1st Build Air Assault Build

[JurbV3]

Hello!

I've been in the 405th for a few years now and have gotten to know alot of people, I figured now that I have a gap year I have plenty of time to get going on a project. I am making a set of reach air assault armor, and intend to just post updates until the inevitable conclusion of the main project. This however doesn't imply I won't be improving it/replacing pieces over time. My deadline for completion is April 15th, slightly prior to Calgary Expo. Please do not hesitate to offer your critiques and or questions, I'm a bit of perfectionist and really want this to turn out great, however it is not lost on me that I am utterly inexperienced beyond a handful of rather fruitless attempts.

Right now I am using a Creality Hi printer, and printing with PLA plastic. I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.

Here is my current progress, I have the helmet printed out. It is 6 pieces glued together with gorilla super glue I found in the junk drawer. Some immediate issues I ran into are the following:

1. Pieces don't fit particularly well, as you can see in the pictures the frontal lobe portion of the helmet isn't quite lined up with the rear, however the front looks fine. could be warping or maybe I'm just not sanding it enough. Either way I'm fairly confident that with enough putty it might be fine?
2. It seems slightly larger than expected. Looking at my Armor Smith model it seems like I definitely got the right scale, and adding the extra armor should hopefully balance it out. As a sidenote, I think the Air assault helmet is generally rather long and almond shaped, which may turn out better for putting fans and electronics in the rear portion.
3. My super glue kinda sucks, I think the bottle I have is a year or two old though so it's probably not a reflection on the actual product. I tried out crazy glue too, it doesn't adhere great and requires at least 10 minutes to get any real sticking.

Beyond all that, I think it looks great, and I hope to get going on some more pieces. I think the largest hurdle is going to be my lack of access to a warm, ventilated area that isn't inside the house. I don't have a garage, and it gets bloody freezing from November to March. However, the backyard does have a pretty neat dog house that lends itself real easy to putting a space heater inside. So that may be my only option for filler primer and painting up until the snow melting season. If anyone has some tips on that, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

 

[SgtSaint]

> and printing with PLA plastic.
I'd suggest taking a weekend to dial-in a more robust material like PETG/ASA/ABS

> I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.
Sized and scaled well, I find my printed suits quite good for range of motion and mobility.

> glued together with gorilla super glue
I'd urge you to read several build threads, tips, and so on. Just superglue is not a great or robust solution. Its okay for short term and display but its not something most people would trust for long term and wear about. It just doesn't hold up to stresses from movement and posing.

Mostly from your description of problems it sounds like you're trying to re-invent armor cosplay when you don't have to because there's so many good tutorials, videos, and so on.

----------

My "New Armorer FAQ" thread:
SgtSaint's FAQ post
<spoiler> I commonly recommend starting with a less unforgiving build as your first armor, then work up to one's like this with tighter and tighter tolerances after you've leveled up your scaling skills.</spoiler>

Advice:
Just because this is new to you doesn't mean its new. You don't have to re-invent the wheel with making, finishing or painting techniques. With ANY new endeavor I urge people to scroll back in the forums and facebook pages about a year and just read, read, read. A day spent reading can gain you man-years of knowledge and insight. You see what gets asked over and over. You see the problems that pop up over and over. You see things like "after about 3 months these cracks appeared" and so on that you only get with the benefit of time.
YouTube: Instead of watching movies this week just watch YouTubes on printing, making armor, doing painting etc. There's nothing like WATCHING something happen both good and bad to be a great learning tool.

Read through some build threads where people detail the process, the scaling, the planning, the fails and successes, finishing, painting, strapping. These are a couple of mine but there are hundreds more. Also don't brush off build threads for armor different than yours. Just because it's a... Heavy Infantry Mandalorian, or whatever doesn't mean the lessons on scaling, padding and painting don't apply to your armor just as well.
Spartan:
• Build 2 - MK-VI gen-3. With some silver timeline influence
• MK-VI Silver team season 2 [2024 build]

ODST:
SgtSaint ODST build (AU regiment)

 

[JurbV3]

> and printing with PLA plastic.
I'd suggest taking a weekend to dial-in a more robust material like PETG/ASA/ABS

> I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.
Sized and scaled well, I find my printed suits quite good for range of motion and mobility.

> glued together with gorilla super glue
I'd urge you to read several build threads, tips, and so on. Just superglue is not a great or robust solution. Its okay for short term and display but its not something most people would trust for long term and wear about. It just doesn't hold up to stresses from movement and posing.

Mostly from your description of problems it sounds like you're trying to re-invent armor cosplay when you don't have to because there's so many good tutorials, videos, and so on.

----------

My "New Armorer FAQ" thread:
SgtSaint's FAQ post
<spoiler> I commonly recommend starting with a less unforgiving build as your first armor, then work up to one's like this with tighter and tighter tolerances after you've leveled up your scaling skills.</spoiler>

Advice:
Just because this is new to you doesn't mean its new. You don't have to re-invent the wheel with making, finishing or painting techniques. With ANY new endeavor I urge people to scroll back in the forums and facebook pages about a year and just read, read, read. A day spent reading can gain you man-years of knowledge and insight. You see what gets asked over and over. You see the problems that pop up over and over. You see things like "after about 3 months these cracks appeared" and so on that you only get with the benefit of time.
YouTube: Instead of watching movies this week just watch YouTubes on printing, making armor, doing painting etc. There's nothing like WATCHING something happen both good and bad to be a great learning tool.

Read through some build threads where people detail the process, the scaling, the planning, the fails and successes, finishing, painting, strapping. These are a couple of mine but there are hundreds more. Also don't brush off build threads for armor different than yours. Just because it's a... Heavy Infantry Mandalorian, or whatever doesn't mean the lessons on scaling, padding and painting don't apply to your armor just as well.
Spartan:
• Build 2 - MK-VI gen-3. With some silver timeline influence
• MK-VI Silver team season 2 [2024 build]

ODST:
SgtSaint ODST build (AU regiment)

I appreciate the feedback. I'll admit I am kinda winging it, and you're right that the superglue feels weird, definitely not load bearing. I talked with a few people about epoxy and plastic welding so I'll probably give all that a shot aswell.

As for materials, I have been looking into both PETG and ABS. But unfortunately, my resources are limited and PLA is what's available and easiest to use.

I appreciate the tips, and I'll definitely check out some more of the literature pertaining to the topic.

Thanks!

 

[SgtSaint]

> and PLA is what's available and easiest to use.
PETG isn't any harder to use than PLA - it will probably just mean a little more time fine tuning your settings. PLA is given by the manufacturers because its very forgiving and it reduces their complaint calls. You can print from 170-230 and not get a puddle of goo. But that doesn't mean its an awesome material. Taking the weekend to tune in your temps and speeds and PETG is just as easy as PLA.

If you do print in PLA then plan to take precautions. Don't leave it in the sun when you're painting it. Don't leave it in a hot car or trunk. I've seen PLA droid that looked like candles in the sun because they were in the sun in the back of a station wagon on the way to a con - and long props like rifles and swords that came out of a trunk wimp and flacid. I've read where some people even put their PLA armor in coolers with ice blocks because they had to load in the back of pick-up trucks. Mostly it seems like a case of trading a couple hours of "easy" on the front end for a lot of precaution and fragile handling practices for the lifetime of ownership. If you're okay with that then cool; just wanted you to be aware and make an informed decision.

> PLA is what's available
I'm guessing you're at the mercy of someone else then. Printing at school/library and its all they offer.

 

[N8TEBB]

YOOOO This is the start of an epic build!!!

I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.

Excellent choice to try out foam crafting! I am VERY happy I decided to try and make the whole suit out of EVA foam besides the helmet. 3D printed armour will give you sufficient mobility, but foam armour gives you excessive mobility.

Pieces don't fit particularly well, as you can see in the pictures the frontal lobe portion of the helmet isn't quite lined up with the rear, however the front looks fine. could be warping or maybe I'm just not sanding it enough. Either way I'm fairly confident that with enough putty it might be fine?

I think the misalignments can be fixed up nicely with spot putty and sanding. Nothing too big there

It seems slightly larger than expected. Looking at my Armor Smith model it seems like I definitely got the right scale, and adding the extra armor should hopefully balance it out. As a sidenote, I think the Air assault helmet is generally rather long and almond shaped, which may turn out better for putting fans and electronics in the rear portion.

It may be too big, it might not. I wouldn't re-print anything until you can see it compared with the rest of the armour. As you said, it's hard to tell unless it's all together.

My super glue kinda sucks, I think the bottle I have is a year or two old though so it's probably not a reflection on the actual product. I tried out crazy glue too, it doesn't adhere great and requires at least 10 minutes to get any real sticking.

I like to use instant-bond CA glue. It's essentially the same thing as super glue and comes with an activator. It bonds in seconds. It's not a bad idea to reinforce the seams with those hot staples people have been using, although I haven't done so on my personal builds and my helmets are holding up just fine after years of heavy use!

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/inoteca-instantbond-glue-large-kit/1001044384

I think the largest hurdle is going to be my lack of access to a warm, ventilated area that isn't inside the house. I don't have a garage, and it gets bloody freezing from November to March. However, the backyard does have a pretty neat dog house that lends itself real easy to putting a space heater inside. So that may be my only option for filler primer and painting up until the snow melting season. If anyone has some tips on that, I'd love to hear it.

This is a tricky one. I sometimes do spray painting in the winter but I make heavy use of the garage. What you'll want to do is try to get a sheltered area - a tent of some sort of that dog house - that you can set up a space heater and safely spray paint. You may even consider bringing the freshly painted pieces inside you house to a lesser-used bathroom to dry with the fan on. You don't want the spray paint fumes going through the house so spraying inside isn't ideal, but just letting something dry in it's own ventilated room isn't so bad. Ideally, you could try asking around and see if any of your friends have access to a heat-able enclosed space such as a garage or enclosed trailer. Either way, a space heater is your friend.

As for materials, I have been looking into both PETG and ABS. But unfortunately, my resources are limited and PLA is what's available and easiest to use.

I agree with you that PLA is not at all a bad choice for this project. My creality machine will will have adhesion issues and will clog with PETG even after extensive temperature tests, cold-pulls, re-levels and so on. But without even a re-level my PLA will come out a-ok on the same machine. Saint, I know with more effort I could get it working, but for me (and possibly for you too Jurb, although this depends on your use cases) it's not a battle worth fighting right now. While yes PETG is technically the superior material, my PLA helmet that I printed two years ago has been on multiple flights in checked bags, seen the heat of Florida, and been worn in sub-zero temperatures in the snow and rain, has never failed me. The same CA glue that originally held it together in 2023 still holds it together today. It hasn't lost it's shape at all.

Of course that may be partly due to the fact that the only printed thing on my suit is the helmet, and you naturally are more careful with your head than any other part of you body so the helmet isn't prone to as much trauma, or because besides those Florida cons I primarily take the suit out in Canada and the USA midwest which doesn't get too hot, but the points are worth considering. Oh, it also survived this too:

Looking forward to seeing this project as it comes along!!!!! I hope to see it all done in April for Calgary Expo!!