Darkblitz's ANH (Stunt) Build

[Troopacoola[TK]]

That's it, all I was thinking was if I mess this up its gonna cost another hundred and whatever for a new one. Did it cost much more for him to build it?

[Darkblitz]

Had a small bit of free time to do a bit more prep work before properly assembling the pieces. Decided to try to size the arm pieces today by smoothing the edges (not evening them yet) and then taping them up. The images below show the right forearm pieces which require quite a lot of sanding at the bottom and the top of the edge to even them up.

 

 

However, the top of the biceps may need a diagonal cut towards the elbow side given the difference -

 

Had no issues taping up the bicep, but it appears that I will need to cut off quite a lot. (unless I decide to take up weightlifting).

 

Tried to measure the approximate circumference of the taped up pieces and my actual arm to work out how I much I should start by cutting off.

Taped up piece circ - Lower - 132mm,  Upper - 160mm

Actual bicep - Lower - 112mm, Upper - 127mm

I get there needs to be some slack, but would cutting off up to around 1cm be the right amount to start off with here.

 

Forearms don't have as much slack to deal with. 

 

Rough measurements of the wrist side, as that's probably the most important with this.

Forearm piece - Wrist - Circumeference - 120mm, Diameter - 39mm

Actual lower forearm Cicumeference - 108mm, Diaameter of widest part of hand - 34mm

Given that a bit has to be removed in order to even these pieces out, an additional 3mm removed would seem to be a good start to make it fit better.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Make sure when you trim pieces you try to keep the trim lines as straight as possible, will help when you glue them together and won't leave gaps in places that won't be covered by a strip.

 

I found even trimming my forearms to the minimum coverstip size I had to glue in some foam as they were quite loose.

[Darkblitz]

Make sure when you trim pieces you try to keep the trim lines as straight as possible, will help when you glue them together and won't leave gaps in places that won't be covered by a strip.

 

I found even trimming my forearms to the minimum coverstip size I had to glue in some foam as they were quite loose.

Had some assistance with the trimming you can see in these images, I've only done a bit of minimal sanding to smooth the edges a bit. Pretty sure there is an extra couple of mms on the coverstrip edges, particularly at the top and bottom of the edge which is mainly causing this gap. Will measure along it tomorrow to see, and if there is, I can sand it down to make it more even. Also good to know that I can use some foam to plug significant gaps to give the coverstrip enough area to properly glue the pieces together.

The gap on the other side shouldn't be an issue, because that will be trimmed down to get the size correct, and will be sure to leave enough to even that out.

[Darkblitz]

Got some time today, so will get to work smoothing the shoulder edges and gluing in the bottom strap for the bicep piece. Just a quick question I have. What do you use to clean the inside of the kit? Just so I can remove the dust ect before I try to glue the elastic straps. I have white spirit alcohol to remove excess glue, but not sure that it wise to use to clean an entire surface of ABS.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Darkblitz

[Troopacoola[TK]]

Just give the area you need to glue on a rough sand.

A magic sponge works well too!

Edited August 1, 2016 by CTID

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Most troopers use Novus polishing kits to clean the armor.

[Darkblitz]

Smoothed off the shoulder bell edges and had a go at gluing the shoulder straps. The length of the glued edges on each side aren't the same, but the main concern is that the strap is attached too tightly atm, pulling each of the sides too close to each other. I suspect that I need some smaller clamps to hold it whilst trying to remove my fingers, as that made the strap slide a bit, probably messing up the strapping here.

 

May have to shove these in the freezer to remove them, and remove the glue with white spirit, before buying a new length of strapping and trying again.

 

 

 

 

[Troopacoola[TK]]

They look ok mate. If you're using e6000 it should just peel off

[Darkblitz]

They look ok mate. If you're using e6000 it should just peel off

Peel off after freezing? 

 

Ross said that they seemed OK, but will not mark these as done yet. Will see if there are any other opinions on it, because it just doesn't look right to me (but I'm a bit of a perfectionist). Will also see how they fit with the biceps once they are done. That should tell me if these are any major problems with it.

[Troopacoola[TK]]

They look fine mate. If it's only been done in the last few days with e6000 then you should be able to pick at it and peel it off.

[Darkblitz]

They look fine mate. If it's only been done in the last few days with e6000 then you should be able to pick at it and peel it off.

Well it finished setting today, but I'll leave it for the moment. Even after that time, freezing it for a few hours will allow for it to pop right off.

[Darkblitz]

Finally back to working on this, after dealing with a busy period dealing with job interviews and the likes.

Planning on cutting down the arm parts to the correct sizes next. I believe the biceps need enough room to fit your finger around and the forearms just need to be wide enough for you to fit your arms through. (Would appreciate corrections, if I'm wrong).

Also have a quick open question about the coverstrips. I have seen some guidance videos that ask you to cut off the corners straight, but then again I've seen pictures where people appear to have rounded the edges, so should they be rounded? Also, I'm aware of internal coverstrips, but don't often see people use them. Any benefits to having them?

[Troopacoola[TK]]

Internal covers will give additional strength to the seam. I'm using them on my build. I cut the external corners at 45° angles and then soften up the edge with a but of wet and dry, but I don't fully round it off.

 

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[Darkblitz]

Internal covers will give additional strength to the seam. I'm using them on my build. I cut the external corners at 45° angles and then soften up the edge with a but of wet and dry, but I don't fully round it off.

 

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Finally gotten back to this, after a long period of work stuff. I was wondering about this because I have seen people do their coverstips, with the 45 degree cut and some light rounding of the corners to smooth them. Then, I have seen some people do heavy rounding the make the entire diagonal cut rounded. I believe the former is correct, but just wanted to check before I waste a big sheet of ABS doing it wrong.

[Troopacoola[TK]]

I'm doing mine like you said....45° and soften up the angle. It may be worth posting in ukswrath anovos thread ( as it seems to be a Q&A thread now ) if you want an official steer.

 

Marc

[Darkblitz]

Got back to this after a long time thanks to some encouragement to give this build another shot.

 

Cut down, sanded and taped up the right bicep for sizing. It's hard to take a pic of the bicep piece without it sliding down, due to the lack of internal strapping, but there's about enough slack to fit in a finger. I believe that's about right.

 

 

 

 

 

[Troopacoola[TK]]

Welcome back!

 

Marc

[Chapaaz[501st]]

Welcome back Ian. Yea you're right you want about a finger space just so you have enough movement. Builds looking good so far. If you need any help or get stuck give me a shout. Me and Marc (ctid) above have both done our RWA kits to centurion level.

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Welcome back. We'll all keep an eye if u have any questions. <br>

Good luck

[Darkblitz]

Been continuing to have an odd issue in cutting the coverstips. Have tried the score and snap method with 3 different blades, pulling towards like I've seen in videos, however the blade seems to veer heavily off the straight line. Does nyone hve an idea what I'm likely doing wrong.

[Darkblitz]

Cut the biceps to size, and had an attempt at cutiing the coverstrips. The pictures show one of the biceps taped up and a coverstrip clamped in place (corners not cut yet, checking the length iis correct first), and I want to check if it looks ok to proceed. It does appear that I will need to sand some of the edges down once glued together. Apologies for not the clearest images, thanks to my phone giving up the ghost.

 

 

 

 

[Troopacoola[TK]]

Evening! Looking good Ian. Is the cover strip equal width at both ends? It may be the angle, but the bottom edge looks like it flares out a little?
It would be great to see a shot of it on your arm so we can gauge fitment

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[Darkblitz]

1 hour ago, CTID said:

Evening! Looking good Ian. Is the cover strip equal width at both ends? It may be the angle, but the bottom edge looks like it flares out a little?
It would be great to see a shot of it on your arm so we can gauge fitment

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It's most likely an angle issue resulting on me having to use a webcam for the pictures. Each end is about 16.5mm in width when i measured it. My concern about the coverstrips remains the amount of overhang. I have cut it so you can't see the return edges, but I can't get it to quite match what I see in some pictures of completed kits.

 

For the camera reason, I will not try to mess around to get a picture of it on my arm. However, there is enough of a gap for my finger to squeeze in and I believet that is the test for the sizing being correct.