RS Vlog Build-A-Long ANH Stunt

[hazamel[TK]]

So far I had a Snowtrooper and I am pretty happy with him. He served me well this summer, but I what's more iconic than the classic Stormtrooper?

My deciscion to build one was fueled by three things:

1. I read a few comments on RS commissons here and that they might require a few adjustments afterwards.

2. They started their vlog build tutorials and offered a discount version of their kit. (Some time into it I know where the discount comes from ;))

3. I want the build experience.

 

So here I am with my big brown box and want to add another ANH Stunt Stormtrooper to the Empires fine army.

 

What I have so far:

 

Armour:

• RS YouTube Kit

Helmet:

• RS Helmet Commission (I'm not THAT brave on my first try...)

Softgoods:

• Black Longsleeve Shirt and Pants from a local Department Store
• Boots from Imperialboots via RS (ordered)

 

My goal is to get as close as possible to EI or Centurion. I'm not really aiming for it but I use it as an orientation.

Physically I guess I'm on the edge of "not to tall" Trooper as far as I read the buildthreads and recommendations here: I'm about 6' with about 194 lbs.

 

So this box full of white paper, white plastic and bubblewrap arrived:

 

 

Fast forward to today and the official start of my build journey.

The Biceps!

I was pretty happy that RS alread cut away a lot of the excess so I started meassuring the size like Rob told on the tutorial an cut a away about half of what was left. I'm trying to get closer to the final result slowly before having extra work to fix it later.

And ran into the first question I didn't find an answer to  (Won't be the last)

Who tight does it have to be?

 

 

 

For now it holds up nicely but I haven't removed the excess on the return edge so far.

[TheSwede[TK]]

First I have a question for you - is that your

undersuit?

Now - welcome to FISD and congratulations on having a great kit For sizing you want the bicep to be able to move up and down on your arm so not to tight but not to loose either...if you have room then beeing able to have a finger between the armor and your body is a good rule of thumb At the moment I don’t recall whom of the original creators of the armor it was that stated that it should look as it had grown onto the body but that’s what I had in mind when building my suits. Be sure to check out as much of this forum as you can - tons if great stuff here

[hazamel[TK]]

2 hours ago, TheSwede said:

First I have a question for you - is that your

undersuit?

Now - welcome to FISD and congratulations on having a great kit For sizing you want the bicep to be able to move up and down on your arm so not to tight but not to loose either...if you have room then beeing able to have a finger between the armor and your body is a good rule of thumb 

Yes, it is. At least for now  Couldn't belive it's so hard to find a longsleeve running shirt that is just black and doesn't have any fancy prints on it.
If that's the rule of thumb I'm on a good way. I'll remove a bit of the return edge and recheck.
Read various build threads and they're a big help but didn't see anybody thinking about sizing 
 

2 hours ago, Bud Spaklur said:

Look forward to seeing the build. Good call in having the kit come trimmed- that will save you a lot of time.

That was really a surprise. Expected something like a yoghurt cup.

[TheSwede[TK]]

30 minutes ago, hazamel said:

Yes, it is. At least for now

Then my recomendation would be to find a tighter one, not only does it help with allowing the armor to move on your body, it also prevents it from bunching up between parts of the armor

[hazamel[TK]]

Will have a look. Main problem with moving freely at the moment is the rough edge of the biceps

[hazamel[TK]]

Quick update, while I play the waiting game:

Ordered an two piece undersuit from stormtropperundersuit. It's already on it's way from UK so I hope I'll have it by next week. Also ordered the RS Strapping and Belt (Andrea knows how to sell stuff  ). And I'm waiting for my E 6000 to arrive. There seems to be no alternative in Germany and importing it from US was cheaper than buying one of Amazon. Yes, with shipping!
 

While I'm waiting for all this to arrive I started to annoy our neighbors and went outside at 5°C for sanding down the edges.

 

So much better now. The limit for putting it on and off is my elbow that colides with the lower return edges. Although not needed I wanted to give it a little depth. Looks good, but the ends where the two halves meet, are twisted or sticking out. Guess I won't have a level edge if I stick to the lower return edge.

 

I also marked the meassurements Rob gave in the vlog and like I expected: My arm's to big. Is it better to adjust the inner or the outer half to fit my arm? Or evenly? It's not much but about 1 centimeter. Feels like it fits fine like that, but as mentioned: The elbow thing for slipping in and out.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[Pretzel]

Great work on cleaning up those biceps! A little depth always looks better if you can manage it! 

[hazamel[TK]]

A lot of brown boxes (or white envelopes) arrived this week. My undersuit and the glue arrived. Because it's close to christmas and you never know how long the customs at Frankfurt-Airport need, I ordered another E6000-tube. The other three arrived the next day. I'm blessed with lots of E6000 now.

 

But back to biceps. Weather is pretty challenging here but I was dedicated to get on with my first biceps and worked in undersuit with the dremel and sanding block outside on the balcony. At 6° C and an incoming storm.

 

And here's the result:

 

 

I think it might be a little thighter at the top but fits nice on the bottom. Already cut the coverstrip but wanted to hear from you experts that it is fine before I go for the glue.

 

One thing I'm still working on: These things just don't fit perfect together. As far as I understood Rob at the Vlog the original ones are a mess inside.

[TheSwede[TK]]

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 6:39 PM, hazamel said:

I think it might be a little thighter at the top but fits nice on the bottom. Already cut the coverstrip but wanted to hear from you experts that it is fine before I go for the glue.

 

One thing I'm still working on: These things just don't fit perfect together. As far as I understood Rob at the Vlog the original ones are a mess inside.

Looks good and as long as it´s covered by the coverstrip all is well

 

 

[troopermaster]

 

On 12/8/2018 at 5:39 PM, hazamel said:

I  think it might be a little thighter at the top but fits nice on the bottom.

If you want to make more room on the top, you can open the top joint up to 10mm either side and the joining strips will still hold the parts in place.  You can make your joining strips slightly wider, say 17-18mm wide if necessary. You can also add reinforcing strips on the inside if you want added strength. Just because you have cut them smaller doesn't mean you have to go with them if they feel uncomfortable to wear. There are always solutions to problems

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

You can remove all the return edges from the tops (no-one sees them anyway) of the biceps, as well as the bottoms if you like and still be screen accurate, but do this before final fitting and gluing, otherwise they may end up being too loose.  This will also make them more comfortable and prevent them from cutting into your arm.

 

                     Reference image

[hazamel[TK]]

5 hours ago, troopermaster said:

 

If you want to make more room on the top, you can open the top joint up to 10mm either side and the joining strips will still hold the parts in place.  You can make your joining strips slightly wider, say 17-18mm wide if necessary. You can also add reinforcing strips on the inside if you want added strength. Just because you have cut them smaller doesn't mean you have to go with them if they feel uncomfortable to wear. There are always solutions to problems

I'm planning on reinforcing the joints on the inside anyway. Compared to what I read and saw the 12mm Rob mentioned on the vlog are the smallest I heard. Space at the top is fine. It feels more like there's too much space. It's about 25mm space when my arm lays flat to my body.

 

5 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

You can remove all the return edges from the tops (no-one sees them anyway) of the biceps, as well as the bottoms if you like and still be screen accurate, but do this before final fitting and gluing, otherwise they may end up being too loose.  This will also make them more comfortable and prevent them from cutting into your arm.

 

                     Reference image

That's what I was really confused about in the vlog: Might be the experience after lots of commissions but he assembled the biceps first and then trimmed the edge. If I had done it that way my biceps would be very loose by now. 

 

As I said before: I need to get used to the fact that this is 40 years old, handmade and not precision-made

[troopermaster]

1 hour ago, hazamel said:

I'm planning on reinforcing the joints on the inside anyway. Compared to what I read and saw the 12mm Rob mentioned on the vlog are the smallest I heard. Space at the top is fine. It feels more like there's too much space. It's about 25mm space when my arm lays flat to my body.

You said the bicep armour felt tighter at the tops and good at the bottom, now there's a 25mm gap between your armour and skin? Am I reading this right?

[hazamel[TK]]

Sorry... Explained it wrong: It's okay at the bottom but I've plenty of space at the top. 25mm gap between edge of the biceps and undersuit. Bottom is fine. I can slip in easily and put finger between edge and undersuit.

[troopermaster]

As long as it fits good is the main thing. Better to have more room to move in than less.

 

 

[hazamel[TK]]

So, it's been a while... Too cold outside, too dark too soon and too much day job...

 

In the meantime, bucket, boots and strapping kit arrived and I've finished my biceps. There's hope

 

Today I couldn't bare the parts lying around and rough trimmed the both forearms. Snow just melted time to produce some permanent snow.

After rough cutting the forearm I marked the areas where the coverstrip will be and noticed a step. Just covering it with the cover strip feels strange so is it right, that you've to cut the outer half of the forarme like the red line to fit the curve?

Really tried to but couldn't see it in the tutorial video.

 

Another question that came up after watching the thight video: Is there an essential difference between left and right arm so they seem to do it seperatly? Or is it just streching the tutorials? Wouldn't be surprised if it's a very short one about the left biceps like "You do this like the right one..."

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

The red mark on the top of the forearm is a good place to remove the end, and the other side of the arm as well (sharp points will poke into you).  I would also recommend trimming down the bicep for the same reason:

[hazamel[TK]]

Optimized my biceps a little bit like Joseph suggested and annoyed my neighbours with the Dremel.

I've my left forearm ready for fitting and entered the final stage with the right one.

Coverstrips are ready

 

 

and on to the glueing of the first coverstrip

 

 

E6000 is teaching me to be patient.

[hazamel[TK]]

Right forearm done!

 

Didn't fall into pieces when I removed the clamps and magnets. Also didn't fall into pieces when I dropped it on the floor.

 

My replacement gloves also arrived, after I had proof that my parcel arrived because it's taped in the RS vlog.

 

Large gloves are still very thight.

Continued with the left forearm and I guess this odd shape at the frontend is just end 70s precision...

 

I wasn't drunk when I removed the return edge so it has to be the right shape...

[troopermaster]

44 minutes ago, hazamel said:

Continued with the left forearm and I guess this odd shape at the frontend is just end 70s precision...

 

I wasn't drunk when I removed the return edge so it has to be the right shape...

The left forearm on the RS is not cast from their original armour. It was sculpted by Rob, as was the left bicep too. Just an FYI

[hazamel[TK]]

Thank you  good to know. 

 

So I‘ve to flatten it? I’ve seen all kinds of straight, shortened and wavy ones. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

57 minutes ago, hazamel said:

Thank you  good to know. 

 

So I‘ve to flatten it? I’ve seen all kinds of straight, shortened and wavy ones. 

Only if you want to - has no bearing on approval well unless something looks too off that is

[Mworm1974[TK]]

Sorry if I posted this to late, just make sure you and flex your bicep before the final fit, I did all my fitting with a straight arm and they ended up too tight when I flexed so I had to do what Paul said previously. However you are doing a good job.

[hazamel[TK]]

4 hours ago, Mworm1974 said:

Sorry if I posted this to late, just make sure you and flex your bicep before the final fit, I did all my fitting with a straight arm and they ended up too tight when I flexed so I had to do what Paul said previously. However you are doing a good job.

Thank you. Did that with the biceps. I can still slide my finger between and move it up and down. But no more spinach for me