Getting it up to snuff.

[TheDapperLlama]

    Hello, after a bit of a hiatus, I have started work on my armor again. Last year I 3d printed scout armor and sourced most of the materials. After starting I found out there was a charity 5k near my home town and some of my relatives wanted to do it. I used this as motivation to keep steady progress, unfortunately it also led to me rushing some things. Mainly the paint. I am currently working on repainting and smoothing out imperfections. I am currently also working on getting the gloss coat, originally I just kept it flat white. So far I am testing a few different ways of getting the semi-gloss. So far I have painted two "test" pieces. Gloss clearcoat on the face of the helmet and a semi-gloss white on the holster. I have done far less finishing on the holster and just used it as a test since it was one of the smaller pieces I had out. I'll put a reply with some pictures of my tests.

Other than paint opinions I have a few questions:

• Where could I purchase boots? What kind of price should I expect?
  • I attempted boots myself I tried over a week on them and just couldn't get them right.
• What tubing should I use for the detonator?
• Can flight patches/flight suit straps be hand-sewn?
  • I don't have a sewing machine and would prefer to finish the suit off at home.

I'll post more pics as I go, other than a few pieces in my garage that I'm working on painting the rest of them are in "deep storage"

 

Off the top of my head here is my "audit"

• Helmet
  • Printed sanded and primed. Needs partially repainted and  "glossed"
  • Visor is cut out but removed for painting. Greebly is attached and taped over.
    • Need to repaint outer black "outline"
  • Need to apply decals.
• Balaclava
  • Aquired
• Flight suit
  • Fitted
  • Need to attach straps and patches.
    • Could these be hand sewn?
• Shoulder armor
  • Smoothed sanded primed and painted, needs glossed.
• Upper Arm Armor
  • Greebly Attached
  • Smoothed sanded primed and painted, needs glossed.
• Forearm armor
  • Smoothed sanded primed and painted, needs glossed.
• Gloves
  • Acquired (Wampa Wear)
• Vest
  • I think it is complete, will need to dig out and post pics
• Chest Armor
  • Smoothed sanded primed and painted, needs glossed.
  • Has a couple imperfections that need sanded out.
• Back Armor/Tank
  • Similair stage as chest armor.
  • Greebly Is ready for attachment.
  • Need to rivet and attach tank.
  • Need to add stripes to tank.
• Cummerbund
  • Finished, need to post pics to see if it is up to standards.
• Codpiece
  • Mostly finished to need attach properly
• Pouches
  • Finished, need to post pics to see if they are up to standards.
• Belt
  • Main hard body needs reprinted and redone
  • Drop boxes need glossed
  • Need to attach everything together
• Thermal Detonator
  • Parts need glossed, needs assembled.
  • Need to find hose
• Knee Armor
  • Needs glossed.
• Boots (The problem child)
  • Firt attempt is an abomination, will buy.
• Holster
  • Needs refinishing and riveting.

[TheDapperLlama]

 

Here are my first couple gloss tests. Any advice or opinions are greatly appreciated.

For the face I did a gloss clearcoat over matte white primer. This is immediately after two coats. I also have been messing with layering black primer under white and sanding through to do weather on sharp edges. As for paint, there is some rather obvious orange peel. I am not sure if this is too glossy.

 

Here is the semi-gloss white.

This is one coat of white semi-gloss. This is far more of test piece than the mask as I have not fully smoothed it and didn't spend nearly enough time cleaning it before hand. Other than the imperfections I haven't smoothed out and a couple spots where there was dust and the pain't didn't stick I am far happier with the "smoothness" of the paint and the minimal orange peel.

[Chopper]

You are looking to get 501st approval, correct?

Personally I recommend you go with the semI-gloss white. Clearcoat is fine but it also tends to add a yellow tint over time. 

And fyi, using a black underlayer and then scraping the edges is not the style of weathering used in ROTJ. The armor was white abs, so there was no black underlayer. Any weathering used light spray paint misting.

For boots, you can look at Crowprops, Chefs Creations, and Chrisx909x on these forums. Prices may vary, but expect $150+.

https://forum.501stpathfinders.com/topic/19003-biker-scout-vendor-list/

https://forum.501stpathfinders.com/topic/23318-rotj-biker-scout-soft-goods-ongoing/

 

For the tubing, look for pool or vacuum tubing in the outer diameter that fits your detonator box. They can vary depending on the maker. 

Yes you can hand sew the suede as long as it's neatly done. Pro-tip -- get a metal thimble for your thumb, or it's going to be quite sore.