Camprandall's Flametrooper Build

[camprandall[501st]]

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

 

 

 

 

 

[Allan1313[MBO-CMD]]

Looking good!!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Ok, so things are moving. As I said I re-purposed my elbow gaskets from my FOTK so they can swap between costumes, but I needed new knee gaskets that didn't have velcro sewn on for the knee plates. I prefer the Imperial Gaskets latex version because it looks more accurate than most cloth options and it's pretty comfortable. Here's how I assemble them.

 

STEP 1: Cut gaskets down to fit around legs. I usually cut it to be a tad snug, but not too much. It keeps them from folding too much while staying comfortable.

 

 

 

STEP 2: Use the cut off as a backing glue strip, gluing to one edge at a time. This gives really good contact and keeps the seam nice and tight. Just using a flat piece of latex doesn't do that as well because there are far less contact points. I use Elmer's rubber cement for this and it works great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEP 3: Create velcro tabs to attach to undersuit. I do this because it just hasn't worked out well to attach the gaskets to the armor. It pulls in weird ways and requires a bigger circumference in the gasket to stay properly anchored to the armor. This way the armor moves freely over the gasket and mobility is much better. For the tabs, I used to sew the velcro but then I found that the industrial sticky velcro sticks super well to the latex so no sewing required. I just use scrap latex as the tab and rubber cement it to the inside of the gasket.

 

 

 

STEP 4: Plasti-dip the gasket and we're done! I initially started plasti-dipping these gaskets as a result of wear over time but found that I love the uniform darker sheen it gives the whole thing so now I periodically spray all my gaskets. I've been pretty happy with it!

 

[camprandall[501st]]

After three different tries, I think I finally nailed how I want to do the ankles for the flametrooper. I'm using craft foam as I originally planned, but I'm also using thick coat hanger wire to tighten up the curve of the ankle pieces and now it sits really nice on the boot! All that's left is to plasti-spray the foam to make it darker and tougher.

 

 

 

 

 

[toddo[TX]]

I'm thinking the shins will prevent this setup from riding-up on the boots. Do you see that as a potential problem?

[camprandall[501st]]

I think most likely the shin will grip the foam and the weight of the shin will actually help keep it in place. If not, I was thinking I could put some small rare earth magnets or something in there to lock it to the boot ankle.

[camprandall[501st]]

Well, after spending about 28 hours of my time the past three days and another dozen or so from my build crew, I'm in pretty good shape. I've got about half the parts primered with the only major thing left being the shins and thighs. Then there's still some strapping to figure out and some things I can't really do until I get the backpack.

 

Here are the pics!

 

DSG FUN

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

BACK/CHEST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Seam hiding on the sides of the belt and ab armor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

FOREARMS

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

BICEPS

 

This one was interesting. I decided to put 2" black elastic to join the bicep halves, with a little abs riser shim to give it some depth. Despite seeing it in some of the costume display pics, I really don't want people seeing half a gasket up in the arm so this makes it look like cloth and blends in with the undersuit pretty well. It's also flexible.

 

 

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

And here's a pile of what's mostly finished and primed. Still a lot of little things to do in addition to building most of the legs, but nice to see things looking closer to being wearable.

 

[DeadMan]

Very cool. You pros are so fast at building these things

[toddo[TX]]

Looking terrific Clint. I also put elastic in the bicep gaps as that's what it looks like is used on the LFL suits. As for your chest/back, are you planning on keeping that one large piece?

[camprandall[501st]]

Very cool. You pros are so fast at building these things

 

I'm not much of a pro, but I do find building suits is getting easier as I get used to trying things out. This is suit number 5 so not a huge amount, but a little bit of growing experience.

 

Looking terrific Clint. I also put elastic in the bicep gaps as that's what it looks like is used on the LFL suits. As for your chest/back, are you planning on keeping that one large piece?

 

I am. I didn't expect it, but my head fits through just fine (unlike the FO TK) so that's how I went with it for simplicity of getting ready. That could potentially change when I figure out the backpack, but I suspect I can keep it this way.

[camprandall[501st]]

Got the thighs and shins figured out today. It was tougher than expected to figure out exactly where to cut the shins since KB gives you lots of extra. I also found that I wanted more of a taper to the thighs so I split the back and angled it and then hid it with bondo glaze.

 

 

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Everything fully primered! Getting exciting now...

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Almost forgot. I decided to cut the right knee tip off and put thin flat-black painted abs behind it so that it looks a little sharper. I also cut out all the notches in the armor to put black cloth behind them.

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Ugh.

 

So I started painting this morning and probably had the worst crackling I've ever seen. After a lot of anguish and pondering, my guess is that while I did wait a couple days after priming before applying, I also wet-sanded last night and I wonder if I exposed some slightly less cured primer underneath, thus causing the crackle. I had no issues at all with crackling with my FOTK but I believe we wet-sanded a solid full day or two before I actually painted.

 

So the plan now is to try another piece tomorrow to see if the same thing happens and sanding down my 5 bad pieces and re-priming those on Friday. Fun times!

 

[toddo[TX]]

Ouch. You just gave me nightmares for this evening.

[Jeditid[501st]]

Loving this build thread and it's going to one I am following for sure as my armour arrives next week and 90% done on the Flamethrower and Tanks now.

 

Did notice one thing - the thighs are glued and did think that maybe they we're velcro'd on the suits on the inner seam. This may allow some adjustment for troopers - but I'll have a look myself when the armour arrives.

 

Good point on the flamethrower though - where you added the nails to hold the handle I'd not noticed that was black either ! brilliant some else missed stuff like me

 

love it though and keep up the good work - for info I managed to get a quick release for the other end of the hose where it joins the tanks as this is what the actual piece is on the suit. cheap as chips and looks the nuts

[camprandall[501st]]

Yeah, I glued the thighs but on screen they are likely velcro. We did the same thing with our FO TKs because it just fits better and looks better. The shins remain velcro because otherwise you can't get them on.

 

Yeah, I've also had trouble getting the right quick connect so I may just use something like what you're using.

[TK 4813[TX]]

Will be watching this thread with great interest Clint! Cant wait to see the finished rig.

[camprandall[501st]]

Will be watching this thread with great interest Clint! Cant wait to see the finished rig.

 

Thanks Geoff! And congrats on the new baby!! We're headed to Wisconsin the first week and a half of September so we should hook up again!

 

So painting is going SO SO much better tonight! Thank God. I think the primer just needed a couple more days of curing. The warmth of the evening might be helping too.

 

[camprandall[501st]]

This round of painting complete. Much better results! Wednesday I painted 6 parts and they all crackled terribly. Last night and this morning I painted everything (28 parts in total) and only 5 need minor correction. Clearly the cure time is the issue so I'm going to wait 4 full days before fixing those trouble areas. Either way, I now have a majority of the kit curing and can move on to other details.

 

 

 

I also did the mesh backing on the chest, the thigh and two forearms where there are black areas. I used speaker cloth and attached it with black gaffers tape.