Matt and James's TK build thread - AM 4.5

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Gets pretty hot down under 

[Sawanator[TK]]

So, it's been a while. We've finally gotten around gluing some pieces. 

Things aren't perfect, and I'm worried I forgot to even out my cuts on the right arm. It seems like I cut too much from the backside of the forearms, so it doesn't really line up well on the right.

The left seems ok thought, however it got a little warped in the glurig process. Not sure if I have to fix these, or if they'll be good enough.

 

Here is the right:

 

Here's the left:

 

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

looking good matt.  just for you to take in account. for higher levels (EIB and Centurion) and for more accuracy the wrist section has no return edge at all.

 

Reference Image

 

 

Keep up the great job.  

[Sawanator[TK]]

We actually don't have any return edge at the wrist. I thought it was ok to have return edge up near the elbow?

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

17 minutes ago, Sawanator said:

We actually don't have any return edge at the wrist. I thought it was ok to have return edge up near the elbow?

 

Actually not necessary for accuracy and confort  , you could leave a little return edge. The Thread bellow could be so helpful . take a look . 

 

 

[Sawanator[TK]]

Thanks. I've been reading up on return edges a lot. I'm ready to tackle the chest and back, but James and I are torn on how much return edges to leave (if any).

I kinda want to cut it all off, save the bottom. James wants to leave all of it. Not sure if this is the same across all molds, ours has a lot of return edges, which looks nice, but I worry it's a lot extra.

 

Here's a shot of the bottom back. Looking for suggestions. Some have said to leave it because it adds a look of thickness, but I don't know...

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

It's just a personal thing, I have skinny arms so the extra return edge helps to fill those gaps, either way will not go against you at higher level clearance.

[Sawanator[TK]]

Did some taping to check out the abdomen and chest/back (decided not to trim and return edges on the chest/back. Did do the top of the abdomen though). You can see James was a little overzealous on the tape job! 

Here are my pics:

 

Here are James's picks:

 

 

Let us know if there is anything we need to adjust.

[Sawanator[TK]]

Ok, looking for some honest feedback here.

I'm not impressed with my forearm. Our best guess is the magnets are too large and it's causing them to kind of tip and not sit flush. Either that or we are wondering if there is something wrong with our e6000. 

It seems to clamp ok, but even still, it eventually seems to pull up, especially where the magnets should hold. It looks like we've used too much glue, but did the same technique on the biceps, and they seemed fine. 

I'm considering redoing it and I think it looks pretty crappy.

Please be honest here. We are worried something like this wouldn't be approved, so looking for some thoughts.

Also, I'm worried we made the cover strips too long. We thought we saw in one of the Pandatrooper videos to make it a bit longer than the armor.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You can trim the cover strips down if they are a little long, I normally trim them to match the piece they will be attached too before adding glue.

 

Good idea to nip the corners off too so they don't stick into you when moving, original armor had cut corners, references:

 

 

Some leave to dry for 24 hours but I like to leave it longer, especially any pieces that may be under slight pressure, 48 to 72 hours.

 

Also make sure you rough both areas with course sandpaper before applying glue, gives the glue something to grip too.

 

Some areas of armor are more difficult to get a perfect fit just with magnets, I use a combinations of magnets, clams and painters tape. If you apply downwards pressure and hold when adding tape around the whole piece you can basically squash the cover strips down so the lay flatter.

 

Here's a few examples

 

 

 

[Sawanator[TK]]

Ya, that's exactly what we do too. I have no idea why these turned out this way. I assume I can peel off the e6000 and try again?

 

Also, we saw white e6000. Is that worth using to his any gaps a bit?

[TheDecisiveRaindrop[TK]]

1 hour ago, Sawanator said:

Ya, that's exactly what we do too. I have no idea why these turned out this way. I assume I can peel off the e6000 and try again?

 

Also, we saw white e6000. Is that worth using to his any gaps a bit?

That's exactly what some people do with white E6000

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

With regards to how much return edge to leave...

 

Aesthetically it's pretty much a personal choice how much return edge you leave on, but there are some practical considerations.

 

There are some areas of your armour which are more prone to cracks through use. Common areas are the chest near the arm pits, and the angles cut into the butt plate (although cracks can form anywhere). You find small cracks very easily by shining a torch from behind the armour.

 

Smaller return edges allow the armour to flex more before cracking, and this is one of the main reasons that I have very minimal return edge everywhere possible on all my torso sections. The only areas I have left a fair amount of return edge on the torso is:

Bottom of back (where it meets the kidney), top and bottom of kidney, top of butt, top of ab (even though its hidden), and bottom of chest (where it overlaps the ab).

 

On the limbs it's best to get the return edges to a place you're happy with before gluing, as the amount of return edge affects the fit.

 

Best of luck, and keep up the questions and pictures 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Nice job so far, gentlemen!  One thing that jumped out at me was the sides of the butt plate(s).  As seen in the second image, they need to be angled.  BUT, when doing this I wouldn't suggest making the corners sharp, but rather rounded out a tiny bit to keep them from snagging on your under suit.

 

    

 

Without seeing a close up, it looks like you did a nice job on the curve where the plate meets the tab (first pic).  When trimming that area, it's important not to leave a sharp angle as seen in the second image.  This can (and usually does) lead to stress cracks, so again, round it out just a bit if it's not already. 

 

    

 

Also, you definitely want to leave the return edges at the bottom of the back and the top of the butt plate which keeps them from over-riding each other.  What you have now looks perfect!

 

                                                                                

   

[Sawanator[TK]]

Thank so much for the feedback, this is all really helpful. 

 

I'll look into white e6000 for sure.

 

When we get back to it, I'll post more posterior pics. We will for sure trim, parts properly. Didn't pick up on that at all. Also found out about trimming the extra at the end of the cod piece as well as the posterior. 

 

Cheers,

Matt

[Dielotski]

Regarding the forearms, AM's are kind of wonky.  I've lost track of the number of times I've hot water bathed mine.  I think I've finally got them to a shape I like. 

 

I'm having the the same issues as you with the cover strips.  I think I'll look into the white E6000 as well.

[Sawanator[TK]]

20 minutes ago, Dielotski said:

Regarding the forearms, AM's are kind of wonky.  I've lost track of the number of times I've hot water bathed mine.  I think I've finally got them to a shape I like. 

 

I'm having the the same issues as you with the cover strips.  I think I'll look into the white E6000 as well.

Good to know, thanks. Just wondering how a hot water water bath works?

Does it melt the e6000 a bit?

[Dielotski]

37 minutes ago, Sawanator said:

Good to know, thanks. Just wondering how a hot water water bath works?

Does it melt the e6000 a bit?

Basically heat a big pot of water to about 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the end of whatever your need to reshape into the water for about 30 seconds, remove, form it to the shape you want and then run it under cold water until it's normal temperature again.  I have a decent tolerance for heat so a just use rubber gloves to hold and squeeze it.  You may need to gradually work your way to the desired shape.  I wouldn't get to forceful with it to begin with. And E6000 isn't phased by the heat.  

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

A hint when doing a hot water bath is to have some damp dish towels handy.  When you pull the piece(s) out of the water they are going to be HOT, so having a few towels to handle them with will protect your hands while shaping them.

[Goggytalks[TK]]

Ok, looking for some honest feedback here.
I'm not impressed with my forearm. Our best guess is the magnets are too large and it's causing them to kind of tip and not sit flush. Either that or we are wondering if there is something wrong with our e6000. 
It seems to clamp ok, but even still, it eventually seems to pull up, especially where the magnets should hold. It looks like we've used too much glue, but did the same technique on the biceps, and they seemed fine. 
I'm considering redoing it and I think it looks pretty crappy.
Please be honest here. We are worried something like this wouldn't be approved, so looking for some thoughts.
Also, I'm worried we made the cover strips too long. We thought we saw in one of the Pandatrooper videos to make it a bit longer than the armor.
Thanks in advance.


 

 

Hi Matt and James.
I had more or less the same problems with my forearms. My joins we’re actually a lot worse. My arms are so thin that by the time I trimmed the excess off and butted the joints, the arms were oval and the cover strips just wouldn’t sit flush across the joints. In the end I had to apply the glue but put some heavy weights on top the arms in order for the drips to contact both sides of the joints. Left them for 72 hours and then reinforced with strips on the insides too. Did work though.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sawanator[TK]]

6 hours ago, Goggytalks said:

Hi Matt and James.
I had more or less the same problems with my forearms. My joins we’re actually a lot worse. My arms are so thin that by the time I trimmed the excess off and butted the joints, the arms were oval and the cover strips just wouldn’t sit flush across the joints. In the end I had to apply the glue but put some heavy weights on top the arms in order for the drips to contact both sides of the joints. Left them for 72 hours and then reinforced with strips on the insides too. Did work though.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is quite the setup. Glad it worked. May have to consider something like this too.

 

I saw one post of someone gluing the inner strip first on one half only. Then proceeding from there. Might try that too. This will take a few extra days, but I'm curious if I will have any luck.

Cheers

[Sawanator[TK]]

So we got to a gluing backlog (sharing resources has its drawbacks). But we've decided to take the next while just to glue things and take our time.

 

First off, the hot water bath worked like a charm. So happy with how my forearms look now. So easy and so awesome! 

 

I start my thighs and got the idea from a post I saw about doing them from the inside out (inner strips first). I actually quite like this method and broke it down by just gluing half the under cover strip to one side of the armor before merging the 2 halves and will probably keep this method going. It take way more time, but I'm in no rush.

 

Here is my (almost) finished thigh. I just glued the front cover strip on last night, but I'm worried it slid a bit when I clamped (forgot to re-check...doh!)

 

I can clearly see the ridge line on the left, and it is more or less non-existent on the right (especially in the middle). I'm thinking of redoing it, but wanted to get some input. I really don't mind the extra step of redoing it to get it right, but if it's not going to notice or matter when it's all said and done, I'll take that under consideration.

 

Thank again for all the support so far, BTW. This forum is great support.

 

[Goggytalks[TK]]

I  found that when building my armor that I couldn't get the strips to be consistent from end to end with the ridge lines . Due to the nature of the imperfections of lacking perfect straight lines it tends to be impossible to line them up dead perfect.  However I suppose it depends on which make of armor your building.  Small idiosyncrasy's like this is what makes the suit look more like how they were made back in the day.  If its going to be something that every time you look at it , its going to just annoy the hell out of you, then I would change it. But it looks ok to me.

[Sawanator[TK]]

Ok, thanks. That's good advice. It doesn't bother me that much.

 

Now that I took anything off, should I be concerned about the gap at the front or the back? 

I know the front will be covered by the ammo belt on the right left, but the left leg will be more or less exposed. Do people put a little cover strip behind it to strengthen or mast it a bit? Or do people make a paste to fill the gap?

 

 

[TheSwede[TK]]

5 hours ago, Sawanator said:

Do people put a little cover strip behind it to strengthen or mast it a bit? Or do people make a paste to fill the gap?

I would do both, some original armor below to help you decide