MFJ ANH Stunt build AP Kit

[MFJ]

36 minutes ago, revlimiter said:

I dunno if this helps, but it's how I did my shoulder bridges.

 

 

Small bits of spare ABS to fill the voids. I slopped them in there with E6000. Then, while the E6000 was still curing, I added a piece of aluminum stock from Home Depot. I used the thinnest they had, which I think was 1/16 if I remember right. Glue in place and don't let the aluminum go all the way to either end of the bridge. Having a gap at the end allows you to heat and shape the ABS slightly to hide the metal completely. Last, I covered with fuzzy velcro.

 

It's extremely easy to reshape this way and it holds whatever shape you bend.  Other troopers have used this sort of metal shoulder bridge for years without problems.

 

Hope this helps! And congrats on the snap setting.

That looks really comfortable. I probably have enough scrap to do that. Ill definitely do that to make it tougher. 

 

What I don't have are the cover strips for my thighs and shins. I did manage to find my lost drop box back but now I'm trying to locate abs so I can finish the legs. 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Reach out to AP? You should be able to get some cover strip material shipped out to finish up the build. I'd offer my extra AP cover strip material, but I know it's barely enough for a single leg worth of strips... def not enough for two.

[MFJ]

Got hold of Mark. He has strips but I need to send a piece of my kit to him to match up the white. In the meantime I'm just waiting on the belt. 

[MFJ]

15 hours ago, revlimiter said:

Reach out to AP? You should be able to get some cover strip material shipped out to finish up the build. I'd offer my extra AP cover strip material, but I know it's barely enough for a single leg worth of strips... def not enough for two.

 

Just a question. We're your thigh pieces easy to identify where to cut the back on your AP armor?  My right thigh is pretty clear where to cut but my left isn't. 

 

I've looked at some reference pics of the originals but, they all look like a 3 year old did them. I even looked at other pics from the movie and I saw a sniper plate on the left shin at about a 45* angle instead of straight. Lol

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Nope, not one bit easy to figure out. I cut the front along the lines (which were great on mine) and got them nicely centered and glued. Then the backs got very rough trimmed and I put them on. A buddy taped them up and marked trim lines with a pencil. We then cut one half of each thigh, re-taped, and re-verified where the center line needed to be on the remaining half.

 

Marking, centering, re-measuring, re-re-marking, and finally cutting with the help of a friend and a yard stick is huge. Have the thighs, shins, and boots on together to get a straight line from the boot seam all the way up the thigh.

 

Hope that first bit makes sense. It was all done in a couple days and was kind of a blur.

[MFJ]

3 hours ago, revlimiter said:

Nope, not one bit easy to figure out. I cut the front along the lines (which were great on mine) and got them nicely centered and glued. Then the backs got very rough trimmed and I put them on. A buddy taped them up and marked trim lines with a pencil. We then cut one half of each thigh, re-taped, and re-verified where the center line needed to be on the remaining half.

 

Marking, centering, re-measuring, re-re-marking, and finally cutting with the help of a friend and a yard stick is huge. Have the thighs, shins, and boots on together to get a straight line from the boot seam all the way up the thigh.

 

Hope that first bit makes sense. It was all done in a couple days and was kind of a blur.

That's what I was going to have to do. I completely understand everything you said. 10-4. Measure 10 times, cut once. Lol

[MFJ]

6 hours ago, revlimiter said:

 

First time suiting up the top. I definitely need to cut some relief in the neck. It's harder to put this on by yourself than I thought. Getting all the parts on and snapped is kinda uncomfortable. 

Didn't want to ruin my neck seal. Just kinda a first fit. 

I wish the shoulder bells were a bit bigger but all in all. I'm happy with it. 

 

Back to building!

 

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

YEAH!!! Looking good! The bells look nice and close to the torso. Fantastic!

 

My neck is also top-button-buttoned-with-tight-bowtie levels of uncomfortable. I should probably grind it out a bit, but it looks good and is so evenly cut right now... I can't bring myself to cut more yet. Gonna troop in it this upcoming weekend so I'll see how bad it is after a few hours.

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

 nice first suiting up. keep up the good work 

[Chemi[Staff]]

hace 17 horas, MFJ dijo:

...It's harder to put this on by yourself than I thought. Getting all the parts on and snapped is kinda uncomfortable....

 

 

 

That means everything is OK

 

Very nice job Craig!!!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, longer arms help when kitting up  I do know a lot of our local troopers need a hand snapping their last arm.

[MFJ]

 

Do you guys think this s seal is too thick?

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just now, MFJ said:

 

 

Do you guys think this s seal is too thick?

 

It's very thick

 

 

[MFJ]

12 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

It's very thick

 

 

The one I bought from someone here is too short. I'll try to find one local. 

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I got mine on trooperbay. It's perfect. 

[MFJ]

Found a better one.

Looks a lot better. 

 

I'll be installing all the electronics in the helmet while I'm waiting on my belt buttons and cover strips from Mark. 

 

[MFJ]

Installing the blaster holster

 

Using the leather strap as a guide, this is the distance away from the ammo belt.

 

 

Using a ruler I measured 15 mm from the bottom of the belt and made my mark for the first hole.

 

 

I then did the same for the second strap.

 

 

Both holes marked since this is a stunt build. 

 

 

I then measured 25 mm up and made a mark. This is the underhang of the holster and is seen.

 

 

From there I measured 15mm from that, made a mark in the middle of both holster straps

 

 

Using a leather punch I made the 2 holes in the belt and the holster. 

 

 

I used #8 1/4" Chicago screws to attach it to the belt.

 

 

 

 

The finished belt ( minus the belt buttons I'm waiting on. 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

The plastic belt corners should meet the edges of the fabric, for higher level approval 

 

The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt

 

 

 

 

Drop boxes align with the end of the plastic belt 

 

  

[MFJ]

The drop boxes do align with the ammo belt. They do slide. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

2 hours ago, MFJ said:

The drop boxes do align with the ammo belt. They do slide. 

Best to add a little glue once you have them in place or they will move around, especially important when you don't have someone with an eye for detail around when you are dressing  

[MFJ]

4 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Best to add a little glue once you have them in place or they will move around, especially important when you don't have someone with an eye for detail around when you are dressing  

 

I plan to do just that next time I suit up. I didn't want to glue them not on the armor. I've spent this much time to get it right, I didn't want to make them be out of place. 

 

BTW, remember my question on the back of the AP thigh armor?  I did what you said and trimmed a little bit at a time and finally they stated looking correct. I appreciate the help with that. 

 

The thighs never looked right in the back but now they do. 

[MFJ]

So I did my best to suit up by myself. Lord I'm in pain now. It took forever. Everytime I'd get one shoulder bell and bicep right the other would pop out from stretching to get the other one in. I also found out the shins ride up. 

 

So I snapped them . (Now that I can do that)

 

Gonna try again later tonight. 

 

Can't get my latex hand guards to stick on my gloves, so I'm making straps. 

 

Another question. Can I cut more neck relief so I'm not feeling like I'm being choked all the time?

 

 

[MFJ]

Hopefully this will help the biceps and shoulder bells. All in all it's a decently nice fit with very little gap anywhere. 

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

For the gloves, try the Plastic Bonding System.

https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Plastics-Bonding-Activator-681925/dp/B000Y3LHXW/

It's pretty fantastic and glued my rubber gloves and silicone tops together.  I got mine at a local Ace Hardware instead of Amazon, but the link at least shows you the product details.

 

Took me about 2 days. I scuffed and glued about 80% of the silicone to the rubber, set some heavy books on both, and let them sit. Then I did the non-glued outside half and repeated with the book. And then the last remaining non-glued half.

 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 2.12.2021 um 02:42 schrieb MFJ:

Can I cut more neck relief so I'm not feeling like I'm being choked all the time?

 

If you don't want to be choked all the time, I'd recommend just cutting the middle elastic of your ab-chest connection. It works wonders in manoeuvrability and breathability 

 

 

Otherwise, I'd say you could cut a bit, but I'd try the above first.