An ATA for Tampa Bay

[wingnut65[Staff]]

My TK Story…  I’ve been hanging around here long enough, I figure it’s time to start a build thread.  It makes it a lot easier to make a build thread since my kit has arrived and I am actually building a TK…

 

Since I never actually posted in the New Member’s thread, here’s my quick background…  Or you can skip all teh words in this post, look at the pictures and jump to the next one where I actually do some work.

 

I was in Junior High when Episode 4 was released in 1977 and like most Star Wars fans, I’ve always dreamed of being a Stormtrooper.  There’s just something about that White Armor! But, with a limited-to-non-existent budget for starting a new hobby, my only acceptable solution to keeping peace in the house while ordering a kit, meant I was on an 8-10 month waiting list.  That allowed me time to work on the finances.  My ATA kit was ordered in October 2014.  Now, I just can’t wait! 

I mean, Seriously, I COULD NOT WAIT ! ! !  What do I do in the meantime that would not be too expensive?  Thus, My 501st Adventure, Chapter 1 was started.  After searching all the CRL’s and various forums and figuring out a rough budget for each costume choice, in October 2014, I ordered a Poor Man’s Tusken mask kit. I started to build the mask and costume in December 2014 and sent my DZ approval photos in on Sunday, April 12, 2015.

Thursday, April 16, 2015 was opening day for Celebration Anaheim.  From my desk in Tampa, I watched the live webcast of the big C7 kick-off with J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy and all the stars of The Force Awakens and then watched the release of the second TFA Trailer.  I was pumped!  Two hours later, I received The E-Mail! …Subject line: 501st Legion: Welcome Trooper 50297.  Woohoooo!  What an awesome day!  I thought all the staff was partying at Celebration and I would have to wait a week.  This was a nice surprise!   BTW, my number is my twin daughter’s birthdate.

 

To date, I have 6 Troops under my sash, including Tampa Bay Comic Con, two baseball games and a Fourth of July parade!

 

   

My 501st Adventure, Chapter 2, Begins!

 

Besides a Tusken build, 2015 also included me selling some clutter and stuff on eBay, selling some tools at two neighborhood garage sales and selling three vintage all-original 1960’s bicycles that I cleaned up so the chrome would shine. All in order to fund the purchase of my white armor!  Funding was submitted to the Finance Minister for safe keeping.

 

Then word came that my kit was done, payment made and my Big Brown Box finally arrived on August 12!

Nice!

 

And the obligatory picture after unpacking and drooling over the contents. I was very impressed with the packaging and am thrilled with the armor.

 

BTW, This will be an ANH Stunt build that I am aiming for the TK Trifecta – 501st, EIB and Centurion! If you see anything that I need to adjust or repair while I build, please let me know!

 

Let’s Get Started!

… Stay tuned for further Wingnut Adventures in Tampa Bay! …

Edited June 6, 2019 by wingnut65
Update photo links

[Khazid[TK]]

Great introduction. Good luck on your journey!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Congrats on starting your build thread, Jeff!  Once you get that armor approved, you should come over to Makaze territory for a troop to show it off!

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Congrats. Enjoy the build!

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Thanks, Brandon, Joseph and David.  Yes, I am having fun with the build. Working with my hands, making daily progress and looking forward to wearing this a amazing costume, is making it all worth while.
 
Yes, Joseph, you can count on me popping in on a few Makaze Troops. I have the Clermont parade pencilled in on my calendar and I am waiting approval from the GKTW reviewers.  I am hoping to have this all finished for an Fall Festival reveal at my church the end of October.  I just need to keep taking small bites and I will get there.
 
Step 1...
And I needed to start somewhere, so I measured the lengths all the joints to receive cover strips and went to work.  With my ATA kit, I received two sheets of plastic for use in making the cover strips and possibly some other needs.  I didn't want to ruin the plastic by cutting wrong sizes and not having enough scrap left over, so I figured I could make a template/cutting plan. Since I play architect in real life, I am fluent in AutoCAD and figured it would be easy to do, and it was.  I had enough extra space on the sheet for cutting the snap plates.
 
Here is the first step I did on my build and the first plastic cuts I made.  EDIT: I should have waited to determine the exact size of cover strips I needed, but I got lucky and they all fit!

 

Stay tuned for more progress!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
Update photo link

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Based on experience i would not cut all those strips at the same time.

Based on bodytype they can change slightly; do one body part at a time. Strip by strip. Its a little more tedious, but it will save you some heartache later.

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Now ya tell me!  

Other’s at a troop also mentioned that recommendation after I told them what my first cuts in plastic were making Cover Strips. This is the one place that has a little flexibility that I was not aware of. Luckily, I have been able to use everything I cut.

When I opened my Big Brown Box, Terrell had included two sheets of ABS, one with the dimensions that I have seen noted elsewhere as the standards for Cover Strips - 5/8" for Arms (Forearms and Biceps), 7/8" for Legs (Thighs and front of Shins) and 1" for back of Shins.


I have only cut one sheet, so far, and I still have the second one if I need it.  I have not cut all the snap plates yet and I'm glad I didn't.  I've decided to go with the double snaps for many locations.

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
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[wingnut65[Staff]]

Before I continue, here’s a reminder…


With heavy emphasis on “Supervise Children”. Maybe that is why Mrs. Wingnut is always checking up on me in the garage…
 
Now that everyone is seated and all children are supervised, let’s continue…
 
Watch Tutorial Videos and Study Other Build Threads!
 
Before I made any cut in any plastic, I read plenty of build threads here in FISD.  Somebody had mentioned the TrooperBay Tutorial Videos as a good overview of the assembly process.  I agree completely.  Mike’s in-depth videos show one way of putting all the puzzle pieces together and he just does it, without any sweating! No panic. No nervousness.  He just gets a knife, cuts the pieces and glues them together.  I like most of his build process ideas, but I will be doing some things differently. Like I will be using E-6000 for almost everything instead of his use of super glue and zap-kicker.  I’ve watched the whole series once completely, and watch episodes again as I start another step.
 
Clean-Up On Aisle 3… I mean in the Back Yard!
 
Taking advice of others, the first big step in starting this build was to wash all the plastic pieces with dishwashing soap and water.  This removed all the mold release agents, greasy fingerprints and drool from the pieces so the glue will stick better.

 
I then spread all that beautiful white ABS plastic out in the garage to let them dry.  This was a good time to take a full inventory of everything in the package.  It comes up to 48 TK puzzle pieces on 45 pieces of white ABS plastic.  Actually only 46 puzzle pieces get used, if I don’t have to use the spare ear pieces that Terrell provides with each kit. Fingers crossed for that step!

TIP: I should have hand dried everything to remove the water spots that I found when assembling them!
 
So, Are You Going To Get Started??
 
Yep!  Next up is to cut some plastic! I decided to hold off on the helmet until I had some comfort level with how ABS handles and how easy or hard it is to work with it.  I decided to start small. I started with the Biceps.  Especially since they would be mostly covered by the shoulder bells or stuffed under my arm pit.  But, Where do I cut first???
 
Return Edges
Some pieces have return edges and some don’t.  Some have more than others.  I checked the CRL and found the only specific requirement mentioned are the front of the Forearms are to have no return.  What about the rest…
 
Before I cut anything, I found this post on Return Edges.  (http://www.whitearmo...0-return-edges/).  In the Gospel According to Gazmosis, in post #3, Steve mentions the following;
Quote:

On ‎6‎/‎21‎/‎2015 at 1:32 PM, gazmosis said:

All return edges average 1/4 inch(6 mm) but can be up to but not much more than 3/8 inch (9 ish mm)

Chest: bottom edge against ab. Sides but taper down as you get closer to shoulders. Minimal to none around neck.

Back: bottom against kidney. Sides but taper down as you get closer to shoulders. Minimal around neck.

Kidney: top, bottom and slight in kidney notch. None on sides.

Butt:all sides

Ab: top under chest, lesser return edge around cod area. None on sides
Shoulders: none on edge against chest. Return edge against arm.
Biceps: minimal to none. Some leave return edge some remove it all together.
Forearms: none at wrist opening even up into the square indent ridge. Minimal to none at elbow side. Your choice
Thighs: return edge on tops and bottom.
Shins: return edge on top. None against boots.

 
EDIT: Before trimming anything, be sure to tape pieces together to size them to know if you need to make adjustments to fit your body. As noted below, I trimmed to fit the cover strips and then tried them on. Luckily, it was all fine for me, but I could have trimmed too much.  Measure Twice, Cut Once!

 

Since biceps get minimal to no returns, I chose to go with minimal.  Arm Cover Strips are to be 5/8” wide, so I trimmed each sides at half of that – 5/16” from the raised strip on the bicep and taped them together.  I aligned the bottoms and my left bicep was perfect, but my right one was noticeably off. I had a troop around this time and I took my taped up biceps with me to get advice.  Everyone I asked just laughed and said to Move Along... They said to align the bottom and don't worry about trimming the top to align as it will be completely hidden by the shoulder bell.

 

So I glued in both inside reinforcing strips to one side and then glued them both together. I used clamps and some magnets to hold them. I wish I had bought the stronger rare-earth magnets, but I have been trying to be thrifty with this build and use what I have.

 

I trimmed and sanded the top edge before putting on the cover strips. 

EDIT: Notice the rounded edges on the cover strips.  To me, this looks nicer and it helps to keep from scratching anyone with sharp corners.

 

Bottom edges are all lined up.  I still need to heat the left one up using the hot water treatment to get it to form more into a circle.
Biceps… DONE!

 

This is how I cut the inside of all the pieces.  On the ones that don’t get a return, I used the X-Acto blade to repeatedly score the inside corner of the return.  I used a pair of aviation snips to cut pie slices into the scrap and then just bent them out.  The 80-grit sandpaper triangle I have has been great for cleaning up the rough cut edges.  I finish it off with 150 and then 220 grit sandpaper.

 

I continued the Forearms the same way.  I measured 5/16” from the raised strip, clamped a flexible metal ruler and scored several times with the knife and then snapped off.  I used the snips to give a clean cut at the return edges before I snapped off the scrap

 

When gluing on the inside reinforcing strips, I was able to get good pressure using binder clamps.

 

One Forearm had a minor alignment issue that was solved with the sanding block.

 

Forearms… DONE!

 

Any advice, suggestions, questions or comments, feel free to jump in!
 

Stay Tuned for More Trimming!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
Updated photo links

[charlesnarles]

I cut the 5/8" cover strips after trimming all my arms, but they turned out okay. Arms are standard, rear leg strips might need to be different if you're above/below the suggested h/w. Keep it up!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Wow, you're off to a great start and great documentation. Wish I would have thought about binder clips. I could have raided my office instead of buying a million clamps from Lowes and Home Depot lol. On you forearm, you'll see a very minor gap on the cover strip. If you want to try and eliminate those, wrap painters tape around super tight. You probably won't get rid of all of them but it does help some. That's more of a nit-picky thing that really isn't a big deal tho.

 

Trooperbay makes it look so ridiculously easy and the fact he uses a shop knife and zap a gap, he could build a whole suit in a few hours. 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I cut the 5/8" cover strips after trimming all my arms, but they turned out okay. Arms are standard, rear leg strips might need to be different if you're above/below the suggested h/w. Keep it up!

I had to do larger cover strips on the rear of my biceps. So know that you should always aim for the front of every piece to be accurate, there is wiggle room especially in the rear of pieces. Some people also give a few mm on each side of the ridge lines and still use accurate cover strips. 

[PiettLives[TK]]

Jeff, looking good so far and remember if you need an extra set of eyes or have questions just let me know!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Really nice job so far, Jeff, and loving the build thread!   I agree with Jason that using binder clips is a fantastic idea.

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Thanks, Joseph and Jason.  Gotta be resourceful when you need to be thrifty!  I still have to buy a few more pieces, but I didn't feel I needed to add another $30 or so to the budget just for the rare earth magnets.  I am fortunate that I have a full workshop of tools and so far have just had to by several tubes of E-6000 glue.
 
Thanks for the offer, Ken  As I get into the strapping and getting adjusted to hang just right, I may take you up on that. 
 
And, Congrats, Ken (PiettLives), on having your picture of us hit the front page of the 501st Facebook Page for Tusken Tuesday!  If I had known it would be that big of a hit, I would have raised the gaffi for the Tusken Pose!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
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[wingnut65[Staff]]

I cut the 5/8" cover strips after trimming all my arms, but they turned out okay. Arms are standard, rear leg strips might need to be different if you're above/below the suggested h/w. Keep it up!

I had to do larger cover strips on the rear of my biceps. So know that you should always aim for the front of every piece to be accurate, there is wiggle room especially in the rear of pieces. Some people also give a few mm on each side of the ridge lines and still use accurate cover strips.

 

So far, I am right on the standard sizes.  But, I haven't completely suited up yet.  The biceps and thighs are tight now, but I think it may be just a little wonky and needing a little hot water and some pursuation to be round.   If needed, I can separate the backs and add space to get more room.  But that would be a last resort.

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Wow, you're off to a great start and great documentation. Wish I would have thought about binder clips. I could have raided my office instead of buying a million clamps from Lowes and Home Depot lol.

 

On you forearm, you'll see a very minor gap on the cover strip. If you want to try and eliminate those, wrap painters tape around super tight. You probably won't get rid of all of them but it does help some. That's more of a nit-picky thing that really isn't a big deal tho.

 

Trooperbay makes it look so ridiculously easy and the fact he uses a shop knife and zap a gap, he could build a whole suit in a few hours. 

 

I've been trying to get the gaps along the cover strips to go away when they arre glued, but some still sneaked in.  I do have an idea up my sleeve that I think will solve that problem.

 

I agree that Paul (Trooperbay) just makes the TK build look unelievably easy.  He is so comfortable using the box cutter to free-hand the cuts.  I do plan on watching all 47 episodes of his Helmet Build tutorial before I start any cuts!

[PiettLives[TK]]

Your left bicep WILL need to be reshaped as they are very wonky and more oval than round. Just make sure for any test fittings that you are wearing your compression suit as it makes a difference. And yeah, when your ready to enclose the backs of your thighs and shins you'll need help.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Ken makes a very important point. Always try on the pieces with the compression gear. You'd be surprised how much gut gets sucked in on the midsection. 

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Makes perfect sense. I have my shirt coming in next week and I have a pair of pants.  I will not do any final forming and fitting until it arrives!

 

I really hope it does help out in the midsection.  This year, I'm aiming to lose 10 pounds and I am getting close, only 12 more to go!

[wingnut65[Staff]]

As we continue this wonderful journey into White Plastic Euphoria, I must remind you that your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device!  Ya never know when you might need it!

 

More Trimming – Shoulder Bells…

 

I finished my biceps, forearms and thighs and decided to hold off on the shins until I could order my boots.  I don’t want to cut too much or in the wrong place and be sorry about it.

I moved on to the shoulder bells and the rest of the body armor.

 

Meet Others!    I want to take a moment and emphasize how helpful it is to personally talk to others who have traveled this trip before.  When we trooped at the Ray’s Star Wars night, I took my taped up biceps and shoulder bells with me to get some guidance on the next steps.  I had marked along the shoulder bells a conservative line I thought would work, but where I would need some extra sanding to get it right.  Local members PiettLives and Chadder said to raise my line and cut at the mold lines.  So, I did!

 

I have a cheap shop knife that is perfectly flat along the side that worked well for this step and wouldn’t rock or twist when being held down.  I used a block of wood and plastic spacers to get the knife blade to the right height to create a perfectly straight line around the whole shoulder bell. (I now hear that the originals actually had a curve to the sides… I may need to sand them in, if really needed)

I held the knife perfectly still and moved the shoulder bell against the knife while holding it flat against the workbench.  I started lightly to just scratch the surface, and then kept going a little deeper each time. After a few times around, it was easy to snap the scrap off in one piece.

I trimmed the bottom edges to leave about a 1/4" (6.35 mm) return edge.

 

I then started trimming the rest of the body pieces. Here is the Kidney Plate getting its return on the top and bottom.  The sides were trimmed straight.  Although I may need to make adjustments when I start fitting the armor.  Also, I have not trimmed out the notches on the bottom corners, yet.

BTW, I was only holding it like this to take the photo. Actually cutting was on the workbench. No blood has been shed in the trimming and sanding process, yet.

 

Here's how the rest of the body armor turned out!

 

 

 

These puzzle pieces can be set aside until its time for the fitting and snaps.

 

Next up,  Ooops!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
Updated Photo Links

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Plastic Repairs…

While trimming the Sniper Knee, I encountered two places that needed to be repaired.  Since I have not completed the left calf yet to see how this is going to mount, I don’t know if these are really issues, or I might just be cutting these sections off later on. We’ll see…

 

First was a slip of the knife on the wrong side of the line.  Oops!  And it was deep enough that sanding and polishing really wouldn’t make it go away.

 

Second issue was what appears to be a molding issue. I marked the edge of the mold with a pencil and then cut it out.  It was only then that I noticed the miter on the corner when the other side is a continuous curve.

TIP:  If I had noticed this before cutting it, I would have cut it out as the correct radius and then heated the corner up with a heating iron to form to a smooth edge.  Oh, well…

 

I sent in the proper Supply Request Form for the Empire’s Repair Goop, or even some All Purpose Goop, but the Requisitions Manager informed be the nearest Supply Ship was 63 Parsecs away and denied my request.  So, I had to be resourceful and formulate my own Goop. As many other Troopers before me, I mixed scraps of ABS with some acetone in a glass bottle and let it dissolve.  This stuff has potential!

 

Using a bamboo skewer, I spread a little along the bad edge of the knee plate.  It is kinda has a Silly Putty consistency and I formed it better with my fingers.

 

After letting it dry thoroughly overnight, I sanded it down with finer and finer sandpaper, going down to 400 grit.  Then I pulled out my Micro-Mesh sanding/polishing kit that goes from 1500 grit down to 12000 grit in nine steps.  I’ll post more on this polishing kit later.  Left side: Done!

 

Right side: Done!  Not too bad for a first time. Now I just hope the Equipment Officer will approve the repairs!

 

I’m not going to trim the inside of the sniper knee plate until the calf is finished. I want to see exactly where I need to cut and don’t want to try any more repairs.

 

Until the next episode in the building of the next Tampa Bay ATA, be sure to take time for some target practice so we can protect the Empire!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
photo links

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Wow, that's must be a nice polishing kit. Can't even tell there was a repair. 

[Khazid[TK]]

Agreed, that repair looks great!

Edited October 1, 2015 by Khazid

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Life sure has a habit of getting in the way of projects! A wedding up in Huntsville and then a neighborhood garage sale kept me off the project for a couple weeks, but progress has been slowly moving forward. I just have been a little slow in creating these updates! Here goes a little one…

Still Going…  
I have now trimmed all the body armor and trimmed and glued all the arm and leg pieces, except for the shins which will be done when the boots arrive. I then moved on to smaller pieces and trimmed some more of the accessories, starting with both ammo belts. Each has a perfect inside corner to scribe and cut.


I marked off the angles on the ends, but I’ve decided to hold off on cutting those until my belt arrives.


Ab button plates were up next. I know the big plate should not have too much extra flash around the base, but it might be a little hard to cut like this. I flipped the piece over and cut along the inside edge of both button pieces, like I did on the ammo belts.


Once it was removed, it was much easier to use a straight edge to trim off the excess.


My local Hobby Town didn’t sell Humbrol paints and their Testors Model Master selection looked great, except for French Blue! I did buy Testors Gray (1138) and Gloss Black (1147), but had to buy the Humbrol French Blue from TrooperBay. I’ll wait to mount the buttons to the Ab plate until they are painted. I don’t like the idea of moving that big of a piece of armor around a wet paintbrush.

As I was working on trimming these pieces, I grabbed a snack. I couldn’t help but try to figure out how close I need to trim the edges to get them approved. I couldn’t find anything in the CRL…


Before starting the next big step, I created a bunch of double snap plates. Some people like the plastic snap plates and others use nylon strapping for plates. I decided to go with the plastic plates since I had the plastic and would have needed to buy additional strapping at that time. So, basically, I chose the plastic snap plates because they were free! (No purchase necessary!)



Next up, BUCKET TIME!!!!!

Edited May 25, 2019 by wingnut65
Updated phot links

[wingnut65[Staff]]

It's Bucket Time!

 

With less than a week to go before a family trip, I started on the bucket to get it as far along as I could so I could take it with me to a wedding in Huntsville to show my Star Wars fan brothers and nephews.  Let's get started...

 

Reading other helmet build threads, I decided to paint the inside of the bucket before cutting any holes.  In my paint cabinet, I found I was out of all cans of Gloss Black paint, but I did find a half can of Rust-oleum’s Hammered Black spray paint.  This could be a nice touch!   I taped off the whole outside of the bucket and sprayed several light coats of paint, until it was completely covered.

 

TIP:  Be sure to sand the inside of the bucket to roughen it up so the paint adheres better.  I did not and wish I had.  I also wish I had uses a primer or base coat of paint that is designed for painting plastic.  As I've been working on the build, I've scratched the paint and some more flaked off rather easily.  I touched it up with a paint brush and paint sprayed on some cardboard.

 

Not too bad!  I taped around the ATA Makers’ Mark! In the shape of the trap!

 

And now on to one of the most feared parts of the project, besides the ears, trimming the bucket!

 

I used pandatrooper’s excellent build thread: “HOW to: assembling ATA ABS helmet #1”, as a guide for each step of the process.  I kept my tablet close by to compare my work to that of the master!

 

I marked in pencil where the edges are to make the cuts.  I drilled the stress-relief holes in the corner of the brow and then carefully made the cuts along the brow and around the ears.
TIP:  I wish I had left a little more at the bottom where the screw needs to go.

 

I then trimmed the face, cutting the brow at 1.25” (32 mm) above the eyes and then straight at the side edges at the mold lines at each ear.  So, how did it fit?

 

Not well!  I think the brow is just a little low!  Talk about lack of visibility!

 

Much better, but still needs work!

 

Next, I started to cut out the teeth from the back using my Dremel with a high speed cutting bit.  I kept taking small steps at grinding and kept checking my work.

 

Before I got too far, I started working from the front with an x-Acto.

 

Then smoothed the openings with a small file.

 

The frown is done and now on to the eyes.  On the ATA kit, there is a definite line at the edge of the mask mold where the cut needs to be.  I started scoring lightly and then got deeper and deeper, until it went through.  I used a small piece of rough sandpaper to even out the surface to be even across both eyes.

 

Using some standard Imperial-Issued, Blue Adhesive Binding Strap, I measured and located the center of the cap and the center of the face to align them both.  I cut the rubber brow trim and put it on to help with the alignment to get the brow to sit right.  Small 1” c-clamps were able to hold the cap in place.

 

Then I built up all my nerve and drilled the screw holes.  Yes, I’m going with screws instead of pop-rivets, just in case I ever need to take the bucket apart.  I don’t know why I would, but it will be very easy with machine screws and nuts.

 

TIP:  I wish I had just clamped the bottom first without drilling the screw until after the ear placements were located.  When I found the sweet spot for aligning the ears, the bottom ear screw is so close to one of these screws that the washers hit each other. Looks like I will need to relocate one of the two bucket holding screws.

 

Next up, Face Your Fears and Cut The Ears!

 

Hey, that rhymes!

Edited May 29, 2019 by wingnut65
Update photo links