meanders
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Posts posted by meanders
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l. I see you've gone for Saxon's... what was your whitening process (Waproo product details)? http://www.horseland.com.au/saxon-equileather-pull-on-jodhpur-boots-20115900.html
m. What is the actual height of your boot (from the top of the sole to the top of the leather) and in your opinion, what height would a boot need to be to alleviate the need for an anti-riding strap)?
n. Can you don your amour with no assistance?
n. How much of a return edge on the inside of the forearms have you left?
l. I used the Waproo spray I picked up from Mr Minit. I got by with one can and a number of light coats. Masking tape on the soles of course. It does not whiten the elastics as much as I'd like, but these are mostly covered by the shin pieces anyway. This has worn very well. The only place where it has worn is the back of the ankle where the shin rubs on the boot.
m. I'll see if I can get some photos. Another centimetre height on the boot might have meant I didn't need it. But it won't affect the armour build. Its just something you can add later if needed.
n. Yes I can; in this order
- Thighs held in place with a leather belt.
- Boots
- Shins
- All the body armor in one piece. Before I put it on, the left shoulder strap is snapped and the left side is snapped together. I slip the 'clam shell' on, snap the right shoulder strap, crotch strap and right side.
(at this point I can no long bend over to pick things up on the floor, so make sure everything else is in reach. A table or bench is good!
)- Shoulder bells and biceps go on in one piece. I have a strap from the shoulder straps with a snap to attach the bells.
- Gloves
- Forearms. I have a velcro strip from the base of the bicep, along the inside of the elbow, which slides under the forearm to hold it in position.
- Hand plates.
n2. Bugger all return in most places. I still have some where the outer strips are, so it might not be quite to Centurion level, but it would be very close.
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On the list for an ATA from 1787 so currently in the 'build method research' phase,
Lid looks great mate!
f. How's your calf armour retention method hold up during trooping. Any other modifications to that particular area?
Cheers!
f. The intention of the "stopper" was to avoid the shins closing in more than needed rather than keep them from opening. But I don't think that's needed now. Once I'd put the strapped shins in the bucket of hot water they've stayed pretty much in a natural closed state ever since.
One other mod, for which I don't have a photo handy, was a strap on the inside of the left shin to stop it riding up over the heel of the boot. The left shin is smaller around the ankle compared to the right, so when I was walking the bottom back of the shin piece would ride up over the top of the boot and, armour being what it is, I could not bend over to fix it. It's basically a strap with one end attached to the loop on the back of the boot. The other end is has a snap which attaches halfway up the back of the shin which I attach when putting it on. So when I flex my left angle, at a certain point the strap reaches its limit and stops the shin riding up.
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a. The armour has been going great. Pretty comfortable to wear. It gets a few scuffs, but a wipe with methylated spirits and a paper towel cleans it up nicely. The bucket lives in a display cabinet when not in use and the rest of the kit stays packed away. So I haven't seen any yellowing.Too right,
Please give my regards to the SA crew.
Got a few questions for you:
a. How have you found trooping in this armour... is it holding up well?
b. What current glove/hand plate combination are you trooping with and how do you find it for trooping?
c. Did your ATA kit have a #number on it (a build number)?
d. What kind of helmet harness are you using?
e. Are you planning on upgrading to Centurion?
Take it easy!
b. Nomex flight gloves and the ABS handplates. I made up an elastic harness to hold the handplates on.
c. Not numbered, just dated 2012.
d. Didn't end using a harness. Basically the top of the helmet rests on the top of my head. If it sat any higher it didn't look right compared to other movie reference photos. Then I used neoprene weather seal for some blocks around the side. You can buy, for example, 25mm wide x 10mm thick strips of self adhesive weather seal from Clarke Rubber. I used a double block at the front to get the bucket in the right spot (and after some trooping, some more to cover the bolts on the ears to stop cutting up my face when putting on the bucket
). I wear a skull cap so I don't sweat against the top of the helmet.
e. Not really any plans to upgrade to centurion. I think most of the suit would be OK to upgrade, but I'd need to get the latex handplates and a new E-11 to replace the Hasbro/DoopyDoos kit. Happy to keep trooping Expert Infantry
You can check out my photobucket album as well - http://s6.photobucket.com/user/Meanders/library/TK%20Build
So are you looking to upgrade?
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Brilliant effort 3482!
Thanks 671. Long time no see.
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Looking good. I think you'll find when you start to get the ears fitted the cheeks move a bit more.
One trick I found helpful when fitting my ears was to fit the top bolt so that the thread is pointing outwards. That way you can easily put the ears on and off easily for test fits instead of pulling the whole helmet apart every time.
And of course you've marked the left and right ears ready for fitting. Because it would be embarrassing if you started trimming and sanding the left ear and realised it was the right ear. Not that I did that *cough*
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This is looking good. Its not a real build until you've bled for it. Just don't get any on the canvas belt; that's a lot harder to clean off
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Glad to hear its helping someone else
What kit are you building Adam?-
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Congratulations on the approval
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Well done. Its really impressive that you got all the cover strip issues sorted out. But you're glad that's done
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That's a nice solid looking holster you've got now
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EIB approved
Congrats trooper.
Well done on your attitude to the corrections and for achieving them
Thanks Phil. Feels great to have accomplished this.
Thanks to everyone else who commented on my build and offered their feedback. Its been great to have this group here for the support.
Cheers Glen
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No worries my man. You can always fish the wires out and splice in a fix. You'll have lights again I just know it
Thanks for the push. I had another look and decided it was recoverable. Fished out the wires (paperclips are a great invention!), soldered on a new wire across the break and we're back in action. We have light! Its a beautiful thing
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The T-track has been removed and holes added. (Sorry chookaboom - As careful as I was, I nicked the wire running to the end LED
But the pew-pew sounds and the barrel internal light still work so its still play worthy ).First post updated with photo of blaster mod.
Cheers.
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Thanks chookaboom. The plan is to go in slowly probably with a pilot hole first. During the initial build when cutting the end off I cut through the wires to the end LED and had to re-solder them.
Cheers
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I'll see what I can do here. I need to figure out if it can be done without having to break it down.In general, your application and armour look nice.
You need to meet the EIB blaster requirement so
Please can you mod the 7th T track and add the holes.
I have the elastic ready to add. Easy to do.You don't need to have the shoulder bridges white tie down elastic on the rear of you shoulder ribs, but why not add them?
The thighs were getting too tight as I was gradually trimming them and I stopped at what I thought would be a good fit. I made the back covers wider, rather than the front ones. The shins are that width to match the thighs.The following comments will not affect your EIB application.
You are the same height and weight as me, but you've made the smallest ATA armour look large on you.
Your thighs could have tapered in a bit more round your knee. I don't see why you've used such wide cover strips to the rear of your thighs and shins.
The elastic on the inner arms (joining the biceps and forearms) are velcroed to the armour so that's easy to adjust.Your forearms are at different heights and positions on either arm.
ThanksIn summary, nice build on you.
Hasbro blaster mod left to complete.
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- Armor = ATA
- Helmet = ATA
- Blaster = Hasbro with Doopy Doos kit
- Height = 172cm (5' 8")
- Weight = 75kg (165lb)
- Boots = Riding boots (from here) painted white (similar to this)
- Canvas belt = Made myself
- Hand Plates = ATA
- Electronics = Aker voice amp
- Neck Seal = Local garrison maker
- Holster = Made myself
Full Body
Armor Details
Ab detail
Belt detail and holster attachment
Strapping
Helmet Details
Lens
Mic tips
Blaster Details
Accessory Details
Blaster
Updated 29/9/13: Magazine side T-track removed and holes added.
Thermal detonator
Neckseal
Thankyou for your consideration
PS: Just looking at these now I notice the left shin has twisted around. I have my original approval photos where its straight if that's needed.
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TK-3482 requesting 501st TK trooper access.
http://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=5074&costumeID=124
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Thanks for all the kind words everyone. I'm just building on all the good ideas others have already posted here.
I'm not even kidding, this is the best construction of an ATA kit I've ever seen. I wanna see more pictures!!
Did you use 'offcut' for your shoulder bridges or some of the flat sheet that comes with the kit?
I used some of the flat sheet that comes with the kit.
One thing I did early on was find some extra ABS sheet from a local plastics supplier because I didn't think the sheets that came with the kit would cover everything. Obviously it wasn't an exact colour match, but I used that for the inside shims on the shins and thighs. That way I definitely had enough sheets for everything else, especially the cover strips.
More pictures? I didn't take photos of some of the other basics. Even before I got the kit I did spend a lot of time looking at PandaTrooper's Helmet build and Stukatrooper's TM build so I knew what I was getting into. There's only so many photos of people trimming armor people want to see
The best thing I did was download all the ANH Bluray reference photos onto my phone so I always had them handy to check on things.
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Fantasic job Alexey! Great to see all the steps you've taken.
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And that about wraps it up for the WIP! It started in one garrison and finished in another and its been a long and enjoyable journey. Thanks for all the comments along the way and I hope this record encourages and helps the builders that follow.So, say hello to TK-3482 (just got approved last night!)
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Thanks Glen.
And here it is
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A few details on the bucket painting. This is all done with a fine brush.I painted the trap outlines by first doing a satin black outline.
At the same time I was trying out different tube patterns found on FISD to get the sizing and position right (or at least the way I like it). I spent a lot of time looking at the DaveM helmet for reference.
Masking for the rear traps.
A coat of grey before painting the black strips to seal the mask and stop bleeding underneath (a good tip I picked up during the build).
And the black
The first result. On inspection these stripes were too long, so I ended up just painting another coat of grey along the top.
Found a tube template I liked. Printed it out and cut out the stripes. This is not a mask, just for marking the strip positions. The tear trap lines are hand painted, though I used a pencil to rough out where they would go. You can also see some of the practice/experimental tube strips in the background.
Used a pencil to hatch out the tube locations which you can see here.
Ran a line of white gloss along the masking tape to seal it, otherwise you get little "legs" on the edge of the strips running along the mask edge. Then hand painted the stripes ... very slowly and carefully! I think this was the most tense part of the build!
Pics of the final result to follow.
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I made up the belt a while back and here's how that went together.I had some stiff vinyl from an advertising banner I got from work. Its about 0.5mm thick and I'm using this inside the white canvas to give it the belt some support.
There's three layers of canvas on each side of the inner vinyl. The green plastic is cut from a plastic folder and is used to slide under the folds whilst pinning to keep the width consistent.
The belt is slightly narrower than the ammo belt cover. Ideally it should be where the width of corner cutouts are, but I felt if I did that the belt would be too narrow. I think the ATA ammo belt is not as wide as more movie accurate suits.
So three layers on each side sewn along the middle.
Then folded over so the vinyl insert fits inside.
Before sewing up the vinyl inside, velcro is sewn onto the ends. There were a few fittings of the belt on the torso armor to make sure the ends of the belt sit just inside where the thermal det will sit. Once that was sorted the belt length could be fixed and the velcro put in the right spot.
I've done something a bit different in attaching the ammo belt to the canvas. Most builds I've seen use rivets, but I have commitment issues in this build so I've used Chicago screws. The smallest screws I could get were still longer than the thickness of the ammo belt and canvas belt so I added a small piece of leather to pad it out.
The Chicago screw idea still has to prove itself. It has helped where I could take the belt apart to add loops for the drop boxes and I've since added snaps to get the belt sitting right on the ab plate which would have been tricky if the ammo belt was attached.When the button covers are attached to the front of the belt its a bit tricky tightening the screws, but its ok so far.
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I'm mounting the lens using some blocks around the eye openings. These are just 2 or 3 tabs of 2mm ABS glued together and drilled out (before gluing to the faceplate!) You can also see I've taken a lot more of the back of the teeth in these photos as well.
If the lens are attached this way you can actually get two lens for the price of one! Though the ATA supplied lens seems dark enough to avoid my eyes being seen under flash photos.
I used 6mm self tapping screws and washers from Jaycar. With at least 4mm on the block, plus the lens and the washer, the screw isn't going to go through the face plate.
Meanders TK Build [*ATA]
in Build Threads Requireing Maintenance
Posted · Edited by meanders
Found some photos of the shin strap. The metal loop on the end if just some coat hanger wire.
Credit to TK1491 for that tip.