ATA Armor Build_My First TK

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Russell I've been corrected. Though your forearms will offset themselves while in action, the DO will be looking at cover strip alignment during the approval process.

 

In your image here you are correct in your alignment. The strapping will work there also.

 

My apologies for giving you the incorrect information. 

 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

No apologies ! You are of great help here. I will strap it up aligned then and the two pieces very close together.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

No apologies ! You are of great help here. I will strap it up aligned then and the two pieces very close together.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

I decided to use snap plates in everything I can.  I think this will allow later re-dos of the strap length if needed.  I just make a new snap strap and snap it in.

Thats the idea anyway.

 

 

A snap plate going in on the forearm.  I sanded rounded corners and smoothed off all the edges so the plat will not catch my undersuit.

 

Usiong LOTS of e6000 under the snap plates because they do not lay flat.  It works.

 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

BACK TO THE SHINS CLOSING:

 

Ok,  I have installed big industrial type Velcro inside the back of the shins to keep them from popping open.  

Here is how they look.  I think they will stay closed nicely and will have a sleek look without Velcro or bra hooks showing from outside.

I still need to troop them to be sure of this idea!!!

 

 

 

Slightly opened with the Velcro flap still loose.

 

 

 

How the shins look from the outside. The big back seam is shut tight!

 

( The way is shut... and the dead keep it shut)

 

 

Remember they have a "double cover strip locking system"  I found this in someone else's build thread !!!

 

SORRY!!  I can't find it to credit them with the idea of the two cover strips and the shin locking between them.  I am just building on the idea with the Velcro tab inside.

 

 

Both cover strips are glued onto the same side and the shell of the shin slides between them to lock it closed.

 

Edited April 7, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Remember they have a "double cover strip locking system"  I found this in someone else's build thread !!!

 

SORRY!!  I can't find it to credit them with the idea of the two cover strips and the shin locking between them.  I am just building on the idea with the Velcro tab inside.

 

 

I think at this point you should just take credit for custom cover strip technique. I've been looking all over on build threads with no luck. I think you're just being modest Russell 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking bueno btw!

[Barcode]

This build looks fantastic! GREAT job and I can't wait to see you suited up! 

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Here are some photos of my shins on and what happens to them.  Some questions too.

 

 

Here are the shins on my... umm...shins!

 

They tend to sit naturally like this and the knee part of the shin is right at my knees so the length of fit seems perfect. I am lucky the diameter is fairly loose on my shins.  

 

 

 

 

The knee plate sits right at my knee nicely....whew!!!!    The bottom of the skin sits at the boot as you see.  

 

This looks normal to me.....what do you guys think?

Too high, too low.....just right?

 

 

 

JUST WHAT IS THE ACCEPTED HEIGHT THE SHINS SIT ON THE BOOT???

 

Here you see I have a high and low position.   I think I've seen both.  Neither is more comfortable for me but I think I like the higher back leg better.

 

 

 

Here is the backs.  Remember there are no bra clips or Velcro running down the back.  Only at the top for now.

I am testing the double cover strip idea here (See shin building posts earlier).

 

Note: on the right, the bottom is slightly open already.  The boot is pushing on it to open.

 

 

 

Annnnnnnd ...  here is what generally happens when I walk or pick up the leg.  

 

The back opens at the bottom where there is no Velcro YET.

 

The shell comes out of the built in channel and pops out and does not go back in.  

 

I will add a small Velcro tab at the bottom.

 

 

 

 

QUESTIONS:

 

1)  How do you control the height the shins sit at?   With foam inside the leg so they do not slip down?

2)  In order to minimize black area showing in my legs & thighs/hips.  How high can you pull them up?

 

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE!    

Edited April 8, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking awesome Russell. Calves look beautiful, your height is fine

 

Answer:

 

1) I installed industrial velcro on the front of the boot and inside the shin. I stitch the velcro on the boot for added security. It Serves two purposes, keeps my shins facing forward and eliminates shin hike.

 

2) Ummm... wouldn't worry too much about this, everyone's gonna see your black undies whether you like it or not, it's par for the course  . Keeping the shins down over the boot is your goal.

 

Edited April 9, 2015 by ukswrath

[russellr2d2[TK]]

everybody is going to see my undies!!!!!

 

We certainly depend on Velcro to keep things together.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited April 9, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

everybody is going to see my undies!!!!!

 

We certainly depend on Velcro to keep things together.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Velcro is a wonderful thing that's for sure

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Arm bone!

 

Here is one arm strapped together.  The cover strip aligns naturally with careful placement of the elastic strap.

The strap is slightly pulling the forearm over to the left to help keep it aligned.  It all depends on how my arm is positioned.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looks great!

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Good strapping, this is how it should be done.

[russellr2d2[TK]]

SNAP PLATES - (Nothing else to do right now)

 

OK this may be sort of dumb but here is how I made my snap plates. Maybe some other nubie may benefit from this.

 

 

I started by cutting off a bunch of pieces that will be snap plates. I rounded off the corners and sanded smooth the edges so they will not catch on my undersuit. I also sanded the bottom of them to roughen up the glueing surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I found a drill bit that was just large enough to allow a snap piece to be pushed through the plastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parts of a snap and how they go together. The part goes through the plastic and the other drops down on top of it.

 

 

 

 

The snap will look like this ready to be punched with the special tool available on AMAZON.

To use the tool you need a hard surface. I have the anvil part of my vice to punch against.

 

 

 

 

The punch is used like this. You must hold it upright or you will not get a good seal.

You hammer it down and "roll the center post down" into the center....see next photo.

 

 

 

 

When you are done it should look like this. Note the center post is rolled down evenly in the center of the snap.

The special tool does this as you tap with a hammer. The snap should be tight, but not so tight you flatten the center post.

Keep that rolled look to the center post so it seals evenly around the center of the snap and holds tight.

 

 

 

 

 

To make these fancy heat them up with a heat gun about 6" away from the snap and let them get good and hot. They will deform a bit but, that is OK.

 

Then I used a socket driver end to press the hot plastic down flat around the snap. This way the entire plastic surface is flat around the snap and you will get a better gluing surface later....see next photo.....

 

 

 

 

 

On the left is the modified snap plate with the snap flush with the plastic. This will give you a better gluing surface.

On the right is the snap before heating and pressing with the larger diameter socket driver.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2015 by russellr2d2

[Khazid[TK]]

Great idea on the socket driver, going to put that in my build binder!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Excellent!

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Again not my idea! This snap plate construction and heat modification idea is in the How Section by Gmrhodes13

 

 

And now 1/4 of a stormtrooper. This ATA armor seems to be made just for me. I do not think I will need to trim or add anything to get it to fit me. Even the ab and kidney wrap around and just touch perfectly (I could stand to loose 1-2 lbs).

 

IT IS HARD TO GET INTO ARMOR!!! I tried to put on both legs but couldn't bend enough!

 

Edited April 12, 2015 by russellr2d2

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Strapping the right arm:  getting it right is not easy!

 

I am finding that I have to try out snap positions to get just the position that keeps the cover strips aligned.  After gluing the snap plate in three times and pulling it out I had a brain fart and started taping the plate in first to try out the snap position.  lots of putting the arm on and taking it off to move the snap plate.

 

 

 

Goo Gone is good for cleaning dirt and bits of glue but it does not dissolve the E6000.  That has to be picked off.

 

Edited April 12, 2015 by russellr2d2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Be thankful it's not zap a gap lol

[russellr2d2[TK]]

LOOK SIR DROIDS!!!

 

 

Not working on my TK this week in order to get ready for Celebration.

 

R2D2 is relaxing on his "Droid Maintenance Module" built especially for R2 to sit on while he is repaired or refurbished.

Tomorrow he is off the the convention.

 

See you there!

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

FRIGGIN AWESOME! 

 

Can't wait to see this R2 in person, oh and meet you too Russell 

Edited April 15, 2015 by ukswrath

[russellr2d2[TK]]

Back to TK building !

Strapping the arms. Here are the biceps horizontal strap. It is simply glued into the inside of the bicep.

I am waiting for later to add in the bottom shoulder bell snap.




Here is how I glued it in with E6000. Under the clamp is a scrap piece of plastic to hold down the strap and keep
a sharp line glued down across the width of the strap.




Result...




Starting to glue in the snap plates.



If you saw my earlier posts about how to make snap plates, you would see that I flattened the plastic down around the snap to make the plastic plate lay flat. Here is the result close up.

Note the seal around the plate with no gap = a tight hold.





The 20mm kidney plate cut outs on each side.




The fit of the kidney and butt plates.

• NOTE the bump in the separation between the two pieces? WIERD that this is supposed to be the correct orientation.

• But I am assured this is the correct fit. The front edges of each piece should line up straight. This is the edge facing down against the work table in this photo. Note curve of the back looks natural.

• The belt is supposed to cover this misfit between the two pieces????????





• NOT CORRECT positioning is shown below which I am told fools a lot of people.
(as I am told but it is weird that the seam between the two pieces fits so well this way)

• The butt piece is lifted away from the table and angles a bit up off the work table from a straight line as above.
Curve of the back is all wrong, looks too straight to me.





Silver snaps in bottom.

NOPE: they are black snaps I rubbed with "rub n buff" and made them silver. It works!
 

Edited April 24, 2015 by russellr2d2

[Tusken RTT]

Nice progress, looking good!