Bolt Builds Commander Bacara + P2 ROTS Grunt

[Bolt_2112]

So surprise surprise Bolt is building more clones. People keep telling me I have a problem and honestly I don't know what you all are talking about 

Anyway! 

This time around I am building a modular Clone, using Commander Bacara as a base. 
Using the same lower section of the trooper, I will be able to create the following costumes:

ROTS Commander Bacara
ROTS Grunt
AOTC Grunt
AOTC Pilot

I want to frame this build thread so that it will assist future troopers in making Clone kits, so I will go into more detail than I usually would. I hope it is helpful!

Resources:

Kit: KW designs (Imperial Surplus) 
Kit replacement parts: Most likely will be sourced from Chris the Prop Guy
(Belt, shoulder bells, interchangable back plate, extra thermal det)

Bacara Helmet: Chris the Prop Guy
Phase 2 Helmet: Chris the Prop Guy

Bacara chest piece: Sanotized Creations
Bacara Buckles/Kama clips: Odd Viking

Fabricate: Bacara radio boxes, extra thermal det mount, shoulder straps.

Bonus AT-RT Driver helmet: Sky Gun Bro (and now probs a future project because I'm crazy) 

- Progress -

Helmets arrived a week or so ago. Very impressed with Chris' work. Very sharp details on both his helmets.

My Phase 2 bucket is the very first one he has created with his V2 mould, the Bacara took him quite a few goes, but came out very crisp. 
AT-RT helmet from Cueloopz is from 2009, so looking a bit yellow. Still a rare and lovely helmet. 



Today I got into cleaning them up. 

  

First things first; you'll need the following:

- Dremel (or a rotary tool that has plastic cut off discs and a sanding drum). 
- Needle files
- Sandpaper
- Dust mask

When cutting out visors, I recommend that you use a pencil to highlite the line between the helmet and the visor to be removed. It can be difficult to cut a neat line when the two blend together! The pencil line will also help you to see where the helmet needs more tidying up later. 



Follow your lines with the cutoff wheel as neatly as possible, then finish taking off the big bits with the sanding drum. I found that mine pretty well matched the curves at the outer edges of the visor. Go slow and take little bits at a time. Watch that the disc and drum don't eat too far into the helmet. For the flashing left in the neck ring, I used a coping saw to quickly clean it out. 

  

For the teeth, use a drill bit slightly bigger than your needle file to start out. 



I used a rounded needle file to open up the hole. Then a flat, then triangle for the corners, then a spade shaped one to finish. 



Phase 2 helmet visor and teeth cut out! Still needs more clean up, that will come later. 



Bacara cleaned up. Had a lot of material to clean up in the dome (It's in two pieces) and the thin.. thin part above the visor was also challenging (when assembled it will push up flush with the dome and you won't see it).



The AT-RT helmet proved to be the hardest helmet to cut the visor out of, the top visor part prevented me from getting in there with me dremel with much effect, so I drilled it out and used my coping saw which was a challenge!






Didin't quite finish the AT-RT today, but got close. Will continue cleaning up these buckets in the next update.



Vode An!

[Cyclops]

Time to brace ourselves for some heavy reading , looking forward to the quality work you always produce.
Really good example of using one kit to produce multiple approvals .

[Bolt_2112]

Time to brace ourselves for some heavy reading , looking forward to the quality work you always produce.
Really good example of using one kit to produce multiple approvals .

You don't have to read it all Bruce, just look at the pictures   

Today's update: Cleaning up the buckets and prep work

Helmets always have flashing left over from the two halves of the mould. This will need to be removed and cleaned up before paint work.



Using a dremel with sanding drum and two different grades of sandpaper, I removed the bulk of the flashing. If anything you want to make it flush, or just past flush.

  

It doesn't matter if the finish is a tad rough, we shall fix this at the next stage... note the locations of pin holes and dimples in the helmet

  

With all the flashing and excess material removed from the helmet we can move onto the next stage. This is CRITICAL to get right! 

Rotocast helmets will have mould release residue left on the surface from the moulding process. This stuff is essentially anti-paint and is as bad as silicone. 
You can quickly have your hard work turned into a nightmare if not removed correctly. Just take a look at my Shocktrooper from 8 years ago:



Beware incorrect surface preperation! 
How do you prevent this??

You want to get some wax & grease remover or a solvent (like metho) or even some soap and water (although this doesn't always work with non-water based mould release agents). 



My choice is Wax & Grease remover as my background is in industrial spray painting and it's what I'm familar with. 
Simply apply it in a wax on wax off kinda fashion. Wipe it onto the surface, into every nook and cranny, then wipe it off again with a clean wrag. Wear gloves.



Give the helmets a wash with the hose and dry them off, this will remove any dust. 
With that done, it's time to prep the helmet. 

I like to use a primer/filler spray, preferably in white. Today I'm using this brand, but almost any decent brand will do. 



Primer/filler does what it says on the tin, it primes the surface for paint and it gives you a layer to sand back to create a smooth finish. You can add more to areas as you go.
It dries fast and is easy to sand.

 All primed! My Phase 2 helmet painted well.

On the other hand.. my Bacara helmet became a prime example of what to watch out for. 



This is called "Orange peel" .. because it looks like an orange peel I guess haha. 
It means that there is still mould release on the surface. As you spray you will notice the paint seperating, stop painting and wait for it to dry. 
Sand back any areas that have orange peel and clean them again with Wax & Grease remover, maybe do it twice to make sure! 

After then give it another spray and see how it goes, if it doesn't seperate you are gold!

  

Next up I mixed up some fine filler, this is the brand I'm using. Again, if it's a good quality 2 part filler it should work fine. 
I spread it with a scraper and my gloved fingers into the pin holes and divits, along the seams and also in the sides of the aerators as they were a bit thin. 



Now to let all that dry. I'll be in for a bit of sanding next update!

[Bolt_2112]

Been plodding along this week. 

Plenty of sanding, filling and more sanding...



I recommend foam sanding pads, they are great as they conform to the shape of the helmet as you sand, can also roll them to get into tricky spaces. 





Getting there! 



My rough method is as follows:

-Base coat of primer/filler
-2 part filler for pin holes and deep scratches
-Sand 2 part filler with course sand paper
-Another coat of primer/filler
-Sand entire helmet with medium sand paper
-Fill any existing holes with 2 part filler
-Sand 2 part filler with course sand paper
-Sand entire helmet with medium sand paper
-Sand entire helmet with fine sand paper

And repeat 3 times for 3 helmets 

Phew.. maybe I'll get to do a base coat of paint next week! 

Vode An!

[Cyclops]

Sanding … so much fun !
Essential for a good result though .

[Bolt_2112]

Finally finished the mountain of sanding and got it to a stage where it was 90% happy so I called it there (I've found I can chase that last 10% forever..)

  

I used MTN 94 flat white as a base coat, then gave it two coats of MTN Hardcore - Satin white
A common mistake with Clones is people give them a flat white finish. This is correct for Animated Clones, but for realistic Clones you want a little bit of shine. 

Basically:

Matt/Flat white: Animated troopers
Satin white: Movie troopers

  

And this is the result, a Semi Gloss finish! I am very happy with how it came out. I'd give myself a 9/10 haha, could get a better finish with a proper spray gun. 





Also got the white coats on Bacara and the dome



Ignore the mess that is my backyard.. we are rennovating the house. Anyway, got the brown on the AT-RT. I used MTN 94 "Kraft brown". 

I'll leave the helmets for a week to cure before taping up for the next coats. 

Vode An!

[Bolt_2112]

Some wins and losses this weekend, tis' the story of painting helmets.



The assortment of tapes I use, highly recommend fine line tape. The green is for straight lines and the orange for curves. 



Bacara taped up. I sprayed the cheek plates once.. and decided I didn't like the colour, so I taped it a second time... and again I wasn't happy with the colour...



Hmm nope



Nope still doesn't look right...

So I painted it white again after giving it a good scuff.



Time for a new plan for Bacara... will try again next weekend.
Also painted the grey section of the back of the dome... like 4 times until I was happy.



Ended up going with MTN Wolf Grey as the colour.



I also used this same colour for the stripe, teeth and ears on the P2 Helmet



  

The center tooth kinda went funny when I sprayed it.. so some repair work to do there. I applied the cheek stripes and airbrushed the vocoder and respirators after giving them a scrub with hot soapy water. I sprayed some of the Wolf Grey onto a lid and brushed the center section of the respirators. 



So the P2 is almost done! Just the black band to go, but I've gotta let the grey dry before I can tape it up. Then weathering.

AT-RT helmet is also progressing. Had some issues with paint not sticking... but old helmets can be troublesome.. some of the left ear is giving me grief. Love the green (MTN Hardcore Olive green).



That's all for now!

[Bolt_2112]

Got some time this afternoon so I taped up the P2 for the black band. I decided to airbrush this, as it means less taping up and more precise control.

  

Came out perfect! 

    



  

Next step.. satin clear coat, then weathering!

[Bolt_2112]

Made some good progress in the last few weeks

I sprayed back Bacara's cheek pads to have a white undertone. 



Then I spent a while with the airbrush, dusting the cheeks with grey, black and white. I used a wet wrag to bring the paint back to white along the edges. 
After a coat of clear over the whole bucket, I made a stencil from spare ABS and sprayed the two dots on the dome. I used MTN 94 "Bitacora". 
Was very pleased with the result!

Also airbrushed the vocoders, chin greeble and antenna base. 

    

For the antenna, I glued the base on first, then very carefully drilled through it and into the earcap of the dome. This will give it far more strength, as it won't just rely on the antenna base as a mount. 





Weathering both helmets was the next task

Tools used: 

-Airbrush
-Small brushes
-A piece of foam rubber
-Very fine sand paper
-Wrag and water (as I use water based paints)

I used some reference images from the Star Wars helmets magazines for both buckets. Starting with light airbrushing I added black tick marks with some thick accrylic paint and a fine brush. I also mixed up some brown/yellow paint to match the ROTS images I found. It is mostly located around the ears. 

Another great technique is to airbrush an area, then quickly wipe it around with a damp wrag. Then once it dries, scuff it back with very fine sandpaper. This won't affect the helmet as I'm sanding after the clear coat. 

Always feel free to get your hands dirty! Wipe paint with your finger to smear it around, dry brush areas and use the foam to dab the paint. All of this creates a wonderful effect. 

And here are the results!

    

    

Bacara:

    

    

I'm quite proud of these! Came out well

For the visors I use welding visors that I picked up off ebay



You can cut it with scissors and I use hot glue to stick them in. For the teeth I used fly screen which I also hot glue in position. 

I got started on the kit today, starting with the arms.



Marking the edges with a pencil, cut the flashing off. I find using a knife and the "score and snap" method to work the best. Use a dremmel with a cutting disk for the thick parts.



Test fit with the forearms, use painters tape to test and see if you are getting close. Then mark and cut the ABS.

    

Make sure to reduce the return edges, I see a lot of troopers leave it on and it just makes your armour waaaay bigger than it has to be. Clone armour in ROTS looks to be about 5mm thick, so reduce it to something like that. I use a dremmel sanding drum to do this.



With that done, you can go onto gluing the two halves together. Using an offcut, create a ~20mm thick joining strip. Sand/scuff one side and do the same to the inside edges of the forearm. I use Zap-a-gap to assemble armour. 

Glue this on and clamp.





Now, you'll find the armour will sit like this.. open. Use a heat gun to gently bend it to a closed position. Once the final side is sitting nicely, glue on another joining strip and attach. 



And it's that easy! That's basic assembly. 

Besides cutting the flashing off the arm parts, I cut out the gauntlets. Using tin snips to rough them out is easier than the knife. Use a dremmel or belt sander to finish.





And that's my current update! 

Vode an!

[Bolt_2112]

Some more progress



Biceps cleaned up, sized and assembled



Forearms sized and assembled also, compad glued on. (Elbows cleaned up)



My compad is going to be a bit different this time around, I'm making a fully functional one which will have a sound board attached, as well as a push-to-talk button for the microphone located in my helmet. 

The buttons I cut out have been glued to an old phone screen protector, this will be mounted to the forearm and have the actual buttons located beneath.





More on the compad later when I get it set up correctly

I cleaned up the thighs, tested and added joining strips and assembled. Note the angular cut I made on the join. This was to retain the shape, as if I did a vertical join, I would have lost detail and the two halves would not have come together neatly.





I've also assembled one shin. It didn't come together as neat as I like, but it's okay, I'll fix that when we sludge the joins. 

  Still waiting on the spoons for my shins to arrive. When they do I will do a post on the shins specifically as they can be tricky.


And the chest and back have been cleaned up and just need a final sand + the slots cut for the shoulder straps.



Also waiting on the Bacara specific parts to arrive from Chris. He is getting his Bacara approved first, which will ensure that his parts are approvable. That's his excuse anyway, I think he just wants to beat me 

Vode An!

[Bolt_2112]

This thread is long overdue for an update!

I've had a bit going on in the real world, so this builds kinda slowed, but I've been chipping away at it.
Had issues with Chris the Prop Guy also.. he has been quite slow getting my parts to me. A few days ago my first parcel finally arrived (7 months after I ordered it).
Unfortunately a few of the parts were B-grade at best.. super thin ABS, pitted and warped parts, and parts that were cast poorly. So I've gotta wait for replacements.

Anyway, I have assembled all the parts I've got, and have given them their two coats of white. (MTN 94, Hardcore Satin white)






I found I actually had an old Clone back plate detail in storage, despite being a tad less sharp than newer castings, it fitted well into my Imperial Surplus back armour. 



After enjoying how shiny it all was, I made it all dirty with weathering. 

My personal favourite way to weather armour is as follows:

I use water based paints.. I like the easy clean up and how easy they are to manipulate. Yes you don't have the ability to "reactivate" them much later on like you can with other paints, but I work fast enough to not have to worry about that. 

1. Airbrush on some black, then, with a spray bottle full of water, sprits the surface. 
2. Using a wrag, I wipe the black paint around until it just starts to clean off.
3. Then I use a thin brush to paint on black detail marks (tick marks, nicks and scratches).
4. Airbrush lightly over the tick marks
5. Apply a dark brown with a dry sponge sparingly



[/url]

After the weathering was complete, I double coated all armour in Satin clear to protect it and give it a nice shine. This time I had to use "Out door protective varnish" beacuse MTN were out of my usual Acrylic. 
The difference being that this stuff is water based. It noticed that it sprays a little easier, goes further and tends to run more than the Acrylic.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oTYP1p]




Time will tell if this was a tragic mistake or not haha. It shouldn't yellow over time.. if it does, well I should have used the Acrylic, if it doesn't, then this is a great clear paint to work with.

[ShawnK]

This thread is long overdue for an update!

I've had a bit going on in the real world, so this builds kinda slowed, but I've been chipping away at it.
Had issues with Chris the Prop Guy also.. he has been quite slow getting my parts to me. A few days ago my first parcel finally arrived (7 months after I ordered it).
Unfortunately a few of the parts were B-grade at best.. super thin ABS, pitted and warped parts, and parts that were cast poorly. So I've gotta wait for replacements.

Anyway, I have assembled all the parts I've got, and have given them their two coats of white. (MTN 94, Hardcore Satin white)






I found I actually had an old Clone back plate detail in storage, despite being a tad less sharp than newer castings, it fitted well into my Imperial Surplus back armour. 



After enjoying how shiny it all was, I made it all dirty with weathering. 

My personal favourite way to weather armour is as follows:

I use water based paints.. I like the easy clean up and how easy they are to manipulate. Yes you don't have the ability to "reactivate" them much later on like you can with other paints, but I work fast enough to not have to worry about that. 

1. Airbrush on some black, then, with a spray bottle full of water, sprits the surface. 
2. Using a wrag, I wipe the black paint around until it just starts to clean off.
3. Then I use a thin brush to paint on black detail marks (tick marks, nicks and scratches).
4. Airbrush lightly over the tick marks
5. Apply a dark brown with a dry sponge sparingly



[/url]

After the weathering was complete, I double coated all armour in Satin clear to protect it and give it a nice shine. This time I had to use "Out door protective varnish" beacuse MTN were out of my usual Acrylic. 
The difference being that this stuff is water based. It noticed that it sprays a little easier, goes further and tends to run more than the Acrylic.






Time will tell if this was a tragic mistake or not haha. It shouldn't yellow over time.. if it does, well I should have used the Acrylic, if it doesn't, then this is a great clear paint to work with.

Great update to the thread! I follow this thread even though I rarely post. Your results are very cool!

By the way, did you replace the bad parts? Or would you have to wait 7 months again? And why did it take so long? 7 months is a huge amount of time.

G
M
T
Y

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---

This thread is long overdue for an update!

I've had a bit going on in the real world, so this builds kinda slowed, but I've been chipping away at it.
Had issues with Chris the Prop Guy also.. he has been quite slow getting my parts to me. A few days ago my first parcel finally arrived (7 months after I ordered it).
Unfortunately a few of the parts were B-grade at best.. super thin ABS, pitted and warped parts, and parts that were cast poorly. So I've gotta wait for replacements.

Anyway, I have assembled all the parts I've got, and have given them their two coats of white. (MTN 94, Hardcore Satin white)






I found I actually had an old Clone back plate detail in storage, despite being a tad less sharp than newer castings, it fitted well into my Imperial Surplus back armour. 



After enjoying how shiny it all was, I made it all dirty with weathering. 

My personal favourite way to weather armour is as follows:

I use water based paints.. I like the easy clean up and how easy they are to manipulate. Yes you don't have the ability to "reactivate" them much later on like you can with other paints, but I work fast enough to not have to worry about that. 

1. Airbrush on some black, then, with a spray bottle full of water, sprits the surface. 
2. Using a wrag, I wipe the black paint around until it just starts to clean off.
3. Then I use a thin brush to paint on black detail marks (tick marks, nicks and scratches).
4. Airbrush lightly over the tick marks
5. Apply a dark brown with a dry sponge sparingly





After the weathering was complete, I double coated all armour in Satin clear to protect it and give it a nice shine. This time I had to use "Out door protective varnish" beacuse MTN were out of my usual Acrylic. 
The difference being that this stuff is water based. It noticed that it sprays a little easier, goes further and tends to run more than the Acrylic.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oTYP1p]




Time will tell if this was a tragic mistake or not haha. It shouldn't yellow over time.. if it does, well I should have used the Acrylic, if it doesn't, then this is a great clear paint to work with.

Great update to the thread! I follow this thread even though I rarely post. Your results are very cool!

By the way, did you replace the bad parts? Or would you have to wait 7 months again? And why did it take so long? 7 months is a huge amount of time.

---

Sorry, it turned out to be 2 posts. The forum inserted the code from my browser plugin for some reason. I had nothing to do with it. I tried editing, but I can't see the edit button. Can't edit?

[Bolt_2112]

I'm having replacement parts sent to me. Not sure how long they will take to get here... Chris has been saying that he's busy.

You can edit your post and delete all the parts of my thread you have copied. The edit button is at the bottom right of your post.

[ShawnK]

I'm having replacement parts sent to me. Not sure how long they will take to get here... Chris has been saying that he's busy.

You can edit your post and delete all the parts of my thread you have copied. The edit button is at the bottom right of your post.

I only have three buttons. There is no edit button. Probably because I'm new to the forum.

[Bolt_2112]

Been chipping away at rigging for a bit now. I had some suspenders arrive this week, as well as my rubber straps from Sanotized creations.
After a bit of sewing to create the internal straps I needed, I finally got to do my first suit up today



Still some adjustments to make, but the fit is really good. 
I should have all the parts ready for a test fit soon. Unfortunately still waiting on the belt boxes and a few bits for Bacara.