trooper12's RT-Mod ABS ANH Stunt Build

[gazmosis[501st]]

Wow! Great build so far. I love a perfectionist!

[trooper12]

Belt

 

My first step was to mark off the ends of the ABS belt including the 45 degree angles. I followed Bill Hag's template (shown below) and adjusted it slightly. For the length of the belt, I measured outward 1.75 inches (45mm) from the ammo pack on each end of the belt. Billhag shows the length should be 1.5 inches with a 3/4 inch button cover. Since the rt-mod button covers are 1 inch, I added the extra 1/4 inch to the overall length. For the angles, I measured out 10 mm on each corner and drew a straight line and cut with my Lexan scissors. I placed the button cover 5mm from the end of the belt after reviewing the Han Solo pic from the archives (guesstimate)

 

 

Next I marked the locations to drill the holes that will connect the ABS belt with the canvas belt as shown.

 

 

The next step was to drill the holes in the ABS belt and mark the locations on the canvas belt. I also marked the location of the female snaps that go on the canvas belt. They go underneath the end ammo packs. I marked the locations of all of the ammo packs. This will be covered later by the ABS belt. See the dot below which is the middle of the outside ammo packs.

 

 

I used a scribe to make the holes in the canvas belt for the snaps. I put the snap-end on the scribe and easily pushed the whole thing through the belt. I hammered on the female attachment and the snaps on the canvas belt were done.

 

 

The next step was to line-up the canvas belt onto the ab plate and drill holes into it for the male snaps. I laid the canvas belt onto the ab plate and centered it. The canvas belt should go directly below and touching the rectangular plate housing the ab buttons. When you attach the ABS belt to the canvas belt it will overlap a bit. I meant to use the holes in the canvas belt to mark the locations onto the ab plate before filling them with snaps. Since I forgot to do this, I marked the female snaps with pencil lead (actually mark the snap with lead by drawing on top of the snap). When you lift up the snap after placing it on the ab plate, there is a lead mark left on the ab plate. I put a mark in the middle of the circle and drilled for the male snap. By the way, there is an up side and a down side to the canvas belt. You want the left side of the belt to cross overtop the right side of the belt at the back. Be aware of this before you secure your drop boxes.

 

 

The next step was to add the drop boxes to the canvas belt. You need to do this before adding the ABS belt as you need access to the canvas belt which won't be accessible after you add the ABS belt. When I looked at my drop boes, I realized that they were too thick. I read in a post by gazmosis that the standard is 10mm so I trimmed them.

 

 

Marked off the spot to trim. I measured out 10mm on the outer covers and 9mm each on the inner covers. I used my Lexan curved scissors as I had an awkward time with the straight ones to do the job.

 

 

Here are the finished drop boxes (unglued). I filed down the edges and used sandpaper to make them smooth. Much better.

 

 

Next I added the strap to the inner drop boxes and then glued the inner and outer boxes together. I used a 1/8 inch grip (3mm) and 1/8 inch diameter aluminum pop rivet to join the elastic to the inner box. Next is aligning the drop box to the outer edge of the ABS belt. In the picture below, I used painter's tape to temporarily attach the canvas belt (ABS belt is underneath). I placed the ABS belt in the exact center of the canvas belt. There is a sanding sponge aligned to the edge of the ABS belt and the drop box is aligned to that so if you were to flip it over you'd see the drop box aligns perfectly with the end of the ABS belt. I also put the other drop box underneath to assist in aligning the drop box elastic to the level of the belt when setting the hole to use to attach it. After the holes I went ahead and used the same sized pop rivets to attach the elastic. Afterwards, I also used some E6000 to keep the edges of the elastics down instead of curling upward. You want the top of the drop boxes to have little to no gap from the ABS belt but be warned not to have the elastic stretched when you rivet them in place. This happened to me on on side. It's not a big deal but you want the smallest bit of slack for the drop boxes to hang instead of being pulled slightly upward and below the ABS belt. I'd like to be able to correct this but I am not sure how to remove a rivet that's in place. As I said, it's not a big deal at the moment. A project for another day.

 

 

Next is permanently attaching the canvas belt to the ABS belt using the same rivets as used above and the pre-drilled holes already in the ABS belt. I poked a scribe through the holes of the ABS belt and through the canvas belt. This was enough to push the rivets through and then permanently set them. Note that you can put the rivet in so that after it's popped the bumpy bit either faces outward from the AB plate or faces outward from the canvas belt. I recommend having the bumpy bit (technical term) face outward from the canvas belt. This means the completely flat part will be underneath your button covers on the ABS belt. This is not what I did and it caused me problems.

 

 

Here are the 3 button covers you get as part of the rt-mod kit. First note that you don't get 3 of the same button covers. I asked Rob to send me a 3rd identical button and he did so at no charge through the mail in an envelope. Also note that these buttons have a return edge. When I tested the buttons with the rivet bumpy bit facing underneath the button covers, everything worked fine and so I proceeded. After these were in place I then realized that I had to remove the return edge of the button covers so I would have enough surface space for the E6000 to grab onto. Now the rivet bumpy side didn't fit underneath the covers any longer. In the end I filed the bumps down and life carried on.

 

 

Finally, I added my Darwin holster. Using the handy diagram below as a guide, I realized that getting the first hole correct was crucial and that everything else lined up based on it. My first hole ended up exactly 40mm from the edge of the ABS belt and 15mm from the bottom of the canvas belt. I followed the measurements using WideAMG's build for this first hole and then followed the diagram below for the rest. I once again used my scribe to punch the hole through easily then eventually widened the hole with a drill as it needed to be larger to fit the chicago screws (that Darmin provides when you purchase his holster).

 

 

Lined up my holster straps to find the location of the 2nd hole.

 

 

I used the diagram above which guided me to place the top of the leather holster 1 inch (25mm) down from the canvas belt. I used the pre-punched holes in the canvas to mark the leather straps with a pencil and then made the holes through the leather.

 

 

Pushed the chicago screws through after widening the hole with a drill, tightened the screws and here's the final product.

 

Edited December 24, 2014 by trooper12

[Artshot]

Looking forward to your progress, I just added this thread to my "How to assemble Armour" list, it's a very long list , for when I eventually get a set of RT-Mod to put together.

[T-Jay[TK]]

Very precise work so far!

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Hey Rod... get a shot of the belt on the ab from the side and front when you get a chance. The RT belt is longer than the belt pictured in the Billogram and the ab is certainly bigger. Using measurements may have different results. I'm concerned that your holster won't be in the right place in relation to your body. Your drop boxes line up nicely with the end of the belt but be prepared for them to be a little further outboard than the screen used ones.  

 

I did my belt last after I got everything else fitted just to be sure it all lines up properly. 

 

Nice clean methodical skilled work. Your photos are quality too. We've had some really great RT build threads this year for sure. 

 

-Eric

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Wow. This is a great thread. I am bookmarking it for my build I am working on right now.  

 

 

 

So keep it coming !!!     

 

 

 

Thanks for doing this thread.  One good thing about stopping to take photos is it slows me down and I think about what I am doing much more.

 

Regards!

Russell