VulpX

Thanks for the compliment on my painting. I was really unsure about how it was going to look when I started it, but it turned out better then I thought myself capable of doing. I thought it was more logical for the snaps to be on the inside too after these pictures, I will do that from now on.

As promised some pictures of how the shoulder straps look when worn: Obviously the back and chestplate need to be aligned a little better, but I think I won't need to adjust the shoulder straps. Right now it looks like they sit evenly on the chest and backplate, and that looks fine in my opinion. I did some more work this week. I riveted the ab, cod and kidney: I want to keep my whole armor modular and detachable, so the rivets aren't functional. Strapping will be done separately with snaps glued on. I also started painting this week: \\ \ All hand painted. This took a lot of patience, a little cursing, a lot of breath holding, but I think it turned out pretty good. It looks good from a distance and up close you can clearly see it's hand painted. Neat!

Looks like I've stirred up some discussion Right now I'm glueing the snaps on the chest and back. I'll put it on tommorow and show it here, let's see how it looks.

Tony said anything between 3 and 5 was common. I went with 3 ridges because I think I'll need to wear the backplate a little lower to make the gap between my kidney and back acceptable. And then I need the extra length on the shoulder straps. But maybe it will be a little too much, in that case I can adjust them, it's all E6000 after all

Okay, another update of my work these past couple of days. First the thigh ammo pack. I did some more bending using boiled water, did a final trim and riveted it to the thigh: Looks good imo I glued the two shoulder straps to the chestplate. I went with three ridges on the plate, with my size the back of the staps won't float above the back if I go with 5 ridges. And like Tony said, less ridges = more awesome chestplate. I started working on the belt too. First trimmed the whole thing and made the 45 degrees angle in the corners: Riveted to the canvas belt: Square buttons: And right now the inner and outer drop boxes are glued and drying. And with that the belt is finished but for the holster. And that's on it's way from Darman. Ab buttons are all glued: I made the thermal detonator today: During the detonator build the glue decided to explode Anyways, today marks a milestone in the build, I finished all components! All that's left is cleanup of the parts, making and installing the strapping system and painting.

Thanks for the painting tips guys. I will be handpainting, so no thinner needed right away, check.

That's a really nice tuturial, cool! I've already ordered the the hooks now though, they were only €6,- with shipping.

Okay. I was wondering about the hook size too, I found another topic on the forums on the hook size and Dritz size 4 was actually recommended. But those seem near impossible to find. These number 3 hooks are half an inch in length, I imagine that would be big enough. -edit- I found some 16mm hooks and eyes on a Dutch website. The Dritz hooks might be hard to find, but apparently hooks of that size are available with other brands.

Okay, 2 more questions for my build. I'm looking for bra hooks for the shins. Are these okay? Do I need to use a thinner like white spirit with my humbrol paint?

Okay, I did another fitting this evening, this time with the basic strapping kit I got with the kit from Paul taped in place. Halfway through the tape on the elastic in the left shoulder let go, so my gf did a hasty tape repair job. That's why the left shoulder is hanging even lower in these pictures. Okay, Obviously the back can be lowered a bit. I can also wear the torso (abs, kidney, butt) a little higher, I'm going to construct a separate strapping system for that where those parts hang directly from my shoulder with height adjustable straps. The bells also need to be a little closer to the shoulder straps. My biceps need to go up a few centimeters. I think that will greatly improve the overall look. All in all, this looks way better then the previous taped version from a week ago

Hey Jeff, good to hear that my noob questions and the excellent answers I get help others too! If I may recommend another great build thread with lots of info: check out Mark's ANH Hero build thread and Paul's ANH Hero build thread. I got a lot of useful info there!

Okay, I boiled some water and put it in a vase to be able to put the ammo strap in and bend it when it is warm. I let the strap sit for about 40 seconds, it was a lot less rigid after that. I did both sides separately first, and now have some clamps on it to show how it would fit on the thigh: I think it could be a little more snug at the front there between the first and second and fourth and fifth box. Thoughts?

Thanks Paul, I'll keep it in mind. Hope to do some more work on the boxes tonight after the thigh ammo strap. And I'm really eager to do another test fit with tape again to mark positions for the snaps and straps. Too little time in a day, I also need to make pancakes for dinner tonight

That is the plan! I read that in Mark's Hero build thread, and it sounds like the logical thing to do So no heat bending on the belt it is then. I started working on the drop boxes this weekend too, and have a little trouble with getting a nice clean straight edge along the whole box. I figured I do a sort of rough trim with the lexan scissors and sand it down with a sanding block until it's even.

Yeah, I noticed getting a really snug fit on the strap without some form of bending would be very hard. I'll try doing it with boiling water this evening, I'll let you know how it goes I do have a hair dryer so I could always fall back to that. I think this would also be useful for the belt. The curve of the belt is a lot shallower though, so maybe some pre-bending isn't needed.

Thanks for the help guys! I want the boxes to line up centered, I think the center box is a nice extension of the front cover strip that way. So my right side will probably end up a little shorter than the left one. I don't have a heat gun, would dipping the strip in just boiled water for like 20-40 seconds give a similar effect?

Ok, thanks. So I really shouldn't make the right side any shorter? Wouldn't that cause a lot of stress on the plastic? It's only a few cm's too long, and since it's 2mm it doesn't bend really well around tight edges.

Okay, another update on what I did this weekend. Saturday I worked on the ears. I can say this was by far the most frustrating part of the build till now. I'm not happy with how they turned out, but I spent 5 hours on them and just couldn't bring myself to do anything more on them. I think I'll return to them in some time, but right now I really need to let them rest. This is how they turned out: The gaps appear smaller than they are in the pictures. I also think I left the ears a little too thick, so there's kind of a headphone effect to them. Ah well, I decided I shouldn't let the ears bother me that much, I took way too much fun out of the build. So yesterday I did a Plasti-Dip coating of the interior, and that worked really well. First masking: The stuff: First coat: Third coat: And after 7 coats, dried up and masking removed: Really nice I also did some work on the armour. Trimmed various bits and pieces: Thighs are done! All they need is a little cleanup to remove paint and tape residue. So now I have a couple of questions before I do the next steps. For the thigh ammo pack, I might need to trim the right side of the pack a little more. Here is a comparison of both sides of the thigh with the ammopack at it's current length. As you can see it will attach on the left side just before the armor has an edge. On the right side the pack is just a little too long and passes the edge, which makes attaching it really hard and puts the plastic under a lot of stress. Is it okay to remove the inch or so that passes the edge? The sides will not be symmetrical anymore, but I think it will fit much better. And another question on the shoulder straps. Is this the correct way to attach them when people speak about the 5 ribs length on the chest piece, or should it be one rib lower?

Tonight I continued with the helmet. This was actually the one step of the whole build that I was most anxious about: attaching the faceplate to the helmet. But I did it! First I trimmed the helmet and cut the brow to size: Clamp the faceplate: And the first holes are drilled, right in the middle of the ears: I used the bolts for the ears as a temporary measure, I didn't want to rivet it immediately, this being my first helmet build and all Drilled and bolted the lower hole: And of course I made a small mistake. The first hole I drilled was a little too close to the edge, so I had to drill another one slightly lower. It will be covered by the ear, so no-one will know. Except you guys And does it fit? Yes it does! You should have seen my grin!

Wow, these pictures are really great! Lot's of useful info here! Thanks Mark!

Thanks Paul! I'll trim the helmet first then, and see how everything fits with the rim intact. Right now I'm gluing the front cover strip of the second thigh, then tomorrow I'll do the back of both thighs. Things are starting to come together.

Ok, so this weekend I plan to work a lot on the helmet. Now that I started on the faceplate I can't wait to be able to wear it I have a question on the faceplate that other TM owners/builders might be able to help me with. See this picture: Do I need to trim the top of the faceplate off just below the rim? Or does it not need trimming at all at this point? I imagine trimming it would allow for the faceplate to hug the front of the helmet a little tighter.

Hahaha, it was the most extreme example. That was the first coverstrip I did on the shins, and I thought all the glue gushing out was a bit too much too. I applied the E6000 a little more conservatively on the other strips, not nearly as much is gushing out now

Thanks Tony! Allright, a slightly bigger update with some work done this last week: Shins are almost finished. Final fitting with undersuit and shoes: On to gluing. I used lots of E6000, it's dripping all over the place : Looks good right? Sniper plate on the left shin: And right now the cover strip on the back of the shins is glued and drying: This weekend I decided to do a rough test fit. Not even everything was trimmed yet, and it's held together (poorly) with tape, it just doesn't fit yet. But it felt really good to have this stuff on me for the first time This might not be noticeable on the picture, but the back and chest plate weren't even trimmed here, and a lot of the other torso pieces and the shoulder bells hadn't been properly sanded yet. I did all that by now, and I feel like I'm making decent headway. I've been a little enthusiastic with my E6000, and finished the second tube today. So right now I'm waiting for the third tube I ordered earlier this week. The only really big gluing job left is the thighs, and after that it's time to move on to fitting, strapping and making the belt. I also made a start with the helmet, and with that I really got the feeling things are starting to look like a trooper. It's just an awesome sight every time, the front of a bucket. Right eye done: Left eye trimmed roughly: And done! By the way, you don't want to know how many liters of coffee pass this mug during the build

Ok, will do that. Thanks Paul!