BigCara's ANH TK AP Build

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Nice trimming on those biceps. Mark!

[tarok[TK]]

Forearms with a few clamps


Think I need a new system to be more efficient in the downtime while I wait for the E6000 to dry.

Gotta love the $15 for a billion clamps bag from Bunnings lol

You’ll work out the order and process that works best for you, just remember slow and steady wins the race


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[BigCara[TK]]

Note to self, cover strips are slightly different colour on reverse side, gotta make sure I put the correct side up




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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just a tip, if you use some coarse sandpaper on the backs of the cover strips and front of armor it will help the glue to adhere. I scuff my sheets before cutting in to strips, can easily tell which side is which then  

[BigCara[TK]]

On 2/13/2019 at 9:47 AM, gmrhodes13 said:

Just a tip, if you use some coarse sandpaper on the backs of the cover strips and front of armor it will help the glue to adhere. I scuff my sheets before cutting in to strips, can easily tell which side is which then  

 

Thanks was doing it after cutting, would make it easier doing it before.

 

Right arms almost done with 15mm cover strips

 

 

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Edited February 14, 2019 by BigCara

[BigCara[TK]]

Thought I'd knock off something simple today.



Don't you hate when there is only enough glue for one glove.



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[BigCara[TK]]

Dismal failure



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[Frank75139[501st]]

Minor setback...

 

Did you scruff up the underside of the hand plates? That helps. I also used gorilla glue and clamps with mine. Seemed to stick better.

 

 

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[Digz Graavz[TK]]

Yeah mine were a fail too - Also AP.   I've seen the 2-part CA glues with an activator work well but you need to make 100% sure your placement is perfect.

I've had to order another set from Mark...

 

 

[BigCara[TK]]

Was thinking afterwards that scuffing may have helped.

Thankfully the hand guards are undamaged, and the gloves were only $3 from the supermarket.


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[TheSwede[TK]]

You also need suprisingly little glue, I used loctite and it didn´t stick well, then when thinking how to get them to stick I suddenly  remembered Mike from Trooper mentioning on his Zap-a-gap glue "use sparingly"so I just used way less and that did the trick 

[BigCara[TK]]

Thanks might need to try zap a gap, 

 

Round 2, tried another glue with an activator pen, lasted til I flexed my hand, but  this was an improvement on round 1

[BigCara[TK]]

Snap time






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[husky68[TK]]

11 minutes ago, BigCara said:

Snap time

Don't you mean "hammer time" 

[BigCara[TK]]

13 minutes ago, husky68 said:

Don't you mean "hammer time" 

Can't touch this! Love the animation

 

On a separate note, elastic on the shoulder bells around the biceps is just glued directly on?

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

On 2/26/2019 at 5:47 AM, BigCara said:

Thanks might need to try zap a gap, 

 

Round 2, tried another glue with an activator pen, lasted til I flexed my hand, but  this was an improvement on round 1

I have had a LOT of experience gluing hand guards to gloves, lol.  I have experimented with CA (super) glue, rubber cement, and even Elmer's.  The one that I found that works the best (pardon the pun) hands down is good ol' E-6000.  CA glue can (and will) get brittle over time, and can peel off.  E-6000 has the bonding and flexibility that I found works best.

After scuffing up and them thoroughly cleaning/drying the rubber gloves, apply it just to the back of the hand guards.  Smear it around evenly, making sure not to go too heavy near the edges.

Lay the gloves flat, place the guards in the correct positions  and then add a substantial amount of weight on top of each.  (Several pounds).  Wait 12-24 hours and that should do the trick.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

37 minutes ago, BigCara said:

 

On a separate note, elastic on the shoulder bells around the biceps is just glued directly on?

That's the way it was done in the films, and you can certainly do it if you like... BUT, those were not really meant for long-term use. Elastic will wear and stretch out over time, so I suggest attaching them using snaps.  That way, you can replace the elastic as needed in the future instead of trying to peel it off the armor.  I also suggest using snap/strap connection for all areas.

[BigCara[TK]]

Let this dry over night



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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nothing worse than waiting for glue to dry  

[BigCara[TK]]

More waiting



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[BigCara[TK]]

I've been looking to do chest back, abs and kidneys next. After taping everything up to do a rough fit check before I strap, I've got some concerns that my torso might be a bit longer than I thought. I'm only 6' tall but pretty solid at 230lb.

 

When I taped everything up and had a slight overlap of the chest plate and abs (only about an inch) and aligned the kidney to be level with the top edge of the abs. There was about a 3-4" gap in between the back plate and the kidneys. Its fixed if I hunch over, but not overly comfortable for more than 2mins, and standing up straight blows it open.

 

I know I can slightly lengthen the elastic over the shoulders by about an inch to drop the back plate slightly, though any more and the shoulder straps might get to short to attach at the back, this still does it doesn't give me enough to close the gap. If I move the chest plate up closer to my neck that also helps drop the back plate, but results in the cod crushing the Jatz Crackers.

 

How much overlap should I have on the chest plate/abs?

 

Should the neckline of the chest plate be roughly at the same height as the bottom of the helmet? or doesn't matter?

 

I'm using double snaps for strapping, should I use elastic or nylon webbing through for the torso straping?

 

Any other suggestions? or am I over thinking stuff.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by BigCara

[CableGuy[TK]]

I've been looking to do chest back, abs and kidneys next. After taping everything up to do a rough fit check before I strap, I've got some concerns that my torso might be a bit longer than I thought. I'm only 6' tall but pretty solid at 230lb.
 
When I taped everything up and had a slight overlap of the chest plate and abs (only about an inch) and aligned the kidney to be level with the top edge of the abs. There was about a 3-4" gap in between the back plate and the kidneys. Its fixed if I hunch over, but not overly comfortable for more than 2mins, and standing up straight blows it open.
 
I know I can slightly lengthen the elastic over the shoulders by about an inch to drop the back plate slightly, though any more and the shoulder straps might get to short to attach at the back, this still does it doesn't give me enough to close the gap. If I move the chest plate up closer to my neck that also helps drop the back plate, but results in the cod crushing the Jatz Crackers.
 
How much overlap should I have on the chest plate/abs?
 
Should the neckline of the chest plate be roughly at the same height as the bottom of the helmet? or doesn't matter?
 
I'm using double snaps for strapping, should I use elastic or nylon webbing through for the torso straping?
 
Any other suggestions? or am I over thinking stuff.
 
 

Hi Mark,

If it’s possible for you to get it strapped on again and take some pics, we can try to point you in the right direction. A lot of it just depends on how the parts fit ones specific frame. :-)


Best wishes,
Dan

[BigCara[TK]]

Slightly better than the other day

If I stand completely upright the jatz crackers get squashed.

 

Do I have room for longer elastic shoulder straps as the overlap of the shoulder covers at the back plate is between the 4-5rib which is the same overlap as the chest plate.

 

Is there too much overlap of the chest plate /ab? Can I score more length here?

 

Elastic strapping or nylon webbing internally?

[TheSwede[TK]]

Like a glove One small thing, you seem to have alot of return left on the top ab-plate, If you´re doing the brackets then you will need some but it looks like you could trim atleast half of what you got now. Internall strapping is very much to ones liking, I have elastic for all of mine, others use webbing and happy with that. If you start with elastic and feel it´s not working for you then it´s fairly easy to swap to webbing or vice versa.

[BigCara[TK]]

43 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

Like a glove One small thing, you seem to have alot of return left on the top ab-plate, If you´re doing the brackets then you will need some but it looks like you could trim atleast half of what you got now. Internall strapping is very much to ones liking, I have elastic for all of mine, others use webbing and happy with that. If you start with elastic and feel it´s not working for you then it´s fairly easy to swap to webbing or vice versa.

Thanks, was going to go brackets but recently changed mind to use a double snap setup, was going to try doubled over elastic first and see how I like it. Got 5m each of the webbing and elastic to play around with.