Bo Kitteh

Hey guys (and gals I guess :P )

I'm starting this Bo Katan (KW Armour) build thread on behalf of my wife Kitteh (DZ 14712) and I've got a couple of questions to ask..

1) What is the best way to finish the end join on the gauntlet? Obviously it's still only rough trimmed but do I just bog over it and try to make it look as best as I can?



2) Does the 'join' in the inner forearm have to be cut? I've got it roughly taped and my wife can fit her arm into it without having to open it..



3) Am I better off shimming and butt joining the knees and then bogging over the seam? They're a tad small for my wifes knees so I'm going to have to do shim it or something like that I guess but I'm just wondering what anyone else has done so far..




Thanks,

Measure, cut, and butt join those gauntlets! That's what we do with virtually any seamless clone armor. Use a strip of stryrene (think For Sale sign) to attach and reinforce behind them and then you will only have a small seam to fill. Since it's not a stress point, you should have little issue with cracking. You can do the same with the return edges on the ends with a really thin strip to hold them together.

I'd do the same with the knees but the backing might have a small gap between the knee halves. Still much easier to fill than an overlap.

Hey Nerf, how are these coming along? Would love to see some progress photos to see how you joined them.

As for the forearms/ Gauntlets I recommend using the loop (fuzzy) side of industrial strength Velcro to act as a "Hing" and to join the 2 halves on the straight cut seam.

The other side with the wider gap that needs to be cut, the side that looks like this... _/-\_ We used 1/4 inch magnets on each corner to help keep them closed.

Now to keep the forearms/ Gauntlets on your arms sew velcro to the arms of your jumpsuit to hold them in place and closed.

I hope I can take some time soon to show pics of my complete armor to help so how I did it all.

Kevin W.

I would also love to see those pictures if you are able to put them up Kevin. We started trimming out one gauntlet (left, i think) but put it on hold until we can figure out how you intended for them to go together. I'm hoping I didn't already trim them out too much.

For the "wider gap" side you mentioned, are you talking about the joint that has one side dropped/beveled inward to allow for the other side to lay in it like a cradle?

Here is a link to my Photobucket with a bunch of pics my friend took while I was getting ready for a private cast a crew party at Lucas Animation. It shows the Vizsla parts spread out and some of the steps of me getting ready. You can see the velcro was also sewn to my jumpsuit to help hold the armor parts in place.

Pre-Vizsla Photos by kwdesigns2 | Photobucket

I will try to get detail pics of the parts eventually.

Remember for Bo-Katan.. Her Gauntlet "tops" are on the opposite arms of Vizsla's. Also you will need to bondo over the 2 indented circles on each side of one of the "tops" for the gauntlet. Bo-Katan's is smooth.

Kevin W.

For sake of discussion, let's say you're looking at a right-hand gauntlet as it's pointed at you and as if you're about to get shot in the face with a dart. So the top of the gauntlet is 12 o'clock, outside of the arm is 9, and so on...

So if I'm reading you correctly, the finished gauntlet-half seams (hinged and opening side - 9 and 3 o'clock) are 90 degrees to the raw parts seams (12 and 6), correct? So during the assembly process did you end up with four individual quarter round pieces before you got it all assembled? Or did you join the 12 and 6 o'clock seams first, and then cut the _/-\_ and opposite seams for operation?

Just out of curiosity, was it cleaner to fabricate them this way vs. molding the gauntlet halves along the functional seams?

Thanks again for the help and information on this Kevin. I'm confident if you can post up some detail photos of yours and Shelly's guantlets, lots of us will benefit greatly from it.

Thanks!!
Daryl

[COLOR="silver"]- - - Updated - - -[/COLOR]

Oh and yeah... so 'not fair' posting pics of you hamming it up with old DF at the private crew party. So wrong. j/j Looks like he had a blast checking out your bucket and scoping out your work. That's actually got to be a really cool experience for him to see fans actually bringing his virtual characters to life.

You are right on the money with understanding the assembly.
Yes on all the positions. 9 and 3 and 12 and 6.

It is best to assemble 12 and 3 (what I call the "connection flanges") to make a complete gauntlet. Then cut out the vac-formed details from the mold "straight line" (hinge side) and the "trapezoid indented groove" _/-\_ (open & close side).

Yep it was a great pleasure to hang out with him and other member of the Clone Wars Crew.

Kevin W.

Thanks for the advice Kev,

I've been a bit busy and haven't had much time to do any work on her Bo though. I'll have a play around this weekend and see how I go. Also, how did you go about putting the holsters onto the thigh armour?

Cheers

Looking at Ash's BK On the bottom of the holster there is a small lip along the curve that follows the grove of the thigh piece. My bet is to cut a small line in the thigh piece for the holster to lip into. As far as a connector at the top goes I though the bog would hold it on but I also have to right angle cuts of abs to use as gussets on the inside of the holster. I should have this done before the weekend and put some pics up for you.

So this is Pre-Vizsla's thighs but the holsters attach the same. Except Vizsla's Holsters are centered on the thigh armor and Bo-Katans are set further towards the back of the thigh. Bo-Katan's and the Night Owl's are Not on center.

Here you can see I cut Slots on the Thigh and left the lip or edge on the Holsters. Those become the Tabs.
Be careful when you cut the bottom curve with the small center tab. The curve is very important. It will determine the curve of the thigh armor and how well it fit the curve of your actual thigh. My marks on the bottom curved area are not for everyone.



This in the inside. After I glue them up with CA glue I used a Dremel to smooth the Tabs down for comfort.


Kevin W.

Thanks Kevin. I'm sort of doing my build thread as well off this one but it beats asking the same questions in 2 separate threads. The lovely Kitteh and I are collaborating our builds together anyway.

DELTORN! take that dremel AWAY from my armour...

Take your time on this part and make sure not to flex the plastic too much or you will lose some of the shape when assembling it.
If you make it too tight it will also cause the thigh piece to lose its concavity.

We've been looking at Bo on Screen but so far the shots of her thighs haven't been overly helpful but from what we can tell its something like this:

Does anyone have any detailed pictues of their placement on their Katans?

Why is the Holsterbox so big?

Only the Rail of the Blaster gets holstered, the Grip stands out.
- It is helpful to have the Blasters or the aimed size of them for adjusting the Box.

Bo has the same Plates like any other Deathwatch-dude - so you maybe take them on screen aswell ;-) (except Gaunts, Fronttorso and Cod)

The holster is scaled to the size of the pistol.



If it's all the same though, that goes against what Kev has said.

i dodn not meant the lenght of the box, i meant the broad...

(beware of uberXtreme Paintskillz)


The Holster is sized tot the gun to give it a tight grip. Would the Gun be nut so blocky and minimalsitic the Deathwatch guys would carry Leatherholsters i guess.

I've made the Boxes myself recently [ http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f62/f...1/#post592661]

My idea is to put in some Foam or EVA of the Inside of the box to grip the gut solid, make it noiseless while walking (no clank and klonk front the gun wobbling for and behind). And to avoid scratches on the Gunprop when drawing and holstering.

If it is taken in it would not be accurate.

Originally Posted by TK6682

If it is taken in it would not be accurate.

+1 What he ^^^ said!

Ah I see.

not the Box is to big -> the whole plate is to big.

Sure, scaling the Gun down for a Women would be too much, but scaling the Plate down and leave the box normal size -> sounds logic

This should help...
As you can see the gun should sit further into the holster. The handle should rest over the raised lip of the holster. And that means the holster should be wider than than gun.


Kevin W.