LiveALegacy's Jes Gistang [KWDesigns] Build thread

[Mutter]

I'm starting this build thread on behalf of Kathi (LiveALegacy).  We both will be updating this thread as the build continues.

 

Kathi ordered her armor about 2 weeks ago. Kevin was a pleasure to deal with.  On Monday, a small box was received and the bigger box came yesterday.  Kathi came over last night with a huge grin and 2 brown boxes in hand.  Obligatory brown box and white plastic on the floor pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll start trimming Thursday night and hope to get a good chunk of work done over the weekend.  I'm not sure who's more excited, me or her!

Edited May 26, 2015 by Mutter

[Redforce[TK]]

Awesome Greg and Kathi! Looking forward to the updates! (:

[Jenlarouge]

Yay! I just got mine yesterday too! KWDesigns must be BUSY! I'll be following!

[bzb]

Gooble gobble!

[Mutter]

We spent a good part of this weekend trimming and fitting armor. Sadly, I got caught up in the build and didn't take as many pics as I wanted to.  Sorry about the crappy pic quality. Not sure what happened on the upload.

 

I started trimming the helmet on Friday while I was "working from home". The trim lines were very strong but I still traced the outline with a pencil. The holes align pretty perfectly to attach the faceplate to the helmet back. Great job, Kevin!

 

 

 

 

Used a Dremmel to remove most of the material from the teeth. 

 

 

The plastic felt a little thin so I drilled a hole where the brow and ears met to avoid any tears.   

 

 

 

And here's the faceplate.

 

I "urged" Kathi to do the painting on the helmet.  Frown taped for painting, varcoder done freehand.

 

 

A little cleanup to do but a great first attempt!

 

 

 

Painting the traps on the helmet back were a real PITA.  The indentations were really soft so it was difficult to gauge the outline and keep them symmetrical.  I opted to use a ruler to make sure the lines were even. Did a little measuring and taped off the traps.

 

 

 

 

 

We picked up some dark gray Testors paint and Kathi hand painted the traps.  Sadly, I didn't realize it was flat paint 

 

 

To correct my blunder, we used the same gloss dark grey paint for the TD on the traps. The color was much better

 

 

Just a little cleanup to do.

 

 

Tonight I'll fit the ears, lens and screen mesh. Finishing paint touchups later this week.

[Mutter]

We rough trimmed all of the armor to remove most of the excess material. For the most part, the trim lines were strong. in some areas, particularly on the thighs, the plastic was really thin near the edges and we had to use extra caution to avoid tears.

 

The trimming bag from hell! So many small pieces that had to be trimmed!

 

 

After rough trimming everything, we started on fitting the torso.

 

Taped the kidney and ab plates together. There was quite a bit of overlap so we removed a little over an inch of plastic to move the seam closer to center on her side.

 

 

 

 

Fit the back and chest plates and removed the excess material to match the ab/kidney plate joins.

 

 

 

 

 

This is where I forgot to take more pictures. We sized the biceps, forearms, and thighs.

 

I have to agree with others on the forearms. They're a bit of a pain since they are concave in shape. In order to get Kathi's hand through the center section, we had to keep the wrist opening a little larger. With gloves on, it should look ok. We'll probably add a little foam to the elbow end to keep everything from flapping around. The overlap join on the outer seam was relatively straight forward. We'll butt join the inside seam. I'm considering using ABS paste to hide the seam altogether. TBD.

 

Fitting the biceps were straight forward. Butt joins on both inner and out seam. Metal ruler to cut a straight edge.

 

The thighs were quite possibly the easiest part so far. We removed the rough trim and did a quick sizing. Everything fit perfectly! So I cleaned up the edges and now we're ready for glue. As I mentioned above, the plastic was really thin on the edges of the thighs. I'm talking I was able to push the scissors through the plastic to cut it. When scoring with a blade and ruler, on the second pass, the blade went through the plastic.

 

I'll start gluing everything together this week. Once the shoes come in, we'll work on sizing the shins. I'm hoping to have most of the build completed by the end of next weekend. Here's how she looks so far (we need to raise your thighs).

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2015 by Mutter

[Redforce[TK]]

Awesome Greg. It looks like you guys are moving along nicely!

[kwdesigns[TK]]

Looking good so far. you will want the front of the belt to drop down more. it should rest in the flat area between the raised details. You might also want to trim a little bit more (not too much) around the front inner hip area. It will make it a bit more comfortable for walking.

 

I listed my assembly tips on page 14 here...

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/15279-jes-gistang-research-thread/page-14

 

Kevin W.

[Mutter]

Thanks, Kevin!  We haven't sized or positioned the belt yet, just threw it on for the picture.  We've been following yours and others build threads too.

[Mutter]

So I'm working on the TD.  I'm not sure how to put the end caps on since they are the same size as the pipe. I tried the heat gun but the plastic started to warp.

 

 

How has everyone else done this?  I'm wondering if there is a smaller diameter pipe I should be using.

[sve5mh]

Greg youre doing awesome!!! this build will be done in no time! 

[Dday[501st]]

Hi! It looks like you can drop the return edge on the thighs some, this will let them slide up higher as well, so there isn't much of a gap between the lower ab section and the top of the thighs.

[Dday[501st]]

Hi! It looks like you can drop the return edge on the thighs some, this will let them slide up higher as well, so there isn't much of a gap between the lower ab section and the top of the thighs.

[Teags]

I had some issues with the end caps being the same size as the tube.

We ended up putting the tube on a belt sander and got rid of a bit of the edge, and then heated the ends up in some warm water and they extended over easy and look perfect.

[Mutter]

Thanks, Teaghan. A belt sander was in the plan but I was hoping a different size pipe would be the easy fix.

[Teags]

You wont have to stick the whole thing over, literally just the lip of the tube so that its on an angle that the cap will slide over. If that makes sense.

[Arnie_DK[TK]]

Weird... I had no problems what so ever with the end caps. They fit snugly over the pipe.

[bzb]

I had to grind the tube down, as well.  Not sure how else to get those caps to fit correctly.  Definitely don't use a heat gun on it!

[Mutter]

It's been a while since the last update but we're almost done!  I wound up grinding the edges of the PVC pipe to accept the end caps. Not terribly difficult, just a PITA.  I need to finish the right lower leg, add the shoulder bridges and finish the shoes.  I was too distracted in building the armor and didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to.  

 

The belt was a bit of a pain. Nothing too difficult, just so many parts. Screwing the individual mount points and then glueing the boxes themselves.  

 

 

 

 

For the biceps and forearms, I used ABS pasted for the seam.  I wasn't able to sand the edges as smooth as I wanted too.  Too many bubbles in the paste so I went the bondo way and a can of spray paint.  This paint matched nearly perfectly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was only able to do one lower leg at a time because I ran out of magnets.  Here's the first one:

 

Here's a quick fit photo after the strapping was put in place.  We still need to make some adjustments, trim a few edges and finish the other leg.  I've since mounted the TD to the kidney plate.  

 

 

And she couldn't wait to see how she looked with her very own DLT-19.

 

Edited July 1, 2015 by Mutter

[Mutter]

These are the boots Kathi currently has:

 

 

I know at minimum I need to add a strip down the center.  The CRL doesn't state whether side seams are allowed are not.  Would these be acceptable?

[Barcode]

Sweet!

[bzb]

Hmm, no I don't think those particular boots would be allowed.  No, it doesn't state it specifically in the CRL whether the side seams are allowed, but I don't think anyone had found boots like that before.  The reference pieces are the statue or the comic book.  Both simply have the strip up the middle. 

[Mutter]

OK. I reached out to Giovanni for Chunky style boots. In the mean time, so Kathi's approval isn't held up, we went ahead and modified her current boots. I cut out some pieces of goat leather I had and painted them white.

 

 

 

 

The seams along the sides were really pronounced under the leather. I glued some extra leather to soften the ridge line and then applied glue to the back of the leather wraps and to the shoe itself.

 

 

 

 

And the final strip down the center.

 

 

These will get her through submission and her first few troops. We'll take submission photos this weekend and wait.....

Edited July 4, 2015 by Mutter

[bzb]

WOW!  Great work!

[Mutter]

Submission photos were, well, submitted last week. Just waiting for the final nod.