Ruthar

Assembly and Preparation Belt Once the pouches were all made, it's time to get the belt assembled. First, I had to sand down the lids for the boxes to fit them all together. You can see here that there is a bit of paint and finish that is getting in the way of the lids sitting flush. Just some time with sandpaper and files is enough to get those to sit more flush. I had to do the same with the other small box as well as the large one. Though the lids now fit well together, I did not glue them in place. That will be later on during the assembly. The thermal detonator at the rear also needs to be assembled. There are two pegs that fit into the ends to attach the cylindrical pieces to the box. Just as before, I had to sand these down to get them to fit well into the holes on the sides of the box. Once the fit was good, I used a bit of super glue to hold them firmly in place. Here's what it looks like once that's done: On the back of the thermal detonator where it touches the belt, I cut an access hole. This allowed me to slip two chicago screws inside and pull them up through the detonator's edge. Before preparing the baton holder for assembly, I needed to assemble the baton itself and ensure it could fit in the holster. It is a very easy process - it's only 5 different pieces. The two large black ribbed tubes are joined by a silver connector. This connector was a little loose, so I added a little tape to tighten the fit. I applied glue to the connector ends and squeezed the ribbed tubes in place. The final parts are simply gluing the end pieces into the very ends of the tubes with some glue - fantastically easy. Here is the finished baton: That baton squeezes very tightly into the baton holder. I had to sand down the inside of the holder so it more easily accepted the baton itself. I installed a pair of machine screws with flat heads into the holes on the holder so that the screws did not poke up into the inside of the holder. This allowed the baton to continue to sit easily within the holder. The fit is still tight, but not too tight where the baton is not removable. In order to begin assembling the belt, I had to make a decision as to where the end of the belt is. I decided that I would hide the seam beneath the large pouch at the right rear. So, I began by installing that pouch at the end of the belt. I removed the plate from inside that pouch and poked two matching holes in the belt itself that the chicago screws will be fed through. The rubber material of the belt needs to be pushed aside to let the screws travel through, so I just used an awl to work it around. You could also melt the holes with a soldering iron, but don't like eliminating too much material if I can help it. I used some more scrap sign plastic to create a washer between the belt and the ends of the chicago screws. Then, I screwed the chicago screws together to hold the pouch in place at the end of the belt. With that pouch installed, I lined the belt up along the lower edge of the abdomen armour. I placed the pouch on the back right side of the abdomen section then looped the rubber belt along. I used blue painter's tape to then mark the edges of all the belt components. With the blue tape in place as a guide, I removed the belt from the armour and placed it back on the workbench. The tape allows me to know where the components go without needing to do any work with the belt actually on the armour itself. The belt boxes and pouches all have 2" vertical slits in the back. To attach these pieces to the belt, I used 2" elastic webbing that slips through these vertical slots. Once the boxes and pouches were in position, I then cut matching slots through the belt rubber. The elastic is then pulled through those slots on the belt and glued down against the belt at the rear. Once those boxes were in place, I glued in the front faces of the boxes with some gel control super glue. I also then glued the faux suede pouch boxes permanently into their covers once those were affixed to the belt. The thermal detonator and pistol holders were both installed identically as the first pouch - a pair of chicago screws with a scrap plastic washer along the back side of the belt to keep things held tight. I also ran a bit of glue between all the box components and the rubber belt material just for additional strength. For the baton holster, however, I used those long machine screws and some nuts. Once It was installed, I had a lot of extra screw material. Using the vice and a hacksaw, I cut them down so they were just about flush with the plastic washer. It was quite difficult to get a good shot of the entire length of the belt, but here is the front: ...and the rear: With all these components attached, I set the belt aside to allow the glue to set and prepare for the final attachment to the abdomen area.

Belt Pouches Large Pouch For the large pouch at the right rear, I used black duck cloth. It's the same material I used for my Biker Scout pouches (though in white), and it is quite easy to work with for making pouches. The white plate itself is roughly 6" x 2.5" so those are the dimensions I constructed the pouch with. Here is the template as well as the duck cloth cut out. The process is the same here as with the snap pouches - sewing the matching tabs together and flipping the pouch inside-out. I also sewed in some velcro to allow the pouch to open and close. To keep the shape of the pouch, I cut a piece of 1" foam to the 6" x 2.5" dimension and slipped it inside. I covered the top edge with black gaffer's tape so that the green foam wouldn't be seem at the edges. I sewed in more velcro on the face of the pouch as well. This matches with some adhesive velcro that I installed on the inside of the white plate to hold it in place against the pouch. And here's what the pouch and plate look like together. To prepare for attaching the pouch to the belt, I decided to use an additional plastic plate. I cut a piece of plastic sign into 6" x 2.5" so it can slip into the pouch. I lined up this plate with the belt and drew a line so I knew where the belt and the plate would overlap. Then, I drew a centered line on the plate and marked locations for two holes along that center line in the area that will be touching with the belt. I then drilled out those holes and marked matching holes on the rear of the pouch. Two chicago screws are pushed through the plate. They will then get pushed through the holes in the back of the pouch as well so that the chicago screws can be installed through the belt later on to hold the pouch in place. With the pouch closed, the plate is hidden and the chicago screws poke out in preparation for belt attachment.

Belt Pouches Snap pouches Before assembling the belt and getting it fit to the abdomen armour, I tackled creating the belt pouches. There are four total pouches - two large snap pouches, one smaller snap pouch, and one pouch with a white cover plate on the right rear. I started at the front with the two large snap pouches. Here's a reference of the pouches in question with the colour slightly adjusted for clarity. Using the image above, I came up with some estimated sizes for the large snap pouch. The rectangular belt boxes are 3" long, so I estimated the larger pouch at around 4" while the smaller pouch is the same 3" length as the rectangular box next to it. As such, I created a template out of aluminum sheeting. The aluminum sheet will be folded to create a rigid interior box for the pouch. I used a pair of snips to cut out the template. I folded the template along the lines using the straight edge of my workbench. Here's the box folded up against itself to create the shape. I used a few strips of white gaffer's tape to hold the box together. The aluminum box will be the interior structure for the box. Around the outside of the aluminum will be a pouch of faux suede to match the look seen in the reference photo. I created the following pattern for that outer layer - it's similar to the pouch template I used for my Biker Scout build. As I decided earlier, the dimensions are roughly 4" x 1.5" x 1". I cut the template out to both test the shape as well as have a good size reference for cutting the fabric. Here is the fabric I chose to use - it's faux suede and has a very nice leather-like sheen to it which will give the boxes a similar look to the reference image. I then lined up the template against the fabric and cut out the pattern. Using my sewing machine, I stitched the matching flaps together (as marked with matching symbols on the template above). Once all four sides were closed, the box is ready to be turned inside-out to reveal the faux suede exterior. Inside: And the outside: To protect the lower edge of the suede from being cut, I stuck a piece of black gaffer's tape to the bottom edge of the aluminum box. I then slid the aluminum box into the faux suede pouch to give the whole piece some defined shape. There is a 1/2" edge of material at the top of the pouch that is folded down against the inside of the aluminum and glued in place to hold everything together permanently. For the outer shell with the snap, I decided to use thermoplastic. I found it at the local leather shop and the employee there told me that it is used for holsters and other specifically molded shapes. It has a finish that looks very similar to the faux suede, so I figured it was a good time to try this stuff out. Using the box, I measured out the cover. It will attach to the pouch along the back edge (4") then pull around over the top (1") and a little over halfway over the face of the box (2.5"). Here's the cover cut out and sitting next to the box for size comparison. At the bottom edge of the 2.5" section that covers the front of the box, I installed a line 24 snap. This snap isn't funtional in my version of these boxes (as the thermoplastic hardens into shape, resulting in non-functional covers), it's just for decoration to make the pouches appear functional. I thought there were slightly too small to be useful for storage anyhow, so I opted not to worry about making them useful. Using some sandpaper and some small scissors, I rounded the edges of that front tab beneath the snap. To mold the thermoplastic, it just needs to be heated with a heat gun. I did that then used a straight edge to bend the piece at a 90-degree angle at the marks inside. I held it in place to cool into position for a handful of seconds. I heated the top portion of the cover as well then pulled it around the box to get the perfect shape and fit. To attach the pouches to the belt, I cut two vertical strips into the rear of the cover. These vertical strips match the openings on the backs of the white boxes that are also attached the the belt. And here are some shots of the finished pouch. The cover is not yet permanently attached to the pouch at the rear - that will be done when the pouches are affixed to the belt. For the smaller, 3" length pouch, I duplicated everything exactly the same at 75% of the size. As such, the dimensions for this smaller pouch turned out to be 3" x 1.125" x 1". Here are the patterns for the aluminum inner frame as well as the pouch itself. Everything was exactly the same as the larger snap pouch, the only difference being that I used a line 20 snap instead of a line 24 snap as the size is scaled down. The large snap would have looked silly on the smaller pouch and the snap is clearly smaller in the reference image at the beginning of this post. And here's a shot of all three of the snap pouches together with some of the belt components.

Pictures have been fixed in the previous post. Not sure what happened there.

Strapping and Fitment Chest and Back To get the chest and back on, I started by attaching straps to join the plates beneath the shoulders. I started by making a pair of double snap plates. I then glued those inside the tops of the chest shoulder area. The double snap keeps the strap in a straight line instead of twisting side to side. I installed matching snaps on a 1.5" strip of nylon. Then, I installed one snap on the top shoulder area of the inside of the back plate to pull the chest and back together at the shoulder. After testing the fit of these straps, the fellow helping me get in and out while testing noticed that one side of the chest plate stuck out further than the other. I put the chest plate down against the workbench to find that he was certainly correct - only three of the four points touched the surface, leaving one side significantly raised. I assume this happened either in transit due to temperature shifts or during the 3D printing process. Either way, I used the heat gone once again to very carefully apply heat the inside edge of the right side. Then, I held it down against the table so all four points touched the surface and held it there while the material cooled back into shape. With that complete, a new problem arose. At the shoulders, the front and back plates wouldn't stay lined up. The back plate kept pushing upward, sitting higher than the chest plate, leaving a gap at the shoulders seen in the pictures below. I attempted to change the length of the nylon straps by adding an additional snap, but it wasn't enough - the nylon was not strong enough to keep the plates aligned properly. So, I decided to go a different route. Instead of nylon, I opted for something more rigid, so I cut a strip of black ABS about the same width as the nylon strap. I then duplicated the original snaps onto the plate. Using the heat gun (again), I shaped the ABS straps to fit alongside the inside edge of the shoulders. The ABS yielded a much better result. You can see the new ABS "strap" on the left of the image below with the nylon gap on the right. With both ABS pieces installed, everything aligned much more nicely and the shoulder straps laid nice and flat. With the straps in place, I took a moment to line up the collar tongues. One side seemed slightly longer than the other, so I marked roughly where I wanted to sand down the longer one to. Then, I evened them out with some files and some sandpaper. They still need to be touched up with a little white paint at the end, but the size is more uniform. With the top connection complete, the next concern was attaching the side pieces. I had my helper use a strip of painter's tape to mark the edge of the overlap of the chest side over the back side. I decided to use a tab inside these side connections to ensure that the armour stays in place from top to bottom. I cut up some scrap ABS to make a small "tongue" and glued it to a larger ABS square. This tongue will sit on the top of the back plate side piece and will then slip in to a bracket on the chest side. Here's where I positioned the tab. I glued it against the back plate edge, roughly in the center before the armour curves upward. I then lined up the side pieces again and drew a mark around the tab on the chest plate side piece so I know exactly where the tab will sit. Surrounding that marked tab placement, I glued down two small strips of ABS. On top of those, I installed one larger strip of ABS to connect them with an open space in the middle. This "bracket" will receive the tab. Here's a shot of what the tab looks like slid into place within the bracket. To hold the tab in place and to help prevent it from slipping out, I glued an elastic strap down against the tab on the back plate. Then, I pulled that tight and installed a snap that clasps into the chest plate, pulling the strap tight and the armour into the tab securely. Last but not least, I installed the magnet that holds down the shoulder straps and buckles. I used a trio of magnets inside the armour for a good, strong hold. I used zap-a-gap liberally between the magnets as well as around the bottom and against the armour for a very strong and permanent bond. And so completes the torso strapping. Here are some shots of all the pieces ready for the next steps. Next up is the belt. Very much looking forward to all the fun details that really start to pop.

Strapping and Fitment Abdomen and Kidney - Part 2 Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I had a trip out to Chicago and a busy week of work before that. Fortunately, I had a good chunk of time to get back to building tonight, so it's time for some updates. Getting the midsection strapped up and ready was the next piece of the puzzle. First, I cut a strap of 1" black elastic to run along the bottom left edge between the abdomen and kidney plates. I glued each end down against the armour itself with gel control super glue as well as some zap-a-gap along the edges. (You might also notice the blue tape on the front of the ribbing section - that is there to mark where the edge of the ribbing meets the abdomen plate so I can easily line it up correctly during these assembly steps.) The strap keeps the plates together on the left side while I slip into the midsection from the right side (which will open). The elastic permits enough motion to easily slip on and off. Beneath the front abdomen plate, I attached the ribbing section with a snap. With the permanent elastic already installed on the left side, I then moved to get that snap in place. I made sure to run the hole for the snap through one of the plastic ribs - they are much sturdier than going through just the rubber material. The blue tape outlines where the rubber gasket meets the abdomen armour, so I made sure to go within that region with my mark for the snap to make sure it's hidden away. I then carefully used a drill to open a hole for a snap. On the opposite side, I cut a small square of extra plastic to act as a large washer. The rubber mat material could potentially have the snap tear through with some wear, so I wanted to be safe. Once the washer was in place, I pounded down the stem of the snap to get it installed completely. Finally, I added the receiving snap on the inside of the abdomen plate. Same technique as before - cut a strip of nylon, punch a hole in the middle, install the snap, then glue it in against the armour. On the right side of this section, things are a little different. The left is permanently closed, but the right needs to hinge open so I can get my torso inside. So, I cut another strip of 1" black elastic. Marked on the strap are two sections, on marked "G" for glue and another marked "V" for velcro. The back of the strap will be glued down to the armour while the velcro will pull forward and attach to the front part. I first sewed a strip of sew-in velcro to the strap to cover the "V" area. Then, I glued the back of the strap against the back edge of the armour. I clamped that down, and while that was gluing I installed a matching strip of adhesive industrial strength velcro. Here's what it looks like after the glue has set. The final thing to do was to install the right side snap to hold the ribbing in place. I didn't take pictures for this as well - it's exactly the same as adding the snap for the left side ribbing. Once that snap is in place, the abdomen is ready to go! Here are some shots of it all strapped up and ready for the next phase. The elastic permits for some flexibility while dressing, but that will all get tightened up once the belt is added into the mix. It's pretty easy to slip it on, which is nice. I'll probably do a dressing video once everything is ready to go just so it's more clear as to how everything goes together. Next up is the chest and back strapping. I tackled most of that tonight, but I'm officially out of steam for the moment. I'll post updates on all of that tomorrow.

Strapping and Fitment Abdomen and Kidney - Part 1 While wearing the soft goods, I decided to start the final fit of the abdomen area. Using a heavy amount of painter's tape, I lined up the bottom edges of the two plates and help them up around my midsection. What I noticed at this point was that the back plate's bottom edge needs to be reduced by 1". The pieces sit a little too loose without making that cut which causes the top of the abdomen piece to hang forward slightly. Before removing the plates, however, I tested the fit of the chest and back as well, just to be sure that no shimming will be necessary between the chest and back at the sides. I will need to slide the abdomen and kidney plates down a little later on, but I'm pleased to see that the overlap between the chest and back plates at the side has plenty of material. The primary takeaway first and foremost is that I need to remove that 1" from the lower edge of the back plate, so that's what I took care of first. Here are the plates lined up, with that 1" that needs to be removed on the inside. Using a cutting wheel on the Dremel, I carefully sliced off that extra inch and then sanded down the edge. To finish up this lower edge, I wanted to bring the sides of the abdomen in slightly so that those lower edges align (you can see that the lower edge of the back plate is slightly tighter than the abdomen above). To fix this, I used the heat gun to carefully heat the area just in front of the extended triangle. I very gently pushed the sides in just enough until the bottom edge aligned. I used a piece of painter's tape to hold them in place while the material cooled completely. Once the plates cooled into shape, I taped the sides together along the lower edge and slipped the (finally dried) abdomen gaskets into place. Using a bunch of clamps, I temporarily installed them to make sure everything sat together properly. I'm pretty pleased with how this region turned out, to be honest. It all lines up as expected, so the risk of cutting off all that material seems to have been worth it. While it was clamped together, I marked where the backs of the gaskets fell on the backplate then removed the clamps. I used a combination of gel super glue and the loctite professional super glue to permanently adhere the gaskets against the back plate first. In the middle, I used a few strips of white gaffer's tape to hold it in place and prevent the edge of the mat material from getting worn. It's more than necessary, but I'm going to let this sit overnight to ensure that all the glue sets and holds completely. Next is affixing the fronts of the gaskets as well as coming up with a system that will allow it to be taken on and off easily.

Soft Goods While the paint on the buckle greeblies and the abdomen gaskets continued to dry, I gave the soft goods a test. The shirt and pants are both from Armory Shop and are fantastic quality - the material isn't overly thick and has a really nice shine to them. The jacket fits really nicely right out of the box (I got pretty lucky as it wasn't even made for my precise measurements). There's a zip in the back to pull it all together. The pants are a little wide for me in the waist, so I'll try to get them taken in a bit. However, the legs are a pretty good fit, so the suspenders might be enough when all of the other armour components are on. Even so, I really like how light they feel and how much the white reflective strip pops. Finally, here are what the gloves look like tucked into the ends of the sleeves. I'm pretty pleased with how snug the ends of the sleeves are - they really tie in nicely against the elastic ends of the gloves.

Assembly and Preparation Shoulder Straps Did a few more things this evening, mainly focusing on the shoulder bridge connection. First, because the upper front of the chest plate is front and center of the build, I wanted to be sure that the shoulder clips were as close to what the references show as possible. On the left is one of the clips that came with the kit, and on the right is a resin piece that I received with one of my shoretrooper kits. The clip on the right is closer to the profile seen in the reference photos and on the figure - the big tell is that the bottom edge is flat against the table. It also allows the clip to sit more flush against the armour, so I decided to go with the resin piece. You can really see how much lift the front of the front greeblie gets in this shot. It's a beautifully finished piece, but that bottom lip isn't very helpful here. I decided to try something a little different with this build than I have on my Rogue One Tank Trooper - magnets. I took a strong neodymium magnet and placed it against the underside of the greeblie just about in the center. Then I traced it with a silver sharpie. Using a large (then small) sanding drum on the Dremel, I very carefully dug out the silver circle just deep enough to receive the magnet. Then, I used a healthy amount of zap-a-gap to install the magnet into the greeblie as permanently as possible. Just a little bit of sanding for clean-up and it is ready for testing. To hold the clip, I placed a trio (to really enhance the pull of just a pair) of matching magnets on the underside of the chest plate. It isn't permanently attached yet on the underside (as I want to do that after strapping is finalized), but it still holds pretty tightly. And here's a shot of them both together. And here's a shot of the side profile. Position isn't final, but the pull is pretty good and strong. To attach the shoulder straps against the back plate, I enlarged the holes on the raised strap area on the back just enough to receive a chicago screw. I then pushed a matching hole through the rubber strap large enough for the chicago screw to run through. Then I screwed them together with the screw head on the inside of the armour (important as I wouldn't be able to tighten down the screws if the head was on the top as it will be covered by the upcoming plate). I lined the strap up along the edge of the plate, centered between the collar edge and the armour edge as best as possible, then clamped it down. Then I used the silver sharpie on the underside to mark a hole for the other chicago screw location on the strap (not shown). I then installed the other chicago screw to hold the strap against the armour. Once the strap was attached and everything was lined up, I unscrewed the chicago screws and removed the strap. Then, I glued on the strap receiving detail piece. It lines up very well with the raised box that the holes are drilled through, so a good dose of gel super glue was plenty to hold it firmly in place. With that piece glued in, I reinstalled the strap and the chicago screws. On the underside, I drilled a pair of holes into a small strip of plastic to act as a washer between the metal screws and the 3D printed interior, just to be safe. Lastly for tonight, I painted the buckles. I used Testors model paints for these to get a nice glossy finish. I mixed in just a touch of grey with the gloss white to dull it down slightly in order to colour match the other buckles that came with the kit. Weathering will assist in tying all the colours together, but I still wanted to get the paint as close as possible. The buckle to the right is just white, the buckle on the bottom has the touch of grey added - it really makes a difference in regards to matching the original colour (upper left). I also added that same grey/white mixture to the shoulder straps. They were a little more yellow than the rest of the kit (which you can see in the earlier images), so I also wanted to get them to match just a touch better. Once again, the weathering will help, but I still want to make the base as close as possible. Here's a shot of the pieces all next to each other. One last tiny thing - I used a small strip of white gaffer's tape inside the very back of the shoulder straps to hide the heads of the chicago screws. I used a pair of tweezers to get it to slip down and inside the piece. It isn't noticeable from the back unless you really hunt for it, and the weathering that will get stuck inside that piece will really mask it entirely. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the paint to dry before the straps can be finished off. I don't want to install the magnets permanently until the strapping is taken care of, so I have to wait for the side gaskets to be ready to go as well. Hopefully tomorrow they will be dry enough to work with!

Assembly and Preparation Chest plate - Neckline, clips, and straps Time for more chest plate work. I always look forward to these fun details that really make the costume pop. First, I cut off the little tabs on the inside of the chest plate sides. There are no holes on the back plate that match these, and I'll strap them a different way anyhow, so better to have them nice and flush. Neckline Adjustment Before adding the details on the chest (in fact, I did this particular portion before installing the chest greeblie that I posted about earlier), I wanted to adjust the fit of the collar between the chest and back plates. It's hard to see, but the extended tabs of the collar don't actually sit naturally between the grooves on the chest plate here. To fix this, I very, very, very carefully used the heatgun to gently warm the tabs up evenly. I can't emphasize how careful I was, here - you can do some serious damage if you apply too much heat or accidentally heat other parts of the armour. Once the tabs where pliable enough, I pushed them down in between the raised edges of the chestplate. I held them in place with a pair of work gloves as the plastic cooled, retaining the new shape. The newly shaped collar sides now slide more easily into the chest plate. Once the strapping is in, it should hold in place without issue. Clips and Straps There are two straps and clips along the lower edge of the chest plate. To install these, I started by cutting a slot to receive the 2" white elastic strap. I held the elastic along the edge and used a piece of tape to indicate how long the slit needed to be. (The crack was there at the outset - it was glued with zap a gap and repaired before cutting or anything here.) Using a cutting wheel on my Dremel, I carefully cut a slender opening for the strap. I used a small metal file to sand and open the slit just a touch. Once it's wide enough for the strap to slide through, it's ready to go. At one of the ends of the strap, I folded it over on itself about 1/4" and then glued it down and clamped it for a few minutes to dry. In this image, you can also see that there are more prominent horizontal lines on this side of the elastic. I am using that side as it looks like there are horizontal ribbing lines on the reference photos. The other side of the elastic has similar lines, but I found that one side had them more prominently than the other, so that's the side that I want to face outward. After a few minutes, I removed the clamps and added a little zap-a-gap along the edge to really seal the end of the strap. Then, I cut angles off the sides of the end to create a "tab" at the end of the strap. This tab is tucked into the middle of the buckle so it appears to be functional. The strap clearly wraps around the buckle in this reference photo (but it does not on the Hot Toys figure), so I opted to try to replicate that functionality. Before gluing anything down, I flipped the strap and clip over and marked where the end of the clip lined up with the strap. I then used these marks to cut a little off the sides of the strap beneath the buckle. Doing this prevents the strap from bunching up at the sides (you can see how it bunches in the photos above) as it allows this slightly more slender cut strap to fit better between the buckle. Here's what it looks like with that cut made and the strap reinstalled. Then, I glued the strap into the buckle beneath the tab end and at the underside of the front of the buckle. On the underside of the buckle, I added a cut of plastic to raise that indented area to prepare for the next step. On that piece of plastic, I installed a strip of adhesive industrial velcro. This attaches to a matching piece on the surface of the chest armour. I opted for velcro here as I wanted to easily be able to remove the strap and buckle just in case the buckle gets damaged. It will be beneath my arms, so I want to be safe and be able to remove a broken buckle if I happen to catch it. Here's what the buckle looks like attached to the velcro with the elastic pulled into the opening. On the inside, I made a mark on the strap to note where it meets the opening. Then, I removed the straps and cut two strips of 2" sew-on velcro. These are installed beyond the mark made in the previous step so that no velcro or sewing is visible on the surface. I then ran the velcro and strap through the sewing machine. Along the inside lower edge of the chest plate, I placed a matching strip of adhesive industrial velcro to receive the sewed-in velcro tabs. I gently pulled on the elastic so that it is just about taut against the armour's surface. Then, I pressed the strap velcro down against the chest plate velcro. With that, the chest plate is finished! Here are some shots: And a pair of shots with both the chest and back plates. It's really starting to come together and actually look like something!

Assembly and Preparation Abdominal Gasket With the abdomen and kidney plates cut out and ready to go, I created the actual (non-test) version of the gaskets. I mentioned it briefly earlier, but I shifted the width of the strips from 3/8" to 7/16" to tighten the gaps between them just a touch. To cut the strips out, I clamp an 18" metal ruler down against the plastic then run a sharp utility knife against the edge of the ruler. It's the same way I make the cover strips for Stormtroopers. As each length is cut, I lay them down on an 11 x 18" cut of the cabinet liner sheet. It took what felt like forever to get them all cut up (x 2 for both sides, too). To get the angle just right, I pushed the bare mat against the inside of the abdomen piece. Then, I used a silver sharpie to trace a line along the opening edge of the triangular side piece. To be absolutely sure the angle is good, I temporarily installed one of the strips along the silver line with magnets and a clamp. And one more check just to be certain before super glue. Seems good to go. Using the liquid professional loctite super glue, I carefully laid down each strip as evenly as I could, starting with the middle where the silver mark was. Once the strips were adhered and dry, I turned the mat over. Using a pair of heavy shears, I cut all the ends off of the strips along the edge of the mat for a clean edge. Turning it back over reveals a cleaner looking "gasket." With it cut and dry, I clamped it against the abdomen plate to triple-check the angle and see what it looks like. Seems like it should work. I gave the surface of the strips a light sanding to prepare for paint. After the sanding, I gave the mats a good washing to get all the dust and debris off. Then, I put down two coats of Rustoleum grey primer. Then I switched to the Rustoleum 2x gloss white. I start with a light coat first - you can still see the I did three full coats on these. Here is a shot of the final, heavy coat. After an hour of drying or so, the gasket looks pretty good. I'll leave it untouched for a day or two to really allow the paint to set before adding a clear coat for protection and moving on to further assembly.

Assembly and Preparation Chest Plate Greeblie - Part 2 With the chest greeblie painted (and not needing any more paint with the imminent removal of the metallic strip), I finished up the greeblie and installed it. First was gluing in the green lens piece. I used the gel super glue again as I like how it doesn't run all over the place - much safer on already painted pieces. Instead of holding it in place for a time, I used a pair of small clamps. I put a small piece of painter's tape on the face of the green piece so the clamps don't scratch. After the greeblie was glued in, I applied a decent amount of E6000 in the cavity on the chest plate. I dipped down a touch near the top of the open channel to prevent the glue from squeezing out into the open. It's a pretty tight fit, but I used some magnets to hold it in place while the glue dried. I would use a quicker adhesive, but it's isn't a completely flush fit, so the E6000 should do better to fill the space.

Fantastic - thanks for the clarification!!

Assembly and Preparation Chest Plate Greeblie - Part 1 While the edges of the abdomen and kidney plates were drying, I assembled the chest plate greeblie. It has four small rectangles that fit into the larger greeblie with one green button all the way to the right. The green button won't be installed yet, but I lightly sanded where the four black rectangles will be glued down. Then I used the super glue to get them in place, using some clamps to hold them down while the glue set. After a few minutes, they are ready to go. After the buttons were installed, I lightly sanded the surface of the greeblie and applied a few coats of Rustoleum 2X semi-gloss black. At this point, I got to thinking about the colour of the greeblie. The CRL calls for "Button panel is painted semi-gloss black with white metal or metal-like stripe on top." I know @Haskpointed out that the chest greeblie on the new Hot Toys figure is all black with no stripe on top. Here's a picture I pulled from online: This promo shot of the trooper also looks to be solid black: But, in this shot, it looks like there is a metallic strip, which is where I assume the line in the CRL comes from. Once the chest greeblie dried, I pulled it up to my worklight in the garage. Without too much effort, the angle of the top of the piece reflects light pretty well (even though it's a semi-gloss paint). It makes it look pretty close to the reflection in the image above. So, I'm curious to hear all of your thoughts. Do you think it's a reflection or an actual stripe?

Abdomen and Kidney Ribbing Removal - Part 2 After cutting away the ribbing and sanding down the edges, some of the internal structure of the 3D printed material was exposed. This left little pockets here and there along the edge. To fill this, I mixed up some Bondo and applied it along the edge. Once it dried, I carefully used 150 grit sandpaper to take it down flush with the rest of the armour. Once all the edges were prepped and sanded, I moved on to paint. First I taped up the surface of the armour to just expose the edge that needs painting (pretty much the same process as the helmet eye socket edge). And then it was just adding a handful of coats of the Rustoleum 2X gloss white. After a few coats and an hour or so of drying, the edge looks ready to move on. There are still very minor imperfections here and there, but the weathering at the end will help mask all of that to keep the eye from noticing.

Abdomen and Kidney Ribbing Removal - Part 1 Before I cut off the ribbed sections, I stood the abdomen and kidney pieces up side-by-side with the sides touching. I then used measuring tape to find the greatest distance between the pieces that included ribbing. I need this measurement so I can know roughly how long to make the flexible ribbed panels later on. I also needed to fix the angle of the ribbing. Here is a picture of the test piece next to the actual molded ribbing. You can clearly see the difference in angle between the two kinds of ribbing - the molded was angled higher while my test is angled more flatly. To find out what the actual angle is, I used a long ruler affixed to a set square to measure the correct angle of the ribbing. I found that the molded ribs run at just about a 58-degree angle. Sitting on the bench next to all the parts is an old notepad that has a whole host of notes and scrawlings. I quickly jotted down a few things - the rubber base sheet will need to be 11" x 18" on each side, the strips themselves will be increased to 7/16" instead of 3/8" (so the gaps between the ribs are smaller), and the strips are placed at 58-degrees. Once I finally decided to remove the molded ribbing parts, I had to find a clean way to cut them off. I found that the Dremel with a reinforced cutting wheel was pretty effective in getting through the thick, reinforced material. I followed the edge as closely as possible, working slowly with the Dremel to carefully remove the ribbed piece. About and hour of careful cutting later, the ribbing portions were totally removed. It's not a true build if you aren't wearing it at least a little! Be sure to hold the armour pieces tightly while you are cutting them. One of the sharp edges slipped and slid along my forearm, though I didn't notice it until the following day when this fun red mark appeared. After the big cuts were finished, it was time to move to sanding down the edges. I switched the Dremel cutting wheel out for a coarse sanding drum, using that to very carefully pull the dirty edges down even further. The sanding drum definitely helps shave off even more plastic more carefully than the cutting wheel, but not quite all. To get the last little bit of edge off, I use flat metal files for the inner edges as well as coarse sandpaper for the last bit of the exposed edges. Here is the finished edge. Getting the between the triangle side detail on the abdomen plate was particularly difficult. I used a smaller sanding drum to get the bigger chunks out of the way, then used the flat metal files to really dig in there before finishing with the sandpaper. It took quite a long time and quite a bit of patience, but it eventually cleaned up well. With the edges prepped (though not yet painted back to white), I temporarily installed my test gasket again just to see how it will look (roughly). Despite the incorrect angle of the strips, I think it will work pretty well. Definitely starting to look like something!

Congratulations! Well done

Fantastic! If you’ve got questions, don’t hesitate to bring them here so we can all discuss.

I just used one at the top for both, so 2 total, 1 on each boot. The line 24 snaps are pretty heavy-duty and the armour is pretty tight on the boot, so the one snap should be enough to keep things in place.

I finally made the decision to dive in and go for it. It took a lot of garage floor pacing and the calming presence of at least one beer, but there's no going back now! Ultimately, it came down to me not wanting the seam down the side. If we wind up finding out that the rubber of the figure isn't correct down the road, I can always back the rubber mat with another layer of plastic to stiffen it back up. Much more to come quite soon - there's more to post with this, but not without another day or two of work for it to make more sense.

Yeah. Definitely a lot easier to place with the slight adhesion. I can’t take total credit there - one of my garrison mates brought that forward a few weeks ago so I had to try it out. Yeah, getting the zipper back down functions the same - just reattach the zipper, pop open the tab to open the side of the shin, remove the strap and clips, then pull down the zipper.

That was my thinking as well, just hunting for other opinions before I cut the hard material away. There won't be much turning back once those cuts were made, so I want to be absolutely sure I want to do it first!

Assembly and Preparation Abdomen and Kidney - Gasket Test As @Hask pointed out right here in this post, the Hot Toys figure uses a rubber material for the ribbing at the midsection that joins the abdomen and kidney plates together. That got me thinking - it would probably be far more comfortable to use flexible plates in that region and there has to be a reason Hot Toys decided to go in that direction. So, I got to thinking. I picked up two things from Home Depot nearby that I thought could potentially do the trick. First, a rubberized grip liner for kitchen drawers. Second, a large plastic for sale sign. I chose to use this instead of actual armour ABS because it's much thinner and more flexible. Anything too thick and the whole purpose of creating something with give and flex is ruined. (This isn't my picture, but it should give you the idea.) To start, I measured the size of the ribs that are already installed on the ab/kidney plate. They are roughly 3/8" thick, so I cut strips of the for sale sign into 3/8" wide lengths. Then, I cut a length of the drawer lining mat and arranged the plastic lengths on it to create a similar pattern to the ribbing. To keep the area flexible, I used a liquid super glue. This particular brand really gets a fantastic bond and does so very, very quickly - perfect for adhering the strips to the drawer lining. Once all the strips were cut and installed, I sprayed the whole piece with Rustoleum 2X white gloss spray paint. I have to admit that I'm quite surprised at the result. The thin plastic and the drawer lining create a "gasket" that is just thick enough to hold but still thin enough to easily flex along the sides of the abdomen. This was just a test piece, so the rib spacing isn't as uniform as I would like, but it still gets the idea across. It will take quite a bit of armour surgery to carefully remove the existing ribbing, but I think the end result might be worth the effort. I can't imagine the Hot Toys figure using rubber in this region for no reason at all - I really think there is something behind that choice. Much more to come with this as the build continues - this was just a test to see if the concept works. I think it really might be a nice option, though I'm curious what all of you think before I start cutting things apart.

Assembly and Preparation Back Plate I tackled a few things for the back plate this evening. First, I needed to repair the tips of the collar piece. Unfortunately, they both arrived looking like this: Fortunately, the break was pretty clean and relatively undisturbed. I took a small dab of the gel control super glue and got them back into place. I then put a piece of gaffer's tape over the front of them to hold them firmly in place so I could turn the armour over. With the armour upside down, I used the zap a gap to coat the underside of the collar piece to really get a strong repair. Next were the back plate greeblies. Here's everything all collected. I didn't yet install the shoulder brackets - I'll see to those later when the shoulder pieces are assembled together (need to fit the chest and back together first). To start, the black base pieces needed to be flattened. I heated them up with a heat gun until they were flexible, then pressed them down against my garage floor until they cooled into shape. Here you can see the difference: Once they were flat enough, I coated the back with some of the gel control super glue... ...and then pressed it into the back cavity. I used a couple large magnets to really get it to pull down tightly. On top of those at the very top of the indent are the fence/rail pieces. I glued those in with some more gel super glue. Then it's just piecing the rest on. The bottom left corner of each indent has a particular angled piece that nestles against the side like so. The heatsink on the left and the circle on the right are the last two pieces to finish up the back indents. On the left side below these back greeblies is a recessed box. The opening needed to be widened slightly to accept the box, so I used a large metal file to carefully widen the opening. Once it was wide enough, I glued the face of the box into the back side of the armour so that the edge and the recessed area is showing through the hole in the back plate.

Assembly and Preparation Boots - Zipper Pulls Now that the boots were finished, I had to make a strap to assist with putting them on. To get my foot in, I install the shin armour onto the boot (with the tab unclipped so it is flexed open) with the zipper all the way to the bottom. Then, I slip in my foot. The problem here is that there is no way to get your hand inside the armour to pull up the boot zipper. So, I fashioned a pair of zipper pulls using swivel clasps and paracord. I didn't do anything fancy here, just tied a knot around the end of the clasp and left a length of rope that was long enough to run from the bottom of the boot up beyond the top edge. I slide the rope through the open side of the shin armour until it is now behind. It's just a gentle tug to get the zipper up to the top. Then, once the zip is all the way to the top, I open the clasp and remove the straps. For troops, I'll leave them in the bin then reconnect them to the zip to get the boots off.