Grumpy

Thanks guys. Just here to help. The cummerbund is easier than it appears.

I checked the thread for the armor set. It appears that those stickers aren't on the sheet with the others. You might want to notify BC on this and see if they make them. That seems to be the only part missing from the rest of the stickers.

Good to see you're still here, Kevin! There are a few scenes in the C VI dvd that show us in our Kashyyyk armor. "Yippee!!"

Yeah, the chrome undercoat is fine. I forgot that it's metallic. But, after you have all of that done, with the tan base coat, and the camo colors, and then scrape off where the silver shows through, add a coat of flat clear. That will still give it the silver color, but it will make it dull or flat in appearance.

It looks good as is. I wouldn't go too much heavier on it. When you have more room, like the chest and back / tank, there will be more of a canvas to play with. I like the damaged look. Might have to add some "pitting" to mine. Nah, the pointy parts are okay. On the screen shot, it does have some good overlapping on the colors. They just looked a little bold. When you add some weathering, it should tone it down. Give it more of a dirty flat look. Recon...yup. Good on the grey/silver showing through. If you guys do that, make sure the silver has a flat look to it. No shiny parts on the KST...except the green reflective lens on the helmet.

Airbrush? Have you tried them a little lighter in color? Maybe feather out, or soften up the outside edges of the camo with a sponge. (maybe?) I mean, I like them. That's pretty much the color I have. (I might end up re-doing mine. Why? I don't know...) Well, when you add the weathering, it should soften the colors a bit. So, I'm just rambling then. Here's a still shot from Ep. III Is it my imagination, or does the paint on the shoulder bell, in the screen shot, look like it's "pitted" on the surface?

For the boots you have, and the dremmel work that you did with them, they look pretty good. If you know you can't go up any higher because of the sole, don't risk it.

Okay. What did I get blamed for now?

Yes, you did lose it. And, yes, you are crazy! I'm here. Are you still there? It comes and goes. Gets dull around winter time. None of the other old farts get on here much at all. I guess once you get approved, it doesn't matter if you are on here anymore, or not. I check here pretty much everyday to see what's happening, see if I can help anyone, and if the Kashyyyk numbers will ever go over 30 before the years end. And there are times when I get really burned out on the stuff and don't do anything for weeks. So... I've got another set of Kashyyyk armor that I want to work on. Just don't have much enthusiasm or energy to do it. So, for some reason, I end working on a glove (when the greeblies are available....so, shhh!!) or something related. Cheers!

Overlapping if fine. Either way should be accepted. "Noooooooooo"....don't connect the sides and use bondo. You defiantely want these pieces to separate. The option is that they just come together, with another strip of armor holding them together on the back of the armor. (Velcro.) I just used snaps on the chest - back - shoulder bell area. (At the top where all three meet.) The sides have velcro on them. Back overlapping the front. That's the way that part could be adjusted....if necessary.

Backside of the chest and tanks pieces. Shows placement of snaps. I just took an extra square of the abs plastic from the armor and had it fit in the area where I wanted it. Used a leather-tool hole punch to make the holes. Added the snaps. Put E-6000 on the back and put it on the inside of the armor. Clamped it down and left it overnight. Kinda like what I did for the knee straps and knee armor, like this... Hope that helps ya a bit.

Is the "creepy doll" giving a thumbs up? When you have the two pieces on, just pull down on the chest piece and the tank will go up. When you wear it, the tank will look like it's sitting at an angle aimed downwards towards your back. But, as you walk around in it the tank will slowly sink on you and pull your chest piece up. It happens. That's okay. You can't stand in one place forever. Besides, the kids won't stop and say, "Look at the angle on his tank. That's just not right." They're going to be calling you "Army guy" or "That guy from Halo." And, yeah, give the bottom curve a little more room. Open up the armpit area, like Brent said. That will give you the curve to where the two pices will have the same height and either overlap or meet together.

The chest piece actually looks better up higher. (It's gonna ride up on you anyway, with the weight of the back and tank.) The side view pic with the chest and tank looks good. (In my opinion.) The shoulder strap area will have a gap between the chest and back piece. That's where the grey greeblie comes into play. It covers the gap and gives it that "connected" appearance. Like Recon said, it's down on the sides that is a concern. I understand what he means when he's not going to cut any length out of it, but give the pieces a curve to meet together. That would work. I don't know if you guys are doing the overlap or the two sides just meeting together. I believe now that the meeting together is for the "movie accuracy" since all regular clone chest and back pieces just meet at the sides.

I'll have to take a few more pics on how the snaps are attached to the armor. It's pretty easy and involves E-6000.

Hey DR, what you have right now doesn't look too bad. There will be some space between the armor and you. It just happens. It won't be completely snug on you. It has to move. Even on my wife's there is still some space in between. You can see a gap between the back piece and her. That's why the inside of the armor is black. You don't notice it that much. Be careful with how much you might trim off of the shoulder strap area of the armor. There will be a gap between the front and back pieces at the shoulder strap area. But, not much. It has to have some space to move with you, as you move. The nylon connecting straps underneath give it a little movement. Just kinda eyeball it. There should have been two rubber rectangle pieces in with the greeblies. Those are supposed to be the "tabs" that "connect" the front and back pieces. Those (At least in the kits I worked with) don't work for me. I made my own rubber straps from a 4" rubber pipe connector sleeve. (It came with the metal ring that you tighten down on the pipe.) But, didn't need the metal ring. I have about six of those hanging in my garage collecting dust. Anyway, got those from Lowe's. I'll try and get a pic. I cut out what would look like a good size for the length and width. (The following pics are from my son's Kashyyyk Trooper.) I used the velcro with the sticky back, but I still added E-6000 to it to be sure it would stay on. Then I added clamps and left it over night. This was after I added grey primer spray paint for the color. That's why I ended up with the clamp marks on it. (Oh, well. battle damage.) Cut out shape. Spray primer grey. Leave to dry. Add glued velcro. Add clamps. Leave to dry overnight. Touch up grey where clamps left marks. Clear as mud? Are ya still awake, kids?? Here's one without the rubber straps. I used black nylon strap material for the under straps. And used snaps on them and on the armor. Here's the backside of the srtaps, which is connected to the shoulder bell. The top of the "T-strap" connects to the front and back pieces. The length of the strap runs down the inside of the shoulder bell and connects to the bicep piece. The nylon strap doesn't have to run down the inside of the shoulder bell. It could connect with a snap at the top of the bell. I added the length to keep it all connected and secure. Some will add foam on the inside of the biceps to keep them on the arm. That's okay as well. I just added the nylon straps and snaps to keep it connected to the shoulder bells. This is how the front and back connect at the bottom. Now, this is a Mr. B kit. I haven't worked with the BC kit, yet. The overlapping is still acceptable. Or you can have the two ends meet and have a plastic strip on the inside to connect them. Pic with it all connected. Hope these help a bit. It hard to describe how I put it together without being there to help you guys. Not sure what to tell you guys about the sides. I guess get the top part going, and then trim part of the sides until they are about the same height. Trial and glue-it-back-on error.

If they have those little squares in the fabric, and feel slick, that's the ripstop kind. Hard to dye. Even harder to try and make pouches out of that material. (I tried and my sewing machine refuses to work on that fabric.)

I was under the impression, when I last talked with him about this, that Nate had submitted the final CRL to you. Perhaps you should contact him, as I haven't heard from him in awhile, here on BSN. Sorry about this, Marcel.

Yeah, most of what I've done has been has been the hard lined, hand-painted style. Not really a specific pattern, but it still looks good. I've seen it done on other Kashyyyk Troopers, as well. Just try what you think feels and looks good to you, post up pictures and we will nit-pick it to death. Just kidding. Only constructive comments here. Cheers!

Yup. Really old. Unpinned.

I think those used to be colors that were available at specialty or model making stores. I have no idea where to find those anymore. I just used an olive green and bark brown craft paint colors from Jo-Ann's and Wal-Mart, respectively. I lightened them up in different places, according to the shadow-play. You just work with it until it looks good to you. In other words, what would be "screen appropriate." (Don't wanna go there, anymore.) Make it something that looks visually appealing. And the "patterns" on the Kashyyyk's camo will not be the same. (Real world here, not CGI.)

Yep. Rust-oleum has three colors for their Camouflage paint line. The one called "Khaki" is the one I use for the base color.

Bondo is a seam, crack filler. I don't know why, other than the brand name, that it's called Bondo. For myself, I wouldn't use it as a bonding agent. E-6000 or this: http://shop.hobbylob...dhesive-238410/ You don't need much on this one. It's made for bonding plastic models together.

Who made the DC-15 Rifle? Looks real nice! (Ship it to me... )

Semi-gloss should be okay for the tank greeb. If it doesn't look right, hit it with a little bit of a flat clear coat. After I painted all of the pieces with the camo, I sprayed everything with a flat clear coat.

Each armor maker ends up having certain parts coming up being made differently. I have one of the original styles. My shin armor goes straight down. Doesn't curve onto the top of the boot to go under the boot topper. The MrB style armor has the shins that curve onto the top of the boot. To me, it doesn't really matter, just as long as the shin armor stays in place and doesn't spin around on your leg. If the laces of the boots show, either paint them white (or tan) like the boot, or add a piece of white (or tan) leather (or leather-like) material to cover the laces. It's just a minor detail that isn't too noticeable, except to Kashyyyk OCD perfectionists. (Like us.) Plus, I don't think the average Clone had size 13 feet. (I have that problem as well.) Some of my laces show. Eh...oh, well.