TK ANH Stunt by CloseTheBlastDoor

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

PART III
 

OK, punched holes in the canvas for the holster. Getting the holes cleanly punched with a punch tool and mallet was simply not working for me. The punch was barely making progress, and I had to assist a bit with a drill because there is some plastic material inside this quality belt. I found out that I’d been doing it kinda wrong. I was trying to pound the punch with only a piece of wood backing the belt, and this was just not supporting it enough. I didn’t have one of those pads made for the job, so I switched to the ceramic tile on my floor, and the holes came out very clean. And the tiles survived, too. I think.
 

• Male Line 24 snap head facing in on canvas, using pop rivet.
• Female Line 24 snap head facing out on holster, using standard snap head. I chose not to use the pop rivet on this side because I felt like the two rivets would collide when the snaps were assembled.
   

 

Complementary female snaps installed on holster, and attachment:

 

Belt with E-11 blaster attached:

 

I then glued the caps, and glued the elastic to hold the drop boxes in place.

 

Now to add snaps for the belt-to-ab connection. In trying to get some alignment, another question: I lined up the belt so it’s just below the button plate. The button plate, I followed the Billgram for measurement, which leaves me with the ridge all around. Just wanting to make sure that I keep that, and I don’t cut it down like I did the buttons on the belt.

 

Cut it here, or leave it?

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 minutes ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Cut it here, or leave it?

 

 

You need to leave this lip, DO NOT CUT, for higher level approvals

 

Although not specifically listed in the CRL, the following item (underlined below) is often overlooked by during the build/painting process, and while not required at any level can be recommendations to improve the overall look of the armor. 

AB button plates should ideally be squared at the corners and be trimmed to where the actual plate is inside the ridge area it is mounted to as seen below. 

 

Note:  For Level 3 the paint does not extend to the bottom of the actual raised button.

 

                                  

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Oh good, I'll leave it as-is then.

 

Thank you for the advice on the paint, as well! I am going to ask a friend with a laser cutter to make me some templates.

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

PART IV

 

OK, I think I have everything squared away. I was worried about getting the belt properly aligned to the ab, but I think I did OK.

 

Marked a spot on the canvas that was midpoint of the height on both sides, and punched:

 

Did a test fit, and transferred the hole mark where I thought it would be OK.

 

This turned out to be in a bad spot, so I moved the mark up about 2cm:

 

Sorry, had a photo of the wrong side, but you get the idea.
 

After repunching and transferring marks, I bravely drilled holes in the ab section and set the snaps (long, and somewhat difficult process with the ab and kidney already permanently attached to each other, no photos).
 

 

And voila! Hoping this is good! For some reason it seems to make more sense to have the snaps above mid-height of the canvas belt. Maybe because it’s ‘hanging’ more than it’s holding on?

 

Now come the most feared parts: helmet and painting!

Edited July 11 by CloseTheBlastDoor

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

PART IV

 

You may notice the side of the belt is pretty much straight at this stage, because of the angle of the kidney the belt can ride up when worn, this may change the height of the belt at the front but you won't know until you are fully kitted up. References below.

 

 Notes:  The bottom of the canvas belt should ideally sit above the bottom of the kidney plate and not overlap the kidney/posterior plate connection.

 

                   

 

 

With the front of the belt you could have come up just a touch, for higher level approval:

The top of the ABS belt shall sit at or just above the bottom of the central and vertical ab button panels.  A slight overlap is suggested, but not required. 

 

    

 

You will also need to trim your smaller ab plate  

 

     

 

Also when painting Note:  For Level 3 the paint does not extend to the bottom of the actual raised button.

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Thanks, Glen, I guess I didn't get before that there should be slack in the belt so that it can overlap the button panel, argh. I don't know what I was thinking, there's no other way to achieve that. And right now the belt overlaps the butt section a bit, so two reasons to raise it up. Sounds like relocating snaps on the belt once more! 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

3 hours ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Thanks, Glen, I guess I didn't get before that there should be slack in the belt so that it can overlap the button panel, argh. I don't know what I was thinking, there's no other way to achieve that. And right now the belt overlaps the butt section a bit, so two reasons to raise it up. Sounds like relocating snaps on the belt once more! 

I would dare say for basic approval (depending on your GML) you would be ok as you are, we try to give feedback that covers the higher levels and hope the member does apply for EIB or Centurion after their approval so it's entirely your choice 

[dblcross[TK]]

On 7/2/2024 at 5:18 PM, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Belt with E-11 blaster attached:

I found that the weight of my E-11 makes my belt sag. Putting velcro on the back side of the belt and on your armor will help hold it up.

7 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

References below.

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking good Hanson 

 

For the record, I used to be a GGG member myself before moving to NV. Being so close to Lucas the GGG GML used to be very strict about appearance and tolerances, even at basic. Before going too far I would encourage you to get the GML's feedback regarding your build so far. Just to be on the safe side.

 

Keep up the great work 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

21 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I would dare say for basic approval (depending on your GML) you would be ok as you are, we try to give feedback that covers the higher levels and hope the member does apply for EIB or Centurion after their approval so it's entirely your choice 

I absolutely want to apply for higher levels, but I humbly don't want to get ahead of myself. Just hoping mostly to become part of this community! 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

18 hours ago, dblcross said:

I found that the weight of my E-11 makes my belt sag. Putting velcro on the back side of the belt and on your armor will help hold it up.

On 7/10/2024 at 7:28 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Oh, that's a good tip, thank you!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Thank you, Tony, that's good to know. I will do that.

[shashachu[TK]]

Hi Hanson,

 

The belt position shouldn't block basic, but it will not pass Centurion. If you are planning on submitting later for higher level approval, I highly recommend you make the fix now, for a couple reasons: 1) You already have momentum going with your build which will likely wane once approved (if you're like me), 2) The will probably want to just get out and troop once you are finally approved, and the last thing you'll want to do is rip up your belt and make it un-troopable while you fix it.

 

I actually made the exact same mistake when I assembled my belt and ended up disassembling and reassembling it. You'll see there's extra holes in the canvas, but it's all covered so nobody knows it's there but me.

 

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/42868-sha-shas-wtf-anh-stunt-build-complete/#comment-576083

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Hi Sha Sha,

 

Your advice is GOLD! I totally agree with you. I recall reading through your build thread in this particular section at the beginning of my journey, but had no context then. And I'm glad I saw your photo of how to attach the Velcro for the drop boxes, too.

 

I have the patient on the table now, and hopefully I'll get it right this time!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Thanks again to everyone for catching this issue and providing me tremendously helpful feedback!

 

Drilling out the pop-riveted snaps was a simple matter with a drill press.

 

I did some measuring, and about 12mm higher seemed good. Also, to get some slack on the belt so it would sit in front of the button plates, I eyeballed that I needed about 6-7mm on each side. Then I remeasured and punched:

 

Now, it looks like I’m at a better height, but there is some sag in front, as you can see by my thumb needing to hold everything up in this photo:

 

The back has the belt only on the kidney plate now:

 

Hoping this is OK now, perhaps with some more Velcro in strategic positions. 
 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Thanks again to everyone for catching this issue and providing me tremendously helpful feedback!

 

Drilling out the pop-riveted snaps was a simple matter with a drill press.

 

I did some measuring, and about 12mm higher seemed good. Also, to get some slack on the belt so it would sit in front of the button plates, I eyeballed that I needed about 6-7mm on each side. Then I remeasured and punched:

 

Now, it looks like I’m at a better height, but there is some sag in front, as you can see by my thumb needing to hold everything up in this photo:

 

The back has the belt only on the kidney plate now:

 

Hoping this is OK now, perhaps with some more Velcro in strategic positions. 
 

Nice work, looks much better 

 

Don't forget to trim that smaller ab plate  

    

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

22 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Nice work, looks much better 

 

Oh, whew!

 

22 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Don't forget to trim that smaller ab plate  

 

Yes, for sure, I'll make that my next thing 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Nice work! You've been given some great advice. You're almost there.

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Tiny post: Trimmed the small button panel:

When I align it to the raised area, it looks kinda crooked (not perpendicular to belt). But if I look at the reference photos, they look that way too. I just never noticed.

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

19 minutes ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Tiny post: Trimmed the small button panel:

When I align it to the raised area, it looks kinda crooked (not perpendicular to belt). But if I look at the reference photos, they look that way too. I just never noticed.

 

You could trim the small panel a little more

 

 

 

kepp up the great work 

 

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Thanks, will do! Is there a particular detail I'm shooting for with the extra trimming?

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

4 minutes ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Thanks, will do! Is there a particular detail I'm shooting for with the extra trimming?

 

 

Ideally 

 

   

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

8 minutes ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Thanks, will do! Is there a particular detail I'm shooting for with the extra trimming?

WTF raised area is not as big as screen used armor so you won't get exactly the same appearance, here's a couple of L2 approved for comparison

 

 

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Thanks, guys!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Of course I left the most intimidating part to nearly the end! Overall, I do want the upgrades like fans and voice modulation, and maybe the hearing assist, but I don’t want to spend a terrible amount of money doing that. I’ll save that for later.
 

As an aside, I found this cool vid that many of you might have seen already: 
 

 

The man himself! Amazing!

 

This post points to three references that are all helpful, and that I am going to use here:

One of the references also references StarWarsHelmets.com. Here is the most relevant one: http://www.starwarshelmets.com/original-ANH-Stunt-Stormtrooper-armor-helmets.htm

 

Days, and even weeks of hesitation hide behind this post! Let’s get going!
 

I started with a rough trim of the ears:

 

 

They are not at all the same!
 

I then wanted to do a rough fit of the two helmet sections, but the front piece had quite a pronounced “pucker” from vacuum-forming, present on both sides:

 

This would keep me from getting the pieces together in any meaningful way. I asked Walt from WTF about this, and he said to just cut them off. I am hoping that what is left does not show.
 

On the two WTF helmet parts, there are several indentations present:

 

Walt said that the second set of holes from the top are for the initial rivet, then you can set the front-to-back tilt angle between the two parts to your preference.
 

I trimmed the puckers off, and I even got started on the eyes and teeth a bit. Noting here that on the Hero version, there are three tooth gaps to cut out on either side of the frown, while in the Stunt version, there are four. Did that with the drum bit of my Dremel, followed by some diamond files to refine the shape.

 

But overall I needed to focus on the general helmet shape, which I didn’t find trivial. The two halves are rough-trimmed, but not evenly by any means, so I needed to look at some more references, and as has been true in nearly every aspect of building this suit, use my “precision eyeballing” skills to get the job done!
 

Trimming the top of the face plate and the brow area on the back piece seemed like where I needed to start.

 

I was a bit worried about the left temple where it was rough trimmed. There is a cut into the area that I think I would want to keep, and I hope that further tearing does not occur.

I drilled a hole into the corner and trimmed things back a bit (whoops, no “after” photo).
 

Using zip ties inserted in the WTF-recommended spots, I fitted the helmet together so I could start to see how I needed to trim the pieces. But the fit looked pretty off. There was a large gap between the two pieces on the sides, and it didn’t look like there was good continuity along the side tubes from front to back:
 

 

Dave’s Darkside recommended adding another rivet to pin those down, but I felt like they were still just too high. So after trimming the top of the faceplate some more so I could allow some more vertical adjustment, and drilling different holes on the faceplate, I got to something a little better (also roughly marked where the ears would go):

 

This seemed good enough. Trimming at the tape line, then adding the brow and refitting until I got it right were the next steps.
 

I also needed to even out the back, because it looked very crooked, and there was quite a bit to remove so I could actually get my head in the thing! Even doing the 90 degree turn was not possible yet.

 

Better, but I still went shy of my original marks, to stay on the conservative side.

 

And further work on the teeth and eyes, how do they look?

 

 

It’s been suggested in places that they should not be too deeply set, is this OK? They’re maybe 17mm in.
 

 

I'm happy with the brow height, but is it OK?

 

Also, I think I trimmed the brow a tad too short, so I’m ordering another one. And the S-trim that came with the kit was way too short, so I have that coming in the mail as well.