LTM's AM TK ANH build

[Seansull[TK]]

Question,
 
When cutting out the 22mm notch in the kidney, do you trim the butt plate to match?

My notch lines up with butt plate perfectly.



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[Seansull[TK]]

In reality, the butt moves around quite a bit. If it is a little off, no one will ever notice.


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[Cricket[TK]]

My notches don't match my butt plate at all when not wearing it.  My butt plate is wider than the kidney.  But when I put my kit on, the notches and butt plate match perfectly.  Some sort of freaky Imperial sorcery, I guess.  Either way, the belt tends to hide it.

[Hydraken]

Dude! Your build is looking great! And that DLT-19 and E-11 are sick!!


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[LTM[TK]]

I like the separate lenses and the different look to the inside of the helmet.

Using water-weld putty and blind nuts to hold in the lens. Just grabbed some that I have from other projects.

 

 

First step is to rough up the plastic so the putty has positive contact. Create a roll with the putty and place around the opening. Then place the nuts in the putty and fill in around each post. Make sure you have the screw all the way in so that no putty fills up the opening (this would make the screw not go in all the way). Then back out each one and using a finger that has been wet with water, smooth out as much as you can. In this application, you do not want the putty at a 90 degree angle, you want it to go slightly away from the opening. This way the lens will push against the eye opening and not be pushed away by putty that is sitting too high. If that happens, you will have gaps.

Don't worry about being totally smooth, the plasti-dip and the lens itself will be covering up the putty.

[LTM[TK]]

Forearms were a challenge to trim. Got some great advice (thanks Sean) and tried to keep the cover strips at a 90 angle. I took off an inch on the inside pieces and 1/2 inch on the left outside and 1/8th inch on the right. Then I tapered by taking off 1/8th at the wrist on both sides, all while constantly checking fit at each cut. Will do any final tweaks, but good enough for now.

 

[LTM[TK]]

Question on snaps, do you just glue the webbing/snap to the armor? No need to place plastic between the back of the snap and plastic (was reading somewhere that some have had deformations show on the front side)?

 

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

5 minutes ago, LTM said:

Question on snaps, do you just glue the webbing/snap to the armor?

I glued my webbing with snaps directly to the plastic.  If you want to give it some extra grip rough up the Abs with some sandpaper and glue the webbing directly to that.

[LTM[TK]]

Do something each day, so I cut some pine to fill out the pouches (still need to paint them black)

 

Snap plates, took a little bit to get the technique down but do enough of them and you will learn

 

Bottom of the snap has a slight dome effect, I assume this is normal. E-6000 will be slathered on to the backside and plastic roughed up for better adhesion.

[Pretzel]

Excellent work on the snap webbings! You are well on your way. 

 

How you place your snaps is entirely up to you, but like many, I glued the webbing directly onto my armor. E6000

[LTM[TK]]

The kidney has the 22mm notch

 

Sizing the buttons, the main plate has a slight overhang. Should I make it fit the chest base piece?

 

For the smaller buttons, the chest plate is 70mm

 

The measurements is 20mm X 75mm, so does it overhang (I get that it is not from a movie suit, so to make level 3 is it the look or the accuracy (70mm verses 75mm)?

 

As always, thanks for looking. And those that reply, thank you for your feedback.

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Yes, I would trim both the big and small ab button plates so there's no overhang. I'll try to find some reference pics.

[shashachu[TK]]

 

[LTM[TK]]

13 minutes ago, shashachu said:

 

Thanks Shashachu! I will trim to fit.

Edited May 22, 2018 by LTM

[LTM[TK]]

Lots of extra material with this kit, no need to add shims. That being said, time to trim the junk in the trunk

 

Made the cut on the same line as the 22mm notch

 

Trimming the shoulder straps

 

Instead of scraps pieces to make a larger gluing surface, I used the epoxy putty.

 

Trimmed the smaller plate

 

Trimmed the larger plate, happy with the results

 

 

[LTM[TK]]

Adding the 30mm plates to the kidney, posterior, and Ab

 

[Pretzel]

Rolling right along. Good Work so far! 

[LTM[TK]]

Trying to do something each day when I can.

 

Trimming the belt angles. I see on the AM build it should be 48mm from the end before creating the angles, but the belt with the kit is only 45mm. So hopefully not a big deal.

Trimmed

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

6 hours ago, LTM said:

Trying to do something each day when I can.

 

Trimming the belt angles. I see on the AM build it should be 48mm from the end before creating the angles, but the belt with the kit is only 45mm. So hopefully not a big deal.

Trimmed

Make sure those line up with your canvas belt.  Inside 45 to the outside of the belt

[LTM[TK]]

Posterior snaps installed. First metal to plastic part.

[LTM[TK]]

Couple of questions before I add the remaining snaps.

1. Elastic or webbing for joining between the pieces?

2. I have been reading about the snaps and e6000 causing the outside plastic to deform, is this the case or just a few isolated incidents?

3. Can I use tandy male snaps on the front to hold the belt in place?

 

thanks!

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

9 minutes ago, LTM said:

Couple of questions before I add the remaining snaps.

1. Elastic or webbing for joining between the pieces?

2. I have been reading about the snaps and e6000 causing the outside plastic to deform, is this the case or just a few isolated incidents?

3. Can I use tandy male snaps on the front to hold the belt in place?

 

thanks!

1) Elastic if you want it to have some give, webbing to keep things in place

2) I would think this depends on how thick the plastic is where your E6000ing the snap directly on the ABS.  You can always glue the snap to a piece of scrap and glue that directly to the armor part.

3) yes you can

[LTM[TK]]

13 minutes ago, StrmTRPR85 said:

1) Elastic if you want it to have some give, webbing to keep things in place

2) I would think this depends on how thick the plastic is where your E6000ing the snap directly on the ABS.  You can always glue the snap to a piece of scrap and glue that directly to the armor part.

3) yes you can

Thanks Jeff, I will do the plastic scrap for the armor (great idea)

[LTM[TK]]

Rivet time with rivets from JustJoseph63 

 

@justjoseph63

[LTM[TK]]

Looking at the cod rivet, I assume to trim the rivet down to the top of the snap prior to using the chisel (I would think so, but better to ask first)?