NotRookie’s very slow R1TK build (Jimmi)

[NotRookie[501st]]

Hi everybody!  DS-55305 here, hoping to become TK-55305. Although we have a lot of TK’s in my garrison/squad, I’m the first one to try an R1 down here. I doubt I’ll be there first to finish, though. I can only work on my TK about 2-4 days a month, so this is a marathon, not a sprint for me. 

 

I ordered my R1TK from Jimmi about 3-4 months ago, and it arrived about 2 weeks ago - cheapest shipping option ftw!

 

 

I was way too happy when I saw this. Unreasonably happy. Like “I’m an adult, I should not be this happy over a costume kit” happy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really go through it until today. 

 

 

Unfortunately, there was some damage to the codpiece and right thigh (and minor damage to the butt plate). 

 

 

I’ve sent a message to Jimmi, but if I can’t get a replacement, I’m not sure how to fix it. I think I can fiberglass the inside, then use bondo to smooth over the crack, but if anyone has a better idea, please let me know. 

 

In in the meantime, I’ve plastidipped the inside of the helmet, put some primer on it, and used spot putty to fix the (very few) imperfections in the helmet. I also drilled out and filed down the area between the teeth, so I feel like I’ve made some good progress here. 

 

 

Next week I hope to paint the helmet. I’m thinking of buying some oil-based paint pens for the blue inside the vents and the black lines in the tears/traps. Am I overthinking this? Would a paint brush be just as good?  I have basically zero artistic ability, but I’m willing to keep trying until I get it right. 

 

Side note: I’ve decided to prime and (white) plastidip the insides of the armor rather than sanding the interior because I HATE sanding. Hopefully it works out. Fingers crossed. 

Edited July 9, 2020 by NotRookie

[Dragon_a[TK]]

Hi mate 

When my kit arrived i had a large crack in the top of the chest piece.  Jim sent me out a replacement straight away so Im sure he'll look after you, I know he's in the process of changing shipping companies though.

While I was waiting I decided to see if I could repair the damage though.  I started by using superglue in the crack to hold it together.  Then I used Araldite 2 part epoxy resin, smeared thinly on the front, more thickly on the back for reinforcement.  Once sanded down the result is quite smooth, I'll be interested to see how it comes out when I paint it.

[NotRookie[501st]]

He got back to me and recommended I do exactly that. I’ll see how it works on Saturday. 

[NotRookie[501st]]

I was able to put in a few hours on Sunday and managed to prime almost every piece (ran out of room on the tarp again :/ ). I also put on a few coats of gloss white on the helmet. Another light sanding and 1-2 more coats and I think it’ll be ready for painting the details. The “glue the crack Andre epoxy both sides” method seems to have worked. I’ll bring in my power sander next week since I maaaaaayyyyy have put way to much epoxy on the armor. 

 

I also managed to try on most of the pieces, and I think I’m going to have to do some trimming. Specifically, the shins seem a bit too long - I got the tall shins since I’m 6’0”, but that seems to have been a mistake. I’m not sure how to recreate the layered look for the cover strip edges, but I suppose I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it. 

 

It looks like I’m going to have to trim and re-glue the thighs to make them slimmer and shorter. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be able to fit my hand between my thigh and the thigh armor. 

 

Jimmi’s kit looks like it can only be assembled via the overlap method. Should I stick with E6000?  I’m unsure of whether there would be any benefit to it since it feels like the armor would tear if I tried to pry apart two pieces that were E6000’d together. 

[napalmseth[501st]]

Ok. I just got mine a few weeks ago. You’ve put this off long enough. Let’s finish our kits!


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[NotRookie[501st]]

It’s been a while, but I’m back!  I’ve had to deal with some family issues and general laziness for a depressingly long time, but I’ve finally built up the energy to get back to this. I’ve spent a few days researching everything I’ve forgotten and all the new stuff you all have discovered since I’ve stopped working on my kit. I’m currently ordering some resin to strengthen up parts of the kit that others have noticed were weak, and have been making snaps by the dozen in preparation for a quick trial fitting to make sure I don’t have to retrim (and more importantly, repaint) any pieces. No pics today, unless you all REALLY want to see some snaps. 

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

2 hours ago, NotRookie said:

No pics today, unless you all REALLY want to see some snaps. 

Actually, I would LOVE to see some snaps. What material are you forming them around?

[NotRookie[501st]]

Here you go. I picked up a soft plastic “For Sale” sign and cut it into squares. I made sure to put the colored portions on the side that will eventually get glued to the armor. The other side of the snaps will eventually be formed around my strapping system or whatever needs to be attached. 
 

I also took the opportunity to add a chinstrap to my Kylo bucket, since I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now. 
 

 

 

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

They look great! Are they 5/8" snaps? I'm worried that webbing will be too thick. How do they fit with the plastic?

[NotRookie[501st]]

I bought them about 2 years ago, so I honestly don’t remember their size. They seem to be about 5/8”, but I can’t guarantee it. Sorry. 
 

After reading through some other threads, I’ve become really dissatisfied with my helmet’s (incomplete) paint job and decided to sand it down to try putting another, better layer of white before working on the details. While sanding, I discovered some pinholes and divots that needed filling, so I plugged them up with some years-old spot putty. 
 

It feels like I’m making progress, even though all that work actually put me further behind where I was when I started. I’m not shooting for anything beyond Level 1 approval with this build (I don’t have the bandwidth to maintain more than 1 costume at that level, tbh), but I *do* want the helmet to look as good as possible, since that’s what most people focus on when they see a TK. 
 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by NotRookie

[NotRookie[501st]]

I painted the whole helmet gloss white, and managed to somehow get the paint to be powdery right next to a run, which I consider to be a rather impressive feat. 
 

 

I had planned to move forward even if I found a couple pinholes, because I don’t want to fall into the perfection trap and never actually move forward, but I found WAY too many pinholes once the gloss white was in.

 

Good thing I botched that other stuff above, because now I have two excuses to sand and fill again before moving forward. Oh well. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be satisfying to finish. 
 

Edit: Also, the FiberGlast resin came in today. I plan on applying it to basically everything but the shins, forearms, and biceps once I’m satisfied with my fitting. If it seems relatively flexible in the other parts, I may use it there, too. I just don’t want to make them so rigid I can’t put them on. 
 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by NotRookie

[NotRookie[501st]]

I’ve been thinking of how to attach the belt boxes, and I plan to steal 11b30b4’s idea of attaching them via wingnut to the belt. However, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to go one step further and just attach the belt to the ab plate with the same wingnut/bolt that’s attaching the box to the belt. It seems like it would be easier in the long run, since I wouldn’t have to worry about positioning the belt properly every single time I put it on, and won’t have to worry about the Velcro coming apart mid-troop and having my belt fall apart. Has anyone tried this?  Is there a downside I’m not thinking of here?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Velcro can be tough but can occasionally come apart if knocked or rubbed against, I would suggest the bolted method would work better.

 

Very easy to get dry spots and runs on one item, trying to get a consistent coat all over a model with curves and dips is very difficult, just try to remember when applying coats exactly how far away you are with the spray can and how areas can build up if recessed or curved. 

[NotRookie[501st]]

Thanks for the advice. This is my first time painting something in white. A black, textured Kylo helmet is very forgiving compared to most other projects. In contrast, this shiny, gloss white TK helmet makes every imperfection just blindingly obvious. 
 

I’ve ordered the bolts and wingnuts (and some washers to increase the surface area). Once I’m done with the helmet, I plan to start on the ab/back/chest area. 

[NotRookie[501st]]

A minor update:  I’ve been painting and sanding the helmet in Gloss white for about a week (not as many coats as you’d think, since it’s been hot and rainy most of the week). I’m slowly getting better at painting, and the layers have been building up, so once I get a pretty good coat on it with few runs, I’ll sand it down with something like 600-800 grit sandpaper to fix whatever issues the surface has, then polish the hell out of it with 1k+ grit sandpaper.  I think that should take care of the white. 
 

I’ve also attached the shins in the front, and done some test fitting and trimming of the forearms. I’ve got snaps in place on the abdomen, but I realized I should probably do all my test fittings with the undersuit, gloves, and boots on at a minimum so I don’t end up having to re-trim. I’ve got a (level 1) undersuit coming via Amazon, and I’ve had the Imperial Boots boot and glove combo for a while, so I’m just waiting on that to come in so I can start making my harness for the abdominal plate. 
 

Slow and steady progress is being made. 

[11b30b4[TK]]

Weeeee woulddddd likeeeee to seeeeee someeeeee picturessssss. Anyway, keep at it and you will get there.

[NotRookie[501st]]

I’ve gotten the white paint on the helmet to the point where it’s “good enough”. It has some imperfections, but I doubt anyone will see them besides me in normal life. 
 

I’ve been looking for admiral grey to paint the traps/tears/teeth, but I can only seem to find the paint in bottles meant to be painted on with a brush or using an airbrush. No proper grey spraypaint. Does anyone know where to get the proper color?

 

 

 

edit: Also, I have some T-nuts to hold the visor in place, but I’m unsure how to bolt them in. Do I glue a bolt to the inside of the helmet around the edges of the visor?

Edited August 14, 2020 by NotRookie

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, can find humbrol paints on ebay still

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Humbrol-Enamel-5-Admiral-Grey-Gloss-14ml-Enamel-Tinlet-humb5/123050976800?epid=25017391248&hash=item1ca668e620:g:f78AAOSwbJJeyUKp&frcectupt=true

 

Or you could use a grey primer and add clear over the top, I do this for TD's, easier to spray than hand paint  

[NotRookie[501st]]

Well, I spent about an hour taping off the grey areas on the helmet, including taping off in between each individual tooth. 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the results came out like hot garbage, especially around the last tooth.  Edit: For the record, I did the first layer in white in case of it bleeding under the tape. It didn’t help. 

 

 

 

I know what I have to do to fix this (basically sand and start all over), but I’m getting really ^*%#ing sick of painting this helmet over and over again. I’m going to take a few days off from this project to get my head right. 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by NotRookie

[Firedog[TK]]

21 hours ago, NotRookie said:

Well, I spent about an hour taping off the grey areas on the helmet, including taping off in between each individual tooth. 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the results came out like hot garbage, especially around the last tooth.  Edit: For the record, I did the first layer in white in case of it bleeding under the tape. It didn’t help. 

 

 

 

I know what I have to do to fix this (basically sand and start all over), but I’m getting really ^*%#ing sick of painting this helmet over and over again. I’m going to take a few days off from this project to get my head right. 

 

I recommend picking up some vinyl masking ribbon and tape that is used for modeling or automotive. This should help your bleed problem and the smaller size will help in those contours. Something like this https://www.amazon.com/High-Temp-Fineline-Masking-Automotive-Curves/dp/B088D1SD49/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=vinyl+fine+line+tape&qid=1597781792&sr=8-17 is available in many different widths.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

If you use masking tape a great tip is to spray a light coat of white first, it will fill any areas that will bleed with white, then simply go over with the top color  

[11b30b4[TK]]

Ruky, I know if a pain in the butt to mask and a real kick in the pants when you get bleed. So, I suggest you use more precision masking tape around the edges of the paint zone then use the blue stuff to attach the plastic bag or whatever you use to cover the larger areas. I use the Tamiya masking tape and it comes in a variety of widths from 2mm through 18mm. This stuff is awesome. I work with the Tamiya tape around the teeth, tears, traps, and ear bars then I uses the standard blue painters tape to attach the larger masking stuff. Page 4 of my build you can see the Tamiya (yellow) masking tape. I have all the sizes but i use the 6mm and 18mm the most. Don't get discouraged, get mad and kick that helmets butt.

[NotRookie[501st]]

Thanks for the advice, all. I’ve ordered the masking tape and spent some time sanding the bleeds smooth. I took the opportunity to test my paint pen for drawing the black outlines on the traps/tears. It doesn’t look great. I think a thin black sharpie might be better. Either way, I’d rather find out now that it didn’t work than ruin a nearly-finished helmet, so at least there’s a silver lining to this. 

 

I sanded off some of the black paint, so it didn’t look QUITE this bad originally, but it was really uneven and tough to make into a neat straight line. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

That's a shame, I have had great luck with permanent markers, maybe a different type may work.

[NotRookie[501st]]

I wanted to put the helmet out of mind for a while, so I spent a couple of days working on the chest plate, backplate, and abdomen. I resin-ed the inside of the chest and backplate for extra durability, since I’m about 100% sure I won’t be cutting them down later. Then I spent about two days sanding all the crud and tacky stuff off of the outside until the chest and back were smooth - the abdomen still needs more sanding, but my arm was about to fall off at that point. 
 

I then put primer on the chest and back. I found surprisingly few pinholes, but I haven’t fixed them yet. 
 

 

 

 

I found a bizarre depression in the little trapezoid above the O II box, which should be fun to sand down once I fill it in. 
 

 

My plan is to fit the abdomen and chest/back (with some soon-to-be-ordered urethane shoulderstraps) before extending outward to the thighs and shins. I’ll hold off on actually painting them white until I’m pretty confident in the fit.  Although I’ll be sanding and priming for a week or so at this rate.