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LoveMonkey's AM 2.0 Build Thread


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Like many others here, I also received my big brown box today containing AM 2.0 armor.  Communication with the seller was excellent and the box/armor pieces arrived in great condition.  I'm really excited to get started.

 

That big ol' brown box

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Quality shipping

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That's a lot of pieces

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Anyways, can't wait for all your feedback on my build.  I'm attending a garrison event this weekend as a spotter or support staff, so I'm going to wait until after that to start my build as I still need some supplies and I want to get an in-person look at a completed set of armor.

 

Cheers!

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Horray for my AM brother!  I've put out a couple feelers with my local garrison to get an up close view of the armor, now that I know more or less what I'm looking for.  I'll be following your build thread just like you're following mine!

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For any of my fellow AM builders, I have yet to make my first cut or any progress on my kit.  I went to a garrison event today as support staff and not only got some in-person looks at a final kit, but I also got to network with my garrison.  I am tentatively scheduled to meet up with some next Saturday to work on my kit and another kit in the garrison.  Can't hurt to have experienced hands show me the ropes.  Assuming that armor party happens, I'll have more to share next Saturday!

 

Keep up the good work everyone!

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Congrats on receiving your BBB, Kirk... Now the FUN begins!!!  I had a pretty good experience with AM 2.0 armor... I liked it because for the most part, it is "pre-trimmed" to a degree, although I did have to cut it down to my particular size.  If you will be shooting for Centurion, the chest plate and will have to be replaced, (not that expensive, actually), but will get you to EIB, and the TD plate is a bit narrow.  The back plate has been upgraded and is now acceptable.  Good to hear you have local Garrison members to help you out!!  Also, if you haven't already, be sure to read RogueTrooper's HOW TO Assemble AM armor shins.  I almost missed this tutorial, and made a huge mistake.  Best of luck on your build, and I look forward to watching your thread!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so, as an update, I haven't made any progress yet.  Chalk it up to adult responsibility and what not.  The armor party that I was suppose to attend fell through for me due to work although everyone else got to work on theirs for the parade.  After spotting for the Garrison's 4th of July parade, it inspired me to not wait for help and try and tackle this by myself (as much as I can with my limited skills).  If also decided to go for a TD build as I just love the look and a backpack isn't required for basic approval.

 

The big question I still have before I start is about sizing.  I've spent an hour or so looking through the forums here and I guess I'm still not 100% sure.  How exactly do you measure your different pieces before cutting and trimming them?  I know that you have to trim it to fit your body, but I'm not sure where I should be looking to trim on each of the pieces and how much needs to be trimmed.  I'd like it to be as accurate as possible as I go.

 

Any help or direction to the right threads would be greatly appreciated!

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The beauty of AM is that all the pieces are already trimmed down to a return edge... Keep that, or don't, as you want.  (except for the forearms where you don't keep it.)  The edges that get joined together should be trimmed to fit you.  Basically, put one side inside the other, squeeze them until they're a good fit for you, make sure you can take them off over your arm or leg or whatever by attaching them with blue tape, then make pencil lines in the middle of where the pieces meet.  Cut there, or a little bit bigger than there, and keep sizing until it's comfortable, and you're still able to take off and on the piece.

 

At least, that's what I've been doing.  (:

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  • 2 weeks later...

So no new progress on the build, but I did get my boots today from Imperial Boots.  They look great and fit nice and snug.  Once I wear them in a bit, they should be very nice to troop in.  I can't recommend them enough for anyone looking for boots!

 

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Also, my main build thread will be over at MEPD since I'm going for a sandy build.  You can check it out at this link: http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=13751.  I will try and keep this updated though.

 

 

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Ok, so, as an update, I haven't made any progress yet.  Chalk it up to adult responsibility and what not.  The armor party that I was suppose to attend fell through for me due to work although everyone else got to work on theirs for the parade.  After spotting for the Garrison's 4th of July parade, it inspired me to not wait for help and try and tackle this by myself (as much as I can with my limited skills).  If also decided to go for a TD build as I just love the look and a backpack isn't required for basic approval.

 

The big question I still have before I start is about sizing.  I've spent an hour or so looking through the forums here and I guess I'm still not 100% sure.  How exactly do you measure your different pieces before cutting and trimming them?  I know that you have to trim it to fit your body, but I'm not sure where I should be looking to trim on each of the pieces and how much needs to be trimmed.  I'd like it to be as accurate as possible as I go.

 

Any help or direction to the right threads would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hey Kirk, if you're interested take a look at this AM armor build thread I'm doing for a fellow trooper. This should give you a good idea of return edges and trimming lines echoing what Mathias said. 

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31920-ukswraths-am-10-ata-bucket-build/

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Finally got working on my kit today at a garrison armor party.  Started with the forearms and made pretty good progress.  Got them mostly trimmed and got the inner shims in place.  The garrison members really prefer the ABS cement over E6000.  Any thoughts on this?  I trust their judgment but since I'm not very handy, I don't want to make something permanent and then have to try and fix it later.

 

Anyways, I forgot my camera but will hopefully have pictures up in the next day or two as I'm at work for the weekend.  Stay tuned!

 

Hey Kirk, if you're interested take a look at this AM armor build thread I'm doing for a fellow trooper. This should give you a good idea of return edges and trimming lines echoing what Mathias said. 

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31920-ukswraths-am-10-ata-bucket-build/

 Perfect, thanks.

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The garrison members really prefer the ABS cement over E6000.  Any thoughts on this?  I trust their judgment but since I'm not very handy, I don't want to make something permanent and then have to try and fix it later.

 

 

ABS cement? Are we talking PVC bonding glue or CA?

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AM2 kits come with a jar of Weld-On 771 ABS plastic pipe cement.  I never opened my jar, since I really like being able to fix mistakes.  There were a couple things in my build that would have been absolutely unrecoverable without E-6000.

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Kirk, I would be hesitant to use anything you can't go back on. I only used CA glue in my build on 1 side of some inner strips and on finishing strips that I knew 100% was the way I wanted it. 

 

Ditto!

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Ditto!

Thirded!

 

Now, I've never been to an armor party, but I can sort of understand the point of view there.  Limited time to do things, can't wait 12 hours for E-6000 to set, so use a faster method to get more building in.  And MAYBE if you have several people watching you build, one of them will find and correct a mistake before it's permanent... but still, that's a huge risk.

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I have watched Trooperbay's videos probably a million times and there's no way I can reproduce his techniques and I guess it just comes with  years of experience putting armor together. He uses CA glue and can probably piece armor together in a few hours tops. Wouldn't recommend doing it by yourself. Armor party with a lot of supervision from experienced builders and have it sized to you several times to be sure, maybe. 

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I have watched Trooperbay's videos probably a million times and there's no way I can reproduce his techniques and I guess it just comes with  years of experience putting armor together. He uses CA glue and can probably piece armor together in a few hours tops. Wouldn't recommend doing it by yourself. Armor party with a lot of supervision from experienced builders and have it sized to you several times to be sure, maybe. 

 

I can do it and have, I still prefer E6000.

 

I respect Mike at TB a lot. He has some mad skills to say the least however, for the novice builder it's really bad advice to use CA. 

 

With that said I'll probably go with CA on my ANOVOS (Classic & Shadow, when/if they arrive) because I have goal set.

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Thirded!

 

Now, I've never been to an armor party, but I can sort of understand the point of view there.  Limited time to do things, can't wait 12 hours for E-6000 to set, so use a faster method to get more building in.  And MAYBE if you have several people watching you build, one of them will find and correct a mistake before it's permanent... but still, that's a huge risk.

 

Josh you're in good hands with your garrison mates. They wouldn't steer you wrong. Time constraints sometimes call for different applications. 

No worries.

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Finally had a chance to post some pictures of the forearm work since the armor party.  Please let me know if it is looking right and where I might make some more modifications.  Also, my 4-year-old is helping me hold the pieces for the pictures.  :duim:

 

Forearm #1 - I haven't completely trimmed it all down, so it's not ready for glue yet.

 

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Forearm #2 - This one was trimmed length-wise to fit my forearm.  It was also fitted and trimmed width-wise.  One inside cover strip was all that I have had time to glue so far.

 

Does it look right so far?

 

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Also, my pouches for my TD arrived today from blaster 8266 on the MEPD site.  Excellent quality pouches for anyone who needs some.

 

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Anyways, please comment and let me know where to fix anything on these forearms before I start to glue.  Can't glue for a few days until my earth magnets come.

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Watch out for that overlap. Also, use a long metal ruler and try to get your cuts as straight as possible doing the score and snap method for a cleaner fit when you butt join. I got my pouches from blaster 8266 and they are super top notch. They even came with wood inserts. 

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Thanks for all the feedback.  I consider the forearms my learning curve since I'm not a very handy person to begin with.  They are on hold for the moment until my earth magnets come and I can begin gluing.  Hopefully in the next day or two.

 

Today I began work on the biceps.  With an infant in the home, it really cuts down on the time I can spend.  I was able to get one bicep trimmed and ready to glue.  I had to take out the return edge closer to the elbow because it was catching quite a bit on my undersuit and making it just difficult to slide the bicep on and off during fitting.  Hopefully that wasn't a bad choice.  I took about 1" off both side of both pieces.  Pictures below.

 

Please let me know how this looks and what changes can be made.  I've noticed that on the return edge up by the shoulder that they come out at an angle, pushing the two pieces out at weird angles.  These will be straightened before gluing.  I think this is what caused some of the overlap that was in the forearms pictures.  You can see it in the first picture.

 

You guys are awesome!  Thanks for all the feedback!

 

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