Colin1138's Lobster/Lipstick/Crayon build

[Colin1138]

Hey gang. So after to-ing and fro-ing between a TLJ and a Mando S3 Praetorian, I came down on the side of the Mando. My inexperience working with fiberglass was a factor in skipping TLJ, and I have experience building FOTK's , so that was also a big factor. Plus,..that Greco-Roman styled helmet is just *chefs kiss*.

I'm gonna take it fairly slowly, but the armour kit has shipped, and I've already received and made some progress on the bucket,..so away we go!

Bucket-Branfuhr studios (received)
Armour- Imperial Surplus(received)
Undersuit-Crow (received)
Boots&gloves-Crow (received)
Skirt&cape- TBC
Weapon,Electro halberd- Empire3D (received)

First item checked off was the helmet. I decided to go with a Great Ape derived helmet from Branfuhr. I feel the GA sculpt looks the best, and although I could have also gotten it from Kevin, the intl shipping cost was the deciding factor.

Nice, clean cast. A few, very minor pinholes in the nose gurad, but hardly noticeable, and may not be an issue when primer is put on.


Visor drilled out, and then sanded out nice and cleanly. Id forgotten how messy resin is!!



I did have a slight whoopsie with the dremel howver. Nothing earth shattering( and I did similar when building my Jango!!) Will get it filled and sanded when I'm doing the seams on the armour.


Borrowed the padding from my Naval Trooper lid for a quick test fit. Vision is even better than I was expecting!


I had planned on waiting until the new year before buying the armour, but once I got hold of the lid I just couldn't wait, so put in an order with Imperial Surplus. My Clone is one of his kits, so I'm comfortable working with his stuff. Currently in transit, unsure whether or not I will get stuck into it this side of Christmas, or wait until January. Partner is away with her sister for a few weeks then,so it would be a welcome distraction from having an empty house!

Next on the shopping list will likely be the weapon. I'm leaning toward the bisento,...but every now and then the idea of the double ended arbir takes hold! It could end up a coin toss!!

My logic to to leave the 'ready to go' items until the end, so undersuit,boots and gloves will likely be the last purchases. I'll also likely get the entire kit trimmed,assembeld and fitted before painting. N.Ireland isn't exactly an ideal climate for painting at the best of times, so may as well hold off until we're more likely to get a long spell of warm, dry weather before thinking of paint and use that time productively.

[Colin1138]

Brown box day!!




Couldn't wait to get it ripped open. Had a serious case of deja vu when I pulled out the chest,back plates. Flashbacked to 2015 when i got my anovos alpha kit. Thankfully no horrible rubber car mat gaskets this time round!

Absolutely bursting to get stuck into this kit, but with it coming up to the holidays,and working in the hospitality sector, it may have to wait a while until i can squirrel away enough freetime. Frustrating to say the least!

[Colin1138]

Soft goods have arrived from Crow!





All fits wonderfully, no complaints here!

Also finally found some time to start on the kit. Everything has been roughly trimmed. Will go back over the next few days with the sanding drum and get everything tidied up nicely, ready for assembly.


There are certainly less messy ways to trim a kit, but I like using the dremel rather than snips or lexans.
Weapon is ordered. I settled on the halberd. Had entertained the idea of the double sided weapon, but the halberd won out in the end.

Next thing I have to organise is paint. Haven't really done much homework into it just yet. Not helped by the fact the fabric i picked up seems to appear as a completey different colour depending on how it feels at any given time!!

Gives off a very pink hue in this pic, yet in person it is a nice deep red. Frustrating!

I thought I had stumbled upon a pretty close match here, but on camera, I think its a little too far away.


Thoughts?

[Colin1138]

Wow, I am TERRIBLE at updating this! Almost as bad as I am at taking pics to document the build!

Anyways, EVERYTHING has been trimmed and sanded apart from the ab boxes and shin kit kats.



I keep putting them off as they are so time consuming and need to be super precise. I was the same when putting together my FOTK.

Whilst avoiding those pieces however,..shins have been fully assembled and forearms are currently in progress.


Back/yoke/inner chest also epoxied and test fitted. I might rethink the inner chestpiece. Its pretty tight to get my noggin through that gap, so that plus the fact I do not have full mobility in my left arm makes it an absolute nightmare to get on and off. I'm also a smidge bigger than the intended target size that the kit was designed for, but will wait til I finish assembling the ab plate to see how it interacts with the upper torso before seeing what(if any) mods I may need to take..


It's easy enough to squish my belly into the anovos TK, but it only has the 'bunny ears' yoke,not a full inner chest, so will be interesting to see the interaction between them here.

Spats, biceps,inner and outer shoulder bells, racing fins and hip plates are all trimmed and sanded smooth,ready for fitting and painting (with exception of hip plate greebs,and filling the seams on the raised rectangles.)

Still trying to psych myself up to cutting out the chest letterbox and replace it with the more detailed resin insert. That can wait for the time being.
Plan is to have the kit somewhat wearable by our regular armour party next week. I'll use that opportunity(and the many spare hands) to get the fit sorted, mark off where popper tiles and strapping attachments need to go. Find out how much of the ab I can trim off under the chest. Once all that is done, I can take a full day or 2 and break out the filler and hand sander and make a start n the torso/ab/forearms seamless.

Also picked up the remainder of the fabric

I've asked a friend and Garrison mate if she'd be willing to take a break from making Jedi robes and give me a hand with my skirt. Hopefully get something hashed out at the armour party.

And got a lovely package from Nic at Empire3D.

Hecka big jigsaw puzzle! It's put away for the time being so I can focus on finishing the costume first.
With the exception of painting supplies,and sundries like more tape/glue/strapping..I THINK I have everything I need bought and paid off. Just gotta keep the momentum!

[Colin1138]

All major cutting,trimming and sanding is done!


Although it's technicallly incorrect, I chose to cut off the tabs at the bottom of the ab in favour of wearing the skirt under the armour. Just seems more secure that way,rather than relying on velcro..

Quickly knocked out some shims and box inserts. Taking a leaf outta LVLAsian's build, I'm also gonna use plastic screws to attach the ab boxes, these will help anchor them into the boxes more securely.



The shims are likely not required, but I am a bit chunkier round the belly so I don't think a little extra support is a bad thing! Chest 'shims' will be velcro'd and used to bridge the back and chest plates. I've used similar in my Clone and FO TK builds. Will need to wait for a suit up to see how(if) they are viable and how the inner chestplate will interact. I'm still not rling out the possibility of that getting cut down if its a hinderance.

Forearms assembled. I REALLY like how these R1 styled pieces have updated the old school TK forearms. A lot of extra work involved, but so pretty! Will trim off the extra plastic that pokes out at the elbow end where top and bottom overlap.


Hip plates also assembled with boxes and greebs..


Little bit of glue run , but I'll be filling and sanding the boxes,then sanding to prep for painting, so not too fussed.

Not pictured: I've started making popper tiles for the strapping. I prefer to use webbing for these over plastic tiles. But I've just run out! More ordered, so will finish those off as well as knock up a suspender rig for the ab. We have a build day this weekend-hoping to be able to kit up and get the strapping properly measured up. Mark off the excess ab plate for cutting, maybe even get the skirt patterned out. High hopes!

I absolutely hate sanding, so have (perhaps foolishly) left all the filling and sanding to last.

Halberd still in box......

[Colin1138]

Ab boxes trimmed and fitted. Much easier than i remember them being last time round!

Plastic bolts I am using to attach them to the ab.

They are currently just superglued into the boxes with my inserts also glued in on top. Will throw some epoxy in there to really secure them into the boxes. Obviously will trim the excess from the bolt when painted and ready to wear.

Postage is slow, still no sign of my webbing. Despite being unable to knock up my suspenders, I still wanted to get an idea of how the chest sat over the ab with this 'new' inner chest piece. Elastic straps holding the rear opening of the ab.




As per comments in the fb build group, and an inkling i already had before asking, once I make my suspenders, the ab will get shifted up another inch or 2, inline to what we see on the show. i am 'lucky' to not be that tall, so can easily compress my torso armour.
Compare to where th ab sits in my FO:



My lobster is already sitting higher than it does here, but can still go a smidge more.
Gives me a good idea of what i can trim off of the ab plate under the chest at least. Gotta get stronger velcro on my side shims and also decide how im gonna attach outer chest to the inner. I used magnets for my FO, but Im intrigued by the square tab and pin holes KW has put in his kit.

[Colin1138]

Been a minute since my last update!

So, took the plunge and decided I was gunna use the resin detail piece for the chest slot. What.A.Pain! Now I know why I didnt do it for my FOTK!! Still, must admit it does look very,very nice in comparison.

Drilled out:


Installed.:


(not pictured-the gallons of epoxy slathered over the inside edge!)

After 3 days of filling, sanding,spraying, refilling,resanding,etc,etc...


Still gotta tidy up the edges of the slot itself a smidge.And dig out all that gunk from inside it! But overall, happy enough.( ask me in 2 weeks time,might be a different story!)

Whilst I had the filler,etc out for the chest, I also hit the rest of the seams.
Hip boxes:


Kit kats:


Ab plate(which has also been cut down:


Yoke:


Ab plate and hip boxes are basically there-just some very minor fine sanding needed. Yoke and kit kats arent too far away either, a few more go arounds and should be good to go. TBH, given how they are hidden most of the time by the chestplate and skirt respectively, I'm not super,super stressed over getting them perfect. Chest, yoke and forearms are a different story however!

Forearms are next on the list. As they currently look:


Not too far away either!

Most strapping has also been finished. Just the biceps/shoulderbell straps to measure and then it's on to fine tuning.

[Colin1138]

Took a break from sanding and spraying, so got t work on the strapping. Hip plates(lower to upper) are done, suspenders and shoulder bells too. Straps for biceps are ready, just need to measure and set the snaps to attach to the shoulders.
I decided to copy my FO build and use neodymium magnets to attach the chest to the inner, with velcro at meeting point of chest and back,under the arms. Has worked very well. Magnets are epoxied into place on the inner edge of the inner chest plate. Finding the position for the outer plate:



Also couldnt resist getting a more complete picture!


Magnets worked out well(kinda- see below!), but there is a fairly significant gap. I suspect its due to the full inner chest of the IS kit,rather tha the most flexible 'bunny ears' on the anovos kit. My pudgey belly is pushing the entire inner chest up at a weird angle, throwing off how it meets the outer chest. I may need to cut away at it to get a nicer,tight fit. Will mull it over.



Magnets,..well. Things were going so well, I should have suspected something would give! Having found their position on the outer chestplate, I drew round them onto tape. Then used another magnet I postioned them onto the inner surface. Generous dollop of glue, clamped and off to watch some tv whilst it dried. Came back ,ready to smother them in epoxy to keep them from being pulled off by the magnets in the inner chest.(an issue I had once or twice in the FO.) Thankfully, decided to test fit before I cracked open the tube.
The chestplate fit PERFECTLY,.....upside down. Somehow,..I had swapped the magnets, so that they were repelling their mate as opposed to attracting. Cue lots of bad words, some scary cracking sounds, and some more bad words as I pried them off. Hats off to gorilla for making such a strong bonding glue!!


At that, I called it a day!
Tomorrows plan of action is to break out the putty and high grit paper and finish the yoke,forearms etc.

To the delight of my partner,..she's very close to getting her kitchen table back! Other than drilling out the ab plate for the hip plate cords, that's most of the messy work done on the armour until the weather decides to play ball and give me a few nice days for painting.

Will let her have the kitchen back for a little while, before i tackle my halberd!

[Colin1138]

Conviced the better half to help me kit up for a quick look to see if the kit and placement was looking ok:


Ab is sitting a bit lopsided, but that may just be my wonky torso!! Tweaked the suspender on that side to compensate.
Overall, think I'm pretty happy. Compared to the promo shot:


Yoke and forearms are sanded as smooth as I can get them. Still a couple of little blemishes, but with a few coats of primer,paint and clearcoat, plus the '5 foot rule' I'm happy enough as is. had a slight issue with one of my hip plates. Ended up cracking the join where the raised rectangle meets the main body, so that had to be redone. Will give it another round of filling,sanding, primer and get back on shedule.

Had a stroke of luck,and a change of weather, so was able to get the first coat of primer down:


Next day however, bit too cold and damp,(the joys of living off the Atlantic coast!) Forecast is to be dry, but over cast the next few days, so might get lucky enough to be blessed with enough time to put a 2nd coat on.
Also picked up a red rattle can when buying more primer(you always forget how much you actually need!) on a whim to see if it'd be suitable.
The joys of lighting!
In full direct sunlight, and out of ditect sunlight:



Think I can get away with it....

[Colin1138]

Got another nice day today, so got the chance to put some colour down! Motivation had been waning lately due to the lack of progress I could make, but its amazing how re energising seeing the armour in its crimson beauty has been!
Tomorrow is due to be just as dry and sunny, so will get another round of spraying done.

So happy I didnt throw these old chairs away. So handy for projects like this!!







Already has a pretty nice shine from the gloss paint alone. Can' wait to see it after the clear coat is put down!

Some minor imperfections that will hopefully be remedied with another coat or 2 of paint. But even if not, they aren't super noticeable, and the nture of the hobby means this kit will never be pristine for very long!