MoSc0ut
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Posts posted by MoSc0ut
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That gap is fine. I put a little piece of ABS behind in the little channel and that closed up my gap a bit more. If you look at the screen used armor it's that and worse on most pieces.
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My suggestion is to get it to where you think you want it then put the armor on and walk around and just do normal daily stuff inside for 20-30 minutes. It will become very clear where you need to take off more or take it off all together.I will trim all of my return edges down to 3-5mm. I've already tapered the return edge on bicep top, and shoulders. Other than wrist and bottom of shins other other areas where you guys removed all of the return edge? (I'm debating on all arm and leg parts).
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As mentioned we are all shaped slightly different so where it rubs me the wrong way may not have any effect on you at all. I discovered the bad places during a 1 mile parade! Don't be me.
Jim - TK50899
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Ukswrath I am almost done following along with you guide for my TK. It is beyond useful. However one thing I keep having problems with is return edge size. I know they are not required, but I want to keep them where comfortable.
It would be extremely useful if sometime you could add a separate section (or maybe in fitment alterations) for all of your return edge sizes in mm. I am a similar size as you and it would save me, and probably others much guess work. I am having a hard time telling in the pics.
If you are doing return edges I suggest 3-5mm. Just enough to add some "thickness" but not enough to cause major discomfort.
Jim - TK50899
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Amazing stuff!
Jim - TK50899
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I see this question asked a lot and the trick is not to measure 11mm and cut. The best way to cut the joint (any joint on the limbs) is to cut your joining strip first and offer it up to your joining edge and mark the centre of the strip on the armour, making sure the joining strips does not go over the edge. You will probably find that if you use a 20mm wide strip, the bottom edge of the joint might be 11mm wide and the very top might be 15mm wide. The distance from the joining edge to the trim line measured in several places along the armour will vary because of the unevenness of the armour which is quite normal. It does not matter if the flat joining edge can be seen when the joining strip is in place.
This is the best advice you're going to get from one of the most knowledgeable individuals in FISD. The picture of an actual screen used shin says it all. As long as yours looks somewhat this picture you are good to go!
Jim - TK50899
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Here is what mine look like finished.
I measured 11mm about 1/3 down and 11mm 1/3 up and used that as my guide for my straight line. The cover strip will hide any waviness to the outer "curvy" edge.
Jim - TK50899
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Our unit provided training for Shia LeBouf prior to the filming of this movie. He sat next to me each afternoon while did our daily update briefing with the Battalion Commander. Got to wish him a happy birthday, which he spent tromping all over Gowen Field Idaho with us!
Jim - TK50899
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I had a 23 year career in the Army and am a bit of a WWII history nut. I collect mostly knowledge rather than stuff. If you watch Fury, the inside of that M4A3 is extremely accurate.
Jim - TK50899
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According to the image above #5 says the Tank Commander's periscope was an M6 variant WITHOUT the telescope. The same goes for #13 the driver and the bow machine gunner/assistant driver, both M6 periscopes without the telescope inside. The only M4 periscope with the telescope inside is directly above the main gunner's seat if you look at #31 on the diagram.
Not to sharp shoot or be a "smarty pants" you but you are incorrect. I offer this information only as friendly knowledge.
The gunner sat to the left of the main gun with the loader directly behind him, as illustrated by this photo. He had a more advanced sight that was bore sighted to the main gun, after 1943 it was the M70 before that it didn't have a telescopic sight.
The M4 periscope as stated before was used by the Tank Commander. The M6 on the commanders cupola was used for scanning 360 degrees around the tank while buttoned up.
Jim - TK50899
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As far as using pliers to snap the ABS, you can also wrap the "grabby" part with a few layers of tape to cover the teeth so they don't leave marks. Also the bottom of the shins (ankle) will eventually have no return edge. For fitting purposes you should trim it off now as it won't properly fit over the boot when trying to size it for that final trimming. When sizing the armor pieces for the arms and legs remember that there will be about 1/2" gap between yourself and the inside of the armor, top and bottom, as a general rule. This is where a friend comes in handy, especially on those legs! Oh and as for an easy to use 1/2" guide most people's first digit of their index finger is about 1/2" in thickness, top to bottom. It doesn't have to be exact and remember to make it comfortable for you, if it needs to be a bit wider than that, then that's okay as long as they are all consistent.
Jim - TK50899
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Here are some pictures I took yesterday. Good thing I pulled my kit out too. One of my shoulder straps was coming loose so fixed that and then took a look at the rest and did some maintenance. It's been troop after troop and I haven't had time to check all the parts and maintain it lately.
Any way, here are the pictures of my magnet side closure for my abs. The bond between the magnets isn't super strong because they are only halves of magnets. But with several more full magnets the bond would be much stronger.
I hope this shows a little better how this works in action.
Cheers!
Jim - TK50899
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I am really digging all this brainstorming!!!! You troopers are the best!
Hey Jim, how did you cut your magnets? Hack saw? Dremel? And is there a reason why you chose to cut up round ones versus picking up some rectangle ones? I'm trying to get an idea of how your magnet system fits together when it's closed. Would you be able to post some additional pics of what you've built, or maybe a simple diagram of it? I'm really curious about it.
I'm also thinking about the flex issue. I still want to use the magnetic closures, but you all are so spot on about the rigidity issues. So I'm guessing that maybe a velcro/elastic combo might be a good addition to this. The magnets as currently installed would keep everything snapped up vertically, but inside horizontally there would be 3 short strips of elastic attached (with industrial velcro on one end, and e6000 on the other). So if they flexed open, the elastic would pull it all back together enough for the magnets to reattach.
Thoughts?
They actually snapped in half when I set them on the table too close to each other, call it a "fortunate mistake"!
If you leave out the "X" pattern and only sewed in a channel big enough for the magnet it would retain the "stretchiness". I like the idea of Velcro for the back up to the magnets too.
I can take some additional photos when I get home. I'll draw a quick sketch too.
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Hmm.... interesting solution, Jim.
....and no rust or sharp edges! In fact I am now motivated to modify my shins with this mod!
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That's the same one with the junk Rubies blaster. I wouldn't buy any pre built kit. It won't fit you and you're going to have to rip it apart to make adjustments. The only thing harder than building armor is taking it apart and putting it back together. I'd almost guarantee this is some recast junk. As tempting as it is stay away from eBay armor.
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DO NOT BUY THIS!
You could buy two Walt's Trooper Factory kits for this much $, almost 3 ANOVOS kits, pretty much any of the vetted makers kits.
If you really want to throw money at it here's an idea. Buy two Walt's kits. Send them to me with your sizes. I'll build you one and send it to you. I'll keep the other as payment!
<---this is a joke and so is that eBay kit. Your local Garrison will help you build whatever kit you buy if you don't feel you can tackle it yourself. They most likely will even share any tools at an armor party if you don't have them.
Good luck and if you need help contacting the vetted makers give one of us a shout and we'll help you.
Jim - TK50899
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So you might consider this as an option. 8 did a similar thing with magnets but with my side closure on my Abs.
First I sewed a little pouch to hold the magnets. This is 3" wide elastic, but black Coudura nylon would work because once you sew the elastic it stops being stretchy.
Then I glued with e6000 it to one side
Matching magnets CA glued to the other. Tried e6000 but the magnets kept pulling each other out of the puddle of glue!
I also have a snap and elastic both top and bottom.
Now if I bend or twist at the waist the magnets allow the armor to split apart but as soon as I stand back up the magnets pull the front and back back together and it looks all neat and tidy.
This could easily be adapted to the backs of the shins. You'd just need to maybe add a traditional bra hook or maybe some elastic and a snap plate on the top to keep them from flying completely off.
Just a thought.
Jim - TK50899
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Yes, there should be some return edge on the top but you have a lot there. It's just a friendly suggestion but I would take of a least 1/3 of what you currently have there. Looks like you have about 8-9mm when around 5mm looks a little cleaner. It's totally up to you though. I just found myself pulling out the Dremel after my first troop and going to town on mine as they were very much like yours at first, which led to much discomfort! (Especially when you get to the inner thigh region!)
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Looks good but there is still a lot of return edge on the top there. You may want to trim a bit more of that off. As for the over lap that is normal. You iron it over with a hobby iron or in my case, just an old iron with an old cotton T-shirt wrapped over it, then trim it down to the proper return edge.
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Here's how I did mine. It's my version of connect the dots.
This was super easy and although Trooper Bay makes awesome stuff, I personally, can't justify the $ for the stencil. More importantly I'm to impatient to wait for it to arrive!
Jim - TK50899
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LOL ive got that obsession also ,,, I love the collecting as it pertains to war history and movies .....
I wish I had more space to collect more!
Jim - TK50899
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Shins outer cover strips are clamped magnetized and drying.
Minus a few touches of paint for the vocoder and screw tops, and the mic tip installation, the helmet is all but done.
I did have a slight mishap with the stripes on the left of the helmet. Didn't quite land a pencils width from the cheek. Should I bother fixing it? I have new decals coming anyhow since I jacked up one of the rear trapezoids.
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I hate to say it but that left one will probably need to be fixed. It'll probably be fine for basic approval but anything above that they take a closer look at it.
I painted mine on and they turned out great. If you are feeling brave you can jump over to my build thread and see how I did mine. I wanted it to be as authentic as possible.
Jim - TK50899
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Very nice info !
23 years spent in the Army and I spent a lot of time reading about WWII. It was kind of an obsession for a while.
Jim - TK50899
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Ha! @ the bra hook thing. They are far more difficult to remove than the normal application aren't they? I figured I could easily do it one-handed.
And yeah, some blends of stainless are more magnetic than others but all of them offer less magnetic bang-for-the-buck than a nice strip of hot-rolled bar stock which is fairly rust-resistant due to the fire scale. I used to do a lot of welding/metal work in my younger days.
But if what you have has a enough grab, Christine, go with it. The calf closure takes a lot of abuse though and it flexes open a lot with the elastic/bra strap method. I've often noted since completing my armor that the entire Imperial Army could be brought to a standstill if the rebels just added a step or two in front of their base.
I think Luke is safe on top of that island as long as they don't land on top of it. By the way is Chewie totally a jerk or what? "growwwolll....arrrgggg!" Translation: "Get out Rey, you can walk from here!"
Sorry for the side track. Back to this amazing build!
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I picked up the stainless steel strips as suggested in the FB tutorial, and they're very, very 'grabby'. But if y'all think something else would be better, I would use that, too! Science has never been my strong suit.
Well you are there with the material and if it works go with it! Is it already white and with any "pokey" parts filed off?
I saw that tutorial just a bit too late to do mine that way. I may do a retro fit. Fastening the bra hooks are a pain but I'm getting quite adept at it. (So many jokes come to mind with that last sentence.....but I'll be good!) and I do not like the Velcro for this application at all. But magnets would be amazing and I'm getting the itch to work on my armor again.
Jim - TK50899
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EIB Certificate
in Forum Help & Support
Posted
Thanks, I just launched a booger out my nose at work laughing at this!
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