camprandall

Ok, got the knees done last night. I found that after a few minutes of walking, they started to slide down so I added a small velcro tab to the top to keep it from doing that, but otherwise it's not connected to the armor. I also added padding inside the armor in the front and back to keep the armor from jiggling since the older gaskets were thicker.

So this is hopeful. I contacted ANOVOS asking about the possibility of purchasing replacement parts at some point since right now we literally have no way to replace lost or broken parts. This was their response: Not much info, but good to hear this is in the works!

Yeah, I would contact ANOVOS. That's definitely defective and considering it's a premium helmet, you shouldn't have to reassemble. Hopefully they'll take good care of you. I agree about the earlier comment about replacement parts. It would be amazing if they would make it possibly to buy them at an affordable cost because there are a lot of parts to this and it's concerning that we have no way to ever get parts. All it will take is to lose a hand or knee plate or something and this costume will be shelved indefinitely.

I haven't noticed any cracking on the yoke yet. I had slight bondo cracking more on the wrist end of the inner forearms due to the fact that these things cut into my hands and get a lot of torque trying to force my hands through and then when I bend my arms. I backed them with much thicker ABS but it's still a decent bit of tension. Unfortunately due to those glued greeblies that go up to the seam, it was a pain to fix them because sanding isn't as straight-forward as it was during assembly. If I had more time to do it from the start, I would have still gone bondo because it's much easier to work with and makes a nicer finish, but I would have added wider reinforcement strips on the inside of things so that there's less chance for flex. I found the JB Weld way too slow to sand and finish nicely and also found slurry to be way too erratic and have pinholes in it from bubbles and everything so it still needs a touch of bondo to make it smooth. Aside from bondo cracking, I've also actually had to reinforce the raw ABS in 2 or three random spots on the return edges of armor where it's started cracking due to the ABS being pretty thin. My classic TK armor is much thicker and doesn't have that issue.

I'm going to try them out Wyatt and see how it goes. I feel like I might want the knee gaskets bigger, but maybe it will work out better this way. We'll see.

Yeah, I've been debating whether or not to attach some kind of velcro to keep the knee gasket attached to the underarmor because I'm not sure if it would eventually slide down while walking around. It certainly doesn't feel like it. As for assembly, yeah I was putting the whole legs on as a sleeve since it takes forever for me to re-attach the gaskets where I want them to the armor pieces. Now for the legs I'll probably just slide on the gaskets, then slide into the thighs and pop on the shins. It probably also means that we might have to worry about the direction of the shins if they aren't attached to anything, but maybe the boots will take care of that.

Ok, gotcha. Thanks for filling in the gap.

Yeah Mike, it's amazing how you can really appreciate the simple things!

So are we allowed to submit for approval? I wasn't aware of that.

Wyatt, I got a password pop-up when I tried to go to your link. Ok, I finished the shoulder and elbow gaskets today. Check out my build thread for my review and build process at http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31068-clints-build-thread-tk-61281/page-5#entry404404. The short version is that 1) these gaskets are MUCH better for trooping and 2) joint gaskets are always going to make this thing a bit of a pain.

Ok, got the upper body done. Whew! So here's some feedback and then some pics. 1) The flexibility is considerably better. I used to have to strain until I heard cracking to even touch my head and I can do it much easier now. Taking the helmet on and off is no problem! 2) The whole suit still feels stuffy, but it's really nice having that flexibility and a bit more breathability in the joints. Even just walking around feels nicer because my arms feel less like stuffed sausages. 3) Getting them on is just as difficult for me because the very flexible latex catches my undersuit and wants to pull. It's not as tight, which is great, but still awkward. Overall, this was well worth the time and money because I feel like I can last longer in a troop and it's going to be much more comfortable moving around. I also like that I can easily adjust my helmet and remove when I want without pain/strain. Overall, this is just a compressed stuffy suit and the forearms still dig into my wrists because they're too long, but the new gaskets have greatly improved the comfort! Nice job Wyatt!

While I work on the other arm, this is the leg tightness I was referring to. It fits, but barely. I will definitely have to velcro it to the undersuit because there's no way it will stretch far enough to velcro to the front and back of the thigh. I'm 175 - 180 so anyone bigger might find it too uncomfortable.

And another!

Ok, here is some progress to report. I immediately noticed one significant difference with the shape of these in that they are tapered and the knee and elbow gaskets are the same size. This means I kept the full gasket for the knees, which are a bit tight, but had well more than enough for the elbows. I ended up cutting about two inches off the elbows to fit it properly. Elbow piece with the end cut off. This means I don't have a glue flap, but it's easy enough to use a scrap. Because the cut off flap would have added extra thickness, I had to raise the other side up with a piece of scrap latex so that the ridges were much closer in height. Gluing! Piece I removed (after gluing) Here's a shoulder and elbow with velcro. I cut out notches so that the elbow gasket and shoulder fit together a bit like tetris, leaving less overlap of rubber inside the armor. And now what you really care about. Here's my elbow flexibility with the new gaskets! The armor itself is still limiting as the forearms digs into my hand still, but the flexibility and room inside is much better in both the shoulder and elbow. I suspect it won't be quite as hot, although it's still rubber. I can't wait to have the whole torso finished later so I can see what the real flexibility is since that chest/back piece limits you quite a bit regardless of the gaskets.

Looks cool! I should have some pics soon of reassembling the new gaskets.

Great to see you back to work! Can't wait to see the final pics.

Just received my new gaskets from Wyatt today! Can't wait to get them fitted and see the difference. They look nice! Pictures will be soon to follow. I'm gluing and sewing velcro tonight.

Yeah, Stacie kicked butt on her suit and finished with time to spare.

Looking great!

I have much less of a disagreement with this component of your argument. It's the idea of retroactively deactivating people as standards change that I have much more of a disagreement with. I wouldn't be strongly against someone with an older suit getting in, but I think it would be difficult because approval would require looking at every version of the CRLs there has been and that would be tough. It's not very practical to have years and years of suit evolution all carefully tracked so that you can evaluate submissions. As it is, it's hard for volunteers to keep up with it all. That's more of a practical concern though.

I have to say that this approach would change the nature of the Legion pretty significantly. I would have no desire to build a suit if I thought some guy in his garage who's improving his molds might get me kicked out until I ordered his new set of armor and rebuilt my suit. Creativity would become competition and ingenuity would be very unwelcome to any existing member who doesn't like endlessly building costumes and spending money. If someone is approved, it means they have an accurate suit. This isn't about black and white, good or bad - it's about degrees of accuracy caused by firstly, more awareness and secondly, advancements in artistry and tech. I personally think that continuously improving our CRLs while respecting those who were approved before those changes is perfect. It allows us to continually improve ourselves while not at the expense of others. It's not in conflict with fairness either as anyone who is new and considers joining has all the resources at their disposal to build a suit to the current standards so it's not hurting them to say "Hey, we don't do FX anymore. Use ATA or RS or AP or whatever." It would be a disservice to them if we were instead giving them the option to build it any way any suit was ever built before - not to mention a very confusing experience. Most people want to be as accurate as they can be when they build something and the reward for that effort is now being a permanent part of a Legion that requires participation, not continual costume building, to stay active and contribute. That's my thought on it.

I would also add that since hundreds more are building these through the rest of the year, it doesn't seem like a good idea to do a CRL AFTER all of that and then decide if they're accurate enough. Waiting only makes sense if we think the screen used suits we took pictures of arent a good enough reference.

I'm excited for these to arrive! Hopefully it will totally change trooping. I will say that I'm also a little bit disappointed by the heavy branding down the outside, especially since it was only on the flap in the proto pics and now it replaces the vertical ribs. It feels like a risky accuracy divergence that might not matter, but would have been better to keep it on the flaps that are not part of the look at all. Quick question for you Wyatt - I see that you're gluing the edge of the curved flap all the way around. What is this intended for? Also, many of us riveted or glued straps across the back and chest to hold the gaskets together and keep the flaps down. With latex, what would be the preferred method here? I'm wondering if rubber cement is strong enough for the torque that comes from the gaskets being pulled on by the shoulders. Thanks!

Yeah, I saw that too on the shoulder pieces. I used pretty large washers as you can see in my pics because otherwise it was very easy to pull them through. My latex gaskets are on the way so I'll be sure to post some pics and feedback soon!

Functionally, I think snaps are solid enough, especially if each tab had two, but my problem is that it's hard to have the gaskets be in an inflexible position. You have to get them perfectly aligned and spaced with snaps whereas with velcro there is some adjustment. Of course, one you glue your velcro, it doesn't make that much difference either way, but snaps have to be figured out a bit in advance. I can't wait for my latex gaskets to arrive and see how they work! I love everything else about the suit.