Morgi's ANH Stunt Build (first build)

[Morgi[Staff]]

Took me a while to update, I'm getting really busy packing everything up -- my workplace is gone as well now, so there's only very few things that I can do now until I get everything sorted out at the new place. 

 

One thing that I did was making some ABS paste, but the first try contained to much dust and other things that somehow (probably because my work station where I kept my scrap ABS was my bedroom floor) got into there:

 

 

So, I scrapped that one and started a new paste today, where I washed every piece of ABS scrap before I cut it and put it in the jar. 

 

I'll keep this one outside for this night and see what it looks like tomorrow:

 

 

It's looking much better than the other one, if you ask me. 

 

I've also prepared the thighs by putting some scrap ABS behind the gaps and making sure it stays there with some tape. I hope to get the ABS paste on there tomorrow or the day after, so that I can get that done at least before the move. I'll have to see whether I have the time for that. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Definitely don't want any foreign debris in your paste, can change the color and will no longer match, good call on starting a new batch. 

 

It's a weird stuff to apply, don't add too much, it will skin over very quickly so there's no real time to smooth around, less is best and you can always add a little more. 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

14 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

less is best and you can always add a little more. 

 

Exactly.  If I could ask a favor, could you post up as many photos as you can of this?  The reason being is that this is a fairly common issue, and perhaps you could help others by showing the process.  Thanks!

[Morgi[Staff]]

vor 16 Stunden schrieb gmrhodes13:

It's a weird stuff to apply, don't add too much, it will skin over very quickly so there's no real time to smooth around, less is best and you can always add a little more. 

 

vor 1 Stunde schrieb justjoseph63:

Exactly.  If I could ask a favor, could you post up as many photos as you can of this?  The reason being is that this is a fairly common issue, and perhaps you could help others by showing the process.  Thanks!

 

I've taken several pictures of my progress, I hope this might be helpful! 

 

 

First I gathered my materials - several sizes of wooden sticks, the ABS paste and (of course) the thighs, where I had a piece of ABS with some tape to hold it in place:

 

 

I actually needed two pieces of ABS due to the shape of the ridge -- one inside the ridge and one on top of that to cover the gap between the ridge and the cover strip. 

 

Because I was reminded of this several times, I only put on small layers one at a time. I've found that if the ABS just covers the tip of a toothpick, it was easy to get in the gap without smearing it all over or getting too much on there.

 

After ~2-3 layers

 

After a layer I would press down with a clean toothpick to make sure it lays flat and that there would be no bubbles or gaps. I also used this time to push in any of the paste outside of the gap. Because of the fast drying consistency of the paste, it felt like moving around chewing gum that has been chewed on for a few hours already. 

 

 

I repeated this process several times until the paste matched up with the armor. 

 

 

The closer I got to the edge of the armor, the smaller the drop of paste got. I had to clean my toothpick every now and then to make sure that I could still work cleanly. I also had to add a drop or two of acetone every now and then to my paste in the jar and stir it in with a toothpick, to make sure the consistency stayed roughly the same and that it didn't harden in a layer at the top. 

 

 

Once I got to a point where I was happy with this gap, I closed the other gaps as well in the same way. Afterwards I went back to this one and closed up a few spots that weren't as clean as they could be and still had some gaps. 

 

 

 

Once it dried, I took some scissors and cut away the visible part of the tape that wasn't covered with the paste. 

 

Next I'll have to wait until its dry and then sand the paste smooth and maybe cut the return edge so it looks smoother. Once I've got it sanded down, I'll see if there are any gaps that I've missed that need another bit of ABS paste, fill them up, sand it down and so on until I'm happy. 

 

Because I won't manage that until Friday, I will leave that to future me and leave those gaps as they are for now. 

 

Justjoseph63 (and anybody else who might be reading this), I hope this was at least a bit useful in showing my progress and how I applied the ABS paste.

[Chemi[Staff]]

Nice work Luca!!!

 

 

...And thanks for the pics

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, Morgi said:

Once I've got it sanded down, I'll see if there are any gaps that I've missed that need another bit of ABS paste, fill them up, sand it down and so on until I'm happy. 

Just a tip I normally start with a coarse grade wet and dry sandpaper @240, then switch out to finer wet and dry sandpapers ending up with a 1500 or 2000 grit, the finer the sandpaper the easier it is to polish. Also sand with water, add a drop or two of dish washing liquid to it, will help the sandpaper glide and doesn't clog as quickly

 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

WOW, and THANKS!

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Really great 'how to' for the abs paste.

Don't be surprised if people are referred back here to see how it's done 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Whoa, thanks for all the amazing feedback, guys! 

 

The move went well and in-between putting everything into its proper place, I managed to get another small detail done: the fabric behind the frown. Whilst I was still at home, I took an old black elastic fabric,cut it down to size and sewed it together, making for an easily-breathable black cover:

 

 

At my new place I glued it in (making sure to keep the glue in the wide-open window, cause this is a one-room apartment and I do not want that stuff anywhere near my bed):

 

 

Because in RS Prop master's reference pictures video they showed a picture that made clear that the original helmets didn't have a mesh behind the teeth, I wanted to try and hide the fact that I have one. Therefore I only glued the sides and left it without glue in the middle, so that it wouldn't touch the helmet there. As a result, when you look at the helmet from the side, you can still spot that there's a gap between the teeth. This also helps to conceil the fact that there's fabric behind it, because the weave isn't as obvious as it would be pressed right against the frown:

 

 

Once I get around to it I'll continue working on the thigh gaps, but I'll have to figure out how exactly I'm gonna do this in my new apartment first. 

 

Am 4.8.2021 um 23:04 schrieb gmrhodes13:

Just a tip I normally start with a coarse grade wet and dry sandpaper @240, then switch out to finer wet and dry sandpapers ending up with a 1500 or 2000 grit, the finer the sandpaper the easier it is to polish. Also sand with water, add a drop or two of dish washing liquid to it, will help the sandpaper glide and doesn't clog as quickly

 

I'll keep that in mind once I get to it, thanks! 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 26.7.2021 um 17:58 schrieb CallMeMrTibbles:

Shoulder Bridge elastic. When I'm dressing myself alone I can never get that elastic to stay put, it's one reason it's good to have other costumers or handlers around when getting ready. I believe some people put a spot of glue on the inside to keep the elastic loop in place, but having help always makes it easier.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Rich, this was exactly what I did. Now that there's not much to do until I get the clearance pictures done (unless anybody had any suggestions? ), I decided to spare myself the horrors of trying to put the elastic on and getting it to stay where its supposed to stay by gluing it into the armor. 

 

 

I do have to admit that I'm missing the daily armor build routine. 

 

What I might still work on:

 

If I'm not missing anything, there are still a few things that I can do that aren't necessary for basic approval but would improve the overall appearance and set me on Centurion course, such as making sure that the ab plate button paint actually meets Centurion requirements (because that paint was my very first attempt at painting and therefore got way beyond where it should've stayed), finally deciding on a solution regarding my crotch snap/elastic (which I might want to glue so the elastic part is shorter, which would mean that I probably need to lift the back) and sanding down the ABS paste (for which I would need to find a way to set up a good work station for the sanding). Otherwise there are probably some tiny things that I can change to improve the overall look, such as making sure that the S-trim neatly covers the ear and perhaps a few things that I missed but that Tino (T-Jay) might be able to point out when we take the pictures. Oh, and I'll need a blaster if I want to achieve the higher levels. But blaster or no blaster, higher levels or not, there's nothing that should stop me from trying to achieve the best look for my armor, even if it might not be possible to officially get it to Centurion until I get that blaster. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I sewed my elastic to the shoulder elastic so it doesn't move, adding glue will work just the same  

 

You quickly find once you finish one build you want to start another, getting bitten by the building bug.

 

Once you get some photos taken you are welcome to post in our Pre Approval Forum, this is a way of getting any feedback for basic approval before you approach your GML (garrison membership liaison) also a great way to get feedback on any L2 or L3 issues, thread is here https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/193-request-tk-pre-approval/

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 11.8.2021 um 22:51 schrieb gmrhodes13:

You quickly find once you finish one build you want to start another, getting bitten by the building bug.

 

So true! Sadly I have neither the money, nor the space and soon probably no time to actually start another build -- and I would need to decide on a costume as well, which would be difficult because there's so many good costumes out there...! 

 

Am 11.8.2021 um 22:51 schrieb gmrhodes13:

Once you get some photos taken you are welcome to post in our Pre Approval Forum, this is a way of getting any feedback for basic approval before you approach your GML (garrison membership liaison) also a great way to get feedback on any L2 or L3 issues, thread is here https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/193-request-tk-pre-approval/

 

Thanks! Maybe I'll take some pictures this weekend (won't be the quality that I want for approval pictures though) so I can get some last advice before getting the approval pictures taken on the 29th. I will have to see how my time management allows a suit up. Afterwards I can upload the approval pictures to get advice for L2 and L3. 

 

Quick question: because I'm not actually applying for L2 yet because of the blaster, I should stick to the pre approval threads for getting feedback regarding L2 and L3 issues, right? 

 

And because I'm the type of person that prefers to showcase an update when it's possible, here's the crotch snap elastic that I folded and glued with E6000 to pull the butt plate in a bit better. 

 

 

I've also been busy scraping paint off of my ab plate buttons, which has the nice side effect of making it look chipped. I'll probably be able to upload a picture later today or tomorrow once I spend another hour or so finishing up the last buttons. 

 

Now that I can (hopefully) (soon) cross off the ab plate paint clean up and the crotch snap elastic on my to-do list, I've remembered that I can add adjusting the ABS ammo belt to touch the lower button onto it. I've still got some velcro lying around, so if anybody would like to share some pictures of how they did it, I would appreciate it! 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 14.8.2021 um 10:54 schrieb Morgi:

I've also been busy scraping paint off of my ab plate buttons, which has the nice side effect of making it look chipped. I'll probably be able to upload a picture later today or tomorrow once I spend another hour or so finishing up the last buttons. 

 

Okay, so it did look chipped, but after looking at a few screen references, I decided that I didn't want that, so I scrapped off even more paint and then repainted the outside of the buttons:

 

 

They might need a bit of clean up to make them have a rounder shape, but it's better than before with all the paint only on the buttons. 

 

I've also gone ahead and requested pre approval, so feel free to head over there as well:

 

 

[Morgi[Staff]]

A huge thank you to everybody that has already replied to my pre approval request with all the suggestions! 

 

This also means that I'm back on this thread with a few things to work on, the first of which was pointed out by Tino:

 

 

It's awesome to see the armor coming together more and more, so I'm sure that with all the suggestions I'll be making a few more adjustments to various parts of the armor. Next up: making sure the ab plate sits straight. 

 

As always, any advice or suggestions are welcome! 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Back to fixing all the issues brought up in my pre approval request. 

 

The Ab Plate

 

As justjoseph63 noted, the ab plate wasn't sitting right. To fix this, I decided to alter the strapping by glueing one of the snaps a bit higher:

 

 

I haven't tried it on yet, but I hope that it'll help straighten the armor. 

 

The butt and kidney plate

 

This picture edit by justjoseph63 shows the issue(s) fairly well:

 

 

I need to pull in the suit (especially the butt plate) without the return edges bunching up even more. Because I'm too skinny for the armor and I can't just make the sides smaller (at least not with my experience, materials and tools), I decided to fix the easier issue first. 

 

To pull in the butt plate even more, I opened the strapping and tightened it as much as possible:

 

 

This makes it even more difficult to pull in the kidney plate, but it also lessens the possibility of the butt plate flaring out like that. 

 

In order to have not as much of a bunch up at the return edges, I cut the areas where it bunches up a bit down. Here's what it looks like now when I apply pressure from the sides:

 

 

Not much of an improvement and because of the strapping between the butt and kidney plate I couldn't really cut down anything there, but it's all I could think of. If any of you have any idea on how to solve this issue, please let me know! 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Morgi
Spelling mistake

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You would have to take care but you could heat in a hot water bath and clamp with too pieces of wood together, this should lower those high spots.

 

I use a heat gun BUT it's something you need A LOT of practice with, plastic can go from warm to molten mess in a blink of an eye, a hot water bath is safer.

 

For the butt plate perhaps you could use some V tabs to clamp the pieces a little tighter together, also stops flaring

 

Heat a strip of ABS plastic, mold over the edges, glue the bottom tab and leave the other side free.

[Morgi[Staff]]

It's been a while since my last update... 

 

Yesterday I spend the day with Tino (T-Jay) and he helped me make some last adjustments, went over the different armor parts with me and took my basic approval pictures. A huge thank you, I had an amazing day and I absolutely love what we managed to do with the armor. 

 

Because I forgot to take a lot of pictures of the things that we did (I was probably too excited by all the cool Star Wars props that he's got around, haha), I've only got a picture of Tino helping with the adjustment of the metal clips of the TD, so that they can lay flush against the tube:

 

 

Other things that got adjusted were (for example) the frown paint or the curvature of the butt plate. 

 

All in all, an amazing day with excellent photos that I already submitted to the GMO this morning. Now all that's left is to wait for their response and see where we go from there. 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Good luck with your submission!
Can't wait to see the pics from your first troop!!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Good luck and hope to see you approved very soon

[T-Jay[TK]]

Yes, it was fun yesterday and time flew. I was surprised to realize we had met for about 10 hours in total.

 

I keep fingers crossed for the basic approval application and hope we took care of the issues for the higher levels, too...

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Good luck with your approval !!!

[Morgi[Staff]]

Earlier this week I got the happy news that I have been accepted into the 501st Legion -- without even having to do any further work on my armor. Thanks for all the help and the well wishes, guys! TK-66744 reporting for duty 

 

If everything goes well, I'll be doing my first troop at the beginning of October and I can't wait for it! Meanwhile Tino has given me lots of advice and tips for trooping, which I'm very grateful for 

 

In the meantime, I've been waiting to get all the proper access and I've been trying to see where I can improve my armor a bit further to make it better to troop in. For that I spend an hour inside the armor (getting help from a few friends for suit up and observations) and tried walking around, climbing stairs, exploring my field of vision and my range of motion... 

 

Due to that I noticed a few other things that should make my first troop a bit more comfortable. I took away a few millimetres of plastic at the sides of the crotch piece, so it doesn't cut into my thighs as much and I worked out some padding, such as behind the sniper plate, to keep it from sliding into my thigh armor and the padding inside the helmet. 

 

Tino showed me a way to pad the front of the helmet, so that I can still wear my glasses and gave me some of the padding that he used. It works perfectly and I'm very happy with my improved vision inside the helmet. 

 

One last improvement was getting some fabric glue for my belt, so it wouldn't fray. The glue is invisible and fairly flexible, which is good. Now I've only got to wait and see if it also manages to hold up during trooping. Thanks for the idea, Rich! 

 

And here are some pictures:

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations and welcome to the ranks trooper.

 

You can request higher access here 

 

[Morgi[Staff]]

vor 2 Minuten schrieb gmrhodes13:

Congratulations and welcome to the ranks trooper.

 

You can request higher access here 

 

 

Thanks! I already requested access on Tuesday, so I'm just waiting for the actual access right now 

[T-Jay[TK]]

Congrats Luca, glad to see you made it.

 

After your first troop you will surely find more little things to improve.

 

That's part of this hobby, so don't worry...