Need help in downsizing AM armor

[igrover]

Hi - I have a new AM armor kit in BLACK and do not have any cover strips to use to build the armor using the Butt join/Cover strips building method. I decided to just use the overlap method.

 

However I do not have large arms and the biceps and the forearms are huge on me. Trimming the inner forearm is not a problem because the armor piece itself is basically a long tube - I can trim the wrist smaller than the elbow and that should still line up on with the outer forearm.

 

The bicep is another story. Because the inner bicep has the long low swoop cutout in it, from my viewpoint one cannot cut this piece to downsize the overall biceps because you would lose the aesthetics look of the long low swoop meeting the outside bicep piece. And if you try to use the overlap joining method you cannot cut the outer bicep because that is the side with the overlap.

 

Attached is a picture of the amount of additional room I have in my bicep (a good 3 inches) if I just fit the two pieces together using the overlap method.

 

Any thoughts? Like I mentioned above, the black AM kit did not come with any additional material to make cover strips.

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Hi, Brian,

 

This may not be the most helpful answer you get but let me take a swing here. And hopefully I'm understanding your question/issue properly...

 

For one, you don't need return edges in the top part of your bicep (if you need any at all) because it is under the shoulder bell. If you're concerned about the shape/curve of the dip in the bicep, you can just shape it closely at the top. ABS and styrene cut/sculpt nicely with an exacto, a fine rasp, and some sandpaper. So line up the bottoms where there is a little return edge and then shave down the tops to get the shape as closely as you can. Overlap method isn't as purdy on the arm pieces, imho, though you can kind of get away with it on the leg pieces; point is you can butt join with the styrene (see below) and it will cover/hide some of the "difference" in your shape.

 

For cover strips, you can order online or buy at most local hobby/train stores some styrene sheets in black or white. I believe black is matte not glossy but you should also be able to finely wet-sand it and then polish it to a shine. I can find sheets in about 8"x14" in 2-packs at 0.8 and 0.9 mm (and many other) thicknesses. This could be used for outer cover strips as well as your shims and inner cover strips. The 2-pack at my local store is about $15 and I would be happy to get you some if you can't find any.

 

Also, get it as close to fit you as you can, and then put a little padding inside so it won't flop around.

[igrover]

Thanks for the reply however I believe you misunderstood my question.

 

Attached is a bicep build from the AM armor tutorial. I have already removed the return edge from the top and bottom of both the inner and outer bicep.

 

If one wants to build the AM armor using the butt joint/cover strip method instead of the overlap joint method then you would follow the directions in the tutorial. If you want to follow the overlap joint method then you would, in this scenario, simply insert the leading edge of inner bicep into the notch of the out bicep that represents the cover strip on the outside of the bicep (see picture where the black arrow is pointing).

 

As the AM armor is designed to use the overlap method due to its construction, I wanted to try this method. However, after trimming away the return edges (both top and bottom of both the inner and outer pieces) I found that the bicep was way too large (see my original picture) by about 3 inches.

 

To make the bicep smaller, my statement in the original post was this: you cannot cut the section highlighted in red because that is the downward slope of the inner bicep notch. If you did cut this section, then the inner and outer bicep pieces would not match up.

 

The logical place to cut to make the overall bicep smaller is the green section BEHIND the integrated cover strip on the outer bicep piece. In my situation, as I need to reduce the bicep size by a large amount, it would mean that I would have the remove the cover strip entirely, then cut into the green section behind it to reduce the size of the outer bicep piece. Then I assume that I would place the entire cover strip that I previously removed over the joint between the inner and outer bicep pieces.

 

This seems like a lot of work and I was wondering if anyone else has used the overlap joint build method and had to deal with a similar situation of having pieces that need to be reduced in size by a large amount.

[tkrestonva[TK]]

It looks like these are your first two posts. Where are you located? Maybe someone with your local garrison can provide some hands-on assistance.

 

A new AM kit - be it black or white - comes with four strips of ABS. Three of my garrison mates own black AM kits, and I've seen all three of them. If yours didn't have them, you need to contact the seller and have him provide them to you. When you get them, the printed instructions will tell you to use two of those ABS strips for the belt. Don't do it. Get a black canvas belt instead, or if you are looking to go Specialist - a black patent leather belt.

 

As for your concern, I found that although the kit is designed to use the overlap method of construction, not only does the butt-join & cover strip method look better, it makes the kit come together easier and is a far superior method if you have to trim it down. Especially with the biceps. When I began assembling my kit 2 1/2 years ago (!) I tried to put together the biceps with the overlap method and it gave me fits - and I do *not* have small arms. I ditched the overlap method for the butt-join / cover strip techique, and with every AM kit I've built since them (at least 6) I've used this method.

 

If you insist on using the overlap method, the only thing I can recommend that will preserve the shape of the bicep is to assemble it as you show in your second photograph, then pad the inside so that it doesn't slide around on your arm.

[igrover]

I have a guy in my local garrison who is trying to answer questions however as you can see from the above conversation things can get a little confusing. And he lives 120 miles from me so a visit is out of the question for the moment.

[igrover]

In regard to the butt joint/cover strip method, I understand from looking at the tutorial how to do it. However I still have a few questions.

 

1. If you trim the AM armor's built-in cover strip down to 8mm and then you join the inner bicep (with the downward open slope) to this 8mm section, it appears that when you place the separate cover strip over the top that it will indeed lay flat. Yet it also appears that because the 8mm remaining strip is raised slightly from the rest of the outer bicep that it will look like a gap behind the 8mm piece?

 

2. What do you do with the extra built-in cover strip material that you originally cut off?

[tkrestonva[TK]]

This may be all OBE since it appears you put your kit up for sale. However, I'll try to answer your questions:

 

1. I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing that last sentence, but I tend to think how it looks from behind is a non-issue.

 

2. Many people use the extra built-in cover strip material that was trimmed off as "internal" cover strips. Basically you use the scrap to reinforce the join from inside the bicep, making it much stronger than if you were to use a single exterior cover strip.

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

pandatrooper's build thread contains everything you want to know, he downsized his AM armor and it fits his 5'8" frame perfect!

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=10434&st=0

 

its white, but the only difference is the color!