craig225

48 and no intention of retiring the TK any time soon. Even if I eventually do, I'll just move on to a soft costume. C

If you're wearing rubber gloves with your TK, you can try this alternative to the elastic loop method for plastic hand guards. First cut some canvas to the same size/shape as the inside of your hand guard (I used two pieces each for added thickness). ------ Next sew some velcro (loop) to the canvas in the same shape. Glue the canvas/velcro 'hand guard' to your glove using contact adhesive (recommend contact method) --------- Apply self-adhesive velcro (hook) to the inside of the plastic hand guard, and use this to attach to the glove. C

My TK ID is designed to be a reverse 4-digit version of my birth date. 22/05/67 => 6752. C

Glad to be of help Oso. Yes, covers strips should be 15mm wide for the biceps and forearms (7-8 mm each side) and 20mm (10mm each side) for the shins and thighs. Depending on how much thigh room you need, you can easily trim or shim the rear join depending on if you need less or more. Also, if you intend to glue the joins on both halves of your forearms, you may need more than 7-8mm on each side to get your wrist through the end - no return edge on the wrist end of the forearms by the way. If you need the forearm wider at the wrist end, still trim the 'outside' join (the join facing out, away from your body) to be 15mm in total (7-8mm each side) but trim less off the 'inside' join and have a wider than 15mm cover strip. I found I had to glue both halves of the forearms (rather than use velcro like on the shins) just to keep the halves aligned due one half of each forearm being significantly more curved than the other. C

Oso, Looking good so far. The legs are arguably the hardest part of the AP so take your time. It's difficult to tell the shins (calf) apart from your photos. FYI here's a shot of the right inner / left outer pieces - right inner shin in front with the deeper scoop. As for the size of the opening at the bottom, you'll never get your foot through if you glue the back of the shins too. Use velcro instead as follows. The inner joining strip is so the velcro sticks out past the vertical edge of the shin. When "stuck" together you effectively have a velco butt join. Front / rear view of trimmed and glued thighs / shins without cover strips (with velco on shin) Rear view of completed shin with cover strip hiding velcro butt join. Finally, also best to align the top front of the shins when trimming and gluing. There's no return edge on the bottom of the shins, so it wont be hard to trim if one side is longer than the other. Hope this helps. C

Anybody else using a 5v fan and 3 AA batteries?

I used this set-up on my AP shins --------- The overhang on the inner joining strip means the outer and inner segments of the shin still butt and the outer cover strip hides the join. ----------- You could probably adapt for the inner join of a forearm, but I've not tried. C

I've found 'Lexicon Quarter' to be a very close match for white ABS, but the exact match will depend on the batch your armour is made from - in any case a better colour match than Humbrol etc. See if you can get a 250ml sample pot. C

I wear an AP and moulded the ribbed sholder straps to a curve before fixing them to the chest plate. The tension created by the shoulder straps holds the chest plate firmly in place and aside from the elastic connecting the chest and back plates, my chest plate floats freely atop the ab plate with no issues at all.

Beware though not to use the mixture on thinner sections of ABS (e.g. on the helmet face plate where the ABS can be less than 1mm thick) as the acetone in the paste may soften or even melt the ABS you are applying it to. The paste is a good solution though for the thicker sections of ABS such the thighs and biceps.

An excellent buy - even if the postage to Aust is more expensive than the gear. I've been trooping in these for about 6mths and couldn't be happier with them. C

TK-6752 Southern Cross Garrison, requesting 501st members only access please. http://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=14281&costumeID=124