RS PVC ANH TK Stunt WIP Build

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Hello everyone. This is my very first TK build so please bear with me.

 

I built a CT last year so I'm not a totally new to this sort of thing but there are still a lot of things that I need to learn. 

 

Very excited to start my build. Just got the package tonight and unboxed everything. First things first, here are the obligatory "brown box" and "all the armor on the floor" pics. 

 

 

 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Before I actually start the build I decided to do some inventory. Many of the threads I've read mentioned that they were missing one thing or another so I figured I'd double check I got everything. 

 

I already found that they sent me three inner belt boxes and only one outer belt box. Will be emailing them tomorrow to see if I can get another outer box. 

 

Gloves/neck seal / ammo pack / belt (front)

 

 

Belt boxes / detail parts

 

 

Extra strips (which I'm assuming I need to cut into cover strips)

 

 

Helmet kit 

 

 

TD

 

 

 

Strapping pack / brackets / split rivets

 

 

ab / cod / butt (I was pleasantly surprised to see the snaps on the but and the ab were already installed) 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Inventory continued:

 

Shoulder Bells

 

 

Biceps

 

 

Forearms

 

 

Back / kidney

 

 

Chest / shoulder straps

 

 

 

Thighs

 

 

Shins / calves

 

 

 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

I'll be making my own boots and will get a holster and blaster at a later time. But other than that I think I have all the parts. If I'm missing anything please chime in. 

 

So my first question. 

 

I know that to tell the difference between the left and right forearms is that the right one has 12 dimples whereas the left one has 11. 

 

Is there a way to tell the the other left/right limbs apart? (biceps, shoulder bells, thighs, calves) 

 

 

 

 

That's it for now. Will start trimming and cutting this weekend. 

 

Thanks in advance for any help. 

[gazmosis[501st]]

Congrats on the suit! RS is a real work of art.

On your biceps, the one with the thumbprint is your left bicep. The seam on the front side of the right is really uneven. It's supposed to be that way. The other way to tell your right forearm from your left is the raised portion of the seam where the cover strip sits. This flat raised area should be on the top. The underside will not have this raised area. It's just flat which is great for custom fitting to your arms.

The shoulder bells are actually left and right. You can tell this by the trim seam. This seam will be more straight up and down in the back and more rounded in the front. The rounded area, as you will see, fits nicely into the curve of the chest sides. Your shins should be marked and thighs are kind of obvious with the swoop going much lower on the inside of the thigh and higher on the outer half.

What is your body type? Are you a thin guy? If so, you will need to trim off some extra material RS leaves on the sides of the ab. The left side(as you are wearing it) has three dimples along the vertical side seam for the rivet placements. These should be right on the seam approximately 10 mm in like in this pic:http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/image/929-ab-kidney-connection-01jpg/.

The right side is the same in regards to the one male, inward facing snap as you see here.http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/image/928-ab-kidney-connection-02jpg/ the kidney plate has no dimples for the rivet placements. Just mark the locations exactly across and about 10mm in from the seam.

[Dday[501st]]

Edwin,

 

Can you do me a favor, since you have a recent PVC suit... does it feel like the pieces are thick and heavy or light and super flexible. I know it's hard to compare since this might be the first suit you've touched, but take a swing at it, tell me what you think.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing your build. Very thorough inventory. I don't think I noticed anything missing other than what you already mentioned. But certainly check the strapping contents. I was missing a few items , like the white elastics for the drop boxes . Rob, Simon and the staff at RS are excellent in helping out with missing parts and even replacement parts. I made a few errors and they kindly sent me some extras.

I also have an RS PVC armor kit & just about finished building it. Can't wait to actually use it. Check out my build if you have time and certain ask questions when you need help. Take your time and use those reference photos and screenshots as your guide. Good luck.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Looking forward for this build. And don't hesitate to ask your questions, people like me who have no armor left to build love answering them .

[PGHtrooper21]

Did not know that "R.S." makes, "Neck Seals"?

 

Andy

[edwinfabian[TK]]

What is your body type? Are you a thin guy? If so, you will need to trim off some extra material RS leaves on the sides of the ab. 

 

Thanks for all the advice gazmosis! Your thread is one that I was reading over and over again. I have a thin build so I was expecting to trim off extra material on the ab part. 

 

 

Edwin,

 

Can you do me a favor, since you have a recent PVC suit... does it feel like the pieces are thick and heavy or light and super flexible. I know it's hard to compare since this might be the first suit you've touched, but take a swing at it, tell me what you think.

 

Hi Dday, the only thing I have to compare this PVC suit with is my KW ABS Clone Armor. Compared to the clone armor, the PVC is definitely lighter and is more flexible. I can tell that when I try to "score and snap", there is more of a "score and bend" rather than snap.  

 

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing your build. Very thorough inventory. I don't think I noticed anything missing other than what you already mentioned. But certainly check the strapping contents. I was missing a few items , like the white elastics for the drop boxes . Rob, Simon and the staff at RS are excellent in helping out with missing parts and even replacement parts. I made a few errors and they kindly sent me some extras.

I also have an RS PVC armor kit & just about finished building it. Can't wait to actually use it. Check out my build if you have time and certain ask questions when you need help. Take your time and use those reference photos and screenshots as your guide. Good luck.

 

Thanks bulldog44! I've been following your thread for a while too. I admire your attention to detail. I'll definitely ping you with questions!

 

Looking forward for this build. And don't hesitate to ask your questions, people like me who have no armor left to build love answering them .

 

Thanks The5thHorseman!! I'm really excited to get going on this!

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Was going to start trimming the flare from my chest piece. Had the trim lines drawn but got cold feet and didn't cut yet.

 

I was second guessing how much return edge I should leave on the bottom to install the brackets. I was reading around and people have said to leave around 10mm-13mm. Was thinking about being conservative and leave 15mm. Is 15 mm too much?

 

 

I figured it's easier to cut excess rather than cut too much and have to do fix a mistake. 

 

 

 

 

[Dday[501st]]

For the return edge, 10mm is as low as you want go, but I wouldn't leave much more then 12. It will effect how the chest sits on the ab plate if there is too much extra.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Dday

[edwinfabian[TK]]

For the return edge, 10mm is as low as you want go, but I wouldn't leave much more then 12. It will effect how the chest sits on the ab plate if there is too much extra.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info Dday!

 

I was having trouble drawing a consistent 10mm-12mm trim line on all the pieces because of the curves. I found my self measuring and placing a small line every few centimeters and kind of connecting the dots and found that my end result was really inconsistent. So I erased the line that I had from the above post and started over with a different approach.

 

I took a compass and measured about 13mm from the point to the pencil and then used it as sort of a crutch to get a more consistent line. Since I placed the point about a millimeter above the top edge it came out to about 12mm from the edge to the trim line. And it was a lot more consistent than my first attempt and I'm happier with it. Still not ready to cut yet, but will probably do it tomorrow. 

 

 

 

Sorry, but the line came out very faint in the photo below. 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Wanted to get a least SOME cutting done tonight so I went for the TD. (it's funny because I did the TD last on my clone build and here I am doing it first for this build)

 

 

 

Here's a progress shot, with one end cap cut and sanded and the other cap just rough cut. 

 

 

Was reading that the caps are supposed to be 20mm. This is closer to 21mm but easily fixed by sanding down a bit. 

 

 

 

Rough cut of the TD panel

 

 

 

So I was looking at reference images and at other builds and I feel like either my caps or the control panel are a bit too long. Does anyone know the precise measurements? Should I trim/sand a little bit more? 

 

 

Comparing it to RS reference photo uploaded by Locitus

 

Edited September 27, 2014 by edwinfabian

[Bone[501st]]

Regarding the trimming line on your chest plate, why don't you draw it on the inside?

You could cut some kind of block from abs that is exactly 12 mm and together with a pen slide along the inside of the chest plate.

You will end up with band, that is constantly 12 mm thick.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Here's a pic with measurements:

 

Yes you are slightly off regarding to this one, but it doesn't matter. They were all different on the film because of the hastily way of building. To me your TD looks good.

[Dday[501st]]

There is no need for a consistent 10-12mm line... just get a thought of how much you need to cut and cut it There is nothing smooth about the lines and cuts made on the original suits. One thing to keep in mind, don't overthink it

 

On the other side, do the research to know how it's supposed to look and be done, so you don't end up having to buy new parts.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Good idea using the compass. Because of the asymmetry it is always difficult to rely on getting the measurements just right. I found that after I did get a consistent trim line, I sometimes felt it visually was off so I had to do some additional trimming and sanding. When you start getting that feeling of doubt go back and keep looking at those screenshots.

Your TD looks good. If you didnt glue the cap ends on, you can always adjust the lenght if you feel its too short or long. If you are shooting for expert infantry then confirm the following:

For level two certification (if applicable):

Thermal detonator belt clips are positioned with little to no gap between the clips and the end caps.

 

From what I can see in your photo, they seem fine.

Great start !

Edited September 27, 2014 by Bulldog44

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Took a first pass at clean up and cutting of the core pieces. I took a really conservative approach on trimming down.

 

Going to do some test fitting before trimming down more and will also start marking where the brackets will go later today. 

 

Chest

 

Bottom edge of chest

 

 

Back

 

 

Bottom edge of back

 

 

Kidney

 

 

Top edge of kidney

 

 

Ab/cod

 

 

Top edge of ab/cod

 

 

Butt

 

 

Top edge of butt

 

Edited September 27, 2014 by edwinfabian

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Regarding the trimming line on your chest plate, why don't you draw it on the inside?

You could cut some kind of block from abs that is exactly 12 mm and together with a pen slide along the inside of the chest plate.

You will end up with band, that is constantly 12 mm thick.

 

Thanks for the idea, will remember that for my next build. 

 

Here's a pic with measurements:

 

Yes you are slightly off regarding to this one, but it doesn't matter. They were all different on the film because of the hastily way of building. To me your TD looks good.

 

Thanks for the reference pic. I sanded down the caps a bit and though still just a little off, I'm happy with it. Glue is curing now.

 

There is no need for a consistent 10-12mm line... just get a thought of how much you need to cut and cut it There is nothing smooth about the lines and cuts made on the original suits. One thing to keep in mind, don't overthink it

 

On the other side, do the research to know how it's supposed to look and be done, so you don't end up having to buy new parts.

 

Yes! Need to stop overthinking some things. Thanks!

 

Good idea using the compass. Because of the asymmetry it is always difficult to rely on getting the measurements just right. I found that after I did get a consistent trim line, I sometimes felt it visually was off so I had to do some additional trimming and sanding. When you start getting that feeling of doubt go back and keep looking at those screenshots.

Your TD looks good. If you didnt glue the cap ends on, you can always adjust the lenght if you feel its too short or long. If you are shooting for expert infantry then confirm the following:

For level two certification (if applicable):

Thermal detonator belt clips are positioned with little to no gap between the clips and the end caps.

 

From what I can see in your photo, they seem fine.

Great start !

 

Thanks for the advice!!

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Did more cutting and started to mark where the split rivets need to go on the left ab and left kidney. Measured 10mm from the center of where the markings were on the ab (also had to change where the center one is going to go because the original center marking wasn't equidistant from the top and bottom markings).

 

Then lined it up with the kidney and measured 10mm from the edge to mark where the rivets will go on that piece. 

 

Also cut the right side to make sure it was 10mm from the male snap. 

 

Please chime in if I'm doing something wrong. Heck, feel free to chime in anyways.

 

 

Left side with markings

 

 

About 10mm from edge and the new center mark

 

 

Right side snap

 

 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

First test fitting. All of this was held together by tape and no one was home so it was hard to get everything to look straight. 

 

Now here's where I need some real help.

 

The kidney and butt seem to be super wide. Is there a way to fix this? Should I cut it more or should I be doing something else? Or will it tighten up after I put on the belt? 

 

Are there any other areas that I should work on as well?

 

 

 

 

[Holnave (evan_loh)[TK]]

Looks like armour will fit you well

 

Also it would help trimming the return edges of both the backplate and the chest plate.

 

 

*Pictures from the original RS Suit*

Edited September 28, 2014 by evan_loh

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Thanks for the advice Evan! I'll trim the return on the back plate soon.

 

I just made a careless mistake by cutting off way too much from the back left bicep piece. I'll need to fix before going further. I got some scrap pieces and am gluing back the strip I accidentally cut off. 

 

 

 

 

Gluing it back worked fine there's just a big crack that I need to cover. Luckily I have experience with hiding seams since I built clone armor last year. I made some ABS sludge and put on a coat where the cracks are.

 

 

 

 

 Applied the sludge and it's dry now, just have to sand it down and put a thin layer of paint. 

 

[edwinfabian[TK]]

Gluing the cover strip to the right bicep piece (that I didn't mess up on) and also trimmed up the shoulder bells and taped the straps. Will be gluing straps after a second test fit. 

 

 

 

Gluing cover strip to one of the forearm pieces.