FatalSlink's DT build

[Fatalslink]

Hey all, gonna post some pics of my first suit up attempt and try to get some feedback. My first attempt at anything crafty and first 501st hopeful suit. Ill post more info about it later but the forums are freaking out on my phone right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fatalslink]

FSlink's DT Suit Up Album as well 

Here is my first real try on. Most of the suit is handmade and 3d printed. My first time doing anything remotely like this so I need any advice yall have to share about what I need to fix. Trying to get approved soon, there's some really special charity events coming up that I don't wanna miss

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

Hello Mike!

Nice looking first suit up attempt. Considering that you have no craft experience as you wrote, then it´s not too bad I would say. While looking at your pics I recognized some spots where you should do some rework. First of all, when you submit your pics for approval try to get better light, because some shots are very dark and details are hard to mention.

• You must wear a balaclava to hide your face skin under the helmet. When I´m right, you don´t wear one on the pics.
• Watch your shoe panel. It has to extend from under the shin, which the left one doesn´t do. Also, one of the pull tabs has come loose I think.
• Your shoulder bells look like airwing flaps. Try to pull them down a little more depending on your attachment system.
• Its hard to mention in the close ups of the helmet, but there must be eight vent ribs on each side panel. I only count seven when I´m right?!
• The belt setup on the back isn´t that advantageous. The left small box is too way backwards and should be between the hip and kidney. The thermal detonator has two different end caps which must be vice versa than yours. Also the detonator should be located higher, so that the big back pouch could fit better underneath it and doesn´t look that squeezed. All in all the arrangement of the lower back armor and the posterior armor should be improved and the belt shouldn´t be crooked that way.

Hope that helps for the beginning, but again: not that bad for the start!?

[Fatalslink]

20 hours ago, Lt. Dan said:

Hello Mike!

Nice looking first suit up attempt. Considering that you have no craft experience as you wrote, then it´s not too bad I would say. While looking at your pics I recognized some spots where you should do some rework. First of all, when you submit your pics for approval try to get better light, because some shots are very dark and details are hard to mention.

• You must wear a balaclava to hide your face skin under the helmet. When I´m right, you don´t wear one on the pics.
• Watch your shoe panel. It has to extend from under the shin, which the left one doesn´t do. Also, one of the pull tabs has come loose I think.
• Your shoulder bells look like airwing flaps. Try to pull them down a little more depending on your attachment system.
• Its hard to mention in the close ups of the helmet, but there must be eight vent ribs on each side panel. I only count seven when I´m right?!
• The belt setup on the back isn´t that advantageous. The left small box is too way backwards and should be between the hip and kidney. The thermal detonator has two different end caps which must be vice versa than yours. Also the detonator should be located higher, so that the big back pouch could fit better underneath it and doesn´t look that squeezed. All in all the arrangement of the lower back armor and the posterior armor should be improved and the belt shouldn´t be crooked that way.

Hope that helps for the beginning, but again: not that bad for the start!?

 

Oh Wow, this is absolutely amazing feedback man, thank you so much!

To your first suggestion: I actually do have a balaclava, but my wife keeps a heater on in my attic/workshop area and it was like 90 degrees ':) As these weren't my submission for approval pictures, I figured I would leave it off and save myself some sweat  

As far as the shoe panel, I had to dress myself, no-one to wrangle me at my house sadly, and I noticed the shoe/shin problem midway through photos and had my wife then pop it back in...and my shoe pull tab didn't come loose, I broke it trying to get my shoes on so that got re sewn tonight...but great eye and catch man, your attention to detail is really impressive lol.

The helmet does infact have the 8 ribs (I went back today and counted them cause you had me freaking out haha) they are Tom's files, so they should be accurate still...but mentioning the helmet, I didn't do the alternating paint scheme on the panels in these pictures or the brow strip...but I did them tonight.

Thanks for noticing for me the thermal detonator reversal, I feel silly but at least I had my biceps on the correct arms ? I think all I can do is move my kidney plate up a little as I screwed the thermal detonator in and I will have screw holes if I move it up ? 

With the belt back small box, hopefully it was just because my belt was sagging because I couldn't tighten it myself because I also screwed it in and then my belt is ruined if I have to move it ? 

Thank you again for the suggestions, I have tried to put them into action tonight to fix the deficiencies for my submission on Saturday hopefully!

Cheers!

 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

2 hours ago, Fatalslink said:

I didn't do the alternating paint scheme on the panels in these pictures or the brow strip...but I did them tonight.

Yeah, I recognized also but I wasn't really sure about that because of the dark pics. Great that you spotted it by yourself and fixed it?

[Fatalslink]

OK....I submitted for approval....hopefully all goes well...I wore my suit on the sidewalk of my house and people were freaking out, honking, jumping out of their cars for pictures, and almost crashing (that's when I went back inside, don't want to cause a wreck lol) so I felt pretty good about how it looked if people were going that crazy over it.

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1e1ogISpp5e5Vu5qMjvXyTVHzWLSHFhqg?usp=sharing

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@Fatalslink Looking good brother! You should have no issues getting approved.

Some things to note for future reference to help the overall appearance and most of them are just fitment or assembly issues that we all have had and will continue to have unless we double check everything after we suit up:

1. Lower abdomen area, Make sure that all the spacing in this area is centered and equally spaced out. Because there is so much going on in this area when something is off centered it is obvious.

2. Belt: Your belt is the right height in the back with the alignment of the lower back plate and the posterior plate. The belt should be level, you can achieve this by pulling up your abdomen armor piece, which if the center top of your belt is velcro attached to the bottom center of your abdomen armor, should bring the belt up in the front to level it out with the back. As long as you have 2 or more of the horizontal ribs showing you are good.

3. Keep an eye on your forearms. They have a tendency to rotate and become asymmetrical from each other. Adding a piece of foam rubber inside them to create a pressure friction spot can help. To check if they are in the right position, if you hold your arms straight out with palms down, the ladder details face straight out to the sides, then if you bring your arms straight down then rotate your palms and forearms inward to your thighs, the ladders should face about 45" to the rear.

While we are talking about the forearm ladder detail, they are not supposed to be painted, any coloring to them should be a result of slightly weathering. 

Also, is this a used kit? Looks like you have some stress cracks on the upper back armor just above the backpack section, you can re-enforce the area with a plastic epoxy weld and sand and repaint. 

Let us know when you get approved! ?

 

 

[Fatalslink]

@Chaos Thanks man!

I noticed the front belt and it irked the poop out of me, but I was suiting up completely solo with minor adjustments by my totally not nerdy wife who had no idea wtf to look for haha and I couldn't see the issue until after I took pics..but thanks for providing suggestions on how to fix it, I had been trying to figure that out all afternoon yesterday and if it's as simple as pulling up the ab plate, that'll make life so much easier!

 

The forarms I already have the foam for, I'll have to put the strip only on the back as I can barely get my hands thru as it is but once I had the pieces where I wanted them, I wasn't gonna touch them again till after I got approved, then I'll make any minor adjustments and mods I need to for better fit and range of motion. I did the same thing to the forarms as was done to the rest of the suit, but I can see in the pics how it came across as too much so  I'll go back over the recesses with a light semi gloss black dry brush.

 

And JC, wth happened THANK you for noticing the back cracks, I didn't notice them at all and they are really bad if you can see them that well in the pics...They weren't there on my first 2 suit ups as you can see in my previous album I posted...I must have cracked them with all the times I have put them on trying to get the fit right and this last suit up I swear I broke more poop on this suit RIGHT BEFORE the damn pics than ever...The left shin geeb I broke off and had to blindly re-glue it on, the sniper plate: same thing, and now the back I cracked...the trials and tribs of solo suiting up? At least I'll have a wrangler/other troopers to help correct the minor stuff at events so I look right...this build has been 3 years because I kept redoing everything I felt was slightly off and got in my own head too much...it was so anxiety producing to finally submit it as is...but thank you again for the in-depth look at my suit up, invaluable man! I'll have to try your jbweld technique and maybe another layer of fiberglass mat with resin on the back to reinforce the chopped strand/poly resin that I initially put.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

1 hour ago, Fatalslink said:

maybe another layer of fiberglass mat with resin on the back to reinforce the chopped strand/poly resin that I initially put.

That is always a good thing for 3D prints. Honestly it's nice that 3D is lighter than fiberglass resin suits, and looks much better than ABS pulled suits, but layering 3D PLA with fiberglass and resin will save you hours on repairs down the road, pay particular attention to the areas that flex the most, like the shoulder extensions front and back, side extensions of the chest and upper back, and also the abdomen side corners, and the biceps. You did an amazing job  on your kit, wear it proudly!  LOL and Yes ... wranglers are important, I had to give my daughter and wife a two hour block of instruction on how to help and what to look for.... they were NOT impressed. 

[Fatalslink]

@Chaos You sound like an Army Infantry vet, laying down blocks of instructions haha. And yeah, the pla is lighter...until i put like 4 layers of fiberglass under it all, now its about 40lbs total haha so im getting a nice workout when i wear it.

[Fatalslink]

If you saw the video i took, i have down a light jog in kit, so at least i can move well in it.

[Fatalslink]

Now the electronics...Fans are simple, leds same. For audio I have a raspberry pi wireless and bluetooth 200w mini amp board i programmed to do the audio chatter files and to add a dt scrambler effect to my voice when i talk and am routing it through 2x 50w rms full range 1" car tweeters and 2x 2" 50w rms mini subwoofers.

 

[Fatalslink]

Well, that didnt work. It's weird i have to confirm the details of the armor since it's printed from the guy the crl is based off of's files and i thought the pictures were pretty clear...must have pissed someone in a high place off somehow that i dont know about lol or this is just standard for a DT kit...dunno, my first rodeo lol guess it's not too bad...although the cod-PA strap makes me giggle. This is what i gotta fix/confirm. Any ideas on how to properly do it? The lighting in my workshop makes the colors blend in a lot and i work through all the daylight hours.

 

- Closeups of all sides of the helmet

- Light inside the helmet to show the color of the lens (we need to see if it’s green)

- A picture of you just wearing the undersuit to show all the ribbing details

- Closeups of every armor piece to confirm details that cannot be seen

- Closeup of the top of the back armor

- Closeup of the wrist stabilizers and arm bands

- A picture of the ab plate alone to confirm number of ribs underneath chest piece

- A picture of the strap connecting the codpiece and posterior armor

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

I think that also depends a lot on your camera. I use a 3:4 format. Personally, I always take the approval photos in daylight and indirect sunlight in front of a bright, non-blinding wall. No flash! I have a winter garden, which is perfect for this. You have to find a place and try it out until the pics are good I'm afraid. Btw, your GMO's are quick in replying?

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

14 hours ago, Fatalslink said:

Well, that didnt work. It's weird i have to confirm the details of the armor since it's printed from the guy the crl is based off of's files and i thought the pictures were pretty clear...must have pissed someone in a high place off somehow that i dont know about lol or this is just standard for a DT kit...dunno, my first rodeo lol guess it's not too bad...although the cod-PA strap makes me giggle. This is what i gotta fix/confirm. Any ideas on how to properly do it? The lighting in my workshop makes the colors blend in a lot and i work through all the daylight hours.

 

- Closeups of all sides of the helmet

- Light inside the helmet to show the color of the lens (we need to see if it’s green)

- A picture of you just wearing the undersuit to show all the ribbing details

- Closeups of every armor piece to confirm details that cannot be seen

- Closeup of the top of the back armor

- Closeup of the wrist stabilizers and arm bands

- A picture of the ab plate alone to confirm number of ribs underneath chest piece

- A picture of the strap connecting the codpiece and posterior armor

@Fatalslink

Mike, I don't think it's fair to say that you have pissed anyone off. Sounds to me like your GML is being thorough. I have been sent links from GMLs asking for advice about submissions. One said the kit was a PAD when in fact it was a combination of 850, PAD, and KB kits. 

It's not unusual for GMLs, if they can't see a kit in person, to ask for more detailed photos.

With that being said, after looking at your photos, I would ask for pretty much the same photos. An indirect bright light will help not only with the details but also with being able to see whether the paint scheme from the CRL is accurate. I commend your GML for being thorough, I've seen some approvals that not only fail the 10 foot rule but also fail way out to the next county.

Stick with it and best of luck! I 

[Fatalslink]

57 minutes ago, Chaos said:

@Fatalslink

Mike, I don't think it's fair to say that you have pissed anyone off. Sounds to me like your GML is being thorough. I have been sent links from GMLs asking for advice about submissions. One said the kit was a PAD when in fact it was a combination of 850, PAD, and KB kits. 

It's not unusual for GMLs, if they can't see a kit in person, to ask for more detailed photos.

With that being said, after looking at your photos, I would ask for pretty much the same photos. An indirect bright light will help not only with the details but also with being able to see whether the paint scheme from the CRL is accurate. I commend your GML for being thorough, I've seen some approvals that not only fail the 10 foot rule but also fail way out to the next county.

Stick with it and best of luck! I 

Yeah I get you @Chaos. I was more or less being snarky, not really thinking I had pissed anyone off :<). The GML's I actually had  pretty good dealings with in the past, they actually gave me their shins when i first started this build back in 2019 to help me out, and i printed a mando bucket for one of them and wrangled a troop for them a while back. So yeah, with that being said, this kit is a mix of 3d printed and a few Jimmi parts, i didnt know it all had to be the same kit or if I need to declare which parts are from which kit. ? And i definitely appreciate how fast they got back to me @Lt. Dan, that way i can fix the issues and still have stuff to justify hiding out in my workshop when i get home from work ;).

 

You all are super helpful, i really appreciate it! This is the updated folder with the requested pics. I can bet i have to fix some stuff, any suggestions off the top of your heads?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14DfJQgpUOq0nGh8z7LOA23nCmrV27U_M

I'm gonna strip the rockets off and replace them with resin ones i printed, from up close they dont look as good as i thought...should they be more black with a little silver shine through or is the silver ok to leave? I bought a mirror coat silver aluminum paint i was thinking about using on the new ones, it looks like the metal ones when you spray it on.

 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

Hard to say Mike, but did you painted the grooves of the thighs the same way as the the shoulder bells/biceps armor?

CRL says: The grooves may be matte or metallic black, matte silver, or dark gray and must match the rest of the armor.

Also, I personally would paint the holder of the forearm rockets black.

[Fatalslink]

52 minutes ago, Lt. Dan said:

Hard to say Mike, but did you painted the grooves of the thighs the same way as the the shoulder bells/biceps armor?

CRL says: The grooves may be matte or metallic black, matte silver, or dark gray and must match the rest of the armor.

Also, I personally would paint the holder of the forearm rockets black.

Nope, well i did paint them then i kept screwing with it and repainted the thighs and forgot to mask the grooves off so ill redo those tonight. Good catch thank you!

 

And ok ill do them black if it looks better and scrape them up a little

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@Fatalslink

Mike the parts do not have to be from the same kit. I mentioned that because you had said it's a PAD kit same files as the CRL model and alluding to the fact that just because its a certain kit doesn't make it anymore approvalable than any others. 

There is a good thread on the painting of the recesses I commented on some where. A trooper had painted every single recess which was incorrect. I'll see if I can find it.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

https://forum.specops501st.com/topic/8414-questions-regarding-recess-and-highlight-painting/?do=findComment&comment=102835

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

 

[Fatalslink]

4 hours ago, Chaos said:

@Fatalslink

Mike the parts do not have to be from the same kit. I mentioned that because you had said it's a PAD kit same files as the CRL model and alluding to the fact that just because its a certain kit doesn't make it anymore approvalable than any others. 

@Chaos ok cool thanks for the clarification on that. And my thinking behind that was no matter if it is Tom's files, PAD, KB, 850 (maybe) that by now all those makers should have accurate kits/files i would have thought, so the detailing should all be right and accurate, no? Or is there a big quality control issue with all the main makers of the files and undersuits? Like the undersuit i got from DSC which tailors it to you and uses approved materials and ribbing i thought, so it seems arbitrary to need to check the details on the approved vendor's items...unless people submit their suits and straight up lie about what it is/where they got it from? In this world, i can certainly see that as being a thing, so it would make sense to trust but verify in all the detailing so you sont have someone trying to tell you their helmet is an Anovos when really it's a Hasbro light up helmet ?.

 

And thanks for the painting link, very good info, I'll try to make use of it, even if i have to repaint the whole fkn thing...

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

4 hours ago, Fatalslink said:

@Chaos ok cool thanks for the clarification on that. And my thinking behind that was no matter if it is Tom's files, PAD, KB, 850 (maybe) that by now all those makers should have accurate kits/files i would have thought, so the detailing should all be right and accurate, no?

To be honest, there is no one maker whose kit is 100% accurate. Maybe one day I will go thru and combine all the post I have done over the years in which I compare a maker's kit to the screen used armor. The best way to research that is to go item by item and compare the kits to see what would have to modified/change based upon the current CRL and then decide which modifications/changes would be the easiest or the lesser of two evil. For basic approval we left out some items based upon those difference in each makers kit so as to not exclude any one individual maker or those that had previously built a kit. We did however attempt to be more specific and as accurate as we could be with the Level 2 requirements. 

Or is there a big quality control issue with all the main makers of the files and undersuits?

I would not say it's a quality control issue, I would say its more based upon the timing of a maker's production of a kit/files at what we knew at the time about the DT details. Until the high resolution photos came out from Celebration after the release of the film we didn't know that the asymmetrical paint scheme we were seeing was indeed a different color and not simply lighting effects. It takes time to make modifications to molds and even 3D files and some makers decided that since their kits meet the Level 1 CRL approval that it was more beneficial for them to distribute their time elsewhere and on other products.

Like the undersuit i got from DSC which tailors it to you and uses approved materials and ribbing i thought, so it seems arbitrary to need to check the details on the approved vendor's items...unless people submit their suits and straight up lie about what it is/where they got it from? In this world, i can certainly see that as being a thing, so it would make sense to trust but verify in all the detailing so you don't have someone trying to tell you their helmet is an Anovos when really it's a Hasbro light up helmet ?.

The Vendor list that we provide is a simple one stop area of vendors who's products have been used by builders and received 501st Approval. However no one product is 100% approvable straight off the shelf ergo why we add the statement "The Spec Ops Detachment does not endorse any Vendor over any others. It is up to you the Trooper to do the research and exercise due diligence when purchasing any products from Vendors." 

In regards to the undersuit material and construction, as long as the fabric used is "Shall be rubber or a smooth semi-gloss black material with sewn ribs." Some undersuit/gasket makers use a type of pleather/spandex material that when it is stretched, it retains the sew lines but does not retain the raised rib appearance. Others actually have a type of cording that is sewn into the fabric so the ribs remain raised when the fabric is stretched. You just have to do research as to how each is constructed. 

4 hours ago, Fatalslink said:

And thanks for the painting link, very good info, I'll try to make use of it, even if i have to repaint the whole fkn thing...

LOL yeah I can't tell you how many times I have painted/modified/repainted my Jimmi kit over the years.

 

[Fatalslink]

20 hours ago, Chaos said:

 

@Chaos yeah, every time i look at my submission photos, i see something that i dont like/dont think is good enough, and i try to "fix" it before they have even given me feedback. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AOphMyVaA78ftbpD11S5AsVkwsPmJHF9

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14DfJQgpUOq0nGh8z7LOA23nCmrV27U_M

My 2 latest requests from GMLs. My back repairs i think are good enough, but im not 100% sure..

I did the "weathering" on the thighs to match the rest...ive been using matte silver mixed with filler primer to make it even more matte and watered down for the pin striping.

I also got rid of my first submission forearm stabilizers and re-printed them in resin and painted them mirrorcoat aluminum with a black top coat and scuffed them up a little like what @Lt. Dan suggested. I think they look much better now, no print lines at least...

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@Fatalslink

Mike,

Looking good Brother! I think you will be good to go this time. One thing that I have to point out (and I am probably nick picking way too deep, but that's how I roll thanks to my occupation) that might be noticed by the GML, but maybe not.

The left forearm "rocket" greeblies are not really painted correctly. As they are now, they look (thinking real world here) like they are made from a silver metal, then painted black, and now they have been scuffed in battle etc., so that the paint have been worn off to expose the silver metal underneath. 

To meet the CRL, they are Metallic black or weathered silver colored cylindrical detailed parts shall be evident on the left forearm. So achieve this, they should either be painted completely Metallic Black (which is referencing the Tamiya TS40 color) or they are painted a silver color and then washed over with a thinned out black to give the appearance of being oxidized. This might help.