Shaun’s RS Props ANH Stunt build

[shadan[TK]]

Hey everyone. I thought it was high time I started a build thread over here as well as my Garrison. 

I couldn’t pass on the 40th anniversary deal that RS had going earlier in the year. After finance officer approval my BBB was on its way and I received it just in time to deploy overseas for six months. That’s a long time to do some research and make a bunch of online orders for parts and other bits and pieces during limited time off. I decided to go the HWT route via ANH Stunt with the aim of making the two interchangeable with belts, pauldron, cleanup etc. I’ve posted here rather than HWT, but will probably start a backpack build over there soon to seperate the two. ANH Stunt first then HWT. 

Anyway, I’m back now and have been making some progress between much needed family time. 

I pretty much came home to this. There are a few bits of merch in there in case anyone is trying to identify everything. Bucket partly assembled and painted here. 

 

Stepping back a bit, I should start with the bucket. I marked out the cut lines for the eyes and used a Dremel to carefully remove the material. The eyes was a combination of drill, Dremel and files. 

Being an RS kit there are many bumps and wrinkles but I love it. Did I mention this is a PVC kit yet?

 

Once I was happy and had trimmed the parts a little I fitted the two together. You’ll probably notice that I’ve made them a little loose and there’s a gap between the faceplate and brow. That’s the issue with blinding using the hole marks in an RS kit, folks. I fixed this up later on after some good advice from the guys in the SCG (that’s the Southern Cross Garrison, not the other one I see around here a bit :P).

 

Next up I began painting. The frown first followed by the tube stripes. I used some stencils from Trooperbay as I didn’t trust myself.

A little bit of cleanup to do...

...followed by the traps and tears. Black first, then carefully laying down the gray. I really tried to take my time to get it right. You don’t realise how much your hands shake until you try to paint perfectly straight lines, and fail. 

 

More templates for the lines... again I have some clean up do to but I’ll do that later.

 

Now its time to do the dreaded ears. I really didn’t want to do these as I was sure I’d mess them up. I went nice and slowly, trimming a little at a time, just the high points until I had a nice fit. Now I’m not entirely happy just yet but I’m leaving them for now. I think overall they should be thinner.

 

I then fitted the lens. This was also from Trooperbay as I wasn’t at all happy with the film-like stuff that RS provides.

(I know, I know, I haven’t finished the vocoder - waiting for a better brush to arrive because it’s nearly Christmas and going anywhere is crazy right now lol. Also, yes the brow is high, it works for me right now. I may alter it later but I know that will take some work at this point)

 

And lastly, just last night in fact, I painted the black for the ears and fitted the mic tips - I forgot to take pics of that process sorry.

 

And that’s where I’m up to. I’ll try to post things as they happen from now on, rather than playing catch-up. Having fun so far and that’s the main thing in my book. 

Edited December 20, 2017 by shadan
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[shadan[TK]]

My brushes arrived - time to finished the vocoder... nope. eBay strikes again, these brushes are terrible, the kids can have them for crafts. Sigh. 

Oh well, perfect weather for some trimming outside. I got setup out the back of the garage, mask and eye protection on, Dremel plugged in, some tunes playing... and the rain starts.

So I shuffled back under cover and continued anyway. 

I trimmed up the chest and ab pieces leaving an even amount of return edge over both of them, but a little more on the lower-chest and upper-ab. I didn’t want to take too much off here as I’ll be using the accurate bracket kit from Mr. No Stripes. There’s probably a bit more tidying to do once I see how it all fits but I think I’m close to what I want.

 

One thing that that I was concerned about is the stresses on the plastic so I’m adding extra strength like many others before me have done. 

 

I measured and cut small strips of spare material and glued into place with E-6000. 

Not too concerned with overflow in here as I’d rather a good, strong bond - but it’s easy to clean up afterwards. Just the centre pieces in place for today. Some magnets and clamps later and it’s time to let it cure.

 

I haven’t got a timetable or plan for this build so it’s sure to jump around all over the place rather than follow some linear path - just fair warning. 

Edited December 21, 2017 by shadan
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[TheSwede[TK]]

Looking good and I for one like the raised brow-look perhaps just a little thinner on the black outlines?

 

 

On ‎2017‎-‎12‎-‎19 at 10:13 PM, shadan said:

Having fun so far and that’s the main thing in my book. 

We must have the same book

 

[shadan[TK]]

24 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

 

Looking good and I for one like the raised brow-look perhaps just a little thinner on the black outlines?

 

 

Never go lowbrow

 

You are probably right about the black lines. I stressed out so much going closer and closer with the gray. They do look nice and bold now I suppose.

[68Brick[TK]]

Good Start!

[shadan[TK]]

This morning I’ve worked on the belt and TD. Using the awesome Billgrams as my guide I set to work.

The old score and snap works really well on PVC. I wasn’t sure if it would to begin with but it’s actually quite easy to work with - on long straight lines anyhow.

And in no time at all...

I won’t go further until I’m ready to do the canvas belt. I’ve seen people lay them flat to attach it but I feel I should allow for the curvature of the suit so there’s no bunching up or anything. That’s another day. 

 

RS sends the TD with the clips already attached. I know I’ll have to replace the screws at some point. One thing I will do soon is put more of a bend in the clips so they sit flush with the pipe. 

Again I used the Billgram. 

The end caps were quite easy to trim and fit. I made sure to remove one of the screws to let the pressure out - didn’t want anything to break!

The control box trimmed up quite easily as well. I’ll need to strap it down well to glue it properly. 

Anything amiss before I do?

[TheSwede[TK]]

20 hours ago, shadan said:

. I’ve seen people lay them flat to attach it but I feel I should allow for the curvature of the suit so there’s no bunching up or anything. That’s another day. 

And so you should, put the center cap in first and then put the belt on the ab and mark the outer ones on the canvas..this helps avoid stress and belt popping of, I learned this from Troopermaster

Here`s how the belt looks laying flat - looks wrong but is right

[shadan[TK]]

Excellent, my brain told me something good!

Thanks for that. 

On the topic of belts: I’ve been thinking about using snaps to attach the ammo pack/belt to the canvas belt, with the snaps hidden as per usual by the button caps. That way I can swap the belts out easily when I go HWT. Are there any requirements of L2/3 that I’ve missed that would limit this? I can’t see any but I haven’t found anyone else doing this. Yes the belt might sit a fraction higher against my armour but not in a noticeable way. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

If it`s not noticable then it`s no doubt also approvable for L2/3. Although you can`t have a holster for HWT and making it removable with snaps make them visible on the canvas so I guess you`ll need 2 belts anyway, unless the side pouches hides it of course, not 100% sure so you could send a PM to justjoseph63 and he will know for sure

[shadan[TK]]

Yeah I definitely need a second canvas belt as you can’t have visible holes where the holster was. That’s ok, I have two already having planned for that

[magni[TK]]

Looking good so far!

And great choice going HWT!

Good to see another soon joining the Ranks!

[CableGuy[TK]]

Looks like a super tidy build! Love the RS lids, too. :-)


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[shadan[TK]]

Thanks for the kind words, gents. 

 

Its funny, after beginning this build I’ve becoming so impressed with how white and shiny this material is that there is a part of me doesn’t want to dirty it up. There’s no way I’d be able to go sandy! 

[jethroskull[501st]]

13 hours ago, shadan said:

Its funny, after beginning this build I’ve becoming so impressed with how white and shiny this material is that there is a part of me doesn’t want to dirty it up. There’s no way I’d be able to go sandy! 

So true. When I see all those shiny, white pieces laid out all I can think is "When are we spraying the pearl?"

[shadan[TK]]

A bunch of little updates today.

I had a go at painting the ab buttons. I just took it nice and slow when I had no distractions, kids and wife were all asleep.  They probably would have been easier with a template but I think they turned out ok. 

 

Next I gave he brackets in the chest to ab prices had a test fit. I still have to go and counter-sink the holes before I do anything permanently, then paint the screws of course. I have probably left far too much return edge on the chest peice but I didn’t want to go too small first go. Easy fix to remove some material now though. 

 

The shoulder straps were pretty straight forward, I really just eye-balled it and sanded flat with a sanding block. I also cut some spare PVC to fit in the grooves on the back to give some reinforcement for when I glue them down - I’ll get a photo of the reinforcements when I glue them down. 

 

Poppers installed for the canvas belt... yeah I messed up a few before getting the hang of it.

 

I then worked on the thigh pieces. When trimmed and taped up they feel quite comfortable. Not too tight on my legs but not too much spare room either. There are some big discrepancies when lined up so I plan to trim them down before I glue the cover strips. I know some people leave them as is but I want both legs to look similar. 

 

Looking at the back back of the thighs there is no way to line them up the same without serious trimming. Again I’ll trim them so they are similar. This will also stop them sticking into me and I’ll be able to bring them slightly higher.

 

Unsure yet if I’ll have to trim out the back of the thighs. I’ve got them lined up pretty well so if I can avoid it I will. But we’ll see how they feel when I’m wearing them. 

Edited December 31, 2017 by shadan
Expanded some explanations

[shadan[TK]]

A few more bits and pieces today. I remembered that I had glued my hand-guards down a couple of days ago so today I checked on them. They turned out pretty good. The wife was happy because she got two tea-towels back. I had rolled them up and stuffed them inside the gloves to give them some shale which is pretty standard around these parts. When I put them on the plates don’t feel as if they’re trying to tear themselves free so I’ll take that as a good sign.

 

 

The plates and gloves are from trooperbay incidentally. I know there are many others about but I had very limited access to these forums while I was away last year and TB was a bit more accessible. Made things easy. 

 

Next up a did a bit more painting, tough ups really. 

The screws in the TD were simple. I unscrewed them about 5mm (yes, everything I say will be in metric thank you :p) and gave them a quick paint. Once they were dry I screwed them back into place and gave them a touch up.

 

Then I added some gray to the ear bumps over the black that I had previously put down.  Not perfect but I think I’m happy. All my black lines a fairly thick. Hopefully not abnormally so. 

I’ll get the black rank bar done tomorrow hopefully, then it’s just some white paint on the screws. Note to self: go get some white paint!

 

While I was going I had another go at the vocoder. Turns out I didn’t really need the rounded brush, just some patience. Please ignore my old lead pencil guide lines that I also obviously ignored. I’ll rub them off tomorrow also. Again, not perfect. 

 

I’ve also glued the front cover strips onto both thigh pieces now. I wasn’t too happy with the strength of the join and unfortunately RS do not seem to supply enough PVC for both inner and outer cover strips. Fortunately they leave plenty of spare material on individual pieces so I’ve used so of that instead. It’s not as thick, but I think it will still provide that extra bit of strength. I’ll post pics of that another time. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Looking good.

[shadan[TK]]

Thanks mate. 

 

 

Here’s a question for the masses: how far down the chest plate should I mount the shoulder straps? 

I was thinking of aligning the edge of the first bump to the angled area as shown here...

 

[djmatrix09[TK]]

Thanks mate. 
 
 
Here’s a question for the masses: how far down the chest plate should I mount the shoulder straps? 
I was thinking of aligning the edge of the first bump to the angled area as shown here...
 

Did you boil and curve them yet? I eyeballed mine a bit, because I've seen some builds with them hanging far back. Then I used the bumps to align them to the notch you're showing in the picture. Keep it up!

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[shadan[TK]]

They actually come curved from RS. I believe they’re pulled that way unlike other makers.

 

Thanks man, it ‘feels’ right there

 

Edit: not all makers but I’ve certainly seen flat ones out there

[TheSwede[TK]]

2 hours ago, shadan said:

how far down the chest plate should I mount the shoulder straps?

That depends on your body type - taller/bigger troopers usually have less bumps in the front, 5 bumps + the big one in the front is screen accurate 

[shadan[TK]]

Nice, thanks. I haven’t put any of the back pieces together yet so I’ll see how it all fits together before attaching them. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Sounds like a plan 

[shadan[TK]]

I had a go at making up a thigh garter this morning. For the belt I used a simple luggage belt that I had originally bought for the base for a FOTK belt - way before JAFO came along with his Belts of the First Order. Incidentally, I had previously used the other one (they came in pairs) to make the waist belt and bandolier for my Tusken. It was meant to be. 

Anyhow, I trimmed off a fair bit of excess material, melted the end to stop fraying and resewed it. 

Next I sewed loops into some 3inch wide black elastic (dammit that’s not metric!) and pulled the belt through. Simple. I’m till not great at using a sewing machine but it was way quicker than doing it my hand. 

 

 

I fully expect to need to sew the elastic into the belt to keep the thigh pieces in place. Hopefully in the next couple of days I’ll be ready test it out. 

I haven’t decided if I’ll use glue or snaps to attach the elastic to the thighs yet.  

 

[MrSnrub[501st]]

With the right thigh allign it at the top the thogh ammo pack will hide the missalinged bottom