Wow! Has it really been a year? Cant believe how time fly s. I appreciate those that have stayed with me, hope i havent bored you too much. Anyway, not much new happened, really. Got some replacement parts and continued to sand, sand, sand. The finisher need the surface to be as smooth as possible. i sanded all the way up to 1000 grit. Waiting is the hardest part. I had to save up money in order to get the gold chrome finish. I chose to go with the Spray Chrome. it is more expensive, and requires more prep work, but it is more durable than the Vac Plating and looks just as good, if not better...but more on that later. I did order a set of New Hands and Feet from MonCal. They are very well done, and will be great to wear. I did have to wait quite a while, as these parts do take alot of trial and error. But in the end i was very satisfied. I actually drove the parts to the finisher,minus the new hands and feet, who, lucky for me, lives in the same state about an hour and a half away. Shipping all those parts is a beast. Just loading them into the car was a challenge in itself. But, none the less, i did it. The guy the owns the shop has done a few suits before, and is familiar with what needs done. I felt pretty good leaving my work in his more than capable hands.He actually gave me a tour, explained the process, and worked with in my deadline. A true professional. Now, lets see, oh, while the parts were getting all shiny and gilded, i started to work on the soft parts. Namely the Belly wires. I have a mannequn torso that came in handy for trying to form the paper template. It seems paper doesnt like to bend every which way. Imagine that. Anyhow, I formed it around the torso as close to the body as possible. I made it extra lond at the top to allow for trimming.

The front part wasnt to bad... however the back...was a real pain in the ..well, you get the idea. Trying to not tear the paper, and get all kinds of folds and wrinkles..yeesh. It all worked out in the, uh.. ahem, end.

The black part of the torso in the original films was a rubber mat. It was changed in the new trilogy to a silicone casting to make it more comfortable for Mr. Daniels. Since i didn't feel like wearing a floor mat around my waist, i chose to go with black corduroy material. I bought some Plasti-dip in a spray and sprayed several layers onto the corduroy to give it a similar look. Turned out pretty good.The material will be attached to the foam backer to stiffen it, and act as a corset. Not that i need it mind you. ( hehe).

Helmet Mods

I decided to modify the helmet to make it fit better. There was a knob at the top that fit into the back part of the helmet, but when i tried it on, it was too tight on the top of my head. After looking at reference for the real helmet, i noticed that the top has a notch cut out. I decided to give this a try.

I removed the notch and it fits much better now. I also sanded down the sides and top in the inside considerably. This gives it a little more flex. For VAC-PLATING, this is a no-no. I will be using the SPRAY-CHROME ( not the rattle can) method. But more on that later.

The above pic also shows that i removed the nuts inside the sides that connect the ear-knobs. I flattened this area and used the POST connectors mentioned earlier. This also allows more room, especially around the neck. ( red tape is temporarily holding them in place.) The top will connect like the original, with an "O" ring-post attached to the front half, and the ANTENNA holding it in place. Stay tuned.....;-)

a few updates since last time

Well, haven't been updating in awhile.
Mostly because i was sanding parts. Talk about tedium and boring.
Anyway, I found these little things to be quite helpful. Found them at Lowe's in the hardware section. They are usually in the drawers where the screws and bolts and nuts are found.



I've used them for the inside of the knee area, and also for the pivot joints on the arms at the elbows. They work great.



Here i have drilled out a hole in the knee piston for the screw head, then applied an apoxy glue to hold it in place.

Knee pistons

I got the Knee pistons from GA. Not too bad imo. They are halves, which will need sanded and glued together.

I removed the lower tube part and replaced it with a styrene tube. This straightens it. The top and bottom half were shaved down to fit inside the tube.

calf hinges or Swiss cheese anyone?

Been working on little bits here and there. Mostly sanding and such. I've attached the hinges to the calf area, as they were on the original suit. In hindesight, it might have been better to predrill the holes in the LEGS first, then modify the hinges to fit, not the other way round. I tried drilling from the inside out and, well it didnt quite work out the best, as the drill was on an angle.Finding a screwdriver small enough to fit between was also a challenge. Oh well, thank the maker for Apoxy sculpt, ay?




The screws are screwed in from the inside, and the protuding ends ground off.Oh, how the sparks flew. gotta remember that. Anyway, i removed the pins from the hinges BEFORE i attached them, and replaced them with a piece of wire or tin nail. This way the calf can stay hindged or come off completely.

Can I give you a hand..?

The kit included the back of the hand plates, but no real fingers. After studying the resin display hands i purchased ( see earlier posts) i resculpted the fingers with Super sculpy. Templates were created from tracings using tissue paper draped over the resin hands. The templates were then traced onto the scuply. After forming over a mannequin hand, these were baked to harden. Final steps will be trimming,primer and sanding.

Sculpting this and that..

Resculpted the throat greeblie. The one that came with the kit was a bit rough. I actually used the back part of the Riddel C3PO helmet as a model, as it seemed to be the right size and basic shape.In the photos ( left to right) are the kit part, wax copy and final piece. Pretty pleased with the way it turned out.