TK7639

Been busy at work and haven't had a whole lot of time to work on the armor but I have gotten some things done, or so I thought. Anyways here's what happened. I did a primer coat on the armor at work. A nice dark steel color. I had decided a while back that I was going to paint the entire armor. This wasn't the screw up yet. That's to come later. Then I hit it with the Magnetic Gray paint, which wasn't too bad. I should have stopped here but didn't. I had it in my mind that I wanted my Acolyte to be darker so I went a step further and hit it with the Graphite Mica. Which was a mistake. It was way too dark. So just today I went at the armor with Silver Leaf Rub n Buff which brought it back to the silver look as seen below. This brings it back into alignment with the actual color of the character in the Hope and Deceived trailers. Anyways, now I'm out of Rub n Buff so while I source a supply I will probably start working on the gloves later tonight. Thanks for looking.

The claws were cut from thinner ABS plastic scraps that were trimmed off a Garrison Members TK that she was trimming. After getting the shape I was looking for and more trimming before i glued them in I realized just as the Mynock did that even thin ABS could still do some damage. After the glue dries I plan on trimming the top off and attaching some foam I currently have. Also trimmed the knuckle armor a few days ago. Here they sit drying. And like I mentioned here is the plan to make the claws a little safer. More to follow.

So, it looks like the mechanism I decided to try will work to hold the shin up. Seems to fit into itself quite well. This will stop the shin from sliding down. Using regular elastic that should hold the front and back pieces together everything should hold together pretty well. Here is the first test fit of the shin. I simply ran the elastic through and tied it on the side. Walked around the house for a few minutes and everything held together very well. Stairs weren't an issue either. Now it's on to doing some work on the chest, ab and belt area. As well as the boot armor, and claws which are now almost done. More pictures to follow.

So, I found these bracers at Rona that I'm pretty sure will work to ensure the shins don't slip down. First I glued the unaltered ones to the back of the shins as seen below Made a cradle out of the "receiving" end By tomorrow I'll be able to tell for sure if it's going to work after everything dries. The nice thing about E6000 is that it'll hold but can also be removed. If these do work out well I'll probably secure them in place with something stronger. The strapping that is seen on the outside of the shins will be functional either being held together by velcro or another means. That will be figured out later on. Then I looked at the Gauntlets again, after deciding to go with the wires instead of the foam I measured the amount of wire required that was cut from an old alarm clock that no longer functioned and using some heat shrink tubing made it look cleaner. Nothing is secured yet as I obviously still have to paint. I made sure that the lettering on the tubing was facing down so as to stay "in universe." I had cut claws out of 3mm Sintra but they don't have much give to them and I don't want to harm anyone that may run into them so I'm currently looking for an alternate material. I'm not sold of the foam Idea. The Mynock used .04 ABS plastic first that had some give to it. I may be near a hobby shop tomorrow so I'll wander the aisles a little bit and see if I can find something appropriate. That's it for now.

Finally found a pair of boots that I liked. Figured I would try Walmart as well and I found a pair of shoes for $35 that I think will work just nicely. Trimmed the boot plates to line up and just have to paint and secure them now. Painting will happen all at once. I usually take everything to work and do it over my lunch break. In the background you can see better how the thighs are initially connected. Like I mentioned before I still plan on covering that with loop velcro and then painting the inside. The straps aren't elastic, they are military grade strapping that is rather stiff. Nothings moving there. I may still add some sintra to further secure things along the seams. I have some extra 3mm laying around. Next up I took the hand plates and conjured up a template that'll be used for the claws. Initially I'm going to use 3mm SIntra to make these and see how they turn out. Seeing this picture now I think I'll have to clean up the hand plate a little more. There looks to be some more residue in the back half of the plate. And finally tonight I've E6000'd the rockets to the gauntlets which will be held in place with yet more rare earth magnets. I've looked at the Mynocks "wiring" using actual wires and then switching to foam. Right now I'm undecided about which method I'll use. I'm kinda leaning towards the actual wires which I played with when I built my Mandalorian. It could also be due to the fact that I royally screwed the first attempt at the foam method. Either way it'll get done. That's all for today. Tomorrows plan is to hit a hardware store and find something to secure the shins from slipping. Thanks for looking.

Ended up doing some more work while the kids watched some tv. I started by gluing 2 strips on the inside of both thighs to connect them. I'll be using Taras' method of adding loop velcro overtop of the strips to add more security to the thighs. I'll have a better picture later but here is where the thigh is sitting. I used E6000, the most common method over on the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment to build a Stormtrooper. Figured I would use it on the Acolyte as well. I don't mind the 12 hour waiting time for it to dry as it's pretty solid once done. Also am using rare earth magnets to hold everything in place until it dries. Also drilled out the holes on the chest to use hex bolts to connect to the strapping system and the rubber Ab piece. And on the other side of the shop the gauntlets have been glued together with E6000 as well. Next for them will be to add some foam on the inside as I have skinny forearms and also paint the inside black. Probably should have painted it before I glued them together but it's not like it'll be too difficult to paint the inside later. That's it for now. Hopefully will get more done this weekend.

Next progress. I was warned by Taras that the armor pieces wouldn't line up perfectly, which is understandable. Even with my Stormtrooper a heat gun was required to make everything look decent. So, using that same before mentioned heat gun I shaped all the armor pieces for the legs as well as the gauntlets. Below is one of the shins that was almost done, just needed to get it a little more over. Finally got it to where it was acceptable. I do see now that the back of the shin slipped down a little. I will assure you that the top is flush with the seam. Then utilizing the awesome containment box I drilled out the cuts in the shin armor for the straps to go through. Got it pretty close with the dremel I still had this sweet needle file set from when I built the Stormtrooper. It was a necessity for doing the Teeth on the helmet. It worked pretty good to clean up the cuts on the armor as well. Now the shins are drying after a quick wash. Probably going to glue the thighs together in the next few days, as well as work out how to secure the shins so there won't be any slippage while moving around. Also the Wife found me the paint at Canadian Tire this morning. Things are progressing, albeit slowly.

Figured I would actually document a build thread for once. My first build was a ANH Stormtrooper (Up to Expert Infantry Standards) followed by a custom Bounty Hunter which was approved a few months ago. I've always wanted to do a Sith Acolyte though, ever since seeing the trailers for The Old Republic. I kept in contact with Taras from the Mynocks Den throughout his Acolyte build and finally I received the kit from him a few days ago. I've already heated up the thighs and shins so that the seams line up, which Taras explained was going to be the case. Not going to post photos of that, was just me and my heat gun. Resin sure needs more heat than ABS plastic and Sintra to form. Also been cleaning up the pieces from some leftover residue. I've been pretty careful but if there is an "oopsie" well I'll chalk that up to battle damage. Here's the armor after the unboxing. Working with resin from my Mando helmet and having the residue flying everywhere again didn't really appeal to me so I used the box the armor came in and constructed a "containment" box to try to keep the work room a little cleaner this time. Doesn't look pretty but it does the job. So now the upper Gauntlets have been cleaned up and sanded, still need to polish with Steel Wool, Won't do that until the lower Gauntlets have been finished and sized properly. I left more of the bottom ridge on that is needed until I size the Upper to the Lower Gauntlets. I tend to jump around in my builds. I don't like to focus on just one piece for too long. Keeps things fresh if I do some here and there so don't be surprised if I'm all over the place. I'm taking my time with this one as I want it to look good. Thanks for looking.

Looks really nice. Curious as to how you have the small armor attached to your glove as well as your assembly method for the shins.

Thanks for the advice. Will definitely copy those pictures as that robe is awesome. Funny, I used the search button as well and totally missed the similar discussion a few topics down. Thanks again!

Good day. I am curious what material others have chosen to make this cloak out of. I'm not really knowledgeable on different fabrics. The CRL states that; Must be constructed from a black, heavy, flowing material that is not see through That could be a lot of things. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks.