Punkers AP Armor Build Thread

[Punkers]

Cut out the teeth tonight. Hope they look at least mostly the same size / shape.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, looking good

[Punkers]

Trimmed the sides of the cap and back and then aligned the brow and eyes how I wanted them. Did a "dry run" ...

 

 

And I liked how it looked so I moved forward and taped up to hold the position and drilled side holes to hold it in place for now.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, soon it will be ears and they are the worst, just trim and sand a little at a time

[Punkers]

Is it out of the ordinary for the face mask to sit kind of awkwardly and not even when you look straight down into the helmet opening? It looks aligned on the front by the traps and eyes, but it sits strangely left to right when looking down over the opening.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Yes that's pretty normal, I have seen 3 different makes of helmet and they all look like that, I think we all have a heart beat skip when we first see it

[Punkers]

I worked on the ears a little then with some help I sized one of my thighs, taped it up to check the fit and prep for gluing. I decided to use epoxy to bond the two sides together first and then will glue the cover strip on after the fact with ABS glue.

 

Here's the outside and inside following the epoxy application:

 

[Punkers]

So the epoxy didn't go so well, but who can blame me for trying to save time eh?

 

I made tabs and glued the calves and thighs together on one side over the weekend. Pics to come tonight / tomorrow.

[kevnaminute]

Looking good! AP was a challenge for me to build!

[Clamps[TK]]

 

[Jancelot[TK]]

Looking good! There are several challenges parts to the AP build, but it's a great looking suit in the end. Keep it up!

 

 

[Punkers]

So on the right thigh with the ammo pack, does it matter if you run the cover strip full height to avoid running short and exposing any gaps etc? My pieces do not completely sit flush full height and I don't want to apply the cover strip leaving a big gap that's visible under the ammo pack.

[Punkers]

Hi all,

 

It's been a while since I updated my thread with my progress, and sorry that I don't have individual progress photos for each step etc, however here is the finished product.

 

In the last two weeks I have made tabs for the insides of the thighs, calves, forearms (redone), biceps, and glued each side together.  The only pieces that haven't been sealed are the thighs and calves as I am currently installing the velcro in the back of the calves and today got the sizing on the thighs to trim their height as well as the backs. I also put cover strips on the front of the left thigh, calf fronts, and completed the forearms and biceps.

 

Earlier this week I installed nylon tabs with snaps for the AB & kidney plates and fashioned shoulder straps using camping gear straps with buckles (cut in half) purchased at Walmart, criss crossed them, and sewed them together in the back to prevent them from falling off my shoulders.

 

Today, I also painted the thermal detonator / canister and sanded down & trimmed the associated parts, knee plate, and hand plates.

 

 

 

I feel as though I am only a few weeks away from a finished product as I only need to finish the canister, affix the button plate to the AB plate & paint it, affix the ammo pack and knee plates to their respective parts, finish shoulder straps & snap system for shoulder bells / biceps, and then complete the helmet by affixing the ear pieces following some trimming and putting on decals etc.  I'm getting excited and really look forward to posting some updates in the next week or so as I work to complete in time for our state's first annual Comic-Con features none other than David Prowse and Ray Park!!  (Wish me luck!)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, keep it up and you will be finished in no time

[Punkers]

Last night I trimmed up the thighs and added the cover strips to the backs.

 

 

Tonight I started painting the AB buttons and will be trimming the plates to fit tomorrow.

 

[Punkers]

This weekend I made quite a bit of progress and am quite happy with where I'm at so far.  I only have about two weeks to go until our Comic-Con, so I believe I will be done just in time!

 

Yesterday I worked on making straps with snaps that go into the chest and back plates, shaped the belt, thigh ammo pack, & shoulder straps, and finished trimming the ears and installed them on the helmet.

 

Today, I installed the snaps into the chest and back plates, trimmed the AB button pieces and glued them to the AB plate, made the shoulder straps with snaps that bring the chest and back plates together at the shoulder, installed snaps & straps in the biceps & shoulder bells, and last but surely not least....  did my very first test fitting of all of my armor!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2013 by Punkers

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice progress there, looking good

[Punkers]

This week I tightened up a few loose ends like shortening the kidney plate and adjusting the strapping, applied the thigh ammo pack, assembled the belt, adjusted the shoulder strapping system and attached the ABS shoulder straps to the chest plate.

 

Yesterday I began working on the helmet again. I applied the decals and masked off the vocoder, ears, and frown for painting and did a cursory coat of paint on the teeth. Today I pulled out the paint again and did some repair work on the teeth as well as painted the vocoder and ear pieces. I also sized and installed the lenses into the helmet, sized thigh strapping location, and installed cap rivets into the thigh ammo pack "hinges" and painted the caps white.

 

I am pretty happy with the progress and I believe that with some final adjustments to the lenses to pull them down into the eyes more (using a glue gun) as well as installing a hard hat liner, I should be ready for final adjustments to my strapping systems and ready for submissions photos this week!!  I cannot wait!!

 

[Punkers]

Helmet is finished now other than the "S" trim for the bottom of the bucket.  Going to see if I can figure out where to buy it locally since it appears many want to charge high prices for a very cheap piece of plastic.

 

I installed the hard hat liner, frown mesh, and the tube stripes tonight:

 

 

Final step is to complete the thermal detonator (TD), make adjustments to strapping systems, and do a final fitting before taking approval photos  I couldn't be more happy to be so close to the finish line!

[Echo[TK]]

Nice work! Good to see it all come together.

[Punkers]

Ok all, here is my first submission and wanted to get any input.  If you notice anything please feel free to let me know so that I can consider any changes.

 

Thanks again to everyone's help who has chipped in their advice or help!

 

[bigtrev503]

First off, everything looks really good and well put together. I would say try to pull up the thighs a bit if possible. There seems to be a gap between your kidney and ab that might not pass EIB, also.

 

You seem to be a fairly tall trooper, do you have your bicep and forearms connected? Might help close up some of that gap. Pull the biceps down an inch or two and connect it to the forearm. It's screen accurate!

 

This video helped me immensely with figuring out how it goes together

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ2cukrBTYM

Edited August 31, 2013 by bigtrev503

[Tesla Kinetic[TK]]

This is a great build thread! I refer to it as I build my AP stunt. I have a few questions for you...

 

How did you determine how far in to the chest the shoulder strap abs should go?

 

How did you size your strapping system (for example, the shoulder strap to bell to bicep strap)?

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to size the thighs?

 

Thanks!

[Punkers]

First off, everything looks really good and well put together. I would say try to pull up the thighs a bit if possible. There seems to be a gap between your kidney and ab that might not pass EIB, also.

 

You seem to be a fairly tall trooper, do you have your bicep and forearms connected? Might help close up some of that gap. Pull the biceps down an inch or two and connect it to the forearm. It's screen accurate!

 

This video helped me immensely with figuring out how it goes together

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ2cukrBTYM

I actually am short lol. I'm only 5'7". I believe that the problem with the thigh - AB gap is simply that the cod is too high and the whole AB plate needs to come down. Working on trying to figure out how to do so without throwing off the whole look.

 

The biceps and forearms are not connected as I wanted mobility and I feel that connecting them will put yet another hinderance that would make flexing my arms more difficult. I could perhaps drop the bicep strap down a half inch to create less of a gap, but the way I sized it was to put the bicep on, slide the forearm into place, and then bend my arm at a 45° angle. I then marked the bicep location and put straps with snaps to make sure that it held that location. By letting the forearm free float I gain mobility and as far as I know the forearm to bicep strap is not required for basic or EIB.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Punkers

[Punkers]

This is a great build thread! I refer to it as I build my AP stunt. I have a few questions for you...

How did you determine how far in to the chest the shoulder strap abs should go?

How did you size your strapping system (for example, the shoulder strap to bell to bicep strap)?

Do you have any suggestions on how to size the thighs?

Thanks!

Thanks for the comment. I am glad to hear my thread is even remotely helpful to other troopers haha.

 

The snap placement at the top of the AB isn't super critical as it won't matter if it's 1" or 8" in from the top, the strap that connects to it for your suspension system would just need to be longer if you put it in farther.

 

See my previous post about sizing the bicep to shoulder bell strap etc.

 

As for sizing the thighs, I honestly put them on and pulled them up to where I wanted them to sit and then checked the height at the knee to see how much it was showing or overhanging the knee. If the knee is covered you need to take approximately that amount off of the top of the thigh. It should stop just above the knee. So then once you know how much it overhangs you just take a tape measure or fabric tape and then mark that distance across the curvature of the top of the thigh and trim it down keeping that nice curved shape at the top of the thigh pieces. Think of a connect the dots thing and just mark the distance it overhung down from the top of the thigh and be conscious of the curvature as you're marking your cut line.