Atin's AP build thread

[Atin[TK]]

Hey everyone,

 

I've received my BBB almost exactly 1 month ago and have slowly been putting things together with the help of my local garrison. I've been extremely fortunate that the ORG not only has a ton of building experience but is also one of the nicest and most helpful groups of people I've ever come across.

 

So why haven't I started this build thread here sooner? I honestly couldn't tell you. With the wealth of information available on this board I've been a silent reader so far and any question that did need answering I just asked on my local forum. It felt odd to me to maintain two build threads simultaneously with some people reading both but in the end I don't want to exclude myself from this amazing community and I want as many opinions as possible.

 

I'm not a crafty person and have no building experience whatsoever, so I'm taking it slow. The sheer amount of things I've learned over the past month is pretty insane and it makes me appreciate the fantastic craftsmanship some people here display all the more. I'm actually just happy I haven't set myself on fire yet.

 

So, to bring everyone up to speed, this is what I've got:

 

• AP armour, fully trimmed
• AP bucket, fully assembled
• Rubber gloves + AP latex hand guards
• Holster from Darman
• Solid Resin cast blaster from TK2512
• TK boots from imperialboots.com
• Undersuit and Neckseal from UKRacing (might replace this later)
• Aker 10w (that's all I have for electronics right now, need to do more research here)

Going for ANH Stunt.

Here's a picture of all the raw pieces fresh out of the BBB on my kitchen table which is also my workspace:

 

And here's the bucket. I'll replace the lenses at a later point.

 

Soft parts:

 

I have since replaced the holster with this beauty:

 

I've pretty much finished all the time-intensive glueing of limbs and snap plates using E6000. We had a fantastic armour party last week during which the guys helped me fit and trim the torso pieces and assembled my belt for me, so this is what I have right now for the torso. Will have to reglue the shoulder straps:

 

Here's the inside:

 

I fitted the elastic on the split rivet side a little too tight and now realize that it would have been a better option to just insert male snaps here like I did in the cod piece. I'll probably redo this at a later point.

 

gratis bilder

 

Of course I've been following all the other AP build threads (so many AP kits being build right now!) and I've seen the controversy about the kidney notch. I had to trim my ab piece significantly so I wouldn't swim in it as a 5'8", 150 lbs dude, but I was careful not to go past the red lines that Mark has posted on Jinsei's thread. Still, the notch doesn't quite line up anymore:

 

 

I've also trimmed and glued both the thighs and the shins. Took off 10mm on each end of the shins, glued the 25mm cover strip on the outwards facing sides and applied white velcro. Here's my left shin:

 

And lastly, here's my thermal detonator:

 

That's all I have for now. There's still tons of work to be done and I'm sure I will have more questions for you soon.  

Edited April 9, 2016 by Atin

[lucnak[TK]]

Looks good so far! What are you working on next?

 

Oh, and I've been posting on both my garrison forums and here since I tend to get more opinions here, but my garrison is very helpful with pointing me in the right direction when I need to buy supplies! Hopefully you find us helpful here!

 

Lastly, I don't know how picky people are with nothc alignment. I just haven't been worrying about it at all.

[ABS80]

Great job!!!   what detonator is that?  it's not a AP DT

 

Mark (AP)

Edited April 9, 2016 by ABS80

[Atin[TK]]

Looks good so far! What are you working on next?

 

Oh, and I've been posting on both my garrison forums and here since I tend to get more opinions here, but my garrison is very helpful with pointing me in the right direction when I need to buy supplies! Hopefully you find us helpful here!

 

Yeah, whenever I couldn't find certain supplies or tools, they knew exactly where to get it.

 

I have a full to do list on my phone but right now I'm working on painting the ab buttons, cutting/glueing the belt buttons and fixing my forearms. They've been a little tough to align properly. Plus I just bought a set a of hockey garters that I need to modify.

 

Great job!!!   what detonator is that?  its no AP that I sure of lol!

 

My CO Terry generously supplied me with new TD pieces after I've had a heatgun accident trying to fit the AP end caps onto the pipe. They were too tight and as a result stuck out too much. In order to prevent any colour mismatch, I used the new TD plate as well.

[Sentry71[TK]]

The notch isnt an issue until Centurion, so no need to worry about that just yet.

​Great work so far, Marco!

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

Heatguns suck.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

My CO Terry generously supplied me with new TD pieces after I've had a heatgun accident trying to fit the AP end caps onto the pipe. They were too tight and as a result stuck out too much. In order to prevent any colour mismatch, I used the new TD plate as well.

by drilling an air hole under a metal strip this allows air to escape during the application of the end caps.

 

Edited April 9, 2016 by TK bondservnt

[pandatrooper[TK]]

His issue wasn't so much the trapped air inside, it was that the cap was fitting too tight and he attempted to soften the cap but overheated the it instead of warming it up. It got twisted and warped, but no biggie. All fixed!

[Atin[TK]]

I'm about to drill the holes for the snaps in the ab plate that'll hold up the belt and just want to run the measurements by you guys. I'm was looking at the belt tutorial on this forum but my measurements differ quite significantly.

 

Here's my belt. The female snaps sit quite a bit higher.

 

I've cut a piece of painter's tape to exactly 335mm, marked a center line and attached it exactly 30mm below the upper belt line on the ab plate, which I marked with another piece of blue tape:

 

Here's the left side:

 

And here's the right side:

 

Before I irrevocably turn my ab plate into a swiss cheese, is there anything I've overlooked?

Edited April 10, 2016 by Atin

[Sentry71[TK]]

I would suggest a sanity check, by holding the belt up to the ab, and look down from above to see if the snaps really do line up with the locations you intend to put the male snaps. Its not an exact science, but it will make you feel better about the locations before poking holes.

 

My other suggestion would be to put in one male snap, attach the belt, and do the same visual check for the other side before the second hole goes in.

 

You may find that the distance on the ab is SLIGHTLY shorter than on the belt.

[Coastertk]

What I did for this was, put down some painters tape where I know the snaps will end up. Use some ink from a sharpie or felt and colour the open side of the female snaps. Line up your belt to the ab, centred and high enough. Pull on each side and push down, transferring the ink from your snap to the painters tape. Drill out the centre of the mark and add male snaps there.

[Atin[TK]]

After a triple sanity check I combined both your methods for extra peace of mind and it came out nicely.

 

Now for the sniper knee plate...

So far it looks like I'll have to choose between aligning it with the ridges and have it sit crooked or or have it sit straight with one ridge not aligned. I saw somebody fixing this issue by bending it slightly but can't find that build thread anymore... Suggestions?

 

 

 

 

[Sentry71[TK]]

How you have it taped now, is how mine came out. I passed EIB with it in this configuration.

 

You might consider trimming the ends so that they are 90 degrees from the bottom of the knee plate. Just an option, not a requirement.

 

I think this is the link you are considering:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35918-hasos-anh-stunt-tk-build-ap-armour/page-2#entry476568

Edited April 12, 2016 by Sentry71

[lucnak[TK]]

Yeah, was thinking of what Gary linked. You can achieve some bending with a hot water bath, but I didn't need to bend my sniper plate, so I'm not sure how difficult this might be.

[Atin[TK]]

How you have it taped now, is how mine came out. I passed EIB with it in this configuration.

 

You might consider trimming the ends so that they are 90 degrees from the bottom of the knee plate. Just an option, not a requirement.

 

I think this is the link you are considering:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35918-hasos-anh-stunt-tk-build-ap-armour/page-2#entry476568

Perfect, thanks for finding this.

 

Even if the crooked plate is acceptable, I know it's going to bother the s&%t out of me so I'll attempt the water bath. 

[Haso[TK]]

Perfect, thanks for finding this.

 

Even if the crooked plate is acceptable, I know it's going to bother the s&%t out of me so I'll attempt the water bath.

That's my thread for the sniper plate fitting. I found the water bath treatment somewhat helpful to close the gap on the outer side, but also packed under the sniper plate outer side with scrap abs to give it additional surface to glue on. It came out nice and straight. I'll get some pics and commentary up in my thread this week.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI G510-0251 using Tapatalk

[Haso[TK]]

...also the sequence I followed to glue the sniper plate: front of plate, then 24 hour cure with E6000; inner side, another day for E6000 to cure; then outer side with super glue.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI G510-0251 using Tapatalk

[Atin[TK]]

...also the sequence I followed to glue the sniper plate: front of plate, then 24 hour cure with E6000; inner side, another day for E6000 to cure; then outer side with super glue.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI G510-0251 using Tapatalk

I'm currently trying to get both sides attached with E6000 just because I might want to switch the plate out at a later point. It cracked on one of the inner corners from my attempts to bend it. Don't know yet whether that is going to work cause there's so little surface area.

 

I'm about to drill the holes for the ammo belt and just want to double check that the markings are correct. Here's my dry fit:

 

 

 

 

And here are the hole markings:

 

Edited April 16, 2016 by Atin

[Pyrates[TK]]

Awesome progress!

 

As for the thigh ammo pack I believe your marks are a bit high - I got stuck on this one too and spoke with Tony

 

"The key is to ensure the mounts are equally spaced on the return edge" and the ammo pack doesn't have to be centered

 

Here's the link to help out:

ukswrath's ANOVOS TK build

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?/topic/35086-ukswrath%27s-ANOVOS-TK-build

[Atin[TK]]

Okay, here's a big progress update:

 

Attached my ammo belt, just have to repaint those rivets:

 

After that I put on all the pieces together for the first time to see how they sit:

 

I have since dropped the thighs a little lower so they don't collide with the cod piece.

 

As you can see my kidney plate is flaring out on one side, so I think I'll put in some foam to push out the ab plate more:

 

Even with the belt pushing the two pieces together it doesn't look right:

 

On the other side the butt plate is pushing up in a weird way so I'll make the elastic there a little longer:

 

Here's my belt with the holster attached:

 

Since the taking the full suit pictures, I've finally glued the remaining outer cover strips:

 

There's more weird stuff going on with the AP legs on the back side. Does this need to be/can this be fixed?

 

 

 

Finally gotten around to paint all my ab buttons. For some reason the top grey one turned out lighter compared to the others so I'll redo that:

 

As for gluing them on, I feel like I have a little bit too much overlap on the button strip when holding it onto the ab plate. Or this fine?

[Pyrates[TK]]

Looking frosty mate!

[Sentry71[TK]]

As you can see my kidney plate is flaring out on one side, so I think I'll put in some foam to push out the ab plate more.

Even with the belt pushing the two pieces together it doesn't look right.

 

On the other side the butt plate is pushing up in a weird way so I'll make the elastic there a little longer.

 

There's more weird stuff going on with the AP legs on the back side. Does this need to be/can this be fixed?

 

As for gluing them on, I feel like I have a little bit too much overlap on the button strip when holding it onto the ab plate. Or this fine?

Awesome update! Here's a few things I would recommend pertaining to the above:

1) You can use foam strips to help even up the sides. However, consider a slightly different option if you have the extra strips for it - a tab/slot configuration. Here's how lucnak did his (mine is similar): http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35730-lucnaks-anh-stunt-build-ata/page-4#entry484556

 

2) You are on track with changing the elastic. You might consider widening where the snaps go, so that they are farther out toward the edge. This should help pull them back in. The second pic here might help show how close to the edge I went: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35177-sentrys-anh-stunt-build-ap/page-4#entry478144

 

3) I took care of the leg issue by cutting out those sections for mobility. This isn't necessary for everyone, but I had to do it, and I was able to make it to EIB without issue (I think it is ok at Centurion as well). However, I have heard of GML's not passing folks for basic with the cutouts, so you may want to try a hot water bath to help coax the plastic together. Others may have better suggestions.

 

4) Yes, the smaller button plate will need trimmed down. You want to JUST see the edges of the raised ab where that plate gets mounted. It will feel like you are taking a lot of plastic off close to the raised buttons, but it will be correct. Just a little at a time - you can always remove more, but putting it back on is MUCH harder.

 

Hope that helps!!

Edited April 21, 2016 by Sentry71

[Atin[TK]]

Awesome update! Here's a few things I would recommend pertaining to the above:

1) You can use foam strips to help even up the sides. However, consider a slightly different option if you have the extra strips for it - a tab/slot configuration. Here's how lucnak did his (mine is similar): http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35730-lucnaks-anh-stunt-build-ata/page-4#entry484556

 

Oh my. I've seen these tab systems before but just now did I get what they're for. Penny -> Dropped

I should have enough ABS left to implement that system.

 

2) You are on track with changing the elastic. You might consider widening where the snaps go, so that they are farther out toward the edge. This should help pull them back in. The second pic here might help show how close to the edge I went: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35177-sentrys-anh-stunt-build-ap/page-4#entry478144

 

Perfect, I'll do that.

 

3) I took care of the leg issue by cutting out those sections for mobility. This isn't necessary for everyone, but I had to do it, and I was able to make it to EIB without issue (I think it is ok at Centurion as well). However, I have heard of GML's not passing folks for basic with the cutouts, so you may want to try a hot water bath to help coax the plastic together. Others may have better suggestions.

 

If it's fine for basic I'll leave it alone for now. I was planning on cutting those out eventually so I'll do it once I have my TK number.

 

4) Yes, the smaller button plate will need trimmed down. You want to JUST see the edges of the raised ab where that plate gets mounted. It will feel like you are taking a lot of plastic off close to the raised buttons, but it will be correct. Just a little at a time - you can always remove more, but putting it back on is MUCH harder.

 

Hope that helps!!

 

How to solve all my issues in a single post by Gary. Cheers to you mate!

Edited April 21, 2016 by Atin

[Haso[TK]]

Okay, here's a big progress update:

 

 

 

Attached my ammo belt, just have to repaint those rivets:

 

After that I put on all the pieces together for the first time to see how they sit:

 

 

 

I have since dropped the thighs a little lower so they don't collide with the cod piece.

 

As you can see my kidney plate is flaring out on one side, so I think I'll put in some foam to push out the ab plate more:

 

Even with the belt pushing the two pieces together it doesn't look right:

 

On the other side the butt plate is pushing up in a weird way so I'll make the elastic there a little longer:

 

Here's my belt with the holster attached:

 

Since the taking the full suit pictures, I've finally glued the remaining outer cover strips:

 

 

 

There's more weird stuff going on with the AP legs on the back side. Does this need to be/can this be fixed?

 

 

 

Finally gotten around to paint all my ab buttons. For some reason the top grey one turned out lighter compared to the others so I'll redo that:

 

As for gluing them on, I feel like I have a little bit too much overlap on the button strip when holding it onto the ab plate. Or this fine?

Hey mate with your leg backs and the bottom ridges not matching I had the same issue. Since fixed. I'll post about it here when I'm home from work tonight.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI G510-0251 using Tapatalk

[lucnak[TK]]

Might be the angle and all, but it looks like your shoulder bridges might not be level? Regarding the tab system that I used, I found out after a bit that using a two-tab system is better than one large tab. The two tabs keeps everything straight. The single tab, held closed by only the belt (which is what I did), tends to slide out a little at the top. I'll be replacing mine eventually so that it stays nice and tight at all times.