FN1313’s ANH Stunt Build thread

[FN1313[TK]]

Updated the rigging section with todays updates as you’ll see below.

side snaps for posterior

 

Abdomen/Kidney Rigging

 

 

Thigh Rigging

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

coming along nicely !   

[FN1313[TK]]

coming along nicely !   

Yep. At this rate I should be done before I even have the helmet. Hoping that ships out soon.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good

[FN1313[TK]]

Couldn’t stop doing some work today, so here’s a few more updates. Each section has been updated as well.

 

First the shins.

I finished the hook closure method in the back.

 

 

Then the thighs I added a mobility cut and they feel better. You’ll also see the shins I did a mobility cut (too much armor bite was going on in the back.

 

 

Belt I started the glue of the cap covers.

 

 

And for kicks and giggles I gave the lower half a test run.

 

things fit and felt good. Only adjustments from the run were the mobility cuts and I did trim the extended plastic on the sniper plate forward by 1/4 inch just because it was digging into my knee. This way it’s not going to slice my knee up.

[FN1313[TK]]

Made one last adjustment tonight. I didn’t like how the top inner edge of my thighs looked too sharp of an edge so I rounded it out.





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[SublimeBW[TK]]

First, let me say that this is awesome documentation of your build! Kudos.

Second, I have to let you know that your photos & journey helped give me some reassurance with my resumed build. I too, am building an AM kit but made a few mistakes and got into my own head about my the dork up I did on my helmet and went on a year+ hiatus of build. Now that I am back at it, having someone documenting the build with the same kit is really helpful.

Cheers!

[FN1313[TK]]

First, let me say that this is awesome documentation of your build! Kudos.

Second, I have to let you know that your photos & journey helped give me some reassurance with my resumed build. I too, am building an AM kit but made a few mistakes and got into my own head about my the dork up I did on my helmet and went on a year+ hiatus of build. Now that I am back at it, having someone documenting the build with the same kit is really helpful.

Cheers!

I can absolutely understand the fear of screwing up. I can’t say how many times I’ve sized, marked, resized, remarked, etc and still have worried before trimming.

I have built a few armors now so I have learned a lot of techniques and methods to fix issues, but it’s still a worry. Heck I’ve printed and made 4 different mandalorian helmets and still haven’t finished that costume due to the paint process.

But i do hope to make build threads with detailed information for this reason. I’ve followed Ukswraths AM 1.0 but as you can see there’s a lot of differences from 1.0 to 5.0, so I’ve had to adjust things for that too.

If you have questions feel free to post them. I can give some info based on my process too.

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[FN1313[TK]]

I pulled the middle belt cover off and reset it from this image because it was off center and causing me ocd issues but here’s the covers for idea of the belt minus that one change.




Updates for today (section on rigging will be updated as well)

Arm straps from biceps to shoulder bells





Posterior snaps 3



Kidney middle snap for posterior connection



And the finished tabs for the kidney to abdomen to hold it in place.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, getting very close now

[FN1313[TK]]

I saw a member do this once and opted to do so as well to protect my armor. Got some white pillowcases from Amazon and stuff shin in one and then that in thigh and thigh in another.



I’ll get some for my arms later the rest of the armor I’ll use the padding in the container to protect, but this way I limit how much each piece rubs on another.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I use fabric pouches for any of my painted costumes, it does protect from scratches, chips and scuffs. 

 

For my ANH TK most is pretty well protected as it's all stored inside the clamshell, the body of the armor then I have a towel which wraps around.

[FN1313[TK]]

Yeah I’m going to do that and a towel around things from there too. Good info!


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[FN1313[TK]]

Today’s updates

Belt is done.
Posterior male snaps are ready to go.



Male snaps installed to the back plate. Used a long strip of nylon as more surface are should give stronger adhesion



Got my storage container and of course have to rep those who got me here.



Getting to painting the ab buttons
M10 looks to be the right size. Just exacto cut outside the pencils circle.





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[FN1313[TK]]

Abdomen Button Paint

I picked up a nut and bolt sizer at Lowe’s in the nuts and bolts aisle for about $5


Seems the button sizes fit the M10 circle best so I used that for marking the tape to cut

I place the tape on a scrap of abs plastic and then marked the m10 holes. After marking I used a precision razor blade to cut on the outside of the mark (inside was too narrow for the button paint)
Then I would cut out squares and place them over the buttons to mask off the unpaintable areas




From here I used Testors enamel paints


I read the instructions beforehand as in my time making and painting costumes I know every paint is different and requires special care to instructions.

Being as I was brush painting and not air painting I didn’t need thinner and just needed to apply two base coats for initial coverage. And then a thicker final coat for a solid smooth gloss finish. The recommendation was wait 5 minutes between coats.

Coat 1

Coat 2

Coat 3


Finally you don’t want to leave masking tape on too long, but you don’t want to remove it while paint is still wet. I got a few mixed answers of 1 hour to 6 hours of wait until removing. I went with 2 hours and then carefully pulled the tape up and away from the paint to remove it.

Lighting isn’t the best for color as I am inside and don’t have natural light right now, but looks like it turned out well.



Now to let it sit for 48-72 hours to cure and harden.

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[FN1313[TK]]

Got the posterior rigging to the kidney setup today



And now working on the back to the kidney rigging.




Got the back armor elastic done and connected to the kidneys



I then setup the male snaps for the shoulder straps made and clamped to cure.


As well as the beginning abdomen male snaps for the rigging of the chest.



I marked the location of the opposite snaps on the chest piece to rig the chest to the abdomen and glued in place.


Once those set I was able to build the elastic rigging inside.



I then set the nylon male snaps to the back plate for the shoulder bridge elastic.


I then set the elastic strap for the cod to posterior using 3/4 inch elastic

[dblcross[TK]]

Got the posterior rigging to the kidney setup today



And now working on the back to the kidney rigging.




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Snaps are not my thing! I had so many screwed up snaps it isn't funny.

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[FN1313[TK]]

Snaps are not my thing! I had so many screwed up snaps it isn't funny.

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They can definitely be a pain. I have a heavy duty snap clamp that helps make it a little better to deal with. But even these I had to carefully take a mallet to to get them to connect together. Thankfully these ones aren’t intended to come apart.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

 

[FN1313[TK]]

 

That’s a great topic for manual snap work. I’ve got a couple sets of snap pliers I’ve been using from making other costumes. One I use on male snaps does essentially the same as the Phillips head screwdriver, the other for the female snaps is solid and super heavy duty. The only challenge I’ve had is some of the male snaps don’t have the split openings sitting flat, so the hex bolt is a good way to help with that. Otherwise what I did today with the using the mallet to tap things into connecting is also pushing that down too.

But yeah thanks for sharing that too, I’ll use the hex nut strategy on future snaps to flatten things and make it easier to snap them later.


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[FN1313[TK]]

Wasn’t expecting to finish my armor before the helmet arrived, but looks like that will be the case. At least I know that once the helmet does arrive all I need to do is put it on and I’ll be ready to submit.

[dblcross[TK]]

On 4/15/2023 at 6:47 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

 

I hate snaps! lol.

 

[FN1313[TK]]

I hate snaps! lol.
 

I didn’t do snaps for some parts of my armor really only the thighs and clamshell. The arms I just glued the elastic to them with e6000 and the shins I did the glued elastic with hooks method.


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[FN1313[TK]]

Updates today.

Done some more work on the rigging of the armor.

For the inner shoulder bridge strapping


The chest armor to abdomen rigging




The strap for the codpiece


The back plate strapping snaps (Only one snap so it’s easier to connect as this will be a regular connect/disconnect spot


I also did some work on a reinforcement plastic piece for the shoulder bridges. You can see I have part of it curved and the other bent at an angle. This is because the angled part is where it will split from the bridge and glue on the underside of the chest armor. The curved part will be what is attached to the bridge.



I applied e6000 to the curved area and clamped to cure for 24 hours. I will glue to the chest tomorrow.


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[dblcross[TK]]

I'm curious what your plans are for the back plate wing.