sith_241

Here is the helmet finished up as a TK...its the last clean thing this helmet will ever know...

Looking good there trooper

Yeah, we had a big one similar to those get stuck to the ceiling once when it sheared the bolts on its 5 ton cart. Someone used like brass 1/4-20 bolts to hold it down.

quite

I got some weird Neodynium mix alloy magnets at work that are extra strong the other day (the will stick with one on my stomach and one of them on my back) that are used to focus electron beams in our linear accelerators. Everything was great until it jumped across the room and exploded against my tool box. Yeah, you only need like 3-4 lbs force for gluing.

Someone needs to make her a giant hand guard shaped cake!

Yeah, and they are great boots.

Yeah, Overall the ATA is great.

Quick camera photo with first weathering pass on. Rest of the suit is ready for full test fit tonight. I took photos of the helmet with everything on as just a plain TK, but forgot to upload them so i will post them later... Until then, take a walk on the dirty side! Better photos to come.

What sort of glue did you use to put the shins together?

Cant go wrong with Mike's decals.

Do you have a picture? That would help a bunch. I know the ATA kit is marked which is which, but stuff happens to us all man!! You can tell if you matched the shin pieces correctly because the outer piece should be longer at the ankle than the inner piece. This way it overlaps the outside of the boot further down the ankle bone. If the ankles are even chances are you have them incorrectly matched. Also, what glue did you use? If you used E-6000 you can peel it apart fairly easily using a thin blade. If you used plastic weld you can probably still get it apart. Here is a couple images of my ATA shins i built...hope they help

AP is not that bad except for the forearms IMO.

No, there are some slight differences. What type of armor are you building? Here is an image from Stukatrooper for the AP shins and how to tell them apart. I think most other kits also are similar, just depends on if they are marked or not. You can always post photos and we can help you out!!

Yup, when i assemble arms/legs i 1) apply E-6000 to joint surface. usually the actual arm/leg piece and not the re-enforcement strip. You could do either though. Stick some blue painters tape on one side of the joint for easy placement. 2) Plate pieces into rough spot i want them and pull tape over joint to hold in place. 3) Clamp, ensuring joint is flat. 4) Add magnets if needed. These are useful especially for the cover strips. 5) wait 24 hours. Ends up looking like this...

Hard to say in a photo... Looks good otherwise...Your faceplate is downright symmetrical now

If you could suspend the pack slightly higher off the butt plate it would be possible i think. Otherwise, you will have an O2 canister up your backside!!

The armor build itself is decent. No major fitting issues and it went together pretty well. There are some funky sink marks on the chest, but they seem to be from the mold and add a nice wonkiness to the suit, and are not noticeable unless you built the thing. I will say the ABS ATA uses is much easier to cut than say AP armor ABS, so its a quicker trimming operation. Only complaint from me is due to my size i had to trim the heck out of it circumference wise (im 5' 11" 155 lbs). So not really a problem unless you are a skinny jerk like me.

Tubes look fine to me, but im no ESB expert.

Took a total of 12cm off the kidney plate. I did not want to trim too much off the sides of the abs because it would cut into the hip detail lines. Seems to still meet up in the correct spot at least. Glue should be dry tonight on the snap plates, so i can re-fit it. I may also take another pass as trimming down the ears. Not sure how successful it will be though so still on the fence about trying to trim down more.

Photo update coming soon. I am re-trimming the ab section because i could literally get 2 of myself in the ATA abdomen, grrr.

<3

Thats great. Definitely EIB worthy on the holster

It is a flexible bond. Stuff like ABS weld or super glue are fairly brittle bonding agents and so you run the risk of the joint cracking or coming apart with extended use. Not to mention they require a fair amount of pressure to bond correctly. The E-6000 is able to flex but still provides a strong bond that will keep the joints together much better.

its like 58F and raining here in california....building it is!