RS PVC Kit / ANH TK Stunt Build / Bulldog44

[troopermaster]

You're welcome.

 

Just remember the ankles can only be as wide as your boots. The original boots had tall, slim ankles and the leather was soft, so if yours are none of these it will be harder to get that slim look.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Since Paul brings up boots, make sure you have the boots on when sizing your shins.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thank you Paul & Steve for your help. I have not managed to get anything finalized yet for the shins or thighs but here is a quick test fit I did to see how it might look. Just hope the cover strips look uniform enough from shin to thigh once I get them glued. Plan on doing the final trimming & fitting on the shins this weekend.

 

For the biceps I wanted to start gluing them together and glued a 15mm inner cover strip first before doing the outside. It was easier to get everything lined up and test using E6000 for the first time.. I let it cure a full 72 hours and now they are ready for more assembly.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Bulldog44

[Cantina Security[501st]]

I have also heard to try and fit the armour with your under suit , if you fit it with regular clothes on , it may turn out a bit too loose. Looking like you are on the right track though.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Jason.I did roll up my jeans for the right leg but I will take your advice and wear the undersuit for taking more accurate measurements. My enthusiasm got the best of me and I just had to try it on.post more progress soon.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

This is probably the slowest build on the site but here are a few updated photos of my progress.

 

Biceps- Still need to finalize the return edges and add the cover strips. They fit a bit snug. 

 

Forearms- I think I also trimmed these down too much but they fit very nicely. Compared to screenshots, my forearms taper more at the wrist. For both the biceps and the forearms I glued the inner strips first. 

Edited April 10, 2014 by Bulldog44

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Slow progress is still progress and as far as I can tell you are doing a great job.

Don't be to hard on yourself, I know how challenging and time consuming it can be to work without a proper work space.

Stay in there. You'll be a trooper soon and you'll feel great about it.

[Holnave (evan_loh)[TK]]

Slow progress is still progress and as far as I can tell you are doing a great job.

Don't be to hard on yourself, I know how challenging and time consuming it can be to work without a proper work space.

Stay in there. You'll be a trooper soon and you'll feel great about it.

 

^^^^ couldn't agree more!

 

ANd your forearms and biceps looks well trimmed. Now you'll just need to see how it feels on arms when you flex them. As you're carrying your blaster most of the time your arms are flexed most of the time. So it's best that they're at their most comfortable stage when flexed

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Maxim & Evan for your encouragement. I will keep pressing on.

 

This weekend I trimmed the sniper plate to fit the left shin but the RS sniper plate does not seem to fit very well. It is far to wide and comes up short on the right side where the shin dips to the side of the knee. When trying to see how it fits to the shin it does not follow the top ridge and causes it to sit to the right at a tilt. Centering the plate is quite difficult.

 

At first I checked  how I should trim this area but the way the piece was vacuum formed didn't leave much room for keeping both sides of the plate at an even length. On most of the screen shots, the sniper plate extends to the dip on both sides of each shin piece except for a few. 

Here is a photo of the sniper plate before I trimmed it. I trimmed it along the natural line created when it was vacuum formed.I assumed this was intentional but perhaps it was not.

 

I should have kept that area intact but unfortunately followed that line (the lightly penciled in) for my cut .  Is this a mistake I made or is this nothing to worry about? 

Ordering another replacement sniper plate would be costly but if I clearly messed this up please let me know.

Here is a poor photo of the plate after I trimmed it. Sorry it is hard to see but you may notice I taped on the excess piece I trimmed off so you can see the length of both ends.

 

The sniper plate, as it is trimmed now, does not fit well on the left shin and would require a lot of fussing and glue to keep it in place. But it fits very well on the right shin. I am hesitant to switch the right and left shins just for this piece but may have to to get a better fit. Any advice?

[Holnave (evan_loh)[TK]]

Thanks Maxim & Evan for your encouragement. I will keep pressing on.

 

This weekend I trimmed the sniper plate to fit the left shin but the RS sniper plate does not seem to fit very well. It is far to wide and comes up short on the right side where the shin dips to the side of the knee. When trying to see how it fits to the shin it does not follow the top ridge and causes it to sit to the right at a tilt. Centering the plate is quite difficult.

 

At first I checked  how I should trim this area but the way the piece was vacuum formed didn't leave much room for keeping both sides of the plate at an even length. On most of the screen shots, the sniper plate extends to the dip on both sides of each shin piece except for a few. 

Here is a photo of the sniper plate before I trimmed it. I trimmed it along the natural line created when it was vacuum formed.I assumed this was intentional but perhaps it was not.

 

I should have kept that area intact but unfortunately followed that line (the lightly penciled in) for my cut .  Is this a mistake I made or is this nothing to worry about? 

Ordering another replacement sniper plate would be costly but if I clearly messed this up please let me know.

Here is a poor photo of the plate after I trimmed it. Sorry it is hard to see but you may notice I taped on the excess piece I trimmed off so you can see the length of both ends.

 

The sniper plate, as it is trimmed now, does not fit well on the left shin and would require a lot of fussing and glue to keep it in place. But it fits very well on the right shin. I am hesitant to switch the right and left shins just for this piece but may have to to get a better fit. Any advice?

 

Don't switch the shins. Your trimmed plate looks similar to mine:

 

 

I also had problem trying to fit it. It's a pretty common thing. I used hard plastic glue (on the sides and in the middle where it touches the top of the shin) and clamps on the side. Left the clamps there for quite a while. Never came out since

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Even. Your sniper plate looks like a perfect fit. I will stick with the set up I have then and will not switch the shins. Once I get the cover strips glued in place I will try fitting the sniper plate on as best as possible. There is so much resistance to keep in place using E6000 so I will go with a stronger glue like you used. I have been trying to stick with E6000 the whole build so I can easily switch things out or re-trim if necessary.

 

Here are some updates on my build:

 

Shoulder Bridges trimmed

Underneath I added some extra pvc strips for more surface area when gluing them to the chest plate. (thanks to gazmosis for posting this tip & other members who used it too.)

Belt & Ammo Pack trimmed- maybe I trimmed these too much but the ones on the screen TK's almost look trimmed down to the rectangles. 

Here is how I assembled the shins so far. I glued a 20mm inner strip of PVC to half of each shin first. 

I had to remove all the glue that oozed out and then glued the other shin half together. 

Here are the results after a quick clean up. I will trim the bottom of the shins later.

I assembled the Thighs the same way gluing a 20mm inner strip. 

Not entirely happy with the top ridge of the right thigh but it will have to do. I tried the bend it a bit & use some heat to even the two sides out but that wasn't so successful. I think I did more harm in my attempt and the result was some warping along the return edge. I am hoping the cover strip will hide some of it.

Here is the left Thigh. Both sides lined up nicely but the inner half is so thin the return edge is warping and ready to buckle if I don't trim them back a bit more. 

Edited April 16, 2014 by Bulldog44

[Holnave (evan_loh)[TK]]

Try E6000 first. It should work as most just use E6000 to assemble to suit.

 

In regards to your outer right thigh, you don't have to worry about the outer side sticking out. Here are some examples from the RS suit, the cover strips somewhat covers it too.

 

 

 

Of course stick to the cover strips and don't use rivets on it (unless you want to exactly replicate this particular RS suit )

[Bulldog44[TK]]

I tried using E6000 to glue down the cover strips on the forearm and bicep parts but I never get a nice seamless fit. I used plenty of magnets, clamps & E6000 to keep in all in place but for some reason there are areas that don't stick flush up against each other. Am I wasting my time trying to achieve this with E6000 or should I use a more permanent glue for the cover strips?

Edited April 30, 2014 by Bulldog44

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Of course you can use a different and stronger glue if you want. But if the problem persists it will be a one-shot try as you won't be able to remove your cover strip if there are still gaps after gluing.

Perhaps using stronger magnets and also wider than the cover strip width could be the solution.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Germain. I will give it another try with more clamping & magnets. One big mistake I made was gluing the inner strips on first. I can somewhat see now that the surface is not entirely flat enough for the cover strip to take hold. And there is no flexibility even after applying lots of pressure along the cover strip. From what you said I think I will stick with the E6000 one more time to be on the safe side. I might only try the stronger glue on the shins since they seem the most prone to coming apart.

Going to have to remove the inner strips and start all over again. The only plus I guess was that I know how the parts look like & fit when they are pared up.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Does anyone know what specific size button snaps are used on the RS armor for the AB/cod plate?

RS did not install the buttons on the AB plate where the belt snaps on and also the snap in the upper right corner. Also the snap that is used to connect the shoulder. Correct me if I am saying this wrong but they basically forgot to provide all the male ends to the snaps plus one female snap end used for the connecting AB plate to the kidney plate. The canvas belt has the female ends installed and the white shoulder strap has the female end sewn in.

Is this a standard size I can pick up at a local shop ? If you can let me know the exact size i need to look for then I won't have to ask RS to send more.

 

Also are the cap rivets RS provides used to attach the plastic belt piece to the canvas belt? From many other builds I looked at , the rivets look quite different .if the ones they provided are correct that will be one less hurdle.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Aren't they within the rest of the strapping gear they sent you? If they're not, then just send a mail to RS and they will send you the missing snaps asap.

 

The stuff they use are snaps similar to the vintage Newey ones originally used on the armors for the film, and which is English stuff, so i doubt you will find them easily to your location. The best way to find the correct matching male ends for the snaps would to take a female end to your local store and make tests up-there. Maybe it would be easier on eBay but we just don't know the name of the brand they use. 

 

Below are original snaps, it's not the same that RS provides but it should be close in range:

(The head should be around 5,5mm)

 

 

 

And yes the CAP rivets are used to fasten the canvas belt to the ammo belt. They're also used to fasten the inner drop boxes to their strap and the ammo knee belt BTW.

Edited May 3, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks again Germain. No they didn't put them in the strapping gear bag. At the time the canvas belt was on back order and they shipped everything else ahead. Maybe they were going to add the male ends with the belt but forgot.

 

Appreciate the measurements and pics. I just went to a local craft shop but no luck. Everything looks too small or too big and really cheap quality. I will certainly have to contact RS for these snaps. They just shipped me out another replacement part and I wish I noticed the snaps were missing sooner. My fault for not confirming this when they originally sent me the armor. The brand I read on the female snap part on the belt is Capico/Italy. Looked on the net but no luck.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Finally started to drill holes and add the brackets to the chest and AB plate. Drilling holes for the back, kidney and butt plates gets a little confusing from measurements found here on the Forum and the various photos from RS builds to screenshots/Lucas film archived pics.

I read somewhere here on the FISD the measuremtns go as follows:

 

Measuring from the outer edge to the first screw hole-

Kidney top: 120mm

Kidney bottom: 40mm

Back: 40mm

Butt: 40mm

 

Are these correct? If I use the 120mm measuremtns for the kidney top brackets, they three sets of brackets will be too close to each other. I saw some people start from the center brackets first to line things up then do the side brackets. This is probably how I will try this but I am still not sure about the side bracket placements. From the photos I looked at, the placement of the first screw looks about 20-30mm from the outer edge on the back plate. For the first screw from the outer edge on the kidney plate, I would say it looks about 80mm-90mm.

If someone has advice or exact measurements to help me on this, please let me know.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Your best bet will always be to follow what you can see on screen used armors! The RS photo gallery has all what you need:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_16/med_gallery_12157_16_17455.jpg

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_59/med_gallery_12157_59_6377.jpg

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_59/med_gallery_12157_59_33748.jpg

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_59/med_gallery_12157_59_52480.jpg

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_59/med_gallery_12157_59_30969.jpg

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_59/med_gallery_12157_59_2026.jpg

 

More pictures:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/album/59-the-rs-suit/

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks for the links. I was heavily relying on those photos recently but just wasn't sure if I should go ahead without having some measurements to go on. I will use my best judgement by comparing the photos then with what I got marked out on the armor. Hopefully I will get it right. I made a few mistakes already on the build and now keep second guessing everything I do.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

I'm sure you'll be fine . Good luck.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Finally started on the bracket holes.

 

First I started with the kidney plate and marked off where the center brackets would go for the top & bottom side. I used a round file to punch a small hole on the marks & then drilled out the holes. I don't know exactly what size bit I used but it was slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw thread. I followed up with the rounded file which gave me a perfect fit for the screw to go through. 

 

I also found out it was better to measure & drill from the outside of the plates, not from the inside. I was better able to see exactly where I wanted the screw heads to be. To keep the placement of each screw fairly consistent, I marked the intended drill hole 4 mm  from the edge of the plate faces. The brackets from RS are all about 4 cm in length but to be sure I only drilled one hole first and saw how it matched up with the second drill mark. 

This closeup shows how I measured, marked and drilled the holes:

 

Kidney Plate-

Top Side

 

Bottom Side

 

Back Plate-  

     I was really unsure what measurement to go on for the side brackets on the back plate so I compared lots of photos of the RS suit (as Germain suggested, thanks!) and from a few screen references. From what looked best, I went with 22-23mm from the outer edge to the first hole ( couldn't decide between 20mm or 25mm). I read somewhere it should be 40mm but thought it was best to stick with what I was actually seeing on screen and close to the RS suit. I could be totally wrong but the holes are drilled and there is not much I can do about it now. 

 

 

Butt Plate-

 

 

Once I mock up the screws I will re-draw the new trim line for these parts and finalize the return edges. 

Chest & AB Plate photos to be added. 

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Very meticulous and neat. Good work!

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Maxim. 

 

I actually started drilling holes for the brackets on the following parts before I did the back, kidney & butt plate bracket holes. I rushed into this because I kept delaying on my build and just got working on it. For these two parts I measured, marked and drilled from the inside of the plate. This sometimes gave mixed results on how the screws heads sat from the outside. So in hindsight it would have been better to measure and see exactly how and where the screws looked best before drilling.

 

 

Here is the AB/Cod Plate with the holes drilled for the brackets:

Inside-

I started with drilling the first hole 25 mm from the outer edge for both side brackets. Then I just centered the middle bracket. Again, I did this from the inside and it looked somewhat fine but from the outside it looked really crooked.

 

Outside- Ouch! Those middle bracket holes are completely crooked and not as centered as intended  . Good thing this part of the armor is not visible!

I have to place the brackets on the face of the AB plate and not on the top return edge. I over trimmed the return edge when I first started trimming the armor and hadn't thought about where I wanted the brackets to go. RS Prop Masters original armor has it done like this and they normally install the brackets this way on their current builds. Next time I do a build I will keep better track of where I want things to go.

 

Here is the Chest Plate with the holes & brackets installed:

Trimmed back the return edge a bit but still need to even out the trim line & sand it smooth. For the side bracket drill holes I measured 20 mm from outer edge to the first drill mark. I centered the middle bracket to what looked best & as close to where I placed the AB middle bracket holes but I should have used more screen references for that. Also I didn't decide at this point of placing the screw heads 4 mm from the plate face to the drill mark so they look closer than I wanted.Luckily they are not sticking out though too much.

Bottom Return Edge-

 

Front View-

 

Does anyone recommend using some flexible washers under the wire brackets to reduce any tearing the screw might cause? Or do I need to use some glue to keep the nuts from loosen up and falling off? Or do they stay put for the most part?