The armor building adventures of an inexperienced newbie

[daryldoak]

I had the same issue when testing the mic/aker/icomm.  The setup seems to work better when your helmet is on.

That being said, with fans going in my helmet I can't really hear much of anything.  I feel like no one can hear me, but people tell me it sounds fine.

[Pixelito]

I'm getting everything slowly pieced together this weekend. I've had loads of issues, most of which I have fixed.... So here's the current state of everything. Pardon the bathroom mirror picture. It's the best I can do on my own. 



I'm rather pissed about the massive gaps between my shoulders/back/chest and between the forearms and biceps. Alas, there really isn't much I can do about it, really. Being as large as I am, everything is a balancing act.
I threw the pauldron on real quick... Well, as much I can get it by myself. The other side will have an ammo pouch covering most of the gap, but there won't be much covered on the back.

The elbow gaps...well...I can't do much about them. I have long arms so shortening the gap there just creates larger gaps elsewhere. I need to do something about those straps holding the bicep to the forearm. I have no idea how to keep them from popping out like that.

Up next is thighs and shins.

[Pixelito]

I've run in to yet another issue. I can't seem to do anything to get the thighs sized correctly. My armor overlaps them when they're in a good spot...  any lower and they partially cover my knees.  The gaps in the back aren't anywhere near the same size as well...  I'm also finding that nothing on the torso is really sized properly either. I don't know what is going on, but the butt plate keeps bending weird and not lining up with the kidney plate as it should.

All that on top of the massive armor gaps that I encountered yesterday.... I don't know...  It's making me wonder why I ever thought this would work. If I can't get everything to fit properly, then this whole thing has been a giant waste of money and time. As of right now, I don't know if there is anything I can even do.

I have to figure something out...

Anyway, feel free to ignore all that. I needed to vent my frustrations somewhere where people might understand the issue and why I'm stressed. This is, after all, just where I'm logging my 'adventures'

[Lidocaine]

I picked up the DLT-19 from Hyperfirm recently and it's so nice, congrats! It's actually lighter than my resin EE-3 for Fett, which is half as big..

I'm not a GML, but I think you can get away with some black showing between your chest and shoulders, and the elbows as well. Sure, it's not perfect, but for your height there's only so much you can do! You've done some great modifications to your chest and it turned out really nice!

I'll be in your area mid-June so if you're still plugging away I'd be glad to swing by and scratch my chin on what to do with you too. I didn't mod my RS too much, but I've helped with a few, so hopefully I can be of a little bit of help.

Plus, it's no fun if it was easy, right? 

[Pixelito]

Thanks for the offer Luke! Hopefully I won't have to take you up on it! 
I hope to be done fairly soon, just these last few frustrating hurdles to leap over.

I had an epiphany while sitting here staring angrily at the ceiling. We'll see if it works!

And I suppose you're right. The challenge, while infuriating, is half the fun. It'll hopefully be more satisfying once it's done, given the large amount of modification I made myself.

[RainTrooper]

The gaps at your shoulders and chest aren't that bad. The gaps are pretty common actually. You could shorten the strap that connects the shoulder bells to the elastic under the shoulder bridges by and inch or so. Make the top of the shoulder bell come right up to the shoulder bridge.  That's what I did and it did reduce the gap quite a bit.
As far as the gaps at the elbows.. No need to stress there at all. They look just like they're supposed to. Trust me, you want some room there to bend your arms, or else that is the spot where the dreaded "armor bite" gets you the worst! Check out the elbow gaps on the sandtrooper CRL! 

 

[Pixelito]

The gaps at your shoulders and chest aren't that bad. The gaps are pretty common actually. You could shorten the strap that connects the shoulder bells to the elastic under the shoulder bridges by and inch or so. Make the top of the shoulder bell come right up to the shoulder bridge.  That's what I did and it did reduce the gap quite a bit.

I'll see if I can snug the shoulders up like that without them being at too weird of an angle. Thanks!



In irrelevant news:
I think I have the thighs figured out. I removed the top return edge which gave me much more room. I also brought the ab plate up a little bit more which removed the overlap issue I was having.

While making that change, I learned about the possible mistake of using Apoxie Sculpt for all my fixes... It has very little tolerance for bending. I bent the ab plate a little bit while fitting it and the Apoxie Sculpt cracked slightly at the edge. Nothing a little glue can't fix, but I don't know what this will be like long-term. Ideally, these areas won't be flexing at all when I'm done... So maybe it won't be an issue? Guess we'll see!

[Pixelito]

Sorry for the rapid-fire updates. I'm nearing the end of this build...kinda'... and I'm excited to be making progress on it.

Here is my current dilemma!


Aside from the super messy gluing, we'll just ignore that....

The shims are WAY different! I have no idea why. I measured my thighs and they're effectively the same circumference, so I have no clue why I could only get the armor pieces to fit with wildly different shims in the back.

So.... What do I do to cover this? If I make a larger cover strip, it's going to be massive... it also won't cover the gap at the bottom detail if I make it the right length. The other option, I guess, is to use even more Apoxie Sculpt, fill in the gaps and use a normal sized cover strip over that... But holy crap am I tired of using that stuff and sanding it down!

Any ideas?

[sitpadeshu]

Take another pieces of abs, preferably from your scrap and glue it onto the space between and then apply ABS paste to the seams to clean it up.  After you have sanded and polished. You can apply the cover strip in the center of the newly made shim.

[Pixelito]

Alrighty!
I closed up the thighs with some Apoxie Sculpt last night and sanded it all down today.
I found out that my father has an electric sander.... man, that would have been useful weeks ago! I borrowed it from him and re-sanded ALL my shims. They look so much better now! I'm waiting for paint to dry before taking some pictures.

I also went out and bought the last parts that I need for my backpack.

Here's what I have left to do:
-bra hook system for my shins
-thigh support belt
-add button plates, sniper knee plate and thigh ammo belt
-backpack
-light wear and tear for EIB approval

That's it, I think! If all goes well, I should be submitting my application next weekend! 

[Pixelito]

I started adding slight weathering to everything last night. I guess it isn't quite 'weathering' but I don't know what else to call it. Wear and tear? Battle scarring? De-shine-ification? TK blasphemy?

Here it is on the helmet


And here's the chest

Pictures complete with backpack parts in the background.

I think it's sufficiently less shiny! It looks scuffed up, like it's actually seen combat. I had been planning on adding some actual battle scars and blaster dents but after consulting a higher power (*cough* Jason), I didn't since the CRL specifically states "lightly scuffed,(battle worn), but not weathered like a Sandtrooper". I think my level of scuff'n'smudge is about on-par with other HWT that I've seen.

After nearly 2 months, I'm ALMOST done! I just need to get this backpack finished.

[Pixelito]

Alright! Here it is, for the most part! 



My actual submission photos were taken with a much better camera, with a solid background and better lighting... I'm just waiting on my friend to resize those so they don't take up 3 gigs each.

This was the first time I put everything on...boy is it a process! I actually need a second person to help me. I'm assuming this is pretty normal?

Also, I can't move. Like... at all, really. I need to adjust the sniper plate, as it pinched my knee every time I took a step. I also need to figure out how to improve mobility in my arms. I couldn't even put my helmet on or take it off myself. That's a serious problem. Does anybody have some tips to improve mobility? Especially in the arms...

At any rate, I think it's pretty photo-ready! I just need to make hidden changes so that I can actually troop in it! 

Application photos...and actual application will be coming very soon!!!

[Lidocaine]

After getting in and out of the suit it does get a little easier! Things like backpacks are usually a two person job, I know for Boba there's no easy way I'm getting mine on without a helper.

Good choice on the bin in the background, those things are great to roll around gear.

Lots of hard work put into your build and I think it's looking great!

[Pixelito]

Thank you Luke! 

[Pixelito]

Here we go! After 2 months, MANY hours of work, literal sweat, tears and much more blood than I care to admit.... I think I'm ready!
 Here are a few of my submission pictures. I'm not going to comment on them, as I know that I'm going to be overly critical of myself.
Do keep in mind that I'm 6'4" 250lbs. I'm borderline "boulder trooper" as my friend likes to call them.






In hindsight, I probably should have taken the helmet-off picture first so I wasn't all gross and tired. OH WELL! 
I didn't ever really post backpack progress here, as I busted it out in a few days total. I hope you guys like it! I forgot to extend my antenna for the pictures, but it's there. You can see a bit of it in the top left.
I also apparently need to make some bicep hooks. I just now noticed that my biceps slid down while taking the pictures. Dang!

PM has been sent to Jason. Now I have to try to not die from anxiety.