Kredal's ANH Hero build [AM2]

[Kredal[TK]]

Oh boy.  I'm still sort of in shock.  You see pictures from other people, with armor strewn over their floor, but there's no real sense of scale or "solidness" to what you see.

 

Until you get your very own big brown box.

 

 

And then you open it up, and see all the pieces individually wrapped in foam padding... and you tear all the foam padding off...

 

 

And you wonder what you've gotten yourself into.

 

I say again: Oh boy. It's obvious just from the weight of the box, and then the weight of each part, that this is no simple Halloween costume.  There's a thickness to the ABS that you will NEVER find at the local store.  There's a loving amount of effort and time put into each vacuum pull.  These aren't just pressed in a factory in China or something... there was care taken with each part.

 

Now it's my turn to care for the armor, to fit it to my own body, to make precise cuts where plastic doesn't belong... and make it mine.

 

Oh boy.

 

This... this is a project. I seriously had no idea I would feel like this.

 

Anyway, down to brass tacks: I'm going for a Hero build with AM2 parts, I've got ears with 3 bumps on order from ATA, I've got extra Chicago screws from Darman for my holster, and I've got a bib neck seal on the way too.  All those things, plus the alignment of the forehead ridge should be the only differences between Stunt and Hero, as far as I can tell.  (I know, 6 teeth, bubble lenses, only one of the three ear bumps painted. Anything I'm missing here?)  

 

I'll be starting with the biceps this evening.  Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it.

 

Oh, wish me perseverance too.  That might be important. (:

[Barcode]

Congrats on starting your journey into the TK! Everyone is overwhelmed at the beginning, your confidence will rise significantly after you construct a few pieces. Everyone is here to help you mate so post your progress and ask questions even if they seem silly to you. 

[Kredal[TK]]

First cut made!  

 

 

I'm wearing an armor glove on my left hand to keep from going through the hand with the knife.  Seems like a reasonable precaution at this stage.

 

And yet, my armor has already taken first blood!

 

 

I guess I need a cut-proof body suit!

 

Also, I need lexan scissors, since cutting away return edges with an itty bitty diagonal cutter isn't.... cutting it.

[LoveMonkey[501st]]

Congrats. I will follow your build with great interest as my AM armor came today as well. Good luck!

 

 

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[Kredal[TK]]

First inside shims are glued, tomorrow I'll fit the two sides together, and glue the outside strips.  

 

 

The magnet sachets work really well too!

 

Also got my ATA hero ears, so I'm ready on that front!  But what's this, I actually have to trim the waste plastic?  AM has spoiled me!

 

[Kredal[TK]]

I cut off the return edges of the left forearm, and suddenly it's not as long as I thought it was.  Funny how that works. (:

 

So, now I'm up to cutting it to width to fit.  I taped the two halves together, and I can JUST get my arm in and out of the sleeve that's made.  I made pencil marks at the top and bottom end about haflway between the overlap.  Before I cut them down, I want to ask you: Is this where I want to cut? I'll join the two ends of the line with a straight edge and then score and snap. The other pencil line here is for the inside of my wrist, so I can get a little bit more mobility.

 

 

So, cut along that line, or leave a little bit more room for joining?

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Do yourself a favor and pick up some cut resistant gloves. They have them at Home Depot for like $10 and are a life saver! 

[Kredal[TK]]

I have some. That's the blue glove in the picture up there. The blood is from a sharp corner of the bicep. (:

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Ah, crud, I missed that in the picture. Sand them suckers down! 

[Khazid[TK]]

Your cut lines look good to me..just remember to leave yourself a little space for your gloves. Maybe double check your marks while wearing the gloves to make sure the opening isn't too tight.

[Haribon72[TK]]

I like the magnet covers!  I must steal that idea!

[Kredal[TK]]

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31701-how-to-assemble-magnet-sachets/

 

That was Khazid's idea! They work great!

[Kredal[TK]]

Still working on the arms.  The left forearm has been cut to size, and I've put in the inside strips.

 

 

 

And I've cut and placed the very first cover strip on the left bicep!  Woo!  (And then I ran out of magnets. Boo!)

 

 

Just for kicks, I tested out heat-bending with a soldering heat gun.  Set to 300C, it doesn't take long for the ABS to become pliable, and when it cools down, it's stuck wherever it was bent to.  So that works.  I also made a random joint between two pieces with E6000 just to see what it will be like if I ever have to tear apart a joint.

 

 

Now to wait for it all to dry so I can reclaim magnets, glue the forearm together, and do a couple more cover strips on that side!

[Kredal[TK]]

Update on the test glue spot: After 12 hours, I was able to pull the pieces apart with MINIMAL effort.

 

I scuffed up a couple different places on the test scraps with 120 grit sandpaper, and applied glue and clamped.  (The picture would look a lot like the last one in the previous update, so none was taken).

 

I'll see how well the extra scuffing works for adhesion.  It does make me worry how strong the joints are on the parts I've already glued, though.  I put together one edge of the left forearm and the second cover strip on the left bicep tonight, and I scuffed up those parts before gluing, once I realized that shiny to shiny doesn't necessarily hold very well.

 

Also, because of the amount of plastic cut off the forearm, the edges left are at a weird angle that would make gluing them together really hard, I took my heat gun to the inside edge of the inside half of the forearm, and reshaped it to be more half-moon rather than quarter-moon shaped.  Should take some pressure off the glue to hold the sides together.

[Kredal[TK]]

Today I learned that the armored glove doesn't work very well when it's sitting on the workbench.  Made a nice little gouge in my finger with a utility knife.  Wear your PPE, people! (no pictures, but imagine blood... fixed with some superglue.)

 

It's too blasted hot in my garage right now, so no work in the afternoon for me... but I had a brilliant idea this morning while I was bleeding out: Since I KNOW I'm going to be cutting more than 15mm off the forearm (and probably 20-25mm off the leg parts) I can cut exactly that much off to start, to use as the outside cover strip, and then cut down to what I need for the inside strip.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Josh looking great on your build so far. Keep up the good work  

 

I echo your heat sediment though I'm in CA where there's only 10% humidity.  

[Kredal[TK]]

So this is an interesting picture for the forearms of my build.  Glad I saw it before I started work on the right arm! 

 

 

On the left arm, the inside and outside parts line up at the top end (closest to the elbow), which is very close to how I have it.  The right arm, however, has a serious difference in length! Looks like close to an inch off, with the wrist end lined up evenly. Also, I'm glad to see the hooks on the inside of the biceps.  There aren't too many shots of those in Han or Luke's uniforms.

 

My bicep pieces ended up waaaaay more oval-shaped than his are, though.  Looks like in the movie, they're perfectly round, mine are closer to a 5/9 rectangle!  I'll keep them as they are for now, but it's possible I'll need to trim some from the edges and re-glue them later.  Hopefully, they'll be mostly covered by the shoulder bells. We'll see how that goes.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Kredal

[Kredal[TK]]

You know you're done for the day when you run out of magnets. (:  The top piece is the left forearm with the last outside strip drying, and the bottom two pieces are the halves of the right forearm, each with an inside strip.  I managed to get good sized pieces cut from the arm for both of those, and also the 15mm strips for the outside when I come back to it tomorrow morning.

 

[Kredal[TK]]

Left arm is done!  (for some value of done)

 

 

 

 

Questions: Is the shoulder bell in the AM2 kit the right size off the bat, or does it need to be trimmed?  

 

Does my bicep look good, or is it too wide and rectangular?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Left arm is done!  (for some value of done)

 

 

 

 

Questions: Is the shoulder bell in the AM2 kit the right size off the bat, or does it need to be trimmed?  

 

Does my bicep look good, or is it too wide and rectangular?

 

Hey Josh, 

 

The shoulder bells are different for everyone. I would suggest adding them to the pics you have here so we can see how they sit on you.

 

Biceps - Though AM makes their biceps oval other manufacturers may have odd shape biceps also. If it bothers you, you can always give them a hot water bath in attempt to reshape them. There's  a few builds out there that demonstrate how to do this. My ATA build for example demonstrates the process.

 

Looking good sir. 

[Kredal[TK]]

OK, I'll get pics of the shoulders with the rest of the arms, probably tomorrow or Saturday.

 

In the meantime, I started on my bucket, because I still had a few magnets left over.  (:

 

Cut out six teeth (I even made X's on the back of the six so I didn't accidentally cut out too many... Did this with a Dremel sander, I need to pick up a set of small files to clean out the cuts and the corners, but overall, I'm happy with the shape of the teeth.

 

Also glued together the top and back pieces and left them to dry.  Tried to line up the front traps with the edge of the back piece as near as possible.

 

 

 

Once that dries, I can test-fit the faceplate, and see how it all looks together! And then deal with ears.  I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of commitment yet.  (:

[Kredal[TK]]

OK, I lied about waiting for shoulder pics.  Fooled you!

 

 

 

I think I'll just take off the little return edge at the bottom, and call it good.  The bottom edge lines up pretty well to where a hook would be inside the bicep, and should grant me full range of motion when I don't have to keep my arm perfectly still for taking pictures.  (:

 

I *DO* need to round out the bicep though.  I'll go back over your build thread to see how it's done!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Yea trim the return edge to about 1/8" or so, you really don't need too much of it. Once you assemble your chest, back and shoulder assembly you'll know whether or not you need to trim the bells.

 

Don't sweat the ears too much. You look like you're pretty handy with a dremel, ears shouldn't be too bad.

[Kredal[TK]]

Yea trim the return edge to about 1/8" or so, you really don't need too much of it. Once you assemble your chest, back and shoulder assembly you'll know whether or not you need to trim the bells.

 

Don't sweat the ears too much. You look like you're pretty handy with a dremel, ears shouldn't be too bad.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!  I'm pretty sure I'll be able to manage. If not, I know who to ask for advice!

 

Also, I read your whole ATA rebuild thread(s) again.  Now that I have my plastic, I could actually tell what was going on.  Wow.  Crazy amounts of work to be done, it's amazing how much the original builder screwed up, and how good you got it looking after!

 

I'll try out the hot water on the biceps and see how that goes.  Getting them rounder without having to cut any more out of them sounds like the best plan of attack.  As it is, I have to squeeze them to fit over my elbow, so keeping them permanently squeezed should work pretty well.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

If I may suggest when working with the hot water, take a piece of leftover excess trim from the bicep and dip it into the how water to see how it reacts. It should soften up a bit without warping. If it warps the water is too hot.

 

And another thing, wrap the bicep in painters tape before dipping, the hot water WILL soften the dried glue a bit, especially if submerged in the water too long. Also, if there's a good amount of tension on the seems the water could cause them to begin to separate. Keeping them wrapped helps prevent all this. 

 

What were you going to use to shape the bicep?