FN1313's Jimmiroqaui FOTK Armor Build

[FN1313[TK]]

Hey everyone,

 

As I noted in my Anovos build thread, I've decided to get a refund from Anovos and prefer to put my money with Jimmi as his kit will better fit me and most likely arrive sooner. So starting a new thread for this specifically I will keep this one specific to the build and not so much to general chatter.

 

Here's what the my FOTK will eventually be built with:

Buckets:

     Anovos TLJ Standard Bucket (Preordered)

     Jimmiroquai V5 TLJ Bucket 

Armor:

     Jimmiroqaui V5 TLJ Armor 

Holster:

     Dan's Metal Holster
Gaskets:

     Pinky Geeks Phantastic Gaskets

     Pinky Geeks Neck Seal

Harness:

     Pinky Geeks Harness

Belt:

     Belts of the First Order Belt
Soft Goods:

     FOTK Boots and Gloves from Imperial Boots

Additional Items:

     Jimmi FOTK decals from Trooperbay
     Fabric Belt Pouches from gijim

     F-11D and SE-44c from Heston Solutions
     
Later upgrades:
    Most likely will be purchasing Ukswrath's Audio system and fans for the FOTK helmet, but armor first.
    Will also most likely purchase some shiny biker shorts from Geeky Pinks as well.

Hopefully with this build I will get the components sooner and be able to provide another build thread for this. I will aim to get plenty of details, photos, and even video of this build.

 

thanks again for everything!
 

Edited July 2, 2018 by FN-1313

[FN1313[TK]]

For my prior build info where I detailed my blasters here is the link:

 

Previous Build Thread

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking forward to the progress

[Anzo[TK]]

Best of luck!

[FN1313[TK]]

Okay. Armor looks like it will ship soon. Any recommendations on snaps/snap tools and Dremel and dremel heads?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, FN-1313 said:

Okay. Armor looks like it will ship soon. Any recommendations on snaps/snap tools and Dremel and dremel heads?

I use a few knock off brand rotary tools, as I can get 3 for the price of 1 Dremel here, I have a different tip on each so I don't have to keep changing, I'm lazy. So a sanding drum roller, a quick change cutting disc and a multi drill for making holes and enlarging them. These work the best for me but others may use different.

 

    

  

the one on the left in this picture

 

Snap tool I use the one that comes with the snaps but I also give them a tap first with a Philips head screwdriver so it helps to separate the post a little and they crush down better.

 

I've not heard of any bad snaps locally but did find that Birch changed their supplier and their new packaging snaps are just a tad smaller, which I found trying to change a couple on my OT armor and couldn't work out at first why they kept coming apart without much pressure.

 

So stick with one supplier and make sure they are all the same packaging just in case.

 

I believe in the US Tandy snaps are the go to but someone else may confirm  

 

Looking forward to seeing those Big Brown Box photos  

[FN1313[TK]]

18 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I use a few knock off brand rotary tools, as I can get 3 for the price of 1 Dremel here, I have a different tip on each so I don't have to keep changing, I'm lazy. So a sanding drum roller, a quick change cutting disc and a multi drill for making holes and enlarging them. These work the best for me but others may use different.

 

    

  

the one on the left in this picture

 

Snap tool I use the one that comes with the snaps but I also give them a tap first with a Philips head screwdriver so it helps to separate the post a little and they crush down better.

 

I've not heard of any bad snaps locally but did find that Birch changed their supplier and their new packaging snaps are just a tad smaller, which I found trying to change a couple on my OT armor and couldn't work out at first why they kept coming apart without much pressure.

 

So stick with one supplier and make sure they are all the same packaging just in case.

 

I believe in the US Tandy snaps are the go to but someone else may confirm  

 

Looking forward to seeing those Big Brown Box photos  

Excellent suggestions! Thank you!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

On 6/16/2018 at 4:03 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

I've not heard of any bad snaps locally but did find that Birch changed their supplier and their new packaging snaps are just a tad smaller, which I found trying to change a couple on my OT armor and couldn't work out at first why they kept coming apart without much pressure.

 

I believe in the US Tandy snaps are the go to but someone else may confirm  

 

In addition to Q's suggestions I'm personally not a huge fan of Tandy snaps for a couple reasons, this is only my observation. They're not a strong as most people believe they are for starters. We're starting to see a lot of Tandy double snap connection systems, some say two is better than one, I say if you use quality snaps you only need one. Second reason is they tend to react to E6000 glue. Tandy I don't believe uses good anti-corrosive coating so there's been countless cases where the snaps reacted negatively to the glue causing damage to certain armors.

 

I've been suggesting "fastnap" or "Dot" snaps for a few years now and this is why. They're high quality, strong and are coated with an anti-corrosive material, not to mention they are priced within a few dollars of the Tandy. I have several personal costumes and countless commission builds that utilize a one snap system in all the required areas and yet I never worry about them coming loose. These things are strong.

 

Hope this helps  

[FN1313[TK]]

Happy BBB day!!!

https://imgur.com/gallery/MufLbAW

[Thumpy~[501st]]

6 minutes ago, FN-1313 said:

Happy BBB day!!!

https://imgur.com/gallery/MufLbAW

Happy day indeed!

[FN1313[TK]]

New pic (old one had address)

https://imgur.com/gallery/mZpUG30

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nothing better than a BBB

 

BTW try using the direct link in Imgur  

 

 

[FN1313[TK]]

10 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Nothing better than a BBB

 

BTW try using the direct link in Imgur  

 

 

Good idea. So everything looks great! His V5 kit is a lot smoother and refined for sure. I will pull it all out and get pics tonight. Now I did notice that there are parts that seem thin. I assume some fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth would be best to thicken and strengthen those parts, correct?

[FN1313[TK]]

I also got my pouches from @gijim and my shoulder supports and fans from @ukswrath. They are awesome. Thanks again to everyone who has helped and will help in making this happen!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[sandtrooper[501st]]

14 minutes ago, FN-1313 said:

Good idea. So everything looks great! His V5 kit is a lot smoother and refined for sure. I will pull it all out and get pics tonight. Now I did notice that there are parts that seem thin. I assume some fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth would be best to thicken and strengthen those parts, correct?

I'm building Jim's FOTS kit.  Look to see if there are any cracks on the outside of the pieces.  If there are any it would be a good idea to add fiberglass mat and resin to those areas.  It would also be good to re-enforce areas that will have stress on them or will be flexing.  Good luck with the build!

[FN1313[TK]]

7 minutes ago, sandtrooper said:

I'm building Jim's FOTS kit.  Look to see if there are any cracks on the outside of the pieces.  If there are any it would be a good idea to add fiberglass mat and resin to those areas.  It would also be good to re-enforce areas that will have stress on them or will be flexing.  Good luck with the build!

Thanks for the info! So far from what I've seen there's no cracks or so which is quite fortunate. I will be investigating in depth at home as I begin sanding, but figured I'd pick up some of these things on my way back just in case there were. I know the back plate has a little push to it and I want it a little more durable so I'm going to fiberglass it up some.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I added some extra resin and matting inside the neck area as it was a little thin in places  

[FN1313[TK]]

43 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I added some extra resin and matting inside the neck area as it was a little thin in places  

Yeah I picked up Ukswrath's shoulder supports. I will also fiberglass around there to build some added strength. With his one piece yoke that now goes over the chest in V5 I suspect a little more strain on that shoulder section.

[FN1313[TK]]

Inventoried and helmet cuts. Dremel was fantastic for this. I was fortunate to find no cracks in the armor. Most likely will need to size up the legs and calves so glad I got plastic sheets and Bondo on the way.

 

 

Edited June 26, 2018 by FN-1313

[FN1313[TK]]

I will post better pics later. Can’t seem to do so from the phone.

[FN1313[TK]]

Did some cutting of the chest vents and one of them got a little more than I wanted, so I'm going to have to bondo that small little part. (so small it may not matter, but I'm super picky). Fiberglass itch exists  haha. I will be doing some more detail cutting and filing tonight. Found that the thighs and calves are just a little small for me, so I'm going to use some plastic sheets that I will heat and form to the back of the leg pieces. I think 2 inches should do 1/2 an inch on each side for gluing to the armor and then 1 inch in size addition. I will then bondo the exterior so it's smooth and unnoticeable and finally use fiberglass sheets and resin to strengthen the interior if needed.

 

The sheets come in today. I will probably work on those later this week.

[FN1313[TK]]

Update: Last night I finished filing out all of the openings in the chest and arms. I will have to mark on the shins where the openings are, but need to do so after resizing and gluing and fitting the spats. 

 

I then adjusted the shoulder bell supports to the armor. They fit different and handle different on the Jim kit than they do on an abs pulled kit. (Pics coming) I also sliced the back of my thighs to size up. I don't plan on using velcro with them so I figured I'd do the back of them and size them up then fill with bondo. After attempting this with the ABS I got I realized it was the wrong kind of material and it doesn't mold with heat.  Thanks to a facebook comment though I've got some Sintra coming in and even opted to go with Apoxie Sculpt for the area that will be needing to be filled instead of bondo. It sounded like it will be better for sculpting a large area than bondo. I will use the bondo for filling/sanding the rest of the armor.

 

Over the next few days I will work on getting the legs sized up right and the Apoxie sculpt put in, then from there I will be filling in the thin areas with fiberglass (I will likely do this where I size up the legs too for added strength. Finally after that I will start applying snaps to the armor for the harnessing and build then get some initial wear pictures. 

 

Crazy me for doing an FOTK as my first kit, but I think it will work out just fine.

[FN1313[TK]]

Pic dump. Cut out openings and sanded with 100 grit the upper body parts. 

 

One thing I can say is this armor is very smooth already, so the sanding process is quite reasonable.