fragarock's RS Stunt build - Not to scale

[fragarock[TK]]

!!EDIT!!

 

Hi, I decided I should make this build thread a bit easier to navigate for those of you who need to trim down your kit to fit your smaller size.

So below you'll find links to sections within this thread dealing with specific parts of the kit and how I modified them to fit me. Here are a few links that you should also reference when modifying armor for smaller frames.

 

Christine's Build (Cricket)

Diana's Build (AsBlondeAsLuke)

 

1. BBB day. Parts layout.

2. Left forearm trimming.

3. Left forearm assembly and scoop.

4. Right forearm trimming.

5. Right forearm assembly.

6. Left bicep trimming and assembly.

7. Right bicep trimming and assembly.

8. Shoulder bell trimming.

9. Ab trimming.

10. Butt trimming, kidney trimming, and chest trimming/reshaping.

11. Chest bottom trimming and new return edge.

12. Shoulder bridge trimming and bracket troubles.

13. Ab-to-chest bracket installation.

14. Ab top trimming, sewing elastic loops, back-to-chest connection, and kidney trimming.

15. Thermal detonator trimming and assembly.

16. Kidney notch re-forming, cod rivet install, ab-to-chest left-side connection, and thermal detonator adjustment.

17. Belt ammo pack trimming and assembly, drop box assembly, and holster attachment.

18. Fixing ab-to-kidney alignment, right ab snap and stabilizer, shoulder strapping, bicep hooks, shin trimming.

19. Ab control panel button painting.

20. Sniper plate trimming.

21. Sniper plate assembly.

22. Shin assembly and magnetic closures.

23. Ab control panel button assembly and cod trimming.

24. Thigh trimming and assembly.

25. Rubber vs. Nomex gloves.

26. Making the ANH thigh notch and thigh ammo pack trimming and assembly.

27. Garter belt and thigh support straps.

28. Additional thigh and butt trimming.

29. Helmet trimming, brow trim install, front-to-back riveting, and ear trimming.

30. Helmet painting.

31. Helmet lens installation and electronics.

32. Fully completed TK.

33. EIB Submission.

34. Helmet, shoulder, and ab control button modifications for Centurion.

35. Centurion additional modifications.

36. Centurion Application.

 

 

Well this is the beginning of my RS stunt build thread for 5'-5" tall boys and girls. No, that's not right, it's more like the warm up.

 

I'm collecting tools, parts, and pouring over a few really good builds such as Diana's and Cricket's hoping to get myself ready once armor arrives.

 

For the past two weeks boxes have been arriving on my front porch while my wife wonders exactly how big a nerd she's married. Wait until she sees the BBB. So, while getting various parts delivered has me excited to really dive into this project, let's face it, you can't get too psyched over cut resistant gloves and new dremel bits....although the dremel bits are pretty sweet.

 

So, what did I do? I ordered my elite E-11 from HFX. After a bunch of email glitches, all the gears in the universe finally aligned and I was able to talk with Lewis over there and he got to work crafting this beauty. I compulsively checked the tracking of the package as it made its way across the country to my front door. The day it arrived I was so excited to see what was in the box...."what's in the box?"

 

The joy I had unwrapping that blaster and holding it was really surprising. Took me back to being a kid. My 5-year old son loved it too. First thing we did was have a light saber vs. blaster fight in the play room. Even my wife thought it was pretty cool which I hope will continue once the real build process starts.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has experience modifying these? I'd like to drill out the scope and insert real lenses or replace that part entirely. That's the one modification that would really improve what is already a very nice product. Here are a couple shots of it for reference (assuming I attached them properly).

 

Side topic....what it the best way to upload pics? Is there a preferred size? 

 

 

Well that's it for now. I look forward to tapping into the incredible amount of knowledge and talent from you all.

Edited June 26, 2017 by fragarock

[TKfett]

Cool! Looking forward to this!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

You can certainly use a drill on this type of material, Frank, but you need to be really careful so as not to destroy the scope in the process.  I have done several mods to my Hyperfirm T-21, including drilling out the end of the barrel and inserting a 2 inch long piece of 1 1/2 inch wide PVC pipe for realism.  (I didn't like the fact that it was flat).

As for the lenses, this is what I used for my resin build E-11:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-32X21-Mini-Monocular-Scope-Telescope-Adjustable-Hunting-Camping-Silver-EM-01-/310982110832?hash=item4867fa6e70:g:MUcAAOSwXj5XFuJL You will have to disassemble it, but the lenses themselves fit perfectly.  The following is how I would do it, but there may be someone out there who has better info.

A few pointers, though...  When drilling them out, always start with a bit that is about half the size of the hole diameter you need, and work your way up to the correct one.  Make sure it is centered perfectly.

You will have to use a "spade" bit for the larger hole.  Start with a regular bit first, and work your way up.  Take your time on this...

When attaching the lenses, you may have to use the material's natural texture to hold them in place... sort of a "compression" fitting.  Do NOT use super glue.  The reason being is that if any of the glue gets inside behind the lens, the chemicals it contains will fog the lens permanently.  Trust me on this one.

If you decide to go this route, you should definitely post photos of the process.

[SheaJeff[TK]]

What are the sizes of the lenses? Will they fit exactly in the Hyperfirm?

[fragarock[TK]]

Looking at the monocular that justjosep63 was referencing it appears the large end is 20mm and the small end is 12 mm which is 2mm bigger then it's supposed to be. Although I'm not entirely sure if the measurement is the lens or the outer ring of the lens that would have to be inserted into the scope.

 

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[fragarock[TK]]

You can certainly use a drill on this type of material, Frank, but you need to be really careful so as not to destroy the scope in the process. I have done several mods to my Hyperfirm T-21, including drilling out the end of the barrel and inserting a 2 inch long piece of 1 1/2 inch wide PVC pipe for realism. (I didn't like the fact that it was flat).

As for the lenses, this is what I used for my resin build E-11: http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-32X21-Mini-Monocular-Scope-Telescope-Adjustable-Hunting-Camping-Silver-EM-01-/310982110832?hash=item4867fa6e70:g:MUcAAOSwXj5XFuJL You will have to disassemble it, but the lenses themselves fit perfectly. The following is how I would do it, but there may be someone out there who has better info.

A few pointers, though... When drilling them out, always start with a bit that is about half the size of the hole diameter you need, and work your way up to the correct one. Make sure it is centered perfectly.

You will have to use a "spade" bit for the larger hole. Start with a regular bit first, and work your way up. Take your time on this...

When attaching the lenses, you may have to use the material's natural texture to hold them in place... sort of a "compression" fitting. Do NOT use super glue. The reason being is that if any of the glue gets inside behind the lens, the chemicals it contains will fog the lens permanently. Trust me on this one.

If you decide to go this route, you should definitely post photos of the process.

Did you drill all the way thru the scope, front-to-back, or just route out enough material on each end to insert the front and rear lenses?

 

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[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Like I mentioned, I have not done it on a Hyperfirm E-11, only on a Doopydoos resin build.  On that, I did go all the way through following Tim's (Dark CMF) build, but I wouldn't recommend doing that on a HF one.  You should probably drill out just enough (or maybe a little deeper) to fit them in. 

[fragarock[TK]]

Just got my sweet TK boots. DYNOMITE!!

I'm gonna have to mention the great customer service they provided. My original order was shipped to my old address in Sacramento....never to be seen again, as I haven't lived there in three years. Totally my fault too. The folks over at TK Boots tried to get the boots back from the shipper but this proved a dead end. So I asked them to place a new order for me, this time sent to my correct address. They totally sent me a new pair of boots, no charge. That's really awesome and unexpected. Thanks TK Boots!

 

 

Is it wrong that I'm wearing the right now...with my running shorts?

[Cricket[TK]]

 

 

Is it wrong that I'm wearing the right now...with my running shorts?

 

 

Pics or it didn't happen.  

 

And such awesome customer service from TK Boots!  Wow!  

 

 

[fragarock[TK]]

Anyone else waiting on their armor from RS Prop Masters?

About a month ago I was told the order would be delayed due to a bad shipment of ABS they received. Haven't had a response to emails in several days. Getting a little concerned.

 

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[Chopper857[TK]]

i was told the same thing a few weeks backs got offered a switch to PVC if didn't want to wait, but held on and fortunately my armor  kit bundle turned up last week so assume the abs is now in but i am UK based 

[fragarock[TK]]

i was told the same thing a few weeks backs got offered a switch to PVC if didn't want to wait, but held on and fortunately my armor kit bundle turned up last week so assume the abs is now in but i am UK based

I finally heard from them and my order should arrive on Monday. Guess they were busy catching up with all the ABS orders that couldn't be pulled earlier.

 

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[Chopper857[TK]]

I finally heard from them and my order should arrive on Monday. Guess they were busy catching up with all the ABS orders that couldn't be pulled earlier.

 

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Nice we will have to stay in touch and swap build notes just started to rough out mine, slow and steady  like

[fragarock[TK]]

I finally heard from them and my order should arrive on Monday. Guess they were busy catching up with all the ABS orders that couldn't be pulled earlier.

 

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Nice we will have to stay in touch and swap build notes just started to rough out mine, slow and steady like

So I noticed a dent on the bottom of the front bucket section during unpacking. Does yours have this too? I'm wondering if it's a manufacturing error or something that's part of the casting.

It's under the right side vocoder on the bottom/side.

 

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[fragarock[TK]]

The BBB from RS Prop Masters arrived last night. After cleaning up from dinner, packing lunches, and getting the kids to bed I cracked this sucker open and laid out the pieces in their full glory. I started to freak a little looking at all the pieces because I now know how much work is involved here. Baby steps is what I have to keep telling myself.

 

The pieces look good and seem to have survived the shipping. I'm surprised by the lumpiness of parts of the bucket. Some areas are perfectly smooth while others are a bit lumpy. Cricket mentioned this in her thread but I didn't really understand until I saw it in person.

 

One are has me concerned. There's a dent on the bottom of the bucket face piece which appears to have been formed when the piece was pulled. Anyone else with an RS kit have this dent? I'm wondering if it's supposed to be there, damaged part, or fabrication glitch. Do I need to order a new piece from RS? See the picture below.

 

I also got the strapping kit which has the rivets and bra hooks already attached. This should help as I can't sew....yet! I figure I'll decide which parts to use or swap our for alternate straps as i work thru the process.

 

Here are some reference shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the dent picture.

[Cricket[TK]]

One are has me concerned. There's a dent on the bottom of the bucket face piece which appears to have been formed when the piece was pulled. Anyone else with an RS kit have this dent? I'm wondering if it's supposed to be there, damaged part, or fabrication glitch. Do I need to order a new piece from RS? See the picture below.

...

 

 

Hey Frank, 

 

I haven't really examined my face plate until you mentioned this, so I pulled it out of my box.  Well, whaddya know....  denty here too!

 

 

Have you emailed Rob about this?  Mine is paper thin in this area as well.  I'm guessing that a hot water bath might help to ease things out.  I've been too busy tackling the rest of my kit to tend to this issue yet.  

 

And heads up: if yours is as thin as mine is, you're absolutely going to need to reinforce the mic tip areas.

[Racermouse[TK]]

I had that dent as well.

That's the way it comes.

Move along.

[fragarock[TK]]

Hey Frank,

 

I haven't really examined my face plate until you mentioned this, so I pulled it out of my box. Well, whaddya know.... denty here too!

 

 

Have you emailed Rob about this? Mine is paper thin in this area as well. I'm guessing that a hot water bath might help to ease things out. I've been too busy tackling the rest of my kit to tend to this issue yet.

 

And heads up: if yours is as thin as mine is, you're absolutely going to need to reinforce the mic tip areas.

I emailed him. Figure I'll hear sometime tomorrow.

 

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[Chopper857[TK]]

So I noticed a dent on the bottom of the front bucket section during unpacking. Does yours have this too? I'm wondering if it's a manufacturing error or something that's part of the casting.

It's under the right side vocoder on the bottom/side.

 

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hi ya , afraid i have a avonos bucket but that dent looks consistent with all the other threads i've been looking at and the rs reference shots in the gallery 

[fragarock[TK]]

Hi,

 

I started with the left forearm. Had to look back thru my notes to remember which one was left, its' the one with 11 indents, not 12. Also I noticed in the RS kit the left forearm is significantly slimmer (not as wide) as the right one.

 

My kit was very roughly trimmed. There are no guide marks on the pieces so I had to look at the photo reference library to know where to start and check my notes on cover strips. Forearm cover strips are 15mm wide, so I started there. The front side of the forearm (side facing out in front of you with your arm down at your side) has a raised edge where the cover strip goes. First thing I did was to trim off the excess plastic to get down to 7.5 mm on both the inner and outer forearm piece. Keep in mind this is on the front part of the pieces.

 

In this photo you see the inside of the forearm. Top part is where the elbow goes, bottom is for the wrist. As you can see there's a raised edge but it's way wider that the 15mm cover strip that needs to go here. So, I trimmed it down leaving only 7.5mm. You kind of have to eyeball this and pick a spot where the narrowest point of that raised area will still be 7.5mm after you cut. I cut this by clamping a small steel ruler along the line I drew and securing it down to the edge of my work bench. Then I scored it about 7 times with an xacto until the piece was trimmed. Scoring it a few times and snapping it works too, you just have to push really hard on those few score attempts.

 

 

Next I did the same for the outer piece.

 

 

Once those were cut I then worked on the wrist end. First I trimmed off the return edges on both pieces as they are not required and for advanced approval need to be removed. I taped the two pieces together and fit it over my forearm to judge if the length was correct. Based on the reference photos the length seems to go from the wrist all the way to the elbow. Of course there's some variation on this but most of the forearm photos showed the piece covering the entire forearm. Since I'm smaller, I decided to trim off about 1/2" off the wrist side of both pieces to get the length correct. I could have trimmed more but didn't want to cut into the dimples at the bottom of the wrist. I used the lexon scissors for this trimming along curved parts of the armor.

 

 

Here's the view from the inner side.

 

 

And from the outer side.

 

 

I forgot to take pictures of the top return edges near the elbow. These need serious trimming out-of-the-box. I trimmed a lot off, leaving about 1/4" of return edge. I believe you can trim all this off if needed (to make more room if you have really big arms). I didn't need to do that.

 

Next was time to adjust the overall diameter of the piece. With the front side taped together (back side untaped) I fit it back over my arm and adjusted the diameter to a point where I had about 1/2" from my skin to the inside face of the armor. Elbow end needed a small amount of material removed while wrist end needed more. To start I trimmed off about 1/2" from each side. Note that this trimming is done where the pieces meet up on the inside of the armor (not the dimpled side that faces out). Once I got this material removed I stuck it back on my arm and this time needed no adjustment at the elbow but needed about another 2" out of the wrist. So, the idea is to take 1/2 the material out of each piece, that way the outer joint and inner joint remain symmetrical and opposite each other. You'll see in the photo how I trimmed this with an angled line flaring out at the wrist end where more material was to be removed. I basically followed Ukswrath's pinned thread.

 

 

Here's what I looks like taped together. You're seeing the back side joint here. The wrist end is aligned but the top elbow sides don't quite meet up correctly. Can this be left or does it need to be trimmed so they are even? If so I presume I need to then cut away the return edges all around the elbow. Suggestions??

 

 

Another thing I noticed was on other armors, there is a swoop cut into the inside of the elbow. Weird thing is, it's not even on the top of the forearm which would be helpful if you curled your forearm up to your bicep. It's more on the inside which seems useless. What is the point of this and is it required? The RS armor doesn't have this.

[Chopper857[TK]]

Alright Frank, had the same issue/dilemma myself, got this picture from the boys at RS seems they add a sweep to the left hand side on there in house builds , I'm going to put the right side together and template off of that. do not think this has any sign off issues with going for the higher levels i think, need someone wiser than me to confirm that though ???

 

[R2Dan[TK]]

That dent in the faceplate is there on the original helmet RS cast and as with every part, they did as minimal clean up as possible.

I know they had a faceplate mould with the dents filled in at some point, not sure if that is still an Option though

[AsBlondeAsLuke[TK]]

Wow!  Nice progress.  I am enjoying following your build.  At the time I posted my thread, there were not a lot of smaller troopers out there.  Now we have an entire community on FaceBook with almost 400 members and merchandise, clothing and patches just for us troopers who are guaranteed to get the line "Aren't You a Little Short for a Stormtrooper?" about six or seven times a troop.  My little armor has held up beautifully and I've trooped in at least 50 times.  I repair it on a regular basis with Zap-A-Gap and sludge, but I am still out there several times a month representing the 5'6" and under crowd.

I had those dents, too.  It didn't affect the final look.  

 

I was so afraid of how "thin" the helmet was that I didn't build it for six months.  I was approved with a different helmet.  However, my RS helmet has stood up beautifully and I am not easy on my gear.  It has travelled everywhere with me and stood up to more than one rough troop with swarming kids or sports fans who've had a bit too much to drink.  I shimmed in the places it looked like it might crack, and I quickly repair my gear as soon as I see signs of wear and tear.

Oh, and while it took me over a year to do it, I did "cut the cod" to get a better fit for my shorter frame.  It made a difference in the look and fit.  (And, now I can actually sit down in the armor, although I wouldn't recommend doing this too much since it can put stress on the butt plate.)

[fragarock[TK]]

Wow! Nice progress. I am enjoying following your build. At the time I posted my thread, there were not a lot of smaller troopers out there. Now we have an entire community on FaceBook with almost 400 members and merchandise, clothing and patches just for us troopers who are guaranteed to get the line "Aren't You a Little Short for a Stormtrooper?" about six or seven times a troop. My little armor has held up beautifully and I've trooped in at least 50 times. I repair it on a regular basis with Zap-A-Gap and sludge, but I am still out there several times a month representing the 5'6" and under crowd.

 

I had those dents, too. It didn't affect the final look.

 

I was so afraid of how "thin" the helmet was that I didn't build it for six months. I was approved with a different helmet. However, my RS helmet has stood up beautifully and I am not easy on my gear. It has travelled everywhere with me and stood up to more than one rough troop with swarming kids or sports fans who've had a bit too much to drink. I shimmed in the places it looked like it might crack, and I quickly repair my gear as soon as I see signs of wear and tear.

 

Oh, and while it took me over a year to do it, I did "cut the cod" to get a better fit for my shorter frame. It made a difference in the look and fit. (And, now I can actually sit down in the armor, although I wouldn't recommend doing this too much since it can put stress on the butt plate.)

Thanks. Yours was the first build I saw on the FISD and convinced me that it was possible to trim the armor down. Glad to have any input you can share, especially on some of the esoteric cutting and trimming requirements (like the scoop out of the forearms).

 

You mentioned a FB page. What's the name of the page? I'd love to look it up.

 

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[CRISTONAMO]

Just remember thin plastic is better, its more flexible and can take the same beating as thicker.