LTM's AM TK ANH build

[LTM[TK]]

Waiting for E6000 is like....

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

It's definitely frustrating waiting for glue to dry when you are on a building frenzy  . Can never have enough clamps, magnets or blue tape.

[LTM[TK]]

Buttons are on inside the shins. Added the tab at the top to keep the return area lined up (still need to do final trimming)

 

Sniper knee removed from old shin and placed on the new

 

 

Edited September 8, 2018 by LTM

[LTM[TK]]

Time to place the electronics, is recommended to place behind the chest with the speaker pointing towards the body? Was thinking of heat bending plastic to make a pocket for the unit to slide in.

[Cricket[TK]]

17 minutes ago, LTM said:

Buttons are on inside the shins. Added the tab at the top to keep the return area lined up (still need to do final trimming)

 

Yay!!!!  Looks great!

The tab idea is interesting!  I don't know how much you will need it, though.  The magnets- even before they're engaged with each other- should fit into the holes and physically lock inside the holes.  The opposing magnets keep them locked in place while you move around.  There shouldn't be any vertical or lateral shifting going on.  If there is, then the magnet setup has failed.  Does that make sense?  Either way, the tab doesn't hurt, though.  I'm all in for overengineering things.    

 

18 minutes ago, LTM said:

Time to place the electronics, is recommended to place behind the chest with the speaker pointing towards the body? Was thinking of heat bending plastic to make a pocket for the unit to slide in.

 

Many troopers put the amp in the chest plate.  I positioned mine to face outwards so the sound would travel outwards as opposed to back at my body (which would muffle the sound).  I just stuck some velcro to the speaker and chest, and that worked for me.  Until feedback.

 

You'll get feedback when you've got the amp louder for noisier troops.  Typically, the solution is to move the amp away from the speaker.  I've seen troopers hook a white amp to their belts.  That solution works beautifully(it's loud!), but I don't like that you can see the amp.  Once of our local garrison members crafted a pouch for the amp on his belt, so it hides things.  I like that solution, but still, it's a thing on the belt that I don't want. 

 

I ended up relocating my amp to my ab plate.  It fits right inside the ab button box.  I can now set my amp a lot louder, and I don't have any feedback issues.  I am really impressed with Hyper's amp setup.  I ran into him at DragonCon, and WOW, his system rocks.  It's super loud.  I don't know what he's using, but I want it!  (If anyone knows what he's using, please let me know!)

[Dielotski]

1 hour ago, Cricket said:

I ended up relocating my amp to my ab plate.  It fits right inside the ab button box.  

To bad you can't make the ab plate buttons functional to control the amp.

[LTM[TK]]

Shins are on and feel very solid, nice not having to worry if they are lined up in the back. I am having an issue with the sniper plate

Sniper plate is causing the shin to rotate

 

Looks like I need to push the sniper plate away from the shin (maybe 1/2 inch)?

 

It is a "special" kind of pain...

 

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

51 minutes ago, LTM said:

It is a "special" kind of pain...

You can angle the sniper plate forward slightly to get rid of that special kind of pain.

 

Move the knee forward a bit along the lines and give it a slight angle

[LTM[TK]]

Trimming for comfort on the bottom of the thigh. OK to remove where I have the yellow line?

 

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Looks like mostly that's all bottom return edge if I see the picture correctly.  Or are you aiming for the moon cut?

[LTM[TK]]

Making adjustments to fit the legs a little better. The thigh is oval and this is causing issues around the knee, so hot water bath time and lots of trial fittings.

Success, moved just enough to make it comfortable. If needed I can add a pad to the front above the knee to push it out a little.

 

[LTM[TK]]

12 hours ago, StrmTRPR85 said:

Looks like mostly that's all bottom return edge if I see the picture correctly.  Or are you aiming for the moon cut?

No moon cut, just removing the bottom of the return. Not an issue on the right leg as the ammo pack covers it, just wanted to make sure removing it on the left would be acceptable. Now I have removed it and the fit is great.

[LTM[TK]]

Helmet electronics installed, just a few wires left to join (and some more plasti dip). Using the hearing assist, TRAMP amp (it is very loud!), and two fans near the mouth. Time to add the mesh behind the teeth, but I want to make sure all the painting is done before I do that.

Still playing around with the mic, seems I almost have to eat it to be heard.

 

[LTM[TK]]

Helmet painting, would like to get some feedback at this point if you can before I finish up the interior.

I think the teeth are painted all the way down

Is there a preferred angle on the hovi tips? How does the black paint look (my free hand kinda sucks)

Ear paint look correct?

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work on the helmet paint.

 

I preferred my mic tips to point out straight so I cut some rubber hose, one side straight and the other on a slant, you can then put this between the mic tips and the helmet and when you turn it the angle will change. Something like this (without the huge hole in the middle of course)

 

[LTM[TK]]

Working on the sniper plate shin.  Added padding to help line it up

 

In order to get it to fit, I trimmed some of the sniper plate depth (5mm or so). Will the angle be an issue at EIB or Cent?

 

The front has lined up well

[LTM[TK]]

So I have monkey arms, I think I need to increase the distance between the bicep and forearm.

The bicep is already close to the elbow, so no lowering it can be done.

Check at the wrist

When flexed it looks good

 

Should I lengthen the strap about an inch to balance at rest?

[Cricket[TK]]

You won't be able to tell how the forearm is really fitting you until you get your gloves on (with handguards attached).  My forearms feel short when I try them on without any other gear on.  When I put them on with the handguard gloves, they feel almost too long (the edges chomp on my handguards).   

 

That said, you might be able to increase the forearm/bicep gap a tiny bit.  Again, won't be able to tell for certain 'til you get your gloves on, trooper!

Edited September 24, 2018 by Cricket

[Scimitar[TK]]

Can you drop the outside of the bicep down (not sure if it's strapped inside the shoulder bell yet)? That should get you just a bit more downward travel on the forearm when your arm is straight, because you don't need much.

 

Like Cricket said, the gloves/hand guard combo makes a huge difference in the appearance, just taping the guards onto the gloves where you want them placed will give you a much better idea of what you're working with. I saved gluing them onto the gloves for last just in case I needed to make any more adjustments to the arms, which I did, going from the 1/4" gap to 1/2" gap between the bicep and forearm.

[LTM[TK]]

16 minutes ago, Cricket said:

You won't be able to tell how the forearm is really fitting you until you get your gloves on (with handguards attached).  My forearms feel short when I try them on without any other gear on.  When I put them on with the handguard gloves, they feel almost too long (the edges chomp on my handguards).   

 

That said, you might be able to increase the forearm/bicep gap a tiny bit.  Again, won't be able to tell for certain 'til you get your gloves on, trooper!

From an earlier pic, maybe move the handguard up to the wrist?

 

[Cricket[TK]]

In that pic, I would move the forearms down a bit.  Try to keep the amount of black space between handguard/forearm about the same as the black space between forearm/bicep. 

[LTM[TK]]

Approved for basic! TK32568 reporting for duty

 

 

Moved the left ear back, now need to fill a hole

And filled

 

Now to EIB and then centurion

 

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Congratulations!

[Scimitar[TK]]

Congrats in this thread too!! I really need to get some spare time to submit my own EIB application!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations and welcome to the ranks trooper