DoggyDoc’s Jimmiroquai Imperial Death Trooper Build Thread

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@DoggyDoc Here is something I put together a while back but should help you with your forearms. Since I have a Jimmi kit and have modified it several times over the years so feel free to contact me if you have any questions or issues.

[Dexas]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:39 PM, DoggyDoc said:

I officially started my death trooper today.

So, when you order a fibreglass armour kit and BBB day arrives…. Even though it is almost irresistible to put the pieces on, it’s not a great idea as it is similar to rolling in fibreglass.  I was itchy for days.

I decided to coat the inside of the armour with plastidip to seal in the fibres.  The issue is that it is winter here and I can not spray outside.  The solution.  Build a spray tent in the basement.

I made a square frame with 3/4” PVC pipe and attached it to the metal support beams with rare earth magnets.  Then draped plastic sheeting over the frame and closed the seams with tape.  Since there is no ventilation, you need to wear a respirator mask  in there but it seems to be working well so far.

 

 

 

 

 

How did this work out? I was planning on sanding mine smooth, but if your way is quicker and easier then I’m doing that haha.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

6 hours ago, Dexas said:

How did this work out? I was planning on sanding mine smooth, but if your way is quicker and easier then I’m doing that haha.

I originally plastidip coated my Jimmi kit and it worked for almost a year. Unless you use an adhesion promoter, the plastidip will rub off in the spots that receive a lot of rubbing from your undersuit. I eventually lined mine with a felt fabric. It lasted longer than the plastidip and it prevents overlapping armor pieces from scratching the painted surfaces. Just something to consider. https://thefeltstore.com/collections/sae-industrial-felt/products/f-55-industrial-felt-by-foot

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

7 hours ago, Dexas said:

How did this work out? I was planning on sanding mine smooth, but if your way is quicker and easier then I’m doing that haha.

Seemed to go on easily but fumes were bad, even with the paint hut.  It took 3 cans to do the whole kit with 2 coats. No itchies when putting the pieces on now but I may take Chaos’ advice and add the felt in afterwards. 

Arm impellers and belt buckle arrived today. Very happy with the quality.

 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

11 hours ago, Chaos said:

Here is something I put together a while back but should help you with your forearms. Since I have a Jimmi kit and have modified it several times over the years so feel free to contact me if you have any questions or issues.

Thanks @Chaos,  this helps a lot. I will definitely be asking for advice as I go along. 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

So I played around with the forearms this afternoon and the clam shell technique that @Chaos suggested works very well. 
I do have a couple more questions however.  

1. Is E6000 the best way to glue the pieces together?

2. I was trying to fit the shins and I assume you would do the same clamshell technique with the front portion glued.  The issue I am having is that I have big calves and although the bottom part of the shin around my ankle closes, there is an opening in the back at the top that is about 1 inch wide.  I figured that I would need to shim them some.   Is it better to add length to the end of the piece where it meets with the other half ( the inner part below the cover strip), or am I better to cut down along the length of one piece and add a shim in the middle somewhere?

 

 

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

3 hours ago, DoggyDoc said:

So I played around with the forearms this afternoon and the clam shell technique that @Chaos suggested works very well. 
I do have a couple more questions however.  

1. Is E6000 the best way to glue the pieces together?

2. I was trying to fit the shins and I assume you would do the same clamshell technique with the front portion glued.  The issue I am having is that I have big calves and although the bottom part of the shin around my ankle closes, there is an opening in the back at the top that is about 1 inch wide.  I figured that I would need to shim them some.   Is it better to add length to the end of the piece where it meets with the other half ( the inner part below the cover strip), or am I better to cut down along the length of one piece and add a shim in the middle somewhere?

I used a combination of E6000 and Devcon Plastic Weld 2 part epoxy.  I used the E6000 on parts that I may have to replace later due to use and abuse, and the Epoxy on pieces that I needed strength such as my clamshell attachments and Chest upper and lower buckles as mine support the weight of chest rig. https://www.amazon.com/Devcon-22045-Plastic-Welder-Dev-Tube/dp/B003NUGL9S

One tip on your forearms. Even though they are clam shelled, the rubber straps around the wrist don't have much give when slipping your hand thru the wrist opening. Mine are attached where they butt up against the molded clips so when I trimmed them I made sure that there was enough room for them to open and allow my hands to slip thru. Some people leave one end of each unglued and use velcro to close them around their wrist.

Here is a link to some advice I gave someone a while back who needed to increase the size of his shins. If I had to add some additional advice to what I suggested it would be this; Jimmi's kit rear vertical strip is attached/molded to the inside shin piece and overlaps the outside shin piece. Since you are having to place/mold a shim piece I would cut his rear vertical center strip and attach it to the outside shin piece so that when you clamshell close the two shin pieces it is much like the TK shins which overlap outside inward over the inside shin piece, this makes the seam less noticeable from the side view. I hope that makes sense. If not I will try and explain it better. https://imgur.com/a/eMUq0

 

 

 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Thanks again @Chaos  the photos make perfect sense.  

 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

I actually do have 1 question about the shin reconstruction that you recommended @Chaos.

in the photo below, with respect the area circled in green.  When I remove the cover strip and add the shim, the raised area will no longer come to the cover strip, so I will have to sculpt it back I .  Is Bondo the best to do this as well, or is there a better method?

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@DoggyDoc Good catch, yes you will have to continue the shape around. If you rough up the surface Bondo sticks pretty well. Another option is to use a piece of ABS cut and epoxied to the shin. I have seen someone sand down the raised area smooth, then make an ABS piece that is attached to the outside shin and wraps around the inside shin much like the original suits did. Either way is CRL Level 1 and 2 acceptable.

 

Or you can just keep the seam facing out and only shim the outer shin. There is nothing in the CRL that says the seam has to be facing in. Mine faces out and is really not that noticeable.

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

I personally cut the triangle part off the outer shin and glued it permanently to the opposite inner shin. As you can see in the second pic the gap is absolutely not visible when both shins are attached!

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Finished printing the parts for the SE-14R blaster.  Printed in ABS like resin. This is a new printer and so nice not to have to sand out print lines. 
 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

I spent some time today sizing up the arm and leg pieces over the undersuit (that suit is pretty thick compared to the TK spandex). It looks like I will need to shim the forearms, thighs and shins. Lots of work but I am looking forward to starting even though I have a bit of stress paralysis.

I picked up JB plastic weld today (Devcon not available here in Canada I don’t think) , E-6000, Bondo, I ordered some 2mm black ABS sheets to do the shimming.

Also ordered an airbrush (Iwata eclipse HP-CS) that is coming this weekend. Does anyone have any recommendations for paint and primer brands for airbrush painting the armour?

Also,  what have people used for the straps at the bottom of the left forearm?

 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

3 hours ago, DoggyDoc said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for paint and primer brands for airbrush painting the armour?

I have achieved very good results with Alclad 2 lacquers for airbrushing. A very wide range of paint codes including chrome and transparency applications.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

On 1/2/2023 at 10:38 PM, DoggyDoc said:

Also,  what have people used for the straps at the bottom of the left forearm?

 

There are makers of the bands, check Etsy, I just cut a 6x6 black pvc rubber coupler into two bands.

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

With respect to the patterned grooves on the shins, thighs and forearms, in some photos, they look to be grey, or metallic black, in others they look to be the same as the rest of the armour.  Are they to be painted and if so, what colour, or is this just a weathering option or reflection?

This is what I mean:

this photo is a movie screen - it looks to be uniform with the gloss black

This one looks like it is a different colour but could be reflection 

This one from the CRL is painted.

 

 

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@DoggyDoc

So the screen used suits only had the asymmetrical panels painted. The rest of the suit was gloss black, the gray look is the result of theatrical "dirt" being sprayed on the suits to present a weathered look. Under bright lighting it reflects and looks like paint. The CRL allows for the painting of the grooves. The CRL is very specific as to which grooves are painted and what color. I've got a pretty good explanation out there somewhere, I'll try and find it. Stand by.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Ok found it, let me know if you have any questions. 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Awesome,  thanks again Chris

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

12 minutes ago, DoggyDoc said:

Awesome,  thanks again Chris

 

Anytime Brother!

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

I started resizing the forearms. Figured that was the best place to begin, as I don’t have to cut anything off. 
When I did the test fit with the under suit on, the forearms were unable to overlap to close them.

I ordered some 2mm black ABS sheets and made 2” and 1” strips using the score and snap technique.  The idea was to use the 2” strip as the backing and have the 1” strip used as the extension to reduce the amount of Bondo I would need to use to even out the extension.

Photo of too;s and armour pieces before starting

Scorri g and snapping using a metal ruler clamped to the ABS sheet

‘Cut strips of ABS sanded to help with adhesion.

 

2” and 1” pieces glued together using zap a gap

I wanted to have a slight curve to the extensions along the long axis to follow the curve of the forearm pieces.  I did this by heating them with a heat gun and then forming them over paint cans. 

 

Extensions were then glued to the forearms to extend the portion that will sit under the cover strip using JB plastic weld.  

The plan was to then apply Bondo over the extension to make it seamless with the original piece, but when I did a test fit, everything lined up perfectly and fit amazing over the under suit, so I opted just to close them up using E6000.

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Nice job! Looking good.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

On the right track!

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

So the shims on the forearms failed.  When I put them in a hot water bath to shape them, they came apart.  
 

I did a bit of tweaking on my under-suit to tighten up the arms by sewing a new seam down the arm to get the “wetsuit” type fit.  With the reduced material, I was able to plastic weld the inner side of the piece and will then back the seam on the outer piece with ABS to close the forearm.  Below is a test fit photo as well.  Please let me know if there is anything that you see that raises any concerns before I close it up permanently. 

 

I also started extending the shin pieces along the back side inner half of the piece.  I am going to just do this side to start and see how it looks when it closes before doing both sides and relocating the cover strip that is part of the outer half.  This one will be plastic welded and then I will use Bondo to build up over the ABS. I think the forearms didn’t bond to the and because of the plastidip over the fibreglass and the abs being too smooth. I sanded all the plastidip off and picked up textured ABS so hopefully the Bondo and plastic weld hold better.

 

Also received my magazine shoulder pouch and belt from trooperbay.  

 

 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

6 hours ago, DoggyDoc said:

I think the forearms didn’t bond to the and because of the plastidip over the fibreglass and the abs being too smooth.

That might be one reason, but don´t get me wrong because I´m not a composit professional: for my understanding, fiberglass should be patched or glued with epoxy resin. That should also hold the ABS in place I think.