hollowbodies' first build : ANH Stunt TK (AP)

[hollowbodies[501st]]

  Good stuff, Greg. Would adjusting the width of the coverstrips be done to bridge a gap in the limb parts (assuming they’re too small to fit)?  

I’m guessing the amount of excess on each part varies between armour makers.

Thankfully, my RWA armour had enough excess on the limbs that I could size up and fit without having to change the size of the coverstrips. So, even if I had to add an inch or so to the biceps, for example, I would have simply trimmed less off of the bicep halves and still added a 15mm coverstrips. If that makes sense. ;-)

 

 

Well, for me it seems to be my arm that's too small, haha! A 15mm cover strip looked like it left a lot of space between my arm and the armor. Seems like I might end up doing something like what wook did.   

 

 

I am currently skiing right now, but I'll take more and better measurements and see how it looks with a one finger width when I get back home!

 

Thanks for your advice, I'll post that later

 

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[TheSwede[TK]]

7 minutes ago, hollowbodies said:

Well, for me it seems to be my arm that's too small

Not sure I understand this correctly but here goes If you have thinner arms - great that means you can go with Canon size cover strips, you adjust the size of the biceps by cutting down the two halves, not by making the cover strip more narrow 

[CableGuy[TK]]

14 minutes ago, hollowbodies said:

Well, for me it seems to be my arm that's too small, haha! A 15mm cover strip looked like it left a lot of space between my arm and the armor.

 

2 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

Not sure I understand this correctly but here goes If you have thinner arms - great that means you can go with Canon size cover strips, you adjust the size of the biceps by cutting down the two halves, not by making the cover strip more narrow 

 

Hmmm...like Daniel, I’m a little confused. As the coverstrip is on the outside of the armour piece, it shouldn’t play and part in the space between the arm and the armour. I have quite slim arms, so just cut more (evenly) from each side of the limb, then butt jointed the two with the coverstrip. If my arms were larger, I’d have cut less away from the limb part, but still covered with a 15mm strip. I believe the strip size would only increase if needs must, for example if the trooper is of a larger build and needs to cover some larger gaps. :-)

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Yeah, sorry, I think it's me that was a bit confused, haha. It's not really the width of the cover strip itself that was really bugging me, but what's happening "under" the cover strip... 8-)

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[wook1138[TK]]

Here is the issue I had with my armour. The AP armour has moulded return edges at the front and back. I wanted 15mm coverstrips. So, to make things look good, the moulded return edges have to be 15mm too (actually a bit more to match my forearms). I could completely remove the return edges at the back, but then the overall fit would be too small. It is the return edge at the back... it was just in a bad spot for me.




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[hollowbodies[501st]]

The AP armour has moulded return edges at the front and back. I wanted 15mm coverstrips. So, to make things look good, the moulded return edges have to be 15mm too (actually a bit more to match my forearms).

I think that is exactly the issue I thought I had. Hopefully the return edges at 15mm + the covers strips of 15mm too won't be toooooo large (for my arms) and will fit well. Can't be that bad! ^^

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[hollowbodies[501st]]

Deleted: Double post, sorry!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

2 hours ago, hollowbodies said:

I think that is exactly the issue I thought I had. Hopefully the return edges at 15mm + the covers strips of 15mm too won't be toooooo large (for my arms) and will fit well. Can't be that bad! ^^

 

 

Some add a little foam in pieces if they are a little large, I use foam in my forearms otherwise they wobble and rotate  

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Good news everyone, I made some fit tests for the biceps and it fits pretty well with those 15mm return edges and cover strips - better than I initially thought. If it's moving a bit in the end, I too might add a little foam padding to the inside, but I think maybe it won't even be needed. ^^ 

 

So I cut some 15mm cover strips ang started gluing them to the biceps, one side at a time (I had already trimmed the biceps' return edges to 15mm). I also continued gluing the forearms together; one is almost finished (for the glue part) and the other one is coming pretty well, too. After that, I'll just have to sand them a little bit for the final touch up and remove excess glue.

 

 

While I wait for all of this to dry for around 24 hours, I hope I'll have some time tomorrow to start looking at the TD more seriously!

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, great to see you are using tape and clamps, you can never have enough of when building armor, I don't know how many times I've order more magnets  

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Nice work, great to see you are using tape and clamps, you can never have enough of when building armor, I don't know how many times I've order more magnets  

I know what you mean... I still have some left for now, but I am waiting for 50 more magnets to be delivered soon - hopefully next week. And I was planning on going to buy some more clamps tomorrow. I have a lot of the smaller ones but I like the big ones too as they are a bit stronger and I feel like I might end up needing more as I progress and get more and more things drying at the same time !

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[hollowbodies[501st]]

So today I didn't have as much time to put on my armor as I would have loved to, but I still managed to make a little bit of progress. I took measurements and started trimming some parts of the TD so that it has some more scrren accurate dimensions.

 

I had to remove a few mm from the caps to make them 20mm wide.

 

I also had to remove around 10mm from the central plate to trim it down to 121mm wide, so I marked everything (sorry for the blurry pic) :

 

So I cut and then sanded them to give them a better finish!

 

I also took some measurements of the tube so that it can respect the size of 7.25" to 7.5" width : I have to remove about 23mm from the tube itself so that it fits in this range with the caps on...

 

 

It is marked, so now I've just got to find a way to cut that thing properly...

 

...And I'll also have to find some tools to cut the metal clips, 'cause I don't think I have anything to do that at the moment, heh!

Edited February 12, 2018 by hollowbodies

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Dremel is your friend.

[hollowbodies[501st]]

11 hours ago, Harbinger said:

Dremel is your friend.

I do have a dremel, but I wasn't sure about using it to cut the tube, as I read somewhere that it wasn't working very well for that purpose... !? 

[CableGuy[TK]]

Good old junior hacksaw worked well for mine. Had to remove 5mm off the length of mine. Just marked around the whole circumference of the pipe to ensure it was cutting straight.
Careful use of a Dremel disc could probably obtain the same results. :-)


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[hollowbodies[501st]]

I've been pretty busy in the last few days, but I still managed to put a little bit of time on my armor yesterday. I progressed in the biceps and forearms : one forearm is all glued (still needs to be cleaned and sanded, but I'm waiting for the other one to be complete too so that I can make both at the same time) and the other one is almost finished drying and will be all glued after that. And for the biceps, I glued the second cover strip on the first halves; so next time, I'll be able to start putting and gluing both halves together. I prefer gluing one cover strip and one side at a time for now even if it's a bit long, just to make sure that everything is well done...

 

 

I also cut some small strips (as you can see on the picture) to make the hooks for the biceps. I made them maybe a bit longer than needed just to make sure I'll have plenty to glue them properly (they are 15mm wide and 95mm long for now). Still need to bend them, but I'll wait for my biceps parts to be done drying before I measure and mark to do that.

 

I also precisely marked my TD tube all around to make sure I'll cut it straight when I'll be doing it (no picture, sorry). I though about the Dremel and I think that I'll try using a hacksaw instead - I feel that it'll go better and that I'll have more control over it for that kind of job. The problem is that I don't ave a hacksaw at the moment, so I'm probably gonna go buy one this Friday or during the weekend! 

Edited February 14, 2018 by hollowbodies

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good. I use a dremel for pretty much everything, well almost, I have 3 as I'm too lazing to change the tips  They do need some practice and they are always better if you can hold and rest on a leg or surface to keep straight.

 

Old school marking and cutting with a hacksaw will do just as well. If you need too wrap some sandpaper around a block of wood just to take sand out flat any imperfections in the cuts  

[hollowbodies[501st]]

14 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Looking good. I use a dremel for pretty much everything, well almost, I have 3 as I'm too lazing to change the tips  They do need some practice and they are always better if you can hold and rest on a leg or surface to keep straight.

Someday I'll try to cut with my Dremel... someday!! I have to haha!  But I'll go buy a hacksaw anyways, as it's not too expensive and can always be useful for some other stuff too.

 

14 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

If you need too wrap some sandpaper around a block of wood just to take sand out flat any imperfections in the cuts  

Yeah, that's a good trick! That's what I did for the TD caps and the edges of the TD central plate, to make them smoother and even, and it worked like a charm! I used some 180 and 220 grit up to now. 

 

But I have a question related to that : should I sand the TD tube before applying some primer and then the paint? Because I want to paint it with some spray paint. And if I should sand it, what grit should I use? Would 220 be okay, or should I go with something else? (I also have some 180 grit sponge-type blocks)

 

Thanks!

Edited February 14, 2018 by hollowbodies

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

15 minutes ago, hollowbodies said:

But I have a question related to that : should I sand the TD tube before applying some primer and then the paint? Because I want to paint it with some spray paint. And if I should sand it, what grit should I use? Would 220 be okay, or should I go with something else? (I also have some 180 grit sponge-type blocks)

Really depends how thick the spray paint is, it is always better to light sand pipe before applying any paint, I normally try to use a little finer if I'm not using a primer first, 400 grit doesn't leave any sanding marks. Even using a pot scourer would doo, it's really just to give the paint something to help adhere too.

 

Depending on how tight the end caps are you may want to tape the ends of the pipes before you paint  

 

[wook1138[TK]]

1 hour ago, hollowbodies said:

Someday I'll try to cut with my Dremel... someday!! I have to haha!  But I'll go buy a hacksaw anyways, as it's not too expensive and can always be useful for some other stuff too.

 

Yeah, that's a good trick! That's what I did for the TD caps and the edges of the TD central plate, to make them smoother and even, and it worked like a charm! I used some 180 and 220 grit up to now. 

 

But I have a question related to that : should I sand the TD tube before applying some primer and then the paint? Because I want to paint it with some spray paint. And if I should sand it, what grit should I use? Would 220 be okay, or should I go with something else? (I also have some 180 grit sponge-type blocks)

 

Thanks!

For painted surfaces I use up to 600 grit (which may be overkill with something like a TD). 220 will likely show the sanding marks through spray paint. If you are using primer you shouldn’t have issues with paint not sticking. Just use thin coats whenever spray painting.   And like Q mentions, tape the ends. Those caps are tight. 

[hollowbodies[501st]]

Thanks guys, I'll go get some finer sand paper. And I'll surely tape the ends - I already planned to do so after trying to initially put and remove the caps.

 

I've got another question for you out there, that time about the helmet. I think I'll try to paint my helmet myself, so I want to order some masking templates to help me get the job done right. I was thinking about buying these ones from TrooperBay : https://trooperbay.com/decals/prop-replica-decals/star-wars-props/troopers-tk/trooper-helmet-masking-templates .

 

However, there is one thing I am not sure of : I don't know what to chose between "Hand Painted Look" and "Standard" for the templates' style. What does that mean exactly? What's the difference between both? 

 

And what's better / the best looking in your opinion? Personally, I initially felt like going with "Standard", but is that more screen accurate than the hand painted look or? 

Edited February 14, 2018 by hollowbodies

[wook1138[TK]]

I believe the hand painted templates are based (not exact as the right and left are just mirror images of each other) on an actual helmet (the "Dave M" helmet).  So they would emulate a real example of painted tube stripes.  I believe the standard stencils are more idealized and therefore more uniform looking.  I assume I got the hand painted version (I honestly don't remember there being a choice at the time - but my memory is junk). 

 

Fire Mike at Trooperbay a question if in doubt. 

Edited February 14, 2018 by wook1138

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

The "Dave M" decals and templates are just a more screen accurate look, they are also required for L3 BUT a trick I found which some have used is if the lines are painted too straight (or you have decals that are straight) is to go over with a black permanent marker, it's like colouring in a paint by numbers in reverse, you want to go over the lines

[hollowbodies[501st]]

The "Dave M" decals and templates are just a more screen accurate look, they are also required for L3 BUT a trick I found which some have used is if the lines are painted too straight (or you have decals that are straight) is to go over with a black permanent marker, it's like colouring in a paint by numbers in reverse, you want to go over the lines

Oh well, that closes the case then! As I'd like to get Centurion, I just wanted to make sure of what was the more screen accurate and accepted at higher levels... I'll be ordering the hand painted look templates then!

 

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[hollowbodies[501st]]

Today, I had the chance to be able to work on my armor for a while, so I progressed in many things. I worked on my forearms (which are almost done), on my biceps and on my TD as well. I'll post many pictures of my progress in a little while. However, I've also started to look at the helmet, and I have some questions right now.

 

First of all, I'd like to get some advice about what to trim from it, because I'm not quite sure where/what to trim exactly. So here are many pictures (I'm including more than less) of my helmet right out of the box. Tell me what you think, what should be trimmed and what I should work and aim for...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for your help! ^^

Edited February 17, 2018 by hollowbodies