RS Propmasters ESB TK slow and steady build in Portland, OR

[Infern0[TK]]

Interesting see how cream colored your RS armor is. I guess it's not just a fluke thing then!

I've been thinking on it a bit, and I've decided to paint my helmet, so I may try the automotive option. Unless you have any suggestions for a good spray color for buckets. I've heard Krylon gloss white, but also had mixed results with getting a really nice finish with Kryon in the past...

... or I may see if @CableGuy wants to finish the bucket for me at this point hahaha.

 

For the ammo pack, I've sent a message out to Trooper Bay and WTF to see if I can get samples of their ABS. If one matches closely enough, I'll go with them, or else try to paint my RS ammo pack.

I'm also debating trying to patch my current one up with abs paste and trying to make it work since I have to fix some holes in my abdominal and kidney plates anyway... So many options!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Color matching the paint will be the problem, I prefer using automotive acrylic paint, dries quickly and can be sanded and buffed/polished. I would suggest getting it professionally color matched as least then it won't look out of place

 

Many have used Krylon paints and seem to have no issues (as long as you aren't too heavy) but we don't have that down under so can't comment further.

 

We do have Rustoleum and I'll never use that again, some cans can be great but others spurt and come out in blobs no matter how long you shake them for  

 

 

[Infern0[TK]]

Oh man, I'll pretty much only use Rustoleum for primer now hahaha. Color matching will require me talking to people face to face which is discouraged here in the USA right now (I really miss living in New Zealand)... but I'll see what I can sort out

[Harder[TK]]

ABS will most likely sink if put in water. Unfortunately so will PVC. If do an ASTM burn test, ABS will have a yellow flame with bluish flickers. Black soot can be seen in the air. PVC has a blue flame with yellow flickers, same for the soot as ABS. If you’re familiar, PVC has a fruity smell when burnt vs ABS is mostly acrid.

It’ll be hard to “Prove” however paint from your local hardware store will support bonding to both PVC and ABS collectively.

You could, I suppose, send a small sample of each to a rheology lab and that will be definitive. Usually costs about $200 and they’ll need at least 30-50g of polymer to do the test.


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[Infern0[TK]]

Haven’t touched the armor in a while...

 

Decided to try ABS paste to fix the bits I overtrimmed before I go paint matching or ABS matching (although older Anovos armor seems to be very close interestingly. Anyone have a spare Anovos knee ammo belt?). Unfortunately, due to health issues haven’t spent much time in the garage the past few months. Already being exhausted all of the time from my condition, plus IBS keeping me up most nights this year has been killer. Hoping to have the energy and time to get back into it soon, fingers crossed, but I’ve become a little discouraged to be honest.
 

Did manage to tick a few things off the list since January though:

 

- Adjust padding that I added in shins (it was pushing the shin into the back of my calf)
- Trim back tops of thighs to match the shape of butt plate better
- Add little bits of padding to fronts of thighs to make them sit nicer
- Add padding to abdominal plate to make it sit nicer
- Loosen strapping holding butt plate to kidney

- Shorten shoulder bell to shoulder bridge strapping

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Sorry to hear you have been unwell, I can definitely relate to that and becoming discouraged, just try small bits at a time, they all add up in the end.

[Infern0[TK]]

53 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Sorry to hear you have been unwell, I can definitely relate to that and becoming discouraged, just try small bits at a time, they all add up in the end.

Thank you Glen! Good advice.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Great to see you back at it Garrett 

[Infern0[TK]]

After a bit of fiddling, got the right ear fixed up using ABS paste, and lots of sanding/polishing! 
 

It’s not perfect - did several passes and still couldn’t completely get rid of all air bubbles, but there are few enough that I’m happy with it now.

 

Sits well enough on there too I think!

 

Also, got the chin straps and s-trim in there:

 

It’s crazy how once you get the ears on and the s-trim on, it goes from being a plastic thing to a fairly solid feeling helmet!

 

Despite my lack of painting expertise, I’ve been feeling encouraged, so I moved on to the vocoder and frown. I’ve done two coats so far, and it definitely needs a bit of cleanup, but it’s getting there!

 

[MoSc0ut[TK]]

Looking good! Remember the examples in ESB were hardly perfect. They slapped the paint on there and started filming!

Jim
TK-50899

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Many of the helmets were ANH repainted for ESB, here are some references, notice the long last painted tooth

 

[Infern0[TK]]

3 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Many of the helmets were ANH repainted for ESB, here are some references, notice the long last painted tooth

 

Cool, thank you! I can go a bit longer on both sides then.

[Rat[TK]]

Coming along nicely Garrett. I'm making headway on that pike you delivered to me as well.

[Infern0[TK]]

Helmet is nearly done now. Got some clean up and still need to paint the ear screws. Want to do a little tidy up of the ears too - hands were not super steady painting them!
 

Also got all of the decals placed aside from the tube stripes, but I’m a little confused as to why the decal for the left tear is too large for the hole... it’s difficult to make it fit without it creasing or bubbling. Still working on it though.

 

Had anyone else encountered this?

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Stickers don't like covering curves, you cold use the water detergent trick but the sticker will take a long time to dry out so you'll be continually pushing until it dries.

 

I use a little heat from a heat gun to help shrink the sticker while I apply pressure, BUT I would caution you it does take a little practice, I tried on a lot of left over sticker material before attempting the actual helmet stickers.

 

Another trick is to cut with a knife and remove excess material, again a little trick

[Infern0[TK]]

Cool, good ideas thank you!  I have some left over bits of vinyl, so I’ll play around with a hairdryer first, before I move to a heat gun... Don’t want to use the knife trick unless I have to. 
 

Any advice on keeping the decal sticky while using the heat gun?

[Infern0[TK]]

The hair dryer worked great!
 

As per a bunch of suggestions on Facebook and a video from Trooperbay, I sprayed the decal (which I’d removed) and the bucket with a solution of water and a squirt of dish detergent, and floated it into position, then gently rubbed/dabbed it with tissue until while holding it in place until the water was gone.
 

Once the water/soap was gone it stuck pretty well, but still had bubbles, and wasn’t sitting great, so I used the hair dryer and gently worked it to fit. I did rub a little too vigorously trying to remove the air bubbles and rubbed a little of the ink off, but it’s barely noticeable, and my fault for using a tissue instead of a soft cloth, and it looks pretty darn good if I say so myself.

 

After some cleanup on the paint, and adding the tube stripes with the soap and water trick as well, I’d say it’s done. There are some scratches on the right lens which I need to buff out, but I’m pretty stoked with how it turned out!

 

It’s been a long time in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

Next up: helmet padding, and fixing holes in the abdominal and kidney plates.

[Infern0[TK]]

Keep meaning to ask this and keep forgetting: I should change the title of the build thread to something more descriptive and helpful to other prospective TKs. @gmrhodes13 @justjoseph63 who would I contact to change it?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

4 hours ago, 1nfern0 said:

Keep meaning to ask this and keep forgetting: I should change the title of the build thread to something more descriptive and helpful to other prospective TKs. @gmrhodes13 @justjoseph63 who would I contact to change it?

You should be able to change it yourself, go back to your first post and click the 3 dots on the top right, a sub menu will pop up and then select "edit".

 

If you have any issue let me now what you would like it changed to and I can do it for you.

[Infern0[TK]]

22 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

You should be able to change it yourself, go back to your first post and click the 3 dots on the top right, a sub menu will pop up and then select "edit".

 

If you have any issue let me now what you would like it changed to and I can do it for you.

Awesome, thank you Glen! Found it

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow your helmet turned out great Garrett, nice progress sir.

[Infern0[TK]]

1 hour ago, Sly11 said:

Wow your helmet turned out great Garrett, nice progress sir.

Thank you!! I’m so stoked. Keep catching myself just staring at it

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

10 hours ago, 1nfern0 said:

 Keep catching myself just staring at it

 

Not to worry, I think many of us do this, lol.  (I know I still do even after all these years).

 

Excellent progress by the way, Garrett!  Depending on how screen accurate you want to get, you may want to think about trimming the brow trim back a tad on the ends.  Although the screen-used versions were a LOT farther back (I think due to the fact that the rubber shrank in the years between filming ANH and ESB) but I wouldn't go as far back as the reference images. 

                                                                                                                            ESB reference images

                 

[Infern0[TK]]

16 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

 

Not to worry, I think many of us do this, lol.  (I know I still do even after all these years).

 

Excellent progress by the way, Garrett!  Depending on how screen accurate you want to get, you may want to think about trimming the brow trim back a tad on the ends.  Although the screen-used versions were a LOT farther back (I think due to the fact that the rubber shrank in the years between filming ANH and ESB) but I wouldn't go as far back as the reference images. 

                                                                                                                            ESB reference images

                 

Thanks @justjoseph63! Definitely don’t want to cut the trim too much, but I’ll give it a little paring down. Maybe a little bit idealized? 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Exactly.