Lord_Potato's Walt's Trooper Factory ANH TK Build (COMPLETE)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, now the wait for glue to dry continues 

[Cricket[TK]]

Great progress!  
  

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

I tried the shins on today to see how it generally all fits.

 

Mobility seems good, I do notice the right shin (the longer shin) due to its longer size site closer to my knee cap. I might trim it down to the same size as the left shin. But I will wait until it seems like that is what I have to due.

 

I did notice that the right shin meets in the back rather "wonky". 

 

I am going to try and hot water bathe it to this position:

 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Lord_Potato

[troopermaster]

The 'wonkiness' of the right shin is due to the fact it has an outer left mated up to an outer right. The WTF doesn't have the correct inner right shin part. You'll find the same wonkiness on an RS and Anovos that have doubled up parts.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

The 'wonkiness' of the right shin is due to the fact it has an outer left mated up to an outer right. The WTF doesn't have the correct inner right shin part. You'll find the same wonkiness on an RS and Anovos that have doubled up parts.

Troopermaster,

I really appreciate your insight and comments. Do you think I should still go along with water bathing it to help adjust the offset? I think it might look too off if the back of the left shins top return ridge meets nicely and the back of the right shin return ridge so not meet up with about an inch gap.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[troopermaster]

Go for the hot water bath.  It will help match the parts up.

 

See how they look on the RS that has two outer parts that don't match up properly.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

As I have mentioned before, this is my first full build. Knowing this I knew I was going to make mistakes or wrong cuts. That being said, I decided to get a second kit to replace parts that I screw up instead of contacting Walt every time I break or mess up a piece. I did not take into consideration the kit to be a different shade of white. Does this look too "off" and would this be a problem in getting Centurian approval?

 

[CableGuy[TK]]

As I have mentioned before, this is my first full build. Knowing this I knew I was going to make mistakes or wrong cuts. That being said, I decided to get a second kit to replace parts that I screw up instead of contacting Walt every time I break or mess up a piece. I did not take into consideration the kit to be a different shade of white. Does this look too "off" and would this be a problem in getting Centurian approval?
 

You could consider spray painting the helmet (as the original Stunt helmets were also painted). If you colour match it, that could work.

Otherwise, the colour match would be too far off, in my opinion.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

13 minutes ago, CableGuy said:

You could consider spray painting the helmet (as the original Stunt helmets were also painted). If you colour match it, that could work.

Otherwise, the colour match would be too far off, in my opinion.

Yea, I was afraid of that. Well the parts I ruined was the chest plate and one of my forearms. I don't think trying to paint those armor pieces to match the rest of my armor will be successful. Oh gosh, what to do. I could just start all over with the new kit. I'm honestly dumbfounded at the moment. 

[CableGuy[TK]]

Yea, I was afraid of that. Well the parts I ruined was the chest plate and one of my forearms. I don't think trying to paint those armor pieces to match the rest of my armor will be successful. Oh gosh, what to do. I could just start all over with the new kit. I'm honestly dumbfounded at the moment. 

Don’t despair, buddy. We all face set backs during a build. Are the other parts a total right-off or could they be saved?

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

On 7/27/2019 at 3:09 PM, CableGuy said:

Don’t despair, buddy. We all face set backs during a build. Are the other parts a total right-off or could they be saved?

I dont know, I will post pics of the pieces I think I ruined when I get the chance. I thought I was being smart. *Besides modifying my commissioned RS, I have no build experience. Knowing I was bound to mess up I buy a second kit to prevent several back and forth conversations for replacement parts. Gets second kit.....completlety different shade of white. I feel like I just made the dumbest decision. 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

Well I managed to clean up the right shin so it isn't as offset. No I can go ahead and size the shins. 

 

I do have a problem I am currently dealing with. As stated earlier, I received a second Walts Kit to replace some parts I messed up on. The whole kit is a different shade of white. So I am kinda flustered and lost at the moment. 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Have you contacted Walt about that?  He is a great guy to deal with and hopefully you can get this sorted out.  

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

45 minutes ago, justjoseph63 said:

Have you contacted Walt about that?  He is a great guy to deal with and hopefully you can get this sorted out.  

I have, he said different plastic manufacturers and different batches yield variations of white. He said he can try and match them. I think at the moment I am going to post pictures of the left forearm and chest plate I ruined and see if I can correct my mistakes. 

 

If I can correct my heat bending mistakes then i can continue with all the pieces of my original kit. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Lord_Potato

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

I decided I am going to try and make the pieces I thought I messed up work. Starting with the chest plate. I hot water bathed it closer to its original position. You can still see that the left shoulder tab area is still a little wavy/wobbly looking but I realized that the shoulder strap will be covering it once I glue it on. 

 

Back to where I left off on the build:

Continued to make progress on the shins. Sized the shins and cut the excess plastic from the back. Unfortunately, though I tried my best to measure a straight line and measure twice, it did not come out perfectly. The backs for both shins meet at the middle but the "line" is not perfectly straight and slightly curves near the bottoms. I was able to visually correct this by how a positioned the back cover strip. I also hot water bathed the shins to make sure the backs naturally meet they way they are supposed to.

 

If everything is good when the glue dries then all I have left to do is decide on what strapping system for the shins and then work on the sniper plate for the left shin.  

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

I spent some extra time trying to hot water bathe my shins so they naturally come perfectly closed without the aid of a strapping system and to make sure the top return ridges are aligned. 

 

As you can see my shins when not forced open come together nicely:

 

Forcing it open:

 

Making sure shin comes together on its own:

 

I decided to use velcro for enclosures but when I put the velcro on, it was very thick. I realized I did not have the low profile velcro so I will get low profile velcro tomorrow and complete the strapping portion. 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Lord_Potato

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

Currently I am messing with the sniper plate.

 

I am currently researching on proper sniper plate placement. I feel this is gonna be a little tricky. Seems like the plate doesn't want to naturally fit with the curvature of the shin.

 

 

 

One of the problems I see is the the gap that is made by the return edge going under the base of the sniper plate:

 

From looking at reference photos, I feel this is the general outline I will use to cut. 

 

Heres a reference photo I am using:

 

Please, any advice on how to cut the sniper plate and how to position it will be greatly appreciated. I am still doing my part by doing my own research but experienced advice is greatly wanted  

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Hi Jonathan, great work with your sniper knee alignment. I went a little  beyong with the trimming.

 

 

 

 

here's  a reference photo

 

 

cheers  

[troopermaster]

Red lines look good.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So, I only made the cut at the ends to make sure the ends are vertical. I will be doing the other cuts soon. I wanted to see how it all looks clamped together and it looks like i am in for a surprise. If I align the sniper plate return edge to the shin return edge (centurion requirement) the sniper plate looks/is crooked when looking a the front. Tomorrow I will do the remaining cuts on the sniper plate and see how I can get the proper fit with the plate being horizontal but yet meet with the return ridge. Anyone else had this problem?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[troopermaster]

My advice is to have the knee plate laid flat against the joining strip and let the sides taper to the ridges of the top of the shins. If you look at the original armour, the knee plates look lopsided from the front and the sides rarely meet up perfectly. They never follow the angle of the top of the shins like the Centurion requirement  so get the plate sitting as flush as possible and trim the return edge to follow the tops of the shins, the best you can.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I am still struggling a bit. I thing I got the general shape cut out of the sniper plate. I think I found the best possible position to mount the plate. Its pretty level looking forward, its almost perfectly aligned on the left side and a little off on the right side. I appreciate the inputs that screen used sniper plates were not perfect, but I am trying to do my best since it still is a centurion requirement. 

 

 

Nothing is glued yet, just in case anyone has any feedback. Might as well go and find low profile velcro. Home depot, Joan's fabric store, and walmart has failed me lol. 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

On 8/24/2019 at 11:22 PM, TKSpartan said:

Hi Jonathan, great work with your sniper knee alignment. I went a little  beyong with the trimming.

 

 

 

 

here's  a reference photo

 

 

cheers  

Thank you for your input/help!

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

10 hours ago, troopermaster said:

My advice is to have the knee plate laid flat against the joining strip and let the sides taper to the ridges of the top of the shins. If you look at the original Armour, the knee plates look lopsided from the front and the sides rarely meet up perfectly. They never follow the angle of the top of the shins like the Centurion requirement  so get the plate sitting as flush as possible and trim the return edge to follow the tops of the shins, the best you can.

Thank you, I will see how well I can follow those instructions

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

3 hours ago, Lord_Potato said:

Nothing is glued yet, just in case anyone has any feedback. Might as well go and find low profile velcro. Home depot, Joan's fabric store, and walmart has failed me lol. 

Sniper Knee alginment looks just right  and about the velcro, I found Heavy duty velcro at amazon.  

 

cheers