Another AM armor build[*AM]

[silverBoyd[501st]]

It's a little off topic from an AM armor build...but I wanted to show these off. Today I received my German WWII MP40 Canvas Pouch set from Numrich Gun Parts. They were around $35 for the set after shipping. I believe the color of the set you receive is chosen at random. I received the dark green canvas pouches. They are great quality. I just need to unstitch the tool pouch and re-sew it back on having moved it over an inch or two. I'll weather them, fix the loops on the back of the pouches and either dye them or cover them in a few coats of Plasti-Dip (which I've seen done by another trooper and it looks great). If you're making a Sandtrooper costume like myself and you want to order a pair, I have posted the link below. The set includes a pair of quality reproduction canvas pouches. Features leather strap closures, 2" belt loops, D-rings and a side loading tool pouch.

 

http://www.gunpartsc...pouches&catid=0

Edited May 24, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Got the left thigh armor fitted to my leg nicely it seems. I measured and will assemble the fronts the same as I did for my shins. The back is where I made the adjustments to fit my thighs with a better fit at the bottoms. I trimmed the backs the way I had sketched out (check back a few thread posts) until I was able to "bring in" the bottoms closer to my body. Gives the armor a slight tapered look. I'll post some updated pics of the thigh while wearing it. But for now, here is a shot of the thigh so that you can get an idea of it's shape. The AM armor thighs are HUGE...but I'm glad I tried fitting it to a "tapered" look rather than have the swinging bell syndrome. The AM armor is a fan sculpt I believe but I'm trying my best to give it somewhat of a "screen accurate" look as possible

(Here is what the AM armor looks like when placed together out of the box....)

(Here is what it looks like once fitted to your thighs)

Edited May 24, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Threw on my boot & shin with sniper plate to see if the length of the thigh worked for me. I went through 15 or so fittings. Finally got a fitting that allowed me to pull up the thigh high enough as well as tapered the bottom of the thigh as much as I could so that I could still fit my foot through it. What you think?

Sorry about the poor lighting. I was taking the pics myself with my iPhone and it was nighttime.

 

Also, I have seen these mock-ups for a thigh garter belt on these forums and from what everyone says about it...it looks like it really works nicely. I re-sketched it so that I could get a better sense of it. I'll show you pics of the final product soon. I'm going to assemble a pair for myself this weekend

Edited May 25, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Trimming up the back of my left thigh before attaching inside strip and cover strips. These thighs were a pain to get to fit properly.

 

The only way I was able to get the best fit was to trim away just about all of the return edge around the top of thighs. I also trimmed it on the bottom but not completely gone like the tops

Edited May 27, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

I'm able to bend my knees and can walk more comfortably now that my lower rear thighs have been trimmed out similarly to the way the upper backs of my shins are trimmed out. So much more comfortable. Also helps to eliminate "armor bite" in the back of your knees. I'm debating doing some trimming on the top of the front and backs of my thigh pieces. I know that TK's and/or TD's (in my case) can't really sit down in the armor....but i can hardly bend over to put on my boots or put on my shins. I'm wondering if the front are just a bit too tall and that's what's preventing me front bending over slightly. I'll post a picture later (once I get back home) to get some opinions. Otheriwise I'm about 75% done with my armor assembly. Last night I glued on the male snaps on the chest and back so that I could attach my canvas shoulder straps. No pic of that...nothing too exciting to see. The only things I have left to do to my kit are the following:

 

-finish assembling chest / back armor

-attach latex handguards to gloves

-attach ammo belt to canvas belt and assemble to the torso armor

-assemble the female snaps to elastic and connect all arm armor

-finish assembling thigh garter belt (50% completed - need to buy rivet washers)

-possibly trim the tops of the thighs and add cover strips to thigh armor

-make neck seal

-weather my armor to become a TD

 

I'm so glad I have assembled my MTK helmet and built a TD Backpack from scratch already

Edited May 30, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Starting to connect arm armor together. Here's a test fit. I really need to open up the biceps and make them a but more round rather than oval. When they are turned the proper way they really kill my arms. Must fix that.

What do you think of the placement of my shoulder bells and the biceps? Once I make the bicep opening more rounded...I think I may be able to push them up just a pinch. Apparently my biceps are bigger than I think

Also...I"m in the process of attaching the female snaps to the elastic straps for the arms. Should I fold over the ends of the elastic before I put the snaps though or should I be fine just installing the snap through the single layer of elastic?

Edited May 31, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

How do most of you go about attaching the elastic band to the inside bottom of the shoulder bell? Velcro on the ends? E6000 the elastic to the inside of the bell? Snaps? I'm thinking of trying out E6000

[SCTrooper[TK]]

How do most of you go about attaching the elastic band to the inside bottom of the shoulder bell? Velcro on the ends? E6000 the elastic to the inside of the bell? Snaps? I'm thinking of trying out E6000

e6000 works really well, and is what most use.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Thanks...I decided to go with the E6000 to fasten the elastic band to the inside of the shoulder bell. Think I may also install the little hook thing on the bicep too to keep the elastic in place better.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Finally got my straps fastened to my chest and back. I've spent around $25 on heavy duty snaps (for all of my armor) rather than using Velcro but I really like the feeling of knowing my armor pieces are secured in the right spots. I'm pleased with how the chest / back feel when wearing it. Now to just add the Velcro and elastic on the sides.

Edited June 2, 2012 by silverBoyd

[theisaac]

Hey man,

Looking really good my friend!

 

My shoulders are as close to the webbing that goes from the front to the back of the chest and back as I could get them. You have a wide torso like mine and that helped eliminate the black areas. If you look at page 5 on my build thread you'll see how close mine are attatched. There isnt much you can do about the top / upper pec muscle pushing the chest plate out so having the shoulder bells high covers as much of the black undersuit as possible. That was my experience. Try it out with tape wearing your black undersuit rather than a tshirt and see how it looks. Start high and work your way down until you get the best coverage.

 

Its a little different for bigger troopers so Ive learned there is, "the normal way" and "what I have to do to achieve the look of the normal way".

 

Check out Brian Tkrestonva's build as well as hes got a buffed up bodybuilder upper body as well.

 

As far as biceps go, Im looking at other options for biceps as Im having the same issues as you are with mine. The AM biceps are moulded in almost a squared off shape.at the bottom (you can see it in your test pics above) so we have room on the sides but ZERO room where the bicep actually gets bigger when you curl your arm up. I dont want to frankensuit my kit with other parts but If I cant move my arms I dont really have a choice..

Edited June 2, 2012 by theisaac

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Thanks Issac. I'm going to move my biceps up to almost touch the should straps. I put the heat gun on the biceps but it's still giving me a fit too. Perhaps more heat and a prayer to make them feel better. My biceps are ok when holding a blaster or have arms at my sides...but once I lift them up (especially to take off or put on my helmet) they pinch so badly. And they are as high as I can get them.

How do you have your forearms on? I'm planning on snapping elastic between the bottom of the bicep and the top of the inner forearms. I already have the snaps in place.

Edited June 2, 2012 by silverBoyd

[theisaac]

I used webbing to attatch the biceps to the shoulders and then used the elastic that came with the kit to hold the forearms on so they will have some flex with bending my arms but still keep them from riding too far down towards my writsts.

 

I also trimmed off the return edges on the tops of the biceps to give me more room. Since you cant see it anyway it was a small sacrafice to get them to come up a little higher. I also trimmed the part that starts to dip down towards that thumb print area. since it was squashing my bicep at the top of bending my arms up towards my helmet. Removing the return edge from the biceps was pretty clutch to help them fit better.

 

Edited June 2, 2012 by theisaac

[silverBoyd[501st]]

I used webbing to attatch the biceps to the shoulders and then used the elastic that came with the kit to hold the forearms on so they will have some flex with bending my arms but still keep them from riding too far down towards my writsts.

 

I also trimmed off the return edges on the tops of the biceps to give me more room. Since you cant see it anyway it was a small sacrafice to get them to come up a little higher. I also trimmed the part that starts to dip down towards that thumb print area. since it was squashing my bicep at the top of bending my arms up towards my helmet. Removing the return edge from the biceps was pretty clutch to help them fit better.

 

Isaac...I trimmed off the area you highlighted in my picture. Seems to fit better as well as go up a bit higher. I still had the problem with the bottoms being still too oval-shaped. Once again I busted out the heat gun and slowly (and carefully) zapped the area below the "thumbprint" as well as the opposite side with the heat. Once heated up enough, while still squeezing the biceps...dip them into cold water to cool. After working on them this morning I fell like they pinch me much less if at all and are a bit more rounded rather than oval-shaped.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

spent the morning widening my bicep bottoms, trimming off some more bicep return edge from the top-insides areas and also assembled a connection of wide elastic via heavy duty snaps to connect the forearms to the biceps. Feels comfortable and I'm able to now lift my arms up to put on / off my helmet and I don't get as much pinching in the inner elbows as before. Think I'll leave it all alone for now until I troop in it. Then I'll make more adjustments if needed. Here are some shots of the arms all attached. **Ignore the shoulder straps that look mis-shaped. The shoulder bells haven't been attached via the sew-on snaps and therefore the masking tape is the only thing holding them on in the place. I hope to get the sew-on snaps finished in the next day or so**

 

Also, I threw on my armor (except the thighs which have the cover strips still curing) just to see my progress so far. I don't think it's too bad. Ignore the alligator snaps and the bottom of the chest piece riding up. Once I get rid of those alligator snaps on the suspenders and possibly add snaps or velcro to help secure the chest down on top of the torso I think I'll be in business.

Also notice that I haven't installed the crotch strap. That'll help to not have any sagging pants material in that area. The undersuit I have on is really fitting so don't think it's oversized.

Edited June 3, 2012 by silverBoyd

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Looks good so far. Is your chest strapped to your ab yet? Seems to be sticking out. You'll want a nice little overlap there, not too much.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Looks good so far. Is your chest strapped to your ab yet? Seems to be sticking out. You'll want a nice little overlap there, not too much.

 

no not yet....it's just temporarily clipped onto the ab right now. I'm in the prices of hooking it up inside the ab armor. Thanks though. I feel like I work too slowly but I think it's looking good too. I can't wait to turn this thing Sandy. That's what it's been all about for me anyways.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

I know this isnt part of my AM armor but I just received my latex hand guards and black gloves from Mike @ Trooperbay. I've ordered from him before and highly recommend his stuff.

Also received my canvas belt from him which also has some nice thin plastic sewn inside of the fabric to help keep the shape of the belt while wearing a pouch or holster.

I also ordered some custom stickers from him as well to decorate my armor carrying case.

 

Something I did tonight was attach a hook on my bicep sort of like the one Han Solo has on his armor in ANH. It'll also help to keep the elastic band on the bottom of the shoulder bell in place. They will be painted white soon. I'll see how they work out. If these don't work out I make replace them with a piece of bent ABS plastic if I have any leftover that hasn't made it to the trash yet. **EDITED 06.08.12 - After installing the hooks on the biceps, they really hold the shoulder bell elastic bands in place nicely like they should. Very happy with the install**

Also put on the (3) plain white buttons on my Ab armor...part of my Sandy requirements.

Edited June 8, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Added my male snaps for the crotch strap as well as the single male snap that is seen on the top right side of the Ab / Torso armor

[silverBoyd[501st]]

Got my suspender system setup nicely and now the chest sits closer and lower. Feels better when trying it on too

Spent the morning attaching my ammo belt to the 3" canvas belt I received from Mike over at Trooperbay. He makes great stuff, has a great selection and has great customer service. I started by drilling out the 1/8" holes for the rivets, put on the armor and having my wife help mark the hole placement on the canvas belt.

I used 1/8" rivets and rivet washers to fasten it all together.

I also added some female heavy duty snaps to the belt that will attach to some male snaps that I have fastened into the Ab armor. These snaps will help keep the belt up and in place while wearing it. **EDITED 07.12.12 -- I ended up removing the male / female snaps for the belt...it did not hold. Instead I fastened the front of the canvas belt to the front of my ab armor. with 4-5 rivets and washers. Holds like a champ now and is always in the correct spot when wearing it.

Once everything was all setup I glued on the rivet covers. I'm happy the way the belt looks when attached / wrapped around the armor but I may take the heat gun to the ends of the ammo belt. It seems to flare outwards just a bit when it's on. Anyone ever experience this with their ammo belts?

Something else I wanted to show...for my shoulder straps I wanted to use the sew-on snaps to connect my shoulder bells with since I think that is what was used for the Sandtroopers in the films. My wife sewed them on between the two pieces of fabric (of one snap) so that you cannot see any stitch on the side of the shoulder strap that you can see while wearing it. I think it turned out nicely.

Edited July 12, 2012 by silverBoyd

[silverBoyd[501st]]

So after glueing down the front cover strip on my thigh (using E6000) I'm worried that they aren't cut wide enough. I have the thigh fitted nicely to my body but the cover strip I have now is around 20mm (roughly 1"). Even a 25mm strip wouldn't be wide enough. Seems that I may need a 2" to 2 1/4" front cover strip. If you look at the pic below you'll see that the way it is now it looks like I have "extra" ridges on the front of my thigh. But I don't have anymore ABS strips to re-cut front strips. Any thoughts? Any other material I could use rather than ABS?

In the first picture you can see that my rear thigh cover strips look fine. I'm pleased with the way they turned out....

This next pic is of my front thigh strip. I edited the picture so that you can see the areas on either side of my cover strip. I think I may have to redo these. It looks odd to me. Luckily I have only done this to one thigh piece. This is AM armor which means that the pre-molded "cover strips" were meant to be overlapped. I have muscular legs and the amount I took off at the front and backs of the thigh pieces are the absolute most I could trim away. I decided to build my armor using the butt-joint method which has turned out to look better and be more comfortable. But now that all I have to do is finish up these thighs and I'm finished w/ assembly and now I'm running into this problem. Wish I hadn't glued the front strip down yet. I don't know what I was thinking.

Any suggestions on what I should do? And is E6000 easy to remove once dried?

Edited June 11, 2012 by silverBoyd

[tkrestonva[TK]]

You should definitely make the cover strips in the front wider to cover the entire raised portion. The 20mm recommended (and screen-accurate) width is great if your legs are thin enough to get there, but ultimately you make them as wide as you need to fit while still looking reasonably screen-accurate and proportional to the width of the thigh. As an example, my thigh cover strips are 30mm wide.

 

Another option is to pull the thighs apart completely, increase the width in the back, and decrease the width in the front so that the 20mm strips you currently have fit properly. Better for the cover strips to be overly-wide in the back than in the front.

 

E6000 is very forgiving, even after it's cured. That's one of the reasons it comes so highly recommended. Very carefully (so as not to gouge the plastic) use a flat edge to get under the cover strip, and pry it up and off. Once done, remove the E6000 residue (you can use your thumb to rub it off but I used GooGone and it seems perfectly safe to me - others may recommend a different solvent), wash the area with hot water and dishwashing soap to clean it, and you're good as new.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

You should definitely make the cover strips in the front wider to cover the entire raised portion. The 20mm recommended (and screen-accurate) width is great if your legs are thin enough to get there, but ultimately you make them as wide as you need to fit while still looking reasonably screen-accurate and proportional to the width of the thigh. As an example, my thigh cover strips are 30mm wide.

 

Another option is to pull the thighs apart completely, increase the width in the back, and decrease the width in the front so that the 20mm strips you currently have fit properly. Better for the cover strips to be overly-wide in the back than in the front.

 

E6000 is very forgiving, even after it's cured. That's one of the reasons it comes so highly recommended. Very carefully (so as not to gouge the plastic) use a flat edge to get under the cover strip, and pry it up and off. Once done, remove the E6000 residue (you can use your thumb to rub it off but I used GooGone and it seems perfectly safe to me - others may recommend a different solvent), wash the area with hot water and dishwashing soap to clean it, and you're good as new.

 

awesome advice....i may to make my strips closer to 30mm too. Can't believe I did this. Oh well....i will definately redo the fronts. Any idea on what I can use since I don't have anymore ABS to cut strips from?

[tkrestonva[TK]]

I would try a few things, in this order:

 

1. Post a WTB thread here and at MEPD for the spare ABS strips that come with the AM kit. Also hit up your local garrison. Not everyone uses the butt-join method for these kits (although they should) but a lot of people DO use canvas belts. Hence, there should be some extra ABS strips somewhere out there waiting to be sold.

 

2. See if you can get some matching ABS plastic (thickness, color, and surface texture) from a plastic supplier. Downside is that even if you can find it, you may end up having to buy far more than you actually need.

 

3. Pick up a "for sale" sign whose color and texture matches the armor as closely as possible, and cut it up into the correct-sized strips.

 

In fact, since you're going sandy a precise color match is of lesser importance. Dirt hides a lot.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

I would try a few things, in this order:

 

1. Post a WTB thread here and at MEPD for the spare ABS strips that come with the AM kit. Also hit up your local garrison. Not everyone uses the butt-join method for these kits (although they should) but a lot of people DO use canvas belts. Hence, there should be some extra ABS strips somewhere out there waiting to be sold.

 

2. See if you can get some matching ABS plastic (thickness, color, and surface texture) from a plastic supplier. Downside is that even if you can find it, you may end up having to buy far more than you actually need.

 

3. Pick up a "for sale" sign whose color and texture matches the armor as closely as possible, and cut it up into the correct-sized strips.

 

In fact, since you're going sandy a precise color match is of lesser importance. Dirt hides a lot.

 

I thought about the FOR SALE sign route. I have plenty of it too. It's going to be dirty so do you think anyone would notice the material difference? I could maybe even use a few layers glued together to make the strip about the same thickness as thew ABS strips are....this might be my quickest option.