Another AM armor build[*AM]

[troopermaster]

The strapping in the photo above is the one I always use when I build a suit that has specified standard strapping. I have never had any complaints and the guys tell me if works extremely well. I have had it one of my suits many years ago and cannot fault it.

 

Sometimes the simplist methods are the best. Ditch the suspenders

[silverBoyd[501st]]

even though it's not part of my AM armor kit...I thought I'd throw up a few pics of my MTK helmet which I built last year to go along with my AM armor. I'm not 100% on this but when I bought it I was told it was a recast of the CAP helmet which is a recast of the TE helmet which is a recast of the Brian R helmet. Don't hold me to anything. I love this helmet. Enjoy the pics.

 

 

I painted all of the helmets details by hand (except the blue stripes) with Humbrol paints.

 

Here are some shots of the lenses and frown screen installed

 

I also installed a hard-hat liner into my helmet rather than the "star foam" padding. I like the way it turned out and it fits well and feels very comfortable.

Edited May 2, 2012 by silverBoyd

[theisaac]

Hey man,

I posted pics of my kidney / ab plate shim that I did with the rivets on my build. Sorry it took so long. It was a long work week. Im just rolling through my build the best I can so remember Im not the expert but so far its working OK for my size frame.

 

The way I have mine strapped up I can attatch everything from the chest to the butt plate and its all connected. The only part not connected is the legs. For me this keeps everything where it needs to be but every build is as differnt as the body its attatched to Ive noticed.

 

looking good though bro! that helmet is badass!

Isaac

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Thanks Isaac. I saw your system of strapping for your torso. I appreciate the reference photos. Today I finally got my Compression Top from WalMart of all places. It said it was $9 but rang up for only $3. Score!! Fits great. I still need to find the pants but at least I can wear the top while sizing my torso armor.

Also, The first set of heavy duty snaps I created were from a brand that I was able to fasten together using a small tool and a hammer. Now the other packets of snaps I bought are the brand-name, Dritz. Turns out the tool / hammer way of doing things won't work. So I had to buy this $25 Dritz Heavy Duty Snap Pliers (#24P plier type). If anyone is interested, I'm willing to sell the pliers for $20 once I'm finished.

[Fuseblown]

Dritz makes a Heavy Duty Snap Kit that comes with a metal post and a black "bowl" that you can hammer the heavy duty snaps with, without buying those expensive pliers. The "kit" is usually a couple dollars more than a pack of heavy duty snaps alone.

 

 

Sometimes I wish I had the pliers, though, because I feel like I could get a better fold on the snap posts. I've had a couple fall apart where I'm putting them through thicker material like my canvas belt. I also live in an apartment and I can't be hammering away at all hours of the night like I find myself needing to do.

[theisaac]

I have the hammer kind and its been pretty good for me so far. The only exception is trying to put snaps through my ab piece for the belt. I didnt want to use snap plates if I could just put snaps through the plate itself. Now I need to put them through a slightly curved piece of plastic and its a nightmare.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Busy weekend...not too much time to work on armor but I did get a chance to make my first few snap plates glued on as well as fasten the butt and kidney together. I plan on adding more but it's a start.

Also glued on some shoulder bell snap plates

[thrill kill kult]

Looking Good Jason!

[theisaac]

welcome to the next phase of your build..... this is where you obsess about every centimeter and where it sits

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Finally got my left side shim between the ab / kidney plates started. While wearing it I had my wife mark the FOR SALE sign material that I have decided to use. I figured I'd use this material for it's flexibility. I measured out the locations of the (6) side rivets roughly 10mm from the edges. Turned out ok I think. Now to just fasten it all together, paint the rivet heads white and trim a small piece on the bottom of the shim to match the kidney plate bottom.

I gave myself 2" or so of extra FOR SALE sign material on the inside. (2" overlapping the inside of the abs and 2" overlapping the inside of the kidney plate). Since the left side is suppose to be "permanently closed", would it be ok if the inside overlaps were held closed via Industrial Velcro? On the right side I plan on using snaps but I may also use Industrial Velcro there too.

Edited May 8, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Got my left side torso shim almost completed. I used a little trick when painting the 6 rivets that I used when painting the heads of my helmet ear screws. I used my wife's white nail polish. I like the nail polish because when it dries...it dries with a hard "shell". I read on the CRL that the rivets can be left brass or painted white. I like the rivets painted white personally.

Edited May 10, 2012 by silverBoyd

[theisaac]

Im gonna have to do this to mine. I like the white look personally

[silverBoyd[501st]]

I'm wondering....for the snaps that you see on the crotch areas...are they just regular sized snaps like the ones used on the inside for strapping? And are they just pierced through the ABS plastic of the armor?

[theisaac]

Mine are. Im not an expert though. I just drilled two holes and pushed the bottom of snap through then put the male part on the top facing up and used the snap tool and a hammer. Check that photo of the original suits on the racks.

Hows the fitting coming along? lets see it buddy!

Isaac

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Mine are. Im not an expert though. I just drilled two holes and pushed the bottom of snap through then put the male part on the top facing up and used the snap tool and a hammer. Check that photo of the original suits on the racks.

Hows the fitting coming along? lets see it buddy!

Isaac

Thanks Isaac...unfortunately I've been burning the midnight oil working late nights at my office and I'm here working on a Saturday as well. Tonight I hope to finish up the upper body armor as well as the chest & back and then I'll post a picture. I've been slack in the picture taking department lately. Before I went to bed last night I was finishing up making some more snaps for the right side closure of my Abs and Kidney plates. I still can't decide if I should fasten it all closed using 2 sets of straps on either side ONLY - or - 2 sets of snaps on one side of the opening and velcro on the other side. My thought about the velcro is...it'll make that one side of the armor sit up just a bit and won't be flush with the shim material. Any thoughts?

[theisaac]

I have three straps going from shim thats glued to the kidnet that snap into the ab plate. They are spaced about an inch or so apart. They keep the shim lined up on the cod just fine. I think it depends on your body shape in the midsection though.I leave mine closed all the time and just step into it and pull it up like a pair of pants. Works really well for me so far. Also understand that Im lazy and dont like to fuss with snaps when I want to do a test fit either. So pulling it on and off is just faster.

 

I think I posted pics of what it looks like in my thread but if I didnt I can post some for you to see how I did it. Or maybe a video and post that if it will help you visualize it better.

 

Isaac

[silverBoyd[501st]]

ok.....time for updated pics. I finally got my torso about 85% finished. Still working on the suspenders. You can still see the "alligator clips" on the suspenders. Those will be cut off and snaps will attach to the top-inside of the torso. Enjoy.

The side showing the rivets was taken in the mirror....so don't think I put them on the wrong side.

Butt plate seems to be sticking out a bit but maybe that'll change once I get the belt finished. Any tips to fix that problem? I have the butt plate separate from the kidney plate and there is only really a 1/4" or so between the 2 pieces. Also, maybe the butt plate will push back in once I have my backpack. With the backpack on, you won't really see my butt plate anyhow.

 

Here's a little pre-trimmed pic of the chest and back piece. They need lots of work. The chest is really high on me. You can tell by looking at the ab plate. Since I'm turning this whole kit into a Sandtrooper, the shoulders will be resting on me via canvas straps. Hopefully that will pull it down some. As well as putting snap plates inside the front to connect the chest to the abs.

Edited May 18, 2012 by silverBoyd

[theisaac]

You have the floating chest piece like I had. Once I snapped the top so it doesnt ride up it takes care of that. I also had to trim the plastic "shoulder straps" because that was part of the issue with the chest wanting to ride up. Aim to have the bottom of the chest ride about at the top of the button box. The bottom of the back should stay flush with the top of the kidney plate. For mine I have straps to help this but I may need to trim one or the other. Im not 100% sure on which one I want to trim quite yet. I also trimmed off the flaps on the sides of the back plate. They are almost square in the back.

 

Looking good buddy!

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Thanks Isaac. I'm going to trim a lot off of the molded shoulder pieces. I know that will definitely help along with trimming the sides a bit and adding snaps to hold them down better. Question about adding the crotch elastic. How tight is it? Or is it mostly a piece long enough to connect the front to the back?

[silverBoyd[501st]]

After looking at some BluRay screen captures I decided to trim off 4" or so from the sides of the back piece. Looks much better.

 

About to trim the sides down on the chest piece.

Can you see where I have the pencil marks drawn? It looks like I have them marked similarly to the screen shots. I can't tell if it's a diagonal cut or straight cut. I'm thinking straight cuts on the side, right?

 

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Nice job cutting down the "wings" on the backplate, more AM troopers should do that. Looks like you've got the area marked for cutting on the chest about right, as well.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Took off 2 1/2" from the molded shoulder pieces. After test fitting...it feels like the back is ok but i still need to take off lots more from my chest shoulder areas. It still sits up way too high and isn't laying down on my ab armor enough. I'm hoping to get the bottom of the chest piece to fall right above the "center box"on the abs.

Since I'm going to be a Sandy...I will attach the canvas straps between the chest & back. Pics of that coming soon...but here are some pics of my test fitting along with some pics of my wearing my backpack and T21 blaster (that I also built from scratch in the past 6 months). Please ignore the "alligator snaps" that can still be seen on my suspenders. Those will be coming off soon. Enjoy...

Looks like the backpack helps to push the butt plate in-line with the kidney plate better, rather than having it stick out a bit. One advantage of being a Sandy I guess. ;-)

(Still working on thigh armor)

 

For the next picture...my AM kit came with the machine screws (for building a TK) and also has the covers for the ammo belt that attaches to the canvas belt. My question is...the ammo belt only requires (3) of these covers. I know I need 3-4 plain white buttons on my abs for the Sandtrooper but my question is do I paint 3-4 of the TK screws white and use those or do I cut out the larger center circle for the "belt covers" and use those as the Sandtrooper buttons? I'm not sure which to do.

 

I got distracted by my new BluRay player, my Star Wars complete saga on BluRay & some Shock Top. More progress pics to come tomorrow.

 

Just for the record...working on my thighs and I'm about to throw them against the wall. Any tips on thigh assembly? I've read multiple threads and still can't figure out the best approach.

Edited May 21, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Finally picked up a nice 45 Gallon "Rugged Tote brand" from Lowe's for $35. I don't have my thighs in it yet but I can tell they will fit. Very pleased with it.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Thinking of how to best approach my thighs. I tried them on and found out that I don't want the "bell" look on the bottom. I'd like the bottom of the thighs to be pulled in as tight as possible while still allowing for proper movement and comfort. My theory was to assemble the fronts like normal...butt-joints and all. For the rear of the thighs, I'll use a butt-joint assembly but was thinking this is where I will control the slight taper to the bottom of the thighs. Here's a sketch I did. Any thoughts?

 

I plan on making the cuts straight (in case you thought they were drawn at an angle).

Edited May 23, 2012 by silverBoyd

[tkrestonva[TK]]

That is an excellent approach.