"Sure-fire" AM 2.0 Shin Identification

[Rystan]

The highly useful tutorial HOWTO: Assemble AM armor shins  ---------------- by RogueTrooper is great, but due to recent changes in the AM armor the method used to differentiate the left and right shin greaves and their A & B parts is no longer accurate/applicable.

 

The previous method of identifying the shins was to use the location of the molded/integrated back cover strip.  As the tutorial pointed out, the integrated cover strip was on the wrong side from where it should be, and thus caused many builders to put the shins on the wrong legs.  As such, the integrated cover strip was removed from the mold (Note: I'm not affiliated with the AM manufacturers, just using my own assumption for it's removal.)  So this method no longer works.

 

In addition the tutorial describes the natural contour of the human shins/calves and uses that to confirm the correct leg for the shins to be situated on.  The new AM molds "have been belled out / widened at the ankle to fix an issue with previous AM version".  (source: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26954-fs-am-armor-master-kits-are-back/)  With this widening the natural contours of the calves is still present, but I know as a new builder I stared at them until I went cross-eyed and couldn't really "see" the difference.

 

Okay, enough backstory, picture and identification time:

 

 

All parts laid out to match tutorial layout:

 

 

Untrimmed front view of taped left & right shins:

 

 

Quick, which is the left and which is the right?  If you can tell from this angle you've got a better eye than I do for the differences.

 

Now let's take a look from a different angle:

 

 

Notice anything?  I did:

 

 

(If this is common knowledge, I hadn't run across it before.  And I don't know if this holds true for any other versions of AM, or any other armor manufacturers for that matter, so your mileage may vary.)

 

Armed with this knowledge, the previous picture with identification lines:

 

 

 

Now, seeing as I had the good fortune to receive duplicate left shins in my original shipment, it was easy to play "One of these Things is not like the others":

 

 

So from this, the 45° side goes on the outside and the 20° angle goes on the inside.

 

 

Now that the left and right are correctly identified, RogueTrooper's instructions covering assembly can handle the rest.

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by gmrhodes13
link not working removed

[Rystan]

P.S. for any of the other AM 2.0'ers out there who still haven't determined whether or not you've got duplicate shins, this should help make the determination.  MightyTank prompty and professionally handled the mix-up and distributed correct shins to those who notified him of the situation.