CptCasey's Captain Cardinal Build Thread [WTF]

[CptCasey[TK]]

Pre-ordered one of the WTF FOTK kits. While I'm waiting for the kit, I thought I'd start a build thread and start my research. Plan on building this one up to Centurion specs like my ANH-S TK. The only thing that I currently see that might hold me back is rubber gaskets due to price/comfort. 

 

Parts List:

 

Armor/Helmet: WTF 

Boots: Crow Props

Gloves: Crow  Props
Undersuit: underarmor from ANH TK

Neckseal: Geeky Pink (ordered)

Gaskets: Geeky Pink (ordered)

Harness: Geeky Pink (ordered

Shiny Shorts: Geeky Pink (ordered)

Blaster: 3d Print (Germain's files)

Pouches: Jim Lau

Holster: R2Dan 

Belt: Belts of the First order

Shoulder Bell Support: Ukswraths
Chest mesh: Ukswraths

Sound: TBD
Fan: Ukswraths (need to orde)

Paint: Duplicolor Torch Red (haven't sourced primer or clear coat yet)

Filler: Evercoat Polyflex
Concerns: No real experience with bondo/filler for seams and not real great at painting (I always get drips and imperfections). I'm sure some of my garrison buddies can help with the seams. I might decide to have this professionally painted as well. Also, if the Cardinal CRL actually ever happens, this will be converted. 

Edited January 8, 2022 by CptCasey
new info

[TheSwede[TK]]

Looking forward seeing the kit and build when it arrives

As far as Centurion goes - rubber gaskets is a must

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking forward to seeing the unboxing, hopefully it's not too long away

[JAFO[TK]]

Any update on your kit arrival? I see Walt shared pics of his bucket recently.


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[CptCasey[TK]]

He's still working on the kit. We've got a facebook messenger chat going with everyone that preordered, that he updates us on pictures of the progress. Great communication on his part so far. Honestly not expecting till sometime after the beginning of the year. I think the arms are mostly done and the helmet is coming along.

[JAFO[TK]]

He's still working on the kit. We've got a facebook messenger chat going with everyone that preordered, that he updates us on pictures of the progress. Great communication on his part so far. Honestly not expecting till sometime after the beginning of the year. I think the arms are mostly done and the helmet is coming along.

That’s great! Hopefully we’ll have another viable kit vendor soon.


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[Sly11[Admin]]

Eagerly awaiting your BBB day, some exciting times ahead.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

6 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Eagerly awaiting your BBB day, some exciting times ahead.

Copy that

[CptCasey[TK]]

After some time my BBB finally arrived. While it was longer than anticipated, Walt kept us in the loop with status updates, pictures of prints and molds, and issues with shop and personal life. While it was a long delay, Walt's professionalism and customer service has been really great. 

 

 

I'm still missing a a forearm and belt box piece, along with my TFA helmet, which should be shipping shortly. 

I've decided to go a different direction than when I first ordered the kit. Instead of a FOTK, I'm going to make Captain Cardinal. The release of the action figure has clarified some missing visuals of the character. I know CrookKnight and other have started the main discussion with this CRL and hats off to to them for all their work and research. 

In the time since ordering my armor and deciding to go the Captain Cardinal direction I've ordered red boots and gloves from Crow Props, along with building a F-11D and a SE-44C thank to Germain and his files here on FISD. 

 

 

 

I will be updating the my build thread regularly along with adding a page of research I've cobbled together with the help of others. I'm going to start rereading the Phasma book to find some text references along with giving me inspiration for this build. 

If one of the mods can move this build thread to the appropriate section, I'd be grateful. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Thread moved.

 

Looking forward to seeing the progress

[CrookKnight[TK]]

Watching this.


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[Sly11[Admin]]

Good to see you are under way Justin.

Hope the LMO's could shed some more light on what they are happy with.

[jsilvius[Staff]]

I'm super excited to see if we can finally get one of these complete!

After reading the book(s), I'm very interested Cpt Cardinal.

Good Luck Justin!

[CptCasey[TK]]

Finally done with all the rough trimming and man my arm is sore. That was a lot of plastic to trim. I went from a big box of plastic to a big box of plastic and lots of scraps. Things are roughly trimmed to make sure I didn't cut too much since I'm really new on how all this is going together. I do have to say that the ABS Walt uses seem to be springier and more flexible than my MTK ANH kit, which seems like a good thing, but did require more effort in trimming.  First part of assembly will probably be shoulder bells since that seems the easiest thing to do.  And I'll probably start printing a Heavy F-11D.

 

[CptCasey[TK]]

Character Research

Name: Captain Cardinal; CD-0922; Archex

 

History: Born on Jakku and was recruited by Brendol Hux. One of the first First Order Stormtroopers. Was the first captain of the First Order Stormtroopers. Given a set of red armor by Brendol Hux and made his honor guard. Was in charge of training all Stormtroopers, until Phasma joined the First Order, and then was in charge of the training of all the children who were to become stormtroopers. Was grievously wounded by Phasma, and left the First Order. He later helps the Resistance on Batuu, and eventually sacrifices his life help Batuu and the Resistance spy, Vi Moradi.

Costume: There are four main visual references for Captain Cardinal. 

The first is the back of the book cover. 

 

Second is the promotional poster that was released with book

 

Third is the Hasbro Black Series action figure. There are several detail pictures found here on FISD, so I will just post one.

 

Lastly is the Black series helmet. 

 

 

Discrepancies:
     The helmet from the book cover and promotional poster is visualized as TFA style, while the Black Series action figure and helmet are from TLJ/TROS.  It is my belief that the TFA style helmet/armor is correct due to the timeline. The beginning of Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire (which is a sequel of sorts to Phasma)  is set several weeks after Captain Cardinal leaves the First Order. During the first part of that book, events of TFA and TLJ happen. It is fairly clear that all of Captain Cardinal's history of the first order is prior to TFA and should be similar armor. 

     The boots are not clearly show on the book cover or promo poster, but are shown on the action figure. The boots are mentioned as being red in the novel Phasma. 

     Captain Cardinal is described as having a red blaster in Phasma. I would assume that he would have color matching SE-44C, F-11D, and a F-11D Heavy. 

     Armor style in book cover, promotional poster, and action figure all show standard First Order Stormtrooper armor, and not Phasma style armor. Seeing as how Phasma made her own armor and was not issued armor, Captain Cardinal should have standard TFA armor in red. 

     The cape is show in several different ways. It is show with a silver stripe in 2 of the 3 references and no stripe in one. It is shown on the right shoulder on 2 of the 3 references and on the left shoulder on one of the references. I've reached out to Teresa Nuthall (Geeky Pink) who is making my cape. She has received guidance from the author that is is exactly like Phasma's cape, except with a grey stripe and worn on the right shoulder. 
   

Color:

    As far as color goes, none of the references are the exact same color, but they are all close. I am choosing to use Duplicolor Torch Red. This is the color I found that closely matches the references and also matches my gloves and shoes. 

 

All above information comes from the books Phasma and Glaxay's Edge: Black Spire, unless noted. I may add more to this section if I find any additional information. 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Nice work Justin, I am really looking forward to your progress on this and ultimately getting a CRL built and complete so others will have the confidence to follow.

[CptCasey[TK]]

Worked on the armor some more today. Got the shoulder bells all glued up (E6000), and started work on one of the biceps. I cut out trapezoid to put in a resin cast detail later. Started taping it up to see how it fits. Tomorrow I will work on sanding edges and gluing up seems. On the seam that needs to be filled, I cut it flush so it would be easy to get smooth. I plan on filling with Evercoat Polyflex. 

The main question I debating at the moment is if I cut out the holes and back them with black gaffer tape I bought, or just put stickers on the after I paint. 

 

So here are progress pictures.

[CptCasey[TK]]

Not much to report. Been busy the past week or so with other non-armor things and haven't had much time to really work on armor much. I think I'm starting to figure out how all these pieces go together. I've been trimming, sanding, and fitting pieces together this week before I start gluing maybe next week. 

 

That being said, I've decided to paint the interior of the the armor black like Phasma's before I start gluing. I need to look at some of Phasma build threads to see what other builders have done as far as paint and technique goes. I am currently planning of using an airbrush and some Vallejo model black primer to coat the inside pieces and then just spray it with some matte or semigloss clear coat. That is unless someone has some better recommendations. 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Make sure not to paint the entire surface, you need a clean area for glue to bond when assembling and paint can interfere with a strong bond.

[CptCasey[TK]]

Slow progress but I'm trying to work on at least something each week. Did some more sanding on parts, Taped up a few parts and sprayed black primer on the underside of the pieces. Thanks to Andrew for reminding me that I should tape up the areas where I'm going to glue. I might spray another coat tonight and then I'm going to let the paint cure for a few days before I put a clear coat on it. Probably going with matte since it's the underside, and really just doesn't need to be bright white. 

 

Side note, I'm planning on using magnets to secure the chest, and was thinking about using magnets for the shins as well. I'm trying to decide if it would be worth the effort vs velcro. Velcro is super easy to use, and the industrial strength holds pretty well. Magnets looks like a lot of work and planning, but would be nice to lock in place when kitting up. I might use magnets to secure the spats. Still haven't decided.