Help needed - Helmet Assembly

grimacingpeon · January 19, 2019

Hey all,

I'm a rookie building my first TK kit. I just started the process of assembling the helmet last night. I started by cutting the trim lines of the face and back, then moved onto the eyes and teeth. As I was about to start drilling for the initial rivets, I noticed that the face and back don't have any overlap material to where the bottom screw of the ear could penetrate the plastic (I hope that makes sense...). I've attached a few pictures below and will also link the threat I started for the complete build. I'm not sure if this is a normal occurrence. I'm pretty sure I cut the trim edges exactly for the two helmet pieces? At this point I'm not sure if I should proceed or if I need to create a tubular "shim" for both sides to give additional structural stability and provide a place that the lower ear screw (or a rivet) can be placed. Any feedback would be most appreciated!

My current build thread:

Thanks in advance!

**giskard8[Staff]** · January 19, 2019

Hello Josh,

This is normal. I suggest:

1) raise the cap a little bit higher, your eye brow is sitting a bit low for an ANH-Stunt. When you blot the cap to the face plate the plastic will spring and it might drop a bit further. I think leaving a 5-10mm space there might be better.

2) re-evaluate the gaps on both side after you raised the cap. You might find the left ear gap closed (or very close to no gap). As long as the disc (top) of the ears have sufficient overlapping (cap overlapping faceplate area) you will be able to secure the ears without problem. IF there is a gap at the bottom edge, my solution is use a large piece of scrap plastic, bend it to shape with a dryer, then drill a hole in the middle and use it to "sandwich" the lower edge of the cap and faceplate from the inside with the bottom ear screw, with a bit of E-6000 to secure it in place.

Hope I am making sense.

Edited January 19, 2019 by giskard8

grimacingpeon · January 19, 2019

Giskard,

Thanks for the reply! I tried tried tinkering with that a little last night and although the plastic comes closer together the tubular contour of the two pieces starts to angle away each other a bit more... so I’m not sure if the ear covers that difference in contour or not? I’ll post a picture later. Hopefully that makes sense haha. Thanks again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**sharkbait[TK]** · January 21, 2019

The TK buckets are... a challenge... to say the least. After I finished mine I swore I'd never build another bucket myself again.

As mentioned above, it's pretty normal to have ear gaps like that. The ears are the worst part of an already hard build. I added extra screws that would be underneath the ear caps to further close the pieces together. Worked well. The bottom of the ear bars/caps cover the bottom curve by the tube stripes, and should line up roughly or as tightly as possible with it. There's usually a little gap or seam present.

(PS: I like your dog. )

Edited January 21, 2019 by sharkbait