Bally's Big Kashyyyk Build

[Bally]

I started this too long ago here and then life took hold and it never really got anywhere.  Now I have the time to pull my finger out and get it done, so it's getting done.

I can't thank Bruce the Master Builder enough for having done all the hard work on the armour so far and getting me to the point I'm comfortable to take it from myself.  He's basically given up two full days to cut, trim, size, glue, etc the difficult armour parts I was too scared to try myself.

This is where it sits now.  The kit is..... interesting.  It's needed a fair bit of tweaking and I'm still going to have to do things like build up the top of the tank to both strengthen it and recess the topper.  The suit (in old thread) was done previously but still needs the riding patch sewn in, so I've just given it another wash so that can happen.  Although I've bought all the stuff for gloves previously but I'm going to get them from Wampwear anyway.  I think I'm going to continue with the 3D printed pouches too.  The cummerbund is up in the air at the moment.  Boots I've done myself (can be seen in the old thread) and am quite happy with.





The Master at work:

[Bally]

Making the reinforced, recessed insert for the top of the tank.

[Cyclops]

It’s good to see this kit coming to life and the progress is good so far . The 3D printed boxes with magnetic closures are a useful addition to the kit and add a degree of uniformity  , the laminated insert to reinforce and recess the tank and tank topper looks on track , nice work.

[Bally]

Been focused on gluing and sanding, mainly the shins and biceps.  Using the Plastic Fusion to fill in the gaps I thought I'd made a massive mess of it but a heap of sanding later and it's not entirely crap.  Still needs a bit more filling in though and some building up on the top and bottom edges.  I also used it to tidy up the helmet visor and again, turned a gluey mess into something I think is reasonable.




I've also glued the reinforced top into the tank and did a test fit of the greeb.

[Cyclops]

The fusion certainly is the best product I’ve used for that seamless finish , the idea for recessing the tank topper has worked out really well , just take the harsh edge off that lip with a little sandpaper ( give it a slight rolled edge ) , you’ve made good progress. Once you get a coat of base colour on it’ll start to come to life .

[Bally]

The fusion certainly is the best product I’ve used for that seamless finish , the idea for recessing the tank topper has worked out really well , just take the harsh edge off that lip with a little sandpaper ( give it a slight rolled edge ) , you’ve made good progress. Once you get a coat of base colour on it’ll start to come to life .

Thanks mate yeah I was planning on putting a bit of a chamfer on that edge.  Can't wait to start getting some paint on.

[Bally]

Work slowly continuing.  Been focusing on the tank over the last week.  The inside looks messy as hell but it works.  The seam around the outside is slowly coming up well too (although, it also looks like crap in the pics).  Sand and patch, sand and patch.  Also started painting the 'easy' parts.

[Cyclops]

The seam will sand up nicely, the benefit of using plastic fusion , once the bottom plate is in place for the tank topper recess it will create a nice pocket . The inside of the armor is of no consequence short of personal preferences as it’s purely functional and hides fixings for the external components. Looks like your bracketing for the tank has worked out well.

[Bally]

Running with Bolt's 'glue the foam pieces together' method for making the drop boxes, except using ABS sheet I'll wrap with material.  Might be handy for carrying stuff in too.

Also decided to sew the cummerbund pouches.  The issue is the Level 2 CRL requirements have most of the pouches at 10cm (4") wide, plus the 7" wide spine pouches.  Totaling a bare minimum of 98 cm required around the cummerbund.  To include the gap at the front, even with the suit and cummerbund taking up extra circumference, I have nowhere near that amount of real-estate to use.  So I'm going to run with the old reference dimensions of 8cm wide pouches, which may still only barely fit.  CRLs also say "... proportional to the wearer in scale, fit and size".



Also found a pretty cool greeblie addition to fill some space on the tank topper (RGB LED).

[Cyclops]

Good progress , the greeblies are always open to a little subjective interpretation as was apparent the day we had three different tank toppers from three different vendors and all were substantially different saving for the major elements.
That proportional to the wearer is not addressed often enough and can change the final look of the final costume .

[Bally]

Pretty happy how these turned out actually.  Going to use that material for the other pouches too.


Sense of achievement getting some base paint on too.

[Bally]

Seam around the tank is pretty much done.  Reinforced the shoulders and sides of the chest and back with 2mm ABS pieces because the 1mm is bloody thin.  I'm going to use some 3mm x 3mm ABS strips I had bought for a DC-15a build, around the edges of the neck and arms and top of the shins to increase the return.  Also because I've become addicted to sanding and the smell of the epoxy. 

Started on the rest of the pouches but my skills with the sewing machine leave a lot to be desired. 

Got the tank topper tidied up nicely and put a coat of black on it but the spray can dumps it on way too think and it killed all of the detail on the small greeblies, so I scrubbed it all off again with turps and detergent.  Might have to look at airbrushing it instead. 

Time to trim and size the shoulders of the chest and back too so I can get onto painting them and working on the joining method.

[Cyclops]

Nice progress , reinforcing the shoulders is a smart move as the are the load bearing points for most kits , the colour looks good in that light , nice match to the Blu-ray references , as far as the black goes MTN make various nozzles , you should be able to find a spray pattern and mist a coat with the aerosol without losing all the detail .

[Bally]

Had trouble with the spray can killing the fine detail on the tank greeb and Aldi just happened to have an airbrush kit on sale sooooooo giddy up.  Spent a heap of time prepping and masking this to get a good base coat on it and keep the detail.   Gotta be honest, a lot of work but getting pretty bloody excited about this.

[Cyclops]

It sits really nicely into the recess we created , good work .