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

[TheLorelei[TK]]

4 minutes ago, gatetrooper said:

I look forward to the daily edition of TK life with Lorelei.  This build has high entertainment value!

 

I'd say you have room to trim both the eyes (to the trim lines you drew) and the teeth a bit more.

TK Life with Lorelei has repetitive episodes - Lorelei consults her 80 page reference notebook, reads 7 relevant threads, cross-references all advice given in said threads with movie stills, and still sits on the floor cradling the relevant armor piece unable to bring knife/file to plastic until she posts for confirmation on her build thread.  But really, I'm glad you're not all *completely* sick of my questions yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

Oh yeah, teeth are nowhere near done. I'm just not entirely paralyzed by fear on them, though. Haha. Back to work!!

[Rat[TK]]

Hahahaha! As it should be Lorelei.

TK Life with Lorelei has repetitive episodes - Lorelei consults her 80 page reference notebook, reads 7 relevant threads, cross-references all advice given in said threads with movie stills, and still sits on the floor cradling the relevant armor piece unable to bring knife/file to plastic until she posts for confirmation on her build thread.  But really, I'm glad you're not all *completely* sick of my questions yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 
Oh yeah, teeth are nowhere near done. I'm just not entirely paralyzed by fear on them, though. Haha. Back to work!!

Sent from my 5054N using Tapatalk

[Frank75139[501st]]

TK Life with Lorelei has repetitive episodes - Lorelei consults her 80 page reference notebook, reads 7 relevant threads, cross-references all advice given in said threads with movie stills, and still sits on the floor cradling the relevant armor piece unable to bring knife/file to plastic until she posts for confirmation on her build thread.  But really, I'm glad you're not all *completely* sick of my questions yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
 
Oh yeah, teeth are nowhere near done. I'm just not entirely paralyzed by fear on them, though. Haha. Back to work!!

You got this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

JUST IN CASE anyone thinks I'm joking about that reference notebook -

And look how much room I've left in the binding posts. *Ominous music*

[Rat[TK]]

Many people do this during their builds. I don't remember who it was, but they had a couple of 3 ring binders they used.

Sent from my 5054N using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Eye sockets - As little back return edge as possible is recommended however, in the following reference photo you see some screen used helmets with the back return edge. We feel though it is screen accurate it just doesn't look as clean as it does without it. 

 

I've seen several people make binders of my Anovos build especially after someone created a PDF. Whatever works for ya I always say.  

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I still have over 10Gigs of research material from just my first TK build stored on my iPad, it’s constantly being added too, always amazing how a new photo reference or detail can appear even after all these years. Great to have when helping out at armor workshops too (we don’t call them parties anymore, some took the word party literally) 

 

I find it useful not to have any return edge, you use the inside corners quite a lot and especially with my Hero helmet, can hardly see out of those bubble lenses anyway 

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Great feedback on the eyes - y'all rock my socks.

My usual TK work day (Friday) ended up being more of a helmet electronics research day with a side of O2 canister (have I mentioned I've decided to refer to it as the O2 canister? I ran across a thread somewhere discussing it and it really does make so much sense that it's that and not a thermal detonator, I mean a td is an entirely different object that you throw and whatnot, AND a td is a sandy just in case we wanted to make the acronym even harder to work with, and with a realistic imagined (oxymoron, anyone?) function fully fleshed out I've come to the conclusion that it's an O2 canister and not a thermal detonator) -- I say, O2 canister clip building.

I ordered a 4' piece of 1" x 1/16" aluminum from work, and armed with a couple rusty old files (my favorite kind), a vise, a hammer, some aviation snips, the leftover few inches of 2" PVC pipe out of the 1' section I bought for my canister, and pictures of screen used O2 canisters, I set to work. First: the only moral to this story is that the proper aluminum is easy enough to bend and you can make half decent things by just looking at reference pictures. Only one O2 canister clip tutorial is available any more (that I could find) and I preferred a more accurate hole spacing and different clip style (NOT screen accurate) so I branched out. I drilled a hole in the aluminum at a random end point and screwed it into my spare PVC

then hand bent it around to touch about half the pipe. As you can see it springs back out a bit.

A little hand bending (applying EVEN pressure) quickly got me to the desired curve.

Tadaa

Note that I am not worried about where the curve lands right now - I will trim it down later. This is all about the clip part for now.

I set the aluminum in the vise as best I could, with a rusty old file in front of it to provide the actual edge I'd bend on.

Pulled back on pipe and bent aluminum away from pipe like so

But here's where things got annoying.

Sure, I had a nice first angle there, but getting the second bend so close to the first required some pounding with a hammer and it still didn't get very far so I bent it over the file manually again.

Worked ok. Not great. There's a clamp-aluminum-on-either-side-of-the-bend method that I'm sure would've worked better but I had neither the clamps nor the patience for it.

Then I began actually caring about measurements and measured 3" (plus a bit for good measure) from the bend, to hold the belt.

You read that right. Purists, avert your eyes/come back when there's a less offensive post below this. I'm making my clips bend back on themselves to wrap securely around the belt. WHY? I'm gonna ruin what I always considered a great Lorelei-trivia answer and tell y'all that I'm scared stiff of Jawas, and once I heard that they occasionally steal O2 canisters just to be "funny" I swore I would make my O2 canister absolutely Jawa-proof. It's a matter of safety. *serious face* *cracks up* *back to serious face*

 

I plan to put these lower bracket pieces between the layers of my belt. They shouldn't be visible at all. Honest. And if they are I'll make new, accurate brackets in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

 

To be continued!

[Frank75139[501st]]

Ummm what? I got lost in the first paragraph but the brackets look nice though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

@Frank75139 - Welcome to the maelstrom that is my mind. 

 

For those of you still with us, I hammered the beginning of the next bend using the file as my edge again.

That left me here

so I measured 1" from the bend and cut there with a pair of aviation snips (which are the bee's knees). It does pay to be somewhat conscious of the direction your aviation snips are made to cut so you don't get the harsh curve on the side you want to keep. I did not do that. Read and learn.

Test fit with the pipe again - looking relatively good! I fiddled with the distance between the vertical piece and the curve a while, then finished the second clip (which I had been making on the remaining piece of aluminum all along). It took some work to make them even, bending with my hands and occasionally a pair of pliers, but it was fun.

Figuring out where to trim the round part was a bit challenging as the many pictures of real O2 canisters didn't have the angle I wanted. Turns out it's really (really) hard to get pictures of an O2 canister from the side.

Placing the control panel (?) at the angle I wanted and making the straight parts of the clips perpendicular to the ground gave me a line at which to trim the clips,

right below the panel.

A little snipping, and here we be! The shape was satisfactory, but the finish was awful. Couldn't imagine letting Lord Vader see me in that condition. Hit it with a little sandpaper, and it looks great! I highly recommend wet sanding to avoid all the aluminum dust.

Here's where it stands now, with my freshly painted screw heads. Speaking of which, I believe these to be the proper screws. If anybody needs to correct me, now would be a good time. 

[Rat[TK]]

So on the topic of the TD or thermal detonator is that the tube itself is just a container to hold several detonators. Henceforth why the term TD was applied to them. The idea of it being an O2 canister would lead one to believe there should be hoses attached like the tie pilots.

So my two pennies. Now carry onward young trooper and looking good.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

6 minutes ago, Rat said:

So on the topic of the TD or thermal detonator is that the tube itself is just a container to hold several detonators. Henceforth why the term TD was applied to them. The idea of it being an O2 canister would lead one to believe there should be hoses attached like the tie pilots.

Oh YEAH? That's neat! Hadn't heard that.

[Rat[TK]]

Just one of the theories I've come across.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

[Frank75139[501st]]

I still like the theory its for gummy bears


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

REAL quick before I go play Mario Kart  - another dry fit this evening. I have thoughts on it of course but I'm curious if anything glaringly awful jumps out at anybody (other than the kidney overlapping the ab, and other obvious test fit, er, idiosyncrasies).

I know, you mistook me for a real live stormtrooper in that last one. Just me. Just me.

[Rat[TK]]

Coming along well Lorelei.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

[Frank75139[501st]]

Omg its a Stormtrooper!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

The torso is fitting a LOT better than expected. I've modified the widths on everything but the chest so far.

 

The kidney sits away from my back a good bit due to differences in build between me and your conventional TK, but when I taped it to the posterior plate it was fairly content to hover. I can pad it out if needed. I was most surprised to find that the entire torso back wasn't insanely long on me. In shock, I compared my measurements to those of the back armor pieces (all butted right up against each other) and they're pretty much the same. Sooo, I don't think I'll be trimming the kidney... I'm feelin tall, y'all!

 

How does the chest plate/ab overlap look? It slid down ever so slightly during fitting so technically you'd be able to see more ab. I think the chest looks like it should sit higher up, not for the ab's sake so much as for the arm hole's sake.

I've seen some shorter troopers trim out the neck hole. Any thoughts, @Cricket ? Would you recommend that over trimming the lower edge of the chest, at least as a first step?

 

I'm liking where the cod sits. It's about even with the posterior. The posterior may need to not wrap around so far though. I'll see where the drop boxes hang and consider trimming the sides.

 

I will plot out cut lines for the ab/kidney and bathe the ab again (new off-center center point) before I make those cuts. Then it's time to install snap plates so I can stop it with all the tape everywhere.

 

Oh also, my thighs are in one piece now!! (The blue tape is purely decorative.) Taking off just the back raised cover strip portions (ATA has those EVERYWHERE) was plenty to bring them down to size. Hot water bathing them in a pot was tough, but workable, area by area. I may have to take some off the tops, but we shall see.

[Rat[TK]]

Trim the neck first Lorelei.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

[TheLorelei[TK]]

Been hacking away at various armor pieces, keeping my eyelids propped open with toothpicks after work this week. When my Honorary Dad is out of town I sorta run the store and boy does that tire a body out. But I have progressed progressively, and in that progressive progress I have come to realize that...

 

A. I should have trusted myself more on my initial cuts. I chickened out of scoring on my pencil trim lines for the fronts of my shins and scored a couple mm out and of course they ended up being those few mm too wide and there wasn't enough scrap left to snap then so I had to use Lexan scissors and then the seam was a total mess and blah blah blah. I should've just trusted my first, well measured cut lines. This is the better of the two.

 

B. I should have trusted myself less on my initial cuts. When I slid the brow trim on my bucket, I discovered (or whatever the sickeningly awful counterpart to the generally cheerful "discover" is) that I had overtrimmed Smudge's brow. Like Move-Along level, except more. And wonky.  I failed to keep the brow line straight across with the bottoms of the traps. Fortunately it won't be visible, so I stuck an ABS scrap on with some ABS paste.

Reshaping to follow. 

 

My thighs are in one piece (...two pieces?) and looking absolutely fab. Trimming the rear cover strip ridges off resized them plenty. I'll make the outer rear cover strips vertical which will mean they're NOT centered over the seam due to whatever silliness happened in trimming, but I have faith in the wide inner rear cover strips (which ARE centered over the seam, somewhat obviously). You can see below approximately where the outer cover strips will lie compared to the seam.

 

This thing is done:

 

I seldom take photos of my pieces when they're all clamped up - seems indecent - but my shins looked so festive I had to snap a shot.

I was unsure how sizing those would go, what with the all-or-nothing business that is trying to resize with the ubiquitous ATA rear cover strip ridges getting in the way of mid-level trims, but curving them in a little with these front inside cover strips on, it looks like slimming them down will work fine. The rear ridges aren't THAT pronounced. I'll be sure to do the sizing with my boots on, yes. 

 

Soeaking of resizing, this is how much my forearms will have to come in.

I feel like even if I keep the halves symmetrical, the detailed bit on the right is going to be so far off center in its half it'll look bad. But we shall see.

 

Today I'll be prepping parts for my magnetic shin closures, and - maybe - reshaping the ab yet again. Here goes!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking good Lorelei. A little helping hint, your TD should be roughly 7 1/4-1/2 total in length.

 

Keep up the great work. 

[PhilBobTheFish]

The only way to keep the detail from being of center would be to remove material from both sides of the piece (top and bottom). This would be the side you already have connected and the side you have overlapped, but then you would loose the ridge on the front.

So I guess the choice is, keep the ridge or keep the detail in its symmetrical position?

Good luck.

Edited October 13, 2018 by PhilBobTheFish

[TheLorelei[TK]]

1 hour ago, ukswrath said:

Looking good Lorelei. A little helping hint, your TD should be roughly 7 1/4-1/2 total in length.

 

Keep up the great work. 

Thanks, Tony! It's 7 1/2 inches, I promise. Maybe even a hair under. (Literally.)

Of course it's quite possible for me to pop the pieces off and size it down if you think it looks too long.  But take a look below first...

It looks weird in pictures but I kept the caps to 3/4" and the gap between the caps and the control panel (?) to 3/4" and the overall length to 7 1/2" which left me with a slightly under 4 1/2" control panel (?).

Speaking of looking weird in pictures, check this out. My boyfriend's new iPhone, unlike my oldie, has this optical zoom thing and look at the difference having that turned on makes in the perceived size.

Nothing in these photos has been moved.

So there you go. Maybe it looks like a more reasonable size in the last picture, Tony?

 

4 minutes ago, PhilBobTheFish said:

So I guess the choice is, keep the ridge or keep the detail in its symmetrical position?

Good luck.

Yeahh. It's a fun quandary. Pretty sure ShaSha trimmed hers on both sides, but Christine did not. I'm going to keep the front ridge the same in the interest of keeping things largely undisturbed. Thanks for the well wishes.

 

Side note. The untrimmed shins are about the size of the trimmed thighs!

Tiny TKs Inc.!

[PhilBobTheFish]

Nice pants. 

[TheLorelei[TK]]

10 minutes ago, PhilBobTheFish said:

Nice pants. 

Imperial issue.