Got My Brown Box! Kevins TK build

[Kevin Myhre]

Well I got my ATA armor today. It's my belated fathers day present. My wife rocks. I'm sure I'll have tons of questions as I get started. The brown Box

It's contents

My foam filled duct tape dummy

The positionable hands I built for it

 

I guess my first question is where to start? As tempted as I am to start on the lid I think I should probably wait until I'm more comfortable working with the material seeing that's the main focus of the suit. So should I start at the bottom and work my way up?

[NoVATie[Admin]]

Did you use coat hangers to make the hand? Looks pretty creative. Most people start by assembling the biceps and forearms. They're straightforward and don't require as much trimming and shaping as the legs sometimes do.

[Kevin Myhre]

Thanks for the tip on where to start. For the hands I used some armature wire I had laying around but coat hanger wire would probably work just as well if not better seeing it would be a little stiffer.

[sith_241]

There are a bunch of build threads for the ATA suit over in the Build forum. I personally recommend Pandatrooper's build, as he documents what he is doing really well.

[TK-2126_MD[TK]]

WOW LUV THE HANDS!!!! very cool. we need more pics!!!

[Kevin Myhre]

Well here's all I've been able to get done tonight just doing some trimming and trying to figure out the best way to trim everything. Still need some work on these pieces

[Kevin Myhre]

Okay so my first couple of questions regard return edges. Where are they supposed to be and where aren't they? also I know the wrist piece isn't supposed to have a return edge but does that include the part that's circled in this picture?

[Kevin Myhre]

Okay so here's today's progress.

Trimming

 

measuring

 

more trimming... so glad I bought the lexan scissors

 

finishing strip

first snap plate added

 

 

any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated

[OneWhiteWarrior]

Looking REALLY good so far Kevin

 

I to am gonna be picking up my first set of Armor within the next few weeks.

 

Im a little nervous about putting it together lol, def DO NOT wanna mess anything up.

 

But hopefully with all the great people and info here i wont run into that problem.

 

Def keep us updated with some more pix as you continue your build.

[Kevin Myhre]

yeah I thought I had it all figured out until I actually got the armor. Making that first cut is very nerve racking. I tried most of the methods on here to trim it but found the lexan scissors worked the best for me. I use the score and snap method only for the finishing strips

[TK-7980]

Mind if I ask where you picked up your Lexan scissors?

[Kevin Myhre]

I got the lexan scissors at our local hobby/RC shop.

[Kevin Myhre]

Making and adding snaps

 

 

 

Well it's starting to take form.

 

[Kevin Myhre]

pretty much done fitting all the major pieces together. Just have to figure out how I'm going to shim the thighs, shins, and sides. It's a little difficult trying to figure out the width for the shims on the legs trying to do it myself. I switched to using webbing for my snap plates so they contoured to the armor a little better.

 

While I try to figure out how I want to go about doing the leg shims I started the helmet. I ran in to one problem already. I tried painting the inside black with rubberized undercoating and it just rubbed right off in most places. After removing as much as I could I figured I'd just paint black paint on the inside when I'm done with it.

 

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly welcome.

[pandatrooper[TK]]

Coming along nicely so far. Personally, I usually leave the helmet for the last part of the build.

 

In regards to leg shims (and the rest of the armor), there are tutorials written with sizes and specs here.

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/home/tutorials/armor-tutorials/thighsshins.html

 

In regards to painting the helmet, did you wash the inside with detergent first? Follow my ATA ABS helmet build for tips.

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=14806&st=0

[Kevin Myhre]

Thanks Panda those links came in really handy, wish I had seen the helmet one before I started on it lol. Well here are some pics of the helmet so far with the first coat of paint on

[BananoPower22[TK]]

the black line on the traps and tears look a little too big, try adding a little bit more grey

[Kevin Myhre]

Lol yes the black lines are a little big. This is just the first coat of paint. The second one I'll be going in closer to make the black thin little lines all around. I didn't want to get too close on the first pass

[Kevin Myhre]

Second coat of paint on the helmet. Still not really happy with the black lines. Might have to go back in and re-do them.

 

What I have done so far. Still have to add some elastic or something to keep the shoulder bells closer to my arms and in place and figure out how I want to shim the sides.

 

Besides the obvious things that need to be done how does it look so far? Does the alignment of everything look okay? One other thing is it okay to cut out part of the bottom of the thigh backs like I've seen in some photos? I can walk around just fine but if I have to go up stairs or anything like that I end up walking like the tin man.

[ZeroRoom[TK]]

Looking good! I love your poseable hands - would you be able to do a thread on how you built them?

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

You look like a very big man, Kevin, would it be inappropriate to ask your height and weight, just to better understand the scale/proportions of things?

[Kevin Myhre]

the poseable hands are pretty easy to make. I was starting to make hand guards but wasn't liking how it looked so I used the wood from those for the palms of the hands. The fingers are just a dowel rod cut up with the edges sanded down so the fingers can bend. I used armature wire to run in holes I drilled in the dowels. the wrist part is just a coupler for pvc pipe then it was all hot glued together.

 

Martin. I am fairly big probably should have gone with a kit that was made for larger people but didn't have the money for any of them (wife wouldn't let me spend the money lol) I'm about 6'3" and about 225-230 lbs.

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Thanks for the info! I have a buddy of mine about the same size as you who's looking into getting armor in a few months, and this thread will be great for reference

[Kevin Myhre]

Okay after much trial and error (more error then not) I got the helmet how I wanted except for the tube stripes. No matter how I try to do them they just aren't turning out. Guess it's time to give in, repaint it all white, and order some decals

[Kevin Myhre]

Well almost finished. Just need to finish up the helmet, paint the armor as soon as the weather isn't so hot and add the hand guards and shoulder straps. Here's a pic of it on the mannequin.