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The Acrylikhan Armor Project Files


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I think the AKA armor will turn out nicely. Not as nice as MC or SC or KS, but it should look okay.

 

You are kidding, right? :o

 

Your work is top notch and easily competes with anyone out there, if not better. No offense to anyone, and I like all the work i have seen, but YOURS....OOOOOO, AAHHHHHHHHH!

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  • 3 weeks later...
I though you were around 6' 1" (1.85 meters)?

 

haha, don't draw any conclusions from my big mouth ;) - I'm a dwarf 176 cm / 5.77 ft.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thigh boxes... or probably should be better known as off-the-hip boxes!

 

thigh1a.jpg

 

These parts were going to be my second attempt at vacuforming. This one was simple. I needed a table saw and an oscillating sander, and a Dremel.

 

Madphisto: If this buck looks a little familiar to you... it should. It's essential the plan you drew up. I really liked it so I borrowed it, and made some slight alterations. ;)

 

thigh2a.jpg

 

I did put in some indents onto the buck. HOWEVER! I forgot one major rule of casting: beware of undercuts!. Even though this was a very cool idea, it became a BIG hindrance when I wanted to remove the plastic from the buck. These indents essentially LOCKED the part on. More on this a few pictures down.

 

thigh3a.jpg

 

For the indent on the front surface, and the indents on the sides, I drilled small air holes with piano wire to help get the air out of these areas.

 

thigh4a.jpg

 

1/8-inch good ABS Pull! (This was the third pull... couldn't get the temperature and time right! Stupid me.)

 

thigh5a.jpg

 

sweet.

 

thigh6.jpg

 

Here' in the above picture, you can see the problem. I broke the parts to get them off the bucks! The side indents caused the part to lock onto the mold. This is commonly know as an "undercut." It when an edge or surface moves toward the center of the part instead of away from the center of the part. Silicone molding for urethane casting can get away with undercuts sometimes because the rubber is flexible. Or you just place you parting line accordingly. Stupid me forgot this rule. So the part cracked at the edge. Both sides! Both Pulls!

 

thigh7.jpg

 

Size looks right for the webbing.

 

thigh8.jpg

 

Here's a close up on one of the cracks after I did a first stage repair. I used a heat gun to carefully warm the part up and move the cracked sections together. I then used ABS glue to bond it together from the back side. After that set for a day, I used a special cocktail of Methyl Ketone, and a few other chemicals, and Shredded ABS to make an "ABS Bondo."

 

thigh10.jpg

 

So I performed the operation on both pulls! Made the curved cuts to conform to my thigh, and the slots for the webbing.

 

thigh11.jpg

 

thigh12.jpg

 

thigh13.jpg

 

Coat of paint... and a quick polish, and we're done!

 

That progress full body photos will be coming soon. I have to add some reinforcement to the shoulder bell. They buckle too much when I put them on.

 

More to come.

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Nice work - what type of vac former do you have ? Self made hobby vac or a sweet industrial vac ?

I'm thinking of making one over the summer - a really good one

 

No, it's an self made hobby vac. :lol: It's very small... the largest piece of plastic I can form from is about 18" x 16".

 

I will try to make a larger bed for forming and heating, possibly a 24" x 24" with a vacuum pump. I'll need it to form the chest pieces.

 

I may go back to urethane casting for the knee armor. So I have to decide soon, if I am going to make the vacuform buck or a plastic master for a silicone mold. The mold might be better, but urethane tends to be much heavier than a vacuform pieces.

 

Decisions, decisions!

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WOW Frank those look awsome bro, nice work. I cant wait to see the whole thing done. I know if get some time this winter I am going to follow your steps on the helmet to do a new one. If I dont get the time I may have to buy an ABS one.
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Excellent job, FK!

Those thigh boxes are sexy!!!

 

WOW Frank those look awsome bro, nice work. I cant wait to see the whole thing done. I know if get some time this winter I am going to follow your steps on the helmet to do a new one. If I dont get the time I may have to buy an ABS one.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Arcturus! I think that's the first time something I made was sexy... but I'll take it!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Ghost! I wish you the best of luck modifying your DP/Rubies!! If you need help, gimme a holler!

 

I think I might have started something with the DP/Rubies! I think, with Ghost, that makes three people that are now doing heavy mods to the DP helm!

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The finish line is in sight - now make sure the officers lose their advantage soon ;)

Great thigh box - I didn't know you planned to vacuform the pieces.

...well Mike I wish I had the talent of Frank and you - that would be a lot more practical

in this hobby ;)

 

But as you both (other people too) do in depth build documentations I might take a

chance doing something non star wars next year from concept to sculpt at least ;)

So thanks for teaching :D

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If I only had a million dollars... I could finish this project within a week! But I'm NEVER lucky... so I'll try to quicken my pace, and put off getting my Imperial Officer for a little while longer! ;)

 

I was originally going to make urethane castings for the thigh boxes, my budget ran short at this stage, and I always wanted to try vacuforming. The shoulder bells were a great success a few months back, and the thigh boxes was the next logical step. Except this time, I was working from a drawing, and using a table saw to make the buck. The Shoulder bell was a constructed CAD file and then machined on a Computer Numeric Controlled Mill (CNC Mill). The thigh boxes were much more hands on.

 

Ah, but Phillip, you have a very keen sense of detail! That is something that is always an asset to a project. Especially when the main goal is trying to replicate armor without absolute measurements. You've helped me refine my own guesses. Remember the razor holder that's on the bicep armor? If it wasn't for your information, it wouldn't not have looked as good! You've been a tremendous help on this project.

 

(I think the pictures are still up on this thread, so check it out if you get the chance. The old razor holder compared to the new razor holder...)

 

Oh, yeah... if you do a drawing-to-sculpture piece, please post it so we can check it out!

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Ah, but Phillip, you have a very keen sense of detail! That is something that is always an asset to a project. Especially when the main goal is trying to replicate armor without absolute measurements. You've helped me refine my own guesses. Remember the razor holder that's on the bicep armor? If it wasn't for your information, it wouldn't not have looked as good! You've been a tremendous help on this project.

 

 

Ain't that the truth !!! Eyes of a hawk !!!

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I'd call it overly meticulous ;)

 

But I appreciate your appreciation :D - In most cases I earn frowns and snide remarks

being a smartass hehe

 

As for the razor tray I've had a new theorie. The shape of the t-bit embedment looks

quite close to some of the standard batterie chargers. You have the cradle for the batteries

with side openings to better take them out once charged and the "nose" where the stuff

is lcated that actually loads the batteie (sorry I'm a doofus in physics and technics).

 

And of course I'm going to show my process as I probably will need a lot of advice to

handle it. It will be a secondary character from a manga TV series ;)

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  • 1 month later...

It's been awhile since I updated, but with the holiday here, it's time to ply a little catch up with all the stuff that's been going on.

 

So it's been with the tank topper that I believe was the latest project that was near completion. That was until our lathe at work broke, and things took a drastic turn. Now that I'm back on track..... we left off with me glueing styrene strips to the tank topper to simulate the gear like pattern.

 

tanktop19.jpg

 

 

The next was two little greeblies that are just above the gear pieces. I had to trim down a the ones I made to the right size.

 

tankgreeble4.jpg

 

Then modding it with some sanding and filing, and adding styrene for details.

 

tanktop24.jpg

 

tanktop25.jpg

 

A little more sanding, gluing them in place, and priming the whole piece to perfection. Then:

 

tanktop29.jpg

 

tanktop26.jpg

 

Ya' make a mold. Then you make clones.

 

tanktop27.jpg

 

Lots of clones.

 

tanktop30.jpg

 

I double checked the casting against my template of the top of the back tank. Looks good!

 

tanktop28.jpg

 

I threw my custom t-bits into the mold, just to make things simple.

 

That wraps up 2007 for The Acrylikhan Biker Scout Project.

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This was the To-Do list for 2007 (from an earlier posting):

 

1. Bicep Armor - Molding and cast the parts

2. Forearm armor - Molding and casting parts

3. Hip Box - Modling and casting parts

4. Thermal Detonator housing - Molding and Casting parts

5. End Caps for Detonator - Molding and Casting parts

6. Knee armor - Construction, molding and casting parts

7. Shoulder Bell - RE-construction, molding and casting parts

8. Helmet - Rubies Modifications

9. Boot Holster

10. Scout Pistol

11. Chest and Back armor

 

Did quite a bit this year. Probably the most productive over the past three! :D :D

 

The To-Do List for 2008:

1. Knee armor

2. Chest armor (Back and front)

3. Tank

4. Boot Holster

5. Pistol (this one's sort of done)

6. Get TB ID :)

7. Get Pathfinder Status :D

8. Get Lancer Status B)

 

Happy Holidays to everyone! See you all next year... if not sooner! :lol:

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Here we are at the edge of a new year, and new projects!!!

 

A little recap. Some time back, I made a little cardboard mock up of the knee armor to adjust it to my knobby, giant knees.

 

knee43.jpg

 

knee44.jpg

 

knee45.jpg

 

We're going the vacuform route, as it would be cheaper. I am making the buck out of MDF. I have a ton of scrap that I'd rather use than throw out. Besides, I haven't had my yearly over dose of urea formaldehyde.

 

A SERIOUS NOTE:

 

I have a lot of people following my progress, and some are trying out some of the things I have been demonstrating. Here's a fun fact for those who are new to buck making and using MDF. MDF (or Medium Density Fiberboard) is a great, cheap building material. It basically is wood fibers held together with a resin. One of these resins could be Urea Formaldehyde or Melamine-formaldehyde. This is very toxic if inhaled or ingested. Safety is TOP PRIORITY on this part of the project. If you DO decide to use MDF to create a vacuforming buck, be sure to have excellent eye protection, and a TOP NOTCH Respirator. Even if I was using sculpting mesh and bondo (Body Filler), I'd still be broadcasting this message. You do NOT want to breathe that crap! (BONDO or MDF dust!)

 

Where was I? Oh yeah.... scrap pieces of MDF.

 

knee46.jpg

 

It took all morning to get this sucker glued together. MDF is porous. To glue two sections together is a two step operation. you have to spread a thin layer of wood glue on the surface and let it soak in. That takes roughly 30 minutes. This "seals" the surfaces giving your wood glue something to grip to, and is a stronger bond. After the initial glue soak, put a generous wavy bead on one surface and then slap 'em together! Clamp it, and wait an hour for the glue to set. If you need more info, type "Gluing MDF" in any search engine.

 

knee47.jpg

 

I just need to start removing the unnecessary bits.

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Wow!!! I wouldn't even know where to start on a project like this! Good luck with what remains.

 

Thanks so much! :) I hope you'll stop in and visit! :D

 

And here I thought you were going to cut individual pieces and then glue it together . . . silly me . . . I should know you better by now. . . .

 

So, how did you glue all those . . . ;)

 

:D MAGIC!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Awesome brother, I´m glad to see your progress. :blink::blink:

 

Thanks brother!

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