Andrea's Build Thread [*AM]

[zsavk[TK]]

coming along great Andrea! As you can see the FISD rocks for support! Dont hesitate to ask anything. Odds are pretty much guaranteed that you will find someone with the answer.

[Pickles[TK]]

Sorry about being such a slacker with the pictures...

 

 

 

Got the belt mostly done, just need to glue on the buttons.

 

 

 

The thighs are driving me nuts. In my first attempt to make them fit snugly, I over trimmed and now I have to shim them. They still refuse to stay up. I trimmed most of the return edge off the back also.

 

 

 

As you can see, the biceps like to twist on me even though they are connected to the shoulder bells. Will probably pad then or shorten the straps.

 

 

 

Not much done to the chest and back plate yet. I really don't like how the chest bumps the bucket up off my head.

 

 

 

Here's what I have so far.

[Pickles[TK]]

'to do' list:

 

- adding hooks to shins to help them stay closed

- more thigh fitting =/

- find a better way to secure butt plate to kidney plate

- glue buttons to belt.

- paint and add ab plate buttons

- tackle chest plate - trim bottom, sit it lower, secure it to ab plate. was thinking of heating up the top of the shoulder straps to bend it up a little more. thoughts?

- trim back plate more an possibly kidney plate as there is quite a bit of overlap.

- bicep work to stop them from rotating.

 

I think that's about it.

[bigironvault]

Looking great Andrea! I'm going to be calling on you for help soon I hope.

[Griffin-X[TK]]

Great work so far...!

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

It is definitely looking great!

 

>> The thighs are driving me nuts. In my first attempt to make them fit snugly, I over trimmed and now I have to shim them. They still refuse to stay up. I trimmed most of the return edge off the back also.

 

I. Know. The. Feeling. !!! I hate the thighs!!! AAAANNNDDD I did the exact same on my clone shins. Well, the left one, anyway, the right is snug (might not fit over the boot) but the left I now have to add an INCH. INCH!!!! What happened to measuring 70 times before cutting!!??!??!??!

 

Yeah, so, good luck with that. You're using e6000, right?

[darthyagi]

THERE'S A NINJA IN THAT TROOPER!!!

 

Looking good so far. One thing that you might want to consider is if/how you're going to pad your helmet. If it fits nice and snugly, then you'll have good movement. For the chest and back plates... Probably trim a little more off from underneath the plastic straps. Then you can heat those and flatten them a little so that they lay a little closer to your actual shoulders. Anything you can do to bring them down about 1/2-3/4 inches will be time well spent.

Edited June 21, 2012 by darthyagi

[tkrestonva[TK]]

It looks like you attached the knee ammo belt at the bottom (rounded) corners of the belt - it needs to be attached at the top (squared-off) corners. It also means you'll have to tilt the knee bandolier up in order not to show a gap between the bandolier and the bottom of the thigh piece, but that's just the nature of the AM kit.

 

THERE'S A NINJA IN THAT TROOPER!!!

 

That's exactly what I was thinking!

[silverBoyd[501st]]

i had trouble with my thighs too...that's why I saved them for last. If you can get them to taper slightly on the bottoms that would look much better on you. As they are now they have that "swinging bell syndrome". I suggest trimming one side in the back straight down and cut the other side with a slight taper. The slight taper will help bring in the bottoms just a bit. But cut off a litte at a time.

One thing I can see is the pre-molded "covers strips" in the front of the thighs look funny when they're wider than your actual cover strips that you place on top of them. I assume you used the butt-joint method to assemble the armor? If so, I would take off that cover strip and cut down the front "pre-molded" strips to the same width as your real cover strip. Better to have a wider cover strip and shims in the back rather than a super wide cover strip on the front that looks like it's got 2 ridges. Here is a picture of what mine looked like....similar to yours now.

Now after taking off the cover strip and trimming down the thigh fronts it looks more screen accurate

Also I see you mentioned using the hook method for the shins? I would just go with the industrial strength Velcro to fasten them closed. It's very simple to do

Edited June 21, 2012 by silverBoyd

[Pickles[TK]]

I. Know. The. Feeling. !!! I hate the thighs!!! AAAANNNDDD I did the exact same on my clone shins. Well, the left one, anyway, the right is snug (might not fit over the boot) but the left I now have to add an INCH. INCH!!!! What happened to measuring 70 times before cutting!!??!??!??!

 

Yeah, so, good luck with that. You're using e6000, right?

 

Yea, using e6000, thankfully (thanks to the advice from people on these forums!!)

 

 

 

It looks like you attached the knee ammo belt at the bottom (rounded) corners of the belt - it needs to be attached at the top (squared-off) corners. It also means you'll have to tilt the knee bandolier up in order not to show a gap between the bandolier and the bottom of the thigh piece, but that's just the nature of the AM kit.

 

I had help with the riveting. You're saying it needs to be lower?

 

 

 

 

i had trouble with my thighs too...that's why I saved them for last. If you can get them to taper slightly on the bottoms that would look much better on you. As they are now they have that "swinging bell syndrome". I suggest trimming one side in the back straight down and cut the other side with a slight taper. The slight taper will help bring in the bottoms just a bit. But cut off a litte at a time.

 

One thing I can see is the pre-molded "covers strips" in the front of the thighs look funny when they're wider than your actual cover strips that you place on top of them. I assume you used the butt-joint method to assemble the armor? If so, I would take off that cover strip and cut down the front "pre-molded" strips to the same width as your real cover strip. Better to have a wider cover strip and shims in the back rather than a super wide cover strip on the front that looks like it's got 2 ridges. Here is a picture of what mine looked like....similar to yours now.

 

Now after taking off the cover strip and trimming down the thigh fronts it looks more screen accurate

 

Also I see you mentioned using the hook method for the shins? I would just go with the industrial strength Velcro to fasten them closed. It's very simple to do

 

I thought about this but I already have to shim quite a bit at the back and I don't want to end up with a 3" cover strip at the back. =x

Edited June 21, 2012 by Andrea11

[tkrestonva[TK]]

What I'm saying is the attachment points should be in the upper corners of the knee ammo belt. It appears you have them in the lower corners.

 

It won't affect basic 501st and it will likely not affect EIB approval, but I guarantee you Mathias will note it and recommend you fix it should you decide to submit for Expert Infantry. Note that with the AM kit and the way it's designed, in order to attach the knee bandolier in an accurate manner, you will end up having to angle up the bandolier to avoid a gap between it and the bottom of the thigh, but that is acceptable.

 

There may be better photos out there, but these are from the LFL archive photos we have on file here - you can barely see one of the attachment fasteners in the upper right corner of the second photo.

 

[bigironvault]

Andrea I was thinking about your helmet lifting issue. Stupid question, have you put padding into your helmet yet? Because that would lift it a bit higher. I don't recall seeing padding last weekend.

[Pickles[TK]]

I'm not sure how to go about fixing the thigh ammo pack... Can I just pry out the rivets?

 

 

 

Keith - Yea, I have padding tho I may put more in.

[silverBoyd[501st]]

if they are 1/8" rivets....take an 1/8" drill bit and a power drill and carefully and (slowly at first) drill out the center of the rivet head. Once you drill into the rivet head a bit it will release itself.

[Pickles[TK]]

I have a little more work to do but I took my TK out for a 'test run' to see what needs adjusting.

 

I made it 20 feet before shin velcro started coming apart.

 

Still on the waiting list for boots also.

 

[bigironvault]

That looks like a great fit! Now we just have to get your E-11 up and running.

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Shin velcro - you mean to close the backs of the calves?

 

That's a very tricky thing indeed.

 

Is it the velcro coming off the plastic? The hook & loop is always stronger than the adhesive. I bought special Velcro brand adhesive that is supposed to make that bond extra super secure. So far this has worked.

 

Or is it the velcro isn't holding together - the hooks & loops aren't staying hooked? Make sure you have it all lined up correctly. My two AP pieces aren't flush to each other, so they only actually grip in 2-3 small places, but it manages to hold. Make sure there's as much surface area touching as possible.

 

Last resort: try the bra hook + elastic enclosure option.

 

On my clone armor I have to clamshell the shin/calves (you know, the ones I cut too small to begin with lol) ... but again it's not flush, so I'm going to make "tabs" and that is where the velcro will be instead of trying to make it connect all over. Just another thought.

[Pickles[TK]]

That looks like a great fit! Now we just have to get your E-11 up and running.

 

Haha, I'm going to bring it Friday I have all the bits chopped off that need to be and extra holes drilled.

 

 

 

Shin velcro - you mean to close the backs of the calves?

 

That's a very tricky thing indeed.

 

Is it the velcro coming off the plastic? The hook & loop is always stronger than the adhesive. I bought special Velcro brand adhesive that is supposed to make that bond extra super secure. So far this has worked.

 

Or is it the velcro isn't holding together - the hooks & loops aren't staying hooked? Make sure you have it all lined up correctly. My two AP pieces aren't flush to each other, so they only actually grip in 2-3 small places, but it manages to hold. Make sure there's as much surface area touching as possible.

 

Last resort: try the bra hook + elastic enclosure option.

 

On my clone armor I have to clamshell the shin/calves (you know, the ones I cut too small to begin with lol) ... but again it's not flush, so I'm going to make "tabs" and that is where the velcro will be instead of trying to make it connect all over. Just another thought.

 

The Velcro was coming off the plastic. Just added extra adhesive to it and clamped it over night. that should hopefully do the trick! I may add the hook anyways for the extra added security.

[bigironvault]

Cool okay on Friday, we can glue all the pieces etc. well as many pieces as we can - some need to dry before we glue others on.

 

ps. If you have some popsicle sticks or something handy we can use to glue stuff with bring them. (Mind you the epoxy will trash whatever we use to glue with - hence popsicle sticks etc.) I'm all out here.

Edited June 28, 2012 by bigironvault

[Pickles[TK]]

MY 501st app is in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tkrestonva[TK]]

You might get some GML pushback on the fact that your eyes are visible through the helmet lenses, but other than that I don't see anything that would preclude 501st acceptance.

[Pickles[TK]]

Yea, I noticed that it was pretty bad after all the pics were taken =/

[bigironvault]

That's an easy fix at homedepot. You can just grab some welder lenses.

[Pickles[TK]]

TK: 6093 reporting for duty!!!!!

[tkrestonva[TK]]

 

Once your profile at Legion is up, be sure to request full FISD forum access here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16

 

See you at C6 next month, trooper.