Home of the Sovereign Protectors

bel avancement

some news. I gave the helmet a coat of primer to better see where I need to add bondo and sand. Overall, happy with the progress. I have less spots to do each time I make a bondo pass, but still a long way to go.





Worked on the pike as well. I use two sink drain tailpieces that I wedge and cold solder together, then proceed to make the hole for the on/off button and charging port, plus 2 countersink holes so I could go through them and directly in the amazon saber. Pretty sturdy. I still have to figure out a clean way to make the 3D printed hilts to hold on the wood peg and the sleeve, and sand a lot in the recess portions of the hilts. I used resin to coat them to smooth out the print lines at first, and it ended up being a bad idea. The surfaces are not smooth, and sanding in between it a pain. You can see it on the pic with the test fit on the button and charging port. Not happy with the result. I can live with the top portion being rough as it create a nice even texture (no pic of it, very subtil, like if the heat of the blade melted the metal of the pike), but I still did a mock up of everything to give me a idea of the final product will look like.

wowwwwwwwww cool ca avance !!!!

Pas assez vite a mon goût. J’ai toujours pas commencé les bracers. Je commence à avoir des doutes pour le comiccon de cet été

Some progress yet again. I can say taht the prep work is done on the helmet, and that I can start considering painting it. I went heavy with the filler primer (runs on the lower V portion of the helmet), but I'll have to sand it anyway. I can start doing the prime/sand/prime/sand beore painting. Almost to the non-return point where I have to choose if I go red or black. With the new guards in Mando, god red is still tempting even more!



Did a major fail as well. While drilling and taping for the set screws on the top hilt, the tap went too far and pierced the battery pack of my saber

The Amazon kit that I'm using had 2, so I'm not really stopped on the project, but still, I hate myself for that mistake.

Issue no.1 with the pike, it that the wood grain is still showing, even after some sanding and some filler primer. I'm wondering how to fix this. Tempted to use Plasti Dip, but I'm afraid it will come off eventually (unless I put a good clear coat on it). Still have to brainstorm on this. I also took the time to fill in the 3 Philips screws heads that is holding the metal sleeves of the saber to the wooden peg.

And finally, started to mock up the bracers (no pics). Some issues with spacing, but ppl on WTF''s page helped me figure it out. Will start to glue them next week.

What did you use to make the lighted blade on the pike? I have made a pike, but not figured the blade or where to get material.

scrocks wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 8:18 pm What did you use to make the lighted blade on the pike? I have made a pike, but not figured the blade or where to get material.

Got some cheap lightsabers from Amazon. They were a double pack, and they had the thinnest hilt that I could find. This was one of the main criteria while searching, since I knew roughly how I wanted them to fit. I didn't want a hilt that was 1.5'' thick, since the 3d hilts parts on the pike would have been huge. Plus, I could choose the length of the blade depending of the options. I didn't want a 4' and + blade since I'm fairly tall and it would have been cumbersome.

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.ca/TBGENIUS-Lightsab ... r=8-1&th=1

And I finally decided to grow some b... and tackles the bracers. I decided to glue some tabs inside first to help me out align everything. I had some concerns on sizing and alignment issues, but the folks from WTF guided me on how to put them together. On the pic, you can see the tabs on the one that is not assembled (currently now drying). The is the closest I could keep them apart, since my hand would not go through if I had them glued together. So back to sanding I guess...

photo dump again. Pike is finished. Was going to apply final clear coat on it, but used gloss black instead, so no pics for now

bracers are finished and have their primer coat on them. Saw 1-2 places that might need a bondo touch up.
Helmet go its first paint pass. Angle of the pic is bad, the opening is much smaller in real (seems that the edges are not showing). I was in a rush to try and finish it before next big con next week, and since I had a red mirror len, the color choice was made to go shadow and not royal even if a lot of ppl in my garrison recommend to go red vs black. But the build came to a stop when I realized that the red lens was a bit too short. Found a visor sheet from kalevala from a fellow member, but I'll just be able to pick it up during the con in question. Guess I'll work on setting the stappings this week-end

update number something.

I had major surprise on the pike. I tried to clear it during my vacation 2 months ago, and it wrinkled all over it. So I had to sand it down completly, which was a pain especially on the ''handles''. Repainted it over the week-end. Went with thinner layers, and will let it degas really well before attempting a second clear, if I ever decide to do one.



Since I had painted the pike roughtly at the same time as the bracers, I was torn on what to do with them. I did some paint + different clear tests, and it wrinkled each time. I decided to let the sit most of the summer to make sure they are fully dried up and degassed. Tried wet sanding one of them last week, and made a pass with clear this past week-end. So far so good. I don't have that rich clear depth that I wanted, but at least it didn't wrinkled. Might try a second pass next week over the first one.

The new lens is cut, magnets in the helmet are glued, and the ones on the lens are currently drying. Love the look. I'm torn like with the bracers. It's something to sand down and start over on them, but I'm going to cry my soul if it happen on the helmet. Will have to risk wet sanding it also and try the clear.



Finally, most of the strapping is done. I have one on the shin guard still drying, but the rest is done. The last one to do is the abs plate to the chest armor, but since it's hidden, it will be easy.



So technically, I'm in the last mile on the built. Still have to adjust the belt, install the velcro to hold on the abs plate, and do the kama, and I'm done.