AP ANH Stunt Build

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Belt.

 

I don't think much is going to happen today. That job thing sometimes gets in the way of armour building.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Sean
more info

[m3tal_man84]

Looking really good Sean. Keep it up!

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[Steaditrooper[TK]]

So I did manage to get a little work done today. I made the snap for the Chest to Back connection. Right side, Back.

 

Glued in place.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Shoulder bell to Bicep elastic glued in.

 

I also glued the Biceps to Forearms with 2" Black elastic.

 

And yes, they are drying in a laundry hamper. Helps keep the cats away.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

My wife helped me with fitting the Chest to Back connection. Couldn't have determined the distance between the two pieces without a second set of hands. She really is quite patient with my Star Wars nerdiness. She actually encouraged me to cancel my Anovos order and order from AP. She said real armour beats theoretical armour any day. 

 

I also glued the left hand side Chest to Back 2" white elastic. I'll take pics tomorrow and post them. I will also get out the sewing machine to do some of what's left. That would be the Right shoulder 2" white elastic where the snap is installed. Only other thing I can think of that needs sewing would be the thigh straps. I sewed the belt they'll be attaching to a while back. I will take pics of that when the thighs are done and I actually see if it works for me.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I got out the sewing machine today and started with the white 2" elastic. It needed to be folded over about 3/4" and sewed in place. Easy enough. A snap got installed in this and the elastic was glued to the chest armour. I also hand stitched the snaps for connecting the shoulders.

 

Next was the 3/4" black elastic for the shoulders. Again, 3/4" fold and sew. Hand stitch the snap and glue into place on the shoulder.

 

While the machine was out I sewed a loop in the 3" black elastic for the thighs (x2). I also hand stitched the hooks for the calf closures. I ran out of the 3/4" white elastic and went out to get more. I found a better quality elastic and redid the 4 I had already finished. Totally worth it to do that now rather than later.

 

I also made the right side kidney to ab closure elastic and installed that too. No pics yet.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

The hand guards in the AP kit are silicone. You know what sticks to silicone? Nothing! E6000? Nope. Zap-A-Gap or any kind of CA glue? Think again. Well, thanks to other build threads on this forum, I found a product that worked for Darthanael. Thanks for the info! The Locktite Plastics Bonding System that was supposed to be delivered on Monday from Amazon just arrived...5 minutes ago! Excuse me. I've got some hand guards to glue up.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

It worked! Wow! Thanks again Darthanael for your frustration, trial and error. This is the kind of info one finds on this forum. My frustration was getting the best of me when I took the painter's tape off my gloves after I glued the hand guards with E6000 and they basically weren't attached at all. They just fell off. Then I tried Zap-A-Gap. Same thing. Then I searched the forum for 'attaching silicone hand guards' and stumbled upon Darthanael's build thread. You never know what little bit of information you post is going to really help someone complete their build. Keep posting everyone.

 

 

Clenched fist. Silicone bends with my knuckles.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Sean

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Glad to see you got it sorted out.

[Sly11[Admin]]

Hey Sean, keep up the good work

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Time to replace the lens that came with the AP kit. I can see my eyes through it so I need something darker. Suggestions?

 

I know trooperbay sells one. I'll go there if I have to but right now I'm looking for other options and suggestions on how dark to go. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Well, the first three hours of the day were dealing with MasterCard and my Anovos refund. Faxing 14 pages of correspondence for my dispute. Barf. No reason this should go this way.

 

Anyway, I got my right thigh measured and glued up. Awesome. Then there was a knock at the door. The two big clamps I was expecting next week arrived. Awesome again.

   Look at all the scrap ABS in that box!

 Trimming both sides of the thigh.

  Gluing up.

   Big honkin' clamp X2!  Gluing the kidney to Ab snap.

 My first tube of E6000 used up.

Right calf glued using the BHC! (Big Honkin' Clamp!)

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

My first fitting of the armour minus the legs. I already know what needs to change. Pretty happy though.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Looking good!

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

This morning I was working on the thighs. Sanding the edges and installing the ammo pack on the right thigh.

 Rough fit.

  A cap rivet on both side and a little white paint.

 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Rough fitting the thigh elastic, a bit of E6000 to each, some clamps and almost done. A little trimming of the return edge on the back when the glue is dry so It doesn't hurt when I walk.

  

 

Green tape marks the length to where it's glued inside the thigh. Now I wait.

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Sniper Knee. Oh sniper, how you challenge me. I've read on several build threads that the AP sniper knee is kinda hard to fit. It's true. I trimmed a bunch off the return edge at the bottom of the sniper knee and used my heat gun to somewhat reshape the angles of the sides. Rough fit, heat, bend, repeat. When my frustration started to get me down I moved on to another task.

 

Can't get it to sit level and follow the lines of the shin at the sides.

  

Angle doesn't match the shin.

 

After heating and reshaping I decided to remove the return edge.

 

This makes it much easier to shape and bend the knee to fit the shin. At this point I moved on to other things. Just for a little bit. Ok, for the day. I'll revisit the sniper knee tomorrow.

Edited December 9, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Alright, hooks and holes. Calf closures that is. 

First I needed to do a little heat gun bending so the two halves lined up a little better.

 

I marked the three hole positions. Bottom is 25mm from the bottom. Top is 25mm down from the return edge. Middle is half way between the two. All holes are centred 5mm from the edge.

 

I used a 1/8" drill bit for the holes and used my round needle file to bevel the edge so the hook could attach and detach. Without the bevel I couldn't get the hook in.

I marked the other half of the calf on the inside where the holes were in order to line up the hooks for gluing.

 

A little E6000...

 

Magnets are your friend. The hook is around 1/4" from the edge. This will give it a little stretch for a nice snug fit.

 

Glue is only on the back two inches of the elastic. 

 

Tomorrow I will be able to attach the rear 25mm cover strips and hopefully the sniper knee. Other than that I'm almost done. 

Edited December 9, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I was able to glue the 25mm cover strips on the calves. The bra hook elastic was dry enough that I wasn't going to harm it by adding the strips. The only thing I have left to do for basic 501st approval is attach the sniper knee.

 

Everything else I want to do is only for me. The S shaped neck trim was ordered from Trooperbay and has been shipped. That's for Centurion approval. I have my under suit. I received the neck seal from Darman a few weeks ago. Thanks. It's perfect. Great price for a custom made costume accessory. The boots came from TK Boots. Really great. I'm sorry to hear they won't be doing this any more. Thanks for your commitment to making great quality, screen accurate boots. I have wide feet and they fit really well. I've been wearing them around the house to wear them in. I've got an Aker amp and the Trooper Talk Ap. It sounds great. I got my E-11 blaster from QuestDesignCanada off of Etsy. I made a few mods and I know there are a few more I want to make but I'm pretty sure it is good for Centurion. The brackets for putting the armour together I first saw on YouTube. TK1636 has so many great vids for armour construction and mods. I made them myself and sewed the elastic straps to join everything. Silicone hand guard glue info came from Darthanael. Oh my gosh. This was my biggest concern, but thanks to this forum I was able to find the answer. A big thanks to Ukswrath for all his vids and build threads. I think I've learned more from him than anyone.

 

I feel confident that my TK ANH Stunt will meet Centurion approval. Up until a few weeks ago I didn't even know what that meant. Stunt? Um...huh? Centurion...What? I really made a huge effort to complete my TK as quickly as possible but I really don't think I cut any corners. I'm self employed and have had the privilege of being able to drop everything to do this. I have a supportive wife who sees my nerdy hobbies as endearing. My kids think this is both cool and kinda weird. What more could anyone ask for?

 

Tomorrow is a big day for me. Tomorrow I complete a lifelong dream, since 1977 at least, to be a Stormtrooper. The best character in my opinion, in the Star Wars universe. What an amazing group of people here on FISD... worldwide. Wow. Just wow.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by Sean

[TheSwede[TK]]

Very well spoken and I coulden`t agree more Look forward seeing you kitted up

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Yesterday I struggled with the sniper knee. Hot water baths to try to shape it and I removed the entire return edge on the bottom. I finally glued it up last night and am waiting for it to dry. It sits at a small angle but that was expected. It is, however way better than before.

 

My calf closures are a different matter. The rear 25mm cover strips are quite thick and as a result have somewhat straightened the calf and now I have a big ugly gap. I've ordered, from Amazon, a better heat gun with adjustable temp control to try to rectify this. It comes tomorrow. If I can't get it to work I will have to go with a velcro closure. That would be fine, I was just really trying for screen accurate. The hooks work really well. It's just that darned gap. One of the contributing factors is the size of my calves. They are 16 1/2" around. The armour is 17 1/2". Any smaller and they will be too tight to wear. They are already snug. My calves push out the back of the armour in a way that it doesn't want to sit. Heat gun!

 

Hopefully this will be done tomorrow and then I submit my application to the 501st!

[TheSwede[TK]]

Hope you get it to work, screen accuracy is the way to go

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Yep, a little more effort is worth it to have a nicer end result. We are here to help as well.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

3 hours ago, Sean said:

Yesterday I struggled with the sniper knee. Hot water baths to try to shape it and I removed the entire return edge on the bottom. I finally glued it up last night and am waiting for it to dry. It sits at a small angle but that was expected. It is, however way better than before.

 

My calf closures are a different matter. The rear 25mm cover strips are quite thick and as a result have somewhat straightened the calf and now I have a big ugly gap. I've ordered, from Amazon, a better heat gun with adjustable temp control to try to rectify this. It comes tomorrow. If I can't get it to work I will have to go with a velcro closure. That would be fine, I was just really trying for screen accurate. The hooks work really well. It's just that darned gap. One of the contributing factors is the size of my calves. They are 16 1/2" around. The armour is 17 1/2". Any smaller and they will be too tight to wear. They are already snug. My calves push out the back of the armour in a way that it doesn't want to sit. Heat gun!

 

Hopefully this will be done tomorrow and then I submit my application to the 501st!

Some photos would be great, Sean.  If there are any issues you have a lot of folks here that can help.  Not only that, but those issues can help out others who may be in the same situation.  Best of luck on your 501st submission!

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

5 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

Some photos would be great, Sean.  If there are any issues you have a lot of folks here that can help.  Not only that, but those issues can help out others who may be in the same situation.  Best of luck on your 501st submission!

I will post photos tomorrow.