Vexus's AP Build Thread. Road to the 501st

[spyder918]

Looks good man!  The tears, stripes, and traps are all decals?  

[Dougal[501st]]

Helmet is looking awesome bud!! Keep at it!!

[Cricket[TK]]

Nice work so far Preston!  Keep it up!  

[Pretzel]

BIG UPDATE. So stand back, you will see my full figure with ugly mug. This is your first and last warning. Under each photo, I may have a question or comment on what I had done. I would appriciate any feedback from expereinced builders with this one. 

 

I did more work on the bucket,  Thermal Detonator work, did some trimming and fitting today. 

 

 

Here is my bucket so far. I painted the teeth and painted the ear. These are dry now and I am ready to touch up the screws with white. What you do not see is the bottom of the "black mouth" That also needs to be touched up. Next will be the lens. 

 

 

Faceplate on the TD is glued and on their pretty good. It is pretty close to the screen accurate version. 

 

QUESTION: At this point, would I be okay to glue the end caps? No point of return. This is why I ask this. 

 

 

At this point, I trimmed and fitted the two sets of arms. Forearms, Biceps, and Shoulder Bells. Did a rough fit with tape. I feel like after I glue the strips that these will feel better. Right now they are snug fit. Not too tight, and not too loose. They feel good. The forearm was tricky. 

 

QUESTION: At this point, if all fits snug, would gluing the strips be my next step? May be obvious, but this is my 1st build, and I wanna be 100% before i commit. 

 

 

As you can see, that the tape does not do this fitting justice. But, I did trimming of the chest and backplate. They seem to fit nice, I just wonder how the strapping system will effect the shoulder bells. and if everything will get jumped around after i attach a strapping system. 

 

That is it for now. Thanks for all the help and support everyone. 

Edited April 17, 2016 by Vexus

[Dougal[501st]]

I'd say put the bells to the side right now. Make sure your forearms and biceps fit nice and match as many photo references out there that you can find. Then definitely do your cover strips. Bells can be added and fit after you have your center sections put together. I personally would suggest the shins next as they also are armor pieces that are not necessarily dependent on how an adjacent piece sits. No expert by any means, so I hope this helps. Looking real good in that shiny white though!

Oh, nothing wrong with glueing something if you know it's right!! Don't forget a little hole in the side to help with putting the caps on.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Dougal

[Pyrates[TK]]

All is looking good!

 

Question 1: Before you glue the caps on - do the screws holding the TD allow for the air to escape? And have you put a small dab of glue on the nuts inside to prevent them from coming lose? If yes then you can secure the caps and just be sure to check that your TD is in the 7-1/2" length range.

 

When you do glue be careful that the glue does not push out your length - a dumbbell weight on the top can help with this as well as using a twisting motion when your putting on the caps.

 

Question 2: You never know till you try - glue on your strips if you feel comfortable with the size. If you find they are not where they should be then it's easy peasy to pull them apart again and adjust accordingly to what you need.

 

Hope this helps

[Pretzel]

All is looking good!

 

Question 1: Before you glue the caps on - do the screws holding the TD allow for the air to escape? And have you put a small dab of glue on the nuts inside to prevent them from coming lose? If yes then you can secure the caps and just be sure to check that your TD is in the 7-1/2" length range.

 

When you do glue be careful that the glue does not push out your length - a dumbbell weight on the top can help with this as well as using a twisting motion when your putting on the caps.

 

Question 2: You never know till you try - glue on your strips if you feel comfortable with the size. If you find they are not where they should be then it's easy peasy to pull them apart again and adjust accordingly to what you need.

 

Hope this helps

 

Question 1: Not yet, I was actually going to add those dabs of glue for the screws before the end caps. And thanks for the pointer about the twisting of the caps. Got my weights ready for the caps as well. THANK YOU! 

 

Question 2: So, this is why E6000 is important

Edited April 17, 2016 by Vexus

[Pyrates[TK]]

Question 1: Not yet, I was actually going to add those dabs of glue for the screws before the end caps. And thanks for the pointer about the twisting of the caps. Got my weights ready for the caps as well. THANK YOU!

 

Question 2: So, this is why E6000 is important

Git'r'done

[Pretzel]

Alright guys. I am doing more ttrimming and fitting and want to verify a few things before I continue. <br><br>

I have trimmed the shins and they are great. I will post photos later.<br><br>

However... I find myself trimming off a lot of the back of the thighs for me to fit properly. It is looser by the knee compared to the thigh. I am avoiding taking any off in the front to keep it flush. So.. Keep taking off till the knee is snug? Or Keep it looser to the knee? <br><br>

Next question is when I get to the strips. When you combine the two pieces and butt join them together... You notice a raised edge... Now.. Does this raise edge have to be covered completely? Or just keep things uniformed and go off the recomendation sizes for the cover strips.

[Pyrates[TK]]

Each trooper is different depending on their size - it's recommended to have approximately 1/2" between your body and the armor - then double check reference photos.

 

Here's another thread to help along mate - it's another TonyTV thread that I found priceless during my build (plus it's short too so you can bounce back and forth more easily)

 

ukswrath's AM 1.0, ATA bucket build

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?/topic/31920-ukswrath%27s-AM-1%2E0%2C-ATA-bucket-build

[Pretzel]

Thank you for the help Pyrates. The thread you provided will be a "great asset" in the future. 

 

Here we go. Trimming Day#2 is complete + GLUE!? 

 

I trimmed the Shins and the Thighs. I am satisfied with the way the shins feel, but wow those thighs are tough but we got them to fit snug enough that I won't feel like they will be falling down when they are attached. No photos of the thighs, since we are still working on the exact fit. 

 

 

major parts are trimmed.

 

What next? GLUE!!!! I was very surprised I was able to get to this step this weekend. I glued the inner cover strips first. I will be purchasing more clamps.. believe that! 

 

That is it for today. In the days ahead, I will be fine tuning the trim, and double check before gluing anything else before I am 100% satisfied with the fit! 

Edited April 17, 2016 by Vexus

[Pyrates[TK]]

Beautiful mate - keep it up!

[Pretzel]

Hey Pyrates,

 

thanks for the help and support. I wanted to ask, the backs of the calves and lower back of the thighs do get cut out more correct? for mobility.

[Dougal[501st]]

Hey Pyrates,

 

thanks for the help and support. I wanted to ask, the backs of the calves and lower back of the thighs do get cut out more correct? for mobility.

I know for a fact the shins can be cut out in the back for mobility. I sent Ukswrath an email about cutting out mine. But I neglected to ask about the thighs so I am anxious to hear the answer!

[spyder918]

The backs of the calves and thighs can definitely be trimmed for comfort.  I was actually just looking at the post of this fellow trooper who made Centurion and you can see the backs were definitely trimmed -

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32965-tk-88118-requesting-anh-stunt-centurion-status-ap191/

[Dougal[501st]]

The backs of the calves and thighs can definitely be trimmed for comfort. I was actually just looking at the post of this fellow trooper who made Centurion and you can see the backs were definitely trimmed -

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32965-tk-88118-requesting-anh-stunt-centurion-status-ap191/

Nice! Thanks, I may have to trim more on my thighs now!

[Pretzel]

Been a little bit since I updated. Did some bucket work and.. Well More clamping and gluing is being done.

More patience required lol









This weekend I will be crafting soft snap plates and trimming of small parts with more painting.

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Edited May 5, 2016 by Razgriz

[Pyrates[TK]]

Looking awesome!

[Dougal[501st]]

Your helmet looks awesome Preston! Great job!

[Pretzel]

Thanks gents. Had a lot of help. Looking forward to this weekend!

[Pretzel]

Well. IDK guys, but I may have screwed up on this one.... When I trimmed my pieces, I guess in my research I did not see trimming the front is the 1st thing you do. When i trimmed my pieces, I trimmed them both front and back, to keep things even. I guess this may have been the wrong way to go about doing things. 

 

I am 5'11
215lbs.

 

I am bigger trooper.

 

 

the raised edges for the thighs meet at about 45mm. Same as the shins.

My forearms and biceps are about 30mm.

 

I am losing hope on level 2 or 3.. which is actually very disheartening. Almost, heartbreaking. I now just want to be approved basic because I invested so much money in my armor, I pray I did not screw this up...Am I doom to fail? I just want to get out there and troop! Will these raised edges be enough to turn me away. Do I need to go back and shim pieces? Start over? New parts... ? ugh

 

NOTE: I already did a test fit. These all fit nice and snug.

Edited May 7, 2016 by Razgriz

[Pyrates[TK]]

Your doing just fine mate - I went through the exact same thing with my build. It just means you're going to have larger cover strips that should look proportional to space on the armor. I'm 6' and was 228 lbs down to 194.

 

Don't lose faith - you will achieve your goal!

[Haso[TK]]

Well. IDK guys, but I may have screwed up on this one.... When I trimmed my pieces, I guess in my research I did not see trimming the front is the 1st thing you do. When i trimmed my pieces, I trimmed them both front and back, to keep things even. I guess this may have been the wrong way to go about doing things.

 

I am 5'11

215lbs.

 

I am bigger trooper.

 

 

the raised edges for the thighs meet at about 45mm. Same as the shins.

My forearms and biceps are about 30mm.

 

I am losing hope on level 2 or 3.. which is actually very disheartening. Almost, heartbreaking. I now just want to be approved basic because I invested so much money in my armor, I pray I did not screw this up...Am I doom to fail? I just want to get out there and troop! Will these raised edges be enough to turn me away. Do I need to go back and shim pieces? Start over? New parts... ? ugh

 

NOTE: I already did a test fit. These all fit nice and snug.

Hey mate I'm just trying to understand this.

Do you mean that you're not sure about your wider than usual width to the ridges on your leg/arm armour, even though they are a good fit for you?

Do you have pics that could help me to understand and respond on it?

 

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[gatetrooper[TK]]

Preston, first, deep breaths. Sprinkled liberally throughout all the advice here on FISD is the notion that most things can be fixed if you work methodically through your build. It looks like the ridge under your strips is very wide, and would better served being brought closer to 20 mm, which means shims in the back as Pyrates noted (not the end of the world), since you already have snug fit. The cover strip on the front should come close to covering the ridge, so ~10 mm should remain on both sides.<br><br>

In the meantime, I'm sending positive juju your way.

[Pretzel]

Breathe. Ok. Ok. So. There is two responses here. Not sure the right one. But it seems like adding shims are the way to go.

 

So... Question is... How do I go about doing and adding these shims? Is there a good tutorial out there?

 

Thanks for the support. This is going to set me back ... It still sucks. Probably the only part for the build I regret...

 

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