April 14th OC Squad Armor Party & Squad meeting; Improving the Helmet Fans

After self-submitting my photos to the SoCal Garison GML, I recieved an email the following Wednesday from the GML indicating that it would take a week to review my submission for approval.

I attended the squad's armor party and squad meeting on the following Saturday to meet with the squad, fellow ANOVOS builders, and to get some advice on some armor pinch, especially around my the back of my left knee.

The meeting went really well. The OC Squad of the SoCal Garrison was apparently only formed just last year, right before Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, with 17 members. For reference, I'm in line to be the 77th member of the squad. That's obviously some exponential growth within the past year, between ANOVOS builder joining the group, other builders joining, and current 501st members transferring from other squads.

For the pinch, there wasn't mush to be done in the way of trimming, and after consulting with fellow squad mates, I decided to put some foam near the pinch area to help prop it away from the back of my knee to keep it from pinch. The results were moderately successful. Obviously, there's not a lot one can do without affecting the look of the armor, but I apparently have more flexibility in my legs than most troopers, owing to the cut-outs in the back of the knees and a good armor fit. I'll take pics of the shin foam on my next update.

While I was giving advice to builders and trying on parts to test for pinch, I also worked on my helmet fans again. I decided that I needed to add some foam in order to reduce vibration between the helmet and fans, so I purchased some D-type door insulation from Home Depot. Lamentably, it only came in white.

So what was I to do? Coat it in black PlastiDip, of course, after cutting out the desired lengths to match the geometry of the blank's perimeter.

Because it was a hot day and I was spraying in the sun, the PlastiDip dried very fast, allowing me to get multiple coats done within less than an hour. I also used a pencil to help hold the pieces while spraying. I also took the opportunity to patch the places on the blank where the PlastiDip had separated when I was placing the battery boxes.

After all the pieces were coated to my satisfaction, I removed the adhesive backing and installed it onto the blank, on the side with all the electronics affixed.

Installed in the helmet, it looks very good. I forgot to take a picture, but I'll add this to my next build post as well. Until then...