WhiteHammer's RT-Mod ESB TK (WIP)

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Cruising right along Mike. 

 

Thread followed

 

-Eric

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Thanks Tusken RTT, it almost looks as though the "evenly spaced" rivets are based on where the belt sits. Appears to me from the photo you posted that the distance from the top rivet to the edge of the armor is roughly the same distance from the bottom rivet to the top of where the belt would be. 

 

 

Thanks Dark CMF for the ABS paste guidance. and a belated congrats on your promotion.

 

No problem, Mike, and thanks!

 

Where the rivets are located on that older armor was based on the curve of the one piece Cod. You can see that curve coming up just beneath the bottom rivet. The RT-Mod kit has neither the ridge, or the one piece cod, so I spaced mine equally based on the height of the notch.

[WhiteHammer]

While I wait for my ABS slurry to be ready, I have been constructing white canvas snap plates. 

 

How do these 45 degree marks look for the belt?  the marks are located 15mm from the ends.

[WhiteHammer]

Overall progress report:

forearms and upper arms have been attached with butt joints. The front thighs and shins are attached by butt joints. I was going to wait to fit the back of the thighs and shins after hanging the thighs from the ab-plate. Two snaps have been placed in the butt plate. I think that I need a brass rivet for the cod piece, but have yet to locate on hardware store runs. 

snaps and canvas straps have been added to the chest and back plates. 

My first run as patching i used tape on one side. the second run I decided to place masking on both sides of the armor. The abs patch works really well. I scooped up a gob of it and let it ooze into the poorly placed drill hole. My expectation is that the tape on both sides of the armor will make sanding focus on the patch and not the armor itself. I guess we will see when it is ready to sand sometime tomorrow. 

Edited March 21, 2015 by WhiteHammer

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Looking good, Mike!!

 

Belt corners look to be spot on.

 

For Centurion pass able rivets, you can check out the For Sale section. The thread should be titled Centurion Approvable Rivets, or something along those lines. Echo sells them - the same guy that sells the fans. The rivet on the Cod is the same as the rivets on the Ab and Kidney side attachment.

 

I hope the tape on the inside works out cleanly for you, not a bad idea!! It looks like you've got a good grasp on the ABS Paste though. I'd give it 24 hours to set before sanding it.

[Mutter]

Mike, here's a link for the placement of the rivets:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26886-split-rivet-placement/

 

My top ones were also too low which threw off the middle rivets as well. I just finished patching them today and hope to be finished tomorrow night after sanding and painting. Good luck!

[WhiteHammer]

So the first try with the ABS paste appears to have been a little gassy. There were some gas pockets that formed during drying and a couple stayed right in the breach, so there ended up being a small hole. I will try it again. Here are some fit test photos. I noticed a number of necessary corrections myself, but if you see others don't be shy. We lift one trooper up, we all stand taller. 

I see several things off here. Starting at the top, the shoulder bells need to move forward. I think I have them sewn on the shoulder straps to far back. Easy fix. What do you think of the forearms? Do they seem too close to the wrist? And also the obvious ab plate is too low. I don't have it strapped to the chest plate, so maybe that will help. and the cod piece is too low and i think the chest piece is too high. The problem here is that the shoulder bridges have no room to spare. I need to some how rotate the entire back up to move the chest down. Maybe more strapping here will help? 

Now the gap here in the ab / kidney plate is the result of an imbalance of beer and exercise, I will let you guess what happens more. It appears the elastic i have here is stretching too much. Perhaps I need to go with non-stretchy attachments here?? Please advise. How does that knee ammo belt look? I have looked at many and they appear to be somewhat variable as to the orientation (Parallel to floor or ride across the knee sort of pointed up). 

the shoulder bells look a little long in this photo. Do they need to be trimmed up a hair or two?

that cod piece needs some help. What else am I missing? 

 

A great deal of gratitude and thanks for your assistance. 

Edited March 24, 2015 by WhiteHammer

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

You hit the high points.

 

The shoulders need to come forward for sure though. How are they attached? You mentioned something being sewn, and they should be just snapped to the shoulder bridge strap. The thighs look a little large at the knees, too.

 

Basically, outside of that, I'd say that you're not ready to test fit yet, as clearly the ab/kidney are sliding down, which is exaggerating the low fit of your back plate as well. Once you've got your torso strapped together, you can get a better fit accomplished. We all do this taped together test fit though. You're not alone by any means.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the thigh ammo pack looks good in the picture and that if you've glued the Sniper Plate on, you did a good job with it. Very nice alignment, and those things give some folks nightmares!

[WhiteHammer]

You hit the high points.

 

The shoulders need to come forward for sure though. How are they attached? You mentioned something being sewn, and they should be just snapped to the shoulder bridge strap. The thighs look a little large at the knees, too. === I went beyond the tape up fit test and put in sticky back velcro in the arms. The snaps are more expensive than the velcro so I opted to test out the fit of everything a little easier using hook and pile. It comes out really easy. I figure that once the fit is all squared away I can replace the velcro with something more sturdy. 

 

Basically, outside of that, I'd say that you're not ready to test fit yet, as clearly the ab/kidney are sliding down, which is exaggerating the low fit of your back plate as well. Once you've got your torso strapped together, you can get a better fit accomplished. We all do this taped together test fit though. You're not alone by any means.  I just had to put the thing on as soon as I could. I feel good about the preliminary fit test. I think it added to my understanding of the strapping variations I have seen around the forums. 

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the thigh ammo pack looks good in the picture (Excellent!) and that if you've glued the Sniper Plate on (Yup glued on. Used lots of neodymium magnets,) you did a good job with it. Very nice alignment, and those things give some folks nightmares! (Well they probably put their rivet holes in the right place  )

The hole patches didn't turn out too bad. I did end up doing one of them over again. You have been so much help Tim, I don't know where I would be without you. Thanks for all your help. 

[Tusken RTT]

Looking great!  Just about everything can be fixed with your strapping as Tim said.  You are on the right track for sure.  Bringing your bottom half up a few inches will take care of a lot (might be able to close those side gaps), as will moving those anchor points for the shoulders, then going from there with your bicep and forearm snaps and straps.  Keep us posted! 

[fuumantroop[TK]]

Also when strapping, don't cut the strap to length perfectly, it is elastic, just take that into account. Make them shorter than you think, but also make sure they will stretch to the corresponding snap plate.

 

Looking forward to more progress!

[WhiteHammer]

Well I took me three attempts, but I think I have it now. Most of the trouble was from a first application that had gas bubbles in it. I tried to repair that didn't work and ended up drilling the holes out and doing it again.  Now I am just waiting on some novus polish. I also have been working on my neck seal. I find that sewing in a straight line is not as easy as it sounds. 

[Tusken RTT]

Nice job!  That will polish up great! 

[Lidocaine[TK]]

Nice work Mike! Looking forward to seeing you fully decked at troops soon! 

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Great progress Mike!!
 

As Scott said, that repair job looks great, it should polish up very nicely.  

 

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you imply that you have rivets in your sniper plate?

[WhiteHammer]

No rivets in the sniper plate. (Throws off my aim)

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Phew...  Okay.    

 

It would also throw off you approval for higher levels, too!  

[WhiteHammer]

OK gang, let's try this again. Holes patched and buffed. New locations measured 44mm from the top of kidney plate, then 44mm to the second, and 44mm to the third. Look good? should i drill the new holes? Thanks for your help.  I have also completed my neck seal. 

 

it came out ok.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Neck seal looks good!!!

 

I'd still say that you should spread those rivets out further, closer to the top and bottom of the plate.  Take a look at the reference photos again.  That repair looks phenomenal though!!!

[WhiteHammer]

Affirmative.

[Mutter]

Mike, that top rivet should be about 10-15mm from the top edge.  Your bottom rivet could be lower.  Stick the middle rivet, well, in the middle.

 

[WhiteHammer]

 This side-by-side comparison shows the screen version to have a slightly longer kidney plate. The bottom of the notch lines up with the bottom of the cod piece of the screen version. With the differences in the suits, how does these rivet locations look?

[Tusken RTT]

Looks good!  Just make sure they are evenly spaced, the top and middle space looks bigger than the middle to bottom, but probably just the pic.  

[Mutter]

I agree with Scott. Top and bottom look good. Middle one looks like it can be positioned a little better.

[WhiteHammer]

So I have committed to the placement of the rivets. Now on to the belt!