Lorelei's 5'4" ATA ANH-S Centurion-Hopeful Build

[TheLorelei[TK]]

iiiiit's HERE!!

Here are the obligatory contents pics.

The bucket is reverie-inducing-ly beautiful. And it has one tiny, tiny spot on the nose. I love it. This kit's name is now Smudge, I think.

I'm beyond thrilled, but it does all look so, so big for small me... this is gonna take some serious work. But I got it.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Let's do this!

 

[Frank75139[501st]]

Smudge is amazing, start building!


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[Rat[TK]]

Great news and now to the building.

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[TK45007[TK]]

Hey Lorelei, cool BBB, looking forward to see the build! I'm right there with you. See you Monday! Jonathan

[TheSwede[TK]]

Awesome! Happy BBB-day

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Thanks, all! Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

Backtracking, most exciting news first, regarding the...

 

NECK SEAL

The first one I made looked great from the front and was nice and squishy but also it was tight and the seam in the back was much too wide and visible due to closure issues. A no go, overall. In my quest for deep, rubbery ridges, I did not rule out actual rubber as some do (citing sweat concerns). I figure my neck is small enough that I'll have ventilation space inside. Brainstorming with my boyfriend led to an idea for a system of magnetized rubber tubes. It was a crazy process and I didn't have enough hands to take pictures while I worked (yes, I would take a spare arm or two if they were giving them out) so I'll just describe it as best I can in the next post. This is where it stands. Front

and back

Video of closure here. It truly becomes nearly invisible when closed.

https://i.imgur.com/u3nJ5BU.mp4

I am quite fond of this little guy. I'll be putting the upper rows on (the ones that taper off before the front) later. I'll have to wear a balaclava under it. I will likely attach the bib to the balaclava. Though I have some sport fabric that I may make the whole thing out of... we shall see.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

In other news, I have half-made my canvas belt (pending sizing of my armored torso), have all supplies at the ready to make my holster (thanks, Darman!), have my silicone hand guards awaiting gluing (thanks, Joseph!), got a super nifty tabletop snap press (you're going down, snaps), and will be getting together with a few garrison-mates on Labor Day to continue the armor side of my TK adventure.

 

TO DO

Top of my list is purchasing elastic and nylon strapping. Just have to actually DO it which is SO much harder now that my helmet is sitting in a box in the living room, begging to be held. :p

[Rat[TK]]

Yay for BBB day! That's an awesome idea for the neck seal. Now popping popcorn.

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[Frank75139[501st]]

Wow interesting idea.


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[Pretzel]

8 hours ago, TheLorelei said:

Thanks, all! Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

Backtracking, most exciting news first, regarding the...

 

NECK SEAL

The first one I made looked great from the front and was nice and squishy but also it was tight and the seam in the back was much too wide and visible due to closure issues. A no go, overall. In my quest for deep, rubbery ridges, I did not rule out actual rubber as some do (citing sweat concerns). I figure my neck is small enough that I'll have ventilation space inside. Brainstorming with my boyfriend led to an idea for a system of magnetized rubber tubes. It was a crazy process and I didn't have enough hands to take pictures while I worked (yes, I would take a spare arm or two if they were giving them out) so I'll just describe it as best I can in the next post. This is where it stands. Front

and back

Video of closure here. It truly becomes nearly invisible when closed.

https://i.imgur.com/u3nJ5BU.mp4

I am quite fond of this little guy. I'll be putting the upper rows on (the ones that taper off before the front) later. I'll have to wear a balaclava under it. I will likely attach the bib to the balaclava. Though I have some sport fabric that I may make the whole thing out of... we shall see.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

In other news, I have half-made my canvas belt (pending sizing of my armored torso), have all supplies at the ready to make my holster (thanks, Darman!), have my silicone hand guards awaiting gluing (thanks, Joseph!), got a super nifty tabletop snap press (you're going down, snaps), and will be getting together with a few garrison-mates on Labor Day to continue the armor side of my TK adventure.

 

TO DO

Top of my list is purchasing elastic and nylon strapping. Just have to actually DO it which is SO much harder now that my helmet is sitting in a box in the living room, begging to be held. :p

Now that is a first. Well Done on this neck seal. True McGuiver! I can't wait to see it in person. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Might even be a market for it

[TheLorelei[TK]]

20 hours ago, Rat said:

That's an awesome idea for the neck seal.

15 hours ago, Frank75139 said:

Wow interesting idea.

 

12 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Now that is a first. 

11 hours ago, TheSwede said:

Might even be a market for it

Thanks, guys! I'm honored! I'd happily make them for others. Let me just fully finish this one first   so here's (roughly) how I made it, if anyone's nuts enough to try to follow.

 

Supplies used for V1 of The Seal:

6mm rubber tubing (from FusionBeads)

Necklace memory wire (Be aware that the wire is made for different neck circumferences. You have leeway, but it's unhappy when forced into a circle much bigger than it's made for.)

5/32" x 5/32" neodymium magnets (fit FusionBeads' 6mm tubing perfectly)

Shoe Goo

CA glue with accelerator

Needle nose pliers

Binder clips

Toothpicks

 

I semi-scientifically cut one length of tubing based on my fabric neck seal plus a bit and put it around my neck to get a feel for the size. I knew bigger would be better because this thing will NOT stretch. 

I cut each subsequent piece 1/8" longer than the previous one to create a slightly tapered shape.For each ring I fed the memory wire through, bent the end into a loop to keep it from poking anywhere, cut it to length, bent the other end into a loop, and had fun with binder clips. Basically I pushed each looped wire end back into the tube by the length of a magnet plus a bit and clamped it in that spot with a binder clip so it wouldn't spring out on me while the glue was curing. Then I stuffed some shoe goo into the open ends with a toothpick and capped them with magnets.

Yes, getting the wire the right length is tough. Yes, stuffing shoe goo into a 3/16" hole is tough. Yes, keeping 18 tiny magnets in their proper orientations (WITH alternating polarities from ring to ring/pair to pair so that the whole stack stays together instead of repelling each other along the seam) is tough. Yes, countersinking the magnets a bit and smoothing the ends over with shoe goo is tough. The easiest bit was attaching the stack together, which I did by taping them securely to prevent seepage and "spot welding" columns with CA glue and accelerator. It's incredibly secure, and the rigidity of the CA glue doesn't matter since the rubber between the welds is able to flex.

What would I do differently next time?

I'd try to set the magnets with CA glue. It is SO much easier to work with than shoe goo. It would also speed up the process considerably. Other than that everything was quite necessary, as I discovered through trial and error.

Here's a longer video of me messing with it.

https://i.imgur.com/hUIfBDc.mp4

------

Today, after elastic shopping, I cut a few cover strips to get a feel for working with the super thick ATA ABS. It's tough! I need a good wide set of pliers to help me snap my scores.

[Frank75139[501st]]

The magnets are strong for being so small. There’s no doubt it’ll hold up well.


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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Now that is interesting. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, always great to see another way to do a thing 

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Very interesting process.  Love the ingenuity!

 

My one thought would be if you run wires for mic or speakers up through neckseal too close to the magnets may cause some interference.

 

Just a thought and something may need some trial on.  It may just be a run the wires up one side of neck away from the magnets

[A.J. Hamler[TK]]

Now that you're diving into it, you're gonna need some snap plates.  

 

Know anybody who's an expert on making those?

 

A.J.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just now, A.J. Hamler said:

Now that you're diving into it, you're gonna need some snap plates.  

 

Know anybody who's an expert on making those?

So many different ways to make snap plates, ABS plastic or nylon webbing, really depends what you have available.

 

ABS plates will need to be heated and bent to the contours of the armor where nylon webbing doesn't. I do like using a soldering iron to make the hole in the nylon webbing as it seals and doesn't allow the snap to pull through  

 

Snaps different ways thread here Also this great thread here from Joseph

 

Also I suggest using double snaps on the plates, for just in case one pops off you have a spare

[A.J. Hamler[TK]]

Gmrhodes13 -- Actually, my comment was a bit of an in-joke.  Lorelei is the undisputed Queen of making snap plates. <g>  Excellent links, btw.

 

A.J.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

4 minutes ago, A.J. Hamler said:

Gmrhodes13 -- Actually, my comment was a bit of an in-joke.  Lorelei is the undisputed Queen of making snap plates. <g>  Excellent links, btw.

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Thanks, all! It was fun to make. 

On 8/31/2018 at 11:05 PM, StrmTRPR85 said:

My one thought would be if you run wires for mic or speakers up through neckseal too close to the magnets may cause some interference.

Ooh... good point, Jeff. My main concern with the magnetic closure was the part that will stick up into the helmet (general misgivings about magnets next to electrical bits), but I didn't even think of the wires running up the neck... the force doesn't seem too strong since they're insulated by the tubing already but I'd be able to attach a strip of rubber gasket along the seam to help mitigate the magnets' effect even further if need be. Definitely something to keep an eye out for.

 

3 hours ago, A.J. Hamler said:

Know anybody who's an expert on making those?

A.J. -  - but really, I got a tabletop snap press finally, and it's *soo* cool. I'm still thinking ABS snap plates due to perceived durability and "clean" look if nothing else. Thanks for the recommendations, @gmrhodes13 ! I'm going to put double snaps in as many spots as I can.

 

I've gotten some of my elastic. Most impressive, I know.  I also trimmed a few things today... pics tomorrow! One final thing. Anybody have any tips and tricks for hot water bathing my armor pieces? I've read about others' exploits, but I'd love any extra wisdom y'all can throw at me. Can I use a pot I'd use for cooking if I plan to submerge pieces? Is pouring the water over the pieces close to as effective as submersion, if not? Etc, etc. Thanks!

[Rat[TK]]

My understanding is submersion is best. I think 30 seconds or so if I remember correctly.

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[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

I started with a 15 second count and went up to 30 if needed.

 

Run under cold water to set the shape quickly brother than hold in place

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Oh wow, that's a lot shorter than I expected.

[magni[TK]]

Just got caught up with your thread. Fun so far. Love the thinking out of the box on your neckseal. 

Let me second Glen here on using nylon webbing for snap plates. 90% of the spots you're putting snaps isn't flat. The nylon conforms nicely to the uneven armor and best of all the E-6000 squeezes into the nooks and cranny's of webbing giving an even better hold. 

Either way, good luck with your build.