Highlander’s AP ANH Stunt Build

[rwmead10]

On 7/2/2020 at 4:41 PM, Blast 'Em! said:

From my experience and what I've read on here, there's no significant impact on E6000. The boiling water may soften the adhesion of the glue, but it's probably a negligible amount. 

Did you glue on the outer strips and then give it a hot water bath?

Edited July 3, 2020 by rwmead10
Spelling errors

[wook1138[TK]]

I have hot water bathed after gluing with no issues. If you do have an issue, it is not a big deal to remove the coverstrip and re-glue. 

[rwmead10]

Inner cover strips are dry and the forearms and biceps are assembled! I will continue to make 20mm outer cover strips. Forearms need a little reshaping but I am finally making progress. Two month old babies definitely cut into hobby time.

 

[Blast 'Em!]

On 7/3/2020 at 2:57 PM, rwmead10 said:

Did you glue on the outer strips and then give it a hot water bath?

I've hot water bathed both ways, with outer strips and without outer strips. Either way will work. If you're looking to contour the form of the armor significantly, then I'd recommend not gluing on the outer strips so the piece is more moldable when heated

[rwmead10]

11 hours ago, Blast 'Em! said:

I've hot water bathed both ways, with outer strips and without outer strips. Either way will work. If you're looking to contour the form of the armor significantly, then I'd recommend not gluing on the outer strips so the piece is more moldable when heated

Anyone have a video on this? If I press on either side of the forearm will it leave finger prints where I press? I have a test piece that is finishing drying so I can try it out first.

[wook1138[TK]]

10 hours ago, rwmead10 said:

Anyone have a video on this? If I press on either side of the forearm will it leave finger prints where I press? I have a test piece that is finishing drying so I can try it out first.

There are videos on YouTube - I just don't have a link handy.  Your AP armour will not get that soft in the boiling water - no worries - you won't leave finger prints.  Try keeping it in the hot water for about 30  seconds and then take it out and see how much flex that gives you - chances are you will need to put it back in and heat some more.  I found I had to hold the pieces in the water for close to a minute.  Even then it still took a bit of force to change the shape.  It is important to hold the shape while the piece cools under some cold water.  I had to repeat about 3 times to get the full effect.  Oh, if you mess up - just re-heat... I found that the ABS wants to return to its original shape somewhat when heated again.

 

Hope that helps. 

[rwmead10]

Bicep outer cover strips are glued and curing for 24 hrs. Next up is forearm reshaping and begin on the legs.

[wook1138[TK]]

Looking good.

Your approach with the inner coverstrips and how you are measuring will come in handy on your thighs, especially the right thigh.  The front ridge of the right thigh is curved a little bit so it is hard to get the two halves to meet nice and clean.  For the coverstrips, and I glued only the bottom half one day, then I came back and glued the top half of the coverstip the next day - this allowed me to add just enough pressure on the coverstrip so it would bend to follow the curve of the ridge.

 

Keep up the great work!

[rwmead10]

I have a question on the leg cover strips. Looks like I need the full 40mm on the thighs with some space still needed at the top of the back and can get 20mm on the calves. Since my arms are 20mm should I go for 25 or 30mm on the legs and shim the backs of the thighs for more space similar to the picture below from justjoseph? I will try and get pictures soon. 

 

[husky68[TK]]

I did something similar, even put abs strips between to fill the gap.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

The problem you will have is the ridge are on the bottom front, you may need to fill then use ABS paste

[rwmead10]

1 minute ago, gmrhodes13 said:

The problem you will have is the ridge are on the bottom front, you may need to fill then use ABS paste

This would be on the back. I guess my thighs taper a lot so I have enough at the bottom and not at the top. I will be trimming all of the return edge on the top to get a better fit.

[rwmead10]

What about the cover strip size? 25 or 30mm?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 minute ago, rwmead10 said:

What about the cover strip size? 25 or 30mm?

You can have larger cover strips on front or the back, if possible you try to have near normal size on the front and go a little larger on the back, the public won't see the back. 25 on the front really isn't that much bigger. 

[rwmead10]

Biceps are done! I am going to measure the leg cover strips for 25mm in front and 30mm in back and see how that fits after removing all of the upper return edge on the thighs.

[rwmead10]

I am going to remove the return edge on the top of the thighs but what about the bottom? Should the return edge be removed there too?

 

Also the outside thigh has a sharp curve to it. Is it better to measure in from the original cut lines or try my straight edge method I used before? I assume there will be some ridge showing towards the bottom either way.

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

 

12 minutes ago, rwmead10 said:

I am going to remove the return edge on the top of the thighs but what about the bottom? Should the return edge be removed there too?

 

Also the outside thigh has a sharp curve to it. Is it better to measure in from the original cut lines or try my straight edge method I used before? I assume there will be some ridge showing towards the bottom either way.

Hi Ryan,  just remove the top return edges . I would like to recommend to take a couple of minutes to read the following post About Return Edges

i'm sure it'll be so useful.

 

About your question about outside thigh, could you post some photo please? It would be better to be clear about the issue.

 

Cheers.  

 

 

 

[rwmead10]

On 7/16/2020 at 12:33 PM, TKSpartan said:

 

Hi Ryan,  just remove the top return edges . I would like to recommend to take a couple of minutes to read the following post About Return Edges

i'm sure it'll be so useful.

 

About your question about outside thigh, could you post some photo please? It would be better to be clear about the issue.

 

Cheers.  

 

 

 

Here is the edge line I made to measure for my 25mm cover strip. See how the ridge edge bows out at the bottom so my line doesn’t follow the actual ridge? Is that normal? Or should I measure 12.5mm from the original cut line in?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

They can differ from maker to maker

 

References here show a taper in some areas.

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

2 hours ago, rwmead10 said:

Here is the edge line I made to measure for my 25mm cover strip. See how the ridge edge bows out at the bottom so my line doesn’t follow the actual ridge? Is that normal? Or should I measure 12.5mm from the original cut line in?

 

 

Hi, As Glen pointed , the line differs depending on the maker. You lines are ok.  

[wook1138[TK]]

14 hours ago, rwmead10 said:

Here is the edge line I made to measure for my 25mm cover strip. See how the ridge edge bows out at the bottom so my line doesn’t follow the actual ridge? Is that normal? Or should I measure 12.5mm from the original cut line in?

 

Is that the right thigh by any chance?  The right thigh is slightly curved.  I drew a "best fit" line in there and used that to make sure I had at least the amount of ridge required for my coverstrip.  A little extra ridge showing under the coverstrip is ok since this is seen on some original suits near the ends (top and bottom).  That extra ridge showing at the bottom is completely normal for AP.

You want to keep your cut line as straight as possible.  But it is not an issue if the cut line ends up a bit curved too... when gluing - glue the bottom half first.  Let it dry and then glue the top half.  This will allow you to clamp the pieces in place and work with the curve of front seam.

[rwmead10]

I was going to do the hot water bath before putting the outer cover strips but was delaying too long so I am going to come back to them when I am fitting everything. One set of outer cover strips curing and I will continue with the thigh sizing. I also ordered the magnets for the calf closures so they should be here soon and the real fun will begin.

 

[rwmead10]

One complete set of arms. I found the thicker outer cover strips pull the forearms out a little. Probably still needs a little shaping but not as drastic as before. Thigh trimming begins tomorrow.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Coming along great, nice work

[Sly11[Admin]]

Looking good Ryan