Thank you Jim! I hope all is well with you and the family!
Okay, this weekend I changed direction and did some work on the chest plate. When building armor, I have found that it's best to slowly bounce around, as a way of maintaining scale amongst the different parts. Contsructive A.D.D. lol!
Again, like I do with all the parts, I carefully penciled in my trim lines. This in itself took a few hours, and I in fact trimmed off as much of the excess plastic prior to setting my final trim lines, as it's a very slow process of balancing reference against your own physique. Let's face it, most of us know by now, that it has to be practical for real life usage. Striking that balance between practicallity over detail can be very ardous. In the case of clone armor, measure 10 times, trim once.....very carefully and slowly.
Once all the trimming was done, I cleaned up the freshly cut trim areas with 80 grit, then proceeded up the scale to 220, for a smooth, even finish. I then sanded the whole entire piece in 220 (with the chest breast line areas, I hit it hard with 120 grit first, to sharpen up the definition, then followed by 220grit)
Next: Shocking
In the images below, I am using a type of "shocking" treatment to conform the plastic to a desired form. This is the process of carefully using moderated heat to warm the plastic, setting the desired form, then dipping the heated plastic into ice water. Prior to heating, I use clear packing tape, taping the oppisite sides together, to "bring in" the sides of the chest armor, to a predetermined, desired setting. Next, I fill one side of the sink in very hot water*, the other side with ice cold water. Next, I take a blow dryer to the areas that require warming to soften up the plastic; then set the entire piece in the hot water. I left it in the hot water for about 10 mins, then quickly dipped the chest plate into the iced water.
*Use caution! Some plastics may warp when placed in hot water!! You may also injure yourself, so be very carefull!
In the case of this armor, the plastic is the toughest I have ever worked with. The pull is so tight, the plastic thickness is exact throughout. Incrediably tough. I had to repeat this particular treatment 3 times, and I may have to go out and buy a heat gun to accomplish the final end goal.
PLEASE BE ADIVSED that I am not done trimming the chestplate as ot yet. Still need to work on the the strap areas, plus need to process the backplate, before any finalized, permanant trimming:
Hot water in the left sink, ice cold on the right.
Initial dipping into the hot water. If you look closely, you can see the clear tape. The use of the clear tape allows for ease of visual monitering during the proceedure.
Well, I just realized I didn't take a picture of the part in the ice water:cry lol!
Here is the piece, after the process (conducted 3 times) I may need to do more aggressive shocking, but I will determine that once the backplate is trimmed, and I have I better idea of what I am against at that time: