Cricket's Full-Sized RS ANH Stunt TK Build (for Mr. Cricket)- COMPLETED

[Cricket[TK]]

Greetings, Troopers!

 

After almost 2 years of nagging, I finally convinced my hubby to join the dark side in white armor.  I surprised him with his very own set of BBBs from RS Props (a big one and a little one) on Christmas morning.  Here's the moment of unwrapping.  You all know the feeling.   

  

 

Now it's up to me to build it.  And I'm super excited about this build because I won't really need to do much alteration to the plastic at all.  At 5'10" and about 165 lbs, my husband is in the 'out-of-the-box trooper' size range.  This thread will be pretty limited with regards to detail stuff (this is my fourth TK build,  OMG!), but I wanted to share the bits and pieces of progress on this full-sized build anyways so I can get feedback when I need it.     

During the past few days, I've done some initial assembly with inner cover strips.  Ooh.  Ahhh.  

 

His compression garments arrived yesterday, so we're hoping to get time this weekend to do initial fitting of the limb parts.  I would love to get moving on building his magnetic shins, but I can't until we get his boots for proper sizing.  I'm on the lookout for a pair of TK Boots (not IB Boots) in size 12, so if anyone has a pair they'd like to part with (or has a lead), I'm your gal!  TK Boots has told me they're currently out of stock, and unknown if they'll ever get more in.  
 

[A.J. Hamler[TK]]

Huzzah! A new Cricket build!

[Commander Gree[501st]]

I have an extra set of TK Boots size 12 (I think) that I could sell. They are just sitting in my closet. But they are "Pre-weathered" if that makes sense

[Cricket[TK]]

15 minutes ago, Commander Gree said:

I have an extra set of TK Boots size 12 (I think) that I could sell. They are just sitting in my closet. But they are "Pre-weathered" if that makes sense

 

Sending you a PM!    

[TheSwede[TK]]

So how surprised was he?

[Cricket[TK]]

1 hour ago, TheSwede said:

So how surprised was he?

 

Extremely!!!  I had told him that I couldn't get the kit ordered until after the new year at the earliest, and not to expect anything until February/March.  He had no idea that I was able to get it ordered and delivered before Christmas.  (A huge thanks to Andrea over at RS Props for making it happen, too.  The customer service over at RS has been consistently outstanding!)

[Cricket[TK]]

Holy cow, are we mid-way through April already?!  Progress on this kit has been slower than I'd like it to be.  I take full responsibility for it, though! 

I have a serious case of "Ooh-look-a-project-itis" lately.  I'm still not done with my Hero TK build (although it's coming along, I haven't documented it, though!), and my T-21 foam build is still mid-way through, and I still have to convert my stunt TK to a TD (and build the backpack for it), and then there's this TK I'm working on...  and most recently I got the itch to start looking into 3D printing a shoretrooper.  Oh boy.  

 

Since my last post, I was able to acquire some TK Boots for my hubby (thanks to @Commander Gree!).  And today I finally made some flippin' progress on this kit, which has me thrilled!  I present to you... LEGS!  

 

 

Trimming for width is always the most challenging part for me.  Not only do you have to trim to make the parts fit properly, but you have to make sure that the front and back seams line up.  Which is no easy task with the RS shins!  One half of the shins (the left halves, the RS kit comes with two identical shins) has a lot less material at the bottom of it than the other.  This isn't an issue if you plan on shrinking the shins down a lot (as I've had to do to my own shins in the past).  However, I hardly have to trim anything off the backs of the RS shins on my hubby, so I don't have much room to adjust for wonkiness.  In the pic below, you can see how the shins line up in the back.  There is barely 1cm of material overlapping at the top, and nothing at the bottom. (This was taken before I finished trimming right thigh for size, so please ignore that!)

 

The shins fit my husband perfectly as taped, so I'm going to have to do some serious coverstrip magic to straighten things out.  *For the record ALL RS shins are made like this; it isn't some lame overtrimming from the studio.*  I will be assembling his shins with magnetic closures (like I've done with my other 3 sets of shins), and all the hardware for that part of the project has already been created and acquired (I really am not a fan of making magnetic buttons out of ABS.  I had the foresight to create those last October- yay!).

 

The other bit of progress made has been with the torso (no pics for this part).  I've reinforced all the returns and installed the brackets for strapping the torso parts together.  I've also been successful with installing the split rivets and strapping on the right side kidney/ab, and installing the Han snap.  These are all little things that seem to take a lot of time to get done for me.  But when it's done- WHEW!   

 

I'm off to get stuff glued now.  

[Cricket[TK]]

The birthing process of magnetic shins isn't always pretty...  but it's progress!

[LTM[TK]]

Having to go off center on a few to make up for the amount of material you have to work with on this kit?

 

[Cricket[TK]]

19 minutes ago, LTM said:

Having to go off center on a few to make up for the amount of material you have to work with on this kit?

 

Yeah.    The bottoms of the left shin halves are a bith!  (and the left shin especially so...) 

Good news is that coverstrips should conceal all.  I'm gluing the coverstrips on now, I've lined things up fairly well, and clamped/taped the heck out of things.  Fingers crossed it all looks good once the glue cures.

[Cricket[TK]]

Lid work.  No ears.


Can you hear me now? Ear!

Loook, it's like my hubby's lid and my lid are cuddling.  Awwww....

 

And me prepping for tomorrow's troop.  I love sticker-ing up the bin!

And bringing my spankin' new Praetorian DLT-19 along with!  (Thanks, Mr. Cricket!  {best hubbie EVAH!})

Maybe I'll let him borrow it trooping one day.  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[hazamel[TK]]

Watch out for the loading bolt on the side  I almost lost mine on the first troop by kicking it

[Cricket[TK]]

22 hours ago, hazamel said:

Watch out for the loading bolt on the side  I almost lost mine on the first troop by kicking it

 

Oh!  Good to know!  I love carrying a BFG while trooping.  You know the saying... Speak softly and carry a BFG.   

 

More lid work today.  I decided to remove some additional thickness off the right ear even though it was fitting fairly well.  I was able to reduce the small gap in the front as well.  I would prefer to get the front half of the curved part of the ears thinner, but after looking at things a while, I don't want to risk mucking things up.  They're fine as they are.

 

Worked on the left ear as well. 


Worked really hard to get the screws lined up with the angles of the traps.  This was a super P.I.T.A.!  Which is why I don't want to try to change the thickness of the ears at this point.  It's all good enough!   

 

Once I was done with the ears, on went the frown.


A bit of gloss grey, some clean up with thinner, and I'm calling it a day for now.    And if anyone sees something "off", please feel free to let me know!  

[Cricket[TK]]

Did some more work on the lid this weekend.  Vocoder!  
Before cleanup and after cleanup.

 

Tackled the tube stripes using Trooperbay's templates.  The templates make this job super easy and quick.  

 

As I was taking these photos, I noticed this small Polaroid taken last year at DragonCon with my kids.  And since today is Mother's Day, here's me being a good TK momma.

 

If you've never seen my really easy way of getting tube stripes applied, here's what I do: 

 You'll need a small cosmetic sponge (you can find them at most drugstores in the cosmetic section, and they are cheap.  Or if you live with a female, they probably have some in their stash.  Raid their stash for one- they won't notice that it's missing, trust me.)  Pour some paint into a very shallow compartment, dish, or whatever.  You will be dipping the sponge into a shallow pool of the paint and dabbing off the excess.  I use a small plastic artist's palette picked up at a local craft store for cheap.  

 

First, apply the stencils and tape them off so you don't get paint all over the place.  Make sure the stencils are firmly stuck on there.  Double, then triple, check this.  Ask me how I know.  

 

Next, sponge a thin layer on the stencil.  You will be applying three thin coats.  Go lightly on this!!!  Don't expect opacity all in one shot or else you'll end up with bubbles in your paint and mess under the stencils.  Think "dab-dab-dab" very gently, just enough to get the paint to stick.  Don't keep going over the dabbed areas because the paint will pull up.  Go thin and leave it alone.

 

I make my way around the helmet to each area (tear, tear, trap, trap), which gives a few minutes dry time to each section before the next pass.  By the time I get to the third sponge coat, this is what you should have (I go a little thicker on the third coat):


Once you've got good coverage, then remove all the masking tape and stencils.  Oh, and always remember to remove your stencils before the paint dries.  This will prevent your newly stenciled design from lifting off with the stencil.  I have to do a tiny bit of cleanup with a small brush and some enamel thinner when I'm done, but it's not too shabby!

 

Tears.  Before and after cleanup.

 

All the tears and traps took me less than 30 minutes to do, and that was including applying the stencils, taping them off, sponge painting, and cleanup.  This method is easy and the results are uniform and opaque.  Who can complain about that?  

 

 

 

[LTM[TK]]

Looks great! This was a tip I got from the model building guys when using stencils:

After applying the stencil, first coat of paint should be whatever is in the background. This will seal the edges and any bleed through will be the same color. Then lightly apply the other paint. This tip also works for painting walls and using the blue painters tape. 

[Cricket[TK]]

Okay, guys... who didn't bother telling me that you could sew in the size 10 snaps with a machine???  Were you all keeping this little secret from me just to torture me???

 

I spent so much time sewing these in by hand, and only now (working on my 4th kit!) I figured out that I could have saved hours by using a simple zigzag machine stitch!  *serious, massive facepalm here*

 

And for those of you who didn't know this and are still building your kit, let me tell you, this is such a great shortcut to sewing in the snaps onto the elastics for the shoulder bells.  Use a button foot on your machine and adjust your machine's stitch width to make sure that the needle won't hit anything.  Set the feed to zero.

 

Observe!

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

You're braver than I am with my machine lol

[Cricket[TK]]

8 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

You're braver than I am with my machine lol

  

 

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." ---T.S. Eliot  

[Cricket[TK]]

This lid for my hubby is finished!     

As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated.  The front sides of the curved part of the ears is larger than the back, I know.  There is a large gap between the face and the cap/back pieces that I could not get to fit closely.  It's almost like a step-off of sorts.  The cap/back has some serious flare at the bottom edges of it that could not be riveted into submission... as a result, the front side of the ear curve is thicker than the back.  Ah well, glad these don't have to be perfection!   

Still have to add the 'fine tuning' padding (the foam star is in there, but I know we can do better with some tactical padding!), and wire up a pair of fans with switches to run off of a portable USB power source.  

I've gifted my hubby with a wall-mount to display the lid, because as we all know, TK lids are art!  Currently, you can find heavy-duty metal ones on Amazon for about $14 shipped Prime.  I've got five of them to display my different helmets (Hero lid and X-Wing still WIP), and they really make a great statement in my nerd room!


Easy to install, too.  They come with 5 screws/wall anchors each (you only need 4), and it takes just minutes to get them up. Lids are better on the wall than in a bag!   

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Great job Christine! I would remove a bit more of the eye return edge. This is what Andrew and I recommended when we were DOs mainly because we found the majority of Stunt troopers didn't have it.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by ukswrath

[troopermaster]

Your lower ears are very thick over the tubes, almost double (if not more) the thickness of the original helmet it was cast from. I would think about trimming them down more.

[Cricket[TK]]

59 minutes ago, troopermaster said:

I would think about trimming them down more.

Agh, yeah, I know, I know...  I really should fix this.  I don't like how they look, either, to be honest.  The ears are 'passable' but not good.   Sooo... I went digging through my bin of scraps from prior builds, and whaddya know...  an extra pair of untrimmed RS ears appeared!  

Which means the lid isn't finished yet.  It'll look better when I've had another crack at it, for sure.  Thanks to Paul for your honesty!

And thank you, Tony for the feedback on the eyes.  I'll take a closer look and trim some more on them.   

[troopermaster]

The ears are one of the things that a lot of people struggle with. 

 

Looking at the way you have assembled your helmet, it has the face plate attached lower than usual and you have to lower the ear caps to suit. You might struggle to get a satisfactory finish if you keep them at the same height as you have the now. The other option is to reposition the face plate so the side tubes meet up better with the back of the helmet.

[Cricket[TK]]

4 hours ago, troopermaster said:

The other option is to reposition the face plate so the side tubes meet up better with the back of the helmet.

This!!!  ^^^

I hadn't really noticed that detail on the assembly before.  Looking closely, you're spot on about this, and I pulled the lid apart to realign. Temporarily clamping the cap/back to the face plate, I set the "thick" ears on the helmet, and BOOM.  I totally see where I went wrong and why they fit the way they do.  I may only need to trim just the thick fronts of these ear curves now (the backs are fine).  I'll try this before starting on the untrimmed set.    Thanks, Paul!