Darth Aloha's RT-MOD ANH Stunt Build[*RT]

[xaoslord]

Only thing that stands out to my inexperienced eyes is that your thigh ammo pack may need lowered.

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/fisd/Tutorials-legs

 

I will be using your build thread to help me along when my armor comes in at the end of the month...

[kevster[TK]]

The screw looks fine.

The TD looks a little long, it should be about 7.5" from end to end.

Like the above is stated, you might have to lower your thigh ammo belt

You could maybe take a little off the inside of your fore arms. They look like mine and how mine are is I took off all the return edge, but the armor has a slight curve inwards at the end. It looks like that how it is in the movies too, so I kept that curve but took off what was a sharp return edge.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Thanks Kevin/Ray.

 

Yeah I was a little worried about the thigh ammo. If you look at the other RT EIBs and centurions you can see that's sort how it sits. I wrestled with that stupid thing and a heat gun for a few days trying to make it sit right. I settled on getting the very front lined up properly and just dealing with the fact that the sides are higher up the thigh than I want. If I lowered it anymore the top edge of the ammo pack would sit below the bottom edge of the thigh.

 

The TD is only .375" or less shorter than the Jesse TD tube. It may look too long because it is smaller diameter than his. I'm hoping it will be ok for EIB. I think most RT EIBs used their RT TD (also... PDQ LMNO)

 

Aloha and thanks again guys,

 

-Eric

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Warning... nudie photos contained in this post.

 

I am now officially one blaster away from Centurion.

 

The decals that came with my RT-MOD bucket were peeled off today and replaced with the handpainted style decals from Trooperbay.

 

The original decals left a ton of glue goop residue. I followed the advice in this thread and used WD40. I didn't follow all of the advice or I would have smeared sandwich fixins all over my helmet. Peanut butter? Mayonnaise? Is this some sort of FISD hazing to get new troopers to get them to dig around their kitchen and stink up their helmets?

 

The sticky stuff went away like so:

1. Rub a WD40 soaked soft cotton rag (or old infant onesie in my case) vigorously over the residue.
   
2. Try using windex to get WD40 streaks off and fail.
   
3. Wipe grease off with rubbing alcohol.
   

I watch Mike's

about 6 times this morning.

 

Here's the naked photo as promised:

 

I took this to remind myself which tube stripe went where... i suggest you do the same before you cut it in half.

 

Centurion ready bucket:

 

 

Did I screw anything up at all?

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[xaoslord]

Looks like you did a great job on it. Is it the angle or does it seem the tear decals are a bit small for the RT-Mod?

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Looking really good. This is the culmination of an awful lot of work on your part and it will be worthily achieved when complete.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Looks like you did a great job on it. Is it the angle or does it seem the tear decals are a bit small for the RT-Mod?

 

Funny you say that. I'm pretty sure one tear is a little bigger than the other. For sure the traps are a slightly different. I had a tough time placing that one tear and probably could have centered it more to make it look like it fits. These decals from Applingbay are made just for the RT bucket and otherwise fit well.

 

Without his method of floating the decal on soapy water there's no way I could have placed those stickers as well as I did.

 

I do think they could look even more hand painted. But maybe because I know I would do a sucktastic job with those lines

 

Looking really good. This is the culmination of an awful lot of work on your part and it will be worthily achieved when complete.

 

Thanks Paul It's also been some of the best fun ever and I couldn't or wouldn't have done it without the FISD.

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[FIVE[501st]]

That first post and list is so great that I added it to our MEPD Officer Training thread!

[NastyNoah[TK]]

Thanks for the inspiration and ideas. I will be buying my RT-Mod armor ASAP.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

That first post and list is so great that I added it to our MEPD Officer Training thread!

 

Spiffy! I'm honored.

 

Thanks for the inspiration and ideas. I will be buying my RT-Mod armor ASAP.

 

You're welcome. Let me/us/FISD know if you have questions. And post lots of photos of your progress.

 

Rob: If you're reading this. My plan is working. Have RT-MOD take over the 501st one large sized trooper at a time.

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[Spectre]

Well...you and all of us. Haha it looks fine Eric, mine has a huge gap in the join on the folding stock.

It'll be fine, just be confident.

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Wow, pinned thread and everything ;-P

And I'm a little bit jealous of your Doopydoo build, I had so much fun building mine that I've been wanting to make another blaster ever since, so enjoy your build! And tweak the hell out of it, there's always small stuff to be changed/modded/added for accuracy.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

On the subject of sniper knee plates... as Kevster can attest mine caused a fair amount of angst. So much that he got on skype with me to bare his sniper knee over the interwebs.

 

I tried using a heat gun gently but decided it would not make much difference in aligning/fitting. I would suggest not risking it.

 

I did think I had to trim my sniper knee some to get it to go on correctly. I was wrong. I trimmed a bit underneath the front of the plate to get it to sit nicely on the shin. It turns out that it would have fit just fine without trimming. Trust in the Rob that he trimmed it properly for you.

 

Here's a closeup of the the knee plate now:

 

 

 

Before glueing I fit my sniper knee in two steps...

 

First I clamped the plate with many many spring clamps to the front of the shin such that "A" was as as vertical as possible. Don't try to make it inline with the the front face of the shin. I had better luck with making it as plumb as I could. The front face may not end up being perpendicular to the floor after glueing, but it is an easier goal for alignment's sake. Make sure there are as many clamps on there as you can fit. Once you start fiddling with the sides of the knee plate the front will want to move around. I would suggest letting it move around a little for your own sanity.

 

Second I pulled the sides back carefully so that "B" seems to run along the same line as the top of the shin. It turns out that you only need to do this for the last inch or so of the plate side. The whole side does not run parallel so stop trying. This maneuver takes quite a bit of force and squeezing. If you look down into the top of the shin you can see where the sides of the plate actually becomes warped and curved (I don't think I have a photo of this handy.) Please dont be surprised if the sides are squished where you end up glueing and clamping. Observe what parts of the sides actually touch once the knee plate is in place. You may not need to spread glue everywhere, only the mating surfaces.

 

I made a mark with an exacto knife (sharpie will smear when glue gets on it) in the inside of my knee plate where the top of the shin hits. This let me know it was aligned properly once the panic and anxiety of freshly spread glue begins.

 

For glueing please do not use CA for the initial knee plate attachment. You need more time to get very pissed off at your clamps, so E-6000 is the way to go here. Make sure you rough up the shin and the insides of the knee plate sides before applying goop. I might have used 600 grit maybe?

 

After fitting, glue it on in the same order you fit the plate. Glue the front on first and clamp the living poop out of it. You may find that there isn't much surface area to glue the front onto the shin. That's ok. Just spooge it up as best you can, even if it is barely touching the shin. A well placed RT knee plate does not fit flush on the front.

 

Carefully fold the sides of the plate onto the shin with copious amounts of E-6000. The red shaded area in the image above is roughly where the sides make contact with the shin (I would go look at my knee plate to check but my son is napping in that room and none of you are here to help with a cranky baby.) I spread glue everywhere of course, but I'm pretty sure that red are is the only surface holding the sides onto the shin. Next: clamp clamp clamp and then add another clamp for good measure. Check your reference mark in the inside of the knee plate and slide it up or down depending.

 

Leave your sniper plate for 48 hours, or even more, to cure.

 

One side of my sniper knee started to separate a bit right before my last (and first) troop. I daubed a bit of zap-a-gap CA in there, clamped it for 30 minutes and moved on with life. All is well in sniper knee plate world now.

 

I hope this helps the other RT folks who end up wanting to melt down their sniper knee plate into a tiny little white middle finger and mail it to Rob.

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[MattyJ[TK]]

Hi Eric,

 

First let me say what an awesome thread you have put together here on the RT-MOD armour. It shall be my 'Imperial bible' when my armour arrives in a few weeks. One question I have for you is that I see you purchased all the items (snaps/velcro/elastic etc) required to put the armour together even though some items like elastic and velcro are included in the kit. Being in New Zealand its a little hard to get the right stuff so I wanted to know if you used any of the construction bits that were included or were your items better suited? I see Rob is always away from his Email so I hoped you could help me with this query. I've been buying up large in anticipation on receiving the armour (similar to you by the looks ) and shipping from the USA is expensive so if I can avoid the purchase of un-needed items your answer will help a lot. Oh I'm hoping to go EIB or better with my build too if that makes any difference to your answer....

Regards Mat

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Hey Mat... My RT kit only came with Velcro (of which is now in a ball somewhere in my closet) I know Rob has been making a ton of improvements to his product so I'm not sure what he includes these days. If you want to use snaps and elastic to assemble your stuffs... If I were you I would head to your local fabric store and buy a big roll of 1" elastic and a ton of snaps.

 

Please post lots of pics so we can see all the new stuff.

 

Don't hesitiate to post questions or PM me if you need help.

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[MattyJ[TK]]

Thanks Eric, good to know. I guess it can't hurt to have too much stuff than not enough aye? haha! I'll actually be doing two builds at once (RT-MOD and a Tray Nichols) so it will be an interesting comparision. I expect the RT-MOD to better fit me height-wise (6'3") but it may be too wide as I'm only 89Kgs (think that under 200 pounds??). Like you I have got all the extras to make it as best and accurate as possible. Even the DroopyDoos E-11 kit so your info on that has been fantastic too.

I'll be sure to post pics of progress and show everyone the latest and greatest improvements from these two top makers

 

Cheers Mat

[BIDS[TK]]

Hi Eric,

Just wanted to say thanks very much for such a comprehensive build thread. I've just recently joined my local Garrison's Forum and have been fererishly researching armour. At 6' & 145lb I was initially thinking about AM, but as I want to build for EIB & then Centruion right from the start I think I'll go RT-Mod. Having to change AM armour chest/shoulder/back out or modifing it seems like a step backwards, and I've just seen the drama a local has gone though with the incorrectly molded AM shins.

 

I emailed Rob and he responded with pricing quickly and answered all my Newby questions patiently.

 

I've got my first armor party on this weekend so I'm really looking foward to not only meeting the guy's & girl's in the Garrsion, but to see some armor up close & personal.

 

Anyway thanks again, your thread is bookmarked (along with the EIB submission) so I'm sure I'll be referring back to it frequently.

 

Cheers

Craig

[boomshakra[TK]]

Hello Eric,

I am planning on ordering the RT kit and as others have said above, this thread will be my 'build-bible'. Quick question (and forgive me if I overlooked it above) - did the kit come with the backside of the drop boxes, or did you have to get them elsewhere (and if so...where?)?

 

thanks

Jason

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Hello Eric,

I am planning on ordering the RT kit and as others have said above, this thread will be my 'build-bible'. Quick question (and forgive me if I overlooked it above) - did the kit come with the backside of the drop boxes, or did you have to get them elsewhere (and if so...where?)?

 

thanks

Jason

 

Your RT kit will come with backs to the drop boxes

 

Aloha,

 

-Eric

[boomshakra[TK]]

Awesome! One less thing on my pre-armor delivery checklist!

 

thanks

 

Jason

[boomshakra[TK]]

Hey Eric - instead of posting a new thread, I thought I'd ask you directly since you built the same armor I will be building. What size did you cut your webbing down to for snap plates? I have a pretty long wait ahead of me, so I plan on using it to do all of the prep I can before the big brown box gets here. Also, I picked up here & there that getting glue on the metal part of the snap is not a good idea - where did you glue on the webbing to avoid this?

 

One last question - how many snap plates should I make ahead of time? I was thinking sets of 3 for each side of the ab & kidney plate, 3 on the top of the butt & crotch, 3 on the bottom of chest & back with 2 on each at the top of those pieces to connect them over the shoulder, plus the ones that will go down each arm and one on each thigh for garters...I came up with 47, but am thinking more wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

thanks to any & all who weigh in on this

 

Jason

[Indyrebel[TK]]

Hey Jason,

I'm currently building my RT MOD and I used 1 inch by 2 inch nylon straps and I didn't worry about glue getting on the metal snaps and they work fine....so far I'm up to 20 snaps and I'm getting ready to add snaps for the front cod piece, maybe 4 snaps across. I decided to attach the butt and ab plates together with 4- 2inch by 4inch elastic straps held on with E6000, that way I'll get the flex I need and won't have t o worry about snaps popping. The glue is almost dry on that part so I will test it tonight or in the morning, if it works I may use that method on the front ab and cod piece.

 

Rick

Indianapolis

[boomshakra[TK]]

Thanks, Rick!

 

Let me know how the ab/cod wtih elastic works out - Still have over a month until I get my armor, so I will be interested to hear how 'field testing' goes for your RT-MOD.

[Indyrebel[TK]]

your very welcome, I may post some pics on here in the morning for you to check out.

[NastyNoah[TK]]

Thanks, Rick!

 

Let me know how the ab/cod wtih elastic works out - Still have over a month until I get my armor, so I will be interested to hear how 'field testing' goes for your RT-MOD.

I have found out from experience the cod/ ab elastic works great. I had some issue with the snaps popping at first every time I bent over, so I lengthened them up by a 1/2" and have not had a problem since.