Richard's ANH Stunt 2 mm [TM]

[VulpX[TK]]

Ok, will do that. Thanks Paul!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking good Richard 

[VulpX[TK]]

Thanks Tony!

 

Allright, a slightly bigger update with some work done this last week:

 

Shins are almost finished.

 

Final fitting with undersuit and shoes:

 

 

On to gluing. I used lots of E6000, it's dripping all over the place   :

 

 

Looks good right?

 

 

Sniper plate on the left shin:

 

 

And right now the cover strip on the back of the shins is glued and drying:

 

 

This weekend I decided to do a rough test fit. Not even everything was trimmed yet, and it's held together (poorly) with tape, it just doesn't fit yet. But it felt really good to have this stuff on me for the first time  

 

 

 

This might not be noticeable on the picture, but the back and chest plate weren't even trimmed here, and a lot of the other torso pieces and the shoulder bells hadn't been properly sanded yet. I did all that by now, and I feel like I'm making decent headway. I've been a little enthusiastic with my E6000, and finished the second tube today. So right now I'm waiting for the third tube I ordered earlier this week. The only really big gluing job left is the thighs, and after that it's time to move on to fitting, strapping and making the belt. 

 

 

I also made a start with the helmet, and with that I really got the feeling things are starting to look like a trooper. It's just an awesome sight every time, the front of a bucket.

 

Right eye done:

 

 

Left eye trimmed roughly:

 

 

And done!

 

 

 

By the way, you don't want to know how many liters of coffee pass this mug during the build 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Great job Richard, looking good 

[Chills[TK]]

I love seeing TM builds. This one is going quite well.

 

That's a LOT of e-6000 you're using for your cover strips. You don't need that much, that stuff will hold with dabs along the center. Gaz gave me a suggestion for gluing that helped: draw a pencil line on the cover strip where you want to put the glue, and make it a few MM from the edge. That way you don't have all that stuff squishing out. 

[VulpX[TK]]

Hahaha, it was the most extreme example. That was the first coverstrip I did on the shins, and I thought all the glue gushing out was a bit too much too. I applied the E6000 a little more conservatively on the other strips, not nearly as much is gushing out now 

[VulpX[TK]]

Ok, so this weekend I plan to work a lot on the helmet. Now that I started on the faceplate I can't wait to be able to wear it 

 

I have a question on the faceplate that other TM owners/builders might be able to help me with. See this picture:

 

Do I need to trim the top of the faceplate off just below the rim? Or does it not need trimming at all at this point? I imagine trimming it would allow for the faceplate to hug the front of the helmet a little tighter. 

Edited September 25, 2015 by VulpX

[troopermaster]

The top of the face place does not need to be trimmed, but you may do so if you wish. It will not interfere with the positioning of the face plate if you leave it on (as I always do).

[VulpX[TK]]

Thanks Paul! I'll trim the helmet first then, and see how everything fits with the rim intact.

 

Right now I'm gluing the front cover strip of the second thigh, then tomorrow I'll do the back of both thighs. Things are starting to come together. 

[Storm79trooper]

Awesome set up! Looks great

 

 

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[VulpX[TK]]

Tonight I continued with the helmet.

 

This was actually the one step of the whole build that I was most anxious about: attaching the faceplate to the helmet. But I did it!

 

First I trimmed the helmet and cut the brow to size:

 

 

 

Clamp the faceplate:

 

 

And the first holes are drilled, right in the middle of the ears:

 

 

I used the bolts for the ears as a temporary measure, I didn't want to rivet it immediately, this being my first helmet build and all  

 

 

Drilled and bolted the lower hole:

 

And of course I made a small mistake. The first hole I drilled was a little too close to the edge, so I had to drill another one slightly lower. It will be covered by the ear, so no-one will know. Except you guys

 

 

And does it fit? Yes it does!

 

 

You should have seen my grin!   

[68Brick[TK]]

Looking Good! I'm a big fan of taped-on-test-fits!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[Storm79trooper]

Sweet!!

 

 

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[VulpX[TK]]

Okay, another update on what I did this weekend.

 

Saturday I worked on the ears. I can say this was by far the most frustrating part of the build till now. I'm not happy with how they turned out, but I spent 5 hours on them and just couldn't bring myself to do anything more on them. I think I'll return to them in some time, but right now I really need to let them rest.

 

This is how they turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gaps appear smaller than they are in the pictures. I also think I left the ears a little too thick, so there's kind of a headphone effect to them.

 

 

Ah well, I decided I shouldn't let the ears bother me that much, I took way too much fun out of the build. 

So yesterday I did a Plasti-Dip coating of the interior, and that worked really well.

 

First masking:

 

 

 

The stuff:

 

 

 

First coat:

 

 

Third coat:

 

And after 7 coats, dried up and masking removed:

 

 

Really nice 

 

I also did some work on the armour.

Trimmed various bits and pieces:

 

 

Thighs are done! All they need is a little cleanup to remove paint and tape residue.

 

 

 

So now I have a couple of questions before I do the next steps.

 

For the thigh ammo pack, I might need to trim the right side of the pack a little more. Here is a comparison of both sides of the thigh with the ammopack at it's current length. As you can see it will attach on the left side just before the armor has an edge. On the right side the pack is just a little too long and passes the edge, which makes attaching it really hard and puts the plastic under a lot of stress. 

 

 

 

Is it okay to remove the inch or so that passes the edge? The sides will not be symmetrical anymore, but I think it will fit much better.

 

And another question on the shoulder straps. Is this the correct way to attach them when people speak about the 5 ribs length on the chest piece, or should it be one rib lower?

 

Edited September 28, 2015 by VulpX

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Thigh ammo pack. Center the ammo box with front thigh cover strip. The left side ammo belt material should reach the corner return edge as you have shown. The right side material is the same in length as the left.

 

Mount the left side (top corner), then wrap the right side around the thigh and mount the rivet in the same location distance from the last ammo box) as the left despite the location of where it will end up on the thigh.

 

 

 

Cover strips - How many ribs on the chest plate is up to the individual, everyone's shoulders are different. A good rule of thumb is 3-5 ribs though there is not standard. I personally run 3 for a cleaner (less cover, more chest) look.

Edited September 28, 2015 by ukswrath

[VulpX[TK]]

Ok, thanks. So I really shouldn't make the right side any shorter? Wouldn't that cause a lot of stress on the plastic? It's only a few cm's too long, and since it's 2mm it doesn't bend really well around tight edges.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Ok, thanks. So I really shouldn't make the right side any shorter? Wouldn't that cause a lot of stress on the plastic? It's only a few cm's too long, and since it's 2mm it doesn't bend really well around tight edges.

 

It should be fine, as seen in the image above you can see how the belt material is flexing around a corner on the right hand side similar to yours. If you want, use a couple clamps to temporarily hold it in place, take a pic and post it here. 

[troopermaster]

You have two choices with the thigh strap - line up the boxes so they are centred or have three boxes to the inner half and two the outer half of the thigh. Whichever option you choose, trim the sides so they don't go past the back of the knee ridge. Each side will not be symmetrical so don't worry about it.

 

You need to heat the 2mm ABS and bend the strap to shape or it will crack.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

There you go, straight from the maker. I won't dispute that info.

[VulpX[TK]]

Thanks for the help guys! I want the boxes to line up centered, I think the center box is a nice extension of the front cover strip that way. So my right side will probably end up a little shorter than the left one. 

 

I don't have a heat gun, would dipping the strip in just boiled water for like 20-40 seconds give a similar effect?

[troopermaster]

I have read that dipping parts in boiling water works but I have not tried it myself. A hair dryer will work too if you have one of those?

 

The 2mm acrylic capped ABS is very rigid. The ammo strap will bend around the knee but not tight enough so it sits snug against your armour and pulling it tight could cause a stress fracture. You never have this problem with the 1.5mm gloss ABS because it is so flexible.

 

Try the boiling water technique and leave it in for a shorter period of time first and the longer as needed. Good luck

[VulpX[TK]]

Yeah, I noticed getting a really snug fit on the strap without some form of bending would be very hard. 

 

I'll try doing it with boiling water this evening, I'll let you know how it goes   I do have a hair dryer so I could always fall back to that.

 

I think this would also be useful for the belt. The curve of the belt is a lot shallower though, so maybe some pre-bending isn't needed.

Edited September 29, 2015 by VulpX

[troopermaster]

The main belt does not need any heat bending. The curve of the abdomen is minimal compared to that of the thigh. The only thing to watch out for on the main ammo belt is not to fix it to the canvas laid out flat. This puts stress on the fixings when the belt is worn so make sure you attach the centre fixing first then wear the belt and bend the ammo belt around your waist and mark the spot of the next fixing. From experience the mark is about 5mm shorter than it would be laid out flat. This is the correct way to attach the ammo belt to the canvas

[VulpX[TK]]

That is the plan! I read that in Mark's Hero build thread, and it sounds like the logical thing to do 

So no heat bending on the belt it is then.

 

I started working on the drop boxes this weekend too, and have a little trouble with getting a nice clean straight edge along the whole box. I figured I do a sort of rough trim with the lexan scissors and sand it down with a sanding block until it's even.

Edited September 29, 2015 by VulpX