tkrestonva's AM armor build[*AM]

[tkrestonva[TK]]

On to the strapping system:

 

The core of my internal strapping system will be one of pandatrooper's thigh garter belts (thanks Terry!) mated with a set of suspenders I bought from a local men's clothing store. Dang, I really need to clean my bathroom mirror.

 

 

Next, contrary to my initial belief, I was actually able to use most of the strapping that came with the AM kit. Although it's made for a velcro strapping system (versus the snaps most of us use), I corrected that by driving snaps through the velcro. The velco has the added benefit of providing structural reinforcement to the area around the snaps.

 

 

Everything in place:

 

[tkrestonva[TK]]

On to the last few items before suiting up:

 

Helmet is an ESB-style TM. Let me tell you, this thing is AWESOME! It has a pretty severe undercut in the face so it can be tough to get on and off - I use the screen-accurate twist-on method - but once inside it's roomy, lightweight, and well-balanced so that it sits perfectly on my head. The color match with my kit is good, and of course the accuracy speaks for itself.

 

The eyes are at exactly the right height and the bucket itself sits at the exact angle on my head to maximize my vision, without having to resort to tricks like putting ballast weight in certain parts of the helmet to get it to sit right. If TM decides to offer up a preassembled ANH stunt - it's mine!!

 

 

ESB holster from Anrev - great quality, fits my hyperfirm perfectly, and it even has that wonderful new leather smell!

 

 

Hyperfirm ESB E11 with one of Sonnerschein's D-rings - and as soon as TANGO'D FETT is ready I'll be ordering a set of ESB-style greeblies to add the finishing touches.

 

 

Boots from TKBoots (they're SO much nicer than the CABoots I use in my current kit), and a set of stylized TK binders from ajax407 (these should be fun to use at C5 and DragonCon )

 

 

My personal sound system - on the left is an MR1506 voice amp w mic from TK6294, on the right is my now rarely-used iPod Classic. Turns out the amp has two input jacks, one for the mic headset and an auxiliary line-in port. Meaning I can both talk and have something cool playing in the background. I'll be using TD-2243's "TK Loop" that mimics stormtrooper radio chatter as background noise - should make for a neat background sound effect while standing guard.

 

 

I'm also going to experiment with mounting an FRS radio in the backplate and a hands-free headset - the wire will run up my shoulder and neck into the bucket. The other radio I'll give to either my personal handler or to the event coordinator for garrison-level events.

 

 

Everything all together:

 

 

Next up - donning the armor.

[Rich330[TK]]

Good work, trooper. Looking forward to seeing the photos of you all kitted out.

[tkrestonva[TK]]

First full test-fitting tonight -

 

 

 

 

- and as always there are things that will need to be adjusted:

 

• 
   
  
• Fix the shoulder strap on my right side - the snap wasn't seating properly and kept coming loose, which is why it's hanging like it is.
  
• Bring the shoulders forward and up a bit
  
• Secure the backs of the straps to the back plate with white elastic bands - I realize many like for these to float, but I don't think I'll go that route.
  
• Velcro the back of the shins. They largely stay closed, but I think I'd like them to close in a bit tighter.
  
• Bring up the thighs about 1 inch
  
• Bring up the backplate a bit so that there is a slight gap between the back and kidney
  

 

All of these are relatively minor, and mostly involve adjusting a few straps. In particular, I'm going to redo the internal shoulder straps - total of 4 straps and 10 snaps. I have plenty of material on hand, so it shouldn't take long.

 

The audio system worked well, and is nice and loud. No more "Huh, what did he say?"

 

Anything else?

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Minor update:

 

I made the required adjustments - all except raising the thighs. I think I'll leave them for now, at least until I get to troop a time or two, then I'll reassess. Didn't get to suit up last weekend - but hopefully this weekend. After that, more photos.

 

I got bored one evening, so despite my initial intent to save this mini-project for a later time, I went ahead and built the ANH belt. The belt is one of TK4205's vintage cargo straps, the holster is from Supertrooper, the blaster is my original resin E-11 I've been carrying for the past 2 1/2 years, and the gloves I've had for some time now - long enough to have forgotten who in the U.K. I bought them from.

 

 

As stated earlier, I'm experimenting with an FRS walkie-talkie setup inside my armor. This would be great for large, heavily attended events where we have widely dispersed troopers and not enough runners. I have an inexpensive Motorola walkie-talkie strapped inside the backplate, with a mic & earbud running up the back, under the shoulder strap, and into the helmet. I have one of LaunchPad's magnetic switches on order, I'll see if I can wire it in such that I can activate the mic simply by touching my helmet's earpiece or cheek tube (instead of actually having to press the talk button). If not, then I'll hide the mic under my chest plate near my right shoulder strap, and reach up and key it whenever I need to talk over the radio.

 

Photo - earbud is on the left, mic is at center-right.

 

 

Finally, everything packs down nicely into a padlock-able, airline-approved shipping container. All I'm missing is a helmet bag - and that's on order from TK4510.

 

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Look what arrived today . . .

 

 

TM ESB - meet TM ANH.

 

 

Will suit up tomorrow & take photos. C5 is getting closer ...

[Rich330[TK]]

Behold! What things of beauty!

I was seriously tempted by one of the new TM ANH helmets myself but couldn't justify the purchase at the moment really. What with my ABS kit on the way for my own ANH build.

[Hawkeye[501st]]

Hi TKRestonva

My Shoulder bells are, not holding right. Also the biceps keep turning! i need the thumb print to be under the arms!!

What do you suggest mate?

 

Also, like you i will be cutting the thighs later, first troop went well, but need more to asses it. Thanks

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Do you have your biceps properly strapped to your shoulder bells - something like this?

 

(photo credit: Firebladejedi)

 

This should keep your biceps in the same position relative to your shoulder bells. As for the shoulder bells themselves, I'm not sure what you mean by "not holding right." Photos?

[tkrestonva[TK]]

I think I'm finally done . . .

 

ANH

 

ESB

 

Of course there will be tweaks here and there (for instance, I'm about convinced I should pull up the thighs by an inch or so), but everything seems to have come together - including the voice amp/sound effects/radio comms system.

 

EIB application thread coming soon.

[ThayNerd[TK]]

Looking real good Brian!

[BananoPower22[TK]]

Ab armor is now fully assembled:

 

 

I only got the ESB belt done - building the belt turned out to be a lot more challenging than I expected. I think I'll save the ANH belt for a later time, once I finish the ESB features and get EIB-certified. Besides, I'll need a couple of smaller projects for the winter.

 

Inner drop boxes by kwdesigns, canvas belt by firebladejedi:

 

 

 

 

I assembled the belt so that the drop boxes would be easily removable for HWT purposes. Also, I initially tried to put the inner drop boxes in place without permanently gluing them, but they wouldn't stay put. I'll have to come up with an alternate means to store hotel keys and other credit card sized items.

 

Last step before building the straps and doing the final fitting - attaching the TM handplates to my gloves. More later.

 

 

On the ab plate, where the buttons go (sorry, i'm new to this armor thing) I'm having problems getting the box to stay in place. Also after i finally get it to stay put with velcro, when i bend down it falls off. What can I do to make it stay in place?

 

People tell me to glue the box in the chest so it would stay permanently, but I want to leave it like that so I can remove and repaint the buttons easier and I can also be a Sandtrooper in the future. Anyone got any tips?

[TK_LEPER]

Nice clean build man, real nice work!

[tkrestonva[TK]]

On the ab plate, where the buttons go (sorry, i'm new to this armor thing) I'm having problems getting the box to stay in place. Also after i finally get it to stay put with velcro, when i bend down it falls off. What can I do to make it stay in place?

 

People tell me to glue the box in the chest so it would stay permanently, but I want to leave it like that so I can remove and repaint the buttons easier and I can also be a Sandtrooper in the future. Anyone got any tips?

 

Mine is glued in place using E6000, and I've never heard of anyone using Velcro to attach the ab button plate. It certainly doesn't sound very secure.

 

Still, if you attach it using E6000 it is possible to gently pry it off at some later date.

[BananoPower22[TK]]

what i did is i took a piece of left over plastic and glued it to the open side, closing it. then using a knife to cut it open matching where the buttons go. then i velcroed them, making the piece stay in place. still, it's velcro i Wouldn't count on it. but it worked for me. and it's easier for me to remove the velcro rather than using a glue and having to remove it later

[TB-2945[501st]]

most impressive Brian...you do superb work!

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Quick update:

 

As the veterans here can attest to, you're never really finished with a build. Even though I "completed" it months ago and was approved for EIB with zero comments, there are always improvements that can be made. Most of what I've done since then has been strapping adjustments, but the biggest improvement has been to correct for the incorrectly-moulded shins. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, poisonfox's build - and Roguetrooper's illustration - really did a nice job in explaining the problem:

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=12804

 

Here are my uncorrected shins, with Post-It-Notes labeling how they should be:

 

 

Making the correction was a three-step process:

 

1. Cut off the moulded-in overlap strips in the back

 

2. Replace them with ANH-style cover strips

 

3. Switch the sniper plate to the other shin

 

Voila! Both looks and fits better. I don't like it when they flop open, so I use velcro to hold them closed - I'm aware of the screen-accurate hook closure method, but for this kit I'm not worried about having all the hidden details correct.

 

Thanks to TM, R2Dan, and others for initially pointing this out, and big thanks to Roguetrooper for the illustration that finally made it clear - even to me.

 

And of course, thanks to Pandatrooper for leading the way in showing how to squeeze as much accuracy as possible out of the AM kit.

[TKRobert]

Four months late but...that's one mean looking trooper.

[Velcro]

Tkrestonva...

 

 

Give me a call you should still have my number saved =P

 

 

Nels

[Hawkeye[501st]]

I wish i was your neighbour!Nice Build!!!

[Sgt Steve]

Minor update:

 

I made the required adjustments - all except raising the thighs. I think I'll leave them for now, at least until I get to troop a time or two, then I'll reassess. Didn't get to suit up last weekend - but hopefully this weekend. After that, more photos.

 

I got bored one evening, so despite my initial intent to save this mini-project for a later time, I went ahead and built the ANH belt. The belt is one of TK4205's vintage cargo straps, the holster is from Supertrooper, the blaster is my original resin E-11 I've been carrying for the past 2 1/2 years, and the gloves I've had for some time now - long enough to have forgotten who in the U.K. I bought them from.

 

 

As stated earlier, I'm experimenting with an FRS walkie-talkie setup inside my armor. This would be great for large, heavily attended events where we have widely dispersed troopers and not enough runners. I have an inexpensive Motorola walkie-talkie strapped inside the backplate, with a mic & earbud running up the back, under the shoulder strap, and into the helmet. I have one of LaunchPad's magnetic switches on order, I'll see if I can wire it in such that I can activate the mic simply by touching my helmet's earpiece or cheek tube (instead of actually having to press the talk button). If not, then I'll hide the mic under my chest plate near my right shoulder strap, and reach up and key it whenever I need to talk over the radio.

 

Photo - earbud is on the left, mic is at center-right.

 

 

Finally, everything packs down nicely into a padlock-able, airline-approved shipping container. All I'm missing is a helmet bag - and that's on order from TK4510.

 

Good work on the kit...just in case I missed a post..where you get the "storage box" from?

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Got the box from WalMart. It wasn't available in the store so I ordered it online and had it delivered to the store.

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Contico-Storage-Locker/2476189

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Sent you a PM on the garrison board.

 

Tkrestonva...

 

 

Give me a call you should still have my number saved =P

 

 

Nels

[silverBoyd[501st]]

can I get a PM on how to contact Tupperware Tk about an AM kit? I have a quote from another seller but i wanted to see what he offered as well. Thanks in advance

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Type

: Armor Master (AM)

Country

: USA

Contact

: troopergear@gmail.com and

tupperwaretk@yahoo.com

are the two reliable, lowest cost, and best vendors of this armor. Both lite (helmetless) and full kits are available.

 

http://forum.whitear...opic=11538&st=0