NegativeEleven

I have been looking at these weird wedge shaped resin pieces in my armor box for months, wondering where they go. Finally clicked! Gotta trim them a bit thinner, it seems. Again, if you sell resin cast pieces with 3d print lines on them, you are a bad person and you should rethink your life decisions that led you to do that. Grrr. You poured silicone onto a piece to make multiple copies of it, and figured every one of those pieces should require finishing work rather than doing it once on the original. 😡 Also, I cannot figure out how to paint rubber straps in a way that doesn't flake off. Tips? Of course, I have rubber straps with 3d print lines on them, so I'm thinking about just replacing them all together. The ones I have are light brown, so paint flaking off looks very wrong. Has anyone tried casting resin ridges with black nylon strapping behind em? Seems like that would look the same, be more flexible and hold paint better. Like, I'm thinking of the same mold you'd use to make straps, but you cast resin instead of rubber and lay strapping down where the back layer would go while resin is curing.

12 indents. Got some filling to do after holidays. I'm traveling, but it's just gonna be me and mom at her place.

I brag about how great Smooth-On EpoxAcoat is, but having to cut it out is a chore. This stuff is hard!

Damn. I was just looking at the spacing on the recesses that were on there originally, not worrying about the number.

Been painting this week. Did it the way I have done Mandalorian armor in the past. Painted it all dark walnut, then masked damage with toothpaste before painting Sahara beige. I should have done the shoulder stripes and yellow on bicep before removing the masking, but I got impatient. I'm told my shins from Intergalactic Supply will be here this week. Imperial Surplus didn't want to sell me the shins alone, and I already have usable fronts, straps and buckles. 850's website also lists all shin parts as one and says to expect 8-12 weeks for orders. Shins are the last pieces I have been waiting on, so it's looking like this might get done soon. It's about 2 weeks shy of one-year since I bought this box of armor. Questions for people more familiar with this suit, since it's rare that I see them in person.... Is my shirt too light (pic in first post)? I have grey dye left over from making Boba Fett gloves, so I could try to darken it. Is my collar looking right? That was such a chore, but it lines up with the front as best as I could get it. How about placement of buckles on chest? Did I get the forearm shape right?

Oh, yeah. Gotta find it in the boxes in my spare bedroom. Your profile says you're Carolina Garrison, anywhere near me in Charleston? Could save that shipping cost. PM me.

Ok, some more progress. I got the collar securely attached to the backplate. It lines up in front with some magnets and I also added strip of ABS in each side that locks it down into the chest grooves and keeps it from sliding back. Magnets aren't quite enough, although with the shoulder straps in place, they might work alone. Do people put velcro on the flaps under the arms or just let that float like TK's do? I asked Intergalactic Supply about forearms and shins when he sent me the backplate that I used half of. I know he does TK armor, so I thought I could just get those forearms. They'd probably pass, and the ones I had here were clearly just some original TK ones. Looking at the reference pics and other builds, I see the Rogue One TK forearms are different, sharper corners, more defined. That's what Death Troopers and Shore Troopers use. Well I looked at 850's website and saw 6-8 month delivery time for new orders and decided to just get my hands dirty and make these right. I cut out the raised ladder part (if it could be called that, cause the vac-form was so soft). I made a new ladder from 3/8" and 1/2" wood dowels. I coated with lots of filler primer and made a mold. Then cast a couple out of Smoothcast 65. I merged that with the original forearms I had using epoxacoat and some spot putty. Now I'm just waiting on Intergalactic Supply to get around to making some shins for me. Filled front and back with some bondo and I clearly have more sanding to do before I call these complete. Getting close though.

Doing all of that, it seems easier to create a new one that's one solid piece. But, thanks for the pic. Good to see it's not as tall as I was thinking. Spent my morning installing a helmet fan while procrastinating over the collar. I love how much space there is in this helmet. Could put a dozen fans and batteries in there.

Really struggling with this collar. I have skimmed other WIP threads, but I am not seeing a lot of info about it. How rigid should it be? How exact does the front on the chest armor need to line up? Does it mount inside or on top of the back armor? I think this one I have is garbage, but no one wants to recommend another vendor to me. I am thinking about putting the armor securely on a mannequin and trying to craft a new collar from EVA foam. This looks to be 1/2 inch wide, although most other people's builds and the reference photos I have seem thinner. Are there guidelines somewhere for the height/thickness it needs to be? First pics on me (flipped left/right because of camera) before I trimmed more off the bottom. And after trimming the bottom a bit to get that curve closer, but the tips are still curved inward and not aligned with chest armor. Can't do much to that with a heat gun without completely ruining the shape. This has been the part of this armor that has made me procrastinate more than anything else. It needs to be so precise (it's gonna be in every photo), but the wonky 3rd hand kit I have here, and the lack of info available about putting this together really make me hesitate to work on it out of fear I'm gonna mess it up. I've scratch-built a complete Boba Fett. I've got my own homemade vac-form setup and molds to create multi-piece helmets, holsters, gauntlets, etc. I can do that stuff, but this seems ridiculously complex because it has to match up front/back while not being permanently attached since it is so tight around the neck it will be impossible to put on or take off.

Swapped the top and made those raised details smaller. Oh, and I got rid of the webbing on the shoulder box. Photo taken strategically to show the contents of my garage 😉

These two each came with a collar, and they seem interchangeable. Both were just formed so weak, that after cutting off the flared bottom, they're not going to be tall enough. Here's the 2nd backplate. I don't like the shorter under arm wings and all that texture from overheating. The windows where detail pieces go are softer, and don't have that inner "step" like the one I already primed. Also, the boxes for shoulder straps seem like a place where there's gonna be stress and if I fabricate those, there's gonna be seams that will need to be filled every few months. I think I can chop off just the top of the backpack part and combine it with the other to get a the smaller top circle and more defined grooves, since those seams are supposed to be visible.

I am aware of the webbing on the shoulder box. I filled with an epoxy so I can cut that out. For center greeblies, I wanted the curved sides to be perfect, so I cut the ends off a popsicle stick and made one short stick, then put a bolt we with similar sized head below it. I see they're a little big. I'll keep an eye out for a shape to replace with eventually. If top circle is too big (not approvable), then maybe I just need to take the shoulder boxes off and merge with the other backplate I have here. Or take top of that backpack and try to fit it here. Side curve is kind of an optical illusion from the diagonal line in top corner. At certain angles, there's a bit of a dip visible down the whole side, but standing straight up, you mostly just see that line that cuts across from the top corner to the backplate. I could actually use that line to cut out the top of the backpack to swap in the other one and enhance that line. Are the recesses by the shoulder boxes a requirement? I feel like those are artifacts from the original vac-form mold, that allowed the shoulder boxes to pull tighter. Any suggestions for a vendor who can get me a collar?

I have 2 backplate here and need to decide which to use. I've done some work on this one, and I think it's passable, but would love the opinion of someone more experienced. I might gave made the indent circle on top too big. I just sort of guessed for the placement of raised details and placement of the tiny holes, based on some reference pics. The other backplate I have is a bad vac-pull, with some rough texture on the side. That's fixable. A bigger problem is that it doesn't have the raised boxes for shoulder straps. The detail of the 2 large openings isn't as good. It is a little bigger overall, and has a much smaller circle on top.

Got lens installed. 2 layers of window screen behind it to make it darker. The little acrylic I used to touch up paint looked very similar to sahara beige, until I sprayed the whole thing with a flat clear coat. Somehow, that made the 2 colors very different. Still think some weathering will smooth it out. This lens flare was intentional to show the lens curve. 😄

Got this $10 lens from CycleGear. About to trim it down to fit. It's not quite dark enough (very close to my Scout helmet), but with the huge forehead it should be dark enough inside to hide my eyes. I am also thinking about a layer of black fabric mesh behind the lens. Kylo Ren's helmet is done with just mesh and no lens. I recently made a Snake Eyes visor and just used mesh on clear plastic instead of window film tinted or dye. How do you guys like that JJ Abrams lens flare in the pic?

Oops... looking at reference pics, the bottom edge is also black, right? Hmmm. May need to tape up and spray paint that. Got all the indents done with a tiny brush.

Not the lower back ones that I circled?

I know you don't like xtc3d, but Smooth-on makes EpoxAcoat which is great for vac-forming bucks. I coated a styrofoam half sphere with that and could easily vac-form multiple pieces from that with no damage. It is worse in the sense of losing detail, cause it goes on thick though. Coated my speeder bike with it too. Works better than fiberglass resin.

Guess it's time to start getting opinions on this thing. This is where I was 2 months ago. Got a little sidetracked by a plumbing problem flooding the living room end of July. I just started pulling everything I own out of the pile in the spare bedroom, so I could get back to work. I know forearms won't pass. The details are too soft. I'm still dreading the back/collar assembly and deciding what to do with straps. I am waiting for shins. Intergalactic Supply is working on molds for those. I got ambitious over the weekend and painted helmet and hand plates. Helmet questions: Should the deep indents just outside the tears under the eyes be painted black? Should the little notches next to the snout be drilled out or just painted black inside? What about the little indents above the eyes or under the back ridge?

That's why I said motorcycle helmet shield instead of welders lens. A motorcycle helmet shield will have that compound curve to it, not flat. You can vac-form over a 3d print? I know you only need one, and PETG is thin, so it won't be tough to form, but won't the 3d print just get crushed? I also have a 24x22 vac-form setup. Had to do some bits and pieces on my shore build to replace the bad pulls in the kit I bought. Probably gonna have to make molds and do forearms myself cause the ones I have are pulled so soft you can barely see the detail. As for the Montana gold, you really gotta shake that can a lot. So far, I have done hand plates, helmet, all the belt boxes and still have more in my can. I painted the dark walnut layer first and masked that for weathering (toothpaste like mandos do it). Most of my armor pieces have been on a mannequin painted dark walnut for 4 months now, cause I was gonna paint it all at once for consistent weathering.

It's a curved piece of dark see-through plastic. You can use anything. Skygun Bros told me to get a welding mask lens for the helmet I bought. I motorcycle helmet shield is similarly priced and thinner, so easier to bend with heat if needed.

Go to CycleGear (or their website). Get a $10-$15 helmet lens replacement and trim to fit.

Looks like you don't need help cause those parts are coming out looking good. That said, for the future, my recommendation would be to glue stuff together before painting. At least make sure surfaces you're gluing don't have paint on them. PETG plastic sheets are known for not holding paint (I assume 3d prints are similar), so it doesn't matter how good your glue is when you're gluing paint to paint. Another suggestion that would be more helpful 2 months ago, would be to use Bondo spot putty rather than wood filler. Wood filler is often water soluble, so when you get to wet sanding, it can dissolve. Bondo spot putty has a little acetone in there (keeps it liquid in the tube and dries quick in air) so it's real good for bonding to resin and ABS. It's not gonna break down when wet. Again, looks like you are doing an amazing job so far. I avoid 3d prints because of the time consuming nature of sanding and filling those lines. I also worry about it being breakable, not just because of print strength, but because it's multiple pieces put together. I am starting to come around after seeing more fantastic builds like this. I'm here, wishing the armor kit I bought didn't have so many resin pieces cast from 3d prints. I had so many lines to sand, by the time I got to belt boxes, I did one of each and made molds to cast the others. --------------------- Also, I'm not far away, in Charleston. If you guys get together to do some swamp/shore photoshoots this fall, PM me! I had to put the shoretrooper on hold cause my kitchen and livingroom flooded in July, so I have been dealing with that, but I have a Biker Scout and Mando I could bring!

I am coming from a perspective of doing several Boba Fett and Mandalorian Mercs paint jobs (cause my scout is only weathered by virtue of it being worn A LOT for 7 years), but be careful not to make the weathering too uniform. There's a tendency to hit every edge, every detail, the same. It looks fake when you have basically an outline on every edge of every piece of armor.

Props to someone with the leadership and ethics to report when he no longer owns a costume. I'm not gonna tattle on anyone, but I'm pretty sure some guys in my garrison still have costumes listed on their 501st profile that they no longer own. And thanks for all that work on those CRLs. I've been looking at em 2-5 times a week lately. Well done.