Stephen's RS ANH stunt build WIP (for small people)

[Gwithian]

I can do pics...... upload them in Tapatalk on the UKG then copy the post in here .... fantastic  

[TheSwede[TK]]

27 minutes ago, Gwithian said:

A little bit of progress has been made I think, ... or as yoda would say

 

Made progress think I .... 

 

Ok maybe not lol 

 

Well I've been trying to mould the kidney and butt to fit my torso, I've also tweaked the greave, made it shorter like you suggested and this is the result, oh I've also decided to Tetris the thigh to make it narrower at the top, I've not cut it yet but you will get the general idea. I'm still not happy within the non vertical rear cover strip to the greave

 

 

I have started making the magnetic closures for the greaves, I have cut 20mm cover strips which will hold the magnets on the inside , this will comprise of two cover strips, one at the back, the other with holes cut out of it to fit the 15mm diameter 2mm thick magnets

 

 

Cover strips cut, six magnets in place

 

 

Doing a test hole on a scrap piece of ABS, couldn't get a 15mm drill bit so had to make do with a 14mm bit and make it wider 

 

 

Using the dremel , how on earth did I manage to do stuff before I got one of these? 

 

What it will look like when finished

 

 

Went to see the Childe of Hale today, I'm stood nest to a life size statue of him, yes I'm small but please bear in mind he was 9ft 3ins 

 

Good work on your build and you got talented people helping you  Been lurking in the shadows enjoying reading your build, after all I am a shadow trooper (at the moment) But anyways....it could be the angel of the photo (first in this post) but it looks like your butt and kidney should be further up making little to no gap between back an kidney so make sure these line up properly before you trim to much of your thighs and...funny picture and I think you should take another one with finished armor trying to arrest the statue

Edited July 5, 2017 by jedha-trooper
speeeeeeelling

[Cricket[TK]]

16 hours ago, Gwithian said:

... I haven't trimmed the outside left or inside right section at the rear, and both are a bit sque wiff , so I think I iwould need both to be replaced? 

 

That's difficult to say.  I'm having a tough time trying to figure this out...  So you trimmed the backs to fit?  And the result was that the trims ended up slanted like they are now?  Or that you haven't trimmed yet and this is how they arrived to you?  If you haven't trimmed yet, then it will be an easy fix. If you have, then, er...  
 

16 hours ago, Gwithian said:

finally .... regarding the greave and where it should sit relating to the knee.... you stopped in mid sentence...... it's like one of those cliff hangers you get in tv programmes .... 

 

I guess I wasn't clear on what I was trying to convey.   The highest part of the greave should just touch the bottom of your kneecap when your leg is fully extended.  Let me know if you need additional parameters on it, and I'll get them to ya.  
 

16 hours ago, Gwithian said:

oh oh I was planning to use 12 15mm magnets to hold the greaves, six on each side, do you think that will be sufficient? 

 

Oh, absolutely that should be more than sufficient!  I only use 10 of the 12mm magnets on each greave (5 on each side), and they've held up perfectly during troops.

 

Be sure to read through the original tutorial on this.  I printed it out and referred to it a lot.  They don't do the magnet-to-magnet closure like I did, but the beginning process is the same.

BTW, love the additional pics you include of your adventures when not Star Warsing!

[Gwithian]

Hi Christine, glad you like the additional poctures, I will post some more. 

 

The following thread shows what I have done with the magnetic closures, you were the inspiration for this, so I hope I have made you proud . 

 

I havent trimmed the rear of the outside greave on the left leg, it's how it arrived from RS. I have tried to tweak this today and again the pics are below .... next post, I think they look a bit better

 

in the mean time we have been away for a few days in the Lakes, there were loads of Americans there, we met a lovely couple from California whilst climbing Catbells . Will post some pictures 

 

Derwent water

 

 

And we climbed the hill catbells that's in the background

 

 

The summit above and to prove we did it a selfie 

 

 

And ingleton falls

 

 

Hope you like

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 7, 2017 by Gwithian

[Gwithian]

Ok, today I've made some progress on my magnetic closures of the greaves . Yesterday I made four 20mm cover strips, the magnets will be loaded as in the picture 

 

 

First I marked where to place them 

 

 

Even though they are 15mm diameter I could only buy a 14mm drill bit, so I used that

 

 

Clamped the strip in place before drilling, I used a couple of off cuts of wood to help 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut the burrs off with a stanly knife and then widened the hole with the dremel

 

Sanded them to get rid of the rough bits 

 

 

Finished job 

 

 

Well almost... sanded down the sides to be glued together

 

 

Hopefully it will look like this when finished 

 

 

Applied the glue and spread it

 

 

Stuck the pieces together

 

 

Just about to fit the magnets, added extra glue for good measure

 

 

Magnet in place

 

 

All six glued

 

 

Finally held together with clamps

 

 

I'm still not too sure about the greaves..... I've looked at tweaking them again, I've tightened them around the calf, actually they feel more comfortable and a bit more snug, I think the rear cover strip is more vertical, hopefully..... slowly slowly catch the monkey ...... as they say, I think I might be getting there..... what do you think? 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully I've made two steps forward today

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cricket[TK]]

17 hours ago, Gwithian said:

The following thread shows what I have done with the magnetic closures, you were the inspiration for this, so I hope I have made you proud . 

 

Hey, cool!  Yes, very proud.    One tip, please don't attempt to install these until you've fitted your shins perfectly to your legs.  Once you've made the cuts for the magnets to fit, that's it- future sizing will be super difficult after that point.  Before installation, you'll need your shins to not only fit, but to meet together at the back nicely.  It took a hot water bath to do it, but here's how mine looked right before adding the magnets:

 

My goal was to make sure the tops lined up and they closed on their own without any assistance, and I think I achieved that.  The awkward cuts were not the fault of the RS armor.  That was entirely user error.  These cuts could have been made much more straight if I had known what I was doing in the first place.  I know now to always clamp a ruler to your shins while cutting if you want straight cuts.

 

17 hours ago, Gwithian said:

I'm still not too sure about the greaves..... I've looked at tweaking them again, I've tightened them around the calf, actually they feel more comfortable and a bit more snug, I think the rear cover strip is more vertical, hopefully..... slowly slowly catch the monkey ...... as they say, I think I might be getting there..... what do you think? 

 

Good to hear that the greave trimming is coming along!  My greaves did not arrive to me in perfect alignment at the back, either.  I had to do a lot of fine tuning to get them just right.  I ended up cutting them at an angle, kind of like a pie wedge, so that the ankles were tapered in more than the tops.  Here's an example of how my cuts went on my shins (it's a thigh, but the same principals apply):

 

 

Keep up the good work, Stephen!  You're on the right track!

[Gwithian]

Thanks for the tips, advice and encouragement, if it hadn't been for you and frank and the armourers on the UKG I would have fallen at the first hurdle . Thank you 

 

inner cover strips to be fitted to the greaves tomorrow and hot water bath Monday

[Gwithian]

Well today I've sort of tidied up the magnetic greave closures, these are the pieces that will go on the inside of each greave, I still have the outside closures to do

 

Anyway glue dried 

 

 

Trimmed the excess glue from the edges and around the magnets 

 

 

Got all the excess glue off and sanded the edges

 

 

This is how they will be fitted to the greaves, the parts where the magnets are covered by the greave will be dremeled out

 

 

Cut and sanded the inner cover strips to both greaves

 

 

Sanded the inside of the greaves

 

 

20mm inner cover strips glued and fitted

 

 

They will be treated to a hot water bath on Monday to get the rear to align properly .... 

 

I'm well chuffed with today's progress 

 

 

[Cricket[TK]]

It always feels more like 'armor' when you don't have tape all over it.  Good job!  

[Gwithian]

It's been a lovely day here today so I decided to clean the car and the bike

 

 

What's this got to do with my armour.... well I was thinking, yes I know that's dangerous, but still I was mulling a few stormtrooper things over.... you see my gloves have gone a sort of grey white 

 

 

And I was thinking how could I get them back to black..... then bingo.... I was spraying the bikes frame with silicone spray 

 

 

And I thought that might do the trick..... what do you think.... the difference is obvious 

 

 

 

Ok I know you may know this but I'm well chuffed

 

So I started pootling ...... I took the magnets and clamps off the greaves , removed the tape and gave them a polish, it's amazing how sturdy they are with the inner cover strips..... sorry I didn't take a photo 

 

I glued an inner cover strip to the left thigh

 

 

And decided to stick the torso together again with duct tape for a trial fitting tomorrow.....?the thing is the butt piece doesn't like up with the kidney on the left hand side, the right is bob on

 

 

The middle lines up too

 

 

But the left.....

 

 

It can have a hot water bath tomorrow to see if it makes it any better, the thing is from the raised bit in the middle to the right side edge is 6.75 inches, the same measurement in the left hand side is 7.25 inches, half an inch more.... so do I trim it? 

 

Anyway some pics of the torso taped together, tomorrow is decision day regarding do I "slice the fish?" Aka "cut the cod" ..... I really don't want to do that but hay it may be a lot easier than growing a couple of inches... lol

 

So this is what it looks like

 

 

 

 

It's been another good day

[Gwithian]

Well this morning I treated the greaves to a pot of boiling water to help mould them into shape ..... they are a lot better now

 

 

Then I tried the armour on, I can hardly see out of the lid, just what's in front of me, I can't see down at all other than what can be seen through the teeth..... the problems of being a small trooper seem never ending lol

 

Oh and the shoulder bells are a tad too big, the cod can't go any higher without my voice changing pitch lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's time I shortened the right greave and start work on the right thigh . Not too sure if the left greave needs to be shorter?

[Cricket[TK]]

Hahaha... those shoulders!    The RS shoulders as sent need a huge amount of plastic removed.  In case you're hesitant about trimming them, according to Rob, the cut should be 12" from the bottom of the spine to the trim, then 5" from the edge of the spine to the trim.  

 

 

See how much?!

 

Even with all that removed, I still had to remove even more to avoid the Linebacker Trooper look.

 

You may want to consider shortening up the back.  Your kit looks like it's fitting you in a similar manner as mine did before I shortened up the kidney.  In the graphic below, look at the lines where the butt plate/kidney and ab line up.  This graphic is to illustrate the kidney notch size, but it's also good to understand the alignment with the front and back halves.

 

 

The bottom of the ab plate and the meeting point of the kidney/butt plate are roughly parallel.  Here's you (it's the other side as the graphic, but same principals apply):

 

Can you see how the kidney could be reduced to bring up that alignment?  You might also want to take a little off the bottom of the back plate in order to keep everything in proportion (a suggestion, but not required!).  Anyhow, you can see I had the same issue in the pics below.  Pic on the left is after my kidney and back plate were initially shortened.  It still didn't look right to me.  I shortened the kidney again, and that's what you see in the photo on the right.

 

 

I know everything is duct taped together, but I'm wondering what you plan on using to connect the chest and ab.  If you're planning on using brackets, you may need to reduce the amount of overlap between the chest and ab.  Make sure that the chest ridge detail stays about where it is in this shot:

 

It's difficult to tell if your chest is in the correct position because your shoulder bells and biceps are kind of floating on you in your pics.    The middle of the chest ridge detail should line up around the middle of the shoulder bells.

 

About the duct tape strapping... it's nice to use for a very general idea of how it'll go together, but your kit will go together differently once you have the real strapping installed. Installing the brackets terrified me. Other troopers at an armor party pushed me to install them, and I was so glad that I did it afterwords.  It really helped me get a better idea of what needed adjustment. Take the leap and get your strapping mounted in there.  

 

Also, you may want to consider getting your garter belt together for the thighs at this point.  I used industrial velcro on the belt and inside the thighs as a temporary fitting measure so I could have a more secure way to keep the thighs up.  Works much better than tape!  Once the torso was fully completed, I was then able to trim the thighs more easily because velcro holds things much more securely.  After the thighs were trimmed to fit, I removed the velcro and glued in permanent elastic loops on the thighs.

 

I hope I'm not overwhelming you with all this!  You're making great progress.

[troopermaster]

Try not to trim your shoulder bells in a straight line like you would if you followed your yellow tape. The real ANH shoulder bells were trimmed in a curved shape. Here are a pair of my bells to show you how to trim them, although I went for a wonky look and you might want to keep them a bit neater  Trimming them in a curve really helps with the overall look and reduces gaps.

 

[fragarock[TK]]

Great advice from Christine...as usual. Isn't it nice to see the pieces coming together and really looking like a TK?

I also think you should work on the permanent strapping. Getting the chest/ab/kidney/but pieces fitting correctly is the bulk of the work and really the most important. You can't truly fit the arms and legs properly until the torso is correct.

 

I think you'll have to trim some off the bottom of your kidney plate to raise the but piece up. The chest position over the ab looks pretty good as does the chest-to-back positioning. Like Christine said, it's hard to tell for sure because your shoulder bells were taped hanging off your back piece rather than hanging from a point where the chest and back connect but it looks pretty good to me. Your newly trimmed bells will look better next time you tape this up. Oh, and if your chest piece is choking you, you can trim the neck line for some more room.

 

You should consider bending the lower sides of your chest in and around your ribs. Those ends are flaring out a bit. May help the overall look/proportion...it did on mine.

 

You could start with something simple...the white strap connections between the top of the chest and the top of the back. This would also make it easier to get the armor on/off during test fits.

Then trim the bottom of the kidney.

Then tape it up again and check the fit.

If OK, do your brackets connecting the kidney/back and chest/ab.

Test fit again. Check alignment at the sides between all the pieces and  check that your bottom of chest is in a good spot above your ab buttons. Put your belt on too, helps hold it all together and gives you a better idea how the armor truly feels around you.

If OK, do brackets connecting kidney/but. Also do your left side connection between the kidney/ab. This is an important part as this not only fixes the pieces together, it also makes the whole thing more rigid, taking some of the weight of the ab piece so it isn't completely hanging from the chest.

Test fit again, checking the left side connection (you want it tight).

If OK, do your right side rivet/strap connection.

 

This is just an outline of the process I would do....if I could go back and do it again. You may have a better method in mind, take it slow. Trimming too much off these large pieces can be catastrophic so baby steps are needed. Lots of test fits are critical. If something doesn't seem right or you need help, just let us know....especially if you're using screen accurate strapping/bracket system...it can take a while to figure it all out.

 

[Gwithian]

Thanks for the comments and advice, Christine, Frank and Paul.

 

paul.... I will do as you recommend to the shoulder bells

 

Christine.... I've looked at that diagram you posted a thousand times, and it's only today that I see where my kidney is not aligned correctly with the ab..... ive been concentrating too much in the butt........thanks for  pointing that out 

 

Frank.... your suggestion to strap the chest and back together makes sense..... what should the gap be between the shoulder bridges of the chest and back piece......

 

I see I have a ton of work to do, your expert help doesn't give me confidence, heck when I started out I was going to buy a full commission from RS, but then I saw Christine's thread and thought yeah have a go...... and I'm so glad I did...... 

 

now i I just hope I can make you all proud and join you in the ranks of Centurian...... 

 

once again, many many thanks, if we ever meet up the beers are on me

[Gwithian]

The armoured on the UKG advised me to realign my butt and kidney and I'm thinking it should look like this, this also helps slighthe right side of the butt with the kidney notch, some pics further down .., 

 

 

Christine pointed out that my kidney and ab weren't aligned correctly

 

They were like this

 

 

She gave me this diagram from FISD

 

 

And I think they should look like this, so I guess I need to trim the kidney.

 

the thing is I've looked at this alignment loads of time and I have been so engrossed with getting the butt and kidney notch to align that I totally missed the alignment of kidney and ab.... it's complicated meaning a TK 

 

 

The butt and cod are better aligned now at the bottom , and the right hand side lines up with the kidney notch perfectly as shown above, but the left side leaves a lot to be desired

 

 

Now the measurement from the central raised bit of the butt to the side is 6.75 inches on the right and 7.25 inches on the left .... so I'm thinking the left may need trimming..... I need to measure the kidney first, not done that yet..... doh.... what is it they say "measure twice, cut once" 

 

I've ordered a heat sealing iron as I'm going to have to make a new return edge on the kidney and the normal household iron I've been using really isn't up for the job...,.

 

Anyway other stuff I've been up to.... 

 

I was not best pleased with the internal cover strip I installed on the left thigh, I mean it was really not a good job, I would have said a monkey could have done it better, but I don't want to offend any monkeys.... lol 

So this is it, I guess it's just as important to post what's gone wrong so as to help new troopers who may read this in the future..... sorry I'm rabbiting in again.,.. 

 

 

So I split it with the knife and spent an hour removing the glue...... that will teach me ... doh 

 

 

 

I find that a small off cut of ABS helps and then some medium sand paper 

 

 

Then I fitted the internal cover strip to one side, I will do the other tomorrow 

 

 

I also tried on the left greave, I still think it's s bit high in relation to the knee.... or does it need to sit lower on the boot, or is it a bit of both ? 

 

 

 

Apologies for not wearing the undersuit 

 

Next I started to trim the right thigh, took the excess off the top and bottom leaving enough to allow a 3mm return edge, which will be refined with the dremel when they are stuck together

 

I trimmed the raised ridge at the front to take the 20mm outer cover strip, marked where I wanted to cut

 

 

Scored it with the stanly knife, 4 times, it looked like this

 

 

Bent it back and forth and off it comes

 

 

This is what it looks like

 

 

Now I know from Christine's and Frank's build threads that the right RS thigh doesn't align properly

 

You would think it would be like this.... but it's out at the top

 

 

So when you align the top, it's out at the bottom (a good half a thumb fir a small person) 

 

 

However no worries as it will be coveted by the thigh ammo belt ..... 

 

Anyway that's me done for the moment ..... I think 

 

[Cricket[TK]]

About that kidney/ab thing....

Make sure the kidney and ab are lined up at the top.  Don't worry about how the kidney notch is lining up with the bottom of the ab.  The top alignment is what matters for Centurion.  The bottom is all covered by the belt.   On my kit, you can see how the tops are aligned, but the bottoms are not.  That's okay for Centurion.

 

[Cricket[TK]]

About the greaves...

Shove them down as far as you can before considering any more trimming.  It looks like they can be pushed down still a bit.  That might be enough to clear your knee. Make some elastic stirrups to keep them in place.  (I love my elastic stirrups!)  I overtrimmed the bottom of my shins because I wasn't watching how they kept creeping up on me while I was adjusting the size.  For my new build, I will install temporary stirrups before sizing to make sure I get the length correct this time.

[troopermaster]

The problem here is that the image posted is incorrect.

[troopermaster]

This is how the parts should match up correctly.

[Cricket[TK]]

Interesting.  Seems on this screen-used kit, both are correct?  Or maybe they are different screen-used kits?  Weird!

 

Either way, as long as the back (back/kidney/butt) fits you properly, and you make sure your ab/kidney is lined up at the top, you will do fine for Centurion.  

[troopermaster]

1 hour ago, Cricket said:

Interesting.  Seems on this screen-used kit, both are correct?  Or maybe they are different screen-used kits?  Weird!

Not quite.

 

The left side of the armour matches up better than the right which is slightly shorter, so the notch falls short of matching up with the corner of the abdomen. The left side matches up better, but neither are exactly perfect matches. That's the beauty of the original armour

 

The first photo you posted has a bit of perspective going on, making the abdomen look longer because it's closer to the camera. The second photo has both parts butted up together and you can see the parts match up like in the image I corrected. But you are right in the fact that the tops want to line up and disregard any mismatch lower down. You can't have it both ways when you are having to make all these changes to make the armour fit you properly.

[Gwithian]

Thanks Christine and Paul, I now see what I need to do, align kidney and ab at the top

 

Christine, I will try and get the greaves down lower and will try the stirrup  

 

 I very much appreciate both of your help , I would be totally lost without it. 

[Gwithian]

Well a lot can happen in a week, but no progress has been made to my build until today. 

 

My Neice's son, Charlie, who is four, has been diagnosed with leukaemia, so we have been back and too to the hospital until today, our grandson has caught chicken pox so we are not allowed  anywhere near him.... 

 

So today I thought I would try and take my mind off stuff and do a bit more to the build..... I haven't got very far and I have more questions...... 

 

Ok firstly I finished trimming the front of the right thigh and fitted the internal cover strip to one side, I did the usual stuff, marked the cut line out, scored it and snapped it off, sanded the inside and glued a 15mm internal strip....

 

 

 

Oh last week I popped to my bike dealers and they gave me this for my lid I'm well chuffed , it's nice and soft on the inside so it will prevent scratches when it's stored

 

 

 

 

Next I worked on my magnetic shin closure, I duck taped the magnetic strips I made the other week to the inside of the shin 

 

 

Taped the magnets that will fasten to these on the outer cover strip 

 

 

Taped the outer cover strip to the outside of the shin

 

 

Once I have sorted the final place for these, I will dremel out the abs on the shins to allow a snug closure

 

 

This is what they look like fitted

 

 

 

 

 

I still think it needs to be a bit lower, but that's as low as they will go on the boot. 

 

Now for my questions, I want to start trimming the other bits n bobs 

 

Sniper knee plate.... 

 

Do I cut where I've drawn the pencil line at the bottom.... I'm guessing there is no return edge as this part is glued to the shin? 

 

 

Top return edge? 3 to 4 mm? 

 

I will cross the angle that it fits to the shin when I've trimmed it

 

Ab buttons.....

 

Trim as I have outlined with the pencil ? 

 

 

Shoulder bridge..... do I leave 2 to 3 mm all around? 

 

Also does the wide rib go to the front or back? 

 

 

Finally drop boxes what thickness should they be? 

 

 

I realise it's a lot of questions, but I thought I can be sorting all this stuff out in between other things

 

Thanks

[fragarock[TK]]

Hi Stephen,

 

Your trim lines at the bottom of the sniper plate are spot on. When I did mine, I couldn't find exact measurements for the trimming of this piece so Christine got me some images to review and I looked at the reference ones from the RS suit on this site. I made the top of the snipe plate 10mm, flaring out to 20mm down to the corner, then reducing the taper at the sides. Makes more sense if you look at my build, chapter 20 .

 

The small ab button trim lines look good. You want this piece to sit flat atop the ab panel so you'll need to trim off the vertical parts left over from the ABS pull. I put the piece on my belt sander to make it flat. Test fit it over the ab area, and trim as needed so the edges don't overhang the raised part of the ab that your attaching it to. For the larger button panel I'd leave 8-10mm then do a test fit. Look at my Centurion correction for the placement of this piece, I had to rip mine off, re-trim it and re-center it.

 

At the shoulder bridges I left 3-4 mm on the sides, a bit more on the front and back. The wide rib goes on the chest.

 

Drop boxes should be 10mm tall. I had fun with the belt, for some reason it was really fun to put together. Maybe because it used up so many pieces of the kit, I felt like I really accomplished something after it was done.

 

Good luck.