Cricket's 3D Print FOTK (TLJ)- ABS, Kid-sized- FINISHED!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Awesome. Love the spotted look 

[Chemi[Staff]]

Amazing story, and a great job...Congratulations on the values you have taught your child...

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

One thing I like to do is to spray a light guide/mist coat of black, it's helpful when you rub down it will show any dips and rises, the more black that is left the more dips and holes. 

 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Leopard trooper look is cool

[Cricket[TK]]

No time to work on armor this week- maybe tomorrow though?  I'm taking a break from sewing cloth masks right now to share this super cool thing that arrived today!!!  Behold!  Fabric for gaskets!!!

 

I was hesitant to plan on making somewhat accurate undergarments for my son's FOTK because of all the ribbing that I would have to sew.  Last week somehow I ended up down a rabbit hole of fabric research online, and I found exactly what I was looking for!  I don't know if it would pass for 501st approval, but heck, it'll work for Galactic Academy for sure! (I know this because Cameron was approved in his battle buddy FOTK with plain black compression garments.)

It was on sale when I bought it, but it's kind of pricey now at $30/yard.      https://www.joann.com/cosplay-ribbed-pleather-fabric-black/16228017.html  Look for a coupon for it; Joann usually has coupons available to knock down the price.  That said, I probably still would have bought it if only so that I could avoid sewing ribs!  

Edited May 30, 2020 by Cricket

[Cricket[TK]]

Finally finished the 76% scale F-11D.  I didn't do as much post processing (sanding, filling, etc) as I typically would on a full-sized piece because I know I'll be making a full-sized one at some point to replace it.  But in the meantime, this is good enough for playtime and trooping!

I still need to paint the holster bracket silver and install clear lenses into the scope.  I'll mount the bracket screws once I get the thigh bracket installed.  And I almost forgot the decals!  Those will get printed up soon.   

Edited June 6, 2020 by Cricket

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

That blaster looks great, Christine! Printing one of the rifle version is on my to-do list, just for kicks, as I have no plans to build a FOTK.


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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Blaster looks great Christine 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow, that's awesome.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

4 words:  Mom of the YEAR!  

[Cricket[TK]]

Aww, thanks, troopers! 

Still working on filling small spots and sanding armor.  It's too hot and humid to paint (grr!), so I get to focus a little on detail prep work.  Today I'm working on kneecaps and ab boxes.  Nothing exciting, but it's progress.

Since I don't have any pics to share of my work, I thought I'd share a video of the event where Cameron donated his armor.  This video link was just posted a few days ago, and it brought tears to my eyes.  Events like this are the reason why I love being a part of the 501st Legion.  

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Amazing !  Congratulations  

 

so it is worth every effort and sacrifice.  We are 501 st. and we are FISD

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

I'm not crying, you're crying.... move along nothing to see hear....it's hay fever, I'm sure it's just hay fever.

 

That was very touching Christine, your boy has a heart of gold you must be so proud.

Thank you for sharing.this amazing story.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

In a word, AWESOME

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

I have GOT to stop watching things like this while I cut onions.....

[Cricket[TK]]

Today's the day when I finally begin to make the armor look more like... armor!  I snagged about 30 minutes this morning when the temps weren't too hot and the humidity hadn't creeped up yet to apply two coats of white gloss to some of the parts.  It's so exciting to see this part of the transformation.  In the pic below, you can see most of the parts painted white.  I stuck the primed shins in there so you could easily see the contrast from gray to white.  


And after two coats applied to the shins...


Even though I've applied just two light coats, I'll give these parts a few days to cure before wet sanding with 400 grit- which will be followed by another few coats of gloss white.  I really want to get the painting stage of this right, so I don't want to rush things along too much.  

And I'm out of wire hangers for now.    I may end up just buying a few more wire hangers, though.  I splurged on a few cans of 2K gloss to apply once the paint is done.  I've read that 2K is essentially spray resin, and once I pop the can, I should use it all in one go because of the two-part mix in the can.  Anyone know if this is accurate?

[Cricket[TK]]

I realized yesterday that I still hadn't attached the ab boxes on the ab piece.  Time to bust out the E6000!  Thankfully these two boxes have little grooves on the back so I could align them pretty much where they need to be.


The larger middle box (not pictured) and the box to the right of it also have little grooves in the back of them for easy placement.  The rest needed to be eyeballed on.


I allowed a day for the E6000 to cure, and then it was time to paint.  This part of the build is soooo flippin' satisfying.


Two initial coats, and lookit that shiiine!


As I proceed with the white gloss, I'm seeing areas that have very small flaws that I missed.  And I can safely state that I'm finally at the "Good Enough" part of the build, so the small imperfections don't get to me now (you know what I mean...  it's the stage when you don't care about itty bitty details enough to continue along with building).  When I see something I overlooked (such as small pinhole in a Bondo'd area), I tell myself, "Battle damage!", and move along.     I have really had enough of the fill/sand phase.

My wire hangers arrived today (yay!), so I'll be able to hang and paint more parts in one session.  If weather allows tomorrow, next up will be Round 2 of gloss white on the pieces I wet-sanded today.  

[Cricket[TK]]

Let's discuss the thigh holster for the blaster, shall we?  
 

I printed out a functional thigh holster bracket (found over on Thingiverse) and scaled it so it would properly fit Cameron's thigh armor.  The files aren't perfectly accurate, but they'll do for the most part.  Scaling it to fit involved a bunch of eyeballing and scaling in Windows 3D program, but I got it right.  It came in three pieces: base part to attach to the thigh, a middle bracket, and an upper (smaller) bracket.  Typically, I'd just glue them all together with E6000 and call it a day.  But even though I printed these in ABS, the bracket needs to be quite structurally sound because it's intended to be fully functional.  Time for a mod.

 

After lots of thinking, I decided to reinforce the bracket piece that holds the most weight (where the screws of the blaster lock into the holster) with a layer of sheet aluminum.  I had printed out two of these parts due to their small size, and I used one of them as a template.  I traced the bracket, cut it to shape with some tin snips, and drilled out holes where the screws would go.  Here is a rough beginning:

The big dog-leg hole was my biggest challenge to get cleared out.

A little more drilling in the middle, more trims with tin snips, and sanding with a metal file, and the hole was clear.  I hit it with more sandpaper to smooth out rough edges.


See, it fits!

This piece is now quite strong, and I won't worry at all when Cameron holsters his F-11D.


Here you can see what I had to work with.  These parts are covered in spot putty right now, and the 3D "screws" leave a lot to be desired.   


Much better with actual screws, amIright? In case anyone was wondering, the screws I'm currently using on the modded bracket are M3s, and that's an M3 ball bearing on there as well. 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Cricket

[wook1138[TK]]

Wow! Amazing work.  I was looking into doing this for my son - but after seeing the amount of work you are going through, I've come to realize that I don't love him that much. 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by wook1138

[husky68[TK]]

This is the most important build thread of the year. The touching story and effort involved is inspiring.


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[Cricket[TK]]

Can anyone guess what I'm working on today?


If you guessed a BELT, you're right!  I'm using Tony's outstanding FOTK belt assembly tutorial for this.  Cameron's belt is smaller overall, at just 1.5" wide instead of the typical 2" width.


And it's currently looking something like this when sandwiched together.  Mmmm... FOTK belt sandwich...


I sewed the webbing around the female part of the quick-release buckle.  Then I realized that I needed to drill a hole into the ab for a snap.  My first hole on this... I've made many, many holes in armor, and for some reason, this time seemed to terrify me.  Ah well, progress won't happen until holes are made.  And thus, the hole was made.

And a snap was set into the armor!  I set the corresponding snap into the webbing of the belt as well.


It fits!


That's all I had time for today.  Will be painting belt boxes this weekend!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Nice job Christine

[Cricket[TK]]

First time making gaskets.   

Started with this photo.  Figured it wouldn't be difficult to emulate this kind of thing on my own and save some money.  


Using shiny ribbed black pleather and headliner foam to add bulk.


I took my measurements from the bottom circumference of the bicep.  I want the gasket to fill in the space, not fit skin tight.  For Cameron, it's 10 inches in there.  I added three inches for seam allowances because I was sewing two pieces of fabric together first.  Total piece I started with was 9x13 inches for the biceps.


Attached right sides together, securing everything so it wouldn't slip while sewing.


After sewing three sides, it looks like this.

Clipped the corners and extra material along the seam allowance, then flipped it right side out.  

To finish the open end and hide the raw edge, I folded in the edges like this. 


Secured the folded in edges:


And sewed along the outer edge to close.  Next I secured strips of hook velcro to the material and sewed them on.


Next, I folded the long ends together with the right sides together, lining up the edges.


Sewed the edges together with a 1/2" seam allowance.  This closed the bicep gasket.

 

Laying flat, it measures 5 inches- exactly the size I need for Cameron's biceps gaskets.


Finished.  And seam side is clean.


I had Cameron try it on with the armor pieces.  The armor is currently in "scuffed" state because I'm waiting for a cooler, drier day to paint the armor with the final coat of white and 2k gloss.




Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to finish the rest of the arms and legs.  I think the shoulders might take me a little longer than these simple tubes, but I know I'll get them tackled eventually!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Beautiful work, well done

[Cricket[TK]]

I finished the additional bicep/forearm gasket, then decided to dive straight into building the shoulder gaskets.  For my pattern, I asked Cameron to donate a shirt that he didn't wear anymore, but still fit loosely on him.  I marked roughly where the gasket vest would fit on the shirt, and then cut it up.  I made a similar style vest for my shoretrooper kit, so I'm somewhat familiar with how to make this from scratch.  I traced out the pieces of the cut up shirt onto headliner foam.  I made sure that the front and back halves were well marked, because they are different!  Same for the shoulder/sleeves.  Here you can see how I clipped things together.


Beginning with the sleeves, I attached a corresponding piece of ribbed fabric to the foam.  I sewed along the bottom edge with right sides together (where my finger is pointing).  This results in a nice finished edge at the end of the sleeve.


Once sewn together, it looks like this:


Next, I used some adhesive spray to attach the fabric to the foam more securely.

Then I flipped the fabric and stuck the two halves together.  Easy!


Next, I stitched a length of hook velcro onto the end of the sleeve.


Setting the sleeve aside, I moved on to the chest/back part of the vest.  I attached the fabric to the headliner foam with the basting adhesive spray first.  Then, I sewed along the shoulder seams.

Because I had raw edges on the inside seams, I finished them off with a zig-zag stitch that emulates a serger stitch.  This way, there shouldn't be any fraying of the edges inside the vest.


Here's how it looks.


Then I attached the sleeve along the shoulders and sewed things together along the curve, making sure that the raw edges were also finished with a zig-zag stitch.


Sleeve on!

 

Here's what it looks like before the final stitching, all flat.


Next, I sewed under the arms and along the inside chest to close off the sleeve and vest half.

And that's all I had time to finish today!


Tomorrow I'll finish the other half of the vest assembly, then connect the halves with a few elastics in the back and a quick connect buckle in the front.  I'm thinking that I'll make some black bias tape to finish the raw edges of the vest off... or I might just do a zig-zag serger style finish instead.  Still trying to decide on that.  I've got the pieces for the knee gaskets already cut out, so those will be easy to quickly finish.  Very happy with how these are turning out.