R5SB's ANH Stunt Build WIP (TM)

[R5SB[TK]]

Hi FISD!

 

After receiving my TM 2mm ANH Stunt kit in late October I've been trying to pluck up the courage to start my build and the associated WIP thread.

 

 

As the type of kits I'm most familiar with are small and block like with the word "Lego" printed on them TM's BBB filled with roughly trimmed 2mm ABS fills me with both apprehension and awe (in fact, the plastic cut me twice before I'd even picked up the lexan scissors).

 

With the mantra "measure twice, cut once" embedded in my brain I first of all struggled to make a mark on the plastic just in case it was in the wrong place and then struggled again to make the cut. But after weeks of delaying the inevitable I overcame these obstacles and finally had in front of me...

 

...some drop boxes and the white TD parts!

 

 

What I found when looking through many builds was that these small parts just seem to arrive on screen without their own little "how-to" so I thought I'd share my pics of this too, just in case my method proves useful for anyone else.

 

I believe that the drop boxes are 15mm thick and the TD end caps are 20mm deep, if not I might have to order some replacement parts...

 

 

I tried to get the TD panel as square as possible so I used a 68mm downpipe clip to draw lines onto the pipe to base my other lines on.

 

 

Anyhow, make a note in your diaries so that we can all celebrate this glorious day next year, by which time I hope to be well onto the thighs!!

 

Thanks

Andy

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Your cuts seem absolutely perfect! Could you quickly post the tools you use to make the cuts and get them so clean? I am about to start trimming my armor but found just scoring with care still left wobbly lines on the scrap pieces I practiced on. Certainly going to try this method when I get to my drop boxes & TD. The downpipe clip idea is clever. Nice work!

[SIMpixels]

Good to see you've made a positive start Andy.

Keep it up and well be on a troop together in no time!

 

Si.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Very cool, like the use of what ever you can find to make accurate marks, well done

[R5SB[TK]]

Thanks for the encouraging remarks all! Hopefully I'll have more to show in the not too distant future...!

 

@Bulldog44 - Thanks for the compliment regarding my cuts but I cheated to get the smooth finish. I used Tamiya curved scissors to get as close as possible to the line (closer than this picture shows)...

 

 

...and then I sanded them down on 80 grit paper.

 

 

I taped the TD panel to the pipe to keep it rigid enough for me to do the ends.

 

 

I might treat myself to a new piece of pipe as I've scratched mine a bit too much for my liking. Unfortunately I've only found it locally in 2.5 metre lengths!

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks R5SB for the tool post and the tips! I am going to try this! No cheating at all! Whatever gets the job done to satisfaction is all that counts. Just ordered my Tamiya curved scissors and should be cutting and sanding by the weekend. Cheers!

[R5SB[TK]]

Well the celebrations are over for another year and the BBB has been allowed back in the house so time for an update.

 

Here are my pics of the completion of the Thermal Detonator (TD). I've missed out the pics where I put too much E6000 on the panel and then had to peel it off again to try to get the panel to sit closer to the tube. There's still a bit of a gap but I hope this isn't a "fail".

 

I made the large curve on each clip by rolling the strip around the pipe, pressing down onto a firm surface. No pics of this though as I was using both hands.

 

 

 

 

I wasn't sure how to add the little bends so I slid the ruler out of the square and used the slot to give a straight edge.

 

 

And here are the almost finished clips. The observant amongst you will have noticed that I haven't drilled the holes by this stage. This was a mistake as they should have been drilled after the curves were added but before the 180 degree bends were put in.

 

 

I decided to use pan head slotted screws (from B&Q) with long threads and large washers (for ease of handling) rather than wood screws or rivets as I knew that I would have to do some adjustments after I put it all together.

 

 

The washers obviously didn't sit flat in the tube so I decided to bend them with some pliers (not shown) and my trusty, do anything square.

 

 

Here's it all put together apart from one end and the panel.

 

 

I roughened the surfaces of the tube and the panel (masking the tube to protect the visible parts) before applying E6000 and tape to hold it on. The small hole in the tube in the middle of the panel area was to reduce air pressure resistance when fitting the second end cap.

 

 

 

And here is the finished TD.

 

 

 

 

I was quite happy with my small achievement until I did a test fit and found that I'd scaled it incorrectly to the rest of my armour

 

 

Thanks for reading and hopefully the next update will be sooner rather than later.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Does my bum look big in this Very nice eye for detail, if you use this attention to detail you will have no problems with your build. Keep up the good work

Edited January 9, 2013 by gmrhodes13

[Locitus[Admin]]

Nice work!

[Jancelot[TK]]

Impressive! Your results are looking great.

[SIMpixels]

Great stuff Andy, keep it up!

[R5SB[TK]]

Hello Troopers

 

I've now had a go at the shoulder bridges. I received advice from Paul and Steve1972 (UKG) but unfortunately I'd already rough trimmed the the parts based on some erroneous images. In their own way they both "suggested" using images of actual armour used in the films/movies rather than other builds for my reference. I hope the bridges are still good enough, even if they're not perfect. I post the pics here for your scrutiny and critique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[R5SB[TK]]

Hello again! Long time, no post.

 

I'd thought I'd best update my WIP so that you know that I've been making some, all be it slow, progress. I've now completed the trimming of the main body parts.

 

I was advised that when using the practical popper method for attaching parts on 2mm acrylic capped ABS large return edges could (should) be avoided in most areas (with some exceptions). This allows the parts more freedom to flex a bit and reduces the chances of snapping.

 

Anyhow, here are the pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the "finished" parts before I had to shuffle them to the bottom of the BBB.

 

 

I've now started to look at trimming the arm parts. After rushing the initial trimming of the body parts (and wasting time having to shape them with files) I want to get closer to the finished shape with my first cut. I've drawn where I think the return edges should be cut to on one of the biceps (see below). I'm especially uncertain about the U shaped area on the inside of the bicep. If anybody thinks I'm okay to cut to these lines or I should leave more return or take more off please let me know as the lexan scissors are getting hungry.

 

Many thanks

TTFN

Andy

 

 

 

 

[Locitus[Admin]]

That looks just fine to me.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

That looks just fine to me.

+1 keep up the good work

[R5SB[TK]]

(Apologies to UKG forum members, this post will look a little bit "familiar")

 

 

Hi All

 

Well I've been doing a bit more trimming, filing and sanding so I thought I'd share some pics of me wearing the arm pieces. Obviously these parts are still stuck together with tape before I take the plunge and finish the "trimming-to-fit" stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are close up pics of the wrist ends of the forearms. I think my size reduction might be a little excessive (comments please) but I can still get my gloveless hand through the opening and put my glove on.

 

 

 

Finally I'd like to share the checklist I've drawn up for the completion of my limb pieces. The armour build process is sometimes very, very daunting so I thought that breaking it down into more easily completed tasks might help me keep up my momentum. This post alone allows me to tick off 4 points, proving that I must be getting somewhere, surely?!

 

[Echo[TK]]

Love the list. I made something very similar during my build.

[troopermaster]

Looking good, Andy

 

Trim as you much as you need to. This is your armour so make it fit you! The real armour is very slim fitting so trim it as much as you need. I could not get my arm in Simons original armour when I tried it on.

 

When you attach the strapping between the bicep and forearm, try and leave a 1" gap from the inner curve of the forearm and the bottom edge of the bicep. You just want the strap to act as a hinge when you bend your arms and having it short reduces pinching. Do not worry if you end up with a big gap at your wrist. This is quite normal and only visable when you arms are down, and since you are always armed with your blaster this is not a problem

 

Keep up the good work. This is a very clean, methodical build!

[SW1]

Looking Good Andy , as Paul has said on connections from the biceps to the forearms , there are no precise measurents on the originals suits we can only take an avage of what we see ; )but the main thing is as Paul has mentioned it needs to fit you thats brilliant to do a check list

Keep uo the good work mate

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[R5SB[TK]]

Thanks for the comments, I'll probably have to update my checklist to include "Receive positive feedback - carry on building"!

 

Paul, thanks for the size/positioning info for the arm strapping. These parts were all loose during this fitting (I just wanted to start feeling a bit Stormtroopery) but when I get to that stage I'll keep it in mind (better still, I'll write it down).

 

There are a few more questions about the forearms before I finish the trimming and gluing. Does anyone trim the length of the forearms (at the wrist end, obviously)? Mine seem to reach over my hands a bit and I imagine that they might interfere with my hand guards. Would it be better to leave the wrist openings a bit bigger to let the hand guards slide inside in some situations instead?

 

The next question is about the trim line on the sides of the forearms. I've been looking at pictures of these pieces, both from the film and from the archive but I can't quite make out the proportions of each "half". I've marked out one of my pictures with two lines, blue keeps the trim lines more "level" whilst the orange line shares the trimming between both parts. Which of these lines, if either, is the more correct or does it not matter too much?!

 

 

Many thanks again for your comments.

[DarthChridan[TK]]

Great work so far, mate

[troopermaster]

I would go with the orange line. I think it is better to split the difference with the overlap.

 

For your wrist question, I would wait until you are fully suited up before you trim anything off the length of your forearm or off the length of anything else for that matter. Things might feel better when you have everything strapped together instead of just test fitting them loose. If you feel the forearm is too long when it is strapped then by all means trim away the wrist. You can either trim the inner half in an arch or the whole wrist at an angle so the outer half still looks the same but the inner half is shorter.

[R5SB[TK]]

Thanks for the extra advice Paul. I leave my length trimming until I have it all strapped up.

[R5SB[TK]]

(Apologies to UKG forum members fo the sense of deja vu).

 

Well after seeing all the pics from Legoland UK and the Hamley's troop in Cardiff, Wales (and getting over a serious bout of envy) I thought I'd better post some pics to help me with the next stage of my build.*

 

Looking at pics of shins it looks like most of the return is removed at the ankle with about 5mm left at the knee. These are my parts quickly marked up by hand (no wheely-compass-thingy this time).

 

 

 

The thighs look like they have a similar 5mm return at the knee and a similar amount at the top.

 

 

 

Looking at some recent-ish build threads I believe that the cover strips should be approximately 20mm, apart from the calves where they should be 25mm to allow for more overlap (to hide the gap).

 

If you can see me about to make a terrible mistake please let me know as I'd like to maintain the "baby steps" momentum that I've built up over the many months of the build (so far).

 

Cheers

Andy

 

* You may have noticed that I haven't posted pics of my finished arm pieces. That's because they're not finished (yet) as I had a few mishaps cutting my cover strips. Should have been simple but they don't look quite right to this imperfect "perfectionist".

[R5SB[TK]]

***As always, apologies to the UKG Forumites for your sense of impending deja vu.***

 

Sorry for the long wait since my last update but, with great time comes....

...disappointing progress. My personal stumbling block was my inability to cut the simplest of things, the cover strips. "My" method of score & snap was giving me poor results and it wasn't until Simpixels showed me the error of my ways and how simple it actually was that I was able to move on. 

 

Enough of the excuses. Here are the pics of the externally glued arm pieces (for comment) followed by some pre-trimmed pics of the thighs for advise re the cut line (more on that later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purple strip on the front of the thigh pieces is 11mm wide (representing 1/2 of a 22mm* cover strip, naturally). I'd like to know if the position shown represents the best line to cut to (leaving that amount of visible shoulder on the ridge)?

 

*I will be double checking the fit of the thighs and may increase my cover strip width by a millimetre or two before I make my cuts. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for any comments (and to SimPixels for giving me a nudge).