TK-Tom's Not So Excellent Adventure - ANH Stunt TK Build

[TK-Tom[501st]]

More parts rough cut... starting to look like armor...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Off to the belt sander (with the PPE taken with me)...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Ahhhh, this is where the fun begins...

 

The bracket system. Boy did I (I do still) have some issues with this. The first bracketing I did was Chest to AB. With the included 1" elastic strips, the Chest plate was up on the AB armor WAY too high for me. The Cod would not sit in the correct place. And besides, I just did not like how it looked sitting that high. I wanted the Chest piece return edge to sit just above the AB button plate. Here it did not...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

And the corners were really digging in and scratching up the AB piece...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Cod toooooo low for me...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

So I went on to industrial velcro, leaving the brackets in place (without the 1" elastic)

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

This worked MUCH better and I had greater control over where the Cod sat. Happy times!

 

But the happy times did not last long. I went to try the torso on for a quick fitting, and the tears began to fall ;-)

 

(excuse the bare legs in the photos)...This thing was NOT going to fit me right! I was going to need to shim both sides. PANICK! How the heck do I do THAT successfully?

 

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

At least the Chest to AB was where I wanted it...

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

How tall are you?

[TK-Tom[501st]]

So that night I did NOT sleep...all distraught over a lousy fit...but then a new day breaks, and I have a BRILLIANT idea. I will try a fitting again, but this time, I will WRAP the armor around my body like a clamshell should. That's it! CLAMSHELL. I was excited now, it actually was fitting right and I would not need shims!

 

Too bad someone wasn't around to tell me how to fit it right the first time, then I wouldn't have had to show my naked legs ;-)

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

The happiness did not last too long though...I had cracked my back armor at the strap...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Thinking I would need to break out the ABS paste, I evaluated the situation and found that the strap was alot wider than the other side. So I just trimmed it out~ It looked just like new (no pic though)

 

Moving on, I had what appeared to be the dreaded back gap. I was not using the bracket system for the back to the kidney armor at this point, and I thought I would have to use long elastic via velcro to tie the pieces together. So I saved this for later on.

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Getting nervous about using E6000 in my apartment, I needed some ventilation, even though I was using a 1/2 respirator. Trouble was, I was using SANDING filters and NOT VAPOR filters. I also replaced the tiny fan with a better one. And got the VAPOR filters!

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Did not know I would have to be a seamstress as well but it was a good relief from the stress...

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Oh no, more trouble...too much return edge on the Kidney piece and Butt plate. So when clamshelling around me, The return edge buckles. Still not sure how to fix this, or even if I want to, seems barely noticeable when on me.

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Moving on, I replaced the Anovos belt with a Kittle belt - MUCH improved and I love it! Finally looking better...

 

I did not take off the buttons and re-rivet them onto the belt, I secretly used industrial velcro. May not be happy with that solution in the future, but it is working great for now and you cannot tell the difference. (IMHO)

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Which brings me up to where I am today...working the arms. There is only supposed to be 1/4" to 1/2" gap between the forearm and bicep when arm is straight, but in order for me to bend my elbow, the forearm needs to be just below the elbow bone and the bicep needs to be just above it. Here I have the bicep a little too high.

 

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

[TK-Tom[501st]]

Way too much room in the forearms circumference-wise so I trimmed those down. Here is a BEFORE shot