Lord Dark Helmet’s AP build thread and cardiac therapy

[Deadeye[TK]]

I had decided several weeks ago that I was finally going to make good on my interest in building a TK kit and becoming a 501st trooper, and then things got really interesting.  After some discussions with a couple of armor makers, I finally decided to place an order for an AP kit on July 28th.  Three days later, I literally died on my way to the hospital in my wife's car of a heart attack.  I woke up in CICU about 9 hours later and after four days I was back home.  So now I have some time available and decided my build and my journey to 501st approval (hopefully Centurion at some point) can be part of my therapy.

 

My BBB arrived while I was in the hospital.  I hadn't mentioned the build to my boys (14 & 11) yet so they were pretty intrigued by the mysterious arrival (it was a good diversion from their other concerns).  When I finally got home, I got to show them what I was up to and they are pretty stoked by the whole process.  I debated whether I was going to start a build thread for several reasons but took a few pictures anyway.  Now that I'm a little bit into the process, I have a feeling I may need some help and advice along the way so hopefully some of you will follow my progress and offer some constructive feedback if I start going astray.  I apologize in advance if I get overwhelming with the pictures or details.  I've read a bunch of builds and tend to like the ones that have lots of detail.  In particular, thanks to ukswrath, SpiceCredits and MoSc0ut for the wealth of information you've provided me.  Please bear in mind as you're checking it out, I've never done anything like this so any advice is welcomed.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a BBB picture but here's all of the kit pieces and some of the things I had started collecting for the build.

 

 

I've amassed a much larger collection of stuff since.  Here's a summary:

Kit:  Untrimmed AP including gloves, latex hand plates and belt

Boots:  TK Boots

Neck Seal:  Darman

Holster:  Darman

Helmet 'S' trim:  troopermaster

Garter:  Pencap510

Rivets:  justjoseph63

Blaster:  Hyperfirm B-grade

Undersuit:  Tesla https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DSRS7FQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TVMGEK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Planning to build with snap plates instead of the bracket system.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Lord Dark Helmet

[Deadeye[TK]]

Once I felt up to it, I started trimming.  For some reason I still don't quite understand, I decided to start with the ears--probably the hardest part I could start with.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Lord Dark Helmet

[Deadeye[TK]]

By the way, does anyone have any advice how to resize images?  I have pics of all of my trimmed pieces but they all seem to come in really big--larger than anyone probably wants to see.  Even the ones I've already posted are bigger than they probably need to be.  I changed the sizes on Photobucket but it doesn't seem to have any effect on how they show up here.  If anyone can let me know how to change the sizes I would appreciate it.

[Kacrut[501st]]

Hi, LDH... I'm using this for my pictures on my mobile phone. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobilephotoresizer

Hope it help... 

Regards, Loui.

[spyder918]

Welcome Kurt!  What a traumatic experience.  I look forward to your build!

[zv288bot[TK]]

Wowsers! What an introduction. Glad you made it back! As far as the picture sizes are concerned I think the image sizes are just right, I don't think you really need to do anything with them. I updated the majority of my pictures taken from my phone's camera via tapaTalk. If not, resizing them with photo bucket works as well. <br>

Anyway, glad you made it, good luck with the build. It's a good looking kit!

[magni[TK]]

Welcome to the FISD Kurt! Looks like your on your way. Just make sure you have plenty of magnets. You can never have enough. The clamps work ok on edges but that's it. And keep a check on glue joints after you set clamps and magnets. E-6000 can creep a little and you don't want to find a coverstrip moved on you. Good luck future Trooper and may the Swartz be with tou!

[Alay[TK]]

Jesus dude glad you're okay!  

 

You might want to upgrade your snaps... I have heard some people frustrated with the Dritz brand before.  I've used Tandy snaps and they've been quite nice if occasionally tricky.

[Deadeye[TK]]

Thanks, all, for the positive comments.  Louis and Jorge, thanks for the comments on the pictures.  When I looked at this thread last night, the pictures were all still full size from my phone.  Now when I look, they are half size as I intended.  Apparently it takes a little bit for Photobucket to display the resized images.  I think they're OK in the current sizes and I can start posting the others.  Randy, thanks for the comments on the glue and magnets.  I bought a 20-pack of clamps and I think 30 magnets.  I hope that'll be enough to get going and I'll be sure to watch for that glue creep that you mention.  Sarah, I've heard other complaints about the Dritz snaps.  I only used them for the sewn-on snaps at the shoulder bells (as ukswrath recommended in his Anovos build thread).  I just bought some Tandy line 24s for the rest of the strapping.  I also got some 'S' popper snaps that ukswrath suggested for a couple of spots.

 

Keep up the recommendations if you see any other areas for improvements and thanks again for the 'well wishes' (is that a thing?  Thanks for wishing me well, maybe?).

[Deadeye[TK]]

OK, so catch up time.  I did all of the trimming on August 12th based on the AP trim lines.  Where there weren't trim lines on the return edges at joints, I just rough cut enough to trim the to fit later.  Here's just a firehose shot of all of the trimming pics.

 

Edited August 24, 2016 by Lord Dark Helmet

[Deadeye[TK]]

So that brings me up until yesterday, where I violated the number one rule of armor making.  I know everyone's said not to, but I did it anyway.  I started with the helmet.

 

First up, the ears.  Needed to bevel the holes for the flat head screws so I did this:

 

And came up with this:

 

Once that was done, I decided to cut in the eyes and came up with this:

 

Next, I wanted to fit the hovi mic tips:

 

Then I decided to fit the ears.  After lots of sanding and marking and sanding and filing, I had this:

 

Last, I cut out the teeth, like this:

 

So what do you think of yesterday's progress?  I'm sure I still can put some work into the teeth area and I think I need some finish sanding to remove the file marks on the ears and obviously painting, but am I at least making good progress or did I screw up something?  Are the eyes close to right?  I was really apprehensive about doing those.

[balvini]

Hi LDH! I just started building my trooper. I am a couple steps behind you so I am going to watch your progress carefully. (and try to keep up). Good luck!

[Deadeye[TK]]

That brings me to a question--maybe it's specific to AP buckets.  Am I supposed to do any trimming or sizing of the hole at the bottom?

 

 

As it is, it fits over my head but it takes a little bit of contorting to get it over my ears.  It also appears to be kind of an odd shape and the ears don't come all the way down to the edge, although that is covered by the rubber trim.  I can use it like it is but if it supposed to be trimmed to line up things or whatever it would certainly make it easier to put on and take off, especially if I put in earbuds for the hearing assist system.  Speaking of the black rubber trim, I bought some 'S' trim but it occurred to me that I'm not totally clear how it goes on.  Probably a stupid question but can I assume that it goes on like the first picture, not the second:

[Deadeye[TK]]

Thanks, Bill.  There are certainly better people for you to learn from than me.  I'm stumbling through this process for the first time, but I do truly appreciate that you want to follow along.  I hope some of my learning experiences help others like you avoid a mistake or two that I make along the way.

[Deadeye[TK]]

With the helmet to a good place to park it for a few days, I decided today would be a good one to focus on arms and legs.  In particular, I started by getting the return edges cut to fit the cover strips.  I started with the forearms:

 

 

I kept the bottom edge flush to start and let the top edge fit however it did.

 

The strips still need to be cut to length but i think they look pretty good.

 

Next up was the biceps and they were easy by comparison.

 

Then I did the same with the legs.

[Deadeye[TK]]

Next up, I decided to fine tune the arms to try to get the to a place I could actually start gluing.  In these pics, the return edges at the tops and bottoms of each section have been fitted and sanded smooth.  I think these are all finished except for gluing but I would love to hear some comments or critiques if there are things that need to be changed before I bust out the E6000.

 

 

So that brings everything up to date.  I may still tweak the return edges at the elbow end of the forearm.  I've test fitted both arms and they fit pretty good and I like the look of a little bit of return edge in that spot but I may still find it easier to bend my arm with a bit less.  Other than that, I think they're ready to get glued.  Let me know what you think of what I've done so far.

[lucnak[TK]]

Hi there, hoping you're at least enjoying your recovery a little with this build!

 

I'm impressed you got your ears to fit so well when you started by trimming those! I started trimming my ears after joining the two parts of my helmet and I still have some gaps. Looks good! Regarding the teeth, I think you can keep taking out more. You still have a lot of ABS you can take out at the top and bottom and then you also can either make them more pill-formed or more rectangular. Needle file set is good for this fine tuning.

 

The S-trim is on correctly in the second photo unless I'm mistaken.

 

I cut my cover strips to size before gluing. Seems easier to me, but that's a minor thing. You may want to consider strips on the inside as well. Helps make everything a little more solid.

 

Looks like you're making good progress! Keep it up!

[DK5IDE[TK]]

Good work! Great job on the ears, they are especially tricky. I did trim some off the opening (bottom) of the helmet to be able to squeeze into it. My AP bucket is on the snug side. I don't believe the CRL specs any requirements for the opening size, so would trim for ease of getting it on and off. Turning it 90 degrees before slipping it on helps, then rotate slowly into position as it goes on.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited August 24, 2016 by DK5IDE

[Alay[TK]]

Your helmet bottom looks right.  AP has some of the smallest lids of the bunch from what I gather.  Put it on sideways then turn it after your nose is in.  The ears don't come all the way down but are mostly covered by the trim

 

I'd take off a bit more of the return edge of the top outside of the biceps... they'll never really be seen under the shoulder bell anyways so no sense in snagging yourself on them.

 

For the forearms, I thought mine had to go much smaller than they actually did... I just glued them with a typical 15mm coverstrip and they ended up perfect as is.  Remember after they're completely closed you need to be able to fit your hand through it so don't go too small

 

looking great so far!

[Alay[TK]]

Also I bought this for setting snaps after much hassle with hammers and pliers and cutting studs and stuff... Wish I started with it.  

[jmschak]

Glad you're ok. I, too, recently decided to join after years of thinking about it and periodic lurking on the forums here. My AP kit should be arriving in less than a month. In the meantime, I'll be doing the living vicariously thing here.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[Deadeye[TK]]

Thanks for the feedback, Luc.  Yes, the build is helping to get me active--mentally at least if not too much physically--during my recuperation.  I figured I had some more work to do on the teeth after looking at the picture.  It seemed better in real life but the picture exposes that some work is needed.  I'll attack them some more with the needle file when I get back to the helmet.  As for the cover strips, all of the pieces pictured are just taped together so I was planning to do as you suggested and cut the strips to length and clip the corners before I glue up.  I thought (and am still thinking) about the internal cover strips.  I still need to decide if I want to do that.  I figured I might glue up just the external to start and may go back and add the internal after.  Thanks for commenting on the 'S' trim, too.  By the way, I've learned a lot from your commentary on other build threads so please help if you see anything else I can tweak.

 

Ron and Sarah, thanks for the comment on the helmet opening.  I am putting it on as you explained so maybe everything is right as is.  You see Luke pull off his bucket when he's rescuing Leia and he makes it look so easy.  I figured it should be easier than it currently seems to be.  Maybe I just need to practice for speed.  I may trim a little as Ron suggested just so I don't pull my ears off as I'm removing it.

 

Sarah, as for the arm parts currently I've done as you did--cut for the 15mm cover strips front and back and plan to assemble them like that.  With that said, it would appear I have large forearms and puny biceps because currently the forearms are a fairly snug fit and the biceps are very roomy.  That's why I thought I might remove more return edge on the tops of the forearms and why I've left as much as I did on the biceps.  My hands fit into the forearms, they're just kind of tight.  I'm assuming when you suit up for a troop you slide the arms on and then put on gloves and tuck them into the forearms.  Is that right?  I'm able to do it this way with some work to make it all fit.  With that said I'll need to see how the shoulder bells and biceps look in a mirror to see if they stick out too much.  I may need to trim more return edge just so they lay right.  And I just ordered my snaps so I'll test on a few and then maybe decide to pursue your suggested gadget.  Thanks.

 

Jaime, thanks for following along and good luck keeping calm until your BBB.  It's a pretty exciting day but a little overwhelming when you see all these parts and realize there's still a lot to do.  It's a fun process, though.

[lucnak[TK]]

I'll be following along! I've basically been following a few select threads here at a time and as folks finish up their builds, I look for others to help for the duration of their builds. In other words, I'll be helping you till approval!

 

Regarding forearms, yes, armour goes on and then gloves and you tuck the gloves in.

 

My head is enormous so I took a lot of ABS out of the opening and it's still a bit tight putting it on. The public generally doesn't see you suit up, so it's okay if you need to wiggle a bit to get it on.

 

I would suggest you also join the forums of your local garrison if you haven't already - they'll be able to help you with locating supplies and also you may find out about armour parties you could attend! I recommend handling at a few events to get a feel for trooping and to ask questions!

[Alay[TK]]

You see Luke pull off his bucket when he's rescuing Leia and he makes it look so easy. 

 

As I recall the helmets for the heroes in the film actually had huge openings in them for that purpose.  I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than I can confirm or tell me I'm full of bologna though!

It took me a while to get comfortable putting my helmet on and off.  My glasses get in the way now, but it's doable.  You'll get it down

 

For the biceps, rule of thumb is you want the opening to be about the same diameter between the biceps bottom and top of the forearms.  You can always add foam padding to the inside of the biceps too for comfort and keeping them steady=)

[Deadeye[TK]]

Luc, your tutelage is very appreciated.  Sounds like there is a consensus that trimming the helmet opening (within reason) is allowed and encouraged for comfort and ease of putting it on so I'll need to determine how much I need to remove to achieve those ends.

 

Sarah, appreciate your feedback on the arms.  Below are some pics of the arms roughly fitted in place.  I'm pretty sure that my forearms are rotated about 90 degrees wrong.  Not completely sure I know how those fit.  The top edge has the angled side and the straight side.  In these pics, I assumed the angled side fit into the bend of the elbow but then the cover strips for the forearms and the biceps don't line up, which appears to be the general alignment.  Oddly, that seems to mean the angled top of the forearm pokes into the elbow bend.  Anyhow, in these pics I have cut the return edges for 15mm cover strips.  If I cut them anymore for size, the cover strips/return edges (I'd assume at the back of the bicep) would not fit correctly.  Also, if I happen to take up lifting and bulk up they'd no longer fit.  Let me know your thoughts on the fit of the three arm pieces and if I need to trim anything.