camprandall

Armor is here! Can't wait to get started! Big build day on Friday.

Woo hoo! Armor arrives tomorrow. Can't wait! Already have a build day planned for Friday.

One more thing. Here's where I got my inner and outer hose. Inner hose: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S1PPP42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Outer sheath: http://www.showmecables.com/product/Flexo-Pet-TechFlex-Expandable-Cable-Mesh-Netting-1-Inch.aspx

HOSE CONNECTION For this, I decided to add a split piece of aquarium tubing on the inside so that I could put it on and take it off, all held by friction. It seems to work well in that it won't easily pull off, but it's not too tough either. I should add that I cut the hose bib extension on the gun down and rounded the end as well to make it slide on easier. It's not depicted in the photos.

Time for a little minor progress while waiting for the serious stuff to get in. GASKETS I already own a set of Imperial Gaskets for my TFA TK and I love them and hoped to use them for this, but that's only half possible. The problem is that this guy doesn't have knee plates and I have velcro sewn into the knees so I had to order another set of knees, which is on the way. The arms though are fine, but there's no shoulder on Flamey so last night I detached the elbows from the shoulders and added velcro so I can swap the elbow gaskets between suits. Here's how it came out. Loop velcro tab on the inside for the bicep. Hook velcro tab on the inside for the forearm to keep it in position and keep it from spinning.

Thanks!

Ok, got some hose accessories in. I think they will work nicely! I bought a hose sheathing from one place and some flexible conduit type hose for the inside. It's lightweight and very flexible so I think it will do the trick. Hose Hose with sheath Sheath: http://www.showmecables.com/product/Flexo-Pet-TechFlex-Expandable-Cable-Mesh-Netting-1-Inch.aspx Connected

Thanks! I so can't wait for the armor to arrive. Should be sometime next week.

Sweet!

Thanks Dan!

Thanks Todd! It was a fun and easy build! I also learned a few things scratch building my first megablaster about how terrible it is if a large gun can't be reduced.

And... she's done! This gun is awesome! Kevin and co. did such a great job with this kit!

Thanks Todd! Now that the base coats are done, I moved onto figuring out assembly tonight. I wanted it to be strong but also capable of being disassembled for travel. I'm pretty happy with the end result! For the top white handle, I really wanted it to be strong enough to carry the gun from there so I angled two molding nails at an angle through it and then dremeled off the head and painted over it. Note that it's white in the pic because I painted that piece before I realized it was supposed to be black. For the back end of the handle, I used a very long screw that goes through the handle, the white box, and the block box below. This ties all three parts together and also means that I can unscrew that piece to take a good bit of the gun apart for travel. It worked really well! Another thing I did to attach the sheath around the hose bib was to wrap it in craft foam. This allowed me to fill the large empty space and have it fit nice and snug. I could then twist on the sheath and it fit really well. I went over the assembled gun and touched up the white areas and tomorrow morning I'll do the same to the black. Then I'm done! This gun is awesome. I can't wait to post final pics of it.

Getting close! Had some trouble with the monsoons hitting early with all the humidity, but I found the early morning to be the safest time to paint. I think it's working out ok.

I was going to add a bit about glazing. If you haven't used it, give it a shot! It's such a great way to quickly level uneven surfaces with minor imperfections. I use a dremel to smooth out most of the mold seams, but rather than hand sanding it down to a perfect smoothness, I sand a bit and then use glaze to create a nice smooth surface. The key is to use a playing card to apply. It allows you to create thin smooth applications on flat or rounded surfaces with minimal sanding needed after it cures. Anyways, it's been a life saver for these types of props for me.

Making progress! A lot of parts sanded, glazed and primered. Some need further work.

Got the flamethrower kit yesterday. It's Kevin Merritt's. Looks great! Can't wait to get started.

My gaskets are latex so it depends on what you're using probably. For my preferences, I found that the gaskets underwent a lot of strain if they connected the thighs to the knees because they had to be wide enough in circumference to fit the armor perfectly without getting folds. Letting the armor move loosely over them is easier to walk. For the elbows for my TFA TK, I have them anchored to the shoulder gasket so I can pull the whole arm on like a sleeve. Since these don't have shoulder gaskets, I'm probably going to try the same approach but obviously have to anchor them differently at the top. Maybe velcro to the undersuit or maybe snaps to the shoulder bells. The latter does sound intriguing because that will also help keep them down since they can flop around if they are only anchored to the yoke.

Are you asking about the gaskets or the biceps? For the knee gaskets, I used velcro to the suit because the mobility was better as the armor can move up and down freely as you walk, but still looks accurate since the thigh armor was barely bigger than the gasket. For the biceps, you could potentially attach them to the shoulder bells I suppose using snaps or velcro.

I may just sew a small tab of velcro to the undersuit. It's how I keep my knee gaskets up and it doesn't take much. It also depend on how it fits a bit too.

It was the first thing I looked at because after a year of wearing gaskets, I was thoroughly pleased this guy doesn't have the shoulders, which is the hottest and most uncomfortable part.

Thanks Todd! Yeah, the pack is an interesting one. We probably won't know precisely how they did it in the film, but either way we'll need to make it troopable. It doesn't seem to connect anywhere in the top half, which makes it tricky to do without metal and bolts/nuts like it appears they did.

Hey friends! Now that I have most of the stuff on the way and am starting the gun build on Monday I figured I may as well start my build thread. Here's my purchased or plan to be purchased item list. Armor - KB PROPS (on the way) Helmet - Animefan (on the way) Flamethrower - Kevin Merritt (arrives Monday!) Pouch and belt - Pete Bella (on the way) Backpack - MLC Fiberglassing Can't wait to get started!

Thanks for getting this started! One note regarding this... I believe he only has elbow gaskets and not shoulder gaskets. Several pics seem to confirm this.

Ok nevermind. Found it! Thanks for the heads up!