Ruthar's AM 2.0 TD Build Thread

[Ruthar[TK]]

A bit more progress tonight with various things!
 
Got the thighs fitted and trimmed, waiting for the inside shims to dry:

 
Hit what feels like a milestone after that - finished up my first bottle:

 
The shins are trimmed and ready for gluing but seeing that I'm out that will have to wait until tomorrow:

 
And I started on a little bit of the interior strapping, but it's time for a break now.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Very clean looking build so far Taylor

[Ruthar[TK]]

Very clean looking build so far Taylor

 

Thanks! Certainly means a lot coming from someone with 2 Centurion badges and a SWAT badge!

 

Here's a little more from today so far. Firstly, got my Hyperfirm DLT-19 in the mail. Certainly excited - it looks stunning!

 

After picking up another couple bottles of the trusted E6000, I glued the front of the inside of the shins together. Tomorrow I will cover strip all the leg pieces.

 

I did a test fitting of the upper body parts together before I start to work on the internal strapping (still waiting on the tandy snaps to come in, though). I may have to trim the shoulder bells a bit, but the elastic strap around the biceps may keep them in place better. I will have to see once I get that all in place for certain and with the body suit on instead of a looser fitting shirt.

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Thanks. Are we building a Sandy here or is the DLT-19 in case you need to push your weight around? lol

[Ruthar[TK]]

Thanks. Are we building a Sandy here or is the DLT-19 in case you need to push your weight around? lol

I am indeed building a sandy, specifically the Roadblock Captain "version 2" as identified in this thread over on MEPD. Just need to find a pouch still and then I think I have all the pieces or at least they are all on the way!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

If you haven't made your snap plates yet, I would suggest using short (1 1/2 inch) sections of 1 inch wide nylon as a base for the part of the snap that attaches to your armor instead of ABS.  The reason being is that ABS, being flat, may not conform to the areas where the armor has a curve to it, such as the top of the butt/bottom of the kidney, shoulder bridge areas, etc.  

Amanda is 100% correct about the heat knife.  I purchased a woodburning/soldering tool from Lowe's (about $10.00), and it saved me a HUGE amount of time making holes in nylon, and is great for sealing the ends as well.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Taylor, get your pouches from here http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=10805&st=0

I think he's doing a final run for the holidays now but they are the best quality. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

I am indeed building a sandy, specifically the Roadblock Captain "version 2" as identified in this thread over on MEPD. Just need to find a pouch still and then I think I have all the pieces or at least they are all on the way!

 

Sounds good. If you decide to shoot for SWAT give me a shout if you need some assistance.

[Ruthar[TK]]

If you haven't made your snap plates yet, I would suggest using short (1 1/2 inch) sections of 1 inch wide nylon as a base for the part of the snap that attaches to your armor instead of ABS.  The reason being is that ABS, being flat, may not conform to the areas where the armor has a curve to it, such as the top of the butt/bottom of the kidney, shoulder bridge areas, etc.  

Amanda is 100% correct about the heat knife.  I purchased a woodburning/soldering tool from Lowe's (about $10.00), and it saved me a HUGE amount of time making holes in nylon, and is great for sealing the ends as well.

 

I have indeed been using the nylon for the snap connections though I haven't been using a soldering tool, just a lighter to singe the ends to prevent fraying. It seems that another trip to Home Depot may be in order.

 

 

Taylor, get your pouches from here http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=10805&st=0

I think he's doing a final run for the holidays now but they are the best quality. 

 

Oh I will definitely have a look into this - the only option I've found so far is tan and I would rather not have to dye it if possible. Painting and dying the boots were enough!

 

 

Sounds good. If you decide to shoot for SWAT give me a shout if you need some assistance.

 

I very well may be, though I know you need to build a pack for Police Officer status first which I'm not too keen on doing just yet. Seems a little odd as a requirement considering the trooper I'm replicated doesn't have one, but rules are rules and I'm not one to argue. Perhaps once I'm finished I can think about getting a pack together!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

If you get those pouches I linked to,  you won't have to make any changes to them other than weathering. They are built for SWAT. 

 

The "look sir, droids!" character doesn't have an E-11 but I had to get one anyways... now I have to get the Bapty version if I want to go SWAT eventually. 

Edited November 12, 2015 by Airborne Trooper

[Ruthar[TK]]

Spent some time with some fire this evening to get the bicep hooks crafted. I think I will leave the char just to add a little something to the dirty TD look. You won't even see it but I'll know it's there and that's what's important. Followed this nice little guide on FISD to get it done.

 
All the cover strips for the thighs and shins are gluing now. Just need to get the cover strip and velcro on the rear of the shins and then the leg pieces are ready for strapping.

 
I think I'm going to try weathering the helmet tonight before bed just to see what that process is like. I have plenty of scrap ABS to try it out on first though, so I'll definitely be doing that. More to come in that regard soon!

[Ruthar[TK]]

Here's a few more things from the evening. I put in pilot holes in the left side of the ab and kidney plate to get ready to install the rivets. I also made the elastic straps and cut out small ABS washers to keep the rivets from scratching the armor.

 
I also took a first crack at weathering. After testing on some scrap ABS I decided to dive into the boots. Here is the first pass.

 
Is it too splotchy do you think? I'm trying to go for a randomness that still flows with the scenes in the film so any and all advice on the matter would be most accepted, especially before I start diving into the full suit. I'm using Pandatrooper's method with acrylic paint and scrubbing and it's super easy to adjust and change along the way which I'm loving, but do let me know what you all think!

[Ruthar[TK]]

Here is a better shot of the pair. Trying to go for the 'not too heavy' look in accordance to the scenes in ANH.

 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

For the boots you'll want to cover a lot. Put a boot on and bend your foot and wipe off around the area where it bunches up. It'll give a more accurate look where sand/dirt would actually collect. Remember, sand/dirt is going to mostly collect in the low areas. Don't forget to do the same for the heel section. The toe area of any boots get scuffed up the most so go light there. 

Edited November 13, 2015 by Airborne Trooper

[ukswrath[Staff]]

 

I very well may be, though I know you need to build a pack for Police Officer status first which I'm not too keen on doing just yet. Seems a little odd as a requirement considering the trooper I'm replicated doesn't have one, but rules are rules and I'm not one to argue. Perhaps once I'm finished I can think about getting a pack together!

 

I bought my pack from Dirty Boy, $360 at the time. You can always turn around and re-sell it afterwards.

 dirtyboysquad@yahoo.com

[Ruthar[TK]]

For the boots you'll want to cover a lot. Put a boot on and bend your foot and wipe off around the area where it bunches up. It'll give a more accurate look where sand/dirt would actually collect. Remember, sand/dirt is going to mostly collect in the low areas. Don't forget to do the same for the heel section. The toe area of any boots get scuffed up the most so go light there. 

 

Ok, did a bit of editing with this in mind this afternoon. Put the boot on and removed the 'dirt' where the bending happens most and went heavier along the bottom edges, especially back toward the heel where I feel like most of the weight would be pushed down into the sand/dirt when standing on patrol. Here's what we got.

 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=7289around the 1 min mark is what I mean. 

[Ruthar[TK]]

Took a break from the weathering tonight to work on the internal torso strapping as more snaps arrived today. Just waiting on more glue before doing a test fitting with everything in place. I'll have to put some gaff tape over the backs of the rivets just so they don't mistakenly tear my under suit.
 

[Ruthar[TK]]

Revisited the boot weathering before heading to bed. I think it's definitely starting to get where I want it - finally wrapping my head around the highs vs. lows thing. What do you guys think?

 

[Ruthar[TK]]

Got a large bunch of things done between yesterday and today. First was finishing up the strapping of the torso. I tried it on a few times and made a handful of adjustments to get the fit a bit better, so now I'm just waiting on a few nylon snap plates to dry to test that again. Other than that, here are a few more things:
 
In order to be closer to screen accuracy with the cheese grater hand plates (as the trooper I'm trying to replicate for this build uses those), I trimmed down the edges of the AM 2.0 ones to make them much thinner as they appear here.

So here are my thinner ones. Went down on the edges as far as the slots in the middle to make it all level. Left is trimmed and right is the original AM 2.0 one.

 
Installed the rear cover strip on the back of the shins. Once that dries tomorrow I will install the white velcro to attach them.

 
Trimmed the belt, cut off the corners for the 45 degree angles, sanded it a bit, installed snaps on the ab plate and belt to affix it there, then riveted the canvas to the plastic and installed the square circle cut outs to cover the rivets.

 
Then installed the ammo belt on the right thigh and the TD sniper plate on the left shin. Added a little E6000 on the ammo belt just to keep it more secure in combination with the two rivets.
 

 
I should be able to get all the internal arm strapping done later tonight when I get home from work as I trimmed the shoulder bells - they weren't sitting close enough to my actual shoulders. Now that that is fixed I can get the arms finished up and attached to the shoulder straps. More to come soon!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Sniper plate looks a little high, other than that looking good. You might want to consider seeing if you can get latex cheese grater hand plates and save the AM ones for another pair of gloves when you don't want to use the hot chemical gloves. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Regarding the sniper knee position, it might be ok where it's at Jason kinda hard to tell from this picture angle though.

[Ruthar[TK]]

I based the sniper plate on this picture - it seems to me that the sides of the plate and the top of the shin are in line, so that's what I did.

 

Here's are some better shots of mine. If it's too high I can certainly reattach it!

 

 

Sniper plate looks a little high, other than that looking good. You might want to consider seeing if you can get latex cheese grater hand plates and save the AM ones for another pair of gloves when you don't want to use the hot chemical gloves. 

 

Do you happen to know where you can get the latex cheese grater plates? I would much rather use those but didn't know they were available - I had only caught wind of the latex TK hand plates.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I think Sonnenschein here on the forums makes them. If not, check MEPD as that's where you're most likely going to find a supplier. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

I based the sniper plate on this picture - it seems to me that the sides of the plate and the top of the shin are in line, so that's what I did.

 

 

Here's are some better shots of mine. If it's too high I can certainly reattach it!

 

 

 

 

You're good.

 

Too bad, I just cut up a pair I didn't need