Bob's ROTK 850 Armor Works Build Thread

[Sly11[Admin]]

You are doing this 850 kit great justice, keep up the excellent work Bob.

[Teach-]

Thank you. Slow going but I'm enjoying the build.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

14 minutes ago, Teach- said:

Thank you. Slow going but I'm enjoying the build.

 

 

All comes down to how much free time you have, away from work and family, it's never a race but you know there is always a finish line at the end  

[Teach-]

I experimented with some color on my cover strips. The white of the 3D prints are more white than the 850 armor. I mixed a little (and I mean a little) yellow acrylic paint in with the XTC-3D to make the cover strips a bit off-white to match the armor. It's difficult to see in the pictures below, but I used too much yellow and will try again with a little less. The cover strips are not attached; just resting on the armor.

 

 

 

Original 3D print:

 

 

XTC-3D mixed with the yellow acrylic paint:

 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Just a touch too much yellow. I know it's a photo and could be the lighting too, but it looks like the yellow isn't mixed in enough or could be just slightly thicker in areas making it stand out more.

Experimentation is all part of it, I'm sure you will get it closer with patience, just keep at it nice and steady.

[Teach-]

I worked on the rear belt. I read the small update to the Rogue One TK CRL just as I was getting started. I stayed with my original plan and the original CRL to overlap the rear belt over the front belt since that's what I planned for and the front belt was designed that way. I didn't change the bottom edge of the front belt either. I kept it with one edge and no trimming. Both are optional in the updated CRL and staying with the original plan still works within the CRL. 

 

I curved the rear belt after a hot water bath. I wrapped it around the abdomen armor while I wore it. I then trimmed the length. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't trimmed the length until I had fully fitted the rear belt with snaps and test fitted it. In the end, I left enough length, but there was a point during the build that I thought I had taken too much off. I added snaps to the rear belt and abdomen and then did a test fit.

 

 

 

 

At first, none of it was working or fitting that well. I realized that the top piece of the posterior armor that I left to fill the gap under the rectangular plate wasn't allowing the posterior armor to sit naturally. It was causing the posterior piece to sit too tight to my body and was interfering with attaching the belt with the snaps. Once I removed that piece, the rear belt fit nicely and the posterior armor followed the contour of my body. 

 

 

 

I then worked on attaching the thermal detonator to the rear belt. Before assembling the detonator, I cemented two stainless steel, threaded nuts on the inside and drilled two holes that gave access to the nuts. For the 3D printed piece that I made to connect the detonator to the rear belt, I drilled two holes slightly bigger than the size of the bolts to allow for a little error when I cemented the piece to the belt. That piece also needed a slightly concave back to match the curve of the rear belt. I did that with the spindle sander. I then drilled holes in the rear belt and cemented the thermal detonator holder to the belt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TerribleBen[TK]]

Looking good! I used supa glue,snaps, and velcro to hold my armor together..just trooped Sinulog in Cebu and spent 10 hours in armor...no problems with my suit at all!! With the forearms...I used a belt sander to remove the back side of the cover strips till I was OK with the thickness...the top and bottom edges are pretty much gone....have fun!!!

Edited January 25 by TerribleBen
Addition

[Teach-]

As I await the printing of the cover strips (I hope to get those done this weekend) and completing the 850 build, I'm starting to think about a helmet.

 

 

I own a Black Series helmet and I'm wondering what I need to alter in order to meet Basic approval and get closer to trooping. I've read the HOWTO: Make Black Series R1 bucket more accurate thread and the CRL. Here are the three things I think I need to do for Basic approval.

 

#1: fill in, smooth, and paint the speaker and battery pack seams.

 

 

#2: change the lenses so they are sufficiently dark enough to obscure my eyes (you can see the inside of the helmet in the image below)

 

 

#3: back the teeth hollows with black or dark gray wire screen mesh

 

 

I think everything else meets the CRL, although I recognize that more can be done to make the helmet more accurate. Let me know your thoughts about Basic approval.  Thanks.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

32 minutes ago, Teach- said:

I think everything else meets the CRL, although I recognize that more can be done to make the helmet more accurate. Let me know your thoughts about Basic approval.  Thanks.

You should be ok if you fulfil the base requirements

The Black Series helmet is approvable if modified to meet the level 1 CRLs

At the end of the day your GML makes the final call so you could check with him/her/them/they.

Here is another great build

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

The brow height also needs to be addressed. It's too high on the BS helmet for basic approval.

 

I'm unsure if the chin area will need to be extended. It really depends on you, your GML, and your photos. The chin on the black series is VERY very shallow and not accurate. It doesn't cover enough of your face/chin in other words. Most who convert the bucket will extend it by about an inch toward your neck and then do new black trim around it.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Personally I think you should be ok for base clearance with the brow trim, not mentioned until L2, but entirely up to your GML

• Brow trim should be positioned ¼" above the eyes.

Black series 

 

Reference 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that was an L2 thing. Very cool! That makes the BS bucket much more accessible.

 

One thing I would highly, HIGHLY recommend is fully painting the bucket so that it matches your armor instead of just spot painting the repair area around the speaker. If it's a different shade of white, the GMLs will likely notice and then start looking more closely at it. They may require more fixes like the brow trim.

[TerribleBen[TK]]

I did quite a bit to my BS bucket. The beginning of my build thread shows most...getting rid of the battery box and speaker are the most important! My stock lenses do just fine, I blacked out the inside of my bucket...brow lowering and chin extension is a bigger job...up to you...definitely paint to match armor!  Have fun...Good luck!!!

[DarthSaiyan8697]

I think the stock "teeth" need to be dremeled and replaced with a 3D printed Rogue One "teeth" to make it more accurate to the original prop.

 

Black Series

 

References

 

I also think that the lower part/"jaw" of the Black Series Stormtrooper helmet, where the aerator and vocoder are located, should be separate.

 

Black Series

 

Reference

Edited February 4 by DarthSaiyan8697

[Teach-]

I've been printing, sanding, applying XTC-3D, and cementing the cover strips lately. Everything is printed now which feels good to complete.

 

 

Everything is also sanded. I did a very rough sanding with a belt but then did everything else by hand.

 

 

Most cover strips have been coated with the XTC-3D sealant by now. I discovered the craft brushes below that I wish I knew about before! They made the application of the sealant and cement so much easier and more precise. I highly recommend them when using the XTC and J-B Weld.

 

 

 

 

So far, the upper arms and forearms have the cover strips cemented on. The thighs and lower legs are next. 

 

 

 

I also printed, sanded, coated, and cemented the vertical strip of the abdomen center detail.

 

[dapascal]

Am 29.6.2023 um 20:45 schrieb Teach-:

I was really happy with the 3D prints for the back and abdomen details and the fact that I didn't have to sand down the resin from 850 AW so I decided to print the cover strips as well.  Things went well for the first batch until there was an overnight printer jam during the second batch 

 

 

 

 

hi, do you happen to have an STL for the cover strips

[Teach-]

Hi Pascal. I've been working with a friend on the 3D printing and learning as I go. Let me see what to do, and I'll share what I have. Stay tuned and I'll get back to you. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Teach- said:

Hi Pascal. I've been working with a friend on the 3D printing and learning as I go. Let me see what to do, and I'll share what I have. Stay tuned and I'll get back to you. 

We do have a 3D File Depository if you wanted to share files there https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/202-3d-file-depository/

[Teach-]

Pascal, I shared the files with you.

 

I also uploaded them to the 3D File Depository.

[Teach-]

I bought a Black Series Artillery Stormtrooper helmet. I'm going to hold on to the BS Stormtrooper helmet as is.

 

 

The Artillery helmet comes in two parts which meant I had to disassemble the two halves. In order to get to all the screws, I cut away some of the internal plastic wall on the back half. I also had to cut the top tabs that hold the two halves together. The bottom ones released easily after that.

 

 

 

 

Once the halves were separated, I removed the lenses and the front brow that holds the lenses in place. I'm holding on to both of those for now.

 

 

One of the rank bars is loose because it is the button for the voice activation in the original helmet. I'll hold on to that and attach it later.

 

 

I cut and roughly sanded any of the plastic that could be removed in the face section and the back section. I'll eventually do more.

 

 

 

Lastly, I sanded the edge of the yellow paint where there was a small ridge. I also sanded the seam under the tears.

 

 

 

 

[Teach-]

I finished the lower leg and thigh cover strips.

 

 

 

 

 

Those were the last parts of the build for the body armor. It feels good to have gotten that done! I'll post full body pictures next.

Edited February 29 by Teach-

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looks like you have trimmed the rear angled ridges from the top back of your shins?

 

Here's another 850

 

Reference

[Teach-]

On 2/29/2024 at 4:22 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Looks like you have trimmed the rear angled ridges from the top back of your shins?

 

Here's another 850

 

Reference

 

Yes., you are correct. It was a compromise I needed to make. The lower legs were too big for me. I took some length off from the bottom, but at a certain point I was losing the thinness at the ankle.  They were also too large at the top so I had to cut them so that they could wrap around my legs. That meant losing some of the upper edging. I have been trying to figure out how to get the same look on the part that I had to cut...but haven't figured that out yet.

Edited March 3 by Teach-

[Teach-]

Thank you gmrhodes13 for motivating me to figure out those lower legs. I was so happy to be through the bulk of the build that I rested too soon!

 

I had saved the edging I cut off because I knew it was likely that I'd have to re-attach them. I trimmed them down and then cut the loose pieces and the edging on the lower legs to match and create the correct angle to reset them. I then added tabs behind the edging on the leg so that the new pieces had something to attach to. I then cemented them on. The next step will be making some abs paste and filling in the thin gaps that remain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good so far