Phenyl's TFA jimmiroquai build

[Phenyl85]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new here and recently received my armor from jimmiroquai. Last year for carnaval in the Netherlands I build myself a Stormtrooper suit fully out of EVA foam.

Searching for shoulder bells out of hard plastic I found whitearmor.net and before I knew I did not only order a couple of decent shoulder bells but the whole upper body armor for a Stormtrooper TFA.

 

I now got from jimmiroquai:

 

- Shoulder bells

- Yoke

- Chest

- Biceps

- Lower arms

 

First of all I think it is good to mention that my intention at the moment is not to build a full stormtrooper suit, because I didn't have the money to buy the whole armor at once.

Probably next year I will buy the rest of the armor to finish the whole suit and make it more complete every year. The suit should be wearable for 8-10 hours for 3 days in a row in February/March being outside all the time. Quite crowded on the street and a lot of music, drinking and walking around. For the time being I will use for the lower body part my EVA foam parts.

 

Eventually my goal is to get a 501st approval, so what I am doing at the moment I want to do as good as possible.

The gaskets are being hand-made at the moment.

 

My first challenge is the yoke I got, I see pictures on this forum which have a yoke that looks quite different than the one I got.

The way the yoke is shaped at the moment I cannot cross my arms like in if you would like to hug somone.

 

My plan is to cut it down to a shape I've seen more on this forum.

 

I will then sand all parts with 220 grit and 400 grit (wet), bring everything to the auto paint shop and they will spray enough filler/primer on to have a smooth surface. I will then wetsand it with 1000 grid and then it will be painted white and then clearcoated.

 

Then the strapping will be attached. I'm thinking of using two straps of velcro for the shoulder bells.

Velcro sewed onto nylon strap, and glueing the nylon strap inside the yoke and inside the shoulder bells the opposite velcro side.

Also velcro on the yoke and on the chest piece to attach them together.

 

About the lower arms and biceps I will see later.

 

Wish me luck, it's my first build with hard armor

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Phenyl85

[Phenyl85]

Just a quick view of my EVA foam F-11D blaster. Not screen accurate, made in 2 days. Will make a new one this year which is more accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Phenyl85

[lucnak[TK]]

Hi Mark, good luck with your build! Just want to mention that if you follow the red line you drew, the ends will probably be visible even with the chest plate on. The shape of this yoke is screen accurate and ideally should not be modified. It's normal to be unable to have full mobility in this costume, though of course, some make modifications to get a bit better range, but except some limitations.

[TheSwede[TK]]

2 hours ago, Phenyl85 said:

My first challenge is the yoke I got, I see pictures on this forum which have a yoke that looks quite different than the one I got.

The way the yoke is shaped at the moment I cannot cross my arms like in if you would like to hug somone.

Like Luc said it´s screen accurate and hey..you´re a Stormtrooper, not a hugging-Trooper

Kidding aside you look to have a decent range of motion so I would leave it as is.

2 hours ago, Phenyl85 said:

My plan is to cut it down to a shape I've seen more on this forum.

Most FOTK makers are now changing their yoke to be more screen accurate and the "half-yoke" don´t give any more mobility as it´s set with the chest plate. 

 

2 hours ago, Phenyl85 said:

I will then sand all parts with 220 grit and 400 grit (wet), bring everything to the auto paint shop and they will spray enough filler/primer on to have a smooth surface. I will then wetsand it with 1000 grid and then it will be painted white and then clearcoated.

Unless you made a great deal with the paint shop you can save alot of money doing it yourself, given you have a place to paint that is.

This is me and and my fellow FOTK at a recent troop, both are KB props armor, one is painted at a shop and I painted mine with spray cans - can you tell which one? (helmets are Anovos and not painted) Reason I bring it up is that you strike me as a person that enjoy buildning/making/creating stuff so why not go all out

 

2 hours ago, Phenyl85 said:

Wish me luck, it's my first build with hard armor

Best of luck, cool blaster and welcome to FISD

[Phenyl85]

Well it isn't cheap to have it painted but I read here about all the hassle of sanding and I thought a filler would be a nice solution for that.

I know that I'm not really good at painting, so I decided to save myself the trouble of messing it up.

 

Around €200,- it'll cost to get all those parts (upper body) painted and clear coated.

Will post soon more pic's of the progress.

[TheSwede[TK]]

15 minutes ago, Phenyl85 said:

Well it isn't cheap to have it painted but I read here about all the hassle of sanding and I thought a filler would be a nice solution for that.

I know that I'm not really good at painting, so I decided to save myself the trouble of messing it up.

 

Around €200,- it'll cost to get all those parts (upper body) painted and clear coated.

Will post soon more pic's of the progress.

Copy that

[Phenyl85]

Done some shopping today at an amazing shop nearby that got loads of rubber material.

 

 

Soft foam to protect the paint. I'm going to cover the inside of the shoulder bells with this.

 

Belt material.

 

White velcro for connecting the chest piece to the yoke.
Black velcro to attach the shoulder bells to the yoke.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Phenyl85

[Phenyl85]

Been quite busy with the armor.

Here are some progress pictures. Decided not to bring the armor to the auto paint shop and do the painting myself after all.

 

Lot's of bondo on the chest piece, busy with sanding with grit 220:

 

Filler on the chest piece:

 

Close-up of the vent and pill holes:

 

The shoulder bell with bondo, also sanded with grit 220:

 

Shoulder bell after filler:

 

Shoulder bells with Sanding Aid on them very lightly:

 

Shoulder bell grit 800:

 

Now I put again filler on the shoulder bell and Sanding Aid and will sand it with grit 1000 and them paint it.

 

Attached the greeblies:

 

Cut the vent holes in the helmet and added mesh:

 

 

Next to do:

Reinforce some parts with polyester and fiberglass (mainly the yoke).

Sand other parts with 220 grit, put filler on, sand with 800, one more layer of filler and then grit 1000 then paint

Will keep you updated.

 

Mark

Edited December 22, 2018 by Phenyl85

[yo_its_nino[TK]]

Looking great so far! You can use some magic eraser to get rid of that overspray on your helmet. Buffs it out pretty quick. Keep up the great work!

[TheSwede[TK]]

Nice work

[Phenyl85]

Did some more bondo, sanding, bondo, sanding, etc, primer and finally paint on some parts!

Below in this post is my carbon fiber reinforcement of the yoke.

 

 

Need to sand off some drips and polish.

 

Still need to do the lower arms with primer and paint.

 

Did some reinforcement of the yoke with carbon fiber.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Phenyl85

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You may want to enforce the side/edge of those areas too, they tend to take the strain and crack first with continued used of opening up to get your arms in.

 

Coming along nicely

[Phenyl85]

Some more work done and finally assembly can start.

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2019 by Phenyl85

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, looking forward to the progress

[Phenyl85]

Done some polishing on a shoulder bell.

 

Before:

 

After:

Edited February 16, 2019 by Phenyl85

[Phenyl85]

Finished.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, can't wait to see some more photos

[Sly11[Admin]]

This is really coming along nicely, great work so far Mark.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Fantastic! Mark great job. Don't forget to add some shoulder bell supports if you're planning on applying for the higher levels of accuracy. 

[FN1313[TK]]

Fantastic! Mark great job. Don't forget to add some shoulder bell supports if you're planning on applying for the higher levels of accuracy. 

I’d highly recommend this for even added strength. I did both fiberglass and supports for mine.


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