AP ANH Stunt Build

[wook1138[TK]]

1 hour ago, Sean said:

I had an amazing first troop. I'm in this for the charity, first and foremost. Friends, a close second. The charity was great. 5 Bad Guys Did Good today and I have 4 new friends. Great guys who really made me feel welcome in my new garrison. Thanks David, Brad, Andrew and Dan. I learned a bunch and had fun. Thanks Dan, TK-2759, for the cotton gloves to wear beneath my rubber gloves. Really made it easy to get my hands out after the troop and not have dish pan hands. And for straightening my drop box after that little girl hugged my leg. Thanks Brad, TK-21814 AKA 68Brick, for the advise on foam for fixing my thigh to make me look better. And thanks to each of the guys who asked me several times, knowing it was my first troop, if I was doing ok. Safety, really important. We shared stories and hugs after the troop. Again, amazing first troop.

Everything you said in that paragraph is awesome. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

It only gets better from here

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I know this won't happen until the new year but my EIB request is in. This has been such a great experience. I can't believe the top two items on my bucket list have happened. Stormtrooper armour and I'm in the 501st. 

Edited December 23, 2017 by Sean

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Sweet!

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Merry Christmas to all the troops that celebrate! Big shout out to QuartZ's and the great thread they are doing. Amazing 3D printed parts for their TK bracket install.

 

So, what better way to spend Christmas Eve day than to rough in my bucket electronics.

Fans. I found that the fan on the right makes it hard for me to put on the bucket. I need to twist the fan clockwise and direct the airflow away from the eyes in order to keep it in the helmet. Otherwise the output vent of the fan prevents me from twisting the helmet into place on my head when putting it on. The wires are not secured yet.

 

Hearing assist. This is one of those things I was told I might not need. I have discovered with the noise of the fans, albeit really quiet, they do hinder my ability to hear people. I purchased a couple Velleman kits from Amazon and soldered them up. Only took a little over an hour to do one. Kinda fun and really not hard at all with my complete lack of electronics know how. I drilled the appropriate sized holes in my helmet to accommodate the mics behind the ear pieces. I will need to drill small holes in the painted ear bump so the mics can 'hear'. The speakers/headphones I also got from Amazon. The volume control to the right of the photo is accessible for a gloved finger. They come with adhesive Velcro and were easy to put in place. The circuit board in the middle of the photo needs to be turned on before I put the bucket on. The battery box, also from Amazon (I bought two so I can change them out quickly), was modified with the same kind of connector I used on the hearing assist. It also has an on/off switch. Again, Velcro to attach. 

 

I think most of the wires will be hidden behind padding. Everything is temporary right now and will be changed as needed. 

Soldered switches.

 

Holes for mics.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I'm pretty sure now that my armour will be an ever evolving thing. I have lock nuts ordered for my strapping brackets. When they are in I will countersink the screw heads, install re-enforcing strips and replace the normal nuts with the new ones. I need to install something in the chest to hold my Aker amp and iPhone with TrooperTalk with an external battery for my phone. I learned from TK-2759, Dan, that a plastic bag for one's phone is a good idea to prevent it from getting wet from sweat. New, shorter straps for my kidney to ab connection will be needed and I will need to loose my Christmas weight.  I know now that I could have left an extra 1/4" on my kidney plate for my girth. Frankly, it will be easier to loose the weight than to add a shim. This won't be hard with my job starting up again at the end of January. Very physical. No need for a gym membership when I'm working. The elastic strapping from my right chest to back will need to be redone and the ribbed cover strap will need to be curved a little more to sit nice and flush on my shoulder. I have another troop booked before the end of the year and another one for January 21. I'm so looking forward to meeting more people in my garrison and being able to contribute to the community.

 

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays everyone!

 

Sean TK-19165

[Harbinger[IPM]]

You're probably right. I've been tweaking my armor after every troop (fitment issues, things breaking, etc.) and this is after EI/Centurion. Plus, I keep finding things to put on the to-do list like painting the helmet interior black, electronics, a second blaster... It never ends.

[TheSwede[TK]]

Happy holidays

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

This is how I feel after Christmas dinner.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

While showing my brother-in-law my TK yesterday I noticed something that's been on my mind recently and have decided to deal with it before my next troop this Saturday. Shoulder straps. While visiting wook1138's build thread, 68Brick asked him "...did you fill the back of the first bump on the straps with abs scraps?" Well, here's what I saw yesterday on my armour.

I can see the strap coming away from the chest.

 

That came off a little too easily.

 

This part is bevelled and I realized I would need to build it up from behind, otherwise there would hardly be any surface area for the glue to adhere to.

 

The same was true for these as well. Double layers.

 

First layer glued in.

 

And here it all is clamped in place. I'll let this dry for several hours today while I go see TLJ with my oldest friend, and then glue it back on the chest. I also noticed in some pics that where this strap meets my back it doesn't sit nice and flush. Now I will be able to put more of a curve into it, fixing this annoyance.

Edited December 26, 2017 by Sean

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

As well as re-glueing the cover strap and reshaping it, I've decided to clean up and remake the 2" elastic for the right chest to back closure. It was just a little too long and I wasn't happy with a modification I made to it earlier.

 

Placing the sew on snap. The elastic is only about 3/8" shorter. 

 

All stitched and ready to go.

 

This should help create less gap between my back and back armour by pulling it slightly toward my body. I will need to put a little more of a curve in the back where the cover strap rests to help with this too. I'm just going to keep tweaking my armour until I'm happy with the fit.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

That’s the spirit!

[FencingCorvetteTrooper[TK]]

On 12/26/2017 at 7:57 AM, Sean said:

While showing my brother-in-law my TK yesterday I noticed something that's been on my mind recently and have decided to deal with it before my next troop this Saturday. Shoulder straps. While visiting wook1138's build thread, 68Brick asked him "...did you fill the back of the first bump on the straps with abs scraps?" Well, here's what I saw yesterday on my armour.

I can see the strap coming away from the chest.

 

That came off a little too easily.

 

This part is bevelled and I realized I would need to build it up from behind, otherwise there would hardly be any surface area for the glue to adhere to.

 

The same was true for these as well. Double layers.

 

First layer glued in.

 

And here it all is clamped in place. I'll let this dry for several hours today while I go see TLJ with my oldest friend, and then glue it back on the chest. I also noticed in some pics that where this strap meets my back it doesn't sit nice and flush. Now I will be able to put more of a curve into it, fixing this annoyance.

 

First - congrats on a beautiful build!  We love our AP armor.  Great adjustment with the shoulder straps as we did the same thing with our builds; 5 TK troops in and so far they are holding on strong using this technique. 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Yesterday I glued the cover strap back on my chest plate and glued in the new elastic. I went to take a couple pics with my phone and got a message that my memory was full. I spent an hour deleting pics in order to gain more room. 

 

So, two things today.

 

First, I took the clamps off the chest to back strap. I re-curved the strap and it sits way better. Pics to follow.

Lots of glue to clean up. That's ok. I used way too much but I know it isn't going to budge. Clean up is simple with E6000. I also found out that E6000 is different in Canada for some reason. It is way less stinky. Don't know why but it's true. I have never had a problem with fumes during my build. I took precautions but found they were not needed after the first few times I used it. Anyway...

 

Second thing. My S-Trim arrived from Trooperbay! Sweet.

It was way harder to put on than I expected. I should have waited for it to warm up a bit but I was too excited. It's -27C (-16F) in Toronto today and it sat in the mailbox overnight. Now I have everything I need for my Centurion application. 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I had my second troop yesterday as well as an event in the morning where I was learning to handle. I would highly recommend this to all troopers. It gave me great insight as what to look for and be aware of while in costume. Things can go wrong really quickly and I was able to help a TK from falling over. 

 

The troop was great. About 3 1/2 hours suited up. Fans in helmet a must for me. One of my drop boxes started coming apart. I has white duct tape in my box so I was able to do a quick field repair. On inspection when I got home I found I hadn't used enough E6000. You can never use too much E6000. Simple fix with lots of glue and a couple clamps. I also know of some more tweaks I need to do to the armour for comfort. I got loads of help and advise from 501st members in the change room while suiting up. Great people, great time.

[wook1138[TK]]

On 12/28/2017 at 1:13 PM, Sean said:

Don't know why but it's true. I have never had a problem with fumes during my build. I took precautions but found they were not needed after the first few times I used it.

I'm glad to hear you thought the same thing.  I just assumed a lifetime of exposure to questionable chemicals had rendered my sense of smell useless. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

I use a respirator, just to be on the safe side. Especially with bondo or spray paint.

 

EDIT - Happy New Year. 2018 made all the forum timestamps weird. Hah!

Edited January 1, 2018 by Harbinger

[batmanmike]

Sean-I am far behind you in my AP build, but I will say this thread we very helpful. I learned about the silicon hand glue problem, and to fill my shoulder covers before I install them. THANK YOU! Hope to be close to submission by end of Jan. 

r/Mike

[68Brick[TK]]

Great pics of the shoulder straps Sean. They won't budge now! Good Luck on your EIB submission!

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I spent New Year's morning watching Star Wars, what else? Wow. It's amazing what you see with new eyes. Being immersed in armour for the last month and a bit has really made me notice things that were invisible to me before. Gaps, duct tape, inconsistencies between troopers's armour etc. Having done a couple of troops now I also know things that need changing on my own armour.

 

New tighter elastic in the shoulders to hold them to the biceps better.

Shorter straps between the biceps and shoulders to keep the bicep from popping out.

More reshaping of my back to chest connection on the right side so it sits even flatter to the armour.

More padding in the helmet to make it sit better and be more comfortable.

Tighter compression pants. Current ones are too baggy. Even after throwing them in the dryer.

New thinner amp in the chest (Aker 1505 is too thick with the belt clip on the back) with access to the volume control while wearing the suit. 

 

Will this ever end? Probably not, and that's ok. 

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

11 hours ago, batmanmike said:

Sean-I am far behind you in my AP build, but I will say this thread we very helpful. I learned about the silicon hand glue problem, and to fill my shoulder covers before I install them. THANK YOU! Hope to be close to submission by end of Jan. 

r/Mike

Thanks Mike. Be sure to check out wook1138's AP build thread too. Great build and info.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Ok. I got at it a little. One thing that wasn't on my ever growing list was to install inner cover strips on the shins. The amount I stress the shins opening them up every time I put them on had me worried.

Glued in place with ample E6000.

 

Shoulder bells.

Before.

 

After. Wider elastic (1") and tighter.

 

If you look closely at the top edges of the bell you can see some discolouration. This is from my compression top. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser really helps clean this up. I was told about not keeping my black things against the white armour while not in use. If it sits in my armour bin for any amount of time, I put it in a white plastic bag. Gloves, neck seal, balaclava or under suit.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

While waiting for my lock nuts to arrive (Amazon) I decided to go ahead and make the reenforcing strips for my armour. When the glue dries I will countersink the holes so the screws sit a little flatter on the outside.

 

I taped each of the brackets close to the spot where they go. Because I made the brackets myself there are variances between them and I didn't want them to get mixed up.

 

I love these magnets. I used E6000. I could have used CA glue but I've grown to like E6000 and how flexible and forgiving it is. Totally worth the dry time wait.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

I blame Greg and Daniel. Peer pressure. I just couldn't take it any more. I can't believe I let you two talk me into this.

 

Something I've been thinking about for a while now.

Yup. Painting time!

 

The stickers come off easily enough but now I'm committed.

 

First one.

 

And the second one.

 

A little clean up with a toothpick when this dries and the grey goes on.

 

I guess I'll need to keep these for reference when I hand paint the stripes with no stencils. I just hope I can get this done before my troop on Thursday.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Sean

[wook1138[TK]]

You are a truly dedicated trooper, Sean.


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