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Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:53 pm
by Wags
I agree about the snaps. I added velcro to my wifes as well. She doesent have a problem with them popping off after that.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:23 pm
by DeafTrooper
yah, i accidentally made mine slightly on the tight side, so that velcro is going to be an absolute must, haha. the sides of the butt piece with the snaps also come a bit more forward on mine, than what i see on a lot of other people's armor...i'm hoping that this won't be a problem for 501st approval? also, i noticed that my back piece is a little bigger than my chest piece. will have to remove about half an inch from the entire bottom of it just to get it to line up correctly. almost done with the bucket. glued the visor in last night with E-6000 or whatever it's called (half asleep at the moment...can't remember). had a hell of a time doing it. there are 2 small gaps but they don't look too bad. also started the mesh for the mouth section, which will cover up 1 of the small gaps from the visor. glued down 1 layer and want to let it dry before i do the second layer. all that's left after that is to add the foam on the inside and add the fans. will have to wait a while for that. don't have the money right now, after having to deal with all the crap from my car accident the other week ($125 ticket, $466 for the rental car and my $500 deductable :( ). plus, all the overtime i've been working and having to deal with my upcoming marriage in 3 weeks.....haven't really had any time to work on things.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:08 pm
by DeafTrooper
well, haven't had any time to work on anything lately. been working a ton of overtime. plus, i've had some money issues lately and haven't been able to buy more stuff that i need. tried to do a bunch of stuff today on my 1 day off this week.

just about done with the bucket. all i have left to do is add the vent stripes and then add the fans/wiring system and add the foam inside. the pic doesn't really show the weathering job i did on it.
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butt/cod piece is almost done. just as i was about to take this pic, the snap busted off the one side. just used tape for the moment. just have to fix it and then paint/weather it.
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the ab section is glued. have to get some bondo for it.
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started on the chest/back. the 2 pieces weren't lining up right, so i had to trim about 1/2 inch off the bottom of the back piece. also started working on the shoulder straps.

also staring to wonder about making the costume a plain white grunt, instead of a 41st corp. not sure if i want to go through all the extra painting, which i suck at.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 8:13 am
by Voss
Painting is not all that bad. Outside of a Mandalorian Helmet, my Arc is my first major armor project. It's just a little time consuming taping things off and making sure they are symmetrical.

Build what you will be happy with not necessarily what is easy IMO.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:49 am
by Lou3433
Painting a 41 Elite is not a big deal at all. The hardest part was painting the five little stripes on the forearms...and even that was pretty simple.

For the stripes I used electrical tape and kind of eyeballed the line for the paint. I layed down a tape line. I used a contrasting color for the width of the stripe. Then I layed down another line of tape...so I had three tape lines side by side by side. I then pulled up the middle strip of tape and that left me with a great path for a stripe. I used electrical tape because it followed the curves of the armor great. I do recommend a high quality tape like 3m or something similar. The cheap tape will leave some residue after you pull it off.

Here's a picture of what my 41st Elite looked like...before I sold it. :(

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Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:58 pm
by DeafTrooper
how big are the slots on the chest armor supposed to be? i'm on vacation this week and want to catch up on a lot of work. kind of hard with this heat, though (working on apartment balcony).

EDIT: nevermind...found my answer. :D

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:56 pm
by DeafTrooper
Big updates! Finished both the helmet and the cod/butt piece.

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Close up of the fan system. The 2 small fans are blowing air out through the aerator. The big one is blowing air in through the mouth. I originally had it centered but my huge nose kept hitting the fan blades, so I moved it over to the side. Switch for the small fans is on the left side of the neck ring and switch for the big one is on the right side.

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Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:56 pm
by Voss
DeafTrooper wrote:Big updates! Finished both the helmet and the cod/butt piece.

Close up of the fan system. The 2 small fans are blowing air out through the aerator. The big one is blowing air in through the mouth. I originally had it centered but my huge nose kept hitting the fan blades, so I moved it over to the side. Switch for the small fans is on the left side of the neck ring and switch for the big one is on the right side.

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That is some serous horsepower you got going there. Looking good.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:12 am
by DeafTrooper
Thanks! I even added rubber in between the fans and helmet so I wouldn't get the vibration sound/bee hive effect. the 2 small fans are so quiet, I sometimes can't tell if they are on or not. The big one has a little bit of a whine to it, but not too bad.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:51 pm
by Wags
I have a similar set up in mine. I good with the noise. Its gets hot in that thing... :rotflmao: Looks good so far man!!

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:01 pm
by DeafTrooper
Thanks! I started doing a lot of trimming today. Got the hand guards, shoulder pads and thighs done. Would've done more but I lost my pencil and didn't have anything else to draw cut lines with. :roll: :sonofa: Plus, it was getting later and I don't like to work on my deck past 5 pm. I don't think the people in my apartment building, coming home from work, want to hear all the noise after a long day, heh heh. Will try and finish the trimming on my next day off (Thursday). I'm going to save the actual sizing/cutting for the armor party. only other thing I may need to do is add more foam to the helmet. Sits too low on my head and keeps rubbing againts the shoulder straps.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:25 pm
by DeafTrooper
Lou3433 wrote: Here's a picture of what my 41st Elite looked like...before I sold it. :(

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quick question for you, lou...does it matter what shade of gray is used? the crl says "primer gray" and the sideshow figure looks to be a smoked gray, while yours seems to be a lighter shade. was that a result of the flash? if not, what is the proper shade? i started painting mine the darker shade of the sideshow figure. is this correct/approvable?

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:51 pm
by Lou3433
I used the same grey for my armor as I did for the band on the back of my helmet. Rustoleum Automobile Primer Light Grey.

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I'm not sure if the darker color is approvable or not. I know that all of the other 41st's I've seen are the light colored gray.

Hope this helps. :thumbs:

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:26 pm
by DeafTrooper
i started using rust-oleum painter's touch primer gray. # 1980830. i tried to find a pic on-line but they all show it as being lighter than it actually is. it is identical to krylon fusion smoked gray. so far, i've only done the hand guards. maybe i'll try to contact the main 501st site to find out for sure

EDIT: i just heard back from them and they don't have a set standard. guess i'm in the clear. :thumbs:

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:37 pm
by DeafTrooper
awww, hell with it. the other guy i e-mailed said that i should stick to the same you guys are using. went to the hardware store and looked at it. not a light as the pics make it out to be. kind of like it. sanding the old paint off the handguards.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:29 pm
by Silverfox
Where did you get the fans for your helmet? I'm looking to get a set for mine here pretty soon.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:37 pm
by Voss
TK-4261 has an ongoing sale thread for fans. I use identical fans in my helmet but I bought the parts and built them myself. I think I got two for the price he charges for a single unit.

batter case http://www.batteryspace.com/batteryhold ... liant.aspx

fan http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-st ... WER/1.html

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:14 pm
by DeafTrooper
Silverfox wrote:Where did you get the fans for your helmet? I'm looking to get a set for mine here pretty soon.
the 2 small ones behind the aerators were from radio shack. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... PerPage=60

the bigger one behind the mouth i got from port computers in fort gratiot (northern port huron). radio shack didn't have any big ones that were thin.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:34 pm
by DeafTrooper
did a bunch of stuff the last 2 days. got my shoulder bells and hand guards painted. glued the biceps together and now doing the forearms. does this look about right to you guys? i had to cut a lot of it off to make it fit.

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also replaced the foam in my bucket with thicker stuff. it kept wanting to slide down.

Re: 41st Elite Clone w.i.p.

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:31 pm
by DeafTrooper
well, i'm starting to get the feeling i screwed up the biceps. am i right? :unsure: