Scimitar's ANH Stunt Build - AP

[wook1138[TK]]

I love the Post’s Parts List idea. Your OCD is commendable. 

 

looking great!  

[Scimitar[TK]]

Thanks! Going to try to keep that feature going on the posts that need it. My OCD will be why this build takes longer than it should. lol

[Pyrates[TK]]

Fist bump to the OCD mate - your attention to detail will pay off !


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[Scimitar[TK]]

Well, it's been a while... Some family stuff took away most of my time to mess with my kit, but I still was fiddling with some things when I had any spare moments. I did get to go out with the Georgia Garrison to the May 4th Braves game, while I had originally hoped to troop that event I obviously was not done with my armor. So I volunteered as a photographer instead. A handful shots below and the rest HERE  if anyone wants to look through them. It was a great time and it really got me itching to work on my own armor again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

So things are still a bit hectic but I'm sneaking in work whenever I can, trimming the armor pieces and working on outfitting my helmet with all of the electronics. I was getting some whine in the Hearing Assist that I got from Ukswrath that I could not get to go away and I narrowed it down to the USB battery packs I was using, but Tony and I got to talking and I ended up upgrading my electronics to his newest version. So now the Hearing Assist is powered by the speaker amp (yay for one less battery pack in the helmet!) and there's no more whining (me or the hearing assist).

 

I wrapped up the helmet tonight and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Everything is contained in the helmet, so I won't have to run any wires outside of it and my big ol' noggin still fits inside too. That's dual fans & battery pack, hovi-tip speakers, I-comm, amp, and the hearing assist. Plus padding. I obviously don't have to state how quickly room runs out but it was fun working out how to get everything in there. The helmet now only goes on one way, but once it's on it is comfortable and somehow nothing is rubbing on me.

 

I only used 4 helmet pads: one at my forehead, one on each side at about a 45 degree angle, and one at the rear at the base of my skull. The placement worked out very well, the helmet moves with my head and I can look up, down, and side to side without it moving away on its own. The soft side Velcro at the very top is just to provide a little extra friction against the top of my head, it helps keep the helmet still.

 

Helmet outside:

 

 

Inside:

 

 

I glued each component on some scrap ABS as a mounting bracket/surface and used the ear screws as main mounting points. For the brackets that go up, I backed them with industrial Velcro to support the weight and to keep them from flopping down.

 

 

 

And for the front, I installed the frown mesh with glue and then hot glued some fine fabric over the mesh to keep people from seeing inside, I'm not sure if I'll use a balaclava or not yet. I painted the dried glue flat back to clean it up some and then I used Velcro to mount my microphone in place.  And obviously the accurate S-trim is already in place, that actually went on a lot easier than I expected based on what others have posted. lol

 

 

And that's about it for where I am now. Now it's on to finishing the trimming of the rest of the armor pieces (one shoulder, biceps, forearms, and a couple leg pieces) and then it will be time for fitting and gluing and all that other fun stuff.

 

Parts list from this post:

Ukswrath Cooling Fan Kit

Ukswrath TK Hovi Audio System

Ukswrath SHA (Hearing Assist)

US Army ACH/MICH Helmet Pad Set ( Link ) - From this I only used the 3/4" Oblong Pads

Edited July 6, 2018 by Scimitar

[Pretzel]

wow. Your helmet work makes me want to re-do everything about mine. This is a compliment. Impressive work. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Great photos and awesome looking helmet - well done 

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 7/6/2018 at 8:01 AM, Pretzel said:

wow. Your helmet work makes me want to re-do everything about mine. This is a compliment. Impressive work. 

Thank you so much!!

 

On 7/6/2018 at 9:55 AM, TheSwede said:

Great photos and awesome looking helmet - well done 

Thanks!

 

------------------------

 

Today I finished the rough pre-trimming of the armor bits, it was nice to get that out of the way! At the beginning I sort of wished I had asked about buying a pre-trimmed kit, but my confidence level with this project has improved a LOT after just doing what I've done so far with the armor and helmet.

 

Next I plan on starting with fitting the arms like most people do and then do the fine trimming & finishing as I work on each bit.

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Scimitar

[TheSwede[TK]]

4 hours ago, Scimitar said:

do the fine trimming & finishing as I work on each bit.

Now the real fun begins I would suggest that you see how the parts work together (thighs to shins, shins to boots, thighs to cod/ab, bicep to forearms, being able to bend your arm putting on/removing the helmet) and how they look (size-wise) in relation to each other before any permanent cuts is made

[Scimitar[TK]]

7 hours ago, TheSwede said:

Now the real fun begins I would suggest that you see how the parts work together (thighs to shins, shins to boots, thighs to cod/ab, bicep to forearms, being able to bend your arm putting on/removing the helmet) and how they look (size-wise) in relation to each other before any permanent cuts is made

Thanks for the advice! That's what I had in mind, so it's good to know I'm on the right path.

[68Brick[TK]]

Beautiful Bucket! Nice Work! 

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 7/23/2018 at 3:21 PM, 68Brick said:

Beautiful Bucket! Nice Work! 

Thank you!

 

----------------------------

 

Tonight I started on the first forearm. Trimming for 15mm cover strips ended up being just right, just enough space to get my hand through and get the glove tucked back into the armor. I removed the return edge from the front as needed for Centurion approval but based on pictures from other AP build threads (mostly pre-trimmed kits) I also removed the return edge from the rear. I did try leaving a little bit at first to add some depth but it dug into my arm some, so away it went.

 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to make some inner and outer cover strips and start gluing.

 

 

 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Great to see you had some time to start on the limbs, looks like you are on the right path to success.

[Scimitar[TK]]

15 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Great to see you had some time to start on the limbs, looks like you are on the right path to success.

Thanks! I didn't realize you have an AP kit as well (missed that detail somehow), so I read your build thread earlier today. Got some good notes out of it!

 

-------------------------

 

Didn't quite have as much time as I had hoped this evening, so I only got to play with one cover strip. But that's ok, got the gist of cutting them straight (went ahead and cut all four for the forearms), figuring out which side is "up", and finding that I probably used too much glue. But it's clamped and curing, so we'll see how it turns out and go from there! Like others before me, I see a lot of glue scraping in my future. lol

 

Top:

 

 

Bottom, scuffed and center marked:

 

 

Glued and clamped (maybe overkill on the clamps?):

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Scimitar

[wook1138[TK]]

1 hour ago, Scimitar said:

Glued and clamped (maybe overkill on the clamps?):

 

This would make for a great profile pic.  Plastic, tape, E6000, knife, and a sh!tload of clamps. All the important elements.

 

Looking good!

[Scimitar[TK]]

8 hours ago, wook1138 said:

This would make for a great profile pic.  Plastic, tape, E6000, knife, and a sh!tload of clamps. All the important elements.

 

Looking good!

You make a good point.

 

Thanks!

[Scimitar[TK]]

So the first half of the forearm cover strip dried great, the excess peeled away pretty easily (beginner's luck I'm sure), so I joined the two arm pieces together on Thursday night. That went fine as well so last night I went ahead and glued in an inner strip for reinforcement, so that's clamped with magnets and curing. Next will obviously be gluing on the second cover strip.

 

Today I cut out and trimmed the shoulder straps, removing the rear large tab and one small tab. I'll be cutting up some scrap to fill in the first handful of recesses as others have done for gluing purposes. I also trimmed and rounded off the lower corners of the thigh ammo belt.

 

And then I attacked the first bicep, it's trimmed for 15mm cover strips just like the forearm and it's snug when I bend my arm, so all is well there. I've got to make the cover strips for it and then I'll be gluing it up too. Starting to feel like I'm making good progress this week as pieces disappear from the laid out pile on the floor that I posted last Sunday.

 

That's it for today, I'm hoping tomorrow that I'll be able to get a decent amount of work done as I'll have the day to myself.

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

I feel like I made some decent progress with the time that I got today. First I peeled off the excess glue from the forearm inner strip and then glued on the next cover strip, the cover strip wanted to shift a bit when clamped so I used some tape to anchor/pull it back into its proper position. I also cut out and glued on both bicep cover strips and have some inner strips lined up & ready to go when it's time for them.

 

 

Then I did some fine trimming to the first shoulder bell:

 

 

I went ahead and cleaned up the sniper plate too:

 

 

And then I trimmed up the pieces & pipe for the thermal detonator and mocked it up (need to go buy some gray spray paint now to finish it off):

 

 

Clocks in at exactly 7 1/4" (184mm) long, which matches the reference picture I was using (borrowed from Wook's build thread):

 

 

 

I thought I'd share my method of trimming the end caps but I forgot to take a picture while I was doing this. Basically the rough trimmed edges were not even, so I clamped a pencil so the tip was 3/4" (19mm) off my work surface and laid the cap on its finished end and spun it, while applying light pressure against the pencil to make the mark all the way around. A good, strong clamp will ensure that the pencil doesn't move as you work. Like so:

 

 

 

I finished off the evening by beginning to fine trim the back plate, got about half of it done before I finally decided to call it and get some rest before work tomorrow.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Scimitar

[TheSwede[TK]]

Nice work

[Scimitar[TK]]

Tonight I got ambitious and glued both sides of the bicep together at the same time, fortunately it worked out well.

 

 

I was about to move on to gluing the forearm closed and realized I'm out of taped up magnets, but I can't find my second roll of magnets anywhere to make more. I've been keeping all my supplies together, boxed, and pretty well organized, but those have mysteriously disappeared (and they're not randomly stuck to anything, lol). So I'll be ordering more, then the others will probably show up somewhere...

 

So I moved on to taping & priming the Thermal Detonator:

 

 

I still had some time left to work tonight, so I did some fine trimming on the torso armor pieces. I left excess where needed for sizing, like on the sides of the kidney and ab, but they're all basically ready to go now.

 

 

 

 

 

So next I'll work on assembling the left arm pieces and then move on to the legs. Or I may start strapping the torso together before the legs and then do the legs after that to ensure a good fit/trim at the top of the thighs. Haven't decided which way to go yet, input is obviously welcome.

 

[wook1138[TK]]

8 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Or I may start strapping the torso together before the legs and then do the legs after that to ensure a good fit/trim at the top of the thighs. Haven't decided which way to go yet, input is obviously welcome.

Doesn't really matter.  The thighs are easy to trim after the fact - especially if you remove the upper return edge (which I recommend).  It seems it all fits a little different once you get the strapping in - so some adjustments are going to happen regardless. 

[Scimitar[TK]]

On 7/31/2018 at 8:45 AM, wook1138 said:

Doesn't really matter.  The thighs are easy to trim after the fact - especially if you remove the upper return edge (which I recommend).  It seems it all fits a little different once you get the strapping in - so some adjustments are going to happen regardless. 

Appreciate the input! Removing the upper return edge on the thighs was always the plan, I think that was one of the first line items I wrote in my notes after seeing it advised so many times. lol

-------------------------

A little update, both the first forearm and bicep are completely assembled with cover strips and inner strips. Now on to the next arm!

 

Question: Is it required to trim down the cover strips between the points where the arm halves didn't line up? The reference picture for the bicep in the CRL shows untrimmed cover strips & there's no mention of it, so I'm guessing it's not required, yet all of the reference photos I've saved from build threads over the last few months have them trimmed at those spots. So I'm assuming it's to prevent the strips from digging into your arm at those points, especially on the top side of the forearm.

 

I also painted the TD & popped on the end caps (not glued yet) to make sure I masked it off properly. I'll start assembling that once I get the next arm pieces glued up.

 

[wook1138[TK]]

51 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

Question: Is it required to trim down the cover strips between the points where the arm halves didn't line up? The reference picture for the bicep in the CRL shows untrimmed cover strips & there's no mention of it, so I'm guessing it's not required, yet all of the reference photos I've saved from build threads over the last few months have them trimmed at those spots. So I'm assuming it's to prevent the strips from digging into your arm at those points, especially on the top side of the forearm. 

I was told to trim it, so I did.  There are examples of the coverstrip being trimmed in this fashion on the RS suit as well.  So - I don't think you have to, but I would recommend it as a comfort and durability item (it can get caught on things). 

[Scimitar[TK]]

8 hours ago, wook1138 said:

I was told to trim it, so I did.  There are examples of the coverstrip being trimmed in this fashion on the RS suit as well.  So - I don't think you have to, but I would recommend it as a comfort and durability item (it can get caught on things). 

Makes perfect sense to me, trimmed down it is. Thanks!

[Xanthais]

As someone new and about to start their first build, I feel it incumbent upon me to paraphrase our glorious Emperor: "I will be watching this thread with great interest."