Lord_Potato's Walt's Trooper Factory ANH TK Build (COMPLETE)

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So before I cut the ammo pack belt piece I would like some clarification from you experienced people.

 

Here is my RS belt next to my Walts belt

 

My RS belt and a lot of ANH on screen TK belts had almost no gap from the "blocks" to the edge of the belt.

 

Seems from my looking around in White Armor, I keep seeing a 3-5 mm width. So before I cut I would like some guidance. It seems like there is the smallest gap on what I have seen as references and I think anywhere from 4-5mm is too wide. Here is a image I found from browsing this site:

 

For now I have my pencil lines almost right against the boxes, matching my RS

 

 

RS width from the box closest to each edge is about 40mm. So I marked 40mm width on both sides:

 

So long story short: each box to the  top and bottom edge have a 1-2mm amount of space (boxes aren't all the same height) and the ends have marked at 40mm

 

Buttons are pretty thick: Looks like I will sand them down to match the RS:

 

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Yes ,  You're on the right path trooper!  

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

Cut the ammo belt out. Due to the natural imperfections of the height of each box and cutting so close to them, the edges are straight but they aren't perfect straight. 

 

It think it looks good and I closely followed my RS belt. I think most ANH ammo belt pack corners are rounded. So I might end up rounding my corners a bit with some sandpaper.

 

I am slowly trimming away at the excess height of the buttons. I am considering just cutting along the inside right where the button base starts to form:

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Hi Jonathan looking good so far, that's exactly what I would do.  

[CableGuy[TK]]

Great job on the trimming. Looks about right.

When you stick the button covers onto your new belt, just note that ideally they should not touch the edges. There should be a little gap between the button and the edge of the ammo belt. :-)



A little like this, perhaps;



Great work, Jonathan.

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

Suited up everything that I have that has been strapped so far to get a general idea of how things are fitting:

 

Just by placing the ab plate on I know that I will have to bring down my chest by about in inch or so. Upon inspecting why my chest sits so high it seems that the curve of my back plate tabs are affecting the way my chest sits (if that make sense) it seems that flattening the curve of the back plate tabs will make the chest naturally lower. Whatever the cause I know it will be correctable:

 

I trimmed right up to the mold lines for my torso pieces. I have received lots of advice on removing return edges and I have removed return edges on almost all my pieces. I am trying to leave the slightest return edge - just enough so you can see the plastic "curve"- I really like how that looks. But if even that is not recommended I don't mind sanding it down:

 

Buttons are trimmed down:

 

Got my extra ears. I compared one of the new ears to the helmet in different light settings and looks like the color is close enough to the helmet (I am so relieved) Walt goes through different plastic suppliers so sometimes pieces come in very different shades of white. My previous image doesn't really show it, but my replacement belt drop boxes are a noticeably different white. 

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So I redid my ears. I tried to make the ear screws align with the trapezoid thing as I have seen pointed out on lots of centurion applications but I ended up slightly off. Looks like small movements during positioning and trimming slowly moved the original position. I tried to make it a lot closer to screen accurate helmets. I just need to add the bottom screw and it will help close the small gaps. I just need to verify/research how for in the bottom does it go and does it go in the middle or aligned with the other screws.  

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Looking Good, well done.

 

The Following reference photos can help you to figure out how the screws go

 

 

 

 

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

I got the helmet fully assembled. It looks like all that is needed is internal padding and painting:

 

I think I'm hold off from painting until everything is assembled then go and paint the ab buttons and helmet. 

 

Looks like its now time to focus on the torso.....

 

***important lesson learned*** I should have installed a screw near the bottom of the helmet on each side (not just the circle part of the ear) to hold the helmet together. When I tightened the bottom screw after trimming my ears, the helmet slightly changed its shape (very small, the added pressure of the bottom screw added the smallest change in shape. That along when I was using my compass when sizing my ear......I was putting a lot of pressure on my thumb on the ear; making sure it was pressed against the helmet. My fingers on the inside of the helmet (which were right under the tube section) was also slightly changing the shape of the helmet. So when I screwed everything on there was a gap on the ears. Especially on the right side. Basically the ears were sized to the helmet when I had my hand squeezing helmet pieces together. So the next helmet I do I will make sure there is a screw near the bottom and when i put the ear against the helmet for sizing I will make sure the ear is not being squeezed against the helmet. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Lord_Potato

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So now I am in torso phase. The kidney plate is a little wide on me but I feel like the small bend it takes to fit around my waste is minimal and exerts little stress on the kidney armor. The same for the ab plate. It looks like these pieces wont require any reshaping as far as I can tell. Just some trimming.

 

It looks like the way the pieces meet the ends don't go straight down perfectly. It looks more like a slant.

 

Not sure what to do. Maybe cut it so they meet and go straight down? I marked where I think the left side should be recut:

 

As much as I want to make progress I dont want to make a mistake with trimming my torso so I will wait for a bit for some responses. Another thing I noticed is that the kidney plate doesnt match what the RS has. It looks like the bottom of the kidney should be aligned with the ab plate at the notch and the after the notch it goes lower the the bottom of the ab plate. CRL seemed a little vague to me about this. I know the notch is not necessary for centurion, but I need to do more probing. 

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So I thought I wouldn't have to do any reshaping but I realized even though the torso is smaller than the RS suit it looked like I needed a bit more curvature to make it fit me better.

 

Reshaped the kidney, the ends ended up curving a bit too much but some of the ends will be trimmed away for resizing:

 

I realized that my deep fry turkey pot is a similar circumference to my torso......so I just dipped my whole ab plate in it (wish I did this with my kidney):

 

Strapped the torso again. It fits a lot better now. Still have to make the kidney edges neater to align with the sides of the ab plate:

 

I am not sure if the space I have in my torso is too big or if I should aim to make the torso a little smaller (besides shaving the kidney ends to make the ab and kidney meet neater)

 

And looks like I am going to try and flatten the sides of the kidney so they meet at a nice flat surface:

 

So that's my plan for this weekend: Flatten the sides of the kidney, verify sizing is still good and making the ends are able to butt together nicely:

Edited May 15, 2020 by Lord_Potato

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Lord_Potato said:

So that's my plan for this weekend: Flatten the sides of the kidney, verify sizing is still good and making the ends are able to butt together nicely:

You're in the right path Jonathan, cutting is the last resource , my opinion, and you must be completely sure when Trimming is needed.

 

I have done this kind of trimming a couple of times , and It worked so good, but It was a little more plastic to trim.

 

In front is my kidney plate and behind the one I was helping a fellow recruit to fit better.

 

 

and made the same with the butt plate 

 

 

 

Good luck  mate.

 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

On 5/14/2020 at 11:03 PM, TKSpartan said:

You're in the right path Jonathan, cutting is the last resource , my opinion, and you must be completely sure when Trimming is needed.

 

I have done this kind of trimming a couple of times , and It worked so good, but It was a little more plastic to trim.

 

In front is my kidney plate and behind the one I was helping a fellow recruit to fit better.

 

 

and made the same with the butt plate 

 

 

 

Good luck  mate.

 

Thank you for the advice. And yes, I am cutting as little as possible to be safe!!

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So I tried to make the ends of the kidney not so curvy. I succeeded in improving the shape. I honestly think I could have given more hot water treatment and make it almost perfect but I was being cautious since the kidney plate is already cut down to size and I know hot water can cause shrinkage:

 

I am happy with how it looks and will leave it at that. Maybe during final strapping if it I notice I have to trim the kidney a bit more I can risk doing the same procedure again to try and make the ends go perfectly straight and have no curvature at all. 

 

This is how I intend to go forward with my torso:

 

*** I will have to make new notches at the bottom of the kidney plate***

 

Since this build is taking me forever and I don't have much experience with a sewing machine, I measured my waste with my ab and kidney plate on and ordered a 37 inch belt from Imperial Issue. I wanted to order the belt awhile ago but was unable to since I needed to measure myself with the armor on to get the proper belt size. At least i can make sure I have all materials needed so when the canvas belt comes I can start putting it together. 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Fantastic ! great Work.! 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Can never have too many clamps .
Your work is progressing very nicely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

My RS kit has taught me one thing to be aware of: Kidney and ab plate sides overlapping each other. 

 

I know there are several strapping methods out there and I have been browsing around. I am trying to find a strapping method that will prevent the sides from overlapping and do it well. I decided to experiment by having a velcro strip reinforced with plastic to hold the sides in place:

 

I dont know if this method is the best way to keep my sides in place. But even if it isnt, this should be sufficient enough to have something to keep it together and to install the belt.

 

Got my belt:

 

So far just placing it on seems to be an appropriate size, but it looks like when its just being held on with the velcro backing my kidney plate appears to be crooked. Maybe things will look better when the belt is fully assembled and snapped on to my ab plate. Maybe I have to trim the bottom left side of my kidney. I guess ill cross that bridge when I get there. 

 

 

Next part:

 

My ab plate button is curved at the bottom. No matter how much I sand the bottom it will not sit nicely on the ab plate. I tried to hot water bathe it but I couldnt get it to straighten and the sounding plastic from the base shrunk.....

 

Ordered a second ab button plate from Walt thinking it was a defect. Nope, new ab button plate is just the same:

 

Need some advice. I am thinking about trimming the base and then placing it on a plastic piece if styrene plastic and create a flat base. The color is a different white but its only going to be sticking out a few mm's on each side:

 

I feel like every step comes unexpected problems. Having the mannequin with my armor on gives me motivation that I am making progress:

 

[Chemi[Staff]]

31 minutes ago, Lord_Potato said:

I feel like every step comes unexpected problems. Having the mannequin with my armor on gives me motivation that I am making progress:

 

 

Well, we have all felt like this at some point ... But if I tell you the truth, when you put on your finished armor, all that is left behind...

I think the work you are doing with the armor is amazing...

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice fix, I use a few pieces of foam behind as I'm quite thin, this only allows the armor to come together so far so doesn't overlap. 

 

Adding a couple of plastic strips can help.

 

Some have come up with interlocking pieces for the sides.

 

 

Even magnets

 

At the end of the day what every works for you  

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

18 hours ago, Chemi said:

Well, we have all felt like this at some point ... But if I tell you the truth, when you put on your finished armor, all that is left behind...

I think the work you are doing with the armor is amazing...

 

Thank you! I really appreciate it! 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

18 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Nice fix, I use a few pieces of foam behind as I'm quite thin, this only allows the armor to come together so far so doesn't overlap. 

 

Adding a couple of plastic strips can help.

 

Some have come up with interlocking pieces for the sides.

 

 

Even magnets

 

At the end of the day what every works for you  

Oh wow, thank you for some of these ideas! I guess as long as I am using only E6000 I can always change and experiment! 

[Lord_Potato[TK]]

So before I start assembling my belt; I am under the impression that it is important to have the ab buttons already secured to the ab plate since the top of the ammo belt should be touching the bottom ab button. 

 

As stated before, the very curved shape of the button plate prevented me from using the surrounding flashing to make a border (just like the screen used versions). So I got the plate sanded down to a level position. 

 

My question is that should I just mount the plate as is?

 

Or try and use a plastic square to try and recreate the base? All the cover strip material Walt sent me were pre cut and were too small to make a base. So this random plastic I bought is obviously a different shade of white. Only a couple of mm's of this plastic will be visible but it is noticeable:

 

The CRL does not mention a base/border for the button plate so I am not sure how to proceed. 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Lord_Potato

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Actually you have trimmed your ab plate too much, should have left a rectangle of material on the sides.

 

What you may have to do now is glue that rectangle to the back then seal the join with some ABS paste. 

 

         

[Cricket[TK]]

7 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Actually you have trimmed your ab plate too much, should have left a rectangle of material on the sides.

 

The WTF ab button plate is very deep, and as a result, does not have the extra bit of material on it.  When I was building a WTF kit, I ended up grinding down the WTF ab plate as thin as I could, and adhered a piece of white ABS to the back of it.  I filled in the gappy areas with white caulking to make it look seamless.  Here's what I did on mine.

That said, there is no requirement for that little bit of extra plastic to be present for L2 or L3 on the ab button plate.  It's totally up to personal preference.