Camprandall's Flametrooper Build

[camprandall[501st]]

Holy moly Clint! That's a nasty one. I've injured myself endlessly working on my droids, but that one is sick. Sorry about that. Anyway, I think I envision the plastic inside your bell. It sounds like a shoulder rest that the bell sits on perhaps. Good call on the straps going through the return edge. This shot might help:

 

It looks like his left shoulder isn't connected properly and is resting lower. I haven't seen these white straps connecting the bells before either.

 

Thanks, I've been looking for this shot. The FO TK had an aluminum bar that the shoulders rested on. This one clearly does the same.

[toddo[TX]]

Is the area I've circled in red the aluminum bar? If so, is that all the further it extends on the FOTK?

[toddo[TX]]

Also, I've been meaning to ask how you are wearing the wings on the chest. Are they attached to the chest? Do you have a pic you can share?

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Ouch, nasty cut there Clint. Hope you heal up soon. The costume is really coming together nicely and look forward to seeing it all completed on you.

[camprandall[501st]]

Yeah, that's it. I'm not sure what the length should exactly, but I mirrored the approach with abs.

 

 

 

[camprandall[501st]]

Also, I've been meaning to ask how you are wearing the wings on the chest. Are they attached to the chest? Do you have a pic you can share?

 

I just velcro'd the wings for now, but I suspect I'll glue them. I'm not 100% of the placement and shape of them as of yet.

 

Ouch, nasty cut there Clint. Hope you heal up soon. The costume is really coming together nicely and look forward to seeing it all completed on you.

 

Thanks! It's annoying to get stalled on building this late in the game, but probably a week from today I'll be good to go.

[camprandall[501st]]

Taping the face. There will be a lot of cleanup detail painting to do after taking this off, but it's a much better starting point that free-handing the whole thing. Great idea! (whosever it was).

 

 

[Griffin-X[501st]]

I'm sure it will turn out great. That is always the scariest part for me.

[Jeditid[501st]]

Loving the recent posts about the shoulder bells, I've just started trimming the whole kit as my backpack and flamethrower are done. So Clint, you are definitely my tutorial

 

Luckily although only 5'10" I'm quite broad and think this may be the first trooper that may benefit from this - I need the extra strength to carry the tanks and the thrower as it's bloody heavy. As Jsin will also testify too ! lol

 

I just wanna be at home now - trimming !!

[DeadMan]

Good job on the helmet. I'm dreading painting the strips too. Bought pin striping to try out in the grooves first, and if I don't like, I will be masking as well

[camprandall[501st]]

I'm sure it will turn out great. That is always the scariest part for me.

 

No kidding. I'm going to have to go over all the stripes with a fine brush afterwards, but it will be alright.

 

Loving the recent posts about the shoulder bells, I've just started trimming the whole kit as my backpack and flamethrower are done. So Clint, you are definitely my tutorial

 

Luckily although only 5'10" I'm quite broad and think this may be the first trooper that may benefit from this - I need the extra strength to carry the tanks and the thrower as it's bloody heavy. As Jsin will also testify too ! lol

 

I just wanna be at home now - trimming !!

 

Yeah, that thrower is a beast. Maybe we could attach some spider wire fishing line between the tanks and the thrower and people won't know we're dangling it over the shoulder.

 

Good job on the helmet. I'm dreading painting the strips too. Bought pin striping to try out in the grooves first, and if I don't like, I will be masking as well

 

I look forward to seeing your progress!

[camprandall[501st]]

Ok, so the masking just wasn't good enough. I tried to correct it by hand but there are just too many thin lines to get clean and painting white around it just makes for an uneven surface.

 

How did you guys paint the black lines?

[toddo[TX]]

I did it with my shaky hands and a tiny brush. I know that in photos it will look fine, and I know that in person to everyone else it will look fine, but it just doesn't look as clean as I'd like. I used acrylic paint. That allowed me to use a damp towel to clean off any bigger mistakes.

[camprandall[501st]]

Good idea with the acrylic. I might try one more thing - essentially taping over the black and re-spraying the white - and if that doesn't work I might try what you did.

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Of all the costumes I've done, that is the hardest part of any build for me.

[DeadMan]

I picked up 1/16inch and 1/8 inch automotive pinstripe. Going to give that a shot. Jsin did it that way and how looked real clean and smooth.

[camprandall[501st]]

I picked up 1/16inch and 1/8 inch automotive pinstripe. Going to give that a shot. Jsin did it that way and how looked real clean and smooth.

 

Where did you find 1/16"? I was trying to find that myself.

[DeadMan]

Where did you find 1/16"? I was trying to find that myself.

 

Just on Amazon (Canada).

[camprandall[501st]]

Holy crap, the helmet is done! So it turns out that a little acetone on some q-tips cleaned up my rough spots beautifully! I'm so relieved this thing is ready to go. The only other stresser left is mounting that pack, which should come in about two weeks.

 

 

Helmet after masking and detailing and without any cleanup.

 

 

 

Helmet tonight after some acetone and q-tips.

 

 

 

 

 

The little abs stack I shaped to act as a glue point for the visor.

 

[toddo[TX]]

Looking really good Clint. Nice clean-up.

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Wow, that sure is perty! Nice job Clint it sure cleaned up nicely.

[camprandall[501st]]

Ok, so that was a fun weekend. So as I mentioned, I just wasn't crazy about the fit after a quick test fitting, generally feeling like everything was too big. There's not a ton to do other than cut things down so I did the following over the weekend.

• Cut the shoulder bells down by 1/2 inch
  
• Cut the belt armor down by 3/4 inch
  
• Cut the waist armor down by 3/4 inch
  

That in turn caused a lot of other work because I had to rip out my butt plate snaps and repaint the belt and ab armor. I definitely think it was worth it though, although I can't quite try the suit on yet as the paint is curing. I also decided to just glue the butt plate and cod piece onto the armor because I really have no need for it to be adjustable and it helps a lot with the problem I've had where the curve of the cod and butt don't quite fit the belt armor. This forces it into the proper position and shape, which will also shorted suit up time. While I was at it, I also shortened the cod a bit and squared off the sides a little to look more like the screen prop.

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing I did a lot this weekend was attempt multiple methods of attaching the chest to the back. I have decided that I'm going to mount my back plate to the harness and then attach the chest after the harness is snugly fit. This means I needed a reliable way to attach the chest that a handler could manage. I failed to get a magnet system working - well, it actually worked but I worried the tension from the arms being snapped would cause problems - and landed on this mechanism. It's essentially a tongue and groove system with a velcro strap to pull it tight. It works pretty well and I think a handler could do it without any problems.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeditid[501st]]

Hey Clint, good work again, just a question - have you thought that when you add straps to hold the back plate and tanks together this may alter how the suit sits on your back.

 

I'm going to start make the reinforcing back plate tonight and mock up the tank holding bar that sits on the ab plate. Of all the things I think this may be the key to it all. The rest is reasonably straight forward.

 

Did you do anything about the neck scoop ? did you extend / reshape the should bridges at all. I still think I'm going to need to do this.

[DeadMan]

Excellent work Clint. Currently doing similar with my chest and back to hook together, just making them thicker and longer thinking it will reduce any stress at that point.

[toddo[TX]]

This is a complicated build in some ways, and you are doing it justice Clint. These are some solid mods, and I'm excited to see how things work once you get your pack. I'm falling behind while helping my son work on his droid build, but I sure am enjoying watching you work.