[Talked my wife into trooping...]

I think I have my wife convinced to do Isaard.....still twisting a little.

[Kredal's ANH Hero build [AM2]]

If you can get ABS Pro-weld from your local hobby store, you could use that on the front to finish sealing the repair. Then buff out with sandpaper and novus polish.

[Kredal's ANH Hero build [AM2]]

Sorry to hear about the damage, but it sounds like your repair plan is on target.

[Posting Issues]

Hmmm, that will definitely make it harder for the team to troubleshoot it. I just hope they find the issue soon. Posting, especially with pics, takes patience and multiple atempts to get it to stick in the interface.

[Nylon Strapping with Snaps]

For the stapping material I went with strapworks.com. You can get all the elastic and webbing from one stop that you will need for your build.

[bucket painting saftey concerns]

Curing is the critical piece. If the paint is cured the toxins are essentially gone. Yes, the paint itself is toxic, but the amounts of cured paint you would have to ingest to have issues is significant; as in doing it purposely. Once the paint is dry to the touch take a fan and point it towards the bucket to promote airflow. Leave it running for a few hours, then tilt the bucket opening on a 45-75 degree angle and let sit for several days in a well ventilates area. Take a sniff, if you smell the paint, continue letting it cure. If there is no smell, you should be fine.

[Not the tutorials I'm looking for?]

Sadly, no assembly instructions that I am aware of. Your best bet would be to find build threads of your kit type to see how ithers have trimmed/assembled it. Almost all kits follow the same basic process.<br>

Post some pics of your kit and the community here will answer your questions and help guide you.<br>

Good luck on your journey!

[Posting Issues]

Not just you. I have been experiencing it since the server change. Only having the issue here as I have no issues on MEPD and the So-Cal Garrison forums.

[ANH AM 2.0 Help me not mess this up!]

Once you get the fronts trimmed and aligned, have a helper work on alinging the back so you don't get the church bell effect. For my build, that meant trimming on a bias (more at the bottom than the top) to get a proper fit.

[Painting the Vocoder (AM 2.0)]

Totally agree with the tip of light pencil marks. It can help you see contours, etc that can get lost when you are focusing on the object with a loaded brush.

[Ein's ANH Build - 2.0 AM]

Very little on the TK is symetrical, the bucket looks good to me

[An ATA for Tampa Bay]

Agreed, that repair looks great!

[Comfy's Phoenix Props E-11 Build Thread - Cant we Fix it? Lets find out!]

Check out my build for a repair on the folding stock parts. Mine arrived damaged and I completely rebuilt it. Just a shim and some green stuff (or similar filler) and you will be good to go.<br>

Also, try contacting Derrek, his customer service is great and his may be a part that he covers for replacement gratis.

[Ein's ANH Build - 2.0 AM]

Good luck with your build!

[Khazid's ANH Stunt - MTK - 1st Build]

Build Log – 9/13-9/27 – Strapping & Bucket

Picking up right where I left off it was time to finish the snap plates. In their current condition, the snap itself prohibits the plate from making contact with the armor. To fix this, I used the tried and true method of a heat gun. I quickly made a press by drilling a 5/8” hole in a scrap piece of wood trimmed from a 5 gallon paint stir stick. A piece of scrap oak was my heat barrier to the workbench with a folded over piece of painters tape to hold the snap plate in position while heating.

  

Apply heat to one plate at a time until a sheen is just visible on the outside edge. Use the stir stick scrap to press down and flatten out the plate. Transition to a cooling plate, which for me was the back of my tabletop vise. Here is a picture of a treated plate (left) versus a plate that was just assembled (right). The treated plate will now sit flush against the armor for mounting.

Snap plates were now installed in the kidney, back plate, crotch and shoulder bells. It was also time to add in the elastic to hold the biceps in place. I used a cloth measuring tape to get the length of elastic needed. This was measured with the bicep in its place. I then added 2 inches to this measurement, giving me 1 inch per side to mount into the shoulder bell. The mounting position was traced lightly in pencil so that I would know where to stop when gluing. For photo taking purposes, I used a sharpie for one edge so that it can be seen easier.

Glue both sides in with E-6000 and clamp in place for dry time.

Snap plates were aligned on the bottom of the back plate and the bottom of the kidney using the Cohag diagrams. Each plate was positioned about 1” from the return edge. Here is what the back plate looked like (this is the inside view).

I repeated the above for the bottom of the kidney plate (butt plate edge) and for the crotch. Then all of this was left to set.

After the try time had passed, I used painters tape to hold together the back to kidney, and kidney to butt plate. I was then able to mark the armor on where the opposite snap plates will go for even alignment. I don’t have a final picture of that drying, but here is how I lied the three pieces up.

Now it was back to the bucket. First up was installing the cap and front plate with pop rivets. The MTK kit comes with the needed rivets and washers. Here is each side with the riveting completed. I decided to use 2 rivets per side to hold the edge close to tube in place.

An interesting side note. Once the MTK cap and front is installed the right hand side does have a gap. I would have panicked, if a fellow squad mate that already has a completed MTK didn’t warn me about this. A combination of the ear and then the S-Trim cover this up sufficiently. Mike, if you are reading this and can change that buck a little to give a better pull it would sure help the builders out.

Now for the dreaded ears….I will not bore you with how I did this, instead find Gazmosis’ Tutorial. It saved me a ton of work and I am extremely happy with the results. Yes, there are gaps on each side, but I like the gaps and I tried to keep them as screen accurate to some of the screen shots we see for the death star TK’s. In total, I spent just a little over an hour on each ear to get to the following.

Rear Right

Front Right

Rear Left

Front Left

Rear View

Front View

With the ears done I could finally install the Hovi Mic Tips. Getting closer now, the bucket is starting to feel mean.

I now needed to shorten the screws for the ears. I used a sharpie inside the bucket to mark each bolt for trimming.. Make sure that when you do the actual trimming to leave enough length to start the nut on the bolt. Here is one of the bolts in my vice ready for trimming with the Dremel cutting wheel.

I made sure to keep track of each bolt on where it would return once I was ready to do the final attaching of the ears. The bolts were then pushed into a cardboard box so that I could prime them with a satin white metal spray paint. Here are the bolts after priming.

After primer dried the bolts each got two thin layers of gloss white paint. I took the opportunity to paint the thigh ammo pop rivet heads as well. I did not prime the pop rivets. Sorry, no picture of these steps. I did get a picture of the velcro being clamped to my boot straps. I do this to give the adhesive time to cure, which takes about 15-30 minutes depending on how hot/humid it is.

I wish I could say it is getting close enough to set a dead line, but it just feels like all the details are taking soooooo long. However; each brief piece of progress is one less thing to be done. I even get to mark some things off this week.

 

Updated Final Checklist:

Add Velcro to boots. Going to use the hooks on the boots and the loops on the inside bottom of the calves.

Install split rivets in left joint of Kidney & Ab plates

Glue shoulder bridges to the chest plate

Make snap plates for strapping.

Strap armor to fit.

Paint rivets on armor:

Ab & Kidney rivets

Thigh ammo pack rivets

Assemble Bucket:

Cap attached to Front

Ears Attached

S-Trim attached

Install Bucket interior:

Install Fans

Install EAS

Complete electronics to external battery

Paint bucket:

Traps

Tears

Vocoder

Ears

Interior

Submit photo’s for TKID, then EIB and lastly Centurion.

​

[Armor for body type (5' 7", 185lb)]

Ata is noting almost a year wait!<br>

What us the contact info for MTK??

Mtk_armor@cox.net

[The various types of armor and where to find them UPDATED 2023]

The first thread is kept up to date. MTK has gained in popularity as if late and there are good things said of Anovos, but their kits are not out yet.

[An ATA for Tampa Bay]

Great introduction. Good luck on your journey!

[Edit post not working correctly]

Eric, I am now seeing this in the most recent update of the Android web browser. Never had the issue before.

[Armor for body type (5' 7", 185lb)]

I am 5'8" and 185, MTK fit me without any shimming.

[GoofySGB AP Build Stunt - Rookie]

Can you post a dry fit test pic showing the gaps? Painters tape can help hold the joints.<br>

It should help in getting a better idea where your concern is. Then suggestions can be made on how to proceed.<br>

No journey is without obstacles, no obstacle is insurmountable with the community here.

[Is putting togather your first suit hard?]

I am almost done with my first TK and can give you his analogy. If you have ever built a Snap-Tite model before you have the skill set down. I am over simplifying of course, but it is not much harder.<br><br>

Overwhelming, yes. That is what this community is here for.<br><br>

Good luck on your journey.

[Khazid's ANH Stunt - MTK - 1st Build]

Brandon this is awesome. Nice to see another techie try his hand at the Anker battery supply. And the vent fans, you're doing what I've only dreamed of. Cool!

 

Very nice build so far. Great detail

Thank you Tony, I love the Anker thread in the electronics forum and it seemed natural to go for it.

The vent fans scare me. Progress is good, but I am still nervous about it all stating camouflaged.

Your encouragement means a lot.

[First Time Armor Purchase]

Try to connect with your local garrison for armor parties. You will get to know them and they get to know you. Most importantly, they can help you with the build. The vets are always helping us newbs get shiny white.

[Ok so thoughts on this E-11?]

Ya I'm just wondering with all these people recommending DD's why no one has one for sale or pre-assembles them. Seems odd to me.

Depending on where you live there are a lot of legal restrictions on prop weapons of this type. Sale and manufacture of them can be complicated and a real hassle. I would think this is at least one reason why you don't see assembled versions available.