Jonathan's ANH TK Build

[JSchmit[TK]]

After about a week of applying a gluing the outer cover strips, my right thigh piece has been assembled. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

 

 

 

 

I know I have a few finished touches to do to the thighs before they're complete. I plan to fill in the gaps in the back of the thighs using Sugru, per JustJoseph's thread. I also know I'll need to trim the tops of the thighs down in order to make sure that the bottom rests above my knee, but I plan to do that when both thighs, shins, and torso have been assembled to make sure all are in alignment. I also plan to trim some of the return edge off the bottom of the thigh to help with mobility. However, this brings me to the part of the build that I may be the most apprehensive about: the bending of the thigh ammo belt. My ammo belt arrived without being curved, as shown below:

 

Included in the packaging, Dave included a message saying that the thigh ammo back needs to be bent using heat between the individual boxes and fitted to my thigh. I know there are a few different methods of accomplishing this, such as use of a heat gun or boiling the entire piece, but I was hoping to get some input about which method is recommended. In the meantime, I plan to continue assembling the right thigh by trimming the cover strips and applying the inner cover strip using the same dimensions as I did for the right thigh (12 mm remaining from center).

 

 

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated!

[FN1313[TK]]

After about a week of applying a gluing the outer cover strips, my right thigh piece has been assembled. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

 

 

 

 
I know I have a few finished touches to do to the thighs before they're complete. I plan to fill in the gaps in the back of the thighs using Sugru, per JustJoseph's thread. I also know I'll need to trim the tops of the thighs down in order to make sure that the bottom rests above my knee, but I plan to do that when both thighs, shins, and torso have been assembled to make sure all are in alignment. I also plan to trim some of the return edge off the bottom of the thigh to help with mobility. However, this brings me to the part of the build that I may be the most apprehensive about: the bending of the thigh ammo belt. My ammo belt arrived without being curved, as shown below:

 
Included in the packaging, Dave included a message saying that the thigh ammo back needs to be bent using heat between the individual boxes and fitted to my thigh. I know there are a few different methods of accomplishing this, such as use of a heat gun or boiling the entire piece, but I was hoping to get some input about which method is recommended. In the meantime, I plan to continue assembling the right thigh by trimming the cover strips and applying the inner cover strip using the same dimensions as I did for the right thigh (12 mm remaining from center).
 

 
As always, any advice is greatly appreciated!

I personally didn’t need to heat the pieces to bend them. I just was very careful about the process to make sure it wasn’t too much stress. After I got the thigh piece set with the single cap rivets I did lightly use a heat gun to sort of warm it up enough in its bent state so it would take on that shape a little more, but I didn’t do much so to avoid damage.

The belt I didn’t need to heat and bend at all. I just let it naturally bend when I snap it on and Velcro it up in back. I think though that may vary based on if you are skinnier or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dblcross[TK]]

8 hours ago, JSchmit said:

Included in the packaging, Dave included a message saying that the thigh ammo back needs to be bent using heat between the individual boxes and fitted to my thigh. I know there are a few different methods of accomplishing this, such as use of a heat gun or boiling the entire piece, but I was hoping to get some input about which method is recommended

I'm with Kyle on this. I didn't heat my belt at all. Heat gun scares me with abs unless im making V-tabs. And yes, I had like 3 or 4 sheets of paper from Dave talking about the belt. Good thing he sent 2 in case we are wrong about having to heat it. 

[JSchmit[TK]]

2 hours ago, dblcross said:

I'm with Kyle on this. I didn't heat my belt at all. Heat gun scares me with abs unless im making V-tabs. And yes, I had like 3 or 4 sheets of paper from Dave talking about the belt. Good thing he sent 2 in case we are wrong about having to heat it. 

So I have three ammo belts, two bigger ones that I assumed were for the torso, and a smaller one that I thought was for the thigh. Am I correct on that? If so, I only received one thigh belt.

[dblcross[TK]]

1 hour ago, JSchmit said:

So I have three ammo belts, two bigger ones that I assumed were for the torso, and a smaller one that I thought was for the thigh. Am I correct on that? If so, I only received one thigh belt.

Yes

[FN1313[TK]]

Yeah two for belt and one for thigh. I think he sends the paper out of over abundance of caution because it’s a piece some can easily damage or break if they don’t handle it properly.

I do appreciate his effort to provide extra parts for some of those regular damaged parts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSchmit[TK]]

I went ahead and trimmed the fronts of my left thigh pieces down to 12 mm on each side. After letting the inner cover strip settle, I measured using a similar method as the right thigh. Those images are below:

 

By finding the middle of the tops and bottoms, I traced some trim lines for final fitting:

 

Let me know what you guys think, and I'll move forward with final cuts.

[FN1313[TK]]

I went ahead and trimmed the fronts of my left thigh pieces down to 12 mm on each side. After letting the inner cover strip settle, I measured using a similar method as the right thigh. Those images are below:


 
By finding the middle of the tops and bottoms, I traced some trim lines for final fitting:



 
Let me know what you guys think, and I'll move forward with final cuts.

General rule is you should be able to just fit your thumb in between the thigh and your leg. So if that is how it fits then that’s how you’ll trim.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

10 hours ago, JSchmit said:

Let me know what you guys think, and I'll move forward with final cuts.

 

 

Looking good. If I may, you can still trim a little bit more of the botton return edge .

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

 

 

[JSchmit[TK]]

3 hours ago, TKSpartan said:

 

 

Looking good. If I may, you can still trim a little bit more of the botton return edge .

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

 

 

Thanks for the input! I do plan to remove some of the return edge for mobility, but I wanted to do that as I trim the tops of the assembled thighs so I know how much of the return edge, I need to remove. 

[Chemi[Staff]]

Hello Jonathan. I'm sure you have it in mind, but don't forget to fill these joints with ABS paste, sugru or similar. The armor will look much better.

 

 

 

            

[JSchmit[TK]]

Hey, all! I was away for the weekend, so I haven't done any work on my armor since last week. I got the outer cover strips applied to my thigh, so all that should be left for those pieces is the trimming of the top portions and bottom return edges and applying the ammo belt on the right piece. I went ahead and drew some initial lines to start the process of fitting the shins, and I was hoping to get some clarification. The resources I've read indicate that you can distinguish between shin pieces by gauging the curvature on the inner and outer pieces with the inner piece starting its curve closer to the top of the shin. With that in mind, I believe this is the left shin.  I just wanted to make sure that I was correct in that assessment.

 

Also, the resources I read recommend removing the entire bottom return edge and the return edge on the back of the top shin piece. I just wanted to make sure that was the recommended method.  Lastly, I drew some lines vertically on the front of front of the shin piece. The lines leave 10 mm remaining on each side. I just wanted to make sure these looked good before I made final cuts. 

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

10 hours ago, JSchmit said:

the resources I read recommend removing the entire bottom return edge and the return edge on the back of the top shin piece. I just wanted to make sure that was the recommended method.  Lastly, I drew some lines vertically on the front of front of the shin piece. The lines leave 10 mm remaining on each side. I just wanted to make sure these looked good before I made final cuts. 

 

The cut lines looks good to me , for the top return edge, you could leave a little and remove entire of the bottom.

 

Some references for you.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSchmit[TK]]

After a few days of setbacks, I'm back to working on my shins. I sized my left shin after I applied the inner cover strips.

 

With this measurement, these are the lines I traced to remove the excess plastic from each side.

 

Also, I went ahead and began the process of trimming down the right shins by drawing the 10 mm lines the front of each piece.

 

As always, any feedback on these trim lines would be greatly appreciated!

Edited May 8, 2023 by JSchmit

[FN1313[TK]]

After a few days of setbacks, I'm back to working on my shins. I sized my left shin after I applied the inner cover strips.


 
With this measurement, these are the lines I traced to remove the excess plastic from each side.

 
Also, I went ahead and began the process of trimming down the right shins by drawing the 10 mm lines the front of each piece.

 
As always, any feedback on these trim lines would be greatly appreciated!

If you can I’d say try to get the bottoms a little closer to the boot. So it doesn’t have as big a gap.

I know mine weren’t perfect either but I did try to get them as close as I could without being too tight overall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSchmit[TK]]

I was wondering about that. I went ahead and resized to make the bottom of the shin more narrow and redrew my lines.

 

 

[FN1313[TK]]

I was wondering about that. I went ahead and resized to make the bottom of the shin more narrow and redrew my lines.

 

 

Pretty!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSchmit[TK]]

I went ahead and trimmed the backs of the left shin piece, and the ends of the two pieces split the gap and appear symmetrical. I also went ahead and trimmed the fronts of the right shins and applied the inner cover strip. While I wait for that to settle, I do have a question. When I was trying I'm my left shin, I noticed that I still need to open the backs up pretty far in order to fit the piece around my leg. I'm worried that I'm putting to much pressure on the joints and that I might damage the plastic  I was just wondering what was recommended to remedy this? Are the shin pieces meant to open completely with the boot already on, or are you meant to slide your foot through the pieces and close the backs before putting the boot on?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Usually adding a cover strip on the front and inside is enough for strength, I pull open the shins and slide over the shin and boot, opening as applying. After 7 years of trooping I did get a little crack in the corner of one shin, just roughed up the areas and applied some glue and a strengthening piece behind. 

[JSchmit[TK]]

I started the same process the right shin by trimming it down on the front and applying the inner front cover strip. After that settled. I went ahead and sized the shin pieces similarly to how I did the left shins.

 

 

With these measurements, these are the lines that I traced.

 

As always, and comments or feedback before I made final cuts is appreciated!

 

[FN1313[TK]]

Looks good from what I can see.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JSchmit[TK]]

I've currently got the outer cover strip applied and settling to my right shin piece. I plan to make a system of hooks for the backs of the shins, and I plan to have a friend help me sew the hooks to the white elastic pieces. In the meantime, I also want to go ahead and get the sniper knee glued to the left shin. I haven't done any trimming to either piece. I just want to see if this looks to be the proper placement for the sniper knee:

 

 

 

Also, while I wait on the final stages of the shin pieces, I plan to begin the process of constructing the torso pieces. I decided to begin with my abdominal and kidney pieces. After researching, it appears it is recommended to remove 4.5-5 centimeters from the extended tab. I traced that off, pictured below:

 

 

However, I'm wondering about the return edges on this piece, as it appears that both pieces have quite a bit of return edge around the waist.

 

Is it recommended to remove any of this return edge, or are these required to be left as-is? The reason I ask is as I was doing some sizing, I noticed that the codpiece and kidney pieced don't quite close around my waist. Are these pieces required to close completely, or is there an allowance as to how far apart these pieces can be?

[JSchmit[TK]]

Hey everyone, in my previous post I had questions about my sniper knee placement and the return edges on the kidney piece and codpiece. I still have those questions, so any information would be appreciated. However, I also alluded to the fact that I didn't think that my kidney piece and codpiece quite closed. I went ahead and resized tonight, and I think they're closer than I initially thought:

 

 

 

I just wanted to see what you guys thought about the fitting. I had really hoped to avoid adding shims, if that 's what I'l have to do, that's the way it is. So based off these images, should I add a shim to the kidney piece or move forward with strapping the pieces as they are?

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Sniper plate position looks good.

 

I'd take a little more off the cod, reference

 

You can take some more return edge off the ab and backplate if you wish, I left about 5mm for strength so it wouldn't crack

 

 

Sides look fine, should pull in nicely with strapping attached 

[JSchmit[TK]]

I went ahead and did some trim work to the return edges on the codpiece and kidney pieces. I went ahead and traced the initial marks for the left hand side of each piece. I traced a line 10 mm in on each piece and drew dots where I'll eventually be drilling 20 mm from the top, another dot 65 mm down from the previous dot, and the last dot 65 mm from the previous dot. If anyone had any feedback on that, let me know.

 

Also, I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I know that there's a diagram on the site that indicates a square notch being cut out of the bottom corner of each side of the kidney. I was just wondering what the dimensions are of that notch and if I need to trim the posterior piece down in accordance to the vertical side of the notch being drawn.