Artshot's ANH Stunt Build (AM 2.0)

[Artshot]

In my continuing battle of wills with my armor (torso), this weekend I thought I would start putting some holes in it, mainly the Ab to Kidney strapping, but as always, I have questions

 

1)After cutting my kidney notch of 22mm x 22mm, the distance is 10mm to the edge of the side domed rivet (making the centre of the hole 14mm in) ?

 

2) Then the top and bottom domed rivet is 20mm from the top edge of the kidney plate and 20mm up from the notch edge, the third domed rivet is centred between these ? (the Ab side copying there position)

 

3)The right side popper is 10mm in and 10mm down from the edges, that's to the edge, not the centre ?

 

4) I think the cod and butt rivet & popper placements are for best fit....right ?

 

I know these might feel like trivial questions, but I tend to think in mm (stupid job to blame for that)

 

Oh and as a bonus question, I have been looking through the CRL about the belt, whilst I know its riveted together, is there any thoughts on using magnets instead of poppers to attach it to the armor ?, I really don't want to put holes in my nice shiny armor if I can avoid it, plus I thought it might help with adjusting the belt height as that tends to pop up from time to time.

 

I see a very busy weekend ahead of me

 

As always, any and all comments are welcome.

[Kredal[TK]]

The side rivets center points are 10mm from the edge, so the heads will appear closer. Start your measurements on the ab side, 20mm from the top, and 20mm from where it turns into the cod. Then centered between those for the third one. Then transfer those points to the kidney, lining up the top of the two parts.<br><br><br><br>

The cod rivet, if you make an imaginary circle from the bottom edge, following the contours as well as you can, that rivet is centered in the circle. If that makes sense. (: the butt snaps, measure 20mm from the edge, then 20 more mm for the two hole centers.<br><br>

Keeping the belt lined up with the ab plate is up to you. The problem with magnets there is that the belt will be trying to slide the magnets apart under the weight of the holster and blaster and stuff, and that sliding is the direction that magnets are weakest. But sure, give it a shot and let us know!

[Artshot]

Hey Josh

Thanks for the confirmation of the rivets placement, I was going to start marking the kidney piece and transfer across, which means I totally forgot to take into consideration the beginning of the cod and how close a rivet could look to that.............this is why I ask questions

 

And to have my second "Doh!!" moment, I totally forgot about the added weight of the holster and blaster......sheesh, I am having a slow day

 

I think if I glue the magnets to the interior of the armor I should be able to avoid belt slippage, however attaching the magnets to the belt is going to be my next challenge as I am not going to cut into the belt.

 

Build armor..........the fun never stops

[Artshot]

Well, I did it, I went and put some holes in my ab piece for the rivets, got to say that I may have measured and checked quite a few times before I just went for it, it sure is nerve wracking when it's something you cannot cover up......with girded loins, I went and cut the notches as well, going to sit back with a drink now and shoot things in Battlefront

 

 

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[Skypig]

As far as attaching the belt. I made snap plates out of ABS and glued them with E6000 to my Ab. I didn't have to drill a hole.

 

 

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[Artshot]

Back Again.

 

So, I have put holes in my armor, luckily in the right places.

 

 

And while I was at it, I added strips of ABS on the interior edges to reinforce, probably overkill, but it also doubled the edge width for the Ab and Kidney to butt up against.

 

 

And after i cut the 22mm x 22mm notches, I decided to try to maintain the illusion of the armor thickness by bending thin strips of spare ABS into right angles and gluing them in place, although I actually glued them about 1mm back from the edge and filled the difference with ABS paste, once the paste dried I filed the notches smooth.

 

 

 

Now if only I could stop messing about with the small details I might actually make some serious progress on this build.

 

Enjoy.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

That's a great idea! 

[Artshot]

Well, time for another update, which has been long coming as I keep getting distracted by bright & shiny things.

 

After putting the six holes in the Ab and Kidney pieces I joined them together using the traditional method of webbing and rivets, I tried to get the two pieces as tight together as I could as I know they will begin to stretch at some point, typically I forgot to take a photo of the interior.

 

However, here's the exterior.

 

 

And to complete the two pieces, here's the right side.

 

 

While I was at it, and borrowing from other builds, I created a tongue & groove fitting on the interior of the right side, luckily using black plasticard that I had handy, I will still have to fashion an interior Velcro strap to keep everything together, but now when the side is closed, it will not slip up or down and ruin the straight join.

 

 

So, now that the Ab and Kidney pieces are joined, I decided to return to my troublesome back plate, from previous instalments of my build you may have noticed it was giving me trouble, mainly because it has two spur like edges that protrude around the top of the kidney piece and the upper strap to shoulder edges were turned in a bit too much, making the piece stand a bit out from my back.

So, with elastic in hand I made the two outer straps (the inner are regular webbing), I figured that the inner would keep the back and kidney close together whilst the outer would allow some stretch when I have to bend, otherwise I think the stress would pop the snaps and I may leave a trail of armour behind me....literally.

 

 

 

The second photo is just to show how I fixed each snap to the elastic strapping, I doubled it over and tidied up the edge with E6000 Fray Lock (just happened to have a tube), this stuff is great, not only will it seal the ends but I also used it to glue the loose edge of the strap down, I also put a dab of it on each point where a snap goes through the webbing or elastic.

 

And here's what it looks like on the outside.

 

 

After doing all the gluing I decided to give the back plate a hot bath to try and make it fit a bit better, I think I have managed it, despite the slightly boiled hands.......hope it was worth it.

 

 

Just to finish, and because I wanted to do something easier, I glued on my button plates, it annoys me that the four button plate is not in line with the ridge on the armour, but its in line with the raised area.

 

 

And, that's that, for the moment.

 

Enjoy.

[KaiserW]

Our build journeys are very similar. Thanks for reaching out on my armor question, I failed to find this thread previously, it is a wealth of information.

 

 

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[Artshot]

Nothing much to report, although I am eventually getting round to restarting my build to hopefully finish before another Star Wars movie gets released

 

As a quick update, I have removed both of the button plates from the ab of my armour to trim them a bit more, after months of starring at them I was unhappy about the lack of outline of the raised ab area showing, looking at reference photos, mine need a trim.......one step forward.....two steps back....sigh.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Artshot

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking great Art, keep the faith brother you're in the home stretch.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Nothing much to report, although I am eventually getting round to restarting my build to hopefully finish before another Star Wars movie gets released

 

 

Any updates, Art?  You need to get this armor finished and approved so you can get out there, get trooping and make the UKG proud!     (After that I have every confidence you will be submitting for EIB and then onto Centurion... hint hint)!

[Artshot]

Oh I definitely need to get my act together and get my build finished, I hurt my back at the beginning of May so it put a stop to finishing the strapping on my torso, tricky to do on your own at the best of times, with a bad back......worse.

 

However I have not been lazy, the more I looked at my TD and after checking the requirements of UK Garrison approval (my original parts came over generously pre trimmed), I decided to rip it apart and rebuild with new end caps & plate from "Troopermaster" which should give a more screen accurate and more importantly, approvable TD.

 

No need to hint , my plan was always to build for Centurion, picking up EIB on the way.

[Artshot]

Blimey!!, I just realised it's been over a year since I last did any work on my build, granted I hurt my back which made bending a bit difficult, but for the rest of the time, I have no excuse.

 

Anyway.......I'm baaaack

 

Okay, so I am at the stage of doing the internal chest to back strapping, I spent a stupid amount of time on this, measuring and measuring, before putting holes in the elastic strapping, since I figured theses straps would need to survive more load than usual, I doubled up on the snaps, I ended up with 6cm of elastic between each front to back tab (not cut the excess off yet).

 

Internal Left.

 

Internal Right.

 

When I attached the front of the shoulder bridges to the chest piece, I tried to centre them in the chest tabs and then tried to get the elastic to follow there line, which was trickier than I thought.

 

I have however noticed that the shoulder bridges drift a bit towards the centre of my shoulders and do not run in the centre of the rear tabs, I know it's not much, but it bugs me.

 

Outer Left.

 

Outer Right.

 

I think if I could just apply a little heat to the chest and "splay" the chest a little wider, then I could get the rear of the shoulder bridges to line up in the rear better, but the piece is now too large to do the boiling water trick.......wonder if boiling a small hand towel, then dropping it onto the armor would do the same thing ?

 

So, after all of that, I tried a fit (nearly slicing my ear).

 

I'm mostly happy with how the back fits, the back piece fits nicely against the kidney piece (although I might add some Velcro strapping), I might also give the lower corners a boil to curve them a bit better as I think they stick out.

 

The butt might also receive some extra Velcro strapping as it keeps springing loose and that's without the connecting strap underneath.

 

The chest rides a bit high for my liking, but with a body like mine, its the best I can do to get it to fit, if I pull the lower armor up any higher I will do myself a mischief (might look into trimming the return a little though).

 

I also need to look at the points on the chest and back tabs that go against the body, even after about 20 minutes of playing with the fit, I could tell where there going to dig in and cause future problems.

 

Hopefully all of that makes sense and more importantly I got Imgur sorted out.

 

Enjoy. 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Artshot

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Holy smokes Art, welcome back brother. As for your Ab and and chest as long as the chest resides over the Ab you'll be good. 

[Artshot]

I promise i am going to get back to this.......honest

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Did you ever get your chest adjusted? They make pots large enough to fit a chest piece (I have one) but they're not cheap... but it is an option.

[Artshot]

I think I know how to get mine to fit better, just need to get inspired to dig in again.....lost my building mojo.

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!! Does this help?

[magni[TK]]

I double dog dare you to get back to it!

Does that work?

[TheSwede[TK]]

All the motivation one needs

[Artshot]

So, I went to see the new Star Wars movie last night

 

And now of course I want to finish my TK (hopefully before another Star Wars film comes out), however after looking at all the bits and pieces, I want to swap out the canvas belt I have, mine is more cream than white and I think more suited to a sandy.

 

So, any recommendations for a new white belt, looking for uk mainly as I am hoping to finish my build over the Christmas break.......hopefully

 

Cheers

Art

 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Check with Troopermaster (Paul) on this forum or his FB page https://www.facebook.com/TMProps/

[Artshot]

Here we go, the final push.........

 

Of course now that i have decided to try and finish my armor and after taking my TD apart to rebuild closer to specs, i cannot for the life of me find the references for sizes, spaces and everything else..........typical.

 

Help.

[lucnak[TK]]

Hope this helps!

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by lucnak