pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 I actually started the build quite a while back, but haven't had a chance to get all the pics done / uploaded. My armor is VT / CAP built in the ANH "Hero" style. Although the build has turned out OK, I think if I had known what I know now (based on all the great knowledge here), I would have made different choices. Oh well, you live and learn, and in this case - I made the best of it. Ideally, I'd like to get another higher quality kit at some point and fix some of the mistakes I made. Let's start with the box. Everyone starts with the box! Lid out of the box. The details are softer than I would have liked, and the cap n back was pretty wonky. Some tape to hold it in shape and a heat gun fixed that. Cutting out various pieces. Eyes and teeth have a rough cut The masking tape isn't to mask the teeth, just to help protect the lip edge against mistakes. I used Humbrol but the texture of the paint was horrible and took 3-4 days for 1 coat to dry! I switched to Testors 1138, worked great. You've probably seen my funky teeth mesh thread Teeth painted with mesh installed Vocoder painted I chose to cut out the original aerator bolts, dremeled out holes and inserted T nuts instead. The tips were really warped and not to my liking. I'll probably order some better ones later. Somewhere along the way, I forgot to take pictures. It took about 1.5 hours to trim each ear piece. I'm using a green flat lens for now, but I have black bubble lenses I will install later for 501st CRL and EIB. The helmet is completed, just need to finish the tube stripe decals Little TK likes it! Various arms and legs beings assembled Hand plates assembled per my tutorial Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 28, 2009 Author Report Posted October 28, 2009 Since CAP originally used an older version of AP molds, there's some serious wonkyness. The alignment wasn't what I expected but again, you get what you pay for and I just made do the best I could. Hmmm... what's the lesser of 2 evils here? I chose to align the tops as best I could, and fix the knee area via heat gun / iron. I used a ton of clamps, and the magnet trick to get things aligned and glued Again, some pretty gnarly alignment. Pretty much everything is out of what by a long mile. Argh... Thank goodness I have a heat gun / iron and Stuka's great tips! Fixed this super wonky edge here. First, i glued the front of the thighs - fixed the front alignment, then evaluated how far out the back seam was. Used the heat iron to get the general shape, then smoothed it further with ironing. Then I trimmed the edge to match the other edge, and then used the Dremel to even out both surfaces. Don't grind too deep, the iron should get you most of the way. Then just smooth it out, sand it with 200, 400, 800 then I used wet sanding 1200. A little polishing, and she's good to go! Gnarly shape + Dremel + sanding + wet sanding + Novus polish = not too bad of a result Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 28, 2009 Author Report Posted October 28, 2009 Torso is complete (minus ab buttons). I chose to install suspenders and a different method of velcroing the sides together. Not that the ANH rivets are exposed snap are visible. I'll be painting the rivets later. A little test fit. Dang, those are some sexy knees! Here's how I did my garters for the thigh armor. Around my waist, I wear a simple 1.5" web belt with a fastex buckle up front. One each side is a V shaped garter. You could use a straight piece of elastic, but I found that with the V shape, the thigh armor stays perfectly positioned no matter how much you move. I tried it with one piece and there was just too much movement for my liking. One side of the V is permanently attached, the other is adjustable. When I made them, I didn't know exactly how long they needed to be, so I left one side adjustable. You can make both sides adjustable or permanently sew them, that's up to you. I'll probably make another garter for myself that fits me perfect. For now, these more than do the job. This is the inside view. The garters extend into the thigh and attach via a snap plate. Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 28, 2009 Author Report Posted October 28, 2009 Just finished the belt and holster. I went DIY on the holster. I used some fake leather / vinyl material I had at home, doubled up the material but I sandwiched in a thin sheet of styrene plastic in between the layers, to give the holster thickness and rigidity. I simply cut the plastic about 1/4" smaller than the material and sewed it together. For the retaining strap, I bought a $2 black belt from Value Villiage (used clothing store) and cut it up for the strap, and added the snap button and rivetted it to the holster. The holster is held on with 4 rivets (in the hero style) The belt is a little different, I chose to do clean edges instead of the ragged edges. I just like it that way. Folded the material over. I sewed velcro on the inside of the belt, as I may consider attaching it to the torso via velcro so that it stays horizontal all the way around, rather than just the rivets at the front. Finished the arms, here they are as completed units. The hand plates have been attached (per my tutorial) and the elbows are connected to the biceps. The bicep to shoulder bell and bicep to forearm were done a bit differently. I did one end as a snap plate, and a black 1" elastic connector, but the other end is attached via industrial velcro. This allowed me to adjust the length easily without needing to install a snap, which I find hard to get the spacing right on the first try. I did it this way so that it was ready for halloween, but once I get the inner padding all finalized *the current ones are "make do for now". I may do a snap to snap elastic connection to a finalized length. The adjustability is very convenient, and hasn't fallen off, etc.. Here's a really good image looking down the bicep / elbow join Shins and thighs have also been completed. I paid special attention to the ANH finishing strips, smoothing all the edges and rounding the corners. Also note the white rivets (I had to paint them as I couldn't find pre-finished white rivets) Upper shin foam, simply attached with velcro. I find this is the only area that really needs padding. For now, I closed the shins with a small piece of velcro in the back where the ANH strips overlap, and a small velcro tab at the top inside. I have another idea for shin closure I will do a tutorial on later if it pans out. Inner thigh snap with an extra large snap plate, made for the garter connection (I ended up making some elastic garters that connect to the belt in a "V" shape. It keeps the thighs aligned perfectly. Thigh detail for the battery packs I've also redone the eyes on my lid. I Dremeled the inner corners deeper and installed the black bubble lenses for the true hero look and ultimately my EIB application. The only small detail I'm not 100% happy with is the black outline around the ear cap detail. I used pin stripe tape from a hobby store, but it started peeling / bubbling. I'm going to remove it and re-paint it by hand. Just a couple of finished pics More to come (waiting for pics from a friends good camera) Quote
dougefresh Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 This thread rocks! You got some serious skills to pay the bills, my friend. Keep it comin'! Quote
TK-7980 Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 "You get what you pay for..." AP's molds are the exact same as CAPs old molds... it's all the same stuff lol. Looks awesome though, great build so far. Quote
RogueTrooper[TK] Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 Looking good!!! Do you know what gauge is the VT armor? Quote
oiftanker Posted October 28, 2009 Report Posted October 28, 2009 2mm... i have VT armor as well and i would love mine to be that shiny!!! Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 29, 2009 Author Report Posted October 29, 2009 Thanks guys. Arron, I haven't polished anything yet. Maybe it's just the camera flash that makes it look shiny? I do have Novus polish, I'll give it a nice finish after everything is complete! Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 30, 2009 Author Report Posted October 30, 2009 Finished the belt and holster. See pics above. Quote
usul45 Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 WOW, keep up this thread please, you are teaching me something with each picture. Just great, I love how you aligned the thighs good job I would have cried and ended up in the fetal position if I had seen that seam. Quote
naatsirhc[TK] Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 Nice job getting those pieces to look right. Lots of hard work there. Great pics! Looks like your getting close. Great work, looking forward to seeing it finished Quote
FIVE[501st] Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 Great build thread man... keep it up! Quote
NAZGÛL Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 Looking great! I noticed you cut the eyes with some plastic left in the middle (the "nose corner"), is that hero style or is it a look you like? As for wonky, well the originals are also wonky, so my guess is you might get the same thing with more expensive kits. You have great skills and will no doubt have one awesome set when youre done. Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted October 30, 2009 Author Report Posted October 30, 2009 Matti, you have a sharp eye! I got scared there, and just grinded a little at a time. I will grind the nose corner some more for my curved lenses. I just left it as is for now, as I installed a flat lens since I'm going to troop at work tomorrow and I need to see what I'm doing. Thanks for the support guys. I'll post some more pics soon, and some finished ones from work tomorrow! Can't wait to suit up in the morning! Quote
NAZGÛL Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 Im sure it will be a success! Have fun and looking forward to the pics! Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted November 2, 2009 Author Report Posted November 2, 2009 New updates, added new pics too. The build is now complete. Finished trooping pictures to come! Quote
Darth_Finger Posted November 2, 2009 Report Posted November 2, 2009 How do you like the VT hero helmet? Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted November 2, 2009 Author Report Posted November 2, 2009 Thanks Johnny, glad you like it. Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out. I'd love to try and build another kit at some point, and not make some of the mistakes I did when assembling this one. Ever make one of those cuts with your knife / scissors and say "Oh man, I wish I could turn time back by 30 seconds..." Yeah, I had a few of those. I just added some finished images above. I have some KILLER pictures to add when I get the images a friend took on Friday. Quote
ThayNerd[TK] Posted November 2, 2009 Report Posted November 2, 2009 Your build turned out great! Quote
NAZGÛL Posted November 2, 2009 Report Posted November 2, 2009 It turned out awesome! And the eyes look perfect. I love this pic: Quote
naatsirhc[TK] Posted November 2, 2009 Report Posted November 2, 2009 Very cool! Looks like it is time to get your submission in to the legion for that TK ID. Quote
pandatrooper[TK] Posted November 2, 2009 Author Report Posted November 2, 2009 Thanks guys, couldn't have done it without the help and support of everyone here! A big influence was seeing all the great tutorials and reference from Stukatrooper, TKdueno, Firebladejedi and others. Outstanding examples to follow. I made my submission for my 501st membership / TK number last week and sent in my pics already to my GML, just waiting for a response and checking my e-mail every half hour. Quote
Trooperman Posted November 3, 2009 Report Posted November 3, 2009 Torso is complete (minus ab buttons). I chose to install suspenders and a different method of velcroing the sides together. Not that the ANH rivets are exposed snap are visible. I'll be painting the rivets later. A little test fit. Dang, those are some sexy knees! More pics and progress to come. Wow , love these shots of the armour clamed together , youve done a fine job on this build , ive got a set of VT armour when i get round to finishing it i hope it looks as good as this , Quote
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