MintImperial’s Newbie WTF TK Build

[MintImperial[TK]]

Been working to get my armour in decent shape for Halloween,

so I’ve been jumping around getting some parts cosmetically mostly there

then circling back to fine-tune them later.

 

Rushing the greaves, I made a stupid mistake and trimmed too much meat off the left one.

Now it won’t close around my leg (haven’t got around to putting the cover strip on yet,

so it may yet close without a gap, but I don’t want to rely on that).

 

Below, you can see my cut lines and the salvaged armour strips (not quite the right pieces)

that I’ve held in place with masking tape to extend the sides.

 

 

I’ve used ABS paste to extend the edges.

While it may be messy, and not as strong as the original,

I’m hoping that once I have inner and out cover strips in place, it will all hold together.

 

Measure twice. Cut once. Got burnt. Lesson learnt.

 

Here’s the same piece with ABS paste applied inside:

 

 

I’ll leave it overnight and sand it tomorrow.

Doesn’t have to be perfect as the cover strips will sit over it.

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by MintImperial

[MintImperial[TK]]

Also got started on the sniper plate, which, when aligned properly with the top ridges,

doesn’t seem to have many points of contact with the shin itself.

Seems like it’s just a small surface area on each side and the real heavy lifting is done by the front where it sits over the cover strip.

 

To try to improve the strength of the grab, I filled in the sniper plate stud hollows with ABS paste

and I added a tab of spare cover strip material just inside the front to create more surface area contact with the strip on the front of the shin.

 

 

 

 

I’m actually worried about having too much rigidity on the sides anyway,

as I need the shins to flex when I open them up and put my legs in.

Hope the sides don’t pop off.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by MintImperial

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

8 minutes ago, MintImperial said:

I’m actually worried about having too much rigidity on the sides anyway,

as I need the shins to flex when I open them up and put my legs in.

Hope the sides don’t pop off.

 

 

Hi James,  the sniper knee looks good, a couple of side photos would be great to check the alignment. And  It's not a common issue the sides to pop up. just be sure to glue the sides and center.  keep up the great work. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You will find just a small amount of glue on the front and the rear sides is quite enough to hold them 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Mine is literally only attached with a small drop of CA glue at the ridges and another on the inside where it touches the cover strip. It's done over 50 troops and is still there for over 7 years now without any problems.

[MintImperial[TK]]

I guess your first TK is like your first child.
An overabundance of caution!

Second one will be all slapped together without a care in the world


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[MintImperial[TK]]

Oh btw, I’m using E6000 throughout my build.
Again, first TK. Don’t trust myself yet.


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[MintImperial[TK]]

15 hours ago, TKSpartan said:

 

Hi James,  the sniper knee looks good, a couple of side photos would be great to check the alignment. And  It's not a common issue the sides to pop up. just be sure to glue the sides and center.  keep up the great work. 

 

Here are some more shots. Thanks Mario.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MintImperial[TK]]

2 minutes ago, MintImperial said:

 

Here are some more shots. Thanks Mario.

 

You can see that the top edges of the sniper plate (among many other things) need some clean-up.
I’ll sort that out after Halloween.

Edited October 26, 2021 by MintImperial

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

5 hours ago, MintImperial said:

You can see that the top edges of the sniper plate (among many other things) need some clean-up.
I’ll sort that out after Halloween.

 

It could be my eyes or the photo angle but please check the top  the lower ridges alignment, they look like being a little lower .

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MintImperial[TK]]

36 minutes ago, TKSpartan said:

 

It could be my eyes or the photo angle but please check the top  the lower ridges alignment, they look like being a little lower .

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for drawing that out. Maybe it’s the camera angle.

Right now the plate sits snugly and precisely onto the raised ridges at the top of the greaves.

 

But because one side of the greave slopes downward at the front,

there’s no way to mount it flush to the ridges as required in the CRL

and still have it level from the front.

 

Here’s a different angle showing how each side rests on the ridges:

 

And here’s how the shin halves match up (left greave is on screen left).

Note the top of the ridges at the front.
I think this may be a quirk of the WTF kit

as other people with it also seemed to have some trouble matching them.

 

Here’s the same thing from behind with the sniper plate mounted.

the right side slopes downward, as you pointed out in your image.

 

If I mount it so that it’s straight from the front,

it will be too high for the ridge on the right and not meet the CRL.

 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Everyone will tell you that (as you now know) the sniper knee is a real pain in the derriere!

[MintImperial[TK]]

On 10/26/2021 at 10:55 PM, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Everyone will tell you that (as you now know) the sniper knee is a real pain in the derriere!

I will get back to work on that soon.

[MintImperial[TK]]

In the meantime, I’ve been making some magnetic tabs to keep my ab & kidney plates from moving relative to each other.

 

I’ve noticed that one or the other often rides up so that their tops are not aligned.

 

One way to fix this would be double snaps on 2” webbing as my build has only 1”.

 

But I thought I’d use the resources I have on hand instead.

 

Using some black ABS this time, I cut out thin strips and, using a heat iron, created an S bend in each.

 

 

Each will hold a magnet on one end that is glued to the other plate.

[MintImperial[TK]]

Here’s how they’re looking at the moment.

 

 

 

And with some black ABS paste, I made a little cradle for the magnet.

 

 

What I like about this particular ABS is the wrinkle texture on one side which,

even if the plates come apart, isn’t too reflective and will blend in much better to my undersuit.

 

[MintImperial[TK]]

Moving onto my thermal detonator, when I cut the pipe to length, I didn’t have the tools to cut it straight.

 

I’ve corrected this with some putty.

 

 

I found that Mr.Color number 13 is a really close match to the Humbrol grey sold by Trooperbay.

 

But now that I’ve sprayed the pipe grey, what should the surface be like?

 

I have a feeling semi-gloss/satin is the way to go.

 

I’ve hit it with some gloss clear coat for now but can take the sheen down later.

 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

In looking at the screen used ones below, the sheen is minimal (this could be from lots of use, though).   However, the pic on the far right shows that there was a reflection, even if it is only slight.  I think you will be fine with semi-gloss.  Just try to make sure the total width (with caps attached) stays very close to 7 ½ inches (190 mm).

 

    

[MintImperial[TK]]

Awesome. Thank you Joseph.


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[MintImperial[TK]]

16 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

In looking at the screen used ones below, the sheen is minimal (this could be from lots of use, though).   However, the pic on the far right shows that there was a reflection, even if it is only slight.  I think you will be fine with semi-gloss.  Just try to make sure the total width (with caps attached) stays very close to 7 ½ inches (190 mm).

 

    

Looking at the black scratch marks on the screen-used ones, it seems that these are actually the same one shot under different lighting conditions. The grey looks so different in each.

Edited November 18, 2021 by MintImperial

[MintImperial[TK]]

Now with minimal sheen.

 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looks GREAT, James!  Can you post up a side view?  

[MintImperial[TK]]

On 10/26/2021 at 10:01 PM, TKSpartan said:

 

It could be my eyes or the photo angle but please check the top  the lower ridges alignment, they look like being a little lower .

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m having real troubles lining this up because of the way the shin halves are made.

I can align it with the top ridges, but the right side will always be lower as the right-side ridges are lower.

Or I can straighten it from the front, but the sniper plate will sit higher than the right-side ridge.

 

If I can’t resolve this issue, would it keep me from being approved, and if so, even from level 1?

Edited November 25, 2021 by MintImperial
typo

[MintImperial[TK]]

On 11/18/2021 at 7:31 PM, justjoseph63 said:

Looks GREAT, James!  Can you post up a side view?  

Aaaaaaargh!

 

Just dropped something on my TD and scratched the paint as I was about to take a photo!

 

Button plate is not stuck on yet so I’m holding it in place.

 

Brackets are positioned so that the TD sits above the top of the canvas belt.

 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

14 minutes ago, MintImperial said:

Aaaaaaargh!

 

Just dropped something on my TD and scratched the paint as I was about to take a photo!

Battle damage.... not to worry.

 

Button plate is not stuck on yet so I’m holding it in place. 

Brackets are positioned so that the TD sits above the top of the canvas belt.

Can you post up some pics?

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Should be able to just touch up those areas of paint.

 

Just make sure when you have it on your belt that you can see the O detail, many miss then when assembling  

 

References below