Katü's AP build thread! (help appreciated)

[Katü]

I just got my armour in this week!! I've cut out all of the parts except for the helmet, but I'm nervous for the next step: resizing. I'm 5'5" and around 125lbs, so I've bookmarked 'modifying armor for women', 'diana's rs props build' and 'pandatrooper's am build thread' as well as tried to read anything that I could find.

 

Things I'm confused about:

• How much space should be between my undersuit and my armour?
• How much space should be between joints and the armour to have good mobility?
• Which parts of the armour should or shouldn't have a return edge?

 

Knowing these things would probably make me feel a little more relaxed moving forward, but it's always scary knowing that if I cut too much then I might ruin a piece. I've tried testing the armour out. For the most part everything appears too long and too wide so I foresee many alterations. How would you go about finding out how much smaller something needs to be?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Spycee[TK]]

At your height and weight it is normal to trim.  If you are not sure before making an additional trim to a piece, just post a picture of the piece on you, you will surely have good comments about what to do.  It is better than just trim without insight and make an error.

[Petros]

HI Katu, the suggestion by Spycee is a solid one, put up a photo and people can come back to you with comments.

 

Another thought is to talk to someone who has recently "modified for women" in our Redback Garrison we have a trooper about your height and her outfit looks really good.

 

her call sign is Cre8tiv, she might even have a build thread on the forum.

 

Peter

[Katü]

Thank you for the suggestions! No luck on finding Cre8tiv's thread, but there is a female tk who's kindly offered to work with me in my garrison. Since I won't have her help all the time though, I'm hoping to get as much done on my own as I can. Posting pictures and working slowly seems like the best option. The torso seems like the toughest part. Maybe I can start with the forearms though! Just to be sure, there is a return edge near the elbow, but not near the wrist?? I've been quite generous with my return edge sizes because i'm not entirely sure how big I should be making them haha.

Side view without alterations:


And the hilarious view from underneath:



I might need to make it an inch shorter and take 3inches off the width. I haven't sanded or cleaned up my edges yet because I predicted I'd need to make lots of changes. If I were to take any length off I'd assume it'd be from the wrist's side?

[Spycee[TK]]

Hmmm ...  It seems you *might* need to trim the width   Go inch by inch (approximatively), and remove less and less until you get the desired width.  Always trace a mark where you want to cut, it will be easy with that.

[Rezori[TK]]

Hiiiiiiii u r pretty :3

[Spycee[TK]]

How's it going ?  Did you trim the arm's width ?

[Katü]

I ended up switching over to the helmet for a bit! Am hoping to make more progress on the arms by the end of this week.

I've cut out the cover strips and made the arms a little smaller so we'll see how those look when i get them taped up!

[Sly11[Admin]]

When you get back to your fore arms, trim the return edge off on the wrist end. Re tape the halves so you can just get your hand through the wrist, tape then close up the elbow end. It's easy if you have someone there to help tape it up.

As long as you can get your hand through the wrist end, the forearm should now be sized to fit .

Where the two halve overlap each other, find the middle and mark both halves at both ends with a pencil.

Know draw astraight line down the length of both halves joining those marks, this is your trim line.

If you are still unsure, draw another line parallel to those you have marked at about 5mm or so to the outside of your trim lines and cut along those. This gives you a larger fit, but you have an extra 5 mm on each side of each half to play with for more trimming if needed.

Hope this makes some sense, and helps a little.

Once you have done one, the other will be a breeze, but definitely take that return edge off the wrist end and redo your sizing.

 

Good luck with your build, we are here to help.

 

 

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[Katü]

So helpful!!! I just took off my return edges yesterday, so I'll try your adjustment method out tonight for sure.

[Katü]

Gluing my first pieces! Starting with the upper arms. Will be working on my ears as I glue pieces together. Forearms are next on the glue list!

[Katü]

Ears are on and shoes are painted! Slowly but surely... The arms and legs are on their way.

[Snaps[TK]]

Top hat is pretty cool lol.... Good luck with your build. Measure twice, trim less than what you measure and take your time! I have AP armor and love it!

[Sly11[Admin]]

Nice job on the ears, I too have an AP, and love it.

 

 

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[Spycee[TK]]

Really good job on the left ear ! Do you have a picture of the right one ?

[Katü]

Now I do! Right ear:

Edited October 27, 2014 by Katü

[Spycee[TK]]

Wow    Really good !

[Katü]

Yay!! Thank you!

[Katü]

I did my first troop in Ottawa's PopExpo!
I have lots of pieces I need to shorten if I want to have better mobility and I still need to make my holster, but it was fun to troop with everyone. Looking forward to being able to send in approval pictures!

[Sly11[Admin]]

The gun looks as big as you!, got to get me one.

Armour looks great, but looks like you do need to shorten the legs a little for your mobility.

 

 

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[Spycee[TK]]

You always remember your first time ;-) you look good ! But yes, you can trim your legs, and maybe a bit your biceps or your shoulders. You can try to put some padding on the bottom exterior side of your thigh so it will looks more "straight" with your shins. And you should align your stripes on the legs (your thigh seems to be too much on the inside, not sure how to say it).

[Katü]

You always remember your first time ;-) you look good ! But yes, you can trim your legs, and maybe a bit your biceps or your shoulders. You can try to put some padding on the bottom exterior side of your thigh so it will looks more "straight" with your shins. And you should align your stripes on the legs (your thigh seems to be too much on the inside, not sure how to say it).

Yes!! Definitely going to be using padding to help keep my parts from knocking around. My shins were always twisting to the side and both leg pieces would lock together so it was hard to walk. Can't wait to test out the fixes on the next troop. I'm also getting lessons on how to stand and walk like everyone else so that my poses don't always scream: girl. haha. My knees and toes point inwards so I'm trying very hard to take a wider stance and puff my chest out.