AM forearms w/o overlap

[Gep]

I'm doing an AM build and loosely basing it on Pandatrooper's great tutorial. I'm a skinny guy so on the biceps, getting rid of the overlap completely worked very well and is, according to what I've read and seen, more ANH accurate. I'm very happy with the way they turned out.

 

Howver, the forearms are giving me a little trouble. After reading these threads..

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18629&hl=&fromsearch=1

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16446&st=0

I decided to remove the overlap completely as mentioned by several in those discussions. It was said that the 2 pieces join better without the ridge but I'm not seeing it. It seems like the curvature of the outside of the forearm is going to make the cover strip very difficult to glue. It's my understanding that ANH/ESB TK's do not have the ridge on either the forearm or the bicep.

 

Am I doing this right? I've taken a heat gun to the outer forearm to adjust the curves, but I'm still wondering if it will conform to the way I'm going to glue it with shims and strips. Is the spacing from the dimples to the cover strip too close doing it this way?? Just not sure how I feel about this after thinking it over.

 

Props....

 

Mine.....

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

hey Bryan, you are going in the correct direction . Once you get one side glued and let set. then you can force/put the other side to match really without doing any heat gunning... I would trim a little bit more off the elbow return edge (little to none is needed) and all of the wrist return edge. The will help with putting the to part together when you get ready to glue the edge up.

[Gep]

Thanks Tom! I was hoping you'd weigh in on this I believe you might have been the one who posted this approach, so I figured you'd know.

 

Yeah, I've got a lot of return edge stuff I'm working on today. I picked up a spare set of forearms in case this does not work, as they were pretty cheap. I'll continue down this road and see how the strips behave once the backers are in place.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Gep

[troopermaster]

It's my understanding that ANH/ESB TK's do not have the ridge on either the forearm or the bicep.

 

Am I doing this right?

 

No, you are not doing it right.

 

ANH forearms have the ridge on the front side of the forearms and none on the back side. Same goes for the shins and thighs. Only the biceps don't have any ridge.

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

Like you have it in the first pic you are do in right.. If you need to trim more take it off the part of the forearm that does not have the ladder/dimples design.

 

Like TM said above for ANH/ESB:

 

Biceps were the only part that did not have the ridge design.

 

Forearms did have ridge details on the side that has the ladder/dimples design.

 

Thighs have the butt joint with ridge details on the front (with covers strip) and just the cover strip in back covering the butt joint (no ridge detail on back.)

 

Shins have the butt joint with ridge details on the front (with covers strip) and just the cover strip in back where you clamshell them closed.

[Gep]

Thank you TM and RT! The summary above is great for where there should be ridges and where there should not.

 

The picture of my forearm does not show what I trimmed very well. The ridge is removed from both edges of the outside piece.

Based on what you both said, I probably cut off the ridge incorrectly . I was under the impression that there were no ridges on either front or back of the forearms (ANH). I read a post in the thread in Hedji's build where it seemed like a couple people removed BOTH ridges on the forearms, as opposed to just one. After going back and watching ANH and pausing, it looks like there is indeed a ridge on the outer edge of the forearms.

 

I removed it on both sides of the dimpled piece. If that's wrong, no biggie, as new forearms are en route, and I'm not out much money or time for the mistake.

On the replacements, I'm just going to go the Pandatrooper route and cut the ridge to half the dimension of the cover strip and butt it to the inner piece. Since this is my first build, I probably should not worry about getting too cute with some of these mods. I

My big concern is the black TX AM kit that I have not started. I want to get this one right before cutting that one.

 

Is the below diagram correct for the forearm? I realize leaving the ridge on both sides is not super accurate, but I think that is what Pandatrooper did. I plan on leaving 8mm of ridge and using a 15mm cover strip on the new forearms.

[troopermaster]

The diagram is wrong. The ridge should be on the top of both the inner and outer parts so there is a flat surface to glue the butt joining strip to. The back side of the forearm has no ridge and allows you to trim where you want (within reason) and close them using the butt joining strip again.

 

Use this information if you want to go screen accurate. You do not have to do it this way, but it is the way the original suits were assembled.

[Gep]

This is getting kind of confusing. Let's try a better picture on my part. Is my interpretation of things correct?

 

My preference after having cut this forearm already is Pandatrooper's method. The curve of the outside of the forearm will be tough to force into a flat surface. I

 

 

 

[troopermaster]

You have almost got it right. The top of the inner half of your forearm should have a flat ridge just as your outer half does. I don't know if your kit has one originally but that is how ANH armour is.

[Gep]

You have almost got it right. The top of the inner half of your forearm should have a flat ridge just as your outer half does. I don't know if your kit has one originally but that is how ANH armour is.

Thanks TM! That's where the disconnect is. The AM kit is flat on that inside piece on both sides and designed for an overlap joint as opposed to butt.