Chopper's Shoretrooper Captain Build

[BikerScout007]

5 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Ok, yeah, that looks pretty similar to how it's rigged on the screen used photo. I'll try and carve something out of scrap plastic.

That's what I did.  There was plenty of scrap left over

[Chopper]

More fitting and tweaking going on, which, of course means more masking tape.

Buckles and shoulder straps are attached. I made a shim out of scrap plastic and angled it to fit with the dremel. The buckles are pretty firmly on the chest armor now.

I also moved the shoulder bells in a bit. I think that makes a big difference, based on my last photo.

At this point, we're onto fitting the skirt and back plate.

I got the back plate centered on the belt plate. Now it's clamped and the glue is drying outside.

I can already tell that I'm going to need to work on adjusting the skirt. It's too big on me. Just to get it to sit even alright on my body, we had to move the attachment point up about an inch and a quarter above the belt line.

Here's where I'd like some guidance --

I tried to size myself next to this common ST Captain photo from the web:

Should I bring my ab armor up more? Should I bring it up so the chest armor sits at about the yellow line on the center ab greeb? (See photo below)

This would bring the skirt up, though it'd still be too wide for me, circumference-wise.

Should I cut the skirt at the red marks, trim it down, then re-glue it together?

I was also looking to bring the skirt back attachment point down, by cutting the skirt at the red marks below, then re-gluing.

Observations and guidance are welcome!

 

 

 

[ScaryGuy]

I assume the horizontal area of the skirt at the front matches the height of the belt. If I compare that height with an imaging tool to the ref picture it's exactly the same height. Your skirt looks approx 10% taller than the ref picture. I think the front will look good, but I think you need to either rise it a little more until the top of the belt area, otherwise the horizontal area will show below the belt. Or you would need to cut some there. Would be helpfull if you also had your belt.

I think the best way to determine the ab height is to wear it with the belt and pull it tight. The bottom of the belt should be at or just above the line where you body bends when you bend forward. 

I think the main issue is that it's too wide for you. Not sure what the best way would be to fix this. May be you should split it at the back and try what the best position is for those foam extensions.

 

 

 

[Chopper]

Thank you, Theo. When I next get a chance to suit up, I'll take some photos with the belt on as well and we can go from there.

[Chopper]

Ok, so my Shoretrooper saga continues...

One of the more frustrating aspects of this build is how thin the back plate is -- "wafer thin" to borrow a phrase from Monty Python. I've been getting a lot of cracks and it seems like I find new ones every time I do a fitting.

I've done some minor fixes, but it was getting to the point where extreme measures were needed. So, after bracketing the inside return edge with styrene, I coated the inside edges with ABS paste. This had better hold, because I'm not sure what else I can do at this point...

Anyhow, onward!

Because the button plate on the back of my skirt was too big for me, I cut the top part off. Now I'm trying to find proper placement for repositioning it, so I can re-glue it back together.

Some photos (larger versions are linked):

If that looks ok, I'll start re-attaching parts. If more tweaking is needed, let me know. All feedback is welcome!

[ScaryGuy]

Definitely looking better! Do you have the 3 ammo shells and oiler pouch already? You should check if the foam is tall enough to have room for those. The ammo shells should fit entirely on the foam, the oiler pouch overlaps with the hard plate.

[Chopper]

19 minutes ago, ScaryGuy said:

Definitely looking better! Do you have the 3 ammo shells and oiler pouch already? You should check if the foam is tall enough to have room for those. The ammo shells should fit entirely on the foam, the oiler pouch overlaps with the hard plate.

Thanks Theo! Yeah, I have both. I think they should fit, but I can do a final, pre-glue mock up with the ammo shells and oiler pouch to make sure it all lines up.

[Chopper]

It's been a while, but this build is not dead. I'd mentioned earlier how unhappy I was with a lot of the cracking I was experiencing on this kit -- especially on the chest and back pieces. I had bought this kit second hand, still in the box and un-assembled, but I don't know if it was sitting in someones hot garage or something. Either way, the amount of cracks and reinforcements I had to deal with was getting increasingly frustrating.

New approach -- I've been talking with Mickey a bunch and I ended up getting a CR10 printer through Creality's Black Friday sale and I also picked up Mr. Paul's files as well. At 5ft8 I'm a little shorter and smaller than the ideal 5ft11 size, so right now I'm printing the chest at back plates at 0.4 line height and 10% infill just to get a sense of sizing, and to determine if any down-scaling is needed.

I also picked up the new Imperial Boots Shoretrooper undershirt. This this is NICE! It zips up in front and has thumb loops to keep your sleeves in place. It's certainly a lot more comfortable than the old one, which was a pull-over and felt a bit like wearing a couch cushion cover.

The new IB shirt also comes with a separate neck seal...which looks to be one size fits all. The zipper is oriented the proper direction for Level 2 clearance. However, I had to remove about 4" off the original circumference in order to make it fit me. Not a difficult task if you can do the sewing or want to pay to get it altered, but it's something to keep in mind.

I'll post more when I get my chest and back sizing prototypes together.

[ScaryGuy]

Sorry to hear about the issues with the abs kit Corey, but a good choice to go with the MrPaul files! Looking forward to it!

Thanks for the pictures of the new IB shirt! Some nice improvements, but I really wonder why they are still using black mesh instead of grey. What I don’t like is that they have sewn to mesh on the outside instead of on the inside like their previous version. Can’t have it all I guess.

[Aradun]

Glad to see this project underway again Corey. I’d love to tackle a ST in the future so I’m following your progress and methodology closely.


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[Chopper]

My draft copy of the Mr. P. chest half finished printing not too long ago. Just for the same of comparing sizes, I put it up against my KW chest plate -- they're pretty much the same size. Looks like I don't need to do any scaling. At least not for the chest pieces.