ATA Armor Build_My First TK

[russellr2d2[TK]]

I also have a helmet thread. Title is: need some ata helmet advice.

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26760-need-some-ata-helmet-advice/?hl=%2Bneed+%2Bsome+%2Bata+%2Bhelmet+%2Badvice
 

Edited November 9, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Yea maybe you should pay a little more attention to your fan base lol 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

<br>

The finished hinge. Tight and straight in line. New rivets put in and painted white.<br>

Order your rivets before starting this. <br><br>

I will troop with this for a while and report back on how it is working.<br><br><img src="http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m201/russellr2d2/IMG_5657_zpsjq9dxwvd.jpg"alt="IMG_5657_zpsjq9dxwvd.jpg"><br><br><br><br>

I never put up an update to this fix. It's been months and the ribbed rubber sheet hinge ( it's the rubber sheet you line a tool drawer with) is working perfectly. The two halves are held tight together still. I highly recommend using rubber sheet over a fabric or nylon webbing.

[russellr2d2[TK]]

A BIG FIX!

 

I was noticing how my left side hinge was opening up at the bottom and generally becoming wider and wider. I wanted to make a better connection here to clean things up.

 

 

 

 

Opening up split rivets is hard! You need to get under the tang and lift it up.

 

 

 

 

Then you can start squeezing with pliers and working away at em'. One had to be cut off because it

would not bend the way I wanted.

 

 

 

 

Here is the webbing hinge. The holes have become elongated allowing the parts to open up and be crooked.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I want to replace the fabric hinge with. This is a sheet of rubber I stole from the bottom drawer of my tool chest.

 

I think the ribbed design will be perfect for bending in only one direction.

 

 

 

 

Flexible in the right direction and the holes will stay round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other side .

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to add plastic plates to cover the rubber. They are glued to the rubber. E6000 is perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

The finished hinge. Tight and straight in line. New rivets put in and painted white.

Order your rivets before starting this.

 

I will troop with this for a while and report back on how it is working.

 

 

UPDATE: The rubber sheet works perfectly. It's been almost a year and still straight and tight fit.

[MoSc0ut[TK]]

I started following your thread when you started it "way back when". It has been an invaluable resource for my build. I have a Walt's Trooper Factory TK kit and have "borrowed" many techniques you used here. Thanks for being a great resource. If interested you can check out my build. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/36035-wtf-anh-stunt-build-wip/?fromsearch=1

 

Just starting the strapping and final adjustments!

 

 

Jim

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Hello! Thank you for the compliment. Looking over your build thread and it is certain you will end up a centurion.

 

Congrats on the good work

Russellr2d2

 

 

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[MoSc0ut[TK]]

Hello! Thank you for the compliment. Looking over your build thread and it is certain you will end up a centurion.

 

Congrats on the good work

Russellr2d2

 

 

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Thanks! That means a lot coming from someone who was able to pull off an amazing build for their first time. Hopefully some day we'll cross paths.

 

I love the plastic mat idea and I'm totally going to "borrow" that too.

 

 

Jim

[ukswrath[Staff]]

UPDATE: The rubber sheet works perfectly. It's been almost a year and still straight and tight fit.

 

Definitely a great idea Russell 

[MoSc0ut[TK]]

The matting I scavenged from my tool box was kind of thick and it was tough to get the split rivets to open up but with some persistence I got it done.

 

 

 

Jim

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Maybe everyone will start cutting rubber drawer bottoms from their tool boxes!

 

 

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[russellr2d2[TK]]

Still trooping! One year now.

 

 

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[illusionz_09[TK]]

and still looking on point 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Novus and silicon wax before every troop does the trick as well as bagging every part in a trash bag to prevent scratching.

 

 

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[illusionz_09[TK]]

Novus and silicon wax before every troop does the trick as well as bagging every part in a trash bag to prevent scratching.

 

 

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Sounds like a lot of work lol...

[russellr2d2[TK]]

I use silicon wax and enjoy wiping down and cleaning up my kit out in my man-cave while listening to the radio. I usually do it the night before to get in the "trooping frame of mind".

 

 

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[russellr2d2[TK]]

Starting to get stress cracks along the edges of the arm area of the chest armor. I epoxied a plastic strip along the edge to hold the cracks shut and prevent them from getting longer / more numerous. The extra plastic strip is on the inside of the return edge. E6000 would be too flexible for this.

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by russellr2d2

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Starting to get stress cracks along the edges of the arm area of the chest armor. I epoxied a plastic strip along the edge to hold the cracks shut and prevent them from getting longer / more numerous. The extra plastic strip is on the inside of the return edge. E6000 would be too flexible for this.

 

 

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#trooperproblems lol... nice recovery

[russellr2d2[TK]]

A little update on the crack repair. Epoxy really is not the best glue to use here. I think abs plastic glue (old fashioned plastic model glue) that melts abs would be better as it welds the pieces together. Epoxy just glued the surfaces together and in my case it let go and the strip lifted up on one end.

 

 

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[MissingNo[TK]]

Just wanted to say thank you for this thread. I've been starting on my first build ever, went with ATA armor, and its so useful to see all of this laid out for me. I'm hoping that I'll be able to reach Centurion too.

[MrSnrub[501st]]

I got some cracks around my chest return edge it really helps to make rhe return edge smaller it looks like you have almost a centometre of return edge you could reduce to quite a bit it helps with the flexibility so much

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Yea I do. But I like that amount.  I seem to have stopped the tears by doubling up on the thickness of the plastic and using a hard CA glue and epoxy.