DR's KST WIP (Kashyyyk Scout Trooper)

[Death Recon]

Did some more work yesterday, had a busy day of running around with the family so I didn't get around to anythig today...

,

 

I found some masking fluid, had to find a hobby shop since Michael's didn't have any...

Oh and I found some E9000

[miqt]

Solid work.

[Death Recon]

Well I don't know why it took me so long to put the damn tank on my back piece, think I had it all cut n trimmed a week ago...

[Death Recon]

Also redid my helmet & visor:

 

I had to use my heat gun to pull the face back into shape since it had a pull to the left, then put her back together:

 

Now I'm gonna sand down my arm bands and add another coat of bondo....

[Death Recon]

So I rip apart my arm pieces and removed all the bondo (I had just used bondo to join them originally)

I used E900 and joined them back together with strips of the only 'real' for sale sign still in Canada

(They changed what they make the signs out of now)

Anyways I glued the armbands together then used acetone & HIP's to coat and make the seal stronger... Just take your HIPs or ABS shavings and put them in a mason jar (glass)and leave it there for a few hours (I left it overnight)

Here's the armbands with a small coat of the acetone/HIPs

[Death Recon]

Then I did pretty much the same with my back piece & tank...

Here's a before,

 

And after the acetone/HIPs,

 

I'm hoping to get a bunch more finished up this week

[bselphfsu282]

Good idea for the HIPS paste. The joints I had on the inside kept cracking since I did not put enough bend in them when I glued the in. Going to add the hips paste on the inside for a stronger bond. Thanks!

[Death Recon]

So I decided to see how the chest and back pieces fit together after my trimming an sanding...

I think I need to reduce the size of the sholder pieces so the back fits more flush on my back.

[bselphfsu282]

Yep, same issue I'm running into. My other issue are the sides are not meeting up the way they should when the shoulders are meeting up. I have one right and the other is wrong and vise versa. Interested to see how you fix that one.

 

And were we supposed to get something to put over the shoulder joints? I see a little grey piece on everyone else's but I have nothing in my kit with it. Thinking about just cutting some out if spare HIPS.

 

Figure out the belt issue? I'm concerned the Velcro won't stick to the back either.

[Death Recon]

Thinking of chopping a little off of the back piece shoulder straps. Then maybe using my heat gun and getting things lined up *if needed but I'll try other thugs first*

 

As for the top grey strips that cover the joint in the chest/back shoulder straps... I know you use a strip under the armor to join the chest/back but

I'm not positive what everyone else used, gonna have to give a shout out and see what people are saying they used for both the cover and the connector

[Grumpy]

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.

[Death Recon]

Thanks for the help Matt, that's awesome.

I actually understand what you were saying to do so this is perfect... Guess I need to to get some snaps, only thing I didn't see you explain is how to attach the snaps

[Grumpy]

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.

[Death Recon]

How's this look... It looks off to me, I think the back piece needs to rise up more.

Wow I just noticed my kids creepy ass doll in the picture

 

 

[bselphfsu282]

I think it looks good where it is. I think mine is abut tighter, but that could come to haunt me when the cummerbund is on. I have some room to loosen but I think I'm set. It looks like you might want to take a bit off the armpit area. I'm going to do the same for a little more comfort, but not much. I am also going to use a heat gun to try to get the front shoulders to sit down a bit more, but not sure best way to go about it I think taping it to the back and then heating up might be the best way. Your thoughts?

[Death Recon]

If you heat it while its taped to the back piece then you run the risk of molding them both...

 

I've used my heat gun on a bunch of different areas... Some for adding a return edge,or a slight curve, & some for straightening things out.

 

I where a pair of my thin gloves while I do the work to protect my digits (burnt the tips of them a few times just from the heat on the plastic)

[Grumpy]

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.

[Death Recon]

So I was looking at the referance pics for the toe caps & shins when I noticed the top of the toe cap come up to just above the bottom edge of the shin...

My toe caps weren't that shape before trimming so I'm useing the acetone/hips paste to build up the top of mine so they match properly

 

[Grumpy]

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.

[Death Recon]

Yep that's what I needed thanks Matt

[bselphfsu282]

That's a good idea on the straps, since it seems to be an issue to get anything to stick to that rubber, but is there anything you would do to prevent tearing of the rubber?

 

Recon, you are a motivated individual to add on to the toe cap! My buddy uses a polyester resin filler called pro flex, instead of bondo. Said it is self leveling, cures in 20 minutes, and sands flawlessly... Of course I heard this after I completed my bondo work.

[Death Recon]

Yes but self leveling means it will "run, or drip" doesn't it?

I take that to mean if you had it on a curved surface it would run towards the lowest point.

(I might look for some though, where'd he get it?)

 

I'll tell you guys how I made out with the toe caps come tomorrow when they finally harden (the acetone/hips mix sets in 10-15 seconds so you gotta be quick when molding with it, but its still squishy for another few hours and its not completely hard until around 20-30 hours of drying time)

[bselphfsu282]

He got it at a body shop. My buddy has a separate clone trooper for each day of marching at Star Wars weekends over the next month! Although I do see your point on the self leveling aspect. I checked the CRL and it says overlapping is correct, so I'm going with that at this point. Easier to make it overlapping and change it later than vise versa.

 

 

[Death Recon]

Got some more work done today... Everything is completely trimmed down and connected now. Just need some touch ups on a few pieces then it's painting time, maybe next week.

 

 

I'm not sure how well building up my toe caps is going, gonna have to experiment with a few things to see what's best...

The acetone/hips drys completely smooth, but when you try to sand it down all the air bubbles on the inside shows up. So maybe some bondo sanded down over top that will do the trick.

 

Oh and I picked up a new shelf so everything isn't all over te place

[Death Recon]

Got some more work done;

bondo'd the last of the helmet, arms, and shin touch ups (now just have to sand and paint),

Just waiting for it to dry, good thing I had help from Pixie & Capt Rex