Andy's ST Captian WIP

[Andy88]

Hello there! ( Kenobi 05/25 whoohoo!)

I've accumulated parts and things since approximately mid august of last year but finally starting to get some serious work done so figured it's time to start the WIP thread to take in suggestions and, document. My goal is for a level "1+" approval and, then work on details to make it a level 2.

Even in this early stage this has been such a rewarding experience from meeting a ton of great people online to developing skills which are adjacent to costuming that I've always wanted to develop. I'm really interested in the community and charity work the 501st does and, giving back to my community through something I love.

Armor pieces; DIY Mr. Paul's STL's, I've done several pieces in PETG already but, recently made the decision to go all in with ABS.

The helmet is a Sean fields that was resin molded by Sean Bradley. After 2-3 failed attempts at a Niko Henderson helmet and, a very rough completed one in PETG I wasn't happy with the amount of time it was taking and, needed to jumpstart my enthusiasm for this project so I had Sean finish it. Exceptional work and, it worked as planned, accomplished more in the last month than the last 5. 

Spent much of today lowering the visor which sat just a bit too high. I used latex 'paint' to do chip weathering , still researching (and welcome) suggestions for the dirt weathering. I've got the acrylic paint, the application method is what I'm looking to hone-in. Some suggestions I've seen are to water down a mix so it can be washed on . Some suggest a Sponge? Dab in areas or 'wash' like a bath?

Also interested for any ideas to integrate an i-COMM into the snout greeble. The box around the 'speaker' part seems like it will be tricky. I have a resin molded piece I've considered trying to demel out the snout part but I think it will be too messy and leave me with a bunch of broken pieces instead of a usable 'hole' in the resin mold to insert the iCOMM into

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy88]

Soft parts;

Ammo holder- shameless Lego flex in the background.

Orca Bay Boots in Sand from a recent restock. Weathering process- kicking around the mulch doing yard work.

Gloves- IB trooper. Dog: Kylo (Ren), destroyer of anything he can reach, including a couple of printed pieces already.

 

[KOtrooper]

I used a dark brown and burnt umber for my weathering. Watered it down, brushed it on (very quick and sloppy), and wiped it off with an old sock or paper towel. Left a lot in the cracks and seams and moved on. I did several passes until I was happy with it. Take breaks doing it so, when you come back, you have fresh eyes. Otherwise it either looks like not enough or too much.

If you did do too much, just hit it with steel wool or high grit sandpaper.

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[Retrofire]

16 hours ago, Andy88 said:

Also interested for any ideas to integrate an i-COMM into the snout greeble. The box around the 'speaker' part seems like it will be tricky. I have a resin molded piece I've considered trying to demel out the snout part but I think it will be too messy and leave me with a bunch of broken pieces instead of a usable 'hole' in the resin mold to insert the iCOMM into

Ukswrath makes a comm unit for the Shoretrooper if you are interested. You can find it in the vendor thread here:

Resin is notorious for being rather brittle. I model with a lot of kit add-on’s in resin and they can be delicate unless you have a lot of “meat” to grind/drill on.

[Andy88]

Ukswrath makes a comm unit for the Shoretrooper if you are interested. You can find it in the vendor thread here:
Resin is notorious for being rather brittle. I model with a lot of kit add-on’s in resin and they can be delicate unless you have a lot of “meat” to grind/drill on.

Thanks, this is his kit! It looks like he’s sort of bondo’d it into the shell. it’s given me some ideas. This looks a lot better in his pictures than I envisioned so I’ll probably do something similar.

[ukswrath]

7 hours ago, Andy88 said:

Thanks, this is his kit! It looks like he’s sort of bondo’d it into the shell. it’s given me some ideas. This looks a lot better in his pictures than I envisioned so I’ll probably do something similar.

Hey all, for the record I don't bondo any of my snouts, or any other products. They're all made from high quality resin, unless it's one of my older kits where I paid someone else to make them from molds. Those didn't hold up to my quality requirements or durability so I started making my own.

I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has any.

[Andy88]

Hey all, for the record I don't bondo any of my snouts, or any other products. They're all made from high quality resin, unless it's one of my older kits where I paid someone else to make them from molds. Those didn't hold up to my quality requirements or durability so I started making my own.
I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has any.

No not at all what I meant, your piece is definitely not filler, it’s a very nice part. I actually thought it was metal just by the feel of it. I’m just thinking how I will give more structure around the speaker piece when it when it goes on the snout so it has that square structure like my resin snout piece does. I might use a filler like bondo however the way it was on in the prior mentioned thread looked better than I thought it would anyway so I might not bother.


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[ukswrath]

5 hours ago, Andy88 said:

No not at all what I meant, your piece is definitely not filler, it’s a very nice part. I actually thought it was metal just by the feel of it. I’m just thinking how I will give more structure around the speaker piece when it when it goes on the snout so it has that square structure like my resin snout piece does. I might use a filler like bondo however the way it was on in the prior mentioned thread looked better than I thought it would anyway so I might not bother.


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Copy that and thanks for the clarification. 

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Cheers 

[Andy88]

On 2/13/2022 at 11:16 PM, KOtrooper said:

I used a dark brown and burnt umber for my weathering. Watered it down, brushed it on (very quick and sloppy), and wiped it off with an old sock or paper towel. Left a lot in the cracks and seams and moved on. I did several passes until I was happy with it. Take breaks doing it so, when you come back, you have fresh eyes. Otherwise it either looks like not enough or too much.

If you did do too much, just hit it with steel wool or high grit sandpaper.

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Slightly modified your suggestion, used a foam brush to paint on a decent coat, wiped off most of it with a paper towel . Then 'buffed' to where I wanted it to actually be with 70% ISO and a throw away MF towel. Came out great overall, basically where I wanted to be with it in terms of 'grit vs clean'.

Thanks for the help! very aprehensive of over or under doing it but it turned out to be the quickest and easiest to 'correct' part of the process so far.

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[Andy88]

Gave my weathering technique some careful consideration and I decided to sand down all the faux 'chips' from the latex paint and instead go for something that looks more natural and subtle. Not yet done but much happier with the result on the helmet so far.

Curved Visor from Mr. Paul for LvL2

 

 

 

UKwraths guts in the bucket plus some room for Henry's Helmet Fans.

 

Bunch of printed parts finished recently, highly recommend paramount 3D filament. Much easier to control stringing and get a bear 'glass' perfect layering vs overture. This is only .16 layer height.

[Minimo]

Hey Andy! Awesome progress! Looking at your pics , looks like your bucket already included the second step for the lense required for L2. I had this same issue in mine and ended up grinding out the bucket’s second step. This allowed me to properly fit Paul’s lense and only one lense step to be visible!




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[Andy88]

Thanks for the tip! I feel a little silly now that I notice it too as I had a niko helmet printed to use with this lens without the 2nd layer specifically because the lens had it on there already. So much learned already forgetting some things. I have a flat piece without the "eye bags" that the bucket came with so comparison pictures are below.

Followup question; the CRL for level 2 says 'the lenses are curved' I took this to mean the lens has a curve on the horizontal axis which is why I tried to make Paul's lens fit. Does it literally just mean the lens curves around the visor part ?

[Minimo]

No worries! Just trying to help and new pic looks good!

It refers to the bubbled shape of the lense. Looks like your lense already meets that requirement:




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[KOtrooper]

Yeah, some options for the lens is a flat welders visor but the screened used helmets had a curved/bubbled lens. Yours looks good!

[Andy88]

On 2/28/2022 at 3:12 PM, KOtrooper said:

Yeah, some options for the lens is a flat welders visor but the screened used helmets had a curved/bubbled lens. Yours looks good!

I'll have to find another visor solution, unfortunately I attempted to trim Paul's visor to remove the 'eye bags' which resulting in a non-fit for the helmet. I have niko's files so , long term I may mold my own visor.
weekend update!

Chest plate print: Complete

Belt: Complete

Printer dialed in, very smooth and sharp edges for a raw print.

Smoothing/priming of small parts experimenting with bondo spot puddy, not excited by the results.

Although Ironing effect was fantastic. 2 of these are unsanded raw prints with 3 primer layers one is with bondo puddy. Can you tell the difference?

Looks good on camera but not 10/10 for me, minor edge imperfections I want to go over with resin tomorrow.

Much more excited about the resin filling I worked out on a couple more parts. maybe 1/2 the time savings.

[KOtrooper]

I have a BSP helmet and used a bubble visor like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pilot-Style-Motorcycle-Helmet-3-Snap-Visor-Half-Open-Face-Wind-Shield-Flip-Up-/163904633283?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

I was able to find one with a dark brown tint. You might be able to trim one to fit yours.

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[Andy88]

Haven't had as much time lately for finishing but, the 3d printing continues and, soft parts from Imperial boots came in today! I nailed sizing  and , I'm very happy with the quality of work.

 

 

Maybe I missed the memo but I thought IB top was not level 2 compliant? the zipper down seems to be level 2 compliant?

https://imgur.com/Sl6bxSF[/img]

I dialed in my resin application for sanding, some minor hand finishing still needed but 10/10 would give a 5 star amazon review and recommend to a friend over the traditional bondo method.

looking good for a substantial completion by the May Orlando Megacon. Goal is chest piece, then legs, pauldrins then forearm pieces if I really run-up to the last minuite and have to make concessions for being a "WIP"
501st had a big display there last year, guess i should start to get in contact with my local troop

 

P.S.

tree supports are crazy.

[Minimo]

Hiya! IB changed their shirt to meet L2 requirements!


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[Andy88]

I hate sanding. Its course, and ruff, and irritating. And (dust) gets everywhere.

Lessons learned with the back part are not to resin fill layer lines before the pieces are bonded. I think I will re-print this part later this year.

Dupicolor paint is S&%T

 

Now in color!

very happy with the finish quality resuit

[Minimo]

Coming along! I’ve had issues with duplicolor as well…. With ya on the hate!

[Andy88]

16 hours ago, Minimo said:

Coming along! I’ve had issues with duplicolor as well…. With ya on the hate!

 

Joking aside I'm happy with this.

 

Chin Strap for helmet level 2

 

Don't tell the Makaze squad guys but Megacon Orlando is only a month away and , there was a *really* great Din Djarin Mando there last time. I will be without an E22 so instead(and if like last time, the only ST there). . .  Shhhhh

Some goodies to strike up conversation.

[Minimo]

Lol looks great dude, good stuff


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[Andy88]

making good progress, printing time is holding me back, it's going to be pretty close to make it for May but I think it's possible so long as there are no major problems.

Top black bar; 13mm, bottom: 11mm. Yellow bars also carefully measured from Paul's FB group page for screen accuracy. I'm not happy with the paint bleeding on the Bell but I think some careful weathering will hide it.

Just need to weather the other shoulder bell

Needs weathering

Resin molded greebling.

Chest piece formed

This is going to need a do-over, I masked before the paint was completely dry and it's messedup the texture.

A couple of 'organic, fair trade' weathering spots Definitely not where the tape peeled up the beige perfectly. I'm leaving these in place

Got impatient and glued the pingle can greeble , it needs to be a different color, more silver than dark grey it is now.

 

Gloves done

[BikerScout007]

Looking good!  

I would say don't get too fixated on the paint not being perfect.  You're going to have to mess it all up anyway!  Having imperfect paint jobs just adds to the weathering.

[Andy88]

3 minutes ago, BikerScout007 said:

Looking good!  

I would say don't get too fixated on the paint not being perfect.  You're going to have to mess it all up anyway!  Having imperfect paint jobs just adds to the weathering.

thanks! I think I might give it some weathering and see how it looks like then.