Sith'ari's Elite Novatrooper APPROVED 12/28/10

[bscheff[501st]]

As the title indicates I will be building an Elite Nova Trooper. With Izzi's recommendation I jumped on the black AM run and my armor came in this past weekend. After an hour in Home Depot this evening, I am about ready to begin my adventure. Since this is my first suit, I had to make a sizable investment in supplies and equipment: Dremmel, gold paint, clear enamel, primer, sand paper, wet sandpaper, files, clamps, box cutters, painter's tape, a partridge and a pear tree.

 

But for me, it's as much about the journey as it is about the destination. I am looking forward to the actual construction of the armor and I want to do it right. I will try and get some pictures of the armor tomorrow night and kick off this build thread right.

 

Sith'ari

[izzi[TX]]

Nice! Can't wait to see what you choose to do with it!

 

-iz

[Darth Agnon[501st]]

Let us know if you have any questions.

[crazas[TX]]

Please post as many pics as you can of your WIP

[bscheff[501st]]

So last night after my daughter went to bed I had some time to tinker around out in the garage. I got the whole suit unpacked and laid out. My first impressions of the armor would be: the coloring is great. A nice rich black that once I get some future shine on it, should really come alive.

 

The size is great. I am 6'4" and I weigh 275lbs. I was afraid that the armor would be too small. Not the case. The bucket is huge, the calves/shins will be snug but not tight. The thighs are huge and may require some trimming. The forearms, lol popeye could wear them. I will definitely be trimming the width of those. The chest, back, abs, kidney and butt plates all fit but they will just meet at the sides (under the arms.) I figure another 20 lbs or so lost and they would close comfortably. But as with many troopers, even some thinner ones I have seen, there is a gap on the sides for me.

 

As far as quality of the gear, I am satisfied but there were a few dimples or pok marks that I assume were air bubbles or imperfections in the molds. One of the shin pieces looked like a dog bit it with his canines, but fortunately it will be glued and not visible. All and all I am satisfied and would buy more from this armorsmith.

My "Shop"

 

First trip to Home Depot

 

My first steps into a larger world...

 

I feel the beer gives it scale

 

 

 

[bscheff[501st]]

So I have been chatting with Izzi and he has tasked me with "being a credit to the armor. Take what the guy before you did and improve it." lol the guy before, being Izzi. Nah, he didn't set the bar high or anything. Anyone who has seen his gear knows he is an extremely talented armorer, so I would be thrilled just to match him.

 

But as he suggested, I am not just going to replicate his setup. I plan to tweek the striping. Perhaps make them a hair thinner and change the angles a bit. Keeping with the Crl of course, but doing my best to look like the TCG image he has posted in the reference materials. A bird told me that Izzi may be reworking his Nova in the not to distant future, so there are big things on the horizon for Elite Novatroopers.

 

More to come...

[Darth Agnon[501st]]

I've built one of the new AM kits in white for another trooper. Wish we had taken pics to help you out, but we kinda knocked it out over a couple days (oh and my camera was broke and I hadn't got a new one yet). Only thing I don't like about this versus the old FX molds is all the trimming and the lips on all the edges. Makes the work more of a pain. My build thread is on another site that takes the images down to links after a certain time period. I've pm'ed the admin to bring them back up so I can give you guys a link to it. Darth Emphatics is also there. I think it would be helpful seeing some of the mistakes we made, and some of our victories. Once the pics are back up, I'll get it posted somewhere.

[bscheff[501st]]

Tonight I managed to get the forearms and bicepts taped. This weekend I will sand and paint them. Where you see blue they will be polished black, and the black will be a metalic gold.

 

 

 

[Darth Agnon[501st]]

Just so you don't scratch up your gold paint, I'd assemble the pieces first then paint.

[izzi[TX]]

Yeah, trim where you need to first, then paint. Then carefully assemble. That way the pieces lay flat while you paint them. Use soft towels to place the painted pieces on during assembly.

 

I wouldn't FutureShine on it. Maybe test it on the inside first and see how it looks, as I could be wrong. Though use some Novus #1 and it'll probably be awesome!

 

-iz

[bscheff[501st]]

I wouldn't FutureShine on it. Maybe test it on the inside first and see how it looks, as I could be wrong. Though use some Novus #1 and it'll probably be awesome!

 

-iz

 

Hmmm. I thought you were the one that had suggestedthe futureshine Iz. Is that just for the non painted pieces?

 

I don't need to trim any of those pieces. Well I take that back, I am gong to use the Dremmel to sand down the lip on the bottom portion of the bicept. Not shortening it, but essentially widening it. It's kinda tight on my guns.

[izzi[TX]]

Put it on the "painted parts," (The gold stripes) but not the naturally glossy plastic parts... Maybe I misread your post earlier.

 

If your kit is a non-glossy one (CAP-W is non-glossy HIPS, but still awesome!) a couple coats of FutureShine will give it a pretty complexion.

 

-iz

[bscheff[501st]]

Ok, I'm with you now. Thanks for the info.

 

What do you think of the stuff that came with the kit? I'm at work, so I can't get the bottle. But I think it is polish/scratch remover. Is it Novus by any chance?

[izzi[TX]]

I just bought the lite kit, so I didn't get the extras, however if I had known it came with a beer, I would have grabbed the full kit instantly! Actually, I would have bought a 6-pack.

 

And I so want to get started on mine! Just have to kick a Mando out, for a friend's project and I'll be good to go.

 

-iz

[Darth Agnon[501st]]

Izzi you keep this up and we'll have to get you your own display room at CVI.

[izzi[TX]]

Heh, we can get Spec Ops it's own room!

 

-iz

[bscheff[501st]]

Heh, we can get Spec Ops it's own room!

 

-iz

 

Well we have just under three years to work up to it. That would be so awesome.

 

So I got the arms sanded, primed, sanded and primed. The second priming is currently drying. I am thinking two coats of primer should be enough. I've read that ABS plastic doesn't need to be primed, but other sites recommend it, so I figured why not.

 

My "test" piece:

 

The real McCoy:

 

 

 

 

I also read that ABS breaks down in the sun. Considering I live in the Sunshine state, that's a concern. How do we protect it from that? Is that the reason for the car wax?

[lunar lord]

aweseome work so far and solve the sunshine problem u need to move away to ohio XD lol jk

[bscheff[501st]]

So the second coat of primer is dry and sanded. I was about to skip to the gold paint when I decided to paint my "test" piece. It's hard to see here, but it has that snowflake look in one spot like Izzi complained about on his helmet.

 

I wasn't sure if that was from the paint not being mixed enough, too much paint or a negative reaction to the plastic. So I took the other handguard (Test2) and painted it. Now this one has no primer and isn't sanded. It's just gold paint on black ABS. I am testing for a reaction to the plastic.

 

So I decided to put a third coat of primer on the arms and wait and see how the gold dries. Oh and the top one has no flash, but the bottom one does. That's why the color is different. With the flash on, the "snowflake" wasn't visible to the camera lens. In person the color is the same.

 

More to come...

[Chex[501st]]

Ugh, so want to do this kit as well. But it would be 3rd behind the Scout and Shadow Scout. Well, might be 2nd if I could get a deal on some armor...any one know of any, let me know. Until then I'll just drool or Iz's and watch with great interest on Bryan's.

[lunar lord]

cool updates

[bscheff[501st]]

cool updates

Thanks bro! Btw, is it me, or did your bucket go from white to pink?

 

Here are two more pictures. I got the 3rd coat of primer sanded way down and then applied the gold. I made sure to shake the crap outta that can, I think that was the problem with the test pieces. Not shaken enough, and I was a little heavy handed with the paint. So this time, I went nice and light.

 

 

[lunar lord]

Thanks bro! Btw, is it me, or did your bucket go from white to pink?

it did lol i updated the pic it went from no spot putty to smooth and putty'd

[bscheff[501st]]

So I am still plugging away. Put the second coat of gold on, on Saturday. I didn't like the way it dried so I wetsanded it and will paint it again when I can. There were bubles and rough patches. I am not sure if it was too hot on Saturday or just bad luck with the can. Either way I am waiting for a cooler evening to apply (hopefully) the final gold coat.

 

My glue just came in on Saturday so I will be trimming and bonding pieces as appropriate when time allows. I'll get some more pictures up as I make more progress.

[crazas[TX]]

Looking really cool so far!