Cricket's WTF Hero Build (even more TK for the Vertically Challenged)

[Cricket[TK]]

Continuing progress on the magnetic shins...

 

Once the glue had cured on the hole strips inside the shins, I removed the magnets and clamps.  With a light behind the shins, you can see how the hole strips are mounted, hidden inside.

 

 

Using that light as my guide, I traced the approximate location of the holes with a pencil.  This helps me to get a good idea of where my holes are going to be drilled.  Yep.  I'm going to make some Swiss cheese of my shins.  

 

Using a small Dremel sanding band, I carefully cut a notch out, just large enough for a magnet to fit through.  Here's what it looks like at this stage when the shins are closed.

 

I'm just focusing on drilling out the holes on the inside edge, following the holes of the hole strip that was glued in.  I'm not ready to drill the outer half of the shins yet.

 

 

Next to clean up my buttons that will hold my magnets.  I rough trimmed them all to start.

 

 

Then cleaned up the corners with a Dremel.  I don't want anything poking at my legs!

 

 

*Important!* If you want to make sure your magnets stay stuck on your shins, you must use e6000!  CA glue will not keep the magnets stuck to the buttons; they will fail.  I have heard this from several troopers when I have been contacted about their magnets not holding up.  I repeat, use e6000 for this next step!  

 

I applied a liberal amount of e6000 to the inside of each button, then put the magnet inside to get all cozy.  Make sure that you've got the polarity of all the magnets in the same orientation before gluing!  Wipe away any excess glue from the top.

 

 

To make sure that the magnets are firmly mounted in the buttons, I use the magnet intended on going on the opposite side of the shin to clamp it.  In the pic below, you can see how I've got all the matched magnet buttons and magnets together as they cure.

 

 

Back to the shins now.  I like this ridge (where the pencil is pointing) to line up at the tops.  For me, it makes the closure in the back look much cleaner if this is lined up.  I tape it off there to make sure that the opposite side doesn't shift while I'm making my marks for completing the holes.

 

I have an OttLite that fits nicely inside the shin to provide a clear light so I can make outlines for where I'm going to drill out the rest of the holes.  Holes were already present on the left side in the photo below.  

 

 

I made sure that I drilled out the holes very conservatively as I went.  I used an extra magnet to make sure that the hole was just the correct size for it to fit through. 

 

 

Now time to attach the outer cover strip!  I use a 25mm cover strip on my shins for this.  I taped off the edge of the inside half to keep any glue from transferring over.  

 

Then making sure that the cover strip was straight, I clamped the heck out of it.  Praying to the TK gods that it doesn't shift!!!!

 

 

Now time to wait for everything to cure really, really well.  I am going to give these 3-4 days to fully cure just to be on the safe side!

Edited February 11, 2018 by Cricket

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work

[Harbinger[IPM]]

I sure wish I’d seen that before I built mine, snazzy.

 

Have you considered magnetic ‘snaps’ for the belt? I chew my fingers up all the time getting mine on, seems like another area where magnets would be preferable.

[Cricket[TK]]

On 2/11/2018 at 11:40 PM, Harbinger said:

I sure wish I’d seen that before I built mine, snazzy.

 

Have you considered magnetic ‘snaps’ for the belt? I chew my fingers up all the time getting mine on, seems like another area where magnets would be preferable.

 

Ooooh.  Good idea!  Magnets on the belt certainly would be doable.  However, they'd require a bit more modification than I'm comfortable considering at this stage of the build.  Maybe once all my other costumes are finished, I may possibly tackle this!  

Another step with magnetic closures today!

 

One shin is complete, with the outer rear 25mm cover strip glued into place.  Woo!

 

 

Here's a look from the inside, before magnets are installed.  Be sure to clean up all excess glue from the inside edges in order to have a clean closure when you're done.  If there's extra glue in there, it may not close correctly.

 

 

I've tucked the outside cover strip to the inside so you can see how the magnets on the "cover strip" half are glued on.  No magnets yet.

 

 

I add a dab of e6000 to the magnet (be sure to check the polarization of the magnet before gluing!!!), and set it so that it fits inside the semi circle and on the outer cover strip.  Like this:

 

 

I wiped away the excess glue from the magnets and then positioned the inner "hole strip" over the magnets to ensure everything is lined up correctly as it dries.  I tape the tops and bottoms of the shin to ensure it doesn't shift around during this stage. 

 

 

I'm not completely happy with how the inside cover strip is cooperating here.  It sits flat on the top and bottom, but it pulls away in the middle a bit off to the right.  I will have to heat bend this before installing the magnets onto the "hole strip".  :/  Ideally, the inside cover strip should be sitting completely against the outside part of the shin, and it doesn't want to do that right now.  This additional stress could cause the magnets to fail.  It's annoying, but I'll need to address this before proceeding any further.  Gah!

 

Using the magnet buttons I created earlier, I clamp the magnets into place while the glue cures.

 

 

Once the glue has fully cured, I'll reshape that inner strip to prepare it for the final magnet button installation.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Cricket

[Gwithian]

Shins are looking good Christine

Don’t you just love kids..... lol.... they are only messing with you.... if they were real rebel scum you wouldn’t have any armour left ....

Enjoy them, they grow up far far too quickly.... but then you get grandchildren.... and it all starts again.... the good news.... you can hand them back to mum and dad..... that’s priceless



Grandchildren are priceless

Btw.... my abs paste repairs to my butt cracks seem to have worked..... will know more when I troop..... hopefully my crack will remain closed .....


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[Cricket[TK]]

Magnetic shins continued. (Almost there!)

 

Now that the e6000 has had lots and lots of time to cure, it's time to attach the other halves of the magnets.  Make sure that the halves are super clean and free of extra dried glue.  It will prevent the shins from closing well.  You can do this by touch.  Rub all of it off where you feel it.

 

 

Once everything is cleaned off, close the "hole" half over the "magnet" half.  Your shin should be closing correctly at this point.  The "holes" should lock around the magnets and prevent the shin from opening at all, even without the additional magnets at this point.  If the "hole" strip is not fully engaged over the magnets, you won't have a very strong bond between the magnets to keep the shin locked. 

 

Easy part next!  Apply e6000 around the prepared ABS button.  No need to go crazy with the stuff.  You don't want it oozing all around in there.

 

 

And stick it on!

 

 

This part goes really quickly.  

 

 

For additional strength, I add some extra magnets on top.

 

 

Check those clean closures!  Left shin.

 

 

Right shin.

 

 

I will open these up in a few hours just to make sure that there isn't any extra e6000 that has spilled out and might lock those shins closed where I don't want them locked.

Now to allow several days to dry, and these shins will be good to go!

 

 

[LTM[TK]]

Awesome stuff, cricket! Noob question for you, any thought on doing this for forearms to get a closer opening for wrist (or just not necessary)? 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Excellent work yet again  I like the "hook-elastic" as per movie but you can`t beat that sleek closure 

[Cricket[TK]]

2 hours ago, LTM said:

Noob question for you, any thought on doing this for forearms to get a closer opening for wrist (or just not necessary)? 

 

Ah, I suppose you could, but it's not really necessary.  If the wrist part of the forearms was snug, I believe that it might become an area that could prove suseptible to armor bites!     Besides, the guys on screen didn't have tiny wrists- so, screen accurate, right?      

[fragarock[TK]]

Magnetic shins continued. (Almost there!)
 
Now that the e6000 has had lots and lots of time to cure, it's time to attach the other halves of the magnets.  Make sure that the halves are super clean and free of extra dried glue.  It will prevent the shins from closing well.  You can do this by touch.  Rub all of it off where you feel it.
 

 
Once everything is cleaned off, close the "hole" half over the "magnet" half.  Your shin should be closing correctly at this point.  The "holes" should lock around the magnets and prevent the shin from opening at all, even without the additional magnets at this point.  If the "hole" strip is not fully engaged over the magnets, you won't have a very strong bond between the magnets to keep the shin locked. 


 
Easy part next!  Apply e6000 around the prepared ABS button.  No need to go crazy with the stuff.  You don't want it oozing all around in there.
 

 
And stick it on!
 

 
This part goes really quickly.  
 

 
For additional strength, I add some extra magnets on top.
 

 
Check those clean closures!  Left shin.
 

 
Right shin.
 

 
I will open these up in a few hours just to make sure that there isn't any extra e6000 that has spilled out and might lock those shins closed where I don't want them locked.

Now to allow several days to dry, and these shins will be good to go!
 
 

Looking good. Glad to see you're back to work on this kit. Must be feeling better?

Do you find yourself more comfortable taking your time with this one? I feel like my build and yours which was several months ahead of mine were going at 100 mph. Now Im taking my time, a glacial pace compared to the TK build.

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[Cricket[TK]]

11 hours ago, fragarock said:

Looking good. Glad to see you're back to work on this kit. Must be feeling better?

Do you find yourself more comfortable taking your time with this one? I feel like my build and yours which was several months ahead of mine were going at 100 mph. Now Im taking my time, a glacial pace compared to the TK build.

Thanks, Frank!  Yep, feeling good and moving along now.   

 

I definitely feel more comfortable on this build than the first one.  I don't have that nagging "Is this right?" question always in my mind like before.  This allows me to work at a faster pace, actually!  

 

That said, I'm working on several other costume builds at the same time, so that slows down my TK progress for sure.  I was selected as a team lead sewer on a really big costume build project for my garrison, so that has taken a bit of time away from the Hero, too. 

 

And kids.   They kept me super busy during their Winter Break last week!  So glad they're back in school now so I can resume Star Warsing.  

 

Honestly though, I think I'd be done with this kit by now if I didn't have the attention span of a squirrel.   

[Cricket[TK]]

Brackets on the butt plate return and bottom kidney today!

Here's what the top of the butt plate looks like before I cleaned up the returns.  I wanted to install the brackets first before reducing the return widths, just to make sure that the brackets would fit.

 

Everything turned out well, so I slimmed down the returns on the butt plate and the kidney, and finished assembling the brackets together.  

 

Looks good to me!  I decided to quickly install the twin snaps at the bottom of the butt plate to finish up (not much time to work on this today!).

 

 

I'll get to removing all that velcro soon.  I'll be installing the kidney split rivets next.

[Cricket[TK]]

I removed my brackets so I could countersink the screws, so I figured it would be a good time to attach the ab section to the kidney since everything was already taken apart.  There's only one thing I dislike more than removing and reattaching bracket screws and nuts.  Wanna know what it is?  Attaching the kidney/ab split rivets!

 

Just a reminder for you Vertically Challenged Troopers: if you're going for Centurion, be sure to line up the tops of the kidney and ab when you get to this phase of the build.  How things are lined up at the bottoms of the kidney/ab won't matter because they're hidden by the belt.  

 

Now, with that out of the way, here's how I've lined my ab and kidney up!

 

There's a little flaring going on at the top of the kidney in that photo, and I may still reshape it with some hot water.  But everything else is fitting together as it should.  Want to see how I've got this so nicely lined up securely like that?

 

 

Well, first thing is that the split rivets were installed on the opposite side. Duh.  I've got the areas around the holes reinforced with an extra strip of ABS for strength on the AB and kidney.  Each strip is about 30mm wide and cut to fit the kidney and ab.  This area takes a lot of stress and can be prone to cracking, so I want it to be strong from the start. 

 

 

Some people like to use nylon webbing for this connection, but I use elastic.  The armor wants to stretch and move around when you wear it.  If I use nylon strapping, then the holes take most of the stress and can result in cracks where the split rivets are installed.  With elastic, the armor has a little 'give' to it, thus reducing the strain on the holes.  I use 1" elastic, and it's doubled up- that is, I use two layers of elastic at these connections.  I have never had a connection like this fail on my other set of armor.  It's strong and flexible and has worked for me, so that's what I use.

 

Now to the other side...

 

 

Split rivets installed.  I covered the rivets with tape on the outside when I hammered the legs down to prevent excess scratching to the rivet heads.  Taping them down also helps keep the rivets in place when setting them.  And you want to see how I keep the ab/kidney all nice and stable without a belt?

 

 

Taaa-daaa!  A tab!  I can't remember who suggested this to me on my first build (I think it was Jorge?), but it helps keep the armor from shifting around on the right side connection and kind of 'locks' the ab/kidney together.  Now I know we all have the Han snap and can use that, but why use that puny connection all by itself?  I use both.

 

 

I made two 1"x1" ABS squares and glued them to the ab: one was glued just below the Han snap, and the other was glued to the ridge above where the cod begins on the ab.  Then I made a measurement of the length between the outer ends of both the squares, cut a 1" piece of ABS in that length, and glued it to the squares.  That creates a slot for the tab. 

 

For the tab itself, I cut a piece of thin black styrene (black because I want it to blend in with my undersuit!) in a rectangle shape.  I used .04 thick black styrene for this.  I measured the width of the space within the slot and cut it to that size.  You want enough length on it for it to have lots of surface to glue it to the kidney, and a few inches extra to go into the slot on the ab.  Important!  Use e6000 when gluing the tab to the kidney!  I can't tell you how many times I've need to make adjustments once things were glued in there- which required removal and reattachment of that tab.  You've been warned!  

And that's it for now.     Next, time to channel my inner Thor, get out the hammer, and make some snap plates!

[Cricket[TK]]

That weird flaring on the top right side of the kidney was bugging me, so I dealt with it today just so I could be done with it.

 

I taped the side together and decided that I could get away with just dunking the top corner of the kidney into boiling water.  I made sure to tape off a "submerge point" as a guide so I would know how deep to submerge the piece.  I just needed that top corner to soften a bit so I could flatten it out.  Here's what it looked like in the beginning.  Well, hello there!

 

After a few dips into the boiling water and shaping, I brought that kidney in line.

 

 

It was better.  But I still had some weird lumping going on at the end of the kidney's return edge.  Can you see it?  Looks so sloppy.

 

To smooth out those extra lumps in the returns, I used a heat sealing iron.  For super small areas like this, the heat sealing iron works well because it only heats up the areas that it is in contact with.  I don't use a sock or anything on it, but just put the iron on the plastic.  I don't use much pressure at all, but rather, wait patiently for the heat to soften the ABS just a little.  I use my paint stick piece to smooth and cool things.  

 

Here's a before and after.  The before shot is before the hot water bath and heat sealing iron.  The after is, well... after it all.

 

 

Before and after:

 

Better, isn't it? 

Edited March 14, 2018 by Cricket

[TheSwede[TK]]

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Love my heat sealing iron!  Its the best way to make that ABS move 

[Mworm1974[TK]]

Second time around looks easier.

 

matt

[Pyrates[TK]]

Wow Christine! I just got caught up on your build thread and so happy you finally got around to your Hero.

Epic job!!!


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[Cricket[TK]]

Hey, lookie at what I finished!

 

No, that's not my WTF kit.  haha... I built a PVC mannequin last week and dressed my RS kit on it.     I think my kit is much happier here than in my bin.  My helmet is displayed on my wall, so that's why the mannequin was headless.  I've since added a foam head, complete with a beret and aviator sunglasses.  Anyhow, if you've got an extra $35 bucks or so laying around, and you want to display your kit, I highly recommend picking up some PVC pipes and fittings, and building a PVC mannequin.  I'm still building the platform base (to hide those ugly pipes and to properly display some 'display only' boots), but it'll be an easy assembly once I get time for it.

 

And now, back to the build!

 

I tried on the torso last week and discovered that the right side of the kidney could be trimmed about 2 cm to better fit my frame.  I hadn't trimmed anything off the sides of the kidney yet, and glad to realize that I didn't need to take much off in that area.  In fact, the 2 cm only needed to come off of the right side!  Yay!   I used my compass tool to draw my cut line on the kidney.  I removed the gaffer's tape and traced again before cutting.  

 

And I measured about four more times after this to ensure that everything would be even on both sides if I did this little trim.   But before I could cut, I needed to remove the kidney tab from the inside.  See, I told you that it's important to use e6000 for this!

 

Okay, I can't deny that there is immense satisfaction when you can peel a whole section of e6000 off at one time.  It's as good as popping bubble wrap, am I right?!

 

Okay, with that tab removed, I removed the brackets on the right side of the butt plate and kidney as well.  I have to move the brackets due to the loss of that extra 2cm of material.  Here's the outline for the new kidney notch.

 

The return was so strong that I couldn't cut through it.  I had to cut along the corner, then score/snap the return first.  This allowed me to then easily cut the ABS of the kidney.

 

 

I'll patch up the extra holes left from the previous placement of the brackets, then install the brackets in their new location once everything has cured.

 

I did some minor hot water bath shaping on the chest to curve it in a little more and fit the ab better.  

 

 

And glued the ab buttons on.

 

 

I'm currently waiting for glue to dry on the chest/ab elastic connections.  I've glued just the ab parts first, and will follow up with securing the chest part later.  I think I'll tackle the shoulders next.  I don't want to get the ab/chest fully attached just yet because I don't have the shoulders properly fit at this point.  Once I get the torso fully dialed in, then I'll begin sizing down the legs.  

[Gwithian]

Like the mannequin Christine, what a good idea

Build is looking great, those magnetic closures are a pain to build but absolutely fantastic to use, I’m so glad I copied your idea


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[Cricket[TK]]

3 hours ago, Gwithian said:

Like the mannequin Christine, what a good idea

 

Thanks!

 

  

 

It would probably be helpful if I shared my PVC supply list, wouldn't it?  This should be enough PVC for most average height trooper displays.  It cost about $36, but should even come to less than that because I purchased some extra 1/2" PVC pipes and connectors for this, and never used them.  It took me less than an hour to cut and assemble it, even including adjusting the height down to my size.

Fittings
1" tee- 3

1" cross- 2

1" 45 degree- 2

1" 90 degree- 2

1.25" tee- 6

1.25" caps (not entirely necessary, but nice to have)- 2
Pipe

1" PVC pipe- 10 feet length

1.25" PVC pipe- 10 feet length

 

I made my mannequin similar to the one in this video: 

 

 

 

I like how you can easily separate the torso and leg parts on this.  I didn't do the same 'floating arm' modification because none of the 1/2" caps I could find would fit into the 1" PVC, even after heating things up with a heat gun.  I made the top half of the torso out of 1" PVC and connectors, and it works just fine.

[Cricket[TK]]

While waiting for the glue to dry on my kidney tab and for the ABS paste repairs to cure on the bracket holes, I began looking at other parts of my kit to see what else I could do in the meantime.  I remembered that my biceps seemed kind of small on me.  Not that they don't fit, because they do.  But I would prefer them to be a little more loose than they currently are.  Since removing the ridges on them, they're awfully small.

 

I saw somewhere around here that someone increased the bicep size by simply creating a gap under the cover strip.  So I decided to pull apart my biceps and increase the circumference about 1cm.  I'm only going to pull apart the back side of the bicep for now because I don't think I'll need much more than 1cm.  (I could also do this to the front as well.)  You can see where the halves of the armor meet together, sandwiched by an inner and outer cover strip. 

 

 

After removing the inner and outer cover strips, it's time to make a suitable gap.  You don't want the gap to be any bigger than 1cm on each side.  This is because you want to have at least a few mm on each side to glue the cover strips on.  (Remember, the cover strip on the biceps should be about 15mm wide.)  I taped things off from the outside first in order to secure the halves with the desired gap size I need.  You can see the light shining through here.

 

 

Then I applied a bit of e6000 to the edges of the gap.  The inner cover strip will be secured here.

 

 

Then I take the same inner cover strip I'd used before and clamp it down.

 

 

Further clamped with magnets.

 

 

Once these cure, I'll remove the blue tape on the outside and glue the outer cover strip back on.  **Note!** I don't think that I would do this procedure without having an inner cover strip on there.  When I attach the outer cover strip, there will be glue applied to the edges of the bicep and to the inner (exposed) cover strip.  This new closure should be pretty strong!

[TheSwede[TK]]

Nicely done

[Gwithian]

Thanks for the instructions Christine


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[Cricket[TK]]

Who likes cracked shoulder straps?  No one?  So let's reinforce some shoulder straps before installing them, shall we?

 

A strip of stainless steel, 3/4" wide is measured for the strap first.  One package is enough for two shoulder straps.

 

 

e6000 glue applied to the ridges.

 

 

Then the strip is cut to length and bent a little to conform to the shape of the shoulder strap.  It's set on the e6000, and then covered with even more e6000.

 

 

I cover that with some super thin white styrene.  Here you can see how thin and flexible it is.

 

 

Then all that's left is to sandwich things together really well with a mess of clamps and magnets, and voila!  Reinforced shoulder strap that should be able to take an extreme beating.