deekistheman
New member
(I just copied this from what I posted over here)
First I am starting with the Kellogg's Bucket. I am converting it into the ARC Lieutenant helmet, along with the rest of the armor. As of now, all of my non-helmet pieces are glued together, cut & fitted, have been sanded (first with 80grit and then with 180grit to make the plastic smooth), and are awaiting bondo. Since the body pieces are pretty simple to put together (just make sure you have some plumbing glue that works with ABS & PVC) just time consuming I will spare you guys those details. I will first start by posting my work with the helmet, then the bondoing, then the priming, then the painting, and finally the "connecting" of pieces to the armor. Keep in mind that this is my first time doing anything like this, I started just over a week ago, and I WILL be done before Halloween. Enjoy B)
One more thing, before I continue I must express my utmost gratitude to everyone on the Clonetroopers.net board who has posted pics of their armor, their assembly process, their techniques, their mistakes, their successes, their tears, and their joys. I went into those boards with a full kit of clone armor and not the slightest bit of knowledge. I owe all of my knowledge to the guys here at Clonetroopers.net, the nice guy at O'Reily Autoparts, my girlfriend's godmother, and my friend CJ (who is gave me window tint for my visor and for helping to sand my armor) Now after reading almost every form and constantly studying what everyone else did, I now will make my own armor and join the 501st in a great hobby.
II. The Body</span>
Body 01
Here is the leg armor picture shown above. For constraints in posting I will not show the entire progress of the body armor, but rather will show the bondo process. Each person should use a strong expoy glus (as showin in Helmet 03) to glue the pieces. I have found it easiest and must more sturdy to overlap the armor and then bond rather than try to make flush seam. Here I have already glued all of the pieces of the armor to my liking and I have prepared each piece for bondo by sanding with rough 60 grit and slashing the armor with an exacto knife. Remember, it doesnt matter how rough the plastic is because the bondo and glazing putty will fill it all in and stick even better. Don't go lower than 60 grit paper though.
Body 02
Here is what the bicep looks like with Bondo on it. To make it easier on yourself, follow this order. Mix AT MOST 2 golfball sized clumps with 2 1/2 inches of hardener (any more and it will all harden before you can spread it all, and evenly) in a tupperwear bowl, not a glass bowl. Mix it until it is a uniform tan color. Then spread it over your armor. Its better to have a little more than a little less. But make sure that you spread it as smoothly as possible (it will make it easier on you when sanding later). Anywhere they sell bondo they also sell plastic spreaders.
Body 03
Once the bondo has dried in about 30-45min, sand the bondo down like this. Get it really smooth. To cut through it I used the 60 grit paper again. Sand it as close to the armor as you can without hitting the armor.
Body 04
After sanding the bondo, put Bondo "glazing putty" on it. This is red and it is for filling in the tiny holes and cracks in the bondo. Let it dry for a good 30min. It sands off really easy.
Body 05
After it has dried, sand it down (60 grit) until you see the tan bondo again. This is a pic of the thigh armor. See how you can see most of the tan bondo versus the red glazing putty? The red putty shows where all the imperfections were in the bondo. Dont be fooled, even though this piece looks like a cheetah, it is as smooth as a baby's bottom
Now that all of the pieces of the suit have been sanded (60 grit), slashed, bondo'ed, glazing puttied, and sanded again (60 grit)....sand it one more time with a 100+ grit. Sand (100+ grit) all of the armor regardless if it has had bondo on it or not. Your armor is now prepped to be primered and then (hopefully) painted.
Body 06
Ok. Now I have primed all of the armor (and painted/assembled the belt). When you prime it is OK if you see you need to re-bondo or re-putty. Simply sand back down with a coarse grit (60-80), putty (or bondo up), let that dry, then re-prime. Remember: The bondoing/puttying/sanding is the most important step in the whole process. If the armor is rough before you prime/paint it will be 10X worse when you actually do prime/paint. Sanding the primed armor with a 400 grit will make it as smooth as a baby's bottom and even smoother when it is painted.
Body 07
This is the armor painted. Here is a very important tip which almost cost me my whole paint job. Do NOT put a high gloss paint on another high gloss paint. Just TRUST ME and do not do it. Instead Tape-off the area that is to be a different color before painting. Let that dry, then take the tape off, tape up the area that was painted so that only the primer is showing, then paint that piece. When applying coats it is better to apply a very very light coat about 10-15times (at 30 minute intervals) than to apply one heavy coat. You run the risk of the coat running and/or the paint chipping easier. See, in this picture the shoulder pads are all blue, but that is because I have taped them off before painting. In the next pic you can see white on them. I let the paint dry for 24hrs and then took the tape off.
Body 08
Nifty. Also you can Kind of make out some velcro and buckles and elastic. I will get more in detail about how I fitted the armor and made it stay on.
Body 09
This is the inside of the belt. What I did was take the hard part of the "sticky back" velcro and cut pieces to go on the inside of the armor pieces. To connect them all you do take the soft part of the "sticky back" velco...stick it to iself so you do stick it to the armor...and then place it along the inside of the armor. I will elaborate more when I show completed pics of the armor. This way allows for more flexibility, expandability (like if I sold it to someone larger than me he could adjust it accordingly), and ease of use & repair.
I am skipping "Body 10" & "Body 11" purposely. Don't worry, there is nothing missed.
Body 12
I put the velcro straps coming down from the top of the chest plate and attached them to the velcro on the inside of the biceps. I now do now take them off because when I put the chest plate on it they simply go right over my arm. This keeps them always at the same length and location.
Body 13
Topside view of the chest plate.
Body 14
Side view of the chest plate. You can see here how the back of the velcro is attached to something. I stuck the "sticky" side of the velcro to a white garbage bag, and then trimmed it out. That way there is no unnecessary stickage. You can also see where I put the velcro on the inside to connect the front to the back of the chestplate.
Body 15
Here is the pauldron. This was a freebie from my gf's godmother.
Body 16
Here is the Kama. Notice the long velcro straps hangin off.
Body 17
Here are the legs. They are joined together and the knees hang off of them (velcro'd). There is velcro on the backs of the knees but only for visual purposes.
Body 18
Here is the inside view of the legs/knees. Notice that the elastic strap buckles inside the armor. Also note the length of the velcro to the knees.
Body 19
This piece shows all the various parts of the armor (other than chest, crotch and legs) and how they they have velcro place on them. The belt shows two velcro strands hanging out from the left side...these will connect to the other side thus making a belt (that is adjustable).
Body 20
I have numbered the pieces of the belt to help me remember where to put them on the velcro. This also shows that I stuck the stick part of the soft-velcro to a plastic bag...thus making the sticky part no longer sticky.
Body 21
This is the inside of the calves. That is paper on the back of the velcro. The plastic bags I have found work better than paper.
Body 22
This is the inside of the forearms. If you do not have a heat gun to "bend" the plastic how you want, then do not put the plastic sticking out like this, rather do it like I did the calves.
Body 23
This is the cod piece. As you can see it has already started "weathering" itself even though I did not want to start doing that just yet. Oh well, looks likda cool.
Body 24
Here is the inside of the cod/butt piece. I bought 2 long pieces of elastic and 4 buckles, Next I criss-crossed them for when they go over my shoulders. I decided to not link the cod/butt piece to the chest/back pieces inorder to allow more armor mobility. It worked. Also note the unused section of velcro on the armor. That is where one of the straps from the Kama will connect, so that it will not fall off when walking.
Body 25
Here is the back view of the cod/butt piece. You can see the buckles more clearly now.
Body 26
The other side view.
<span style="color:#FF0000">From this point on consider this a "How to Put Your Armor On" tutorial
Body 27
First I have put the legs on. I put a belt on and looped up the strap that connects the legs. I plan to do this in the back as well (just havent yet) to prevent the legs from turning inwards. Again, I did not connect these to other pieces of armor to allow more stability and mobility.
Body 28
Once the legs/knees are on, I put the boots on, then the shins/calves on, then the cod/butt piece on. The calves/shins do not connect to anything, and the butt/cod piece I pulled up a little higher to anticipate how much it would be pulled down when the heavy kama and belt would be in place.
Body 29
This is one of the velcro strands of the Kama being inserted in the butt piece to velcro. I connect it here so that it does not fall down, droop, or fall off later. It moves maybe a hair the whle night. This is the left strand of the kama going into the right side of the armor.
Body 30
I now take the right side of the Kama and cross it over to the left side of myself. Note that I am holding the excess of the strap. This will be inserted in later (or you can cut it off)
Body 31
Now I have put the belt on (with the help of my gf).
Body 32
Here is the back view of the belt. I did not get a thermal detonator with my kit so I had to make one out of ABS and pvc pipe. I know its not screen accurate, but its Clone Wars semi-accurate. I plan on re-doing this piece later.
Body 33
Here is where that excess velcro strand off the Kama connects to the inside of the butt/cod.
Body 34
Originally I had to connect the excess velcro from the kama to the inside of the chest. DONT DO THIS. Connect it to the butt/cod or your armor may droop to one side.
Body 35
Now I have put the chest on, slid my arms into the biceps, and places the shoulders on making sure they are centered with the velcro, the biceps, and my arms. Also, I cut holes for my thumbs in my Nike Under armor shirt and blotted out the Nike logo. I dont think the Empire would have used Nike lol.
Body 36
Now I have put on the forearms, gloves, and hand plates. On the right forearm you will see scratches on it. That is not weathering but rather what happens when you have to scratch yourself in your man parts and have to dig up under the cod piece. Lol. But we can just say that it is weathering. Looks kind cool. God my eyes look funny. I swear they are the same color (blue) and are not wierd looking in person
Body 37
Back view. The calves/shins are not velcroed together which is why they look a little big.
Body 38
Here is me now with the pauldron on. Since this photo I have added velcro to the underside of the pauldron connecting it with the armor so it does not move armor.
Body 39
Helmet and gun now added! The gun is not done fyi. I will add that in later but I am kinda burt out (physically and financiall) from building for 3 weeks non-stop. Note I still have to paint the black on the helmet and the gray on the mouth. I just figured those were the least noticeable to the "untrained" star wars eye. And I did not have 36-48hrs to spare so I am doing those now.
Body 40
Different pose.
Body 41
Right side view. Yes I know I am slouching, and no I do not have a hump back.
Body 42
Left side view. Yes I know I am slouching, and no I do not have a hump back.
Body 43
Back view
Body 44
Me trying my best to look like a badass.
PS - Distraction 01 - My gf tried to distract me with her costume at various points durin the process!
First I am starting with the Kellogg's Bucket. I am converting it into the ARC Lieutenant helmet, along with the rest of the armor. As of now, all of my non-helmet pieces are glued together, cut & fitted, have been sanded (first with 80grit and then with 180grit to make the plastic smooth), and are awaiting bondo. Since the body pieces are pretty simple to put together (just make sure you have some plumbing glue that works with ABS & PVC) just time consuming I will spare you guys those details. I will first start by posting my work with the helmet, then the bondoing, then the priming, then the painting, and finally the "connecting" of pieces to the armor. Keep in mind that this is my first time doing anything like this, I started just over a week ago, and I WILL be done before Halloween. Enjoy B)
One more thing, before I continue I must express my utmost gratitude to everyone on the Clonetroopers.net board who has posted pics of their armor, their assembly process, their techniques, their mistakes, their successes, their tears, and their joys. I went into those boards with a full kit of clone armor and not the slightest bit of knowledge. I owe all of my knowledge to the guys here at Clonetroopers.net, the nice guy at O'Reily Autoparts, my girlfriend's godmother, and my friend CJ (who is gave me window tint for my visor and for helping to sand my armor) Now after reading almost every form and constantly studying what everyone else did, I now will make my own armor and join the 501st in a great hobby.
II. The Body</span>
Body 01
Here is the leg armor picture shown above. For constraints in posting I will not show the entire progress of the body armor, but rather will show the bondo process. Each person should use a strong expoy glus (as showin in Helmet 03) to glue the pieces. I have found it easiest and must more sturdy to overlap the armor and then bond rather than try to make flush seam. Here I have already glued all of the pieces of the armor to my liking and I have prepared each piece for bondo by sanding with rough 60 grit and slashing the armor with an exacto knife. Remember, it doesnt matter how rough the plastic is because the bondo and glazing putty will fill it all in and stick even better. Don't go lower than 60 grit paper though.
Body 02
Here is what the bicep looks like with Bondo on it. To make it easier on yourself, follow this order. Mix AT MOST 2 golfball sized clumps with 2 1/2 inches of hardener (any more and it will all harden before you can spread it all, and evenly) in a tupperwear bowl, not a glass bowl. Mix it until it is a uniform tan color. Then spread it over your armor. Its better to have a little more than a little less. But make sure that you spread it as smoothly as possible (it will make it easier on you when sanding later). Anywhere they sell bondo they also sell plastic spreaders.
Body 03
Once the bondo has dried in about 30-45min, sand the bondo down like this. Get it really smooth. To cut through it I used the 60 grit paper again. Sand it as close to the armor as you can without hitting the armor.
Body 04
After sanding the bondo, put Bondo "glazing putty" on it. This is red and it is for filling in the tiny holes and cracks in the bondo. Let it dry for a good 30min. It sands off really easy.
Body 05
After it has dried, sand it down (60 grit) until you see the tan bondo again. This is a pic of the thigh armor. See how you can see most of the tan bondo versus the red glazing putty? The red putty shows where all the imperfections were in the bondo. Dont be fooled, even though this piece looks like a cheetah, it is as smooth as a baby's bottom
Now that all of the pieces of the suit have been sanded (60 grit), slashed, bondo'ed, glazing puttied, and sanded again (60 grit)....sand it one more time with a 100+ grit. Sand (100+ grit) all of the armor regardless if it has had bondo on it or not. Your armor is now prepped to be primered and then (hopefully) painted.
Body 06
Ok. Now I have primed all of the armor (and painted/assembled the belt). When you prime it is OK if you see you need to re-bondo or re-putty. Simply sand back down with a coarse grit (60-80), putty (or bondo up), let that dry, then re-prime. Remember: The bondoing/puttying/sanding is the most important step in the whole process. If the armor is rough before you prime/paint it will be 10X worse when you actually do prime/paint. Sanding the primed armor with a 400 grit will make it as smooth as a baby's bottom and even smoother when it is painted.
Body 07
This is the armor painted. Here is a very important tip which almost cost me my whole paint job. Do NOT put a high gloss paint on another high gloss paint. Just TRUST ME and do not do it. Instead Tape-off the area that is to be a different color before painting. Let that dry, then take the tape off, tape up the area that was painted so that only the primer is showing, then paint that piece. When applying coats it is better to apply a very very light coat about 10-15times (at 30 minute intervals) than to apply one heavy coat. You run the risk of the coat running and/or the paint chipping easier. See, in this picture the shoulder pads are all blue, but that is because I have taped them off before painting. In the next pic you can see white on them. I let the paint dry for 24hrs and then took the tape off.
Body 08
Nifty. Also you can Kind of make out some velcro and buckles and elastic. I will get more in detail about how I fitted the armor and made it stay on.
Body 09
This is the inside of the belt. What I did was take the hard part of the "sticky back" velcro and cut pieces to go on the inside of the armor pieces. To connect them all you do take the soft part of the "sticky back" velco...stick it to iself so you do stick it to the armor...and then place it along the inside of the armor. I will elaborate more when I show completed pics of the armor. This way allows for more flexibility, expandability (like if I sold it to someone larger than me he could adjust it accordingly), and ease of use & repair.
I am skipping "Body 10" & "Body 11" purposely. Don't worry, there is nothing missed.
Body 12
I put the velcro straps coming down from the top of the chest plate and attached them to the velcro on the inside of the biceps. I now do now take them off because when I put the chest plate on it they simply go right over my arm. This keeps them always at the same length and location.
Body 13
Topside view of the chest plate.
Body 14
Side view of the chest plate. You can see here how the back of the velcro is attached to something. I stuck the "sticky" side of the velcro to a white garbage bag, and then trimmed it out. That way there is no unnecessary stickage. You can also see where I put the velcro on the inside to connect the front to the back of the chestplate.
Body 15
Here is the pauldron. This was a freebie from my gf's godmother.
Body 16
Here is the Kama. Notice the long velcro straps hangin off.
Body 17
Here are the legs. They are joined together and the knees hang off of them (velcro'd). There is velcro on the backs of the knees but only for visual purposes.
Body 18
Here is the inside view of the legs/knees. Notice that the elastic strap buckles inside the armor. Also note the length of the velcro to the knees.
Body 19
This piece shows all the various parts of the armor (other than chest, crotch and legs) and how they they have velcro place on them. The belt shows two velcro strands hanging out from the left side...these will connect to the other side thus making a belt (that is adjustable).
Body 20
I have numbered the pieces of the belt to help me remember where to put them on the velcro. This also shows that I stuck the stick part of the soft-velcro to a plastic bag...thus making the sticky part no longer sticky.
Body 21
This is the inside of the calves. That is paper on the back of the velcro. The plastic bags I have found work better than paper.
Body 22
This is the inside of the forearms. If you do not have a heat gun to "bend" the plastic how you want, then do not put the plastic sticking out like this, rather do it like I did the calves.
Body 23
This is the cod piece. As you can see it has already started "weathering" itself even though I did not want to start doing that just yet. Oh well, looks likda cool.
Body 24
Here is the inside of the cod/butt piece. I bought 2 long pieces of elastic and 4 buckles, Next I criss-crossed them for when they go over my shoulders. I decided to not link the cod/butt piece to the chest/back pieces inorder to allow more armor mobility. It worked. Also note the unused section of velcro on the armor. That is where one of the straps from the Kama will connect, so that it will not fall off when walking.
Body 25
Here is the back view of the cod/butt piece. You can see the buckles more clearly now.
Body 26
The other side view.
<span style="color:#FF0000">From this point on consider this a "How to Put Your Armor On" tutorial
Body 27
First I have put the legs on. I put a belt on and looped up the strap that connects the legs. I plan to do this in the back as well (just havent yet) to prevent the legs from turning inwards. Again, I did not connect these to other pieces of armor to allow more stability and mobility.
Body 28
Once the legs/knees are on, I put the boots on, then the shins/calves on, then the cod/butt piece on. The calves/shins do not connect to anything, and the butt/cod piece I pulled up a little higher to anticipate how much it would be pulled down when the heavy kama and belt would be in place.
Body 29
This is one of the velcro strands of the Kama being inserted in the butt piece to velcro. I connect it here so that it does not fall down, droop, or fall off later. It moves maybe a hair the whle night. This is the left strand of the kama going into the right side of the armor.
Body 30
I now take the right side of the Kama and cross it over to the left side of myself. Note that I am holding the excess of the strap. This will be inserted in later (or you can cut it off)
Body 31
Now I have put the belt on (with the help of my gf).
Body 32
Here is the back view of the belt. I did not get a thermal detonator with my kit so I had to make one out of ABS and pvc pipe. I know its not screen accurate, but its Clone Wars semi-accurate. I plan on re-doing this piece later.
Body 33
Here is where that excess velcro strand off the Kama connects to the inside of the butt/cod.
Body 34
Originally I had to connect the excess velcro from the kama to the inside of the chest. DONT DO THIS. Connect it to the butt/cod or your armor may droop to one side.
Body 35
Now I have put the chest on, slid my arms into the biceps, and places the shoulders on making sure they are centered with the velcro, the biceps, and my arms. Also, I cut holes for my thumbs in my Nike Under armor shirt and blotted out the Nike logo. I dont think the Empire would have used Nike lol.
Body 36
Now I have put on the forearms, gloves, and hand plates. On the right forearm you will see scratches on it. That is not weathering but rather what happens when you have to scratch yourself in your man parts and have to dig up under the cod piece. Lol. But we can just say that it is weathering. Looks kind cool. God my eyes look funny. I swear they are the same color (blue) and are not wierd looking in person
Body 37
Back view. The calves/shins are not velcroed together which is why they look a little big.
Body 38
Here is me now with the pauldron on. Since this photo I have added velcro to the underside of the pauldron connecting it with the armor so it does not move armor.
Body 39
Helmet and gun now added! The gun is not done fyi. I will add that in later but I am kinda burt out (physically and financiall) from building for 3 weeks non-stop. Note I still have to paint the black on the helmet and the gray on the mouth. I just figured those were the least noticeable to the "untrained" star wars eye. And I did not have 36-48hrs to spare so I am doing those now.
Body 40
Different pose.
Body 41
Right side view. Yes I know I am slouching, and no I do not have a hump back.
Body 42
Left side view. Yes I know I am slouching, and no I do not have a hump back.
Body 43
Back view
Body 44
Me trying my best to look like a badass.
PS - Distraction 01 - My gf tried to distract me with her costume at various points durin the process!
looks like you're having lots of fun with it!