My first attempt at Mk VI armor!

[boomshakra]

If you right click on the parts area you can bring up a tool to measure between two points. I have found it to be very useful.

I'll give it a try - with all my mis-sizings, by the time I am 'finished' with my armor I will have build the equivalent of 2-3 sets!

 

[boomshakra]

Another no-pic update - should have my gloves by tomorrow & will see how the forearm & handplates look together

Nothing really interesting to report - I did some touch-up rondo inside the helmet. Held it up to the light to see what parts needed a little more and added accordingly. Tonight I rondo'd/glassed the forearms. The first one went pretty well - didn't totally get all of the fiberglass coated so it will need another coat. The second one went just fine until I realized that I had not added any hardener to the resin & bondo . So, I quickly mixed up some resin with a substantial amount of hardener & slopped it around the inside - it seems to have worked, but will probably put another thin coat just to be sure. In other news, started cutting new shins - depending on my schedule I could have them ready for resin over the weekend. If I get some daylight hours it will be spent getting some bondo done on the helmet(s).

Oh, and for sizing the v2.0 shins, I took spartan IV's advice & played around with the point-to-point measuring tool and think I have it dialed in this time - thanks, amigo!

 

[boomshakra]

So, there was no way that my hand was going to fit through the opening in the gauntlet, and sizing it any larger appeared (to me) that it would make the 'flare' of the forearm comically out of proportion, so I decided to cut a bit away to allow my hand to fit through:

My original thought was to cut the closer of the two lines in kind of a "V", then glue the cut out piece to some elastic so that it would move outwards when putting on the forearm and then stay in place while wearing. Wellll...it turned out to be too small of a cut - hand still won't go through, but it was close. So I cut down to the other line & it worked!

Now, of course, one forearm has two pieces cut away, so I had to join them back together - no big deal, just rondo'd a piece of fiberglass & filled it in with some putty

The weather being so nice, I got to work getting some bondo on the v3.0 helmet & doing some sanding

obviously, I still have a lot more to do, but I feel good about the progress I have made. I actually have been dreading this part (bondo on the helmet), worried that I wouldn't be able to get it symmetrical & have all of the detail of the hard lines of the sculpt. So far, so good - I'm excited that it is working! I do have to say that the bondo brand scraper/spatula thingys work very well for smoothing out the long curves of the helmet.

I was using 100 grit paper today but it was clogging fast so I'll be switching to 80 grit. I was doing it by hand using a block - there is a lot of detail to be done and I think I'd do more harm than good using the mouse sander. I also need to get better at mixing the correct proportion of hardener to bondo - I had two batches that I didn't even get to use half of before it became unusable Oh, well.

 

[Halex]

Coming along nicely! You sectioned your forearms in almost exactly the same way I did; hope it works out for you as well as it did with mine. How are you planning to reattach the cutout portions?

Keep up the good work!

 

[boomshakra]

Coming along nicely! You sectioned your forearms in almost exactly the same way I did; hope it works out for you as well as it did with mine. How are you planning to reattach the cutout portions?

Keep up the good work!

I'm going to put a piece of elastic across the gap and glue the cut-out piece to that - it will be kind of a "hinge" that way I can't put the forearm on while wearing my gloves, so I'll have to bring a shoehorn with me to tuck in the glove when it is on

In other news -sizing FAIL again on the boots...which is not a big deal - they warped a bit when I resined them so it would have taken quite a bit of bondo to correct. Plus, I didn't take into account how much the 'dent' in the toe pushes inwards. I played with the 'point to point' measuring tool with the file & think I have it dialed in this time I don't view it as a setback, but am a bit bummed at the waste of materials (bondo, fiberglass cloth)...but I'll get over it. Chalk it up to experience & move on!

 

[boomshakra]

I haven't been able to access the forums @ work since the last virus or whatever problems were had recently - the IP is blocked/blacklisted But that doesn't mean I haven't been moving forward! I finished cutting one of the shins and appear to have gotten the sizing right! It has a coat of resin on it and should be good for fiberglass this weekend (aside from one small fix I need to be done - more on that below).

The helmet is moving along but is going to need a bit more bondo on some of the hard edges - spot putty just isn't sturdy enough to hold them (duh, it is "spot" putty for a reason ). Here's how it is coming along:

I'm having to re-do the "nose"...it is quite a challenge - just a semi-shaped blob of bondo right now. I'll be working on the details & hope to get the angles right...

Here is one of the 'vent' edges that will need to be built back up & smoothed out. You can see that there is some spot putty that needs to be sanded down

The back needs a bit of love to sharpen things up as well

I have the detail pieces that go on the sides/back/under visor, but everything has to be smoothed out much better

Once I get some sanding/bondo build up done I'll primer it to see where else it needs touch-up. It is getting close and I'm trying to be patient...but it's not easy!

The forearms need a LOT of sanding - got bondo-happy again, trying to get a decent layer on before it cured on me...getting the hardner ratio and working time to sync up is still being learned...

I'm also trying to figure out where the forearms are 'flat' and where they need to be rounded - I have seen some that have rounded and others that you can see the flats, but are somewhat smoothed along the seams...mine will probably end up somewhere inbetween

Here's the screw-up on the shin - either I forgot to glue this tab or didn't glue it well enough. I plan on trying to re-glue once I take out the supports and start fiberglass. I didn't see this until after I had already started resining the piece & i didn't want to stop to fix it - trying not to waste batches of resin.

I am hoping to get as much work done as possible this weekend - I was hoping to have the 2nd shin cut & glued by now, but it may carry over to next week...and i'll be cutting v2.0 boots as well. More pictures soon!

 

[Tigersgrace]

Lookin good bro....wish i could get bondo to work like that for me...lol.

 

[boomshakra]

Lookin good bro....wish i could get bondo to work like that for me...lol.

Thanks - as others before me have noted, it's a love/hate relationship when it comes to bondo...either it is doing exactly what you want or it is just a big mess...and a lot of that can be attributed to my inexperience, but it is fun learning (most of the time )...!

 

[Tigersgrace]

Thanks - as others before me have noted, it's a love/hate relationship when it comes to bondo...either it is doing exactly what you want or it is just a big mess...and a lot of that can be attributed to my inexperience, but it is fun learning (most of the time )...!

I can definitly relate with that...the helm in my WIP is actually the first time i've ever worked with bondo....it is a MESS (yeah, in all caps)

 

[Halex]

I can't tell from the pictures if you've done it already or not, but one thing that helped me round over my forearms is to sand down the high points/seams around the rounded areas before applying the bondo. Made for a lot less mass needed to get the rounded look I wanted. I like the elastic idea on the forearms too; thought about something similar for mine but went a different route.

 

[boomshakra]

I can't tell from the pictures if you've done it already or not, but one thing that helped me round over my forearms is to sand down the high points/seams around the rounded areas before applying the bondo. Made for a lot less mass needed to get the rounded look I wanted. I like the elastic idea on the forearms too; thought about something similar for mine but went a different route.

Thanks for the tip - I may have already overdone it on the forearms but will see how it goes today. I'll keep that in mind when working on other parts that need to be rounded. I was also thinking about doing the same thing on my shins that I did with the forearms - cutting out a 'trap door' on the back side to get my feet through. I should have one of them glassed today & will see what needs to be done first.

 

[starkiller 73]

Since you have moved onto rondoing the inside instead of glassing the inside this maybe a moot point, but if you want to give glassing a retry for weight concerns try resining the inside and then laying the glass on top and then laying another layer of resin on top of the the mat. I work with fiberglass daily and this is the process I go through. Just thought I'd through out another tip.

 

[boomshakra]

Since you have moved onto rondoing the inside instead of glassing the inside this maybe a moot point, but if you want to give glassing a retry for weight concerns try resining the inside and then laying the glass on top and then laying another layer of resin on top of the the mat. I work with fiberglass daily and this is the process I go through. Just thought I'd through out another tip.

I did that with my v1.0 helmet, and while it was relatively light, as you noted, it was a MESS to deal with - my gloves looked like they had been attacked by a fiberglass porcupine! Granted, a lot of that can be attributed to my inexperience with both mediums (fiberglass cloth & resin). I do appreciate the advice - might give it another try now that I have a (slightly) better understanding of the materials and some experience .

I haven't gotten anywhere near as much done today as I had hoped...small errands kept cropping up. The helmet is very close to getting its first coat of primer (to help me further refine/correct it). The forearms got a pretty good sanding but could probably use another thin/fill coat of bondo (and more sanding ). The shin hasn't even been touched yet . Well, still some daylight - getting back to it!

 

[boomshakra]

First coat of primer on - still have a lot of work to do, but now I can see it a LOT better

"What's that smell?"

I have the shin about halfway fiberglassed - ran out of resin before I could do any more. Starkiller 73, I took your advice and just used resin this time, and I managed to keep from looking like I had Wampa-hands Will probably still Rondo the inside, at least around the top & bottom for extra strength.

 

[Tigersgrace]

Looks amazing bro...keep up the good work

 

[Halex]

It's so purdy!

 

[boomshakra]

Question: When I go to make corrections with spot putty or a little bondo, do I need to sand where i'm going to apply it? And if so, what grit sandpaper is recommended? Thanks for the compliments, gentlemen - I am stoked it has gotten this far & it continues to re-energize me towards moving forward in this project

 

[Halex]

Generally, spot putty is applied towards the end of the process, so the area is sanded down before it's used. Personally I never sand with anything higher than 60-grit until the primer is on. Gives the paint/putty a good surface to adhere to.

I've seen builds that go about it differently and still have good success, but that's what's worked for me so far.

 

[briciius]

i always find the boot too big on every build

But the rest look awesome

 

[boomshakra]

Generally, spot putty is applied towards the end of the process, so the area is sanded down before it's used. Personally I never sand with anything higher than 60-grit until the primer is on. Gives the paint/putty a good surface to adhere to.

I've seen builds that go about it differently and still have good success, but that's what's worked for me so far.

Thanks - I have been using the spot putty because I tend to work slow & the bondo cures before I'm done with the batch. But, I do have some larger areas that need some work, so I'll be using bondo there. 60 is the lowest I have used, but I have some 40 that i'll try for those areas before covering them. My work so far has been a lot of trial & error, unfortunately more of the latter than the former