFW area of Texas.

 

I also noticed that after I put on the Glaze layer that a lot of the sticky went away, so I think I need to make sure I have the correct number of glaze layers, like you suggest, and it will be fine.

 

Thanks for all the info, help and web site.

 

Oh, did you ever get your suit?

 

 

Wayne

[Astyanax]

Wayne, I would be very careful about your timing. Either apply your next layer in 10-15 minutes or wait 24-48 hours for it to cure fully. There is no middle ground. I set a 10 minute timer on my phone and use it for all coats, even when I switch paints. That way, the piece is fully done being painted in about an hour. Then, I wait for the piece to gas off for about 24 hours in the garage.

 

The higher the humidity, the less glossy will be your final result.

 

As for my suit, I'm still waiting for ANOVOS to ship. Hopefully this month.

 

Bill

Edited December 11, 2015 by Astyanax

[walt[501st]]

Wow. Wicked nice work here guys

[Pyrates[TK]]

Thank you so much for this thread - just awesome and great work!

[iconoclasta_88[501st]]

Later this year I will be building an EVA foam TD armor for my little daughter. 

This is inspiring!!

 

Thx for sharing your process, ideas and learning!

 

Saludos

[mattnelson521[501st]]

Awesome and Great project. I might have to look into this for my son. Just throwing it out there. Walt's Trooper Factory makes kids TK helmets that are pretty nice. Overall i think this would be a fun project but Im not to fond of the Bondo and sanding part haha.  

[darthkenny[TK]]

Printed out today at 66%. How tall is your son when you made this? I only guessed at 66


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[NastyNoah[TK]]

Wow this is such a great thread!  I really enjoyed reading all of it.  Your armor came out looking great!  I used WTF for my boys armor and yours looks so much more comfortable. Great job.

 

[fragarock[TK]]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for this tutorial. It was the starting point for my own EVA foam build thread for my 6 year old. Thanks for the inspiration. P.s. I totally stole your hand guard technique .

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[LisaPerk]

On 9/27/2017 at 9:27 AM, fragarock said:

Hi Bill,

Thanks for this tutorial. It was the starting point for my own EVA foam build thread for my 6 year old. Thanks for the inspiration. P.s. I totally stole your hand guard technique .

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Thanks for much for the tutorial.  I just completed two of these costumes for my boys and they LOVE it.  So much better looking than the store bought ones.  It took more time but so worth the look on the boys' faces.  I did not follow the instructions on the helmet rather I made ones out of cardboard using tutorials on youtube.  

[darthkenny[TK]]

Finished today. Thanks for the patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Astyanax]

Hey guys, not trying to resurrect an old thread (yesiamsorry), but my younger son got the same costume handed down from big brother, and won one of this year's costume contests at the Star Wars Days at LegoLand California!

 

Video here:

Very exciting, because he beat a kid-sized vacu-formed version! I think the judges liked the scratch-build aspect. :-) My favorite part is that when he was called up, it was necessary for him to do the very same "shuffle" that the original ANH troopers had to do when running, because of costume constraints.  :-)

 

A fitting retirement for this costume, as my younger son is also outgrowing it. But it went out on a high note!

 

Bill

Edited August 29, 2018 by Astyanax

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Very cool, love how he took a bow lol. Great job 

[68Brick[TK]]

Awesome!

[Hesikaya[TK]]

Astyanax, 

 

Thank you for this great tutorial.  Back in 2017 I built two foam troopers for my little guys 8 and 5.  I took what I learned from that in 2018 and adapted it to make a Darth Vader kit for the older one and mixed and matched pieces for the younger.  They will be different things this year Jawa and a GONK droid but all that I learned from your post was a big help to make them super cool foam troopers.