Cookie Monster's Jimmiroquai FOTK

[JAFO[TK]]

Great going Vince! Do you think an extra two screws included in the kit would be beneficial?

[Cookie Nomster]

Great going Vince! Do you think an extra two screws included in the kit would be beneficial?

 

Well, it would certainly be beneficial from the perspective of holding the rearward facing portion of the belt together.  However, I don't know if the CRL allows this.  

[Cookie Nomster]

It's been 10 days since my last post...haven't gotten to do too much in that timeframe, but I'm getting very close to wrapping up my work on the armor!  Finally feeling like the end is in sight.  

 

So, I've had some good things and bad things go on.  I'll just continue chronologically, as I have been.  

 

I continued with work on my mitcheg1 lid.  You'll recall it needed some re-work, and it still does, but I'm going to leave that until after I get approved.  The issues with it will not stop approval (I don't think).  Below, final coats of clear on the bucket for the freshly repainted beak.  

 

 

 

As you can see, the lenses are not in yet, nor is the aerator.  Now, fast forward 9 days, and I finally installed the lenses, aerator, and clips.  Everything was attached with CA glue.  I will probably go back and add some E6000 or something like that on the inside of the helmet to better secure the lenses a litte, possibly even with a heat gun to get a slightly better fit.  Here are some pictures of the finished exterior.  Helmet pads are the final step, which should only take me about 15 minutes to install.  Fans and other accessories will come later, after I submit 501st application.

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty happy how this thing turned out...it looks pretty sweet!  I put it on a couple times for my kids and they were loving it.  

 

Moving along, I had a mishap with my chest plate again.  I was putting the upper armor on to try out my new attachment methodology as detailed in my last major post.  And then I dropped it.  And craccckkkk!  The paint and clearcoat was splintered - interestingly, in the same spots that I previously had trouble and had done paint repair.  So, there are a couple takeaways here:

 

• It has become painfully obvious that this armor does not like Rustoleum Gloss ClearCoat.  It doesn't seem to flex with the armor, though my paint selection DOES seem to flex some, which is good news.  
• Do not half-an impolite person paint repairs

Based on the damage, my observations lead me to believe that I didn't do a sufficient job of sanding off the previous layers when I repaired the previous chest-plate mishap.  I think I had layers of paint on top of some clear, followed by clear on top of that.  And that didn't work out so well.  The solution this time around was to sand the heck out of it and make sure I got all the clear off, and in the cracked areas down to the resin.  I do not intend to re-clearcoat the chest plate armor...too much flex - or if I do, it'll be one coat that goes on immediately following a fresh coat of white paint.  Anyway, last night I sanded this thing down and laid down a fresh coat of white today.  Thank goodness we're scheduled to have two more days of randomly nice weather - which should allow me to get in two solid coats so I can get my submission pictures done.  

 

 

 

I will have to redo my gaffers tape on the inside, but that shouldn't be a big deal.  I'm also happy to report that I did try on the chest plate after I dropped it, and found solace in the fact that the mounting seems much more solid with three snaps.  It is a pain to get it on though, might need help.  

 

Finally, two nights ago I worked on getting the clips onto my armor.  I used CA glue...hope everything sticks.  

 

 

Nevermind the rough-looking yoke...that's leftover from my removal of the velcro.  The rough parts are not visible externally, they're covered by chest plate.  

 

 

Only four tasks remain:

• Shock-rope for knee caps (partially done)
• Spats (also need to glue the clip on to it)
• Helmet pads
• Chest-plate paint

[Cookie Nomster]

Alright, I think we're about home!  A couple of exciting updates today.

 

Per my previous post, four things left to do.  I installed MICH helmet pads into my helmet two days ago.  Installation was easy, however I will need more padding in order for the helmet to not wiggle around on my head too much.  Planning to go to WalMart first, followed possibly by a trip to Michaels depending on what WalMart has.  Thinking about supplementing the padding with some bike helmet pads.  I'll add some pictures of the interior of the bucket when I get it fit better to my head.  For now, I can at least put it on and it looks cool.  

 

Chest plate painting completed successfully without any major issue.  I did not add clear-coat, so hopefully it holds up over time.  Pics later in this thread.  

 

I implemented the knee shock-cord solution.  The idea of using christmas-light hooks is not new, we saw steamboatphan do it in his thread.  The difference with my implementation is that I used two hooks, and my shock cord is looped on each side so that I can easily hook and unhook it.  

 

 

Looping it around the front of the knee plate just so the cord is out of the way for storage, but it would obviously loop around behind my leg

 

Spats were next.  I actually suited up in full armor before implementing my spat solution because I couldn't wait to see what everything looked like with chest plate.  But I'll leave those pictures for last.  There's been alot of discussion on the Jimmi Facebook group about how to do spats, and everyone seems to do them differently.  The method I'm going to try first is velcro and a white stretch-strap that also uses velcro to pull the cut together on the inside.  The CRL states that a visible seam exists on the inside-facing portion of the spat, so I'm not worried as long as the spat comes together, which is a tough ask because they barely fit around the bottom part of the leg.  

 

There's also a piece on the rear of the calf-armor

 

Inside of spat, with velcro and stretch-bungee solution

 

Attached to lower leg

 

Clip glued on to spat

 

Now the fun stuff.  Basically, the armor itself it done.  I suited up today (and I need help to do it unfortunately), and the wife took a couple pictures.  Keep in mind the spats were not even started when these pictures were taken (I finished that part later in the day).  

 

 

 

 

My butt-plate was a little crooked when I put the belt on, but it should sit straight normally

 

 

 

I intend to take my application pictures tomorrow, and fill out the 501st application online!  

 

There is still some work to do on the build...for example, installing helmet fans into the bucket, possibly voice assist and speaker-voice.  I also plan to put LEDs into my blaster.  Stay tuned for those updates.  Let me know what you think!

[SkulShurtugalTCG[501st]]

I found out very quickly that it's impossible to put this armor on by yourself. By impossible, I mean LITERALLY impossible. I can only ever troop in mine when I have my wife around to help put it on.

 

That being said, you have done an excellent job with yours! You definitely put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this build. It's one of the most documented ones here on the forums and I think you'll help a LOT of upcoming FOTKs with their builds with your pictures and comments of the process!

 

All in all, you've made a suit you should be VERY proud of, and from what I can see nothing sticks out as needing fixed. Should be an easy approval (once you get that butt straightened out). Thanks for sharing your journey with us; it's been a wild ride!

[Cookie Nomster]

Thanks for the comment.,..definitely alot of blood, sweat and tears in this build.  I reached out to GMLs and submitted my 501st app earlier this week.  Haven't heard back yet.  Wanted to update with some of my approval pictures sent to the GML (this is not all of them).  

 

These versions have been cropped, whereas the ones submitted to GML were 100% raw.  

[Dynamic1[501st]]

finished up beautiful!!! Great work buddy

[Garrett Steele]

Great job on the build

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Beautiful work Vince.

[Cookie Nomster]

Approved! TK-33113 reporting for duty!

[JAFO[TK]]

Well done Vince! Great to get approved - your detailed work made it easy for them

Edited December 8, 2016 by JAFO

[ukswrath[Staff]]

YESSSSS!!!!    :happy and cheerful birthday: 

[SkulShurtugalTCG[501st]]

Congratulations on your approval!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations trooper

[steamboatphan]

great work vince! nailed it!

 

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