Acrylikhan

Are you guys designing the under arm straps of the back plate to go over the front armor straps as seen in the promo and other photographs?

can you PM that link to me too?

Don't get rid of TOO much material. The arch on the on the Kashyyyk Trooper boot are very unrealistic, IMO. Some of these boots aren't cheap, either, but that's my $1.89+tax on the subject. I do like the EvenTex Boot, and the very last one! If it comes in desert camo, or coyote tan/sand, it would be a great fit! Do you think they would carry a US size 13-14? (not sure on the Europe scale conversion!) Me and my HUGE feet, alwys creating problems.

Keep us in the loop!

Very cool!

Excellent! Dude, that rocks!!!

The final sanding is complete. I've added some air escape holes to help pull the plastic down into the corners. A perfect sculpt. Fits the holdout blaster like a glove... uh... Holster!! Plenty of room for plastic to insert into the "heel." If it turns out to be too much, I can either take material off the buck, or add a shim inside so that the pistol sits tight. Time to start construction on the "wrap." The supplies needed are some pieces of cardboard, the pistol, and the buck. Set the pistol on the buck, and then set a piece of cardboard on the bottom of the buck. Take a pen or a fine point marker and try to follow the contour of the pistol and the buck. There be several of these to get the weird curve that wraps around the pistol, and into heel. It's tricky business, but this prep work will help take some of the guess work out of the sculpt. Take the tracing and cut out the negative bits. There's still some fine tuning, but that easy. These cardboard cut-outs will be stencils to trace onto the sculpting foam, and then cut out. They will then be glued together, and then frosted with bondo. I coated the base of the holster buck with a high heat urethane coating to protect it and hopefully extend it's life. More cut out fun over the next couple of days.

Way to Go, Rick!!

More studying the pistol to get a feel for how the holster should fit around. I've decided to call this first piece of the holster that attaches to the boot "the rest," because the pistols "rests" or sits on this piece. The actual nub that the pistol rest on, I am calling the "heel." The second part I am calling the "wrap" as this part wraps around the pistol to hold it in place on the rest. The Wrap inserts into the Heel, on the front facing edge of the Heel. This area has to be taller than the pistol's height to accommodate the thickness of the plastic of the Wrap piece. Otherwise, there will not be enough room for it, and the pistol will not sit right. I started sanding out the bondo layers and decided to put an extra thick coating on the Heel again. The pistol is in it's place, and checked out my height. Looking down the pistol I think I have plenty of room for the Wrap piece. Once the holster "Rest" part is vac-formed, the thickness of the plastic will increase the height of this wall, but not by much. It should be tall enough to let a .125" thick plastic sheet fit in the space with a little room to spare. I probably won't have my holster looking exactly like the reference shots I have, but it will be close. More sanding tomorrow and a final check before I put a protective coating on this forming buck. Then, onto stylin' the Wrap.

The War Continues...

Probably .100" would be the best bet. As for Cmdr. Gree... I'm not sure, as I believe his is a camo Phase II armor.

ABS is just that, ABS! It's a blend of two plastics (acrylic and styrene bonded with Butane). Plastic parts of your cellphone, plastic housing on your computer, and television all use ABS plastic. Is forms nicely, and is recyclable! So it's all around you. Of course all of those parts are injection molded... and that's another subject, for another time. ABS tends to be a bit more expensive than plain sheet styrene... its about double the cost. ABS also comes in a few colors, natural (beige), black, and white are usually the standard sheet colors... with white being the most expensive because of the bleaching coloring process involved. ABS is tougher, but styrene will work as well. Both take paint very well too! I would definitely ask your school/teacher/professor what they use. Information is power, and this will can help. Maybe they can order materials you need, or set you up with whom they order from. A few words about thickness of the sheets - .080" thickness ABS will give you great detail! But if you want something a bit stronger go for .100". Just remember that the greater the thickness of the plastic you try to make a form out of, the less crisp the edges, and loss of surface details. You can those details back with bondo,and a whole lota pattern finishing. That too, is another story, for another time. I hope thios helps you out.

Sam, If you'd like, take a gander over at www.tk560.com, there are some good instructions for building a 24" x 24" vac table. I've build one myself to continue my own armor pursuits... The helmet would have to be broken down into a few pieces: the Faceplate, the hood would be in two pieces, and the bucket would also be two pieces. If you were looking at the helmet, just split it right down the center from top to bottom. After they are cut out, and some cleaning glue 'em together. As for glue, superglue will do fine, but something a bit strong might be better for what your looking for. Maybe an epoxy, or if you can find a urethane (like Gorilla Glue) or soemthing thar would give you the strongest bond. ABS cement will work with styrene but too much will cause the plastic to melt. Then its just a matter of cleaning the seam lines with bondo, some sanding, and some patience, and then painting. What typoe of plastic to use? ABS is the toughest stuff out there, but HIPS (or High Impact Poly-Styrene) will work just as well. There are many facets to vacuforming, so don't be afraid to ask questions, or experiment.

Any more progress on this armor?

Hey Sam, welcome to the Swampy side of BSN. Good luck with the armor build, and if you have questions, we'll help you out as best we can.

Excellent!

ZIP File Cabinet Link - 8 Sheets plus Orthographic Views DC-15S Carbine Construction Plans GIF Image - Orthographic Views only DC-15A Clone Trooper Rifle My work here is done.

(digs through hard drive, finding files...) There have been several versions, but I like Wizard of Light's the best. I used his to build my carbine and my long rifle.

Thanks man... It's going to take a bit longer. My house is officially on the market, and I had to pack up my stuff into cold storage for safe keeping. And wouldn't you know it, I'm swamped in at work again! Which is good. I do have some more work done on the boot holster... just need to get it to the right point to post pictures. I've started the "band" that wraps around the pistol and secures it to the holster. I screwed up initially, and I'm fixing it now. The OFFICIAL GOAL: I am trying to finish the armor (hopefully) before/for Celebration V. Even if I won't be able to attend. A lot is going on during this last quarter of the year! I'm hoping to get a lot done between now and December 31st, 2009.

No, I just like the laughing icon better than the smiley. He looks happier! Congrats!

Congrats!!

I'm not sure of the abbreviation... its an s.f. ? Hang on I'll PM ya!

First stage of sanding is complete. I still have some rough patches and some craters, but those will be dealt with soon enough. There's more bondo to come. Going back to the reference photos I've got some more tweaking to do. The pistol rest needs a little but more reshaping. The wall is at a negative angle and I have to get it a little bit more on the plus side. This will be a critical area and an undercut from formed plastic like this will ruin things quickly. This is a top fix on my list. Next, it's time to place the pistol in place on the buck to make sure it fits like its supposed to. Already, I see a few problems. The "stair steps" that the pistol rests into needs to be raise a bit more so that the "wrap" part of the holster will be able to be inserted next to the pistol. More bond to the rescue! Maybe a about a quarter of an inch higher and that should take care of it. Back to layering in more bondo, and refining the shape. The reference photos should help out nicely. More to come... as always!

So I'm back. Back to working on the holster. When we left our story last time, I had finished the general shape of the base of the holster. The modeling foam (which is supposedly heat resistant and has good deflection) needs to be covered in bondo for more heat resistance, and to smooth out the final shape. I am purposely going to go a step further on these particular bucks. I am going to do the regular pattern finish, and then when I am satisified that I am done, I will apply Polane Urethane Paint overcoat to protect it. I did find out that the holster pieces, after they were formed, were cut directly off the bucks. The over coat will help with accidents with the knife. I started smoothing out the bondo. Added a little too much hardener on the second batch so it set too fast and got chunky. No matter. It will still work, and sands nicely. Small speed bump - nothing of importance. I have started ciphering my chest armor bucks. This is a target silhouette of myself from a picture of me, scaled and then printed. I drew the chest armor on top of it to match the land marks of my vest and where the white of the cummerbund are at. My vest/cummer has a VERY WIDE collar. Should this be completely hidden by the chest armor piece? I could use the opinions of the Lancers here. The black dash line is where the white portion of the cummerbund starts. I could use some opinions here. (I also think the shoulder span is too wide for my frame... I need someone to fix that for me as I'm not good at sewing.) (Thanks for the help Loosetoon! ) More sanding on the holster tomorrow... and maybe cutting the foam for the "strap" portion of the holster. As always... more to come.

I don't have DC-15B! I have the "S" and the "A"... but no "B." I though I did though... cause I collect stuff like that. I will continue my search... across the web!