Ruthar's First Order Stormtrooper Build

[Ruthar[TK]]

3 hours ago, JonnieBear said:

Wow. I love how the helmet liner just ties the overall look of the interior so well. it looks professional in a sense. I would very much appreciate a link to the helmet liner.

 

Thanks, Jonathan! Information on the helmet liner can be found in this post just above.

[Ruthar[TK]]

KB Props TFA TK Kit

 

I know it's been a while since updating this thread, but there is lots of progress to post! First up, the big ol box from KB Props arrived!

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Here's all the delicious content laid out in my garage:

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

I had originally ordered the kit back at the start of the summer and they told me it should be only a few weeks before shipping. Unfortunately, they missed the mark by a long shot. However, as a 'thanks for being patient' gift, they sent me one of their new TLJ TK helmets - a very lovely surprise!

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

I don't think I'll start the bonus helmet until after the whole kit is complete, but it's still such a lovely gesture from the guys at KB Props.

[Ruthar[TK]]

Trimming - Part I, Arm Components

 

Now that the plastic has arrived, it is time to dive on in to getting everything cut out. Most of the pieces have pretty obvious lines as to where you should trim which makes things nice and easy.

 

Forearms

 

Up first were the forearms. Each forearm is assembled with four main pieces - a top, bottom, and 2 connecting side rails.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

For more intricate trimming, I like using a gold or silver marker pen to help guide the cutting.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

I also took a moment to label which pieces belong to which forearm.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Biceps

 

Just a little extra plastic around the edges to remove:

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Shoulders

 

Each shoulder comes in two pieces - the main 'bell' and a small connecting bridge.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Trimming - Part II, Leg Components

 

Spats

 

The spats come in two pieces - the main body and the rear connecting flap. In order to glue the rear flat to the back of the spats, I left a little 'tongue' on the non-clip side of the spat.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

The pile of trimmed pieces grows...

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Knee Plates

 

I left a little return edge around these to give the sense of thickness.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Thigh Armour

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Calf and Shin Armour

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

The ever-growing pile continues!

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Trimming - Part III, Torso Components

 

Now for the final bits of the large-scale trimming.

 

Abdomen and Kidney Armour

 

There wasn't much to trim here - mostly cleaning edges.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Posterior and Cod Armour

 

The cod was tricky to cut out as there wasn't really a good line to follow. I just used some references to try and get the shape as close as possible.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Chest and Back Plates

 

A bit more attention was needed with these pieces as there is a bit of edge to remove.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Yoke and Yoke-Back Connector

 

These were also a bit tricky to cut correctly. Fortunately I had some practice with the TFA TIE Pilot previously. The yoke had a few cuts already made from the guys at KB Props so I had to finish those off and clean them up.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

And here's a shot of the trimmed pieces ready for assembly to kick in. You'll notice the untrimmed boxes in the lower left of the image - I chose to save that cutting until I was ready to start marking up the boxes for assembly as those cuts are a bit more tricky.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

And, of course, a big ol' bucket of scrap!

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[JAFO[TK]]

Great work Taylor! You’re ploughing along


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[Scimitar[TK]]

Thanks for the lead on the Scorpion helmet liner! I've wanted to add something like that to my Anovos lid for a while and that works perfectly. I used Scorpion's website and determined a large would fit my noggin better and fortunately those are still readily available. It also fits in the helmet just fine. Thanks again!

 

And great work so far!!

[Ruthar[TK]]

Thank you, both!

 

@Scimitar , do you have a link to what you purchased? Would be great to have another source for good liners for myself and other interested troopers!

 

Lots and lots of updates to post. I'm trying to get everything wrapped up for the premieres, so I'll probably do most of my updating between coats of painting.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Ruthar

[Scimitar[TK]]

18 hours ago, Ruthar said:

 

@Scimitar , do you have a link to what you purchased? Would be great to have another source for good liners for myself and other interested troopers!

 

Absolutely! Grabbed it off Amazon for $15.95 w/ free non-Prime shipping, got here in 9 days: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JDQ3P18/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Ruthar[TK]]

Fantastic, thank you for sharing!

[shashachu[TK]]

Following! I'm considering getting a KB FOTK next year, and yours is one of the more detailed build threads I've seen.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Man, this is too good not to pin.  Pinned!

[JAFO[TK]]

Taylor make sure you send me a pic once your kitted-up so I can add you to the Trooper’s Gallery

 

 

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[First0rder[TK]]

Boy I do have to give it to you for your patience with not only cutting and gluing the ABS parts but having to seam and still go through the fitting and painting process. 

 

Overall how has your experience been thus far with this kit?  Would you do it again? 

 

[Ruthar[TK]]

14 hours ago, Daetrin said:

Man, this is too good not to pin.  Pinned!

Wow, thank you! I'll do my best to keep everything documented in that case.

 

14 hours ago, JAFO said:

Taylor make sure you send me a pic once your kitted-up so I can add you to the Trooper’s Gallery

 

 

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I certainly will, thank you! Your belt is fantastic - I'll be diving into that this evening.

 

2 hours ago, First0rder said:

Boy I do have to give it to you for your patience with not only cutting and gluing the ABS parts but having to seam and still go through the fitting and painting process. 

 

Overall how has your experience been thus far with this kit?  Would you do it again? 

 

It is definitely an exercise in patience! I would definitely not suggest the FOTK armour as a first build for anyone - I've had to pull from a whole pile of building techniques I've amassed with all the other costumes I've completed to date. I enjoy a challenging build, though, so my experience has been great. The guys at KB Props have been a pleasure to deal with, too, so I would absolutely recommend them for armour - just be patient as with any other builder as good things take time. I would probably do it again, yes, but I'm not at the finish line just yet! haha

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part I, Arm Components

 

Biceps (part 1)

 

The first armour piece I assembled was the biceps. For some reason, I always start with the arms with my armour builds - I find it's a relatively easy part to help get acclimated to the maker's plastic and pieces.

 

1) The biceps are constructed with an inner shim along the longer (outisde) edge and an overlap at the shorter (inside) edge. Using some scrap ABS from an older build, I installed the inner shims against the insides of the longer edges of the biceps. For adhesive, I use ABS cement to bond the plastic components together, but only when I'm sure of the fitment. The ABS cement is very difficult to pry apart, so for anything I'm not absolutely certain of, I use the trusted E6000. However, I like to use the cement when I'm confident as it prevents me from being stalled to wait for the long cure time of the E6000.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) Once the adhesive is dry, match up the matching long bicep edges to the inner shim. Glue them together, clamp/magnet them, and set them aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Shoulder Bells

 

While the biceps are drying, I moved to the shoulder bells. The only thing that needs to be assembled is the inner tab that creates the extra edge at the top of the bells.

 

1) Using a pair of large clamps, line up the inner tabs so that they extend from the top edge roughly 1/2" or so.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) With the inner tabs firmly held in place with the clamps, I used a silver sharpie to outline where the tabs sat on the interior of the bell. This will give me a marking to line up the pieces when we move to gluing.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

3) Roughly sand the interior of the bell and the outside face of the tab to enable a strong bond (I do this for all glue joins when possible), then apply glue, line up the tab with the marker lines, clamp, and set aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

4) Duplicate the process for the other shoulder bell as well, then set them aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[jethroskull[501st]]

Wealth of info here! Thanks!

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part I, Arm Components

 

Forearms

 

Now comes the first tricky part of the build - the forearms. They are constructed of 4 separate pieces in the KB kit which is luckily fewer than the Anovos kits thanks to box that is included in the mold instead of a separate piece.

 

1) First, roughly assemble the forearm to test fit it around your body. I use a good deal of painter's tape to hold everything together while I try to slip it around me to make sure I don't cut too much plastic away.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) In the image above, you can see that I marked where to trim the excess plastic with the gold marker line. The size of your forearms will vary based on your body, so be sure to test fit a couple times before trimming anything away!

 

3) Once the fit is tested and the cuts are made, it's time to install another set of inner shims. These will connect the two side pieces to the main forearm body. You can install both shims to the main body of the forearm - I installed mine separately (one on the main forearm body and another on one side piece) just to allow more room for clamping.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

4) Once the shims are dry and in place, glue the components together. Magnet, clamp, and set aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

5) Duplicate for the other forearm, clamp, magnet, and set aside to dry once again.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

6) Once the side pieces are dry and assembled, glue in one side of the detail plate. I held it in place with some clamps. You'll notice that I only glued the rear portion of this piece - that is to allow the front of the forearm opening to flex around the wrist more easily.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

7) After the first side of the detail plate is glued in, glue the second one in the same way. After both sides are dry, you should have one solid forearm piece.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

8) Slip it on to ensure the proper fitment.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part I, Arm Components

 

Test Fit

 

Now that the forearms and biceps are assembled (well, half-assembled for the biceps), it's time to test fit them with the gaskets. The overlap for the bicep closure is the most important measurement in this process as that will allow us to seal off the biceps.

 

1) Use a large strip of painter's tape to hold the biceps together at the overlap. This will allow you to adjust them as necessary while you are testing the fit. Be sure to allow to leave enough room for the gaskets - something a little different than our standard OT TK builds. I definitely recommend testing fitment of components with your undersuit and gaskets as much as possible to get the proper fit.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Biceps (part 2)

 

1) Now that the test fit is done, we can close up the biceps. Mark a line where the two pieces overlapped when they were still held together with painter's tape. I cut the under piece of the overlap into a tab shape by cutting off a little bit of the top and bottom and rounding off the edges. This helped the pieces nestle together better as the KB molds don't have any built-in overlap demarcations. 

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) Before gluing, I sanded down the top edge of the overlapped piece to get a slightly tapered edge just to give the seal a little more of a finished look.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

3) Finally, glue, clamp, magnet, and set aside to dry. Repeat the same steps for the opposite bicep, too.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part II, Leg Components

 

Spats

 

Now it's time to turn the attention to the lower appendages.

 

1) I started at the bottom with the spats as I was the most curious about these. The first thing to do was to glue on the rear extension piece. I used a similar method here as I did with the bicep overlap - shape the underside piece of the overlap into a tab shape (cutting off a little of the edge and rounding corners) to allow the fit to be more comfortable.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) Then glue the extension piece onto the tab. Clamp and set aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

3) Do the same for the opposite spat. That's all for now - this first round of assembly is all just rough, general stuff.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part II, Leg Components

 

Thighs and Shins

 

The thighs and shins are relatively easy to assemble as they are just overlapped on both sides.

 

1) First, I test fit the pieces. The thighs were first. They are a bit low in this initial photo as there was a lot of extra plastic in the back preventing me from pulling them higher at this initial point (that's what I get for only being 5' 7" ).

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) Once I got a little of that extraneous plastic out of the way, I taped up the thighs and shins to get a nicer fit. In this second picture, the parts were too close together at the knees, so more adjustment was needed to get things to sit right. It's an exercise in patience, really - trim little by little as it's always better to take less than to take too much, and use lots of painter's tape to hold things in place to let you feel and look at how things sit.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

3) Once you have the pieces measured to the appropriate size, the process is identical to the biceps. Unlike the OT TK's, the seams for the leg pieces are on the sides, not the front and back, so I overlapped the front piece over the back piece to get a cleaner look from the front. Just like the bicep, create a 'tab' with the underside piece and sand down the edge of the top piece for a clean look. Then, glue, clamp, magnet, and set aside to dry. The first were the shins - they are only closed on the outside, the inside remains open until much later in the build.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

4) Both shins assembled and drying:

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

5) The thighs, however, are sealed on both sides. I glued one side at a time as I find it's easier to manage - gluing both sides shut simultaneously has a little more room for error.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

6) After the first side is solid, seal them closed and set them aside to dry.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[Ruthar[TK]]

Assembly - Part III, Torso Components

 

Abdomen and Kidney (part 1)

 

The abdomen and kidney are another tricky component. There are seven boxes to attach to the abdomen plate while the kidney plate needs to be spliced in half and installed permanently at the sides of the ab.

 

1) Line up the seven boxes with the abdomen plate. On the insides of each box, I labeled them #1 - #7 (#3 and #6 are uniquely shaped - the rest are the same). I also marked the raised regions with the matching numbers just to be safe.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

2) Trim the flared lip off of the boxes to prep for install.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

3) Now comes the tricky part. Each box needs to sit flush with the armour which is curved, so the edges of the boxes need to be curved as well to permit that fitment. I use a large sanding drum bit on my Dremel to slowly remove the plastic until the desired shape/fit is achieved. Here are a few in-progress shots:

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

4) Here are what the boxes looked like when I was finally finished shaping them.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

5) As I mentioned, the kidney plate needs to be split at the rear. There is a very clear indentation in the KB Props piece where the center of the back is, so simply bisect the piece at that mark.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

6) To ensure that I don't mix up the pieces, I mark where the back, sides, and top are on the inside of the cut pieces.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

7) Moving back to the kidney plate, install two large shims at the sides running from the top of the piece down to the top of the edge boxes.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

8) Glue and clamp as usual.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

9) Beneath the outer boxes, install a smaller shim to connect the bottom edge of the kidney plates.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

10) Once the shims are dry, install the kidney plates against the shims and flush against the abdomen plate. Glue/clamp/magnet/set aside.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

11) Remove clamps when dry and we now have a semi-complete abdomen/kidney region.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

12) Quick test fit to see how the pieces roughly line up on the body.

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Taylor Goodson, on Flickr

[JAFO[TK]]

Awesome work, Taylor!


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[JAFO[TK]]

Awesome work, Taylor


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[First0rder[TK]]

Seriously need patience for this build wowo!!!