Off to a ..start??

[Craigorski[TX]]

oh and an inside the thigh shot showing a small part of the carnage from cutting apart my error. This shot is regluing the botched part to the new strip.

i'll put a new internal strip over all that to help hold it together better

 

 

 

thats the biggest hole, most of it was just rough and needed a good sanding before the new strip went on (the correct way around this time!)

[toddo[TX]]

you can have a 1/2 gap on the sides. That's fine. Remember that the original stormtroopers were about 5'8" 150 lbs or so. Likewise, I think your coverstrips look fine on your body. As for the holes, if it doesn't show from the outside, who cares? Keep it up.

 

Are your boots higher than normal TKBoots? If so, that could prevent them from popping-out which would be cool.

[Craigorski[TX]]

Na.. they are tk boots.. those are just white socks. on the exposed one you can see my trial splotches of red paints and dye.

 

The thigh holes were just showing how i hacked the thighs apart rather brutally. luckily damage is hidden by the new 'right way up' coverstrips.

 

Question: Do i need the rear thigh strips to be flat at the top? or can i cut off a corner or two (in a rough line with the armour curves) as they were diggin into me at this trial stage

also, as you might notice in the link photo, the rear thighs dont join. I'm thinking of doing that curved cut thing to hide the gap. Should be ok but im just checking.

 

You can just see the small gap i filled in the front of the thighs below the coverstrip (3foot rule... cant see it at 3 ft then its fine!) so a filled space in the back would be possible too.

dunno what to do. (the front filler strip shows on the right thigh in the photo, but it is there on both legs.... i screwed up joining them together... doh!)

 

5 8 at 150?.. sheesh

im 5 11 1/2 (always put the 1/2.... almost 6 ft but not kinda sux... anyway....) and.. erm.. 96kg which is... 210-212 range i think (i have been up to 225-230 range as a lard ass!)

i was 5 11 (+1/2) and 140 when i was 17 and almost blew away in a stiff breeze, so i started going to the gym. Funny how that nowcomes back to bite me!

Thanks for the support. Rock on i will. two events at the end of may, so hopefully i can be done by then.

 

not that much to do really... if you squint.. from about 50 feet away.. in a sandstorm....while facing the other way...

[toddo[TX]]

I'ts not unusual to have difficulty with the backs of the lower legs closing. Use as wide a coverstrip as you need. Like I said, it doesn't matter what it looks like from within, but rather what it looks like from the outside. It is truly all about how well you make the armor fit YOUR body. Do a nice job with that, and you can be 300lbs and 5' tall and get approved. as for trimming the tops of the coverstrips, go for it. You have to be able to move, and this is perfectly acceptable.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

That UA logo will likely need to be covered as it is looking like the chest armor will not full cover it.

[Craigorski[TX]]

Will do. it was just being worn for the family friendly pics...nobody needs to see my manboobs

 

i tried some boot paint, but it appears a bit light. 1 month till trooping time.. i best hurry up and get some gloves and a neckseal...

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Which paint were you using? Auto vinyl paint works fairly well depending on the brand.

[Craigorski[TX]]

waproo leather paint.Made for recolouring shoes but i could only get basic red (its all they had). I used that as it looked best in the tests and is a spraycan. i do have some brush on stuff that looked too dark to start with.

Dammit.. i should have used the darker stuff as a basecoat... doh!.. and here i am , a guy who used too work in a paint making factory....

 

Time to break out the sewing machine and do some straps i think. for a change of pace...

[izzi[TX]]

Your work looks great so far! I'm excited to see the new Magmas hitting the Legion!

[Craigorski[TX]]

Fuzzy photos make for great images

speaking of which.. painting boots...

First i used the dye i had to colourise the elastic and the threads on the boots. it really soaked in well, but wouldnt help dye the leather without major work (and i'm a lazy bum!). after letting it soak and dry a bit i wiped off the excess with a wet cloth. which is why the second bot looks 'cleaner'

 

Then the soles were masked off and the boots spraypainted.The colour was wayyyy too light (white base?.. what was i thinking).

 

 

Slapped the calves on top for a looksee! link is closer shot showing the colour difference... hey it aint so bad in a photo.. but the armour is darker..i painted over the original spray with the slightly darker handpaint, it is still too light

http://i62.photobuck...zpsff7f1ab6.jpg

 

 

removed masking tape. nothing a little touch up with a paint brush wont fix. That'll do for now.

URL=http://s62.photobucket.com/user/craigorski/media/P1000383_zps61047d32.jpg.html][/url]

 

I got a webbing builders belt and sewed up some suspenders for the thighs. i'll just go with long slabs of velcro on the inside of the thighs i think, it works well for my arctrooper.

 

pladtrooper shirt made things less of a fit, but hey there we go.

 

these also helped me decide that the plastic shoulder straps will have to be given only a notch or two ,at attachment, so the chest will sit low enough to cover the ab plate.As you might see in the side shot.. its a close thing! Ill probably have to go with some elastic between chest and ab to keep it in place.

Oh and i added elastic to the handplates. another small bit finished.

First time try with thigh and left knee plate. The plate dosent have that ' sticky outy angle' thing needed to not hook inder the thigh but i seem to have a big gap to work with , so it may not be a problem.

This is still a trial mode anyway....

 

there is progress... slow and in the background, but it is there. I'm planning the suspenders for the body. got some elastic,webbing, hooky things.. and the sewing machine is daring me to try

[toddo[TX]]

the shirt is awesome in that it makes you look like Spiderman. Nice job on the boots.

[Master Tej]

Nice boots, I'm really enjoying the steady progress on this project!

 

- Master Tej -

[JeepGrrl[501st]]

I'll echo nice boots!! Your magma's going to be really awesome!!

 

It looks like you have a good gap between the thigh and shin to prevent the knee plate going under, as long as your thighs don't move down as you troop it. Don't know how you're attaching your thighs but mine are snapped/velcroed to a back brace which likes to migrate down just enough while I'm trooping to get my knee stuck. I just got a different brace and I'm going to whip up some non-elastic suspenders to attach to it which will hopefully fix that prob.

[Craigorski[TX]]

Panic panic panic! ! week till my troop and i'm not done.. i made suspenders for the ab/kidney/buttplate and sewd and glued and i ended up making the straps about 3 inches shorter than the plan.. gahhh! good thing i made it fancy and adjustable length

Suspension points and side velcro (for side closing elastic plan later...)

 

Suspenders with home made cross point thingy (copied from work rain gear straping). Elastic at the ends with softer but tougher cotton webbing on shoulder bits in middle. Lenght adjusters on both straps and a quick release clasp for the right front

 

closeup of suspender attachment points. these are actually buttons sold as suspender things for kids clothes. they slip through the round hole and clip down to the bottom bit (it expands slightly then 'grabs' the claspand hold really well.

 

 

Getting there.. lying out to look at how close i am...i should be working not on here.. but i need a break!

 

more soon..

[Master Tej]

Good luck! You'll finish in time, don't worry.

 

- Master Tej -

[Craigorski[TX]]

WTF??? Sorry but i put down my sanded.. 'ready to stick on the next day' 4 button ab detail (the small one) somewhere in my house.. i suspect the cat took it as i cant find it... arrrgh

oh well.. move on without it..

trim ears.. follow pandatroopers thread.... cut too much of inside curves on pretrim.... grrrrr..

ok this is getting silly.

 

eyefoam. i see i need bigger teeth in the helmet.. but itll do for now..

 

shaky phonecamera ab detail.. 1 on 1 gone ...(here kitty kitty kitty.. where did you hide it? under the fridge perhaps??).. paint later.. again...

 

the helmet given a paint with whatever i had in the box. hand done with gamesworkshop stuff that wont stick, so it can come off and be redone properly later.. again time is making me cheat more

 

detonator pipe is slightly bigger than ata endcaps, so a drumsander slimmed it down. caps fit on tight. blue tape shows where to stop sanding.

 

rough fit of det setup. hangers are too big (made for larger pipe i guess) i'll need to trim the ends off them to get a better fit..

i know the det detail dosent sit on the top.. that is why i will have too cut down the hangers a bit.. about 1cm i'm thinking.

3:45 wednesday and im trooping this saturday... and friday will be a write off due to .. birthday things i dont think ill make it jim.. go on without me...

 

I found some old speaker grill mesh i'll put behind the teeth on the helmet.

still trying to get shoulder detail straps done.. they are glued on the chest but ,as with everything else, they need reshaping a little bit (flattening out a wee bit) and the webbing for the actual support/hold together needs a second set of hands to help me (i only had help for 1 day so far and it was a huge help adding elastic to the sides of the ab/kidney plates and putting the initial shoulder placement on)

left arm is tight (yep even when i made it as big as i could... yet the right is comfortable...) ill suffer in silence.

 

Stressed? yep.. headaches due to self imposed stress wont go away.. roll on saturday so im either done or not and cant do any more..

[Craigorski[TX]]

I'm sorry.. I failed in my mission. suit is not 100% and I have to troop in10 hours... everything I touched today was miserable.. even the steering assembly on my car went bad . I will take my suit and maybe make do with dodgy ears and some double sided tape here and there... so close. but I was just too lazy in the last couple of days (meh I turned 41 today so I was busy...). my apologies to all for not living up to the standard I believe we should have. I will get the suit finished.. just not today. pics to destroy your internets will follow in a couple days.

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Well...I hope you have a good birthday Craig! It'll get better, hang in there!

[Master Tej]

Happy Birthday! Don't feel disappointed, man, it happens!

 

- Master Tej -

[toddo[TX]]

Craig, I did nearly 20 costumes in a year, so I worked fast on all of them. I screwed-up constantly, but I also learned how to fix my mistakes. Knowing how much I turded some of my costumes makes me all that much more proud of the finished products. Hang in there. Take a breath and come back to it. You're actually doing quite well IMHO.

[Craigorski[TX]]

Thanks for the positive support and comments. Although unfinished, I took the costume with me.. boy am I glad I did! with no neckseal, screws almost jabing me in the face and shoulders held together with safety pins, the "WOW a red stormtrooper!!" happens so much I didn't even notice I had no fan installed ! https://www.facebook.com/Outpost42 hope that comes through outpost42 on facebook if you have it. Hey why isint my enter button working here anymore?.. oh well one big block of text it is.... I haven't got any pics of my own, i'll have to wait for our photographer to post some. But reel collectables (FB again) put up a nice pic of me and SWNZ (starwars new Zealand)has a couple of our crew I think .. or just look for me .. craig peter Haskell on FB and it should show up there somewhere I got filmed for some tv stuff too, when asked why I was red I looked at the interviewer and said " I forgot my sunscreen.." then pointed direct into the camera and said " remember your sunscreen" or something like that. they liked it.. hope they use it . Good fun had.. and we raised a few $ for child cancer too.. those big blue buckets worked a treat. ok im off to bad after a successful weekend. peace out.....

[toddo[TX]]

you're almost there Craig. I'm sure that experience was encouraging. Now finish this guy and get him approved!

[Master Tej]

That sounds awesome! I'm glad you had a good experience!

 

- Master Tej -

[Craigorski[TX]]

a couple more maybe https://www.facebook...elevant_count=1 oops that's me as a jedi scum "use the horse!!"..lol!! maybe this one.. https://www.facebook...elevant_count=1

[Orsan[501st]]

Beautiful!!! Thanks for sharimg this, I am taking notes to aplly then on my sister's magma. Ps: "I might have fallen in love with the Silon I saw on the background..."

 

Do you have any advise I can use if the person wearing the armor is kimd of short and the chest plate falls completely over the abs plate? I thought about cutting it a little but I don't it will ne enough.

 

Thanks!