First ever TK build (ATA)

[Horrendous]

Hey! That's really coming together.

I'll probably recruit your help when I get a little further along on my build.

 

Looks great

 

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Going well there, keep it up, I also will be picking your brains soon hopefully

[Nicky]

People saying you should avoid using a heat gun should be shot in the leg and driven to the hospital. lol

 

Your kit looks great on you, very very good job! Clean trim everywhere.

 

By being careful, patient and reasonable with the heat setting on the heat gun (keep it too low and far away because you have more time than spare parts) you can strengthen an overall curve without seeing any "bend" lines. You apply pressure and shake the heatgun far away from the part for a while over a wider area without gloves, switch off when your fingers feel too hot, wait, release and see how much it changed, if it's enough or if you should repeat. Nobody explained that to me, it's just common sense.

 

I did that to my butt plate, kidney plate, forearms, sniper plate, belt, shins. We keep telling people to be super careful or to not try and do anything when a part is obviously not the right shape, but come on. I mean. Come on.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Nicky

[FunkyTrigger[TK]]

Some good advice there about the heatgun from Nicky.

 

Your sniper plate looked great.

 

Your overall TK look, looked great and nicely in proportion.

 

I use nylon webbing for the chest to back plate connection under the shoulder bridges, the rest is all elastics.

 

I only had concern about your choice to use Velcro to hold your thighs up and the use of riveting the straps direct to the plastic.

 

On your arms you have shown that you use popper snap connectors on their construction.

You should have followed this through also to the thighs by gluing on male popper snaps.

It's not to late to address this.

 

It is inevitable that Velcro will let you down at some awkward point.

[Potty Meister]

Small update.

 

Added some comfort by way of some padding in the front of both shins. Now they don't stab me in the knees. Sniper plate/knee fights are no more. woot!

 

 

More comfort goodies in the backs of the thighs. Now they don't stab me in the back of the knee or my butt. This makes it so much easier to walk. All the padding is connected with velcro.

 

Worked on the drop boxes. I had to cut a bit out of the corners of the backs to make them fit in the front pieces.

 

Riveted on some straps and glued them together.

 

 

I pretty much have the belt done too. The last thing is connecting the drop boxes. Sorry no pics of that right now. As far as the strapping for the thighs go, I should be able to install some snaps in the straps above the velcro and use those for some added security. Thanks for the pointer!

[Potty Meister]

Here are some pics of the full getup so far. I completed the belt and drop boxes (the one on the left started coming apart..more glue!) and I'm not sure why I appear to be leaning left. Maybe I'm just uneven

 

The elastic straps on the drop boxes are just glued to the back of the plastic part of the belt. For my handplates, I pretty much followed the instructions from panda's tutorial. My mom is a master painter (a paintress?) and helped me with the ab buttons. I think they look pretty good!

 

Up next is attaching the holster and the thigh ammo pack and building the thermal detonator. I still haven't fixed the flaring kidney or butt. It doesn't look too bad in the photos, but in person it's a lot worse (at least it is to me). Please let me know if I need to change or fix anything. This is getting exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Might as well cook something while I have this on.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Potty Meister

[Ravenwood[TK]]

looking really good. I am hoping to get back on my build soon. Keep up the good work.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, pancakes for all

[Potty Meister]

I FINALLY got around to finishing my thermal detonator. Jesse's video tutorials for making the clips really helped a lot. I picked up some 2" conduit at Lowe's (10 foot section..gee whiz) and cut it down to about 7 1/2". I haven't glued anything down yet. I wanted to make sure it looked ok and was wondering if the center piece is too long or if I can leave it how it is.

 

 

I had to sand the edges down a bit to get the end pieces to go on.

 

 

 

Just about ready for submission! I still haven't been able to fix the butt or kidney flare, grrrr. But other than that, I'm pretty much done.

[jnnfr72[TK]]

That looks awesome, Jay! Cool spatula, too! I didn't trust myself with a heat gun on my butt plate, so I e6000-ed a nylon belt to the top corners of the plate and it has a closure that stays under the cod piece. I don't see your butt plate sticking out in that picture, but I know how it is when you notice something, you want to get it fixed. Do you have your TK # picked out? Congrats on your armor!

[Rezablad3[TK]]

Dude, that looks awesome......well done....

 

Now submit them photos.....good luck trooper..

[Potty Meister]

Thanks guys! Here are the photos I'm using for submission. I figure a little kidney flare won't stop anything (I hope)...I'll work on that next along with a few other little things that I'm noticing need to be tweaked.

 

 

 

 

I noticed the thermal detonator pulls the back of the belt away from the armor. I'll probably add some velcro in there to keep it connected to the kidney plate. Is this a common problem? Suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rezablad3[TK]]

The issue with you detonator, you could always try to make the belt a little tighter.

 

I had the same issue with the kidney plate, i used a heat gun to make it bend towards my body, worked like a charm, just be very extra careful doing it...

 

Hope that helps...

[troopermaster]

I noticed the thermal detonator pulls the back of the belt away from the armor. I'll probably add some velcro in there to keep it connected to the kidney plate. Is this a common problem? Suggestions?

 

I think the problem is the shape of your clips. If you have bent them like Jesse's (which are wrong) then you should have the part that clips behind your belt flat, just like your belt. A bent clip will obviously push out your detonator and not lay flush against your armour.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just on another point I have noticed forearms being picked on of late for being too large at the elbow, its the one on your right side. See how you go, good luck with submission

[Potty Meister]

I think the problem is the shape of your clips. If you have bent them like Jesse's (which are wrong) then you should have the part that clips behind your belt flat, just like your belt. A bent clip will obviously push out your detonator and not lay flush against your armour.

 

Here's a pic of my clips. They are just aluminum so I can bend them back pretty easily.

 

 

 

Just on another point I have noticed forearms being picked on of late for being too large at the elbow, its the one on your right side. See how you go, good luck with submission

 

I've always had a hard time trying to make the right arm/bicep look right. The left just works for some reason. They aren't the same shapes or size. The butt join measurements on both are exactly the same. Might have to mess around with the strapping or something...maybe redo the whole forearm completely. Are the right arm pieces typically bigger than the left? Or is that just on ATA?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Mi

I've always had a hard time trying to make the right arm/bicep look right. The left just works for some reason. They aren't the same shapes or size. The butt join measurements on both are exactly the same. Might have to mess around with the strapping or something...maybe redo the whole forearm completely. Are the right arm pieces typically bigger than the left? Or is that just on ATA?

 

I have seen it on other makes, I did find on my right arm that it was quite oval compared to the left which was rounded, so all I did to bring it back into round was apply some heat to both sides, didn't take a lot, and while applying the heat I put pressure on the widest part of the oval and pushed gentlye until they returned to a round shape. I know others take off their strips, re-cut and re-glue, but I found the heat and squash worked wonders for mine. Good luck what ever you decide, as I said I have only seen it picked on a couple of times but for me mine just didn't feel right.

[Potty Meister]

I tried my skills with the heat gun. That thing works wonders! No more flare. I raised the right bicep and forearm a little bit. I think it looks better than before. I'd say this thing is about finished! Still making small tweaks here and there. One other thing I have noticed is that elastic tends to stretch itself out, especially at the top shoulder straps and chest/ab straps. I'm going to double it up in a few places to make it hold better. Can't wait to get troopin'!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A dance move to show my excitement

[Nicky]

Yep, looks complete to me.

 

Do you have the white elastic around the shoulder bridges? And you have the helmet screws painted white?

Edited December 20, 2012 by Nicky

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good there trooper, it's amazing what you can do with a heat gun, it's just scary the first time you go to use it on your prisitne shiny new armor LOL

[Potty Meister]

Yep, looks complete to me.

 

Do you have the white elastic around the shoulder bridges? And you have the helmet screws painted white?

 

Yes for the white elastic on the shoulder bridges, no for painted helmet screws....at least not yet.

[Potty Meister]

I am now part of the tribe!

 

"Due to the work you have done for the Empire, along with your correspondence of your Garrison Membership Liaison (GML) and the Legion Membership Officer, your application to join the 501st has been approved!"

 

TK 11010 reporting for duty!

[Ravenwood[TK]]

CONGRATS!!! nice job trooper

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congrats tooper, well done

[Dark Trooper[TK]]

Congrats too you