Brad's ANH TK (Stunt) Build Thread

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Oh and I suggest removing all the lower return edge on the shins or they'll tear up your boots. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Runs some fine sandpaper around the inside edge too, make sure there's nothing sharp there once trimmed.

 

[Alleged[TK]]

I'm working on removing the return edge at the bottom (curved Lexan scissors are my new friend), and will definitely work on the new edges with fine sandpaper.  Thank you!

[Alleged[TK]]

Dear friends and Legion-mates,

 

Please pardon the long post.  

 

This was the end of week one as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Silicon Valley Comiccon was unfortunately not an option for me.  So I chose to grade papers, work on lesson plans, and spend a couple of hours on my TK build.     I made some progress (see pics below) but I'm at a point where I need to solicit input from those that have come before me.  

 

With the help of ukswrath, justjoseph, and gmrhodes13,  I acquired knowledge and hardware (rivets) to finish assembling my right thigh.   I also trimmed, assembled, and glued the sniper knee on my left calf:

 

 

My issue:  the ammo belt just isn't sitting right.   According to the CRL,  the ammo belt should be attached in the upper corner by a rivet, and secured to the thigh ridge.   Did that on the wearer's right (please excuse the unpainted rivet, it's gotta be white):

 

 

...and I assume the rivet should be in the same location on the left (inside) side of the wearer's right thigh, which is what I did:

 

 

However, after looking at the result, the ammo belt seems pitched and it sits somewhat more of an angle than the reference photos suggest is correct.   The belt is also not perfectly perpendicular with the thigh piece itself, and when looked head-on, sits at an obvious slant.    The thigh pieces themselves aren't perfectly straight, nor is a human leg I *think* that to make the ammo belt perpendicular in this particular set of armor (WTF)  I would have to drill a hole ABOVE the ridge of the inside part of the right thigh, which is at odds with the CRL.   Before I start drilling more holes,  I thought this would be a natural place to pause and get some wisdom from the detachment. 

 

Other pics, trimming the back.    From the natural lines of the mold, these SEEM to be the places to do rough trimming:  

 

 

The plastic didn't give any indication as to where to trim the left rear, so my "guess" is below.   Hope I didn't overdo it!

 

Same deal, the upper part of the right back seemed obvious, but not the lower part.  This seemed like a good place to start. 

 

...I think the bottom of the back needs further trimming, but I am unclear how much return to leave.  See below:  

 

 

...and the chest:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading all of this, and I hope everyone has a great week. 

Edited August 20, 2019 by Alleged
clarification of the reason for the photo.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Brad looking good brother. The thigh ammo belt is fine, optimal would be equal positioning, but it's not a requirement. I know a lot of builders like to center the ammo box with cover strip thinking logically that's where it should be placed however, as seen in the following reference photo's it can be in either location. Evenly distributing the mounting location on the thigh undoubtedly offsets the ammo belt for the thigh on most armors. That said, it's already mounted so pick your poison, drill new holes and reposition it or leave it as is. Choice is yours. Neither way should effect any level of approval.

 

 

As for the chest plate return edge, again here's a reference photo. Except for the sniper knee return edge is not a requirement anywhere so trim as needed.

 

Hope this helps

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by ukswrath

[Alleged[TK]]

It does, a huge load off my mind in fact.  Thank you.    Looking at ATA and ANOVOS build threads for next steps with chest, back, ab, and posterior trimming.

 

[Alleged[TK]]

That moment when you realize you don't know what you don't know. 

 

I see I can take a bunch off of the front sides of the chest plate (leaving the bottom alone as it seems that rivets are mounted underneath.   I found myself stuck, so I paused to find a number of great threads on what to trim next, and I think I know how to proceed with the ab plate, kidney,  posterior, and codpiece.    I can see that after trying on the kidney and ab plate, it looks like I"m in for some shimming :-/ and I am looking for the best tutorial - this one (by MoSc0ut, also with WTF armor) seems quite complete. 

 

I am also looking ahead to snaps and strapping, and found some good stuff  on strapping,  and  snap placement.

 

And since have have pieces of this project running in parallel,   I'm checking to see if this spray paint works for the thermal detonator.  And I was considering sourcing TD clips, though I see they can be made with 1" aluminum strip. (Referenced here.)  

Edited August 20, 2019 by Alleged
added link, edited for grammar and clarity.

[Alleged[TK]]

I spent much of the last 3 days measuring, trimming, and sanding theab, codpiece, posterior, and the kidney.  I need to shim my kidney piece, so I read up on shimming and joining pieces with ABS paste.    It's my first go at it, and I'm sure I used way too much, which I now need to deal with.    The kidney piece is of course "curved", and the extra material supplied by WTF is actually a bit thicker than the armor, so I had to use more ABS paste than I would have liked.  (The good news is that the sizing was right.)  

 

This piece was deliberately made a bit tall, as I intend to further trim and (carefully) use a heat gun the "bend" the extra to match the existing kidney return edge. 

 

Obviously I have to sand the excess hardened ABS paste, and "blend" it as best I can before smoothing and polishing.   The faint dark line is where I joined some existing cover strips (didn't have one wide enough for the shim I need.)     

 

 

The other side came out a little better, but will still need to be massively sanded/leveled.    

 

 

I'm a bit out of my comfort zone, so my plan for next weekend looks like this.

 

1.   Allow ABS to cure for a few days (it's hardening, but relatively soft and "gummy" in the thicker spots.)

2.   Sand down the "globs"  - A Dremel tool attachment seemed promising in grinding down the worst of the globs.  Then sandpaper by hand?  The objective is to avoid further damaging the finish in the kidney.

3.  Once smooth and as level as possible, , use 3M wetordry sandpaper (2000 wet) to blend the joints.

 

This is where I'm unsure.

 

4.  Once smooth, I have to polish and buff.  I have the Novus 1, 2, and 3 products as recommended by others here.  But I'm thinking the polishing shouldn't be done by hand, perhaps by a rotary tool of some sort?  

 

Are there other recommended methods?  

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, the longer you can leave it to dry the better. 

I did find the Dremel sanding attachment was fine at low speeds but will burn and melt if too fast.

I tried to use the finest sandpaper I could so as not to leave too deep scratches, wet and dry, use soapy water as it helps to stop the paper clogging.

I went with 240 grit then 400, 600, 1200, and final ultrafine, after that tried compound polish by hand.

Some ABS paste can have tiny air bubbles and you may need to fill but see how it goes.

You can also end up with a different color too, had this happen with different abs paste and I had to eye match some paint and air brush the seam and feather it outwards, gave it another polish afterwards.

 

I'm sure you will do fine, sounds like you have things well in hand  

 

[Alleged[TK]]

7 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

>You can also end up with a different color too, had this happen with different abs paste and I had to eye match some paint and air brush the seam and feather it outwards, gave it another polish afterwards.

Thank you so much, I worked on this so long and so late that my mind was going places - bad places, as in I really wrecked something.   But this sounds promising.  If the color difference is too noticeable, I'm sure I can take your advice and paint.  

 

7 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

 

 

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Coming along nicely Brad. 

[Alleged[TK]]

It was bound to happen.   Got up early to work on armor on Sunday,  I knew I needed 3 holes spaced on the ab armor, 10 mm from the edge, evenly spaced, and I dutifully drilled them.....on the RIGHT side.   

 

Once my temper was back under control, I knew I had plenty of resources here at the FISD/whitearmor.net to help out with ABS paste, and filling gaps.  Some patience, sanding, polishing, more polishing, and elbow grease later, it looks almost as it was before, and all is right as rain.  The top hole simply became the male snap fitting I needed anyway.  The bottom hole will be covered by the belt.   As for the middle hole, well, if you're closer than one foot and looking for it, you'll see it.  Must be a blemish from blaster damage.

 

 

The kidney shims are looking MUCH finer (see above re:  ABS paste, sanding, polishing, more sanding and polishing.)  If I want to make the seam go away, I'll need to paint as the ABS paste bubbles (it always does) and takes on a slightly different color.   It may be best to think about this later as I need to attend to other parts of the build.  

 

In happier news, snap plates are in place (thanks to the kind instruction from Dennis of Central California Garrison)  

 

I made these from stretchy snaps, which now think was a mistake.  I intend to replace these with regular webbing.  The stretchy snaps are hard to take off, and they are failing a good percentage of the time  (better quality snaps are on the way).  

 

 

A little more bending in the hot water bath, and I think these are ready to glue on the chest plate.  

 

...and finally, with cutting and painting support from the Torres family, and spiffy TD clips from Ukswrath, the thermal detonator is complete! 

 

 

Next steps:  now to replace the stretchy straps with webbing, install the split rivets and webbing on the LEFT side.  :-/   More progress next weekend.    All in all, it seems like I am making progress, and it won't be long before I'm ready to start hanging this on my body.   

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice fix.

 

You may want to move those clips a little  

 

 

You also don't seem to have much gap between the end caps and panel 

 

 

Ab snap is normally a little higher  

 

[Alleged[TK]]

Excellent feedback, thank you!  Yep, you're right - the TD came up 6 7/8", a bit short, and I think I will remake it.    Next one will be much better and faster now that I know how to do it.  Glad to be making fixes now instead of closer to being finished.    

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Alleged
clarity and detail.

[shashachu[TK]]

I'd be a little careful about using webbing for any place that's going to need to move around. The inflexibility of the webbing can actually make the snaps pop, or even worse crack your armor due to the lack of stretch. On my own kit the only place I have webbing is the left side ab/kidney. 

 

When you start to try your armor on, try moving your arms and legs, giving high fives, bending down etc and see how much your armor needs to move.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

I use webbing everywhere that needs to maintain alignment. Too many droopy shoulder bells and misaligned armor sections troopers running around because of elastic IMHO lol.

 

I do use elastic on the right side of my ab and bicep to forearm for accuracy and more flexibility but that's it. After 5 years of building multiple armor I don't have any cracking and very seldom do I pop a snap, especially using quality snaps.

 

Keep up the good work Brad

[Alleged[TK]]

Early Thanksgiving greetings fellow troopers, sorry to fall of the map for a few weeks but life intervened.     I bolo'ed the first TD, but I acquired a second kit.  It's assembled below, nothing is attached or glued permanently, but if possible I'd like a readout on the positioning.   The clips are aligned with the end caps, I *think* that addresses the lack of gap comment from a few weeks ago.  The length is perfectly 7.5".    The plat "sits" on the tops of the clips as per suggestions.  

 

If the positioning is good, I will deburr one more time with fine sandpaper and start attaching stuff.   

 

Happy Thanksgiving all, and thanks for the space to work on this at my own pace - sometimes I troop with my other costumes when I should be working on this, it's just too much fun!

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Just compare the gaps between the end caps and central plate, looks a bit small

 

[Alleged[TK]]

45 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Just compare the gaps between the end caps and central plate, looks a bit small

 

Ah, I see what you mean.   I've trimmed the ends of the plate, not I think the proportions are better.  

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Was hoping you'd check the measurements first, you may have cut off a little too much, here is an overlay

 

 

[Alleged[TK]]

24 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Was hoping you'd check the measurements first, you may have cut off a little too much, here is an overlay

I thought I had it, here is a closer look.  It might be a perspective thing.     If all else fails I have another plate from my first attempt (it's in the rear of this image) that I could rework.  

 

In any case, I'm very grateful for your detailed feedback.    Thanks again.  

 

24 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

 

 

[Mad Dog 20/20]

On 9/18/2019 at 7:54 AM, ukswrath said:

I use webbing everywhere that needs to maintain alignment. Too many droopy shoulder bells and misaligned armor sections troopers running around because of elastic IMHO lol.

 

I do use elastic on the right side of my ab and bicep to forearm for accuracy and more flexibility but that's it. After 5 years of building multiple armor I don't have any cracking and very seldom do I pop a snap, especially using quality snaps.

 

Keep up the good work Brad

So what would make the armor crack and can it be fixed to still look good?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Von Goodleef said:

So what would make the armor crack and can it be fixed to still look good?

Flexing plastic over time can cause cracks, you get this a lot with thinner armor  

 

Yes it can be fixed, support it from behind and if you really want to fill the crack line with ABS pasted then sand an polish.

[Alleged[TK]]

Some progress over the last couple of weekends - finished the torso,  constructed some suspenders, and attached 3" stretch fabric (with two snaps) for the thighs.   The thighs straps will eventually attach to the belt via a snap or sewn loop, but for now it's velcro until I get a better handle on how I want my belt to sit, and how high I want my thighs.   Not my actual undersuit, and sorry about the white legs!

 

And I can get in and out of it, and (for now) the snaps are all behaving.  

 

Next up:  shoulder bridges.  

 

It is kind of a momentous occasion because I am finally starting to strap all of this on my body!   I can see the end of this project.  

 

Here are the suspenders with web belt, used to attach the thighs.

 

 

Here are the thigh with snap attachment to the 3 inch stretch fabric.  (Thanks to Dennis from Central California Garrison, and Sha Sha from Golden Gate Garrison for this tip.) 

 

[snipedoc2001[TK]]

Looks excellent, keep up the good work.  Keep an eye on the gap between the thighs and the cod when actually putting your straps together.  Its a bit too big in the pictures that you posted.  Keep it up, it looks great!