Zarlon's First ANH Build Thread (ATA)

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Excellent tutorial Kyle and beautiful job on your bucket 

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

totals:

 

15 mm for the arms, 20 mm for front of legs, 25 mm for back of legs.

 

25mm only for the back of the shins. The back cover stripes on the thighs should be 20mm wide just like the front ones.

[Zarlon[TK]]

Excellent tutorial Kyle and beautiful job on your bucket 

 

Thanks Tony! I'm really having fun with it.

[Zarlon[TK]]

25mm only for the back of the shins. The back cover stripes on the thighs should be 20mm wide just like the front ones.

 

 

Thank you for the clarification.

[Zarlon[TK]]

I've been working on the biceps and I have to say they are a little more difficult than I thought. The concept of putting them together is easy enough but trying to get them to fit comfortably is a whole different ball game.

 

I started out by cutting some of the flashing off of the bottom of the bicep so I could get a better measurement on the side.

 

 

 

Next up I measured and marked my sides. I used 10mm on each side to give myself a little bit of wiggle room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I got my lines drawn I did a rough cut with the trimming sheers.

 

 

 

 

 

This is where the fun began. After I taped the two side together, I couldn't get my arm to slide comfortably through the arm piece. It took a lot of trimming to finally get it somewhat acceptable.

 

 

 

 

I ended up taking off most of the return edge near the elbow.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2015 by Zarlon

[R4ZORBL4DE]

keep in mind .. Armor is not "comfortable" !

You are fitting them with your underarmor on or something comparable, correct ?

Edited April 9, 2015 by R4ZORBL4DE

[R4ZORBL4DE]

Also, on my kit I took just about ALL of the return edges off ..

In your last photo it appears you have WAY too much material left on .

[Sly11[Admin]]

Looking good so far, glad you spent the time re working elements of the helmet as it has turned out fantastic.

Always use caution when trimming your arm and leg parts to fit. It is always better to trim to little, do a test fit, post photos etc, then trimming to much off on the first go.

I can see you are chasing perfection, that's awesome, keep it up and with your attention to detail, go all the way to Centurion.

 

Enjoying your build thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Zarlon[TK]]

keep in mind .. Armor is not "comfortable" !

You are fitting them with your underarmor on or something comparable, correct ?

 

I am trying it on with my winter running compression top to make sure. It's fitting better now so I don't want to trim too much off. once I get it glued together I'll take another look at it.

[Zarlon[TK]]

Looking good so far, glad you spent the time re working elements of the helmet as it has turned out fantastic.

Always use caution when trimming your arm and leg parts to fit. It is always better to trim to little, do a test fit, post photos etc, then trimming to much off on the first go.

I can see you are chasing perfection, that's awesome, keep it up and with your attention to detail, go all the way to Centurion.

 

Enjoying your build thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

Thanks Andrew. I'm trying to make it as close to Centurion as possible the first time around. I already know I'm going to need a different blaster but hopefully I can get everything else correct.

[Zarlon[TK]]

FYI...Neo Magnets are a pain in the A$$! That is all.

[CRXPanda[TK]]

Yeah, I second that, Zarlon. They're either pinching the poo out of your fingers when they stick together or they break and shatter, also pinching but this time jagged edges.

[Khazid[TK]]

Magnet sachets for the win Just a small square of fabric, I use old khaki's that are cut up. Cut the square large enough to be 6x the width of the magnet itself. Gather up the material around the magnet and then secure tightly with a small zip tie (1/8" wide tie). I then use a sharpie to mark the bottom of the magnet with a + or a - so that I know polarity for matching up opposites to bind the item I am working on.

 

The zip tie keeps the magnet from "walking", that is to flip over, the extra material coming out of the top above helps you separate. The material on the bottom acts as a buffer to prevent scratches when sliding. Only mistake I've made with these is not giving the sharpie long enough time to dry and I've stained the surface of the model I was working on. Easy enough to fix during painting, but on armor that would be harder to deal with.

 

Enjoy!

[Zarlon[TK]]

Magnet sachets for the win Just a small square of fabric, I use old khaki's that are cut up. Cut the square large enough to be 6x the width of the magnet itself. Gather up the material around the magnet and then secure tightly with a small zip tie (1/8" wide tie). I then use a sharpie to mark the bottom of the magnet with a + or a - so that I know polarity for matching up opposites to bind the item I am working on.

 

The zip tie keeps the magnet from "walking", that is to flip over, the extra material coming out of the top above helps you separate. The material on the bottom acts as a buffer to prevent scratches when sliding. Only mistake I've made with these is not giving the sharpie long enough time to dry and I've stained the surface of the model I was working on. Easy enough to fix during painting, but on armor that would be harder to deal with.

 

Enjoy!

 

Awesome idea! I will need to make those this weekend. I'm tired of getting my fingers pinched.

[Zarlon[TK]]

OK folks, this just got real. I'm sure I'm going to finish this build and the way it's going, I'll probably want to do another build of some kind so last night I made a little investment.

 

 

Now I need to clean out an area on my work bench in the junk room to clamp it to.

[Zarlon[TK]]

Once I got an initial fit on the right bicep. it was time to start gluing the inside cover strip. I measured the strip and then laid out a piece of painters tape to make sure I was cutting straight.

 

 

 

From there I measured the inside length of the bicep pieces, cut the strips to length, and then and glued the strip to the insides of the pieces.

 

 

 

Once the insides were dry it was time to mate the two halves together with some glue.

 

 

 

[Zarlon[TK]]

While the glue on the biceps is drying, I've decided to multitask a bit and work on the shoulder bells. The ATA armor has a pretty clear line showing where the flashing ends and the finished product begins. I used that line as a guide to mark where I should cut.

 

 

 

 

 

This is where my next question comes up.

 

 

 

QUESTION...

 

 

The side view of the shoulder bell below has a very distinct curve to it. 

 

1. Is this normal for ATA armor

2. If this is normal, which side does this curved bell go on (right or left)?

 

 

 

 

My second question is in regards to the return edge.

 

Take a look at the picture below and let me know if I need to have less of a return edge on this. I am going to smooth it out of course, but I want to know if I should take more edge off.

 

 

 

 

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

1) Yes

2) See image provided

 

 

3) I have a 1/8-3/16" return edge

 

[Zarlon[TK]]

1) Yes

2) See image provided

 

 

3) I have a 1/8-3/16" return edge

 

Awesome! Thanks so much! Edited April 11, 2015 by Zarlon

[Zarlon[TK]]

Well it was a crazy week last week so I didn't get a chance to post but I did get some more work done on the build.

 

I finished the biceps (aside from a bit of trimming to the strips)

 

 

 

And I also started the for arms by carefully measuring the distance need for the gap strips and then cutting off the excess material.

 

 

 

This time I used painters tape to create a straight line for cutting.

 

 

 

After a little cutting and sanding, it was time to glue the inside strips in place.

 

 

Once the inner strips had dried, it was time to piece the forearm together.

 

 

 

This is where my next question comes up:

 

QUESTION:

 

For the ATA Armor is the right forearm always bigger then the left? I'm going to have to add a lot of padding to keep it from falling off.

 

 

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Yes the right forearm is larger.

 

Great job Kyle.

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by ukswrath

[Zarlon[TK]]

Yes the right forearm is larger.

 

Great job Kyle.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much!

[R4ZORBL4DE]

Coming along nicely !

[Zarlon[TK]]

Coming along nicely !

 

Thanks! I haven't totally screwed it up yet so that's a good thing.

[Barcode]

Yes, the right forearm is bigger. My kit is ATA too. I have foam in the right forearm even though the cover strips are all the same (15mm Front & Back). Keep up the good work mate!

Edited April 21, 2015 by Barcode