A little short for a StormTrooper! FemTrooper Build in TX

[Jenlarouge]

Also, got my stand-in shoes in the mail. They will work until Gio is making the taller heeled boot again. 

But the heel is right size for measuring the rest of the armor in. 

[Jenlarouge]

Here is the template I made and used for the lens. I just copied out the eyes on paper from the front of the helmet so that I can get the size and spacing down on the lens. 

 

[Jenlarouge]

Also, Question about the Traps in the front and back. The CRL shows them with sharp corners but the guide lines on the helmet are more rounded. Which way do they need to go sharp or rounded? Squoval? 

[Mutter]

Jen

 

1 - In my opinion, the gaps you have are ok. 

2 - Those are the same boots Kathi has but we decided to covered them because the side stitching was questionable.

3 - Great idea for doing the lenses! Remember to leave extra material and test fit it before cutting to your lines. You can always remove material but you can't add it back.

4 - I took the sharp corner route and taped the trapezoids. Follow the CRL when in doubt and look at other build threads.

 

It's coming along nicely!

[Jenlarouge]

Jen

 

1 - In my opinion, the gaps you have are ok. 

2 - Those are the same boots Kathi has but we decided to covered them because the side stitching was questionable.

3 - Great idea for doing the lenses! Remember to leave extra material and test fit it before cutting to your lines. You can always remove material but you can't add it back.

4 - I took the sharp corner route and taped the trapezoids. Follow the CRL when in doubt and look at other build threads.

 

It's coming along nicely!

Thanks Greg, I will leave off messing with them for the time being. I intended to make the same mods to the boots that you did, what sort of glue did you use for the leather? Lenses apparently cut fine with the Lexan scissors, I was just out of elbow grease that day. =) I trimmed the bottom here is the cut I made

It still doesn't want to bend enough in the center to meet the nose area, but I am still working on a way to bend it. I tried boiling for a minute and it made no difference =\ back to the drawing board. I may just trim the top in the same way to get it narrowed enough to bend more. 

[Jenlarouge]

In other news, Yesterday was shopping day! Big haul!

 

Went to Tandy for the snaps, leather for shoes, mallet, snap setters, etc. 

 

Joann's Crafts for the elastic, nylon strapping, velcro 

 

Hobby Lobby for mineral spirits, enamel, brushes and a clock (wait, what?)

 

AND Amazon showed up with my heat sealing iron and moto helmet liner. yay!

[Jenlarouge]

Started the painting. No pressure. Got through the traps and the frown. Will finish up the chin and get the two black things on (forget what they are called) and get the paint trips cleaned up. 

 

Do I have to much black on the frown? Do I need to clean it out from between the teeth?

[Mutter]

Here's the glue I used: http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/2532-01.aspx

 

Great job on the trap! I carefully used a heatgun on the visor to help bend it. If you've never used one before, I'd be VERY careful. They can do a lot of damage. Try drilling the two holes for one side and mount it. Then pressed down in the middle and mark where the other two holes should be. Drill them and mount the lense. It should be good. Remember, you don' t want it to be totally flush. Gaps are ok.

[Jenlarouge]

More painting and cleaning up painting done the last couple days...

fixed the frown, so more like frown and less like pirate teeth... and chin done

 

Cleaned up my traps with some mineral spirits

 

Drilled the hole for my mics

 

had an incident with the drill and my "nurse" came to my rescue. She chided me for drilling while holding the thing and not wearing my safety glasses while expertly applying my

band-aide. She will make a good nurse. 

[Jenlarouge]

working on the mic tips. Realized that I didn't have the aluminum screen so decided to try and "make it work" with the black screen I had. I just sprayed it chrome and hoped for the best. 

 

So that went pretty well. I decided to proceed and see. I started by tracing the openings of the mics on a paper to use as a template, cause you can't really see the lines when I write on the screen...

 

Added some glue to the inside of the mics and pushed them in a bit with the top of a marker

 

here they are before they where trimmed. 

 

we'll see how it worked when they are dry...

ALSO I had drilled a hole in the bottom and put a screw down in there under the screen to then attach to the helmet...

[Jenlarouge]

Ok, well I don't think it turned out half bad. What do you think?

[Jenlarouge]

here it is with both mics

[bzb]

Looking great!  Fantastic build thread, btw

 

I think the mic tips look good.  Did you back them inside the helmet?  The ABS is really, really thin where the mic tips are screwed in.  Once in a while an overeager child may grab at your bucket, and the mic tip post could rip through the thin ABS right there.

 

Simply glue a small circle of ABS scrap inside the helmet and that solves that issue right away!

[Jenlarouge]

Looking great!  Fantastic build thread, btw

 

I think the mic tips look good.  Did you back them inside the helmet?  The ABS is really, really thin where the mic tips are screwed in.  Once in a while an overeager child may grab at your bucket, and the mic tip post could rip through the thin ABS right there.

 

Simply glue a small circle of ABS scrap inside the helmet and that solves that issue right away!

Thanks for the tip Bobby! I'll add that tomorrow! =)

[Jenlarouge]

ANNNNNNNND We're Back! Sorry of the disappearing act. I suddenly occurred to me last week that I had done exactly 0% of the studying I needed to do for my state boards last Friday. SO had to take the week and study (and finish sewing the giant bean-bag for my 8 yr old's birthday) As I have accomplished both tasks I am back at it with my shiny new Registered Nurse License on the way (Passed that sucker first try, minimum amount of required questions!)

 

So today we got these in the mail...

 

But before putting them on, had a couple chores to finish up. Had to cut and apply the little circles of ABS behind the mics as suggested by Bobby

 

And needed to get serious about making the lens fit. I just happen to have a heat gun used for embossing, please no comments about the color or generally X-rated appearance of my heat gun, its a heat gun and that is all I promise.

 

This heated the lens a bit slower than a hardware one would, but that was probably best. After trimming the top down a bit to better fit inside the helmet, I first screwed one side in to the helmet so I could keep it in place. then I  held the heat about 2-3" away and passed the gun back and forth at the nose to soften it. When it started to sorta bend on its own, droop just a tad I quickly positioned it where I wanted and screwed in the other side. Don't touch it in the middle where you heated it, this causes a sharp angle and a burnt finger, FYI. 

 

This gave me a nice, closer, curve at the nose. Still have a bit of a gap on the sides and underneath but you guys said this is OK and will help with the fogging. 

Tada!

 

I did not take pics, but after it cooled I took it back out to clean it and get rid of all my sketching lines...

[Jenlarouge]

Next important step was to try it on all the little girls that have been at my house all weekend. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

 

CHECK!

[Jenlarouge]

On to the tube stripes. I ordered from Troopersbay.com. Was a bit concerned that they came with a sticker but no instructions... So hopped over to their website where I found a VIDEO! yay! so first I measured out the suggested "one pencils width away from the cheek..."

 

Marked it on both sides...

 

Peeled the backing off the decals and lined them up with the pencil marks...

 

You can see the pencil line through the backing once it sticks, but only once it sticks so be careful to line it up first...

 

rubbing pressure will adhere the vinyl to the ABS 

 

Then peel back the backing. This come off nice and clean if you peel it back instead of pulling it up. Peel backwards thusly...

 

Tadaaaa!

 

In the event of a misalignment, be aware that the vinyl will stick when you are lining things up and may not stay on the backing if you try to pull up and realign. If that happens (as it did to me) I just removed the misaligned stripes and lined up the rest of them in the right spot. Leaving the misplaced ones out until the rest are on right

 

Then, since you only used 11 on each side and you where sent 16, you can just cut out two more from the extra

 

And line them up with the others, in the right spot. Fixed! Can hardly tell they where out of place

 

[Jenlarouge]

Realised I had forgot to paint the ridges on the ears. OOPS   Those came back off to be finished. 

 

So penciled the outline around the ridges and then, with a tiny #2 round brush, painted the grey outline. This just allowed me to have a larger margin of error when painting the the ridges.  

 

Then filled in the box I made with grey enamal, Tester's 1138

[Jenlarouge]

And with that, and many many micro adjustments to try and get everything as even as I could, I think I might be done with this helmet. Please take a peak and tell me if I have overlooked anything or if anything needs more fixing...

 

Eh?

[Dday[501st]]

Great job, looking good! If you want to nitpick, I would trim down the ears more. There is still a flashing/return edge where the ear meets the helmet that should be removed. However, if you're happy as it is, leave it, We're probably the only people who will notice.

 

And with that, and many many micro adjustments to try and get everything as even as I could, I think I might be done with this helmet. Please take a peak and tell me if I have overlooked anything or if anything needs more fixing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eh?

[Jenlarouge]

Great job, looking good! If you want to nitpick, I would trim down the ears more. There is still a flashing/return edge where the ear meets the helmet that should be removed. However, if you're happy as it is, leave it, We're probably the only people who will notice.

Thank you Derrek and Yes I want to nitpick. =) I would like to leave as little as possible that I will fret over later. I think I see what you are talking about, particularly on the Left side when looking  at the face, that ear? I will try and trim more down. Just afraid to trim to much and not be able to put it back. 

[Dday[501st]]

Since you have a good line already, following the contour, I would just cut it down all around, following this same contour. I think you could easily cut off 2mm all around and you'd be perfect

[Barcode]

ANNNNNNNND We're Back! Sorry of the disappearing act. I suddenly occurred to me last week that I had done exactly 0% of the studying I needed to do for my state boards last Friday. SO had to take the week and study (and finish sewing the giant bean-bag for my 8 yr old's birthday) As I have accomplished both tasks I am back at it with my shiny new Registered Nurse License on the way (Passed that sucker first try, minimum amount of required questions!)

 

So today we got these in the mail...

 

But before putting them on, had a couple chores to finish up. Had to cut and apply the little circles of ABS behind the mics as suggested by Bobby

 

And needed to get serious about making the lens fit. I just happen to have a heat gun used for embossing, please no comments about the color or generally X-rated appearance of my heat gun, its a heat gun and that is all I promise.

 

This heated the lens a bit slower than a hardware one would, but that was probably best. After trimming the top down a bit to better fit inside the helmet, I first screwed one side in to the helmet so I could keep it in place. then I  held the heat about 2-3" away and passed the gun back and forth at the nose to soften it. When it started to sorta bend on its own, droop just a tad I quickly positioned it where I wanted and screwed in the other side. Don't touch it in the middle where you heated it, this causes a sharp angle and a burnt finger, FYI. 

 

This gave me a nice, closer, curve at the nose. Still have a bit of a gap on the sides and underneath but you guys said this is OK and will help with the fogging. 

Tada!

 

I did not take pics, but after it cooled I took it back out to clean it and get rid of all my sketching lines...

 

 

Your helmet looks great so far. Only two things I'd recommend besides what Derrek already hinted on...... (1) Trim more in the nose area of the lens. On the bottom where the bridge of your nose would touch. (2) Take your bucket back apart and paint the inside of the face plate and back plate flat black. Brush or spray paint. You can use a paper bag (without holes) and a lot of painters tape to make sure you don't paint the outside area. that does two things....... (A) Your bucket believe it or not will be cooler inside. and ( It will 100% conceal your eyes from being viewed from the outside. People will NOT see what your looking at.  Keep up the awesome work!     

[Jenlarouge]

Your helmet looks great so far. Only two things I'd recommend besides what Derrek already hinted on...... (1) Trim more in the nose area of the lens. On the bottom where the bridge of your nose would touch. (2) Take your bucket back apart and paint the inside of the face plate and back plate flat black. Brush or spray paint. You can use a paper bag (without holes) and a lot of painters tape to make sure you don't paint the outside area. that does two things....... (A) Your bucket believe it or not will be cooler inside. and ( It will 100% conceal your eyes from being viewed from the outside. People will NOT see what your looking at.  Keep up the awesome work!     

Awesome Ben, I will do those two things as well while I have it all apart fixing the ears. Thank you so much guys! Back in a couple days when I have finished my homework and also I have to make a stupid dress for graduation. =( Which is in two days =( ugggg

[Jenlarouge]

Changed my mind. Want to make a Stormtrooper, not a dress. Ordered a dress and Amazon and got back to the helmet. 

SO, started by taking the right ear off and spending the next hour adjusting tiny parts to make it lay down better and get rid of enough, but not to much of that flash. =\ I sketched out an initial trimming and cut that down to just before the line I drew

 

Then just put it back on and marked where it stuck out to far and prevented the ear from sitting on straight, took it off and sanded, put it back and mark... etc. Then did the other side and hopefully when I put it all back together they will both be a little more flush

 

Then I took it all the way apart, removed the lens, and started the process of masking off the face and back of the helmet with painters tape to prep for spray painting. 

Started with the eyes and did all the edges

did both eyes, all the way around the edges, the teeth. Then covered the holes, and the eye holes completely. 

Covered the rest with a plastic bag and taped it down to the taped edges, making sure everything on the outside was covered completely from over spray

 

Sprayed it inside both face and back with matte black spray paint

 

While that is drying I went back and deepened the notch between the eyes on the lens with the dremel on low speed, which did better not melting it. =)

 

Now just waiting for paint to dry