DarthBiscuit's R1TK Build (Jimmiroquai kit)

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

16 hours ago, DarthBiscuit said:

Thanks! That's probably what I'll do. I had wiped it down, but perhaps it wasn't completely dry when I started spraying.

Hi, sometimes it happens when painting in a cloudy  very humid day. (I had this issue whist a E11 blaster mod).

 

cheers. 

 

 

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

So, Monday I sanded and Tuesday I sprayed. It was my worst coat yet! Lots of wrinkles, everywhere. It always seems to be my second coat that gets messed up, and it seems like the most likely cause is that the first coat isn't dry enough. Even though I've waited 2 days, maybe it just isn't drying in my garage. I'll start moving it outside into the sun, at least after the first hour so stuff doesn't get stuck in it.

 

Today I wet sanded the whole thing to 400. Then washed and cleaned, then sanded a few more spots, washed and cleaned again. I wiped it down with my new microfiber cloths and I'll leave it until Friday. I went through 2 cans already and I'm not even done with the helmet!? I ordered more and they get in Friday. 

 

My new plan for painting: keep applying light coats until it's done, without letting an hour go by. Hopefully that way I won't have to worry about waiting 2-3 days to apply another coat.

 

I have some ideas for how I'll do my strapping, once Jim's armor gets here. I'll post my potential process soon and ask for input. It'd be nice if I could meet up with TKs nearby to physically see some methods, but that's just not gonna work right now...

Edited June 24, 2020 by DarthBiscuit

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

I know that anyone that's tracking my thread is just waiting for me to move on, and I've got good news: I think I'm done with white (again)!! This has been a huge learning experience for me that will hopefully payoff big when I paint the armor.

 

After fully sanding to 400 and cleaning yesterday, I wiped it down and left it in the sun for a little bit today. I sprayed light coats, quickly swiping back and forth while keeping my distance. I set a repeating timer for 5 minutes, and kept applying until I no longer spots that needed white.

 

There is one spot with minor wrinkling under the chin, but I don't think it'll need fixing. I'm not doing clear over this gloss white, so it should be done!

 

When I apply the black and gray, I'll tape them off, spray, and remove the tape to hopefully prevent bleeding over. Then I'll wait 20-30, so it's semi-dry, and retape to apply another coat. This should get me crisp lines. PLEASE let me know if anyone has a better method!

 

 

I think this is how I need to do Rustoleum spray: all in one sitting, applying coats within an hour. Much easier than trying to apply more after a day, or two, or three, and then fixing the bad chemical reactions. 

Edited June 26, 2020 by DarthBiscuit

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just a tip, once you have taped up just hit it with a quick light coat of white first, any bleed areas in the tape should then be filled with white and not allow other paint through  

 

Good luck, again crossing my fingers all goes well

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

Pro tip @gmrhodes13!!! Thanks dude!!

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

So here's what I'm thinking, and my proposed supplies list. I'm fully open to suggestions, please feel free! This is also my way of making sure I have a plan for each piece; let me know if I forgot some connections or parts.

 

• Fiberglass resin for reinforcement of most pieces and to reduce itching
• Satin white spray inside
• 5/8" black snaps to attach nearly every piece, allowing easy detaching
• Black 1.75" nylon belt I saw some pics in  showing that he attached the thighs, cod, and butt to the abdomen/kidney armor, so no need for a separate belt
• 1" black polypropylene webbing
  • Cutout 1"x1" squares, use a soldering iron to punch/cauterize a hole in the middle (might prevent fraying) and install snaps. Any input if the snaps will work with this webbing? I see others use ABS or HIPS scraps, but I don't have any of that. I'm hoping the webbing won't be too thick for the snaps.
  • Suspenders to shoulder bells
  • Shoulder bells to biceps
  • Hang thighs from the "underbelt" abdomen/kidney with webbing strips (either snapped on, or looped through)
  • Hang cod and buttplate from the underbelt abdomen/kidney with webbing strips (either snapped on, or looped through)
• E6000
  • Attach snap/webbing squares to armor
  • Permanent assemblies (biceps, forearms, sniper knee, thigh ammo belt, anything else?)
  • Adhere ammo boxes to belt?
• 2" black elastic
  • Across the abdomen's rear, holding it tight but allowing flex
  • Hold front of shin halves together, allowing flex and preventing cracks (hopefully)
  • Attach hanging drop boxes to belt
  • Run elastic loop inside shins to under foot, keeping shins down and facing forward
• Docker's black suspenders: hold up the barrel (clips will grab webbing squares glued/snapped to barrel)
• 2" black velcro strips
  • Attach suspenders to shoulder straps
  • Hold chest/back in place (weave suspenders through slits, allowing stretch and positioning adjustment) and keeps suspenders out-of-sight
• 2" white velcro strips
  • Shins
  • Thighs
  • Shoulder straps
  • Hand plates
  • Belt front and back pieces
• Adhesive magnetic sheets
  • Attach trauma plate to kidneys? Would make for simple attachment, but possibly too easy to fall off
• Low Density Foam strips
  • Help fight armor bite and keep pieces steady. There are so many high density options, but I figured I'd want a squishy, low density foam, right?
• Rust-Oleum gloss black spray
  • Paint the back armor's side strip and the abdomen's 70* seam
• Clamps
• Magnets
• Thermal detonator: no idea how I'll attach that yet. Any simple suggestions? I was thinking white velcro...
• I might not prime, since I'm using Rustoleum gloss white Paint+Primer

Edited July 2, 2020 by DarthBiscuit
Removed underbelt

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

Thanks to those of you who sent me some input. I'm still open to ideas, especially for the material to form my snaps around!

 

I finished taping up everything non-gray.

 

 

Sprayed white over them to fill any edges and got started with gray! I used a folder with a center cutout to focus spray on just a small area.

 

 

It seemed to be going well! I kept my distance and applied light coats without getting impatient. After applying for over an hour with 5 minutes between coats, I waited 30 minutes and then peeled off the tape.

 

I'm 95% satisfied! I taped pretty well, didn't miss much, and not much bled through. It looks a little dark in the pics, but it's lighter in person.

 

 

 

I'll be able to cover the blended edges when I apply the black outline with a thin paint market (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

Currently under the impression that the ear bars are NOT outlined...

[ticopowell[TK]]

I guess it's a little late... sorry... But for masking off detail paints like that a good option would be to get some automotive pinstripe tape. It bends around curves easier and lets almost nothing bleed through. I'd still do the quick white layer first to prevent even more bleed through spots. 

 

The current paint job looks good to me, a few spots with minor clean up but that's it  good job. 

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

@ticopowellgood pointer! I'll check it out.

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

I wasn't happy with the frown, so I taped it back up and went over it a few more times.

 

 

I think it looks much better!!

 

 

I still had some free time, so I pulled out my paint marker. 10/10 would recommend!

 

 

 

I was a little shaky, but it should look fine, especially since I plan to go over it again tomorrow and can smooth out the edges.

 

I screwed up later on though... It wasn't coming out into a crevice, so I kept going back and forth and pushing hard...too hard! Paint gushed out! I tried to wipe it up, but that did NOT work. I'm sure it looks like this since it's oil based. Any suggestions on cleaning it up? The Rustoleum white is also oil-based. I'll probably end up spraying some white to touch up this and other spots.

 

 

The marker came out of the crevice here, but I left it instead of smearing. I'll touch this up too. 

 

 

It's really coming together now!

Edited July 4, 2020 by DarthBiscuit

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

Decided to spray the black before I go back for gray and white touch ups. I taped off the brow.

 

 

Light coats, a few minutes apart, and it worked! If it weren't for the failed PlastiDip, then it would've been awesome how this turned out right on the first try...

 

 

 

I'll tape off and paint the neck seal tomorrow.

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

I taped off the neck seal and sprayed a few coats of satin black.

 

 

I peeled the tape off and there aren't any issues that need touching up! Very happy this worked out!

 

 

Tomorrow I'll peel off ALL the tape and figure out what needs touching up. I'll do the gray spots that I messed up with the marker, and then tape again after a couple days to fix over spray on the white.

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

The black is looking great now! 
Good luck with the gray spots tomorrow. 

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

I taped off and sprayed some gray on the tear and rear trap that needed touching up. Gave it some time to dry and peeled off all of the tape...looking good!!

 

 

Sadly, the tape let some gray/black through, but thankfully just light overspray in only a few spots. Tomorrow I'll tape off everything non-white, seal the edges as best as I can, and apply what I hope to be the last coat of white! Since most of it's fine, I'm going to try spraying only the spots that need it, not the whole bucket. I'm sure I'd make other mistakes if I tried doing the whole thing...

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking a 100 times better than earlier issues. I find using a polish/cutting compound can be just enough to remove overspray without affecting the paint underneath.

 

For snaps I use vinyl strapping, I find there is less chance of the snaps pulling through, you can also use a soldering iron to make the holes, these seals the hole which also helps to prevent the snaps pulling through. A

[Sly11[Admin]]

Helmet turned out great!

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

23 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Looking a 100 times better than earlier issues. I find using a polish/cutting compound can be just enough to remove overspray without affecting the paint underneath.

 

For snaps I use vinyl strapping, I find there is less chance of the snaps pulling through, you can also use a soldering iron to make the holes, these seals the hole which also helps to prevent the snaps pulling through. A

Thanks! I'll see if my buddy has some I can use.

 

I appreciate the tip! My webbing comes in today, I have a soldering iron, and the snaps come in tomorrow. I look forward to giving that method a shot!

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

BBB day!!!

 

 

Great packing!

 

 

What have I gotten myself into?! There are so many pieces and they're much bigger than I pictured in my head...

 

 

I realized I needed a few more supplies (like paintbrush) and put them on order. Washing the pieces now. Then I'll go back to my helmet and try to clean up those spots, helping me decide if I need to spray a little white again...

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

5 minutes ago, DarthBiscuit said:

BBB day!!!

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

Ready for white touch ups!

 

 

 

And it worked! There are some seams along the tape, but I think I can buff them out with some rubbing compound, after sufficient drying time.

 

 

 

Next on the helmet: redraw the black outlines (hella carefully). Then pull out the interior tape and touch up the interior black. After that, I can start attaching ukswrath's Hovi speakers, the vocoder (with E6000?), vent/frown backing (with hot glue?), lens (with velcro along the top), and velcro padding.

 

In between coats of white, I prepped some snaps! gmrhodes13's soldering iron tip worked great to cut squares and poke holes!

 

 

I prepped 28 snap backs on squares that I'll E6000 to armor.

 

 

I'm waiting for my paintbrushes to arrive tomorrow, so then I can apply fiberglass resin on pieces that flex a lot and that will rub on my undersuit. I also put a few pieces on and see that I'll need to trim quite a bit, but I'll get into that on another post...

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Helmet is looking great.

 

I do advise if not on all then on at least some areas to use double snaps, can save you from not being able to troop due to a snap malfunction, I've had a couple let go over the years and so glad I had spares  

 

 

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

2 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Helmet is looking great.

 

I do advise if not on all then on at least some areas to use double snaps, can save you from not being able to troop due to a snap malfunction, I've had a couple let go over the years and so glad I had spares  

 

 

Seconded on both counts! I also cut my single-snap nylon tabs to more rectangular and give them more surface area for the glue to grip...

[DarthBiscuit[TK]]

Helmet is looking great.
 
I do advise if not on all then on at least some areas to use double snaps, can save you from not being able to troop due to a snap malfunction, I've had a couple let go over the years and so glad I had spares  
 
 

Another great pointer! Do you think E6000 is sufficient to adhere the snap squares to the armor?

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

Just now, DarthBiscuit said:

Another great pointer! Do you think E6000 is sufficient to adhere the snap squares to the armor?

Heck yea. It should hold as long as you need it to, but can be removed if you REALLY want (use pliers, gently lol). I often scuff the surface underneath up to promote adhesion too.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 minutes ago, DarthBiscuit said:

Another great pointer! Do you think E6000 is sufficient to adhere the snap squares to the armor?

E6000 is great and very tough, not had one fail yet