XV9 Hazard Suit (How I did it - Part 2)

(Part 1 here)

Today we will be working some more with the torso of the kitbashed XV9.

Start by cleaning up the backs of the thruster assemblies from the middle piece of the torso.

Assemble the jet pack units. Sand down the inner parts where the cuts were made.

Glue the 2 thruster assemblies together to make the completed jet pack unit. Now we will start assembling the torso and connecting the jet pack to the torso.

This is from the center torso piece. We are cutting a small part on the bottom so the jet pack sits on it straight, otherwise it would be at a weird angle.

That hole is looking into where the cockpit is supposed to be.

As you can see, the jet pack should rest properly on the back of the cockpit. If it doesn't, then that means you didn't cut out enough of the middle piece.

Now glue on the front of the cockpit. Your torso so far should look like this.

Next flip the whole thing upside-down and glue something in the bottom to cover up that huge gaping hole. You are welcome to cut and shape anything for this job. I used a piece of a Devilfish insides that nobody ever sees. I would suggest if you use plasticard, use something thick, because the pelvis is going to rest on this. More on that in a later post.

Next take the intake that came from the back piece of the torso, and our goal is to cut out enough of it so it rests on the front of the cockpit.

Like this. There is no direct way to instruct you on this part, you may have to shave off small pieces at a time to get it where you want.

Next we take the 2 halves of an XV25 Stealthsuit kit. In case you were wondering, the jet packs have already been removed from these. They were used on another conversion (more on that in a later post).

Remove and shave out the center parts from these halves. We just need these outer shell pieces. Do not glue these together.

This took a rough guesstimate on where to cut, but you want to make sure the cuts here are equidistant on both halves. The long parts are going to be used in the next step, but be sure to save the small parts too for the pelvis instructions in a later post.

Glue them to the top of the torso here. This whole thing is meant to give the XV8 suit a little more bulk, so it looks closer to the size of the XV9.

Next we want to fill in those unsightly gaps and holes that are now in the torso. Some converters like to perfectly shape the green stuff where you need it, but I like to blob it on places and carve it later after it's dry. It works best for me in getting straighter lines.

After I got the green stuff work done, my torso is done! It's a designers preference, but I wanted to keep those gaping holes in the front open. They will double as jet intakes. Also I wasn't sure what to fill them with. In the end they look good.

Now that the torso is complete, next we start on the pelvis.

(Part 3 here)