A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Hi gang. I was hoping to submit all my stuff to my GML this week, but learned that everything is on hold till after elections. *sigh* Oh, well, I've been at this for nearly two years, so what's another couple weeks, eh? I hadn't really intended to do a pre-approval thread, but with my TK done and some extra time on my hands, I couldn't just sit here without showing off my armor now could I? Of course not. OK, here we go. Name: A.J. Hamler Garrison: Garrison Carida Armor Maker: AM 2.0 Helmet: AM 4.0 Belt: Kittell Neck Seal: Darman Boots: TK Boots Blaster: Hyperfirm Height: 5' 11" Weight: 205 Type: ANH Stunt Full Body Photos: Helmet: Ab details. (Colors didn't come out well, but they're standard Humbrol blue and gray.) Wrist trim: Thermal Detonator (Ukswrath's brackets and screws): Neck Seal: Blaster: Thanks! A.J. Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Nice work, the close on new member applications starts 1st February through until 19th February, so you may be able to just squeeze in if you are quick. You can still sent your application to your GML, at least get some feedback even if the last of the paperwork can't be finished. A nice clean build and I think you will have any problems with approval, good luck Quote
justjoseph63[Staff] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Wow, A.J., just WOW! Phenomenal job on that build, sir, and you should have no problems at all passing basic. After seeing that armor, I am really hoping that you will be aiming for the higher levels once you get approved. While you wait, here are a few small items that would make it look even better for when you apply for level 2. Your biceps could stand to come up a skosh, especially the left one. Right now, it looks as if it's about to pop out from under your shoulder bell. (Arrow). If possible, the ABS belt should ride higher. You may have to tighten up the elastic strap that holds your chest/back together, but that would help eliminate the overlap over the kidney. Quote
Frank75139[501st] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 May have been two years but you did it right, nice work!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
justjoseph63[Staff] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 2 hours ago, Bud Spaklur said: Joseph- I’m shocked you didn’t drop the ear angle pic in. They are pretty close, and we have to save something for the EI review (hint hint, A.J.). 1 Quote
A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted January 28, 2019 Author Report Posted January 28, 2019 5 hours ago, justjoseph63 said: Wow, A.J., just WOW! Phenomenal job on that build, sir, and you should have no problems at all passing basic. After seeing that armor, I am really hoping that you will be aiming for the higher levels once you get approved. While you wait, here are a few small items that would make it look even better for when you apply for level 2. Your biceps could stand to come up a skosh, especially the left one. Right now, it looks as if it's about to pop out from under your shoulder bell. (Arrow). If possible, the ABS belt should ride higher. You may have to tighten up the elastic strap that holds your chest/back together, but that would help eliminate the overlap over the kidney. Thanks for the advice, Joseph! Yeah, I'm aware of all three issues -- especially that Bicep. Damned thing kept coming unsnapped for some reason. You'll notice in the other photos -- left side arms up and down, action pose, back view -- that it's right where it's supposed to be. It unsnapped just before shooting those two front-facing poses. No idea why it kept coming undone (three or four times during our shoot), but I had no trouble whatsoever with any other snap. Might just be a bad snap or something. Best fix for that might be just to preemptively replace it. Of course, that's one of the few areas I didn't do a double-snap. Best fix might just be to add the second snap if I have room on the strap, or replace the strap with a new one with two snaps on it. A question though on raising Biceps -- Personally, I'd like them both to be higher than I set them for more freedom of arm movement, but I kept reading here about how the elbow gap should be kept to a minimum or even no gap, and to achieve that it was OK, even recommended, to bring the Biceps down as far as possible to eliminate elbow gap. I'm a bit confused on whether the Biceps should be high or low. Again, I'd rather they be high for comfort but want to do the right thing. Easy fix to raise them, especially since I need to fix that snap on the one side, which will probably require a new strap there anyway. The Belt height is another confusing issue. The CRL says "The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels.," which is where I put it. Easy fix, though, to raise it a bit with some Velcro behind it. But, again, I'm confused as to the wording in the CRL. And that darned Back Plate! Thing gave me fits during the build. From the side it looks like it's slipped down, but that's just the "corner wings" or whatever they are that seems to be a characteristic of the AM armor. When you look at that Back/Kidney seam from the back in the photo below, you can see that the two return edges are resting against each other along the center... ...but those "wings" dip down to overlap on the ends. Not sure what to do about them. I've seen that in a lot of other AM builds, too. During my build I looked at them long and hard, and don't think a water bath would do it -- that'd bend them up OK to be in the same plane as the top of the Kidney return, but doing so would misshape the side edges of the Back Plate I think. I'm open to any suggestions for a fix. And you betcha I'm shooting for L2 & L3! Been my goal from day one of my build. In fact, although I didn't post them in this pre-approval thread, I took every one of my necessary EI and Centurion photos yesterday, too. Things like Sniper Knee, S-trim, Knee Ammo Belt attachment inside and out, etc. The only L2 & L3 photo I haven't taken yet is my rubber gloves with your excellent silicone Hand Plates, as I haven't attached the Hand Plates to the gloves yet. <g> A.J. Quote
Frank75139[501st] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Can’t wait to see that sniper knee pic, maybe you should send it over to Lorelei so she can get a good look too. LolDo you have hooks on your biceps to help keep them up? I don’t remember your whole thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
Pretzel Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Well Done AJ. You should be proud. Looking forward to trooping along a side of you brother. Don't worry. I did not forget to show you my kidney/butt plate connectors lol. Congratulations my friend. Quote
giskard8[Staff] Posted January 28, 2019 Report Posted January 28, 2019 Nice work AJ. Should have no problem for basic approval. May be a little foam padding under the back plate will solve your problem. It’s likely just adjusting your strapping will solve the problem. Another possibility is you have your connection at the bottom center of your back plate to the top of the kidney plate pulling too tight, thus forcing the back plate down too much and caused the edges flying at an angle rather than sitting flush. Quote
Rat[TK] Posted January 29, 2019 Report Posted January 29, 2019 Given for basic. Good work A.J.Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk Quote
lucnak[TK] Posted January 29, 2019 Report Posted January 29, 2019 Looks like an easy pass for basic to me as well! Well done! Quote
sylverbard[TK] Posted January 29, 2019 Report Posted January 29, 2019 looks good. see you at EI :-) Quote
ocmano[TK] Posted January 30, 2019 Report Posted January 30, 2019 Solid work Sir! Great to see another AM build.Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk Quote
sharkbait[TK] Posted January 30, 2019 Report Posted January 30, 2019 Fantastic job! Easy basic pass. Gotta love that AM! It will treat you well for many trooping years. Quote
A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted January 30, 2019 Author Report Posted January 30, 2019 OK, played around a bit with my armor and improved a couple things, including two of the things Joseph noted. First, I adjusted both Biceps to bring them up a little. I didn't have any trouble with the the snap inside the left Bicep this time -- could adjusting the height have fixed my issue with it coming unsnapped? I did remove a bit more of the return edge on the inner upper edge of both Biceps (which is right behind the strap up there where the snap is) and that may have helped, too. I also added some Velcro behind the belt at the center and tugged it up a smidgen. I still don't know what to do about that Back Plate issue where it overlaps on those "wing tips" on the corners. I'll save that for another day. Meanwhile, here's a couple more photos I didn't include last time. Elastic at rear of Shoulder Bridges Lens color Left/right side details And, although an older photo from earlier in the build, the Sniper Knee That's it for now. Gotta figure out something with those "wing tips" on that Back Plate. Quote
TheSwede[TK] Posted January 30, 2019 Report Posted January 30, 2019 For that ANH-look the bicep should be low. 1 hour ago, A.J. Hamler said: Gotta figure out something with those "wing tips" If you can sort out the back plate overlap the "wings" will fall in line Quote
A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted January 30, 2019 Author Report Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, TheSwede said: If you can sort out the back plate overlap the "wings" will fall in line That's the problem -- the Back Plate isn't overlapping. Most of it at the center (red arrow) is resting right atop the Kidney Plate where it belongs. In fact, the area defined by the green line is resting on the Kidney; you can even see some of the black undersuit where that line is. It's just those two pointed wing-like things on ends (orange arrows) that are overlapping. I can't figure out any way to fix this. Heating and bending those up could make them level with the rest of the Back Plate, but that would put a big warp on the lower sides of the Back Plate. Cutting them off would remove the return edge, which I don't want to do for fear that'd cause even more overlap problems. (And I'm not confident enough to attempt creating new return edges.) Edited January 30, 2019 by A.J. Hamler typo Quote
sharkbait[TK] Posted January 31, 2019 Report Posted January 31, 2019 Can the ab/cod and kidney/butt be pulled up just a bit? You're so close to overlap, it seems- maybe an inch? Do you have any room to play or are the cod and butt already perfectly fitted? Quote
A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted January 31, 2019 Author Report Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) Yeah, the Butt/Kidney are just right; ditto the Cod/Ab. (Which is good thing, of course.) Besides, I'm not sure how pulling the Kidney up higher would help prevent overlap. Edited January 31, 2019 by A.J. Hamler Quote
gatetrooper[TK] Posted January 31, 2019 Report Posted January 31, 2019 More from Carida-land... re: back plate flare The back plate sits very flat against your upper back, but the connection as it stands may be pulling the top too close to your back, and forcing the bottom to sit further out than it should. If you relax the shoulder connection to the chest plate, would that let the upper portion sit out a little, but not too much, and allow the lower portion of the back plate to slide closer to your back, thereby bringing those wings more in line with the kidney? I found personally that when I stand with my shoulders back, the natural curve of my upper back makes the back plate sit a little more In line with my kidney. 1 Quote
A.J. Hamler[TK] Posted February 1, 2019 Author Report Posted February 1, 2019 Andrew -- Trouble is, if I lengthen the shoulder connections, then the Back Plate slips down to completely overlap the top of the Kidney. I originally had the shoulder straps a little longer, but intentionally shortened them up a bit to pull the Back Plate up to correct the overlap. Haven't gotten any other suggestions, but as much as it terrifies me to attempt it I'm afraid I'm going to have to try to reshape that lower edge and trim the flares off. I really don't want to do that as I'm not confident of pulling it off, but it's starting to look like that's my only recourse. Quote
Frank75139[501st] Posted February 1, 2019 Report Posted February 1, 2019 Andrew -- Trouble is, if I lengthen the shoulder connections, then the Back Plate slips down to completely overlap the top of the Kidney. I originally had the shoulder straps a little longer, but intentionally shortened them up a bit to pull the Back Plate up to correct the overlap. Haven't gotten any other suggestions, but as much as it terrifies me to attempt it I'm afraid I'm going to have to try to reshape that lower edge and trim the flares off. I really don't want to do that as I'm not confident of pulling it off, but it's starting to look like that's my only recourse. I wouldn’t do it if your not sure it’s gonna come out properly. I’m a cautious person Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
gatetrooper[TK] Posted February 1, 2019 Report Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) AJ, Do you have a pic of the inside connection between the back and kidney (specifically to see the snap plate locations)? You probably do somewhere in your build thread... Perhaps if you use snap plates that have minimal flex (nylon or less stretchy elastic - perhaps elastic turned sideways, which doesn't stretch the same as length-wise) on each corner where it sticks way out, that will pull the back into alignment with the kidney, while keeping it from sagging over the top of the kidney. Then you could experiment with loosening the shoulder connection. Edited February 1, 2019 by gatetrooper Quote
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