DoggyDoc’s Jimmiroquai Imperial Death Trooper Build Thread

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Specialist strap and buckets for the ammo vest arrived today. 
 

 

[Dexas]

Had any thoughts how to line the helmet vents with the mesh? I can make the holes in the vents easy enough, but not sure how to get the mesh in...

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

46 minutes ago, Dexas said:

Had any thoughts how to line the helmet vents with the mesh? I can make the holes in the vents easy enough, but not sure how to get the mesh in...

I have not thought about that yet.  Likely , I will make a frame with my 3D printer that will sit outside of the mesh and glue it down with that. You could also use some abs sheets to do it.  I will be mounting the icomm system speakers there as well, so likely will need some type of frame for the mesh.  

[Dexas]

That is a smashing idea. For some reason I was thinking that the mesh needed to be underneath the vents. So glad I asked before attacking it with a drill haha.

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

5 minutes ago, Dexas said:

 

That is a smashing idea. For some reason I was thinking that the mesh needed to be underneath the vents. So glad I asked before attacking it with a drill haha.

 

The mesh is under the vents on the inside, so you do have to open them up.  The frame would attach on the underside of the vents inside the helmet. Think of something like a frame /riser for that holds the mesh on one side and the speaker on the other.  

[Dexas]

Oh I see, yeah that makes more sense. I'll have to look at it again, I think I assumed that the underneath of the vents was too deep to accurately mount the mesh.

But yeah, thanks. A frame is a great idea. I have a voice changer (somewhere in the house) that I'll need to mount as well. 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

If you are going to mount speakers under the vents I would advise against using a rigid/solid frame and attaching it to the helmet. You'll have two solid surfaces mated and by doing so any vibration of the speakers will be transferred to the helmet body. This will increase chances of getting feedback at higher speaker volume levels.

Don't over think the mesh and black matting attachment. Once you drill out the vent holes, cut a piece of screen slightly larger than the vent opening area and simply hot glue the screen edges in place, then repeat for the black matting. After you have done that, take a piece of sound proofing foam tape and cut it to the size of your speakers edges, then cut out the inner section to create an opening much like a gasket. Mount the speakers using the foam tape gasket you created. This gasket will prevent vibrations from the speakers being transferred to the helmet. Once you have the speakers mounted cover the entire area with at least two layers of the foam tape making sure that you have no gaps. 

 

This was from a previous thread:

To be honest, I went to my local hardware store and bought a metal window screen repair kit, I think it was #20 size but can't be sure. I put the screen under the vents and then painted the silver weathering color. It turned out great. I did put a piece of black weed blocker fabric under the mesh before I installed @ukswrath's helmet audio sound system so that the speakers were not visible.

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Forearms are trimmed, seams filled with Bondo and all sanded. Ready for primer filler then paint.  
Thanks @Chaos for the tip on the rubber connector for the forearm straps.  Picked one up today and cut out the strips. 
 

 

 

 

 

Please let me know if there are any areas of concern before I go to paint. 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

I see no issues, looking good Trooper!

[TookBreaker[TX]]

@DoggyDoc great build to follow as I am in the same boat with the Jim Trippon kit.

Today, I went through my trimming of thighs, forearms, and shins. One area I need some insights is how did you ensure sufficient adhesion surface for the shins and forearms to glue them together in a clamshell approach? The edges were not really well-leveled in my case, which is why I sanded the connection areas, but the surface is curvy and I doubt it will consistently glue together as it leaves many gaps.

Did you use anything else to create a good adhesive surface for forearms and shins?

Thanks

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

13 hours ago, TookBreaker said:

Did you use anything else to create a good adhesive surface for forearms and shins?

I have not glued the shins yet as I am waiting for my boots and I need to do some fibreglass work on them to make them bigger, since I have large calves. 
I have been told that the plastic weld will work but so far, it has not been great at gluing the ABS to the fibreglass in my initial attempt to enlarge the shins. 
 

For small gaps in the seams, Bondo putty should fill those. 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Boots arrived from CrowProps today. 
Very happy with them. They look great and are very comfortable. 
 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Made some progress over the past few days. Working on strapping the body pieces. I am using snaps and elastic / nylon straps. Had to order more snaps however as I ran out part way through. In the meantime, I made the elastic straps for the biceps and trimmed out the helmet vents. 
 

Biceps elastic straps. One side is 1” nylon that is glued in place to the biceps with plastic weld. The other side is hook side of Velcro sewn to the nylon strapping with the soft side glued into the biceps. 

 

Helmet vents. I drilled out each vent to open it up, then used needle files to open the holes up completely. 

 

 

 

 

Test fitting of the upper parts.  I need to figure out how to bubble the lenses still  biceps also need to be attached to shoulder bells  just waiting on the snaps  

 

 

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

One quick question. 
from what I have found, the SE-14R is painted matte black.  My scope is gloss black, should that be in a matte finish as well?  Also, is the grip gloss like on the E-11, or is it matte?

[TookBreaker[TX]]

20 hours ago, DoggyDoc said:

One quick question. 
from what I have found, the SE-14R is painted matte black.  My scope is gloss black, should that be in a matte finish as well?  Also, is the grip gloss like on the E-11, or is it matte?

I kept it all matte black.

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

I built a spray booth in my basement since it is too cold outside. 
I put an inline boost fan on the exhaust and have it running through an air purifier that has high VOC removal capabilities.  In the box, there is. Filter and bright LED lights to help my old eyes see better. 
 

 

 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Nice! And Yes, pistol is matte or satin finish

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

Snaps finally arrived and I was able to do some more work on the strapping.  Just waiting for the E6000 to set on the shoulder and biceps snaps and the torso will be done.  Then onto the big job of resizing the thighs and calves. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

Looks good so far!🥳

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

I need some advice on the shoulder bridges.  I rendered these on blender and printed them using Siraya tech Tenacious resin which is flexible. 
 

Are these a bit too long?  From reference photos, it looks like the buckle should come to the collar end ‘ neck opening.

is the curve enough for specialist certification?

are the grooves too shallow?  Should I lift the bumps on the bridges a bit higher?

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks

[TookBreaker[TX]]

19 minutes ago, DoggyDoc said:

I need some advice on the shoulder bridges.  I rendered these on blender and printed them using Siraya tech Tenacious resin which is flexible. 
 

Are these a bit too long?  From reference photos, it looks like the buckle should come to the collar end ‘ neck opening.

is the curve enough for specialist certification?

are the grooves too shallow?  Should I lift the bumps on the bridges a bit higher?

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks

@DoggyDoc, I am still building mine and based on your photos, I think the shoulder straps may be 1-2 ribs too long, but will leave it to the experts. In my case, I cut the openings for the straps on the backplate. This way I can slide them in and adjust the length to be glued later.

Regarding the bells, they look a bit low to me, but hard to tell from the pictures. How did you attach them to the back armor?

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

24 minutes ago, TookBreaker said:

Regarding the bells, they look a bit low to me, but hard to tell from the pictures. How did you attach them to the back armor?

The shoulder bells are attached with Velcro straps that connect just behind the seam.  They are hanging down slightly when I am not wearing the costume.
 

Here is a pic with me in the costume. With my shoulders holding them in place 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

5 hours ago, DoggyDoc said:

Are these a bit too long?  From reference photos, it looks like the buckle should come to the collar end ‘ neck opening.

Correct Gerald! You are good to go when the starting edge of the buckle aligns with the collar end. This should be about 11-13 visible ribs on the rubber strap (as a work aid), depending on the length of the buckle. The lower D-ring then should free flow over the chest plate. The bend of the straps is good for me, also the height of the ribs👍

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

@DoggyDoc Gerald

Your straps look good for Level 2, don't worry about the number of segments that are showing as these will be different for each Trooper depending on their upper torso size. We kept that out of the updated CRL for just that reason. When applying for Level 2 you will only need to show us in a photo that they indeed do bend. 

As far as the buckles. The ones used on the screen were cast formed in two pieces; the buckle and the D ring.

The D ring is secured under the overhang on the front of the buckle. The two pieces are joined as if they are one and attached to the chest armor. You can see that by looking at the first two photos of the screen used suit that was on exhibit at Celebrations.

The location of the buckle is approximate, but if you you look at the screen suits it appears in almost all the angles that the D ring corner (where is goes from being straight to curving to the front point) is just about even with the top line of the chest armor center detail that is horizontal  in the indentations for the collar tusks. Any where in this area is good. The third photo is from my chest piece and is more of a downward-front-on looking view which might help you. Also remember that the buckle and D ring assembly are angled slightly inwards.

How you chose to rig your front to back armor pieces is entirely up to you but a lot have found (Especially if they are hanging the shoulder pouch and chest ammo pouch rig) to have the buckle and D ring assembly hard attached to the chest armor and then open up a slot in the back greeblie to slide the straps into. Then again some people have permanently attached the back of the strap to the back armor and lay it over and use snaps, velcro, or strong magnets to secure the buckle D ring in place. I use the first method. I had to build up the area around the back greeblie on my Jimmi kit just to give it some more mass and structural strength. The fourth photo shows how it looks when the back of the strap is inserted into the back greeblie.

One more tip, if you look at the fourth photo you will notice that I trimmed the back half of my collar to make the very back ridge about an inch lower, I did this because Jimmi's helmet would sit lower and it would prevent me from looking up and would "knock" against the bottom of the helmet. The Anovos was not so bad but it still would hit once in awhile. After I trimmed the collar  I could actually look up almost 45 degrees.  I have seen where some people have said they just cut off the back collar and covered it with the pauldron. You wont be able to do that for Basic or Level 2 approval. I don't recommend doing it even after approval, the average person may not notice it, but to those of us who know .... trust me we will notice it! 

Hope this helps. Your build is coming along nicely!

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

@Chaos @Lt. Dan Thank you both for the insight. That does help a lot. Makes sense to secure the front part with the buckle as it would just pull all over when the tactical vest is on.