dtrippler

Clear matte finish spray over armor:

Eye tears: Decals don't come with kit so I made a stencil. Could of used decals from vinyl but wanted painted look and easy to do. Wish I would of made stencils from decals that came with kit, but too late now. Ta-Da!

Cummerbund/Pouches/Belt: Velcro sewed onto cummberbund (there is velcro sewed onto backs of pouches). Then started weathering. Inside of belt squares are black. I tried black acrylic but that chipped right away. Noticed black spray stayed on knee and forearm rubber greebs when weathering so tried this. Still comes off some but sticks ok. I cut a hole out of for sale sign then sprayed in.

Weathering step two: using a texture spray paint (that way parts are kinda chunky looking) that had aspects of mostly black with specs of white. Step three: using regular flat black spray paint I misted and went heavier at spots for that battle worn look.

Weathering step one: Chrome for the metallic undercoat look. I sprayed a little puddle of metallic spray paint then with torn sponge I dipped in and went where I thought the armor would of gotten damaged.

Inside of all armor gets painted black to hid anything when wearing, all about the illusion.

Pouch painting: Same camo technique:

Under Suit: Got the thigh pouches sewed on; 7" x 5" with a biased cut flap on the outside. Now onto dying the fabric. Used Rit Dye, dark brown and black. First Brown: I did the shirt for 25 minutes but left the pants an extra 5 as the material seemed a little different and wasn't taking the dye as well. Next did the black: shirt for 10 minutes and pants about 15-17 minutes. I later decided they were not dark enough so I did another black wash for about 5 minutes. Much better. Then went over thread with brown sharpie as the thread doesn't take the dye.

Boots: These are what I found (Kmart for like $40 I think). The outside ankle had a bull logo so I sanded the entire boots down. It really roughed them up but that's fine as I'll weather them and it lightened look too. Now to get closer to the Kashyyyk boot look I used the sanding tool on my dremmel to have more of the scoop look. Not really enough in the center to sand down...so these will have to do until I find something even closer. NOTE ABOUT SANDING DOWN BOOTS: Don't dremmel rubber soles in the basement...as they are rubber and you're basically melting them, and rubber smells horrible when melted

Under Suit Jacket: All patches, outside pockets and buttons removed. Velcro sewed to front so that's how it closes together. Also added velcro to collar to make the neckseal.

Knee armor: Attaching the strap greeb with snaps but the ends are too thick for a snap so cut/sanded the edges down.

Elbow/Forearm armor: Cutting the inside of the rubber greeblies out so that armor is attached with '2 gray straps' I then added snaps to attach:

Attaching backpack to the backplate: I cut slits in the back (where I can drawn on earlier) and put cut tabs (from a for sale sign) in. I also cut a hole in the backplate so I can reach in to attach the tabs - you won't see the hole when wearing and if I really wanted I could store stuff in there...although it's not like I won't have any pouches to store stuff - plus the pack is heavy alone as is. Backpack taped on to hold while I reach inside to glue the tabs on. Next I'll bondo the edges so it'll be seamless. First coat of bondo added and sanded down. After this step I was like hey let's put some sealant inside to help hold too. Well that sealant expanded and popped my bondo

Back to the tank. The tank topper needs to be flush with the backpack. I almost cut the entire area out for the topper than realized that edge is actually a lip to glue from inside. Here is how I attached the topper: First covered the edge of the topper with tape and cut along the edge to trim out: I was then able to peel that off and tape to top of backpack. Then mark the inside where the topper will show through. Hole cut out and now topper can be flush with top of tank. It's glued on inside with E6000.

Face greeblies painted and attached. Visor and shoe greeblies being glued on: Helmet decals added: Side vent mesh added.

Bicep greeb: drilled a hole for one of the little nobs to go into (didn't think glue alone would hold it) and also cut out back to make room for band the goes around bicep so this can lay flat. Afterwards I was like it probably would of been easier to just cut the rubber greeblie band instead of trying to dremmel this out, but oh well, it's done now. Painted this with a gun metal gray.

Brown added for camo. The Kashyyyk gets a metal undercoat, but I wasn't sure how to do the layered effect with it, so plan to go topical later on.

Backpack. I put this off as I wasn't sure how to really go about attaching it. Starting off by removing the excess. Taped the trimmed pack on. Not too worried about making match up perfectly as it'll get bondo along edges. Then traced out along that edge. I'll come back to the backpack as I was excited to keep painting - even though I knew I'd have to come back and paint this.

First layer of camo with green. I'm using a very porous sponge (one like you'd use for showering). Torn a piece off and dabbed in paint then random splotches all over, with light touches all around. Close up:

Awesome package arrival! Gloves and pouch set courtesy of Grumpy - also got cummerbund from him too I'll give the pouches a light mist of khaki paint to bring closer to armor color and then camo them. Then weather all.

Priming some armor: And coat of khaki base. I couldn't find a flat version so this is satin, which has a little glare to it. That's alright as I plan to spray everything with a clear flat coat when it's all done anyways.

Bondo time! First time using this stuff. Not too bad but kinda messy. Drys in like an hour but I let dry overnight. Couple things about bondo, only mix amount you can use right away (small amount). I made the mistake of trying to do a bunch and it hardened too fast - I still tried to apply it, and yeah that doesn't work too well; it sticks at first but once dry the edges crack off and I had to remove it all. Lesson learned: (forgot to take sanded bondo pics)

Bicep and shin assembly. Inside cover strip (for sale sign cut up) and will have to bondo the outside for that seamless look. First got couple cans of bondo from automotive shop then saw Menards sells for A LOT less. Sized up and hold together with some painters tape. E6000, rare earth magnets and clamps to get inside cover strip in. Sized up shins, marked where I want to cut with tape then glued in strips (due to size only did one side first then once dry next day I attached other side of shin).

These little metal guys come with the kit; I bent the backs down with a needle nose pliers. They'll get painted black and glued to the visor. Sanded down resin greeblies and primered: O-Rings from Menards for little black circles on the boot toe armor. British Derert DPM for undersuit. These will get dyed with Dark Brown and Black. I first got a set off ebay but didn't fit that great (jacket too big and pants too tight) but then saw our Fleet Farm had these (very limited sizes though). So got a new pair (top is a little tight but that's just motivation to get back on the treadmill - plus you see very little of top as it's covered with cummberbund and chest armor.

Next mark the helmet: Visor gets a rectangular hole cut out measuring 2.5" to 2.75" long and .75" wide centered. HUGE NOTE ABOUT CUTTING RESIN! I started with a cutting blade on my dremel and instantly was covered in resin dust...not so good for the lungs. So switched to the sanding tool and also used a vacuum to help collect dust as it went down. It worked great. Definitely wear a face mask while cutting/sanding resin. I used an epoxy glue to attach visor to helmet. And now try it on! My daughter thinks we'll need some padding in this one for sure.