ukswrath

Hey thanks Jamie

Great job Markus, Congratulations sir and welcome to the ranks.

7n. Bicep cont...... Installing shoulder bell retaining clip Using outer cover strip cut to 150mm in length and 15mm wide. Remove burs from edges before proceeding. NOTE: Wear heat resistant gloves and eye protection.. Starting at one end mark cover strip at the following measurements. 20mm, 50mm and 90mm. NOTE: The reason I personally put two bends in the clip is to help prevent it from rubbing on your arm. The first bend will be the loop section. 1) Lay the cover strip on a piece or wood marking up. Place two other smaller pieces of wood on each side of the 20mm line (approx 4mm apart). The two separated pieces of wood help concentrate the heat we want to apply to a specific location. 2) Using a heat gun, heat the area of plastic in between the wood for about 15-20 seconds 3) Remove and quickly fold over. 4) Next using the same technique heat up the 90mm section. Once heated up bend to a 15 degree angle like so. 5) Now the 50mm section. Bend it back 15 degrees. If all goes well your retaining clips should look like this. 7o. Attach the clip to the bicep. Apply glue to the clip like so. You only need to add glue to a 20mm section. Place the glued section just below the thumb print and install clamp. NOTE: The top of the clip should be approximately 23-25mm from the upper edge on the inner bicep. ... and we wait.

2k. Biceps cont..... Install final outer cover strip. Measure the length of the forearms and cur cover strip. In my case it was approximately 158mm in length and 15mm wide. Apply glue to strips. Install. Let dry. 2l. In mt case I minimize the upper and removed the lower return edges Before...... After....... 7m. Reshape biceps. As you'll notice the biceps are oval in shape. I will attempt to give them a more cylindrical shape using the hot water technique. NOTE: Since my biceps are already assembled I will be doing the shaping by hand. I will be reshaping the lower section of the bicep only since the upper is not that out of round. NOTE: If you attempt this please use caution and wear all necessary personal protection equipment like full length clothing, heavy rubber gloves (the kind that will not only protect you from water but from heat also), and eye protection. NOTE: Practice this procedure several times before actually placing the bicep in boiling water. 1) Bring a pot of water (5" deep) to a boil. 2) Place the bicep in the water for 30 to 45 seconds. 3) While waiting turn on your faucet, cold. 4) Remove the softened bicep 5) Placing you palms over the cover strips, squeeze the bicep in to the shape you desire. 6) Hold under the cold water for 2-3 minutes. 7) Repeat if necessary until desired shape is achieved. Before..... After..... Let cool

1j. Forearms cont...... Cleaning and removing or minimizing all return edges. Remove excess dried glue if so desired. Before..... After ........ Remove return edge and finalize all corners. Leading edge (nearest elbow) Trailing edge (nearest wrist)

2j. Calves cont...... Clean up and remove upper and lower return edges. If you so desire remove excess glue for inner & outer cover strips and sniper knee. NOTE: I forgot to mention this before but a great tool for glue removal is a piece of plastic a bit softer than the ABS your working with, in my case I used a cell phone LCD removal tool. Removing return edges. Before.... After.....

2i. Calves cont.... Installing sniper knee. Place knee plate on shin, hold in place with a few earth magnets or clamps and check alignment. If satisfied, apply glue and install. NOTE: I was able to hold the sniper knee in place with earth magnets while glue dried. This may not be enough in your case. You may need clamps or similar. Apply glue to lower corners of sniper knee. Install glue at top of cover strip. About 1-1/2" worth. Attach to armor. After initial assembly is complete go back and add more glue to the corners and area you believe might become a issue. Here I put it in the corners, the ares that are most prone to problems. Let dry.

7h. Thighs cont..... Install rear cover strips. Clean off excess glue and prepare to install cover strips. Measure rear thighs. In my case the rear cover strips are 275mm in length and 20mm wide. Cur out cover strips. Taper the top edge to match the top of the thigh Apply glue Install Let dry. Once dried, remove clamps and magnets. If you so desire remove all excess glue from inner and out cover strips giving it a nice clean look. 7i. Reduce all upper and lower thigh return edge material. Before...... After....

First off... not all hard hat liners are created equal. I purchased 2 other liners before I finally found the one that worked. Home Depot $8. Installation: 1) I found easier to install the liner on your head, with the cut out helmet mounts installed, then put on your bucket. Leaving the eye lens/s out, reach through the eyes with your finger and feel the gap between the return edge of the helmet eyes and the front liner mounts. 2) Remove the liner from your head, place it back in your in the helmet (mounts installed). Center the liner with the bridge between the eyes. 3) Remembering the gap between the eye return edge and the liner mount, mark the location of the mount edges on the helmet. 4) Remove the liner and remove the front mounts and glue to the helmet. CA glue is the only glue I've had success with. Currently going on 8 months with two buckets with liners, no problems. 5) After the glue had dried, install your liner in the front two mounts. Mark the location of the rear liner mounts. NOTE: Correctly installed the liner strapping should rest just above the top of the helmet. 6) Remove the liner and glue the rear mounts. Once dry, install the liner and test.

YEAH! Joseph great job and welcome to the ranks sir

Ok so where exactly am is this area located? (zoom out)

Sorry for the delay folks, working on a TK build along side this one, coupled with CA heat in my area limits my TFA times

Such a nitpicker lol Good suggestion, I didn't notice it until I went back and looked. Though it won't effect EIB or Cent it definitely would make the area look polished.

OOPS! My bad I was referring the the kidney and back. WOW huge typo on my part. My apologies Great looking armor

This must be SDS week lol. Great job on the build. Looks like you've been out trooping, good for you. I agree with Andrew, removing the paint from the cod rivet is required. Also, though this doesn't effect EIB you'll need to align your drop boxes with the edge of you ammo belt for Centurion, judging by your build I'm assuming that's what you'll be shooting for. Good luck sir.

Wow! another great SDS build. Good luck On another note can we get a close up on the thigh ammo belt?

Edit: Good luck sir.

Very nice Andres. I agree with Scott regarding the belt. Good luck sir EDIT: Can we get a close up on the thigh ammo belt and the sniper knee please.

Simply put, using a one piece lens, drill 4 holes and slide lens over your ear screws. If you want more details how to do this PM me.

I second that!

Interesting, be gentle lol I'll be watching with anticipation.

If I may suggest when working with the hot water, take a piece of leftover excess trim from the bicep and dip it into the how water to see how it reacts. It should soften up a bit without warping. If it warps the water is too hot. And another thing, wrap the bicep in painters tape before dipping, the hot water WILL soften the dried glue a bit, especially if submerged in the water too long. Also, if there's a good amount of tension on the seems the water could cause them to begin to separate. Keeping them wrapped helps prevent all this. What were you going to use to shape the bicep?

Yea trim the return edge to about 1/8" or so, you really don't need too much of it. Once you assemble your chest, back and shoulder assembly you'll know whether or not you need to trim the bells. Don't sweat the ears too much. You look like you're pretty handy with a dremel, ears shouldn't be too bad.

Hey Josh, The shoulder bells are different for everyone. I would suggest adding them to the pics you have here so we can see how they sit on you. Biceps - Though AM makes their biceps oval other manufacturers may have odd shape biceps also. If it bothers you, you can always give them a hot water bath in attempt to reshape them. There's a few builds out there that demonstrate how to do this. My ATA build for example demonstrates the process. Looking good sir.

You know Peter I just may wait until you're just about finished before continuing with mine haha. All the oops! with trimming by a good amount of builders has made me a bit nervous about cutting off something I shouldn't AHHHH! Great job to both you and Clint. Inspirational.