EJGreen

So I've been searching all over the forums and can't really find the information that I'm looking for so I'm hoping that someone can help me out or point me in the right direction... I'm working on the calve pieces (RT-Mod) and I know that in the films, hooks were used to close the shins up in the back as opposed to velcro which is commonly used around here. I'm looking for specifics on what types of hooks were used and how they were added to the armor. Photos would definitely be a major plus here! If anyone else has used this method, do they keep everything closed up in the back pretty well? Do they have a tendency to break off or come unclasped?

You're definitely off to an amazing start, brother! I'm really excited for you and I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress.

So I've trimmed the edges on my shins to reflect the correct size of the cover strips. It wasn't until after I trimmed the back edges that I realized I should've researched the hook method. Does anyone have any information on how these bra hooks are attached/used?

Thanks for the response, Jason. I thought the widths for the front cover strips were 20mm but I wasn't 100% certain. I was medically retired from Bragg about three years ago. I was a PSYOP guy.

Going through my box of parts and pieces, I remembered that I left off with the biceps. Everything is butt joined and I've already added the "Han hooks." I still need to add some strapping to the arm pieces but until I get to the craft store for elastics and strapping, I'm moving on to the legs. I never realized, until now, that my shins appear to be cut for overlap construction. Seeing as how I butted the arm pieces together and the CRL for Centurian calls for butt joints, I'm going to have to trim some of these edges down. Is it 20mm for the cover strips? What's the recommended construction for closing the shins in the back? I know the velcro seems to be popular but wasn't there a hook method that I've seen in a few threads?

I've had to deal with som personal family issues surrounding my fathers health which caused me to take a break from my armor. But I can say that I'm back with a vengence to dive in where I left off. I just have to remember where I left off...

I've been playing with this piece for over a week, now, and I'm wondering if I'm sweating too much of the small stuff or it's good enough to move on to gluing the pieces together. I'm thinking that this is as good as it's gonna get... From a distance, you can't really see anything but there's still a bit of mild dimpling going on the surface of the piece. Part of me thinks that because this is the inside of the bicep, nobody's going to notice but the other part of me knows it's not perfect.

I appreciate everyone's support and feedback. I think I mentioned at the start of my thread that I can often get too wound up in the details that it's almost debilitating. Right now, the condition of the bicep isn't completely horrendous. I can see and feel a bit of rippling in the abs and that's pretty much driving me crazy. My heat sealing iron is teflon coated but after reading Tim's awesome input, I realized that I had my temps cranked too damn high. I'm going to continue working on it but at much lower temperatures and see what more I can do. Honestly, I have to admit that I'm surprised that this whole thumbprint issue isn't in the CRL; at least for Centurian. Part of me was starting to think it wasn't a consistent feature in the original suits but I'm trying to push for as much screen acuracy as I can get. I'm trying to find out if the bicep hooks were for stunt suits or if that was a "Han" thing. I want to add them to mine but only if they're accurate.

I continue to smooth the surface on this bicep. I noticed that the iron was not only causing dimpling in the plastic, the entire piece was beginning to warp a bit out of shape. I ended up clamping the right bicep over the left one so that it would help retain it's original curvature. Using my wife's hair dryer, I began heating up the exterior surface and then using a lint-free cloth, I would "polish" the surface once it got hot... This technique actually began to smooth away some of the dimples caused by the heating iron so I ended up putting an old sock over the iron and, while moving in circular motions, began ironing out the outer surface. I have to say that it's not 100% perfect but I think it looks a lot better than it did this morning... I'll continue to work on this some more until I feel confident that's it's as good as it's gonna get.

I've come to realize that I am NOT proficient with this damn heating iron. For the past couple of days, now, I've been attempting to use the heating iron to smooth out the thumbprint from the right bicep. For whatever reason, however, this is not working out the way I had imagined it would. I'm finding it really difficult to heat a rounded piece of abs with a flat iron. My attempts have left the bicep piece looking extremely dimpled and uneven. No matter what I attempt to do, it only seems to make everything worse. I don't know if this piece is beyond working with. I'll let you look at the picture and you can give me your opinion... Personally, I don't know why Rob hasn't considered the idea of molding a bicep without the thumbprint in it.

As a matter of fact, Rod, I managed to score one today! In a last ditch effort, I called a local store that caters to RC hobbyists (HobbyTown USA) and they said they had one for me and would hold it with my name on it! I drove 20 minutes to the store with my bicep in hand to see if it would work and they said it should do what I need it to do. It's got a rounded, upswept tip to prevent surface gouging, a contoured wooden handle, and a 5.5 foot cord with heat ranges from 130-395 degrees F. The great thing is that it was priced at 50% off which meant that I got to take this baby home for $10!! Upon closer inspection, it looks like the heat sock iron cover is sold separately, I don't think it's wise to apply a bare iron directly onto the abs as I suspect it might melt a hole into it. There's no instructions either so I'm not sure how hot this thing needs to be in order to smooth out the thumbprint.

While I ponder the great mysteries of snapping/strapping, it's time to move on to the biceps. "Welcome to the gun show!" Really, my guns aren't all that impressive. Squeeze the trigger and a flag pops out of the barrel that says "BANG!" Preliminary fittings suggest that I can trim the butt edges to accommodate a 15 mm cover strip like I have on the forearms and I've already trimmed those edges down. I've been reviewing photo references and reading several threads about return edges on the biceps. From what I've seen, the majority seems to say leave 'em alone. Rob didn't leave much of a return edge on the biceps but I do know that I need to get rid of that pesky "thumbprint" from the right bicep. Reading Dark CMF's (Tim's) build thread, I see how he managed to remove the thumbprint by using a heat sealing iron. Apparently this isn't something I can find at my local Lowe's or Home Depot. Even Radio Shack doesn't have anything like this. I've looked at Amazon and the reviews for the Hangar 9 brand are questionable, at best. I personally hate shopping online through the mail. I'm an instant gratification guy. I'll spend $30 for express shipping on an item that costs $10--just so I can get my hands on it ASAP. Yeah, it pisses off the wife considerably. Nine out of ten times, when I'm expecting something to arrive, the UPS guys are too lazy to knock on the door when they're supposed to and will come back the next day. That pisses me off considerably as I typically waste the cost of express shipping when it doesn't show up on time! Anyway, the closest thing I found to a heating iron, at Lowe's, is a tool used for laying carpet and has a plate the size of a brick. NOT something I want! A heating gun seems to be something I can grab, locally, and pretty cheap. Would this work?

Thanks, Tim, for jumping in again. It's a great comfort knowing you've got my six! So I read through the "What We Know..." thread and it's a bit confusing but I did get some valuable information out of it. If I was reading correctly, the original forearms and biceps were merely strapped together with elastic glued into the pieces? No Snaps? This would make them permanently tied together, right? This raises several questions... 1) How easy is it to actually put on armor this way? 2) How secure/durable is this method? After a while wouldn't the glue eventually peel off? 3) I know this isn't notated in the CRL's but is this what all the cool kids are doing? I'm ultimately aiming for Centurian but I'm also interested in going as screen accurate as I can possibly go. At the same time, however, I don't want pieces of armor falling apart on me while I'm putting it on or trooping about.

My RT-Mod didn't come with a pipe so I'm thinking a piece of pvc would do the trick. If 46 mm is the correct diameter what would be the correct length (without the end caps)?

Thanks for that tip, Steve, something definitely to keep in mind. To be honest, I still have yet to buy all of my strapping, snaps, and elastics as I'm still tossing and turning over what materials are best/accurate.

The second forearm is finally cured and both forearms are finally complete. I still need to add snaps for strapping. Forearms For 501st approval: Forearms are fully closed. For level two certification (if applicable): For level three certification (if applicable): No return edge on the inside of the front of the forearm is allowed. Forearms must be constructed using the butt joint and cover strip method. Overlap construction is not allowed. CHECK!

I appreciate your kind feedback, Rod. More to come soon!

Watching with interest!

Here's the second forearm--trimmed, reinforcement strips & 15 mm cover strips--curing for the next couple of days!

After trimming all the edges of the forearms for better accuracy, I tried the one that I had already glued together to see how it looks/fits... The wrist circumference is much bigger than it was originally. But as predicted, my hand can squeeze through there a lot easier than before. I hope the overall length isn't too short. Any thoughts?

I decided to bite the bullet and trim this forearm using a "blade knife-dremel-sandpaper" combo... Here's what the finished edge looks like so far. I think a little bit of sanding, here and there, will pretty it up! All I need to do now is do the same thing for the wrist edges and this piece is pretty much done (except for adding snaps). Noob Tip: This is NOT the correct way for doing this! Don't make the mistake I made by gluing everything together before making a decision to trim things up! Originally, I couldn't make up my mind to go screen accurate with these or trudge ahead and leave them "as-is." Once I realized I could go for accuracy, I had to take a step backwards with pieces that I had already glued together. Even though I managed to achieve what I wanted to do, I would have saved a lot of time and frustration had I trimmed these pieces prior to gluing them together.

I laid the trimmed piece over the pieces that are already glued together and drew lines with a pencil to see where I need to make the cuts in order for both arms to match up in length. I'm trying to think of a way to trim these edges without pulling them apart. I'm not sure if I should make an attempt to use my blade or the Lexan scissors. I'm more concerned with the cover strips... that's three layers of plastic!

Here's another comparison between the forearms that have had all the edges trimmed and the piece that is still intact... Elbow edges. Wrist edges. I still have no idea how to trim the forearm that's already glued together. I really wish I had made this decision earlier

So I've trimmed both the wrist and elbow edges on the forearm to be more screen accurate--the ridges now run the full length of the piece. I cut away the inner wrist edge (the same amount that I cut from the outter piece) and when I stand both pieces side by side, I see that I need to trim a bit off the inner piece at the the elbow...

Okay, I gotta admit that I'm really excited that I made the decision to trim these edges! I measured three times, cut once and used some 220 grit paper to sand the edges nice and smooth... In case anyone is following my build, for their own suits, allow me to show a side by side comparison of what this looks like between trimming the edges and leaving them alone... With the forearm that's already built, I WAS able to squeeze my hand through the wrist--it's tight but I can get my hand in there! Now, with the edges trimmed back, I'll have a little more wiggle room for getting my mitts through the wrists. When it comes time to submit my applications for badges, the jury can't argue that there's any return edges there!