ERROR's Rise to the Ranks ANH Stunt [AP]

[ERROR[TK]]

Parts Complete
Neck Seal

 

Under Construction

Chest Plate  -Trimmed-

Ab Plate/Cod -Trimmed-

Back Plate -Trimmed-

Kidney Plate/Posterior -Trimmed-

Shoulder Bells -Trimmed-

Biceps -Trimmed-

Forearms -Trimmed-

Thighs -Trimmed

Shins -Trimmed-

All the little things -Untrimmed-

 

Tools/Materials Utilized

Headliner Material

T-Shirt (sacrificed)

Sewing Machine (borrowed)
Lexan Scissors (for trimming)

Pencil (for marking trim lines)

Blue masking tape (for labeling pieces, and holding things together)

 

Useful Links

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/8402-howto-create-a-neckseal  (Pandatrooper's Neckseal tutorial)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IS7jqceqOfOQ9KqkM3fH0DaqDSp2TIWQ_q-npSSBy4o/edit (LadyInWhite's build guide)

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29077-adding-the-kidney-shim-not-bad-but/ (TuskenRTT's Shimming thread)

 

Personal Stats

5"10' (177.8 cm)

170 lb (756 N) ish

waist size 34

Edited February 5, 2015 by ERROR

[ERROR[TK]]

Hello friends!

 

So I've been lurking, reading, researching, posting a little; but finally the day has come!

AP Untrimmed kit! (not quite) Straight from Canada!

 

I may have stalked the UPS truck to get this... Needless to say, the white helmet elicited a variety of responses from my coworkers, ranging from "Wow, that's really cool!" to "Why on earth would you do this?" accompanied by utter confusion.  But perhaps I get ahead of myself.

Even before the coming of the brown box, I decided to get a jump on the gun by making a neck seal! Luckily the lady in my life owns and knows her way around a sewing machine.  By following Pandatrooper's neck seal tutorial, she and I were able to finish it without too much difficulty. However, mine differs from the tutorial in two main ways: first, I cut the fabric a little too long, so I use an overlap joint rather than a butt joint.  I hope this is not too much of an issue.  Second, I opted to sacrifice a T-Shirt to the cause, rather then cut my own bib, so my bib proudly delcares "Columbia" though this should be hid by the armor.

(Apple shown for size)

 

After laying everything out, it all seems to be in order, though it's slightly thinner then I imagined.  But thin-ness makes it light and light is good for wearing. Another thing I noticed is the armor isn't perfectly smooth.  There are dimples and slight bumps (So slight, they don't show up in photos well) that one can see upon close examination.  Is this a part of screen accuracy? Or just a remnant of the sculpting process? Both?

 

(Wii fit balance board in upper right. Thermal Detonator tube not pictured)

 

I can identify most of the parts, but I'm having trouble figuring my limbs left from right.

How do I tell the inner and outer shin/thigh peices? Do the arm peices have left and right? How would I tell them apart?

 

 

Can you tell which peices are left/right/front/back from the pictures above? How can you tell?

From here, gonna trim lots of the larger flash, and probably take a shot at the O2 tank details. Lexan scissors and rare earth magnets in the mail.  Any tidbits and words of wisdom would require much thanks.  Looking forward to trooping with you all!

END OF LINE

[Polar]

Its hard to tel but looks like you got it right, Im sure someone else can confirm or deny, but anyways good luck!!!!!!

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

A = Inner right / B = Outer right

E = Outer left / F = Inner left

 

Shins seem to be paired right, hard to tell though.

Biceps and forearms are identical for both arms. No left and right.

[Pencap510]

Yeah- tough to tell without seeing them facing forward. At least for me anyway

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Might be a good idea to check other AP build threads and compare.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Awesome job on the neck seal BTW. Give the wife a big codos. I wouldn't worry too much about the t shirt logo. Though logos on undergarments are not acceptable what we can't see, we won't comment on. Worst case scenario, black sharpie.

Edited January 15, 2015 by ukswrath

[ERROR[TK]]

Thanks for the help with the thighs. I can see that the thighs dip to fit around the cod.
Still not sure about the shins though. Are any of the shin peices supposed to be identical?  Shins C and G seem to be the same, and are able to nest inside each other. (D and H don't have this issue)

I'm glad my neck seal turned out all right!  If the logo becomes an issue at submission time, I'll try the sharpie technique.  Thanks for your input, Tony.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You can usually tell when you fit the shins to your legs, they sit better one way

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

And so it begins!

 

Looks like you're going to be just fine, Ryan. Good Luck!! We'll be here the whole time if you need any help!

[ERROR[TK]]

I've been trimming away the past few days, and have gotten the basic trimming done on most of the major components. (with the exception of the biceps)  I hoped this would help solve the shin problem (It did! I can match the shins and can tell right and left from the fit; as foretold by gmrhodes13. ) but it revealed another shin issue.

On the left shin, when I match up the front, there is an offset of about 1/4" (6.5 mm) in the back.  Is this typical? Can this be solved with the shin's strapping? Or does this require one of those boiling water baths I've read about?


Front of shin lined up correctly.


The offset at both top and bottom is about 1/4"  (6.5 mm)


Another thing I've discovered is that I'm going to need a shim. (please excuse the awkward picture.)  From my quasi-rough measurement, the shim will need to be about 1 3/4" (44.5 mm) to 2" (51 mm).  Where would I get this shim material from? Do I re-contact Mark from AP? Are there other methods to shimming that don't involve ABS paste?

I think this is an awkward picture. But perhaps you think differently.

 

Also, very soon I will need to be sanding the edges of my parts. I read here that I'll need 350 and 600 grit sandpaper. (And some finer still for polishing. But that's a long ways off yet)  What sorts of sandpaper have other people (That means you! The reader!) used?  What works and doesn't work?

Thanks again.

END OF LINE
 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Hi Ryan, don't worry about the offset yet as when you do the enclosure on the back it will line up better. Align the top and mark a trim line for the excess at the bottom of the longer part. Then draw a cut line following the shape of the bottom and trim it off.

 

First I would be trimming the front of the halves to suit a 20 mm cover strip so from the ridge line leave 10 mm either side and cut off the excess.. It looks like you have a lot of excess to play with there.Then retape together and see what you need to leave or remove from the back if any. Always tape and try on with your compression tights and your boots on or you might take off too much..

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited January 15, 2015 by Sly11

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Yep, I agree with Andrew completely, you can still trim both the front and back of those shin pieces to get a better fit, because it looks a little bit wide for the cover strip. I'd just cut the extra tall piece down to match the shorter piece at the top, and cut the bottom up to match the higher piece for the up/down overlap.

 

When it comes to material for the shims... First thing, make sure that you have even spacing on both sides. You shouldn't have "A Shim." You should have "shims." If you only have one, you'll have either your abdomen or your kidney plate offset to one side a bit and it will be difficult to fit. I'm just pointing that out because you specifically said "I'm going to need a shim." Okay, now on to the material. If you don't have any left over after trimming your cover strips, you have a few options. You can go to the Bay or Amazon to look for an ABS sheet of appropriate size, or you can go to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy yourself some of the plastic sheets that they have there for making signs. "Yard Sale" or "Open House" signs, etc will all work just fine. You'll simply want to get ABS paste (extra ABS and Acetone) whipped up to make them smooth when you get done.

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Two readers have replied, now 3. You must be special!

 

As they said, but if the shins (not shims, shins) still don't line up then the hot water bath will sort it out. I think mine were out top to bottom - ie: bottom closed up nicely, but the top overlaped by 20mm or so. Glue the coverstrip on the front, then just tape the rear as you put it in the bath.

 

Also be aware that different armor comes in different shades of white, as does does different manufacturers of ABS. I would to order from AP first, then try secondary sources if that fails.

 

Oh, and I never remember sandpaper numbers, sorry. at $1- a sheet I bought 2 or 3 of everything and use whatever I think works best at the time. 

[Tusken RTT]

AP kit here myself, had to do the shimming;  I have a link below in my sig that can help.  Hopefully as said above you have some coverstrip material left.  You should just have enough to do the build with the two shim pieces and internal backing.  It might help to not use good material in your inner coverstrips;  save those pieces for outers and use some scraps if needed to stretch your material.  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

AP kit here myself, had to do the shimming;  I have a link below in my sig that can help.  Hopefully as said above you have some coverstrip material left.  You should just have enough to do the build with the two shim pieces and internal backing.  It might help to not use good material in your inner coverstrips;  save those pieces for outers and use some scraps if needed to stretch your material.  

 

If he wants it to look right the first time and eliminate the hassle and worry of which plastic to use where, I would highly suggest he contact AP and purchase extra plastic. When re-building my ATA I picked up 2 sheets of 16" x 24" from Terrell for less than $35 (including ship). It was enought to rebuild my entire armor inside and out, cover strips, snap mounts, etc, I even have 1/2 sheet left over, well worth the investment. I'm pretty certain extra AP would be very close in cost. Just my 2 cents     

[ERROR[TK]]

Two readers have replied, now 3. You must be special!

Now five! I feel special. 

 

@Sly11:  Thanks for the the shin instruction.  Proper fitting is going to have to wait until my boots come in.  I contacted TKboots back in November, and it seems like they are just getting ready to get ready to ship out in the next week or so.  So it'll be a little while still.

 

@Dark CMF: You are absolutely right about needing TWO (2) shims. I had the correct picture in my head, but made a semantic ERROR.  Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

 

@TuskenRTT: Thanks for the link to your tutorial!  I hope mine turn out as well as yours.

 

As for the shins shims, I contacted Mr. Mark from AP, and got a response. Apparently he only has 3 inch strips, and not sheets. I am going to try and go for these, as I think 3 inches (76 mm) will give me plenty of wiggle room to shim with.  Even so, shimming will probably have to wait for warmer weather.  Snowy ground does not lend it self well to opening a window and venting acetone fumes.

 

 

 

[Spycee[TK]]

For the ABS melting for shims, I put that in a closed bottle for at least 12 hours, so not a lot of fumes.

[ERROR[TK]]

Progress is moving slowly.  Mostly because I am uncertain of how things are supposed to fit.  Living by ones self also doesn't help the issue.  In the process of putting together a meeting with Master Gazmosis, and that should help with many things.

I visited some friends this weekend.  They are getting married this May, and hope their best man (yours truly) can be all in white (armor) for the rehearsal.  As such they were willing to tape me up and take some photos.  (It is the bride to be holding on my helmet.)  It was good to feel the armor as a whole, even if it didn't fit very well.








I still don't have my boots, so socks will have to do.


I realize the posterior is sagging really badly in this photo...


...So we taped it better and took another

An observation: With everything on and pulled tight via tape, I'm not so sure I'll need to shim it.  I dunno.  Future fittings will help.

Also these photos reveal many more things that need doing:
The bottom of the chest plate needs more trimming
The forearms are too big (and liked to slide down my arms)
Need to take off all the return edge by the wrists
The biceps might be too big?
Gonna have to trim some off the tops of the thighs? (It was hard to tell. There wasn't a real good way to keep them up)
Have to separate the kidney from the posterior.
Have to separate the ab from the cod
Overlap on the thighs and shins show that more trimming is required.
and more I'm sure I didn't notice.

Does anything blatantly stick out to you?

END OF LINE

[Spycee[TK]]

It's a great moment that first time you put it all together :-) You should be OK without shimming, from the pictures. For the thigh, wait until you try to climb stairs with them, you will know if you have to trim.

[Spycee[TK]]

Oh, and I'd wait before cutting ab and cod, you should try it with all the body attached correctly and belt to feel it. Mine is not cut and I probably won't cut it.

[Tusken RTT]

Looking great!  Lucky man with the sides- I agree looks like no need to shim!  You should be able to tighten up that super small gap with the strapping.  

I did not cut my ab/cod either, but have yet to have the need to go to the bathroom while trooping, so this mod may come if ever I have a bad experience! 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Don't BREATH! 

 

Looks awesome 

 

[meekerscott]

Hey, that's looking great. I look forward to seeing your build progress. Also, again, big kudos for your wife on the excellent job with that neck seal. Outstanding!