Raw Armory Shop Kit and Helmet Build

[dodger0729]

Hey everyone!

 

I bought the raw kit and helmet from Denis at Armory shop. Seeing as this a newer trooper I decided to start a WIP for all my fails and trials and errors. I have had the helmet for about 4 months now and just got the armor in on Monday! This is going to be a long build I can already tell. But it was the cheaper option and figured others might do this.

 

Here’s the helmet wips:

 

 

I started with cutting the visor then sanded everything down with 1000 grits.

 

 

I had to do some work to smooth some things out. I also cut out the teeth and will back them for better airflow.

 

Then came painting the helmet. It was a hit tricky because I’m trying to do this on kind of a budget without a spray gun for anyone who doesn’t have access to these things. So rattle cans it is, rustoleum is the brand I am using.

 

 

So the black looked great. This is rustoleum flat black with semi gloss clear coat. I shined it with 5000 grit then tried the white coat.

 

 

 

The only problem came after pulling off the tape. It pulled the clear coat and caused a huge problem.

 

 

So I sanded it all back and learned an important lesson of painting the white first then the black. It is going to be a lot easier to tape off and is going to be easier on clean up.

 

 

 

I have a couple areas of touch up but the semi gloss black actually came out a lot better. No worries about it not mixing correctly and everything. Everything laid correctly and I won’t have to sand t back for a sixth time.

 

 

Anyways the last thing I got in was the armor. I haven’t begun any work on it yet because I’m trying to figure out a way to smooth the PLA print. I heard Smooth On XTC 3D is good.

 

 

I will try to get a close up on the armor pieces in a little bit.

 

Oh and the undersuit fits great! Great addition to riding pads on the inside of the boots so it doesn’t rub near your knees!

 

 

 

That’s it for now. Again this is the raw kit + belt from Denis at Armory shop. With the undersuit. It’s all custom printed and sewn for you. It’s fits great, but I’ve also been trying to gym and gain weight. The problems came with the kidney and abs which need to be messed with.

 

 

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[BikerScout007]

Helmet looks great!  I am going to start digging into mine soon.  Thanks for doing this 💪

[Shenanigen5280]

WOW this is one on my radar after the shore trooper! looks great and can't wait to see more updates!

[Ghost11c]

What are the pants?  They handmade or sourced? 

[dodger0729]

What are the pants?  They handmade or sourced? 

 

They come from armory shop. You can order it from him for your specific size!

 

 

Okay I had a chance today to take some individual pictures of the raw kit and what comes with it! Some pieces definitely need some more work than others and I’m trying to find out a way to smooth the pieces.

 

 

Here is the ab and kidney pieces! They are pretty smooth and not much needs to be done minus some smoothing. My only problem with them are the kidney piece is too small. I can’t breath deep with the kidney pieces on. I’m addressing that issue now with Denis.

 

 

Chest and back plate fit very well however. Coming from wearing clone armor I can say there’s a huge difference when things are made to your size. The only thing is that the back plate needs some work. Here’s a detail shot of the back where I need to sand it back.

 

 

 

The shoulder bells just need to be smoothed out. As you can see on one of them I already tried sanding with 80 grit. It was more half tried but will work through it some more.

 

 

 

Overall the shins come as one piece connection around the ankles. They are relatively smooth except for the details and the protrusions. I’m going to figure this out as well

 

 

They fit nicely over the boots as well and probably won’t come off my boots once they are on. The calves are also really smooth.

 

After going over all the majors parts I began to group the smaller pieces together. These parts also happen to be he smoothest parts that were printed that will need relatively no sanding. The biceps,forearms and hand plates could be painted white right now I think. Obviously I will still work on them though.

 

Here comes the parts that will start making up the belts and the tiny greeblies you get.

 

 

 

 

The final parts for the boots are the back pieces. Overall, I think I’m going to paint the toe of the boot white and cute the armor on the inside bone and use the back armor. Less parts moving around.

 

 

The clips and added back piece greeblies are also included.

 

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All look great and not much work here.

 

And he includes also all the runners and soft parts you need if you do the upgrade for the belt!

 

Overall, after some thought, I think it is a great kit for the price and saves you like 200$. At first I was afraid working with 3D printed armor since I have never before. But now I am using this as a learning opportunity and will post here as much as I can. 1 thing I would do if I were to order this again would add a couple of inches to the measurement of the circumference around your stomach. It printed or warped to being a smidge too small. Other than that, I can’t wait to start working on the kit.

 

 

Also, my kit didn’t come with the EC-17 blaster and holster. Denis has already been responsive and said he will send me one. It is included with the belt option!

 

 

 

 

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[Shenanigen5280]

So excited to see your build photos in future 

[dodger0729]

 

Just a small update. I fixed that horrible tape job on the left line and also made the ear lines more crisp. I’m going to sand everything tomorrow and then on Friday put the gloss on the white. I’m going to use some hobby black sand and dry brush black to simulate the exhaust of Corellia and the bikes. It will hopefully give it that more realistic look like shores. But also hide my tape lines in certain areas.

 

 

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[star-trooper]

What sort of paint do you use for the boots?

[dodger0729]

What sort of paint do you use for the boots?

I’ll be using automotive vinyl white spray paint. It flexes like leather paint but without need to brush it on.


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[Shenanigen5280]

On the next set of photos can I see what you mean about hobbies black sand? I have been looking at a dremel to sand things in future when I start my kit but maybe I can save money and just do it by hand


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[dodger0729]

On the next set of photos can I see what you mean about hobbies black sand? I have been looking at a dremel to sand things in future when I start my kit but maybe I can save money and just do it by hand

 

 

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The black sand is going to add a black texture to certain areas to simulate exhaust build up. It is literally just black sand. It’s used in hobby models for an asphalt or black beach effect. I used a dremel to cut out the visor

 

 

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[Shenanigen5280]

The black sand is going to add a black texture to certain areas to simulate exhaust build up. It is literally just black sand. It’s used in hobby models for an asphalt or black beach effect. I used a deemed to cut out the visors


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Oooooh I see! Oh wow that’s a cool extra detail!


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[FIVE]

Very nice job so far indeed!!!

[dodger0729]

Okay so I got some done today since midterms are over!



Been working out how I am going to smooth out the the lines and ridges of the 3D print. Started with 80 grit sandpaper then went to 120. Figured it would lessen the line effect a little more. I messaged Denis and he gave me his method. He use Dupli sprayable clay. However we can’t get it here. I am going to try rustoleum automotive primer. Then I will do as follows: 1 coat of primer- dry 8 hours
2nd coat of primer- dry 8
3rd coat of primer- dry 24
Hours then sand.

Hopefully this will be enough to smooth out the lines. Here’s the result of the sanding:



I also got some time to work on the helmet! I sanded back the white again, polished the black a bit and taped up the helmet. I ended up cleaning up the lines around certain parts. Then I painted the white, waited 1 hour and painted the gloss. Here’s the result. Going to have to shine and polish the white.



And for a little giggle I balanced the greeblies on the helmet.



Regardless the inly thing left on the helmet is the grey, the detail lines and the pipes. Then I can finally weather it! Super excited.


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[dodger0729]

Well I have some interesting updates. Looks like I’ll be repaint white and black tomorrow.


From afar it looks okay. But the OCD in me will continue to work on the paint.



On the other hand I was able to get the first coat of primer on the shoulder bells as a test. I will do the second coat tomorrow and hopefully have a better update.



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[dodger0729]

I’m so close I can taste it! I spent all day touching up the paint on the helmet. Using spray paints and such it can be a long taping process. But I am so happy with the results!



I taped on the side ear greeblies just to see what they looked like!;P But I paint the black ovals as well!



Second coat of filler primer on the shoulders. I’ve noticed it is better to have a heavy hand. It will be thicker and may need to dry longer but will be worth it.




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[dodger0729]

/

[dodger0729]

Haven’t had much updates as of late because of research papers and finals and such.

Finally got around to repainting the white on the helmet. Then I outline all the grey squares with black. I used acrylic flat black modelers paint and a brush that had dried hard with paint before. I’m going to get a restore paint pen to clean up the lines.

Only issue I have faced with the helmet is the tubes. When I pulled the tape some of the White came up in one of the spots. I’m going to have to repaint it. Overall the rustoleum enamel gloss white is wayyy better than the regular paint. Takes longer to cure but is so smooth.



I also got my EC-17 in the mail. I can’t remember the model name. I began working on it since I wanted to test this new 3-D smoothing product. It’s actually a lot smaller than the regular holdout blaster. I’m also going to have to heat gun the holster since my blaster can’t easily be pulled in an out.



I used a soldering iron to open up the holes more since a lot of the pieces weren’t fitting together.


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[BikerScout007]

That is one good looking helmet!

[dodger0729]

 

Cleaned up the lines with an exacto knife today! I was playing with the visor to fix it and my lense snapped!

 

So I’m going to pick up this one from Amazon

 

I used them in both of my clone builds and it is still green. Plus it obscures my eyes more and I can cut it to the size I want!

I’m also going to buy some testor’s paint pens to clean up the black lines and I got my black sand. Just need to repaint those white areas that were messed up and finish the helmet!

 

 

That is one good looking helmet!

 

 

Thanks! It still isn’t up to par of what I’d like it to be but it’s getting there!

 

 

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[dodger0729]

Small update! Fixed the chipped paint still drying. I also glued the ears on.



Hopefully I can get to glueing in the window screen material and the rubber. Still have to order the new visor. But hopefully I can finally start focusing on the armor.


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[dodger0729]

Okay! Finally!! 6 months later and I got the amazon welder’s face shield in. I had some time on my hands before heading home so I decided to work on the helmet as much as possible.



So I basically finished the helmet! Minus weathering, I got the rubber pieces on, put the new visor in and cover the front frown with window screen! The visor’s nice because it obscures my eyes but is still green!



I was able to also cut he visor wide enough that I could super glue in the visor! Overall I’m happy with it!

Now onto the armor


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[dodger0729]

Realized I haven’t updated my thread in quite awhile. I used the XTC-3D to help ease the sanding and it worked pretty good!



So then I sanded back the XTC when I had some time and then painted it to see the imperfections.



I also finally bought a much needed sander and was able to sand everything back.



I also constructed the thermal det and XTC-3D’d it.




I haven’t worked on it yet since I wanted to finish other parts. I finally decided to apply bondo on the other armor parts since the tiny spots were bothering me. I’m debating whether or not I’m being too much of a perfectionist with this. I think I could weather over certain spots. But this is also my first gloss costume so that is the debate I’m having now. I just keep forgetting I do have a chance to weather it.






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[BikerScout007]

What did you use to cut out the lens area and the teeth?

[Starscream]

On 9/23/2019 at 1:29 PM, BikerScout007 said:

What did you use to cut out the lens area and the teeth?

Not sure what Anthony did, but I used a Dremel to cut out the lens area. For the teeth, I drilled the majority out with my Dremel and filed out the corners. With the right file, it isn't as much work as you would think. Hope that helps.