Rystan

It's been my desktop background at work since I decided to build armor. Great minds. [emoji6] Thanks for the updated shots. Nesting the sides together clinches it I think. Nick gave me the suggestion to try again after trimming the front for cover strips and seeing if it makes a difference.

The 1/2 & 3/4 pictures were Ryan's (Shank_O_Potomus). I will try and recreate and get you the pictures tonight if he doesn't get to it first.

Yay, I'm not crazy! Let me know if you need more pictures or anything else from me.

East bay was having a sale about a month ago when I bought my top and bottom from them so I paid $24 total for both.

I haven't started mine yet but I plan on trying to make the seam go away. I was going to use ABS paste I think though.

Using those dowels for lens mounting points is pretty slick. I might have a few of those in the basement left over from some furniture assembly in the past. Hmm.. I haven't started my helmet yet. Trying to get more comfortable with some of the other pieces before I tackle the bucket. Spent most of the afternoon making snap tabs for inside the various armor pieces.

Thanks Rick for updating us on this. I'd like to get a copy of the pdf instructions he sent you too!

Looking good, Rick! Did you hand paint the traps/tears/ears/everything? Or use the stickers provided? Which eye lenses are you using? I'm assuming the curved thick triangle shapes are the "bubble lenses" for the Hero helmet. The thin/flimsy film that came in the cardboard tube is the flat Stunt lens material? Did you affix the lenses yet? If so, how? E6000? I've been debating getting a piece of clear lexan or something of the like to give the film a little more girth.

Okay, let me try this and Nick can let me know if I'm right. Taking a second (or fifth look) at the AM shin tutorial (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16608-am-armor-shins-the-proper-way-to-assemble-and-wear/) What I noticed was that the center of the "curve" of the inside of each leg is lower on the shin than the outer "curve". So applying this logic my guess for you shins is: Tape 1 & 2 make up the left shin (?) Tape 3 & 4 make up the right shin (?) Nick, am I right? Is my reasoning sound?

Nick, thank you for the above breakdown. I'm satisfied that they're not duplicates at this point. I'm not looking to be a resident calf/shin expert, so I'll bow to your wisdom as you've "passed" multiples of our "tests". Once I have the sniper plate installed, I'll be good Thanks again!

I believe you, I really do. But I guess I don't know what I'm looking for as far as the differences go. What should we be looking for to tell them apart?

Thanks Ryan! I was nervous to go this route, but I waited almost a month to my inquiry whether TK Boots had anything in my size (still haven't heard back). And I think at this point, it's safe to say we're all in the same boat re: the calves/shins.

I read somewhere that if you dry out a baby wipe and glue it across the hole (like you would saran wrap over a bowl), the resulting membrane would make a good surface to contain the abs/acetone slurry while it's solidifying. Might be worth a shot. I'll see if I can find it again.

I understand! I needed a head slap moment yesterday when someone gently reminded me to check on screen caps from the movies to answer questions/determine accuracy

Hi John, looking good! Except, you only wanted 4 of the 5 holes on each side of the frown removed per the CRL. It seems to be a pretty common mistake people are making with our new AM kits.

I think you might have this reversed. From the CRL: 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. At least for centurion, the forearm return edges at the wrist are removed. Picked a Centurion request at random (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27879-tk14057-requesting-anh-stunt-centurion-status-ne127/) As for the elbow end, see here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26188-tk-forearms/

Thanks Ron! I'm almost out of the Angelus deglazer so I'll likely have to make a trip out to pick up some acetone and go back to scrubbing some more. This time with rubber gloves.

Ab plate buttons, part 1: With all of the mounds of ABS waiting to be trimmed, I decided it was time to break the seal and get my feet wet with what I'm hoping are some easy win cuts. Started out taking measurements of the pertinent button sections on the abdomen itself. Then taking measurements on the button plates themselves: The entire top surface of the button pyramid is larger than the corresponding mounting surfaces, so I need to transfer the measurements to the face of the button pyramids and figure out the appropriate amount to trim from the surface in order to keep the buttons centered when final mounting occurs. N.B. These are the measurements from my AM kit, and I'm not sure if they're "original/official". I know AM runs bigger in a lot of areas so the plan is to make the pieces fit together as formed/built so that the overall appearance matches when I'm wearing the final armor. I erred on the side of leaving myself an extra mm in some cases figuring it was better to leave too much and pare it down later rather than cutting off too much to start. Okay, enough stalling time to make the first cuts. First round of cuts used a box cutter to score along the inside top and side edges of the pyramids. Then I cut the side edges with this. (Still hunting for curved lexan scissors...the guys at Home Depot dragged me all over the store to various sections trying to find what looked like what I am expecting to find. I found this and figured it might be a good start.) I'm not sure how long it'll last cutting ABS this thick, but it's done okay so far. Once the side edges were cut, it was able to bend and snap the remaining flaps so now the plate lay flush against the table surface. My assistant #1 decided she needed to see what all the fuss was about. (Assistant #2 is my 6 year old who has already asked 6,000 questions about every phase of the process so far, most often asked: Are you done yet? At this point the centering measurements pencil marks were wiped away during the manhandling from the cutting. So I need to reapply them. And before I do, does my thinking/logic track with regards to centering the plates so that none of the abdomen surface shows? Or do you trim further so that the button plate is smaller than the raised portion of the abdomen? Screen caps: (looks like the button plates are not smaller than the raised abdomen section here) And again not wanting to overly rely on billhag's reference material but it looks like the bottom plates are smaller than the abdomen sections here: Anyone care to chime in?

Boots, part 1: Yesterday was a nice day to sit outside and paint my fingers black, I mean deglaze the Bass Amsterdams. [Note to others choosing to go the painting boots route, wearing rubber gloves when using the acetone probably would have been a good idea.] Pre work: Used some Frog Tape on the sole/heel to keep them safe: (I found small strips helped to follow the curves of the boot as closely as possible as well as letting the tape stick to itself in addition to adhering to the sole.) Products to be used during the boot whitening: After about an hour of scrubbing and used up about 3/4 of the deglazer (spilled some at one point and tried to sop up what I could and put it to use): Some of the shine is definitely gone, but it didn't drastically alter the black too much. How far does this process need to go before starting to apply the coats of white paint? (need to take more shine off, thanks Ron!) I'll likely retape too before starting the leather paint as some of the tape didn't care for the rough-housing from the deglazing scrubbing.

Ok so rather than bombarding him on the shins I'll wait to see what he tells you about .

I think the inner return edge on the elbow end is able to go away too. Helps prevent pinching. Many keep at least some of the outer facing return edge on the elbow end because it's visible to the world and it helps with the illusion that the armor is thicker than it really is. See: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/25230-solicitation-of-opinions-on-forearm-bicep-return-edges/

Nick and Eric, I have to agree with Ryan on this. The mold was changed with the current run and I think it's made the pieces much more difficult to identify. I'll post a pic tomorrow that shows the taped together shins side by side looking down at them. According to the tutorial that Eric mentioned above, before you would assemble them AB BA. But now, since both the A and B pieces curve in the same direction so they now fit together AB AB. so the deeper V slice top is on the left side for both legs, whereas you would expect them to be opposite between each leg. I suppose there's a chance that I got one of Ryan's shins and he got one of mine (??) I think I might send an email to TG to see if he can clarify/help. Edit:

I think I saw somewhere that if you dry out a baby wipe and glue it to the back side it makes a good mesh for applying ABS paste to in order to reform the hole. Might want to research that more but it sounds like it might work.

Those look to be abdomen buttons for a TD/sandtrooper based on this bill-o-gram:

Ryan, I think you're right and I was looking in the wrong spot for the curve/straight. When researching further, I found the below "Bill-o-gram" showing original armor laid out and the curve/straight is definitely along the length. The curved notches along the top/elbow are visible on both arms and are necessary to avoid pinching and giving the ability to reach your own head when suited up.