Shaun’s RS Props ANH Stunt build

[shadan[TK]]

Well overdue for an update I know but I moved house a couple of weeks ago and as I've pretty much finished unpacking I'm all out of excuses.
Anyhow... Torso!

I finished trimming all the back pieces and marked out the positions for the brackets. After I had drilled the initial holes I added some extra material to give the brackets a bit of reinforcement. Then, when the glue was fairly dry, drilled through the support material to the required size hole.
Then it was a matter of coutersinking the holes and installing the brackets.

 

After a chat with Sith Lord at my place yesterday we agreed that I'd left a bit too much return edge on the bottom of the chest plate. I removed a fair bit and think it looks much better now. I'll paint the screws another day. 



Don't you just love the RS wonkiness? I sure do.



The brackets are a bit fiddley to install but not hard at all - provided you drilled all your holes in the right places, which luckily I had done.

Another quirk of the RS kit (well its a quirk if you're on the tall side) is the curvature of the back plate near the shoulders.
It tapers in very sharply with makes it sit very high on your back.



This is something that was commented on in Mr. V's EIB application as something to possibly look at for Centurion. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do; a hot water bath perhaps? But I'll address that later.

Next up I plan to measure and trim the sides to make them sit nice and flush, then add the strapping to connect the two halves of the clamshell. From there will be the elastic shoulder straps on the inside and the plastic straps on the outside. But that's for another day.

Edited February 4, 2018 by shadan

[Rob .T .[TK]]

Remember, the RS is taken from a real screen used suit ... the curve of the backplate is screen accurate ...leave it that way .

i notice you mention re inforcing the shoulder bridges ...don't . They need to be as flexible as possible . Make them solid and they will snap . Check screen caps for glueing them on , from memory the 5th ridge sits on the edge of the chest...but check . 

Edited February 4, 2018 by Rob .T .

[shadan[TK]]

Thanks Rob. The Black plate hadn’t actually concerned me at all until I saw that EIB submission the other day. I love the accuracy of the RS kit (it’s why I chose them) so I won’t let it concern me any longer. 

Wth the shoulder straps, I have only added reinforcements under the bumps which will be glued to the chest plate, this is to create maximum surface area for the glue to adhere to when I glue them down. The straps themselves remain flexible. 

[Gwithian]

Your build is looking great Shaun, like you I too love the wonkyness of the RS armour. I found it all came together once  torso was strapped, though I did find that the snaps fitted by RS for the belt didn't hold it properly, especially if you holster your blaster, so I ended up using copious amounts of Velcro to help hold it in position. 

 

Like you I fitted inner cover strips also, it has made the limbs very strong indeed. Just make su your front and rear cover strips like up on each piece, I very nearly messed mine up by mistake. 

 

Also so the greaves for right and left leg are the same..... that confused me at first.... but that doesn't take much.

 

keep up the good work trooper

[shadan[TK]]

Thanks Stephen.

I didn’t get any strapping or snaps or anything from RS, just the hard harmour, so I’ve been sourcing it all myself. I got the Tandy snaps which seem extremely strong (as everyone says) but I did cheap out a little with the poppers for the belt. They aren’t too strong at all so I might have to redo them at some point. 

Oh yes the two identical shins. When the kit first arrived I feared I’d been sent the wrong parts. But it didn’t take much searching to find that it was normal. I haven’t trimmed my shins yet but I assume people try to reshape the ankle curves to be symmetrical? Or do they leave it as is? To me it looks as though it would be easiest to make both sides of each shin the same rather than try and replicate  the two different curves. 

[Gwithian]

Hi Shaun, I tried to replicate the ankle curves on each side, as they should be, but I’m a tad short (read as very short 5’5”) so I could trim them, if I was tall then I would leave them as they are .

The RS snaps I was talking about were already fitted to the ab section and the canvas belt.... you can see them near the drop box elastic



You can see the RS snaps next to the Velcro on the right hand side



Again, you can see the RS snap against the lower horizontal piece of yellow tape



Hope these pics help


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[shadan[TK]]

Cheers for that. I’ll have to see how my popper snaps go. I’ll probably either replace them or perhaps do what you did. 

[fragarock[TK]]

Thanks Stephen.
I didn’t get any strapping or snaps or anything from RS, just the hard harmour, so I’ve been sourcing it all myself. I got the Tandy snaps which seem extremely strong (as everyone says) but I did cheap out a little with the poppers for the belt. They aren’t too strong at all so I might have to redo them at some point. 
Oh yes the two identical shins. When the kit first arrived I feared I’d been sent the wrong parts. But it didn’t take much searching to find that it was normal. I haven’t trimmed my shins yet but I assume people try to reshape the ankle curves to be symmetrical? Or do they leave it as is? To me it looks as though it would be easiest to make both sides of each shin the same rather than try and replicate  the two different curves. 

My belt snaps didnt work out, they werent aligned quite right. Didnt bother swapping them out, just added some velcro and its still holding up after a year of trooping.

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[Lord Mynock[501st]]

Its been over a week more updates mate ! Work is slow

[shadan[TK]]

Hello all,

I’m reviving this build from the distant past and renewed energy! Lots of stuff has happened; new costumes got in the way, my little one with some health issues.

 

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on this but I’m keen to finish it this holidays. I had originally planned to make this a Heavy Weapons Trooper (for something a little different) but I’ve decided to go back to a classic TK now. 

 

So....

The helmet. 

I did build this right away and I am reasonably happy with how this turned out but looking at it now I am definitely going to go back and lower the brow. While we do see some regular TKs with brows like this on the Death Star, generally they are much lower. 

 

 

I think I’m fairly happy with the painting. A few little fixes need here and there but I’ll detail those when I get to them. 

 

 

 

Redoing the frown will most likely mean some tinkering with the ears which isn’t a bad thing as the left side ear isn’t exactly how I’d like it. 

 

 

I love that RS’ kits are pulled from moulds made from an on-screen kit meaning they show just how wonky the originally kits were. 

 

 

I did replace the supplied lens film (it’s literally a film like cellophane) with a more sturdy plastic visor for strength. On the inside I still need to secure the frown mesh in place. 

 

Previously I had assembled the thighs, biceps and forearms. Trimmed all the torso pieces and installed the structure bracket kit and assembled most of the belt.

 

I've been posting updates over the last few days on my local forums so I'm going to re-post most of it here. For full disclosure...

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 24/12/19.

 

Working on the shins at the moment and they’re a bit tricky. 

The RS kit has two left shins. Why? Because that’s what the screen-used kit had! Those on-screen TKs were just cobbled together as best as could be done on the budget. 

So this is going to mean some creativity. 

 

 

You can see here I’ve attached the two sides using rear coverstrips only at this point. I’ll put the outer coverstrips on later. 

I’m going to have to re-shape the edges near the ankles. But before I do that I need to address the backs...

 

 

As you can see, things don’t line up this best. I’m going to have to work out exactly where I want each part to sit, tape everything into place and give them a nice hot water bath to try to get them to reshape and set in their new positions. 

Then I’ll trim the backs and attach the rear coverstrips.

Finally I’ll get the sniper plate fitted.

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 24/12/19.

 

I just gave the shins a bit of a hot water bath and it looks like it worked ok. 

This involved lots of painters tape to hold the shins in the exact position I wanted, then carefully using hot water to heat the plastic. Once I felt it was enough (completely guessing I might add) I cooled them under cold water. 

 

 

I should have used more tape (or less water!) as I can see a slight amount of ripple on the back but these still need to be trimmed and the coverstrip attached. I don’t believe it will be noticeable once all that is done.

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 28/12/19.

 

The front coverstrips are on the shins now and I’ve attached the sniper plate. This was a tricky thing to get sitting right, just just didn’t want to line up very well. In the end I just glued the centre in place and held it together with clamps. Then this morning I glued the outer edges. Basically it’s just three patches of glue, centre, left and right. 

 

 

Last night I also put the two snaps in the butt plate as I just got a huge resup of them in the mail. Can’t go past Tandy Leather Line 24 snaps, accept no substitutes!

 

 

 

Next on the agenda today is doing some trimming on the rear of the calves and adding the last coverstrips. I had originally planned to do the original style bra hooks and elastics for the enclosures but I think that’s just going to be too annoying. So I’ve got some heavy duty velcro which will hopefully do the trick. I was very hesitant on this at first as I’ve seen so much velcro come off TK calves in the past. Can always revisit this.

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19.

 

The sniper knee plate seems to have turned out ok. There’s a bit of a gap underneath but there just didn’t seem to be any other way to align it.

For this shin I just need to glue on the rear coverstrip today. 

 

 

The other shin has its rear coverstrip on now. Next is to get the velcro in place and give it a bit of a sand and tidy up around the ankles. 

 

 

From here the only things yet to trim are the shoulder bells (which I won’t do until nearer the end so I get them right) and the three buttons on the belt!

 

Strapping is going to be fun....

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19.

 

The other rear shin coverstrip has been glued on and is curing, no need for a pic of that.

Time to cut out the ammo belt buttons. 

 

 

But herein lays a small problem. Remember when I said my original plan was to do a Heavy Weapons Trooper? Well, back then in my... let’s call it “wisdom” I had the idea of attaching the hard ammo belt to the canvas belt using snaps. That way I could switch out the canvas belts to suit the armour. 

 

 

 

A bit untidy but it held firm and seemed to do the trick. Except...

 

 

I now can’t get the button covers to sit flush. 

Insert montage of lots of stuffing around removing the snaps without damaging the plastic. 

And now I'll use rivets and washers as I should have done in the first place. The marks will luckily be covered up. 

 

 

And finally time to glue the covers into place...

 

 

The canvas belt will need some trimming and re-sewing the velcro but I wanted to get everything set in place so I can get the length exactly right.

[shadan[TK]]

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19.

 

A quick test of the thighs, shins and boots for the first time. 

It’s a mirror shot so everything is backwards of course. 

I'll need to tinker with the strapping etc. Wish I wasn't this tall. I'm only 6'1" but these kits were designed for a person of a slightly shorter stature!

 

 

Looks a bit weird without the rest of the armour, belt, boxes etc on. I just didn't want you all seeing me in my undersuit

 

 

I think things are on track!

For the thighs I used wide black elastic and a waist belt but I think I'll go back and put some kind of adjustable strapping in place instead. I fear the elastic will stretch over time and I'll have wonky thighs.

[shadan[TK]]

It’s time for the belt boxes. 

I’m following a Billgram for these of course.

 

 

I figured I'd try to make these as accurate as I could.

 

 

And from the front they sit quite nicely. 

 

 

 

I will still go and add small amounts of glue so the elastic doesn’t move out of place but that’s a later job.

That's me up to date as of 30/12/19.

[tarok[TK]]

Nice to see you back at it mate!


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[shadan[TK]]

1 minute ago, tarok said:

Nice to see you back at it mate!


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Thanks buddy

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looking AWESOME, Shaun.. that belt came out perfect!  Before attaching it to your ab, try to make sure that the top of the ABS belt covers the bottom of the ab-button panel.  With your attention to detail I get the distinct feeling that you will be aiming for Centurion level, () and that is one of the requirements. 

 

 

If you are still planning on tinkering with the ears, if possible the bottoms should be moved back a bit.  Ideally, the screws should line up with the rear angle of the trap as seen below.

 

    

 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your build!  

[shadan[TK]]

9 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

Looking AWESOME, Shaun.. that belt came out perfect!  Before attaching it to your ab, try to make sure that the top of the ABS belt covers the bottom of the ab-button panel.  With your attention to detail I get the distinct feeling that you will be aiming for Centurion level, () and that is one of the requirements. 

 

 

If you are still planning on tinkering with the ears, if possible the bottoms should be moved back a bit.  Ideally, the screws should line up with the rear angle of the trap as seen below.

 

    

 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your build!  

Thanks for the kind words and the pointers!

I must admit at the time of building the bucket I had no idea about the ear screws lining up with the angle of the trap. In fact I only came across this detail a couple of days ago and realised I wasn’t very close.

I’m certainly going to try fix mine at some stage but unsure how I will go!

As to the Centurion thing... Well I’ve tried to build everything as close as I can to the L3 requirements, because why wouldn’t you try to make things as accurate as possible right?

My main concern is the ab to kidney connection however. I’m not a huge guy but those original kits were made for someone slimmer than I! And this being a PVC kit I’m unsure if I can shim to the required quality. It won’t need much shimming but definitely some.
Obviously “PVC-paste” is out (or is it? Acetone won’t melt PVC but is there an alternative?) but I have made up some ABS paste ready to go.

I‘m not sure if I can use that and make the connection good enough. 
I REALLY don’t want to paint this kit as the finish is so nice!

Anyhow that’s where I’m at with that

Edited December 30, 2019 by shadan

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

16 hours ago, shadan said:

Obviously “PVC-paste” is out (or is it? Acetone won’t melt PVC but is there an alternative?) but I have made up some ABS paste ready to go.

That is actually an EXCELLENT question, Shaun!  Unfortunately, to be quite honest I am not familiar with eliminating the seams when shimming PVC armor, so you will need some guidance from someone who has done this.  What I would suggest is to start a new post with a title like" Need help with PVC shims".  That should grab the attention of anyone who has been in your situation so we can get you sorted out.  I'd be really interested in finding out myself!  Don't get discouraged, though, we will figure out a way!

[shadan[TK]]

I did make up a test piece of two PVC off cuts glued together with a backing piece of ABS. Then I filled the very small seam with ABS Paste. Once set I had a quick and rough go at sandin it back. 
It wasn’t a great result but I did learn a few things. 
I had put two strips of painters tape down on either side of the seam which the thought that it would keep the paste contained to a small area. Less spread of the paste meant less area to sand? Not a great idea as it turns out. 
I couldn’t peel the tape off as there was overlap of set paste. 
Sanding with the the tape in place meant that blue was spread over the piece and kind of dyed the seam area leaving a pretty messy blue line!

 

So.... I’d need to keep the area super clean. Don’t use tape. Only use fresh and clean sanding blocks/paper. Need some polish like Novus or similar. 
But it may be possible? I’ll try again another time. 

[shadan[TK]]

I realised my ab button plates were probably a touch too big so I’ve trimmed them back. A little more tidying up and I’ll re-attach them.

 

 

 

I also went a took a little more off of the return edges on the ab and kidney plates. I really didn’t need as much as I had. It’s starting to look like I may not need to shim after all. Not sure if it’s the reduced return edges or the running I’ve been doing (when I can; the bushfire smoke is terrible here in Canberra. Need to pick my times carefully. We’re safe here for now for anyone wondering) but I think I’ll get a close enough fit at least for L2 should I go for it. So that’s some good news. 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

6 hours ago, shadan said:

I realised my ab button plates were probably a touch too big so I’ve trimmed them back. A little more tidying up and I’ll re-attach them.

Just my OCD kicking in here, lol, but if you really wanted to,  you could trim back the small plate a bit more .  GREAT to see that you didn't round off the edges on either plate!!!

 

   

Quote

We’re safe here for now for anyone wondering) but I think I’ll get a close enough fit at least for L2 should I go for it. So that’s some good news. 

Great to hear that you are safe, Shaun... you folks down-under are getting hammered by those bush-fires!  Nice to hear that you may not have to shim, and looking forward to seeing photos of your ab/kidney updates.

 

Note:  EXCELLENT job painting those buttons!