CptCasey's ANH Stunt Build Thread [MTK]

[CptCasey[TK]]

I've been wanting to build own TK and join the 501st for many years now. The combination of having a movie accurate stormtrooper armor and doing charity events has been the driving force behind this. So I finally broke down and ordered MTK kit. For my personal preferences, he had the right combination of price, availability, look, and size. Well the BBB arrived today so my journey begins. 

 

BBB Picture

 

 

 

So completed the check list to make sure everything was there. Going to have to research a bit more to determine left from. 

 

 

 

Before i started trimming, i wanted some practice with various cutting techniques. So since I won't really be using abs hand guards, I decided to mangle...I mean trim them to get a feel of various techniques. I did score and snap (which went well), cutting with lexan scissors (which i liked but might not be ideal for longer cuts) and cutting with aviation snips (which just seemed to chew things up). Had fun working on this while watching the home run derby. Here is my finished results. Didn't bother to sand them, just cleaned up a bit with the razor blade. 

 

I plan to document my build on here to help others, just like all the other build pages have helped me during my research. Help and constructive criticism are always welcomed. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

BBB photos, there's nothing better, good luck with the build

[68Brick[TK]]

Congrats on BBB day! You'll be covered in ABS shavings and dust in no time!

Edited July 12, 2016 by 68Brick

[pewpewpew[TK]]

The tin snips will leave a jagged edge on your armor because they have serrated blades, but I've found if I cut a tiny bit back from my intended mark, then give it a sanding, then the marks come right out.  Something to keep in mind as you'll probably be sanding all your edges anyway.

 

Oh, and congrats on BBB day.  It's a good day indeed.

[TD42115[501st]]

Congrats, BBB day, exciting, great choice in armor. 

Edited July 12, 2016 by TD42115

[CptCasey[TK]]

Status update and question.

 

So yesterday I was able to start cutting away the flashing. I should be able to finish that up tonight. Before I start cutting on my lid, I want to plastidip the inside. I figured it would be just as easy to trim with the inside plastidiped. I'm going to plastidip it to give the lid a little more structure and I think it looks cool.

 

But the question is if I should add cheesecloth for more structure or would just a couple of coats of plastidip give enough structure. The lid seems pretty study to me, The ABS seems plenty thick except a little thin where the mic tips go, but I understand that's an issue with most helmets. 

 

More updates to come. BTW. I didn't put this on my first post, but I'm wanting to build this to Centurion. I'm also going to focus on a more modular strapping system than screen accurate. At least for this TK. Already day dreaming of a what else I want to build after this TK is complete(ish).

[68Brick[TK]]

Adding cheesecloth it a personal decision. Some add it. Most don't. The buckets are pretty solid once they are put together, but if you want some extra rigidity, go for it. Reinforcing the mic tips area is a good idea, as the ABS is thin there, and it will see a lot of force there through the mic tip stud/mounting.

 

Go for Centurion, the small extra effort & research is worth it; there is a noticeable (looks way better) difference between basic approval and a Cent. build.

[TK69581[TK]]

I didn't do anything to the inside of my helmet and its plenty sturdy. To me that's just more weight on my cranium that I don't need, specially when it's hot out.

[CptCasey[TK]]

Ok. I haven't posted in over a month. Life has been really busy and haven't worked a lot on the armor. So far I have trimmed all the excess flashing and started work on the forearms and biceps. Looks like I got normal biceps and forearms. 15cm cover strips are going to be perfect. I'm gluing inside cover strips to add a little stability to the butt joints. Using E6000 for everything. I also bought a huge sheet of ABS from amazon for the cheap. Going to have so much left over.

 

Here are pics of the process.

 

Bicep cover strips

 

 

 

And forearms almost done.

 

 

 

On a side note. I've decided to make a snap strapping system instead of brackets. Thinking of doing double nylon strap plates vs ABS snap plates unless someone has a good reason not to do nylon? From what I've been reading, people prefer nylon over elastic for the actual straps as well. Well I'm about to buy some 2 inch nylon webbing and I see two different grades. Heavy and Light. So which one will work best? Price is only a couple dollars difference.

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[Trogdor[TK]]

I had some cheap 1" stuff around the house that worked ok for the snap plates. Justjoseph gave me some seatbelt material that's much nicer for the straps. So I'm confident saying both will work.

[CptCasey[TK]]

The only bad thing about buying from Amazon is you can't feel samples. Might have to make a trip to Hobby Lobby/Joann's this weekend and see the difference between heavy and light. 

I also forgot to share a few more things.

 

One is that I got a tear while trimming one of the thighs. I was tired and was in a hurry. My own fault. I think just reinforcing the back and a little ABS paste should fix it right up.

 

 

Also I got my boots in from TK Boots! They are really nice and fit perfect. We had a little problem with the boots but they quickly resolved it. Amazing customer service. I can't recommend them enough.

 

 

 

I also got one of the Disney E-11 Blasters. I figured since the parks aren't selling them anymore they will prolly become hard to find. I plan to get a DLT-19 for my EIB and Centurion but this fun blaster goes Pew! Pew! Pew!

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[CptCasey[TK]]

This weekend I closed up forearms and biceps and made cover strips. I found the best way to to make cover strips was to mark my width on each end of the sheet of abs and then clamp a ruler to it to make straight cuts. Then i just mark the length i need against the side of the armor. I then added angle cuts to the end and sanded to make sure i had no rough edges. Glued with E6000 and secured with clamps and magnets. Super easy. 

 

Getting ready to cut cover strips

 

 

 

Finished forarms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bicep cover strips are drying right now. I've made some ABS paste in a mason jar. Going to fill in some gaps between the return edges. Everything looking good so far? I think it looks good minus some sanding and filling the gaps.

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[CptCasey[TK]]

Progress for today: Glue is dried on biceps. They look good to me. Made ABS paste last night in a mason jar by chopping up small pieces of abs and just a little acetone. Stirred it several times during the night. Today it was a thin putty consistency. It was perfect to use. I covered the gaps int the return edges on my forearms and biceps. Tomorrow I will start the sanding process on forearms, biceps and shoulders. Also tomorrow I will start making snap plates for all the torso strapping. I have a feeling that my wife won't appreciate me burning nylon and hammering snaps in place. I did buy a pair of Dritz 24P Snap Pliers. Going to see how well those work on Tandy Line 24 snaps.

 

 

So here are pics of the biceps with cover strips and unsanded abs paste

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[bowski477]

Looking good!

[CptCasey[TK]]

Worked on two things yesterday.

First was sanding the forearms, biceps, and shoulder bells. What difference sanding makes! I'm starting off with 400 grit sand paper, but plan to do 800 and 1000. I may have to resize my forearms after this cause they are going to be so buff. I had originally used my belt sander and dremel to shape the return edges and what not but wasn't happy with how unfinished they looked. Now I need to figure out how to get a hand sanded finish easier. Reading through the forum I never really saw many people emphasize sanding or even talk about it at all. The several day I plan on finishing up sanding all the arm bits.

Second thing was to start making snap plates. I ended up getting a roll of 2 inch light nylon webbing. It looks like it will be plenty strong without being too rigid. I took out my ruler and cut every two inches to give me a 2 inch square. So instead of using a soldering iron or bic lighter I used my creme brulee torch. Just ran the edge of the nylon down close to the outside blue of the flame. It sealed perfect without getting to much of those black pools of melted nylon. Made a total of 20 plates. Over the next few days I plan on putting holes in and hammering snaps. I plan on doing double snaps in most places just because I have a tendency to over engineer things.

 

Well that's the update for today. I'll post pictures once i'm done sanding and making snap plates. I hope to do a lot of work during this long weekend, but you never know what other chores will pop up by this weekend. 

[silverdollar22[TK]]

Awesome   Looking great!  I also went with the double snap method, if one pops then the other will save the day. 

[eqdizzle[TK]]

70th Member stopping in to say hi and follow!  Looks good!

[CptCasey[TK]]

Here is the after picture of my sanding job on my forearms. Sanding is defentily going to take the longest amount of time in the whole build, but I think it will be worth it. I've finished sanding all the arms, back pieces, and helmet. Just need chest/abs and then I'll start some assembly. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[CptCasey[TK]]

Finished up the snap plates. I measured where the holes should go on the nylon and made a template on a piece of wood and drilled out some large holes. Then layed the 2x2 piece of nylon that I had already made and used the soldiering iron to make the holes. After all the holes where made I made a couple test snaps using the pliers. Pliers worked great for the bottom pieces (non-domed part) but didn't work for the top part of the snap. Verdict on snap pliers on Tandy Line 24 snaps....50/50 but still worth it and make it easier. 

 

Here is my set up for making snaps plates.

 

 

 

Here is my test plate with with pliers. Works really well.

 

 

 

Here is the the tops to the snap plate. The top row is done with pliers...and yes I followed the directions on the instruction manual. The prongs the get splayed out take up too much room and don'e allow for a male end to fully insert. The second row is done with tandy anvil/setter and a hammer. More work but it actually snaps. and looks better too. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[CptCasey[TK]]

Last thing I've done over the past week was reinforce the mic tip area of the helmet. It seemed a little on the thin side, and I know that's usually just part of the vacuum forming process. So to strengthen it up, I cut a little piece of FibaTape (drywall tape that has loose mesh pattern) and place it over areas that need reinforcing. I then took a popsicle stick and some Shoe Goo and essentially packed the Shoe Goo over the tape and into the mesh. The end result is flexible and strong reinforced backing. This is done a bit in RC car bodies. (I don't do RC cars, but I went down a google rabbit hole that led me to this technique). Helmet is finished sanding (obviously not finished in the pic). Now to plasti-dip it. Gotta go get some silly first. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[CptCasey[TK]]

Question: I have the snaps with Tandy stamped onto the snaps. Since I'm aiming for centurion, do I need need to get different snaps for the posterior and the abs that don't have writing on them? Source for good quality snaps like that in the US?

 

Family in town this week, so I didn't get a lot done. 

Glued the latex handguards to the rubber gloves. The Loctite Plastic Bonding System worked really well. Sanded the back of the guards and the gloves a little bit to at a little texture and cleaned with alcohol. Used the pen on both surfaces and then added glue the guards and attached. They set almost instantly. After a day of curing they seem to hold strong.

 

 

Also taped  up my bucket for platidip. Bought some white oven bake modeling clay for $1 at Walmart to put in the teeth. Plastidip is still curing, but I think it went well. Plan on cleaning up any overspray with isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits.

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[68Brick[TK]]

Looking Good Trooper.

[CptCasey[TK]]

I found the answer to my question. Looking through many centurion applications, it looks like you can use stamped tandy snaps. But also looking through the applications, I realized that I don't want to have the tandy logo on my snaps that are visible. So first i'm going to go to tandy leather and see if i can find some snaps that aren't stamped. If that fails I will buy some off of ebay. 

So next question. Helmet. How does this look? Alignment look good? Teeth and Brow look good? I want to go ahead and assemble this but want to wait feedback before I start drilling holes. I think i'm most nervous about this part...so far. 

 

 

 

Also got my package from Darman. Zippered neck seal and 8oz holster. Looks and fits great. (Don't mind the disney e-11...I still need to get an accurate blaster.)

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey
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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Following! 

[CptCasey[TK]]

So I got some much appreciated advise on the helmet. I squared up the corners of the teeth and brought the brown down a little more. Next weekend I think I'll paint and work on the ears. Also, when looking at the photo, the teeth look concave, but it's just the angle and they are actually straight if you look at them straight on. 

 

 

 

Also this weekend I work on the torso. Everything is all nice and smooth. Put two snaps on the butt. One about 5/8 in from the tip of the cod and the other about 1 1/8 in. Used a center punch to start the hole. Highly recommend using one before drilling. Helps to prevent the bit from walking.  Tried connecting everything with nylon and didn't like the way it looked. Couldn't get the nylon length right. So I decided to use elastic instead. So far so good. I still need to finish a few snap plates and make sure I can fit without shimming before I work on the side split rivets.

 

With the anterior half I glued on snap plates, put in cod split rivet about an inch in from the tip of the cod, the right side snap at 20 mm in and 20 mm down from the top right corner, and drilled holes for the left side split rivets. First hole 10 mm in and 20 mm down from the top left. The second was 10 mm in and 10mm up from the line where the ab and cod pieces meet. . The middle rivet was half the distance of the previous two and 10 mm in. That's all I got done this weekend, but I'm at the point where I feel like this suit is finally coming together into something tangible. My goal is to be mostly done by halloween, but as long as I'm done before Rogue One I'll be happy.

Edited January 16, 2022 by CptCasey