Scimitar's ANH Stunt Build - AP

[Scimitar[TK]]

Welcome to my first armor build!

 

Like many others I've been waiting for an Anovos pre-order, I ordered their Imperial Stormtrooper and First Order Stormtrooper standard kits. Every time I've attended an event that the GA 501st has been at I get the itch to build my own armor ASAP and I finally got tired of the "we're sorry, delayed again" emails, at least for the OT TK. So I began researching the other kit makers recommended in the Getting Started section, about the time I did that Mark had a Black Friday sale on his kit so I pulled the trigger. There are plenty of AP build threads on here so I've been pouring over them while I waited for my kit to arrive and I'll continue to use them as reference. I also intend to build this kit with Centurion approval as the ultimate goal.

 

Anyway, today was BBB day! You may notice that there appears to be two of everything. A buddy and I will be building these kits simultaneously, although he's a few states away, so I'll be reboxing and shipping once our other supplies arrive. It was actually a less expensive option to go this route overall.

 

 

Laid everything out to ensure we got what we needed:

 

 

So now the real fun begins. I'll be working on this slowly for sure, I have an 18 month old daughter who loves to occupy my time when I'm not at work (not a complaint!) and who also doesn't like going to bed early. lol I enjoy just about any DIY project so I'm really looking forward to this build.

 

Parts List for Reference

Armor/Helmet: AP

Lenses/S-Trim: TrooperBay

Under Shirt/Pants: Mr. Skin (Amazon)

Neck Seal: Darman's Props

Boots: Imperial Boots

Canvas Belt: AP

Holster: AP

Rubber Hand Plates: AP

Blaster(s): HyperFirm E-11 / HyperFirm DLT-19

Helmet Audio: ukswrath

Hearing Assist: ukswrath

Cooling: ukswrath

Thigh Garter System: Pencap510

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Scimitar

[jethroskull[501st]]

Looking forward to following your progress. Looks like several of us pulled that trigger at the same time.

[TheSwede[TK]]

Congrats on BBB-day and sweet collection of helmets and guards flanking them Great that you are aiming for Centurion - be all you can be Trooper

 

 

[Battrooper[TK]]

Just finishing up an AP myself, it is a great kit, have fun. 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Congrats on your BBB. I'm enjoying building my AP kit. Only started last week. Ask lots of questions, post lots of pics and have a great time!

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

Thanks guys!!

 

So no progress on the kit itself, the time just hasn't been there quite yet. But my last day of work for the year is the 19th so I'm really hoping that I can sneak some good armor time in after that. In the meantime I've been comparing the pieces I want to start with (helmet and arms) to what I see in the build threads here to get an idea of what I need to do. Basically just going to take it one step at a time and hopefully watch the box steadily empty out.

 

Meanwhile I received our helmet electronics from ukswrath (thanks again!!), some of the extra parts are for my FOTK helmet:

 

 

Today over lunch I went on a quick supply run to Home Depot and got the supplies that I didn't have for this build, happy to finally have an excuse to buy a new rivet gun, broke my last one installing a convertible top:

 

 

Now I just need to get Tandy snaps, S-Trim for the helmet, brown leather strips for the holster-to-belt, elastic & nylon strapping, and some rare earth magnets. Then I should be well supplied (hopefully).

 

And for a slight change of gears, I've seen others share how they've walked down the chain aisle and have seen a random chain link they need to make their E-11 D-Ring just laying on the ground, I guess Home Depot knows when a Trooper is coming:

 

 

I gave a small cheer and the employee looked at me a little puzzled as I went to pick it up. Unfortunately it was one of the grayish/textured links and I said, "Ah, drat!", although I figured I could have just repainted it. He inquired what I was up to so I explained what I was working on, he thought it was a really cool project and reached into the box that the rolls of chain sit in and pulled out a length of 8 black links, properly sized based on what I've seen posted. He had apparently just cut them off of a length someone bought because a couple of the links were paint chipped (someone was really picky), so they were just going to get thrown away, he bagged them and marked it free. So it worked out in the end!

Edited December 12, 2017 by Scimitar

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Really cool of them to give you some links for free!

 

Looks like you have been doing your research, I suggest buying twice as many snaps and magnets as you think you’ll need. Good luck with the build!

[TheSwede[TK]]

6 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Thanks guys!!

 

So no progress on the kit itself, the time just hasn't been there quite yet. But my last day of work for the year is the 19th so I'm really hoping that I can sneak some good armor time in after that. In the meantime I've been comparing the pieces I want to start with (helmet and arms) to what I see in the build threads here to get an idea of what I need to do. Basically just going to take it one step at a time and hopefully watch the box steadily empty out.

 

Meanwhile I received our helmet electronics from ukswrath (thanks again!!), some of the extra parts are for my FOTK helmet:

 

 

Today over lunch I went on a quick supply run to Home Depot and got the supplies that I didn't have for this build, happy to finally have an excuse to buy a new rivet gun, broke my last one installing a convertible top:

 

 

Now I just need to get Tandy snaps, S-Trim for the helmet, brown leather strips for the holster-to-belt, elastic & nylon strapping, and some rare earth magnets. Then I should be well supplied (hopefully).

 

And for a slight change of gears, I've seen others share how they've walked down the chain aisle and have seen a random chain link they need to make their E-11 D-Ring just laying on the ground, I guess Home Depot knows when a Trooper is coming:

 

 

I gave a small cheer and the employee looked at me a little puzzled as I went to pick it up. Unfortunately it was one of the grayish/textured links and I said, "Ah, drat!", although I figured I could have just repainted it. He inquired what I was up to so I explained what I was working on, he thought it was a really cool project and reached into the box that the rolls of chain sit in and pulled out a length of 8 black links, properly sized based on what I've seen posted. He had apparently just cut them off of a length someone bought because a couple of the links were paint chipped (someone was really picky), so they were just going to get thrown away, he bagged them and marked it free. So it worked out in the end!

 

Sweeeeet looking stuff, that`s beeing prepared!

[Along]

Niceee cant wait to see your final build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scimitar[TK]]

Thanks for the encouragement!!

 

I finally got to start actually working on this, decided to begin with the helmet. I started by trimming the rough edges off of both pieces which didn't take much, Mark's rough trimming was pretty close, just needed a little clean up. Then I cut out the teeth by using a Dremel sanding drum and smoothed them out with my sanding files. Then I used a cutting bit and cut out the eyes, finished them off with the sanding drum and a sanding block. Followed that up with a mock up with the lenses and mesh just to see how it looks.

 

If anything regarding the trimming looks off, I welcome the input!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Scimitar

[TheSwede[TK]]

looking good - of to a great start

[Scimitar[TK]]

Last night we received our HyperFirm E-11s, I have to say I am very impressed with these!

 

 

As far as components go, I'm just waiting on my Imperial Boots order (early Dec. run) and S-trim for my helmet, and then the "gathering" portion of the build should be complete.

[ABS80]

Perfect job on the helmet trimming!

 

Mark (AP)

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 12/19/2017 at 2:28 PM, ABS80 said:

Perfect job on the helmet trimming!

 

Mark (AP)

Thanks Mark! That's very reassuring!

 

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Today I've added my Home Depot Special D-Rings to both blasters, grabbed a "before/after" shot before doing the second one:

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

Well the holidays have not gone as planned in terms of free time, I've only been able to start trimming the "ears" and getting them to fit well against the helmet. In the meantime my Classic421 boots arrived from Imperial Boots today, very nice quality and the fit is good, a little extra room as planned.

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

Got to spend a little time in the shop today. I sanded both interior sections of the helmets to promote paint adhesion, then masked off the forward part of the helmet (used grocery bags to fill the frown holes) and plastidipped it (spray on). Went pretty smoothly overall. I gave it two good coats and then removed anything that was touching the plastidip (eyes, frown holes, sides) to prevent separation issues once the plastidip cured. I did accidentally stick my finger in the wet paint while removing one bag, but a disposable brush and spraying some plastidip in a small plastic container made a quick touch up possible.

 

Might be a helpful hint, cut the grocery bags down to size so that they cleanly but firmly fill the frown holes, yet will pull through from the inside of the helmet without getting stuck. I used needle nose pliers to grab the bag ends and pull them out.

 

Hopefully everyone likes pictures as much as I do:

 

 

 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

7 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Got to spend a little time in the shop today. I sanded both interior sections of the helmets to promote paint adhesion, then masked off the forward part of the helmet (used grocery bags to fill the frown holes) and plastidipped it (spray on). Went pretty smoothly overall. I gave it two good coats and then removed anything that was touching the plastidip (eyes, frown holes, sides) to prevent separation issues once the plastidip cured. I did accidentally stick my finger in the wet paint while removing one bag, but a disposable brush and spraying some plastidip in a small plastic container made a quick touch up possible.

 

Might be a helpful hint, cut the grocery bags down to size so that they cleanly but firmly fill the frown holes, yet will pull through from the inside of the helmet without getting stuck. I used needle nose pliers to grab the bag ends and pull them out.

 

Hopefully everyone likes pictures as much as I do:

 

 

 

Nicely done. Good, clean lines around the eyes ad teeth.

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 12/31/2017 at 8:37 AM, Sean said:

Nicely done. Good, clean lines around the eyes ad teeth.

Thanks a bunch! Congrats on your Centurion achievement by the way!!

 

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January was a very busy month between work and family so I made no progress other than doing some preliminary trimming on most of the parts to prep them for finishing/fitting.

 

I finally had a bit of free time over the past weekend so I started back on the ear trimming. While my goal isn't a totally gap-free fit, I did want to minimize them where possible. Basically to a point where the general population wouldn't look at my helmet and think I can't even color inside the lines, because that's what it looked like with my first round of trimming.

 

So far I've got the upper part of the right ear where I'm happy with it and I'm still working on the bottom portion, which isn't attached to the helmet in the below pictures. You can see the marks where I'm planning to do a little more trimming on the front. I'm using the notch method at the top of the ears to seat them evenly against the face plate and dome. Even though it is more tedious, the advice to completely screw the ears to the helmet using both the screws and nuts every time you trim/adjust something is definitely a good idea to follow.

 

 

 

Like some others here I bought a strip of tan leather and replaced the AP holster straps. I have a few completed sets left over from that strip if any other AP holster owners are interested in them, just PM me.

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by Scimitar

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You will find that trimming the top section will allow the bottom gap to close, some even trim so there is a step in the top of the ear, you will notice the ear sits on the back plate higher than the front. If you look at your trim marks you will only create a gap there, as all of the top of the ear is touching.

 

Although not all images are here this is a great post to have a read through https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29238-my-helmet-ear-tutorial/

 

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

Thanks for the additional resource! As noted above, I did notch the ears to add that step already so the ear fits well against the face plate and dome sections. However since the lower section of the ear isn't screwed down in the pictures, what you can't see is that the lower section does already fit well, but where my marks are is where that section of the ear makes hard contact on the cheek when it is screwed down. A little rounded trimming will soften that contact and it'll screw down nicely there. It's just where I had to quit for the time being. 

Edited February 13, 2018 by Scimitar

[wook1138[TK]]

Looking good, Eric.  Great job on the trimming!

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Hi mate! Just found your thread - I'll be following your progress as I am building and AP armor at the moment too. Great work on the helmet, that's amazing! Always nice to see some nice work like this to be done! 

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 2/13/2018 at 11:01 AM, wook1138 said:

Looking good, Eric.  Great job on the trimming!

Thanks Greg!!

 

On 2/14/2018 at 8:08 AM, hollowbodies said:

Hi mate! Just found your thread - I'll be following your progress as I am building and AP armor at the moment too. Great work on the helmet, that's amazing! Always nice to see some nice work like this to be done! 

Thanks David! I'm following along on your build too.

 

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I'll start this update with what showed up in the mail, I recently snagged a DLT-19 from Slavefive, never know when you might need to lay down some heavy fire:

 

 

And my S-Trim and lenses showed up from TrooperBay:

 

 

Progress on the helmet continues, I'm sneaking in 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. I got the right ear done:

 

 

 

Then I did the left ear. Even though I followed the trim lines it ended up with a little more gap up front than I wanted, but I think it still looks good:

 

 

 

I noticed that after everything was attached the brow was almost hanging over the eyes, so I took it all apart and trimmed some material off the dome portion:

 

 

And then I decided to throw a quick brush of paint onto the frown:

 

 

A couple things that I feel are worth noting/suggesting:

 

- If you're going to plastidip the interior, it's probably best to wait until after you've completed the hole drilling (and any subsequent trimming). The plastidip can catch on a drill bit and it will pull off in a nice circle. lol Easy enough to touch up though.

 

- For the AP helmet ears, start your fitting/trimming from the top and work down. Also, start by attaching them only by the upper two screws, leaving the bottom screw out and the lower holes in the helmet untapped (use your fingers to clamp/position the lower portion to the helmet during test fitting). I found the ears fit better if I slightly repositioned the bottom portion of the ear, which meant that none of the holes I had drilled lined up.

 

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Unrelated to the build, my wife surprised me with tickets to see Star Wars in Concert at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Friday night for our wedding anniversary, it was an absolutely amazing experience. For those unfamiliar with this, the soundtrack is removed from the movie and is all played live, and they nailed it. Oddly enough I found myself critiquing all of the armor while we watched for reference during my build.

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Scimitar

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Great job so far on the helmet, keep up the good work! I, too, am, waiting for some stuff to arrive from TrooperBay - can't wait to get them (I ordered some of the same stuff as you ) !

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[lucnak[TK]]

A little gap with the ears is normal/canon! Some prefer a nice flush fit, but I wasn't too picky with it.