Scimitar's ANH Stunt Build - AP

[Cricket[TK]]

On 9/3/2018 at 12:15 AM, Scimitar said:

And I borrowed an idea from Cricket and reinforced my shoulder straps. Basically I filled all of the ridges with scrap plastic and then glued in a metal strap (K&S 0.028" x 1" W x 12" L (cut to length)). Once that's dried and the excess glue removed I'll be gluing on a very thin plastic cover on each strap.

 

 

 

 

And I found that idea from someone else here on the FISD.    I just can't remember where I saw it!  

You did a lot more than I did to reinforce those straps by adding the extra ABS pieces in the divots.  I just filled everything with e6000 and prayed it would work.    Nice job!

[CableGuy[TK]]

I really like the way you’re documenting this build, Eric. Keep up the good work. :-)

[Scimitar[TK]]

11 hours ago, Cricket said:

 

And I found that idea from someone else here on the FISD.    I just can't remember where I saw it!  

You did a lot more than I did to reinforce those straps by adding the extra ABS pieces in the divots.  I just filled everything with e6000 and prayed it would work.    Nice job!

It's definitely a good idea! Thanks Christine!!

 

9 hours ago, CableGuy said:

I really like the way you’re documenting this build, Eric. Keep up the good work. :-)

Thanks Dan! I'm trying to be thorough. Sometimes I get so focused on the work I forget to stop and take pictures. Or look around and see that everyone is leaving the armor party but me. LOL

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

So I revisited the left side ab/kidney connection tonight. It was driving me nuts and I didn't want to work on anything else until it was fixed. Here's what happened when I connected the cod/posterior strap:

 

 

I tried a few different things tonight to see if I could fix the overlap, most of the solutions I didn't like for one reason or another. Ultimately I ended up using a piece of ABS between the lowest snaps to even things out. I'm obviously not sure yet of the longevity of this solution, however, everything is still very flexible (even the plastic strap), the armor isn't stressed and can still move "around" it, I can get in and out of this portion without issue, yet the gap remains the fixed. I think worst case scenario it might pull one of the nylon plates up, and that can just be glued back down.

 

 

About a 1mm gap all the way down now as it sits. I threw on my belt and the gap closed up nicely even with the plastic strap in place.

 

 

My trial and error straps, the working length ended up being 59mm. Fortunately I still had those crappy snaps to do the trial and error portion with so I didn't waste any of the good snaps.

 

 

And here's one of the reinforced shoulder bridges all done, I threw some white paint on the exposed bit of metal at the back just to hide it. The cover slid over a little but not badly enough to mess anything up. This thing is insanely solid now and should glue down to the chest well with the flat surface area.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Scimitar

[Scimitar[TK]]

Went ahead and attached a good length of elastic strapping to the chest piece to prepare for sizing it to the back. I'm officially out of good snaps so I'll have to wait for my order to arrive before continuing that step, that should be tomorrow though.

 

 

Something else I picked up from Christine was at the armor party, I watched her setting some snaps in elastic and she was using ABS sandwiched where the elastic was doubled over for reinforcement. Definitely seems smart for a junction like this, so in some ABS went. Now pulling this apart pulls against the plastic rather than the elastic.

 

 

[LTM[TK]]

7 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Went ahead and attached a good length of elastic strapping to the chest piece to prepare for sizing it to the back. I'm officially out of good snaps so I'll have to wait for my order to arrive before continuing that step, that should be tomorrow though.

 

 

 

Something else I picked up from Christine was at the armor party, I watched her setting some snaps in elastic and she was using ABS sandwiched where the elastic was doubled over for reinforcement. Definitely seems smart for a junction like this, so in some ABS went. Now pulling this apart pulls against the plastic rather than the elastic.

 

 

 

Hey Eric,

 

That was a great idea and should help with long term usage. I am going one step further and sewing the end of the elastic to stop fraying or wear/tear. Basically encapsulating the plastic.

By the way, great build log!

Edited September 5, 2018 by LTM

[Cricket[TK]]

7 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Something else I picked up from Christine was at the armor party, I watched her setting some snaps in elastic and she was using ABS sandwiched where the elastic was doubled over for reinforcement. Definitely seems smart for a junction like this, so in some ABS went. Now pulling this apart pulls against the plastic rather than the elastic.

 

 

 

Like Lou mentioned, you can sew the end of the elastic closed.  Or if you're lazy like me, you can just run a lighter quickly over the ends of the elastic.  It will melt the elastic just enough to prevent any fraying issues.  I've never had any elastics that have been 'sealed' like that fray apart on me.   

[Scimitar[TK]]

11 minutes ago, LTM said:

Hey Eric,

 

That was a great idea and should help with long term usage. I am going one step further and sewing the end of the elastic to stop fraying or wear/tear. Basically encapsulating the plastic.

By the way, great build log!

Even better! I don't have ready access to a sewing machine or I would definitely do the same, might sound lazy but I don't want to hand sew the ends. lol So I'm just hitting them with my soldering iron to prevent any fraying and hoping for the best on the wear/tear aspect.

Thanks Lou!

 

7 minutes ago, Cricket said:

Like Lou mentioned, you can sew the end of the elastic closed.  Or if you're lazy like me, you can just run a lighter quickly over the ends of the elastic.  It will melt the elastic just enough to prevent any fraying issues.  I've never had any elastics that have been 'sealed' like that fray apart on me.   

Yep, I'm using my soldering iron to seal the ends of all of the straps I'm using, thus the lack of lighter burn in the picture above.

[Scimitar[TK]]

The correct snaps showed up today, that was a relief. So I finished making nylon snap plates for the chest-to-ab and back-to-kidney connections and glued them in place. I need to get some 2" wide black elastic for a couple connections where a little more flexibility seems to be desired based on what I've read (center back-to-kidney connection & chest-to-ab). Once that's all connected all that's left for strapping is connecting the chest/back, the arms/shoulder bells, and gluing snap plates in the thighs for the garter system.

 

The shoulder bridge reinforcements are done, I test fit them against the chest and they still look good even with the slight added thickness, proper clamping when I glue them on will make a difference for sure. And the metal strap helps shape the bridges any more as needed.

 

And I began to work on the shin closures. I got the inner strips cut to length and measured for magnet placement. Next I'll drill those out, use them as templates, and begin cutting holes in the backs of the shins.

 

[Scimitar[TK]]

I had to remake one of the inner shin strips, I accidentally tore one of them up drilling one of the 1/2" holes. No worries though, made the replacement today and got them installed. Used some rolled up packing paper to separate the two sides as the opposing side wanted to push the strip in.

 

 

Got the thigh ammo pack installed:

 

 

Painted the rivet heads white and added some glue to keep the pack in place. When I was shooting pictures in May, one thing I noticed (and helped fix when I could) was that the ammo pack had a tendency to fall down if not secured somehow.

 

 

And got my bicep strap hooks made (and installed, not pictured):

 

 

The torso is also completely strapped together and I tried it on, the fit is good! I need to take some good pictures of that at some point. The only thing that I noticed was that I need to give the upper shoulder tabs of the back plate a hot bath to make them curve down towards my shoulders. I also need to add some sort of padding to the snap heads up front, they push into my collar bones a bit.

[Scimitar[TK]]

Got to work on the shins over the weekend. Using the magnets for this project, I made outlines on the top side of the shins for cutting guidance:

 

 

Cut those out with a small sanding drum on the Dremel and taped the two halves together in preparation for the next step:

 

 

More cutting outlines:

 

 

All cut and ready for the cover strip:

 

 

Cover strip installed on the right shin only at this point, will install the left shin cover strip tonight:

 

 

Also glued in the strap for my shoulder bells:

 

 

On 9/1/2018 at 10:02 AM, Daetrin said:

Wow, that's pretty nifty.  Do you have a pix of this on your kit?  Maybe I'm on the skinny side, but I've also used strategically placed foam to get the look right.  With the tab does it still give you flex when you bend/turn?

Here you go, using @gmrhodes13 idea, I made one to keep the right side of my posterior from sinking under the kidney:

 

[Cricket[TK]]

Those shins look great!  See, it's not so scary to make holes in them, right?     Keep up the good work!

[Scimitar[TK]]

4 minutes ago, Cricket said:

Those shins look great!  See, it's not so scary to make holes in them, right?     Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Nope, not even in the slightest. I did forget to order a heat donor magnet when I ordered the magnets for this particular project, but I have an idea on how to make the little covers without sacrificing a magnet, going to mess with that tonight too hopefully.

[Cricket[TK]]

6 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

Thanks! Nope, not even in the slightest.  

 

You were braver than I was, then.  I was terrified!!!!  

[Scimitar[TK]]

6 minutes ago, Cricket said:

You were braver than I was, then.  I was terrified!!!!  

I figured if I messed it up I could just toss some velcro under the cover strips and call it a day.

[TheSwede[TK]]

41 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

I figured if I messed it up I could just toss some velcro under the cover strips and call it a day.

That`s the sprit Trooper - adapt and overcome

[Scimitar[TK]]

The left shin's rear cover strip is glued on and drying. Next will be giving the shins a hot bath if needed and scuffing up the magnet surfaces and gluing them on under the cover strips.

 

I need to reposition my bicep hooks, they aren't quite right and pull my biceps/forearms up too high on my arms. Easy enough to fix after another test fit. That will help me measure for the snaps/straps that I'll be using to connect the shoulder bells to biceps too.

 

I did a test run for making the shin magnet covers since I don't have a spare magnet to sacrifice to the heat gun. Let me see if I can lay this out so it makes sense:

- One of my 9mm sockets is just a bit larger in diameter than the 12mm magnet, which is perfect to let the magnet just drop in place in the ABS.

- I drilled a 1/2" hole through one piece of wood, this piece serves as a guide for pushing the socket straight down and also helps press the ABS corners back flat after being warped by the heat gun. The thickness of this piece is less than the length of the socket. I was prepared to countersink the hole so that I could push far enough into the ABS for the magnet to sit flush, but the thickness is just right. The socket adapter bottoms out on the wood and the recess in the ABS is just right. 

- The second piece of wood is the base and I simply drilled a 1/2" diameter recess into it to push down into.

 

 

And here's the first test piece that came from this crude setup. Perfect fit. I've since marked the wood base with alignment lines and each piece of ABS will get marked as well so that the magnets are as centered as possible when I press them.

 

 

 

So I had planned to make a tab/slot connection for the right side kidney/ab connection, but playing with magnets sparked a crazy idea. With a buddy's help, we 3D printed some ABS bases, seen here with the N52 magnets already installed:

 

 

The alignment when connected is perfect:

 

 

The N52s have a crazy strong pull and I had to twist the bases to pull them apart, something that wouldn't be possible when they were glued to the armor, so I added thin ABS covers to them and that did the trick. They still have the super strong pull but they don't have to be twisted to pull apart.

 

 

And installed:

 

 

I intentionally left a 1mm gap between the ab and kidney just in case adding the belt causes some weird closure problems (didn't want to run into any weird issues I didn't account for), if everything is ok I'll just reposition two of the magnet bases on one side to close that gap. But these work exceptionally well with the existing straps and should those ever fail these will hold that connection closed very well.

 

 

[Cricket[TK]]

Magnets FTW!!!!  Great idea for those closures!

And super cool magnet-jig thingy you created, too.  Ingenious!

[wook1138[TK]]

This build just gets more and more interesting.  Nicely done!

[68Brick[TK]]

Eric, Nice job on your build.

 

While trooping, you'll have to be cognisant of how people are interacting with you. Those magnets around your midsection are right in the "hug-zone". Any electronic devices brought near those magnets might see some damage. "Zap! what happened to my phone!?"

[Scimitar[TK]]

1 hour ago, Cricket said:

Magnets FTW!!!!  Great idea for those closures!

And super cool magnet-jig thingy you created, too.  Ingenious!

Thanks!! If I had a router I'd have improved that jig thingy, but this will get the job done for 10 covers.

1 hour ago, wook1138 said:

This build just gets more and more interesting.  Nicely done!

Thank you sir!

36 minutes ago, 68Brick said:

Eric, Nice job on your build.

 

While trooping, you'll have to be cognisant of how people are interacting with you. Those magnets around your midsection are right in the "hug-zone". Any electronic devices brought near those magnets might see some damage. "Zap! what happened to my phone!?"

Thanks Brad!

 

It's a good point! Cell phones use flash memory, which is not affected by magnets as there are no moving parts. This is why many phone cases & mounts these days use neodymium magnets to connect. But pacemakers and implanted defibrillators can be affected by those magnets, a study found that a distance of 3cm or less could cause interfere with the magnetic switch in those devices, but typically observed after long contact (magnetic jewelry, name tags, etc.). Either way, like you said, always something to try to be aware of regardless.

[Scimitar[TK]]

Carrying on with the shins, I made all of the magnet covers I needed using my Super Advanced Magnet Cover Jig Thingy.

 

Freshly pressed:

 

 

Magnet test fit:

 

 

 

And after a nice round of surface sanding here's the group. I need to re-sand inside the recesses to prepare them for gluing (the surfaces were sanded before pressing).

 

 

 

The shins definitely need a little reshaping via a hot bath, but I'm going to give them both the full 72 hour cure time before I subject them to that heat.

 

Remaining to-do list:

1. Drill/install snaps in ab for belt
2. Build Belt
3. Glue on Shoulder Bridges
4. Glue Shoulder Bridge elastic in place
5. Glue in straps for Shoulder Bell to Shoulder Strap connection
6. Glue in snap plates for Shoulder Bell to Bicep connection
7. Reposition Bicep Hooks
8. Reshape Shins
9. Glue in Shin Magnets and Covers
10. Final thigh test fit for upper thigh trimming
11. Glue in snap plates for Thigh Garter System
12. Install Sniper Knee Plate ()
13. Submit Application/Pictures to GML
14. Submit Member Application
15. Hopefully be able to sign up for 9/28 troop ()
16. Make any necessary changes & submit EIB Application
17. Make any necessary changes & submit Centurion Application
18. Start next build

[wook1138[TK]]

1 minute ago, Scimitar said:

Install Sniper Knee Plate ()

LOL

 

When a trooper starts making the "to do" list, you know they are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

So, what's the next build?

[Cricket[TK]]

19 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

Start next build

 

 

Yaaaasss!!!!  

[Scimitar[TK]]

1 hour ago, wook1138 said:

LOL

 

When a trooper starts making the "to do" list, you know they are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

So, what's the next build?

That's definitely what it is. It's a dim light but it's there.

 

Well if Anovos ever gets their act together I'll be building a TFA FOTK, this build was supposed to keep me distracted from the delays on that kit. Now that it looks like I'll probably be done before they ship I might begin working on the Phase II Clone Trooper that I've started hoarding parts for. Trying to decide between a Shock Trooper or a 501st Battalion Clone. Meanwhile my wife decided she wants in on this fun (but without armor) and wants to do an Amidala Pastel Lake Gown, so I may need to help her start working on that too.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Coming along nicely, nice idea with the magnet recessing