Leaderboard

You're too right! Thanks Thanks! Thanks man. Yeah I know there are some in Denmark and some in Sweden, but not sure. I'll be the second one in Norway if I keep up this pace Will definitely contact one of them if I run into any trouble! So I knolled all my my kit to get a sense of where I am in the build and also to take an awesome picture. Got a lot of painting done today in my camping tent (lol..). Not much left now, I can feel it!!

Well it's another evening. Wife is asleep, kids are in bed, must be time for an update. This is the start of the foam armor part of the build. I know WTF makes a great set of kid armor but I wanted to try to make my sons' armor from foam due to cost and I kinda wanted to learn how to do it. Plus it seemed like it would be fun. I found several kid builds on the RPF, FISD and MEPD web sites. These all used EVA foam. Some were simple while others really tried to nail down the details of the original TK. I'll try to get the details and proportions as close as possible...well within reason. So let's start. if anyone has done something similar or really knows how to work with this foam please chime in. Any advice is appreciated. MATERIALS: EVA foam, white. Ordered from various web sites. The first pieces I ordered were off-white which is OK as the whole thing will be painted at the end. 2mm sheets (trim pieces) 6mm roll & sheets (main armor) 10mm sheets (larger detail pieces) Roll of pattern making fabric ASSEMBLY TOOLS: Straight edge ruler Fabric tape measure Utility knife with extra blades X-acto knife with extra blades Snap-off type utility knife Sharpies Pencils Contact cement Omni-stick glue Paint brushes Painters tape Respirator for organic compound vapors REFERENCES: Foamsmith book volume I & II Here are the tools I started with. You'll need lots of extra knife blades. Using very sharp blades is critical for proper cuts and the foam dulls the blades quicker than you think it should. There are various methods to glue the foam together but the best is contact cement. This produces an irreversible bond and after 15 minute setup time, the pieces can be instantly attached. Note that this stuff is highly flammable and can injure you if you breathe too much of it. Use outside and with a respirator that filters organic vapors. It can be applied with a brush and the brush can be reused a few times so just buy a bunch of cheap ones. This book was recommend to me so I bought it and the companion book which deals with making weapons. It's incredibly useful and explains assembly methods and finishing including attachments and electronics. I started of with something small, hand guards. I ordered small kid costume gloves on line. The hand guards will be made from the 2mm sheets. I took my pattern fabric and traced out the shape, copying the proportions and design from my RS gloves. Start off by cutting (3) identical sized pieces of foam. I show (4) here but you only need (3). You'll stack these to create the raised pattern on the hand guard. Here you see the different patterns you need to cut and how they stack atop each other. I show the left and right guards in the photo below. Here they are stacked prior to gluing. When gluing these down you need to coat both surface that will be in contact. The glue needs to set up for 15 minutes before you attach the pieces. You may have to trace out the profile of the piece above onto the piece below so you know where to apply the glue. You only have one chance to align these because as soon as the touch they are stuck forever. Once glued, you can trim off any material around the edges that didn't align properly. Here are the glued pieces. These will be E6000'd down to the gloves after I paint the hand guards. Next I tackled the forearms. Here I made a pattern around my sons' arm. This took some trial and error. Basically I fit it tight to his arm, then laid this piece down over a new piece of pattern material to create the final pattern. You'll need to increase the width of the pattern, adding extra material for the thickness of the foam and any clearance between the skin and armor. I planned for the typical 1/2" of space inside the armor which translates into an extra 1/2" on the left and right sides of the pattern. Then I added another 6mm on each end for the foam thickness. You don't need to add any extra to the top and bottom edges. Here's the pattern and the foam piece cut from 6mm sheet. Note there's a taper to the sides, this will create a tapered shape that is narrower at the wrist end. I made the piece so the glued seam would be hidden under the raised dimpled ridge. Below you see the forearm piece after gluing with contact cement. Also shown are cover strips made from 2mm sheet and the raised notches made from 6mm sheet that I cut down to about 4mm thick. When gluing the main armor together start at one end, touching the pieces together then move slowly down the seam connecting the two sides together. Here's the piece with all the trim glued on. Note that on these thinner pieces I didn't use the contact cement. I didn't want to deal with the fumes as my respirator hasn't arrived yet. So I used the Omni-stick which is very similar to E6000 and has minimal fumes. I doesn't set up as fast, somewhere around 5 - 10 minutes. Repeat this process but with a mirrored pattern for the left forearm. For the bicep I took measurements of my sons arm and added in the extra material. Then I sketched what I thought the shape would need to look like to mimic the curves of the TK bicep. Here's the pattern I ended up with after making a test piece from foam. and adjusting the shape slightly. Here's my TK bicep for reference. Again I want to mimic the cover strips and other raised details. I cut the cover strips from the 2mm sheet and the thicker side band from the 6mm sheet, cutting it down to be about 4mm thick. Here are the forearm and bicep relative to each other. Eventually these will be connected with an elastic strap. Next will be shoulder bells. See you in a couple days!

Awesome thanks!! As soon as I get my TK number I will look them up.

The First Husky Order

Alright Robert thank you for your patience and crickets lol. Let's do this. CRL and Centurion Application Requirements: All required submission photos are present. Thank you for making the updates suggested during your EIB application. We are happy to say your armor displays all the elements as set out in the Centurion CRL. Sly and myself would like to congratulate and welcome you to the L3 rank trooper. Beautiful job on your build Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: We have nothing to add here. Great job on your build. Time to get out there and make the Empire proud as their newest Centurion.

Well I use Fasnap or DOT, both military grade quality. Both are so strong sometimes I have a difficulty fastening single snaps let alone double. You shouldn't have a problem with the Tandy single snaps but that's just my opinion. Fasnap - https://fasteners.fasnap.com/category/premium-snap-fasteners DOT - http://www.sailrite.com/Snap-Fastener-Cloth-to-Cloth-with-Silver-Buttons

Locking thread because little new or useful can possibly be added to the subject until we update the skin.

Yeaaaahh, Frank!!!! Way to go! Well deserved. Congrats!!!!!!

Thanks so much guys. This is a great way to start off the day! Again I have to offer up my gratitude to many of the great people on this site who helped get me here through their tutorials, advice, and innovative build ideas.