First-time builder - Advice?

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

Howdy, all!

 

I just got my very first FX kit in the mail, and needless to say I'm very excited to start putting it together. I want to take my time and do this right, though, so I figured I'd pop in here and request a little guidance for an armor newbie.

 

I'm planning to put it together using the snaps system suggested on this forum - apply shim pieces with embedded snaps to the various connecting points of the armor, and then stick corresponding snaps into some strips of that stretchy black stuff. It seems pretty straightforward, but I just want to make sure I don't make any stupid mistakes here.

 

It seems to me that for this part I'll need:

 

- the ABS cement that came with my kit

- a package of snaps and snap pliers

- a cutter for the ABS plastic

- and, some clamps to hold stuff together while the cement sets

 

Am I good to go so far? Anything I'm forgetting?

 

The upper armor should go pretty smoothly - I'll just ABS glue together the parts of the bicep and forearm armor, and install snaps as recommended here. Currently, all I've done is mock up the armor with drafting tape to check the fittings and whatnot. I'm 6'0" and 175 pounds, and so far almost everything fits perfectly.

 

There's just one difficulty so far: very quickly I noticed is that the lower leg armor will not quite fit me - I have pretty muscular calves, and it just won't close on both sides. I figure I'll glue a shim onto the back part of the calf armor, and apply velcro to that. Then should I also apply velcro to the front part, or should I maybe ABS glue it in place?

 

I'm looking at TK 487's guide, and it's great, but it seems pretty incomplete - a lot of pages are just 404'd. Is there any more information like this out there that I should know about?

 

(I know the helmet is another matter entirely, so I figured I would get the armor done first and then start on the helmet once I have a little experience working with the ABS.)

 

Thanks for reading, and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[TK-2833[501st]]

Personally, I don't use the ABS glue simply because it takes a good bit of time to cure. I'm pretty sure a lot of people recommend E-6000 Epoxy. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and they should have it.

 

Also, get a nice fine grit sandpaper for smoothing down edges, and the hard-hat liner that comes with it isn't the best thing, in my opinion. You can install it and see how you like it, but I hated mine (it slid around on my head like crazy) so I went to Wal-Mart and got the foam that goes around window unit Air Conditioners, but it in half width-wise (So it wasn't as thick) and test fitted it as a donut shape in the top of the helmet, and it fits much better (no bobble head). I hot glued it in so I could pull it out and replace it when it starts to get funky.

 

Something else that foam is good for is on pieces that don't fit just perfect. Cut some strips of foam, and hot glue them inside your armor pieces and trim them until the piece fits on without sliding, etc.

 

Take a look around at some old threads and see what you think you would like, but what I've found is that I'm constantly changing things. I try something, and it either works or it doesn't.

 

Hope this helps.

[Runnriottt]

My fear of commitment made me decide to go the velcro route. I tossed the stuff with the kit and bought industrial velcro. my biceps,forarms,and calves are velcroed. I glued the fronts of the thighs, and velcroed the backs.

 

Snaps are the way to go. 100%. secure and easy to put on and off. Making the straps to hold together the armor is a little trial and error, but once you got it, you got it. no streching. just snap and forget. I used a leather belt that i didnt wear anymore for the connection on the upper body, and nylon webbing to hold up my thighs.

 

I think the helmet was my most frustrating part, take your time. I installed the liner from the hard hat, but i dont like it. I say pad it. If you are patient, the kit glue is fine.

 

welcome. If you get stuck, ask away!

This is a blast of a hobby!

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

Thanks for the advice!

 

So, does e-6000 epoxy bond as well as the ABS cement does? I don't mind waiting for the ABS cement it to cure if it creates a stronger hold.

 

As for the helmet, I'll probably try test-fitting with some foam before installing the hard hat liner - if that works really well, I'll just go with that. The liner does seem a bit elaborate for something that might not be that great anyway. :-)

[DoubleTap]

I would stay away from the ABS cement, it can cause warping. I prefer CA glue which can typically only be purchased at your small local hobby stores looks like this Maxi-Cure. It has a very fast cure time and you can buy an accelerant to spray on for an instant cure. It is very strong and won't warp.

 

I have E6000 in my tool box also, but I prefer the max-cure CA glue for putting the armor together. I have had E6000 pop apart, but never CA Glue.

[TD2802[501st]]

I noticed you're in the Seattle area. You might try hooking up with the local garrison there at

http://www.garrisontitan.com. A few of the guys are trying to get some weekly armor parties going and that may be a good way to get some pointers on assembly. Some of them are real pros at it.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

To chime in with Brian - definitely get on the garrison boards ASAP. There are a lot of armor parties coming up (and they tend to be few and far in between) that you'll want to attend. Great to meet everyone else in the area as well. Sign on & make friends.

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

I prefer CA glue which can typically only be purchased at your small local hobby stores looks like this Maxi-Cure. It has a very fast cure time and you can buy an accelerant to spray on for an instant cure. It is very strong and won't warp.

Alright, I'll give that a try. I'll admit I was slightly alarmed by the "FUMES HARMFUL" warning on the side of my can of ABS cement, as well as its admonition to read the MSDS before using the product.

 

 

2802 and 8020, I'll definitely check that out right away. I'd actually heard about Garrison Titan before, so I'm surprised I didn't think to look there first. Thanks for the pointer, and I look forward to joining the ranks of the Titans!

[Daetrin[Admin]]

I would stay away from the ABS cement, it can cause warping. I prefer CA glue which can typically only be purchased at your small local hobby stores looks like this Maxi-Cure. It has a very fast cure time and you can buy an accelerant to spray on for an instant cure. It is very strong and won't warp.

 

I have E6000 in my tool box also, but I prefer the max-cure CA glue for putting the armor together. I have had E6000 pop apart, but never CA Glue.

 

Is this on ABS? Because my experience is the opposite - CA glue came apart (on HIPS armor), but my FX/ABS'd suit is still going strong after many troops.

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

Hmmm. Well, maybe I'll take a bit of the shim pieces and try both adhesives. A bit of experimentation couldn't hurt.

[troopermaster]

You could try different glues on scrap ABS and test their adhesion that way.In my experience E6000 is awesome.As long as you sand the plastic first and apply the E6000 to BOTH parts and leave until touch dry (5 mins) and then bond both parts together you should have no problems.It's flexible too so takes a beating

 

I've used CA/superglue and it's useless for armour IMO.It dries like glass and doesn't allow any flexing and pops apart with any stress on the joins.

 

I use E6000 for glueing elastic straps to my armour and it's held up fine.When I made a mistake once with a strap and needed to take it off,it took some doing I can tell you

 

-Paul.

[TomaXamoT]

So far I've been using the ABS glue that came with my FX kit, and it's working perfectly for me. I'm not in a super rush to get mine done, so I'll just glue something, clamp it, and let it sit and dry while to go to school or sleep or whatever. I usually let everything dry for about 10 hours at a time. As for the warping, I'm not going to argue with anyone, but I have yet to encounter this. I used a pretty generous amount on my hand plates to keep the elastic bands secured, and I haven't had any problems yet. Right now I've only glued my arms (hands, forearms, biceps) so I'm definitly not an expert by any means, but this has been my experiance so far.

[TK-4935]

E6000 all the way for me. once you get passed the funk of the stuff (do not use it in your lid though, speaking from experience here. i glued in a hard hat liner with it then 3 days later did a two day troop and felt sick as hell, i'm now hooked and on 2 tubes a day [J/K]).

I went down the butted and stripped on all my limb pieces. the calves i can pull apart to put my leg in with my boots on and it holds fine.

i'm so confident in the stuff i would like to try the old overalls glued to a sheet of wood then hoisted up by crane with me in the overalls.

a new extreme sport. E6000 BUNGIE

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

4935, please forgive me if I'm not immediately enthusiastic to try E6000 bungee! I'm sure it's great fun.

 

Well, sorry about leaving this thread for so long, but I return at last!

 

I've been steadily working on my armor on and off for the last couple of months (mostly on weekends, which is why it's taking so long). So far I'm quite happy with the results -- I decided to go ahead and use the ABS cement to put everything together, and that has worked pretty well with only one minor incident (detailed below). I picked up the requisite several yards of elastic strapping, a pair of snaps pliers, and a whole boatload of snaps, and thus far I have the body part of the armor nearly done - I still need to add thigh supports, the drop boxes, and the belt (I'm thinking of going the canvas or maybe leather route), and finish tightening everything up so it fits really nicely. At the fabric store they also had this nice white elastic that I'm thinking of using with some snaps to connect the ab and back plates.

 

TomaXamoT, sadly I know firsthand that this is possible! One of the first things I glued was the shoulder bridges to the chest and back pieces, and I'm afraid I was a little overenthusiastic with the ABS cement - it melted through a bit, and some small wrinkles developed on the upper surface. Fortunately, you'd hardly notice them unless you looked up close, but it was a valuable lesson. I've been much more careful since.

 

I just recently started putting the helmet together, and that's also going pretty well so far. The toughest part seems to be getting those darned ears to fit on nicely! To help with that I cut a couple small pieces of ABS and drilled holes in them to line up with the holes in the helmet, put them on the outside, and inserted the screws through that from the inside. I got a few extra nuts to hold these in place, and then I put the ears on over the whole assembly. It seems to be a bit more stable that way, and giving the ears a snug fit is a little easier. Also, I tried installing the hard-hat liner, but after all my careful markings and thumb measurements, it wound up an inch too low and with no room for my glasses. So I tossed it and I'm going with the foam.

 

Actually, I've already ordered one of the gorgeous A.N.H.2 helmets from Kevin at www.imperialsurplus.com, but I'm still going to put a lot of effort into my FX helmet because really, who can be happy with just one bucket?

 

And to 2802 and 8020, I've finally gotten around to sending in a request to join the Garrison Titan forums. I know I was going to do that a long time ago, but then we had that nasty windstorm and the four days of no electricity that followed, and right after that it was a mad dash to finish up my much-delayed Christmas shopping, and right after that my winter quarter classes hit me like a ton of bricks, and so on...

 

 

And don't worry guys, I'll post some in-progress pics shortly. :-)

[Daetrin[Admin]]

And to 2802 and 8020, I've finally gotten around to sending in a request to join the Garrison Titan forums.

Good news. Don't forget to hop on the boards at www.garrisontitan.com - our screen names are the same there as here.

And don't worry guys, I'll post some in-progress pics shortly. :-)

That's expected, else you'll be buying the beers at the next event. ;-)

[TK8280]

Personally, i don't really care what I used on my FX suit, because well...its an FX suit

[Mr. Accident[501st]]

Good news. Don't forget to hop on the boards at www.garrisontitan.com - our screen names are the same there as here.

Definitely will do. Just waiting for my registration request to be approved.

 

That's expected, else you'll be buying the beers at the next event. ;-)

Heheh, well, as promised, here's a small batch of photos.

 

 

Here's an early shot of me just wearing the upper armor, mocked up with drafting tape. I just couldn't wait to put on the armor once I had it out of the box.

 

 

 

Here it's looking a lot closer, but still needs a lot of work. You'll notice I'm missing the right knee piece, the drop boxes and one ab button, and I'm just holding the belt in place there.

 

 

 

Here are the shoulder and bicep pieces, with snaps installed. The strap on the left is some non-stretchy nylon or polyester material, and the one on the right is a new one I'm making with elastic. The stretchy stuff really is better. Also, the one on the left was made a bit too short.

 

 

 

Here's the completed upper armor "shirt":

 

 

 

This part here is pretty incomplete. The suspenders are just the standard stretchy stuff that comes with the kit, attached with velcro - surprisingly, that seems to be working very well, but the rest of it needs to be more hold-togetherable. Specifically I still need to hold the back / ab armor together, and the crotch piece could use a lot more support than just those two flimsy straps.

 

 

 

The inside of the left shin piece; the knee plate is only temporarily held on with industrial velcro. My solution for getting the pieces to fit my calves was to run a single strip of ABS along the back with velcro on the inside, so from the back it basically looks like a more pronounced ridge.

 

 

 

A bit of a primitive weapon here, and definitely not standard Imperial issue, but it's better than nothing -- hopefully it will be sufficient to hold off the Rebel scum until I get my E-11! (Also still haven't put in that last ab button... I'll probably want to get/paint some that are color-accurate anyway...)

 

 

 

Here's the helmet in a state of semi-assembly. I just slapped the frown decal on there temporarily (and kinda sloppily, too) because I haven't got around to cutting / painting the frown yet.

 

 

 

This is a good picture of the ABS piece I'm using to hold the parts of the helmet together a bit more securely, making ear fitting easier:

 

 

 

 

This last picture's an extra: just wanted to show you guys how much snow we got last November:

 

 

I was at my parents' house for Thanksgiving, and I wound up getting snowed in. A quiet weekend with the family quickly turned into a weeklong adventure of shoveling and firewood-cutting. We wound up having to shovel two feet of snow off of the entire quarter-mile length of their driveway, just so I could drive back to Seattle.

 

 

I'll add more pictures as I near completion. Hopefully that should be relatively soon. Depends on how much my school schedule murders me this quarter. Hmm, that reminds me, I have a load of discrete math and computational theory homework I should be doing...