Scimitar's ANH Stunt Build - AP

[wook1138[TK]]

Helmet is looking awesome! I had the exact same issue with the ears. I have a second AP kit and I was going to try drilling the bottom hole as you described above. Fantastic bday gift, btw.


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[Scimitar[TK]]

7 hours ago, hollowbodies said:

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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Thanks! I've got to go back and order from them again, completely forgot to order the helmet masking templates. Oops.

 

7 hours ago, lucnak said:

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

Yup! I wasn't exactly shooting for 100% flush, but tried to keep it pretty uniform. I'm happy with the result.

 

6 hours ago, wook1138 said:

Helmet is looking awesome! I had the exact same issue with the ears. I have a second AP kit and I was going to try drilling the bottom hole as you described above. Fantastic bday gift, btw.


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Thanks! The second faceplate in the background of some of the shots is from my buddy's kit, I've been holding it hostage until he's ready to start it, but I also offered to trim/prep the helmet for him so I'll be taking my own advice there as well.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Scimitar

[Scimitar[TK]]

Let's play Critique my Vocoder, any comments or suggestions are welcome! I noticed that there isn't too much of a "standard" for the bottom portion and even the screen used helmets vary pretty widely, so I'm hoping that portion specifically is ok.

 

For reference, the paint used is Testors Semi-Gloss Black Enamel (1139).

 

Rushed cell phone shots below:

 

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by Scimitar

[lucnak[TK]]

Looks real good!

[wook1138[TK]]

Bottom part looks good to me - as you said, it is hard to pin down a standard for the bottom part.  You have very nice definition of the ridges' edges on the front view.  The middle ridge extends a little higher than the other ridges on the Dave M. helmet but, again, screen shots seem to vary.  That is some very nice painting!  Good work.  I'm looking forward to what you do with this build!

[Scimitar[TK]]

23 minutes ago, lucnak said:

Looks real good!

Thanks!

4 minutes ago, wook1138 said:

The middle ridge extends a little higher than the other ridges on the Dave M. helmet but, again, screen shots seem to vary.  That is some very nice painting!  Good work.  I'm looking forward to what you do with this build!

Ah, good call on the middle ridge, I'll add that little detail the next time I sit down with it. Thanks!!

[Scimitar[TK]]

So I took Greg's input (thanks again) and added some height to the middle ridge of the vocoder:

 

 

And then I started painting on the ears, I decided to do the outline first and then I'll fill in with grey once the black dries. I also drilled a couple small holes for the hearing assist, which is obviously where I'll be painting my ear bars:

 

 

 

All this in an effort to boost my confidence for painting the traps and tears. lol

[Scimitar[TK]]

Had a few extra unexpected minutes this evening, so I filled in the right ear with grey:

 

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Wow, great job so far on the painting! And it reminds me that I have my helmet waiting to be painted, too. Hah! 8-)

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[Scimitar[TK]]

On 2/28/2018 at 6:16 AM, hollowbodies said:

Wow, great job so far on the painting! And it reminds me that I have my helmet waiting to be painted, too. Hah! 8-)

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Thanks! Good luck when you get there! It's a daunting task to be sure, I was going to use the decals at first but I think I can make it look passable with paint. We'll see!

 

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Last night I did a test fit on the Hovi Tip Speakers, I'll need to add some sort of spacer material under them as they don't seat flush against the plastic, there's actually a decent gap. And since the plastic is thinner in that area I don't want it to crack or break from the pressure of tightening the nut down.

 

 

And I completed the ear painting:

 

 

[wook1138[TK]]

Looking very nice!  You put your ear rank stripe on the front bump - I like it.  I did the same thing, but totally by accident.  I meant to put it on the back like a lot of people do but grabbed the wrong ear when I was painting.  My next bucket is a sandy - and a particular sandy that has the ear bump on the front as well, so both my buckets are going to have the same ear rank.  I like continuity, it compliments my OCD nicely.  

 

For the Hovi Mics, a little bit of foam padding may work.  I was debating doing the same thing.  Mine are just bolted on for now.  I finger tightened the bolt to the point where the ABS was starting to flex and it has been fine so far.  It took quick a bit of tweaking to get them placed where I wanted them.

 

Also, go with the paint!  Do it! From what I've seen of your build so far, you will do an amazing job.  And there is a certain level of satisfaction knowing you did it.

[TheSwede[TK]]

Looks great  so far so good - now next mission, tears and traps 

[Suspend]

2 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Last night I did a test fit on the Hovi Tip Speakers, I'll need to add some sort of spacer material under them as they don't seat flush against the plastic, there's actually a decent gap. And since the plastic is thinner in that area I don't want it to crack or break from the pressure of tightening the nut down.

 

Hi, your helmet is looking great!  I'm interested in hearing what you decide with the spacer.  I haven't started my AP helmet build yet but I definitely did notice the ABS seems really thin where the hovi tips would connect.

 

Mark

[Scimitar[TK]]

1 hour ago, wook1138 said:

Looking very nice!  You put your ear rank stripe on the front bump - I like it.  I did the same thing, but totally by accident.  I meant to put it on the back like a lot of people do but grabbed the wrong ear when I was painting.  My next bucket is a sandy - and a particular sandy that has the ear bump on the front as well, so both my buckets are going to have the same ear rank.  I like continuity, it compliments my OCD nicely.  

 

For the Hovi Mics, a little bit of foam padding may work.  I was debating doing the same thing.  Mine are just bolted on for now.  I finger tightened the bolt to the point where the ABS was starting to flex and it has been fine so far.  It took quick a bit of tweaking to get them placed where I wanted them.

 

Also, go with the paint!  Do it! From what I've seen of your build so far, you will do an amazing job.  And there is a certain level of satisfaction knowing you did it.

Thanks! I did, I wanted to do something to make it a bit different but I was also trying to get the holes for the hearing assist as far forward as possible. Probably makes very little difference overall but that's the thought that made the decision. And I totally get it about the OCD.

 

You may be on to something with the foam, I was considering using rubber washers but the foam would probably form to the contours of the helmet recess much better. You're using the Hovi tips that came with the armor, correct? I think these may have a slightly wider base due to the speaker but I haven't done a side by side comparison to know for sure.
 

That's the plan! Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

1 hour ago, TheSwede said:

Looks great  so far so good - now next mission, tears and traps 

Thanks! They are indeed the next mission and the stencils are on the way from TrooperBay to fill in the lines (and tube stripes).

 

8 minutes ago, Suspend said:

Hi, your helmet is looking great!  I'm interested in hearing what you decide with the spacer.  I haven't started my AP helmet build yet but I definitely did notice the ABS seems really thin where the hovi tips would connect.

 

Mark

Thanks Mark! I'll definitely post something about it when I figure out a solution.

[wook1138[TK]]

16 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

Thanks! I did, I wanted to do something to make it a bit different but I was also trying to get the holes for the hearing assist as far forward as possible. Probably makes very little difference overall but that's the thought that made the decision. And I totally get it about the OCD.

 

You may be on to something with the foam, I was considering using rubber washers but the foam would probably form to the contours of the helmet recess much better. You're using the Hovi tips that came with the armor, correct? I think these may have a slightly wider base due to the speaker but I haven't done a side by side comparison to know for sure.

Ah, yes.  The hearing assist system.  I did see the holes earlier and forgot - that makes sense.  I did use the original Hovi Mics - so I can certainly see your concern with a heavier Hovi Mic.  You may want to add foam or rubber behind the Hovi Mic and under the washer in the back - just to distribute the stress from the tightened bolt as much as possible . 

 

I'd be interested to hear how your helmet electronics set-up works out for you. I was very tempted by Ukswrath's system - but decided to take a more cautious approach due to my large melon not fitting into buckets very well. 

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 3/1/2018 at 2:02 PM, wook1138 said:

Ah, yes.  The hearing assist system.  I did see the holes earlier and forgot - that makes sense.  I did use the original Hovi Mics - so I can certainly see your concern with a heavier Hovi Mic.  You may want to add foam or rubber behind the Hovi Mic and under the washer in the back - just to distribute the stress from the tightened bolt as much as possible . 

 

I'd be interested to hear how your helmet electronics set-up works out for you. I was very tempted by Ukswrath's system - but decided to take a more cautious approach due to my large melon not fitting into buckets very well. 

I'm going to have to get creative with the placement of everything inside the helmet, my head isn't exactly small either. lol I've done a test run with the speakers and they're awesome, I'm looking forward to getting everything in there though. FWIW, the speakers aren't much heavier than the AP Hovi Mics, I think mainly because the attachment hardware is all nylon/plastic vs. the metal on the originals.

 

Speaking of which, I solved the spacer issue with the Hovi Speakers (in this case) to my satisfaction, I tried a few different ideas and this is the one that was the simplest and worked the best in my opinion. I bought 9/16" x 1/4" rubber grommets and 1/4" nylon washers from Lowes (there were no washers included with the Hovi Speakers, so I was going to add them anyway). Note that the sizes used would be different for the AP Hovi Mics:

 

 

 

I put the grommet directly on the back of the Hovi Speaker:

 

 

And then I attached it to the helmet using a nylon washer under the nut. On one side the grommet bottomed out before the Hovi Speaker did, which is what I wanted so it could compress against the helmet. On the other side the speaker bottomed out first, so I added two nylon washers between the speaker and grommet and then the grommet bottomed out first. Everything is then firmly finger tightened:

 

 

There will still be a gap on one side of the speaker and this is normal/unavoidable due to the shape of the helmet recess. But the speakers are firmly in place, oriented well, and the pressure is evenly distributed against the grommet on one side and the washer on the other:

 

 

After doing that I painted the first trap (helmet came back apart so I could paint under the brow trim and so I could touch up the plasti-dip on the inside):

 

 

Parts list from this post:

9/16"OD x 1/4"ID Rubber Grommets - x2 (Specific sizing for Ukswrath Hovi  Tip Speakers)

1/4" Nylon Washers - x2 Minimum - Extra may be needed as spacers

 

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And right before I had taken it apart, my 21 month old daughter put the helmet on herself and ran around the room yelling "HELLO" because that's what I was saying to her when I was testing the speakers out. This is why I get nothing done quickly. Haha!

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Scimitar

[CableGuy[TK]]

Great work! The painting on that trap is really neat! 

 

lol - I know what you mean with the kids. My five year old wears my old lid and walks around saying “move along, move along”. 

 

Btw, that looks like a beautiful collection in the background. 

[Pretzel]

Ugh! I am very jealous of your painting skills. It makes me want to go back and re-work mine lol. Well done on your bucket!

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 3/4/2018 at 1:51 AM, CableGuy said:

Great work! The painting on that trap is really neat! 

 

lol - I know what you mean with the kids. My five year old wears my old lid and walks around saying “move along, move along”. 

 

Btw, that looks like a beautiful collection in the background. 

Thanks!!

 

lol That's too cute, kids are great!

 

Thank you again. I'll share a couple shots if anyone cares to see, mostly ArtFX+ statues with a few other things mixed in.

 

 

 

On 3/4/2018 at 12:43 PM, Pretzel said:

Ugh! I am very jealous of your painting skills. It makes me want to go back and re-work mine lol. Well done on your bucket!

Thank you! Although I feel like I've slightly cheated with my process for the traps and tears. I've been penciling in the outlines, then painting in the black portions, then filling in with gray. My freehand skills are not that good at all. lol

 

 

 

 

[wook1138[TK]]

I love the display!  Very nice.  helmet looks good too. 

[CableGuy[TK]]

Collection looks superb. Really nicely presented. 

 

3 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Although I feel like I've slightly cheated with my process for the traps and tears. I've been penciling in the outlines, then painting in the black portions, then filling in with gray. My freehand skills are not that good at all. lol

 

Nothing wrong with that. Many people, including me, do the same. It still requires skill to get the line neat and tidy. Great job. 

[Scimitar[TK]]

Long time, no update, been a busy past couple of weeks. Basically with the spare time I've had I finished filling in the tears and traps, and then I used the Trooper Bay stencils to add the lines.

 

 

 

 

 

And then came the tube stripes... I had the Trooper Bay stencils for those. I made honest attempts to make those work, even tried the gloss white base layer to prevent the blue paint from bleeding, but nothing worked out well for me. So realizing that I was spending too much time stuck on one part of the project I decided to move on, so I used the supplied decals. I plan to revisit the tube stripes later, likely by taping the outer edges and penciling in some lines to paint to, I seem to do better with that. For now, these will do, applied with soap/water to smooth everything out.

 

 

 

And a test fit. Now onto the lenses.

 

 

On 3/11/2018 at 10:56 PM, wook1138 said:

I love the display!  Very nice.  helmet looks good too. 

Thanks!! 

On 3/12/2018 at 2:14 AM, CableGuy said:

Collection looks superb. Really nicely presented. 

 

 

Nothing wrong with that. Many people, including me, do the same. It still requires skill to get the line neat and tidy. Great job. 

Thank you on both accounts!!

Edited March 27, 2018 by Scimitar

[wook1138[TK]]

Helmet looks awesome!  Nice work. 

 

The tube stripe template will bleed paint. If you do decide to revisit the tube stripes...

Using a toothpick to scrap away unwanted paint works incredibly well. Just give the paint a few hours to dry and it will cleanly scrape off. And put the paint on in light coats. 

 

Good of to see you back at it!

[Scimitar[TK]]

18 minutes ago, wook1138 said:

Helmet looks awesome!  Nice work. 

 

The tube stripe template will bleed paint. If you do decide to revisit the tube stripes...

Using a toothpick to scrap away unwanted paint works incredibly well. Just give the paint a few hours to dry and it will cleanly scrape off. And put the paint on in light coats. 

 

Good of to see you back at it!

Thanks!!

 

I tried a couple methods with the stencils knowing in advance I'd get some bleed where they wouldn't lay flat, and as much as I hate to admit it, all with varying degrees of failure. It was a bit more than a toothpick, q-tip, and patience could handle, because I tried. lol But I will revisit them in time as I want those to be painted just like everything else on the helmet, just may not use the stencil route next time.  

Edited March 27, 2018 by Scimitar

[Scimitar[TK]]

So moving on to the lenses, I ordered the TrooperBay lenses and installed per the instructions. Between the asymmetry of the helmet and my trimming the eyes (probably more to blame here, lol), there were some pretty noticeable gaps that I didn't like, mostly along the tops of the eyes. I did want some gap to prevent fogging but not like what I got. So I sat down with some T-Nuts (I can't remember which build thread I got the idea from, sorry in advance!), cut away some Plastidip circles, and glued them in place. I may add a third T-Nut to the bottoms of the eyes for retention's sake, but I haven't decided yet.

 

 

Then I cut the lens in half to get two pieces and trimmed those to the eye shapes I wanted. Then I drilled the holes one at a time (drilled one hole, installed, and then marked for the second hole) to ensure a more precise fit and attached the lens to the helmet with socket cap screws and neoprene washers. The washers do a great job from keeping the screws from backing out.

 

 

So I effectively closed the gaps at the top of the eye like I wanted but also allowed some gap in the bottom "corner" to allow hot air to vent up and out:

 

 

The left lens isn't done yet. I had to Dremel some height off of one of the T-Nuts and it got too hot and popped off the helmet. Oops! So I peeled the E6000 off and now it's reglued and curing again. Once I get done with that lens, I'll clean the inside of the faceplate portion from all of the new dust, polish the lenses, cover the T-Nuts and surrounding area with some Plastidip, and glue the frown mesh in. Then it will be time for reassembly, and padding & electronics installation.

 

Parts list from this post:

TrooperBay Lenses

T-Nuts - M4-.7

Socket Cap Screws (Black) - M4-.7 x 6mm

Neoprene Washers - 5/32"

Edited April 2, 2018 by Scimitar