RaiderNick's RG WIP

[JesterTDA]

Could you post up some pictures of the damage? This is the first time I've heard of poor FP construction and since I recommend their stuff (I have one myself) I think it'll be good to see it so I can tell people to be careful.

[RaiderNick]

Here is a picture of the top of the bucket, with the largest concentration of these pinholes. All the little white spots you see are the pinholes which got filled in by the dust from my wet sanding. If you pick the dust out some of them go through the helmet.

Also, the bottom edge of the helmet has tons of chips and cracks in it. I don't know if this is also due to the air bubbles or simple mishandling of the helmet before they sent it to me.

Also, the discolored areas you see on the top are low spots which are extremely difficult to remove. I started on 80 grit and still wasn't able to sand down to them. The bucket is so thin I'm afraid if I sand it too much I'll compromise it's structural integrity.

Also, I forgot to mention before that when I brought it to the body shop they said that the helmet was bonded together horribly and they can't believe someone would sell something with this poor quality of workmanship. They told me that the entire seam would need to be redone because w/e they used to bond it together was cracking apart.


On a side note though, I don't think this reflects FP craftsmanship in any way because they did a great job on my inner robes, despite them being a little too long. Also several people in my garrison have ordered from them for vader and various other parts and have been happy. I would still recommend them to people just make sure you tell them to be careful when casting the helmets. I am upset that they aren't giving me a refund though...

[JesterTDA]

Wow...that isn't good at all. Mine had a few pin holes but they were few and far between. Sorry it didn't work out and I'm really bummed he hasn't been responding to your messages.

[bdgr]

Sorry to hear about your helmet. Mine wasn't that bad, but I still had to do a lot of bondo filling and smoothing inside and outside of the helmet to get it to what I liked.

[cjfrancese79]

How about using JB Weld to patch it? I chipped the edge of my helmet when I first got it and the JB quick worked out great.

[JesterTDA]

I wonder if you could fiberglass the inside for strength and then fill from the outside. I'd hate for it to go into the trash without a refund, that would be tragic!

[RaiderNick]

Taking on the daunting task of hemming the robes today. Besides the fact that they are way too long, FP also sewed them the same length all the way around. This means the sides will hang lower than the front and back because of the natural positioning of the body. I will have to hem it more on the sides than the front and back to compensate for this. I will get pics up when/if I'm able to fix it as I have to separate the fabrics first which is a pain because of how he sewed them together.

[RaiderNick]

Ok robes are all hemmed. Everything on the costume is done and ready now except the helmet. I am still waiting for the MLC to arrive.

[stripes]

You should post up pictures for us to see here before submission photos so we can catch any problems beforehand

[RaiderNick]

Got my MLC today. I'm still not happy with the price but the bucket is infinitely better than the FP in both quality and timeliness. It's like night and day with the finish on the bucket compared to the other one and it is also thicker. The FP was so thin I could see through it and while lighter I was afraid to even hold it. I will barely need to do anything to it before painting it.