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themaninthesuitcase

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Everything posted by themaninthesuitcase

  1. The Billhag on UKG gave me some updated versions of the snap diagrams I posted before. I've added them to my reference photobucket here. I've elected to follow the UKG advice on snap locations (including on the arms/shoulders) seeing as they will be my garrison. Bit of a 1 forwards 2 back kind of night. First some nice things: The new M3.5 brass screws for the bucket ears came. I could only get really short or really long. I got the long ones as brass isn't exactly hard to cut. The new, longer, M4 pan head screws came for the TD. Spot the new respirator. Seems the old one was well past due. Now for some bad news. The glue on the rear of the thighs didn't hold :bleep: This was the worst on but the other went too. Looks like it was down to me having the cover strip down too far and also raised sections at the base interfering with each other on one leg. I've trimmed that now to give them room. I also pulled the strips off to re-try the glue up. I noticed that 1 left has a gap (see below) it the rear, is this a problem? I can trim off a mm or 2 to close it up if needed. It will close up a touch more once the thighs are fully glued up, or at least I hope so. The photo probably makes it look bigger than it is. I think it's just down to how the trim was done when I cut straight lines. Back to happier news I started glueing on the snap plates to a few parts. I started by taping over the snap plates as I am told they can react to the E-6000 glue. This was done by running a strip of tape along my cutting matt then trimming to width and then cutting squares off of the strip. I started with front shoulders, and for some reason don't have a photo so you'll have to use your imagination. I then added the 3 snaps along the base of the kidney. Once these are set I'll do the "posterior" plate ones to line up. I also added two to the ab plate as per the Billgram. At this point I was out of clamps, and the wife was getting fed up of the glue smell (she's in the room when I do this stuff but doesn't wear a respirator as her face isn't stuck right into it). To use up the last of the glue I'd squeezed out I also added one snap to a shoulder bell for the bicep strap, this was clamped with some of my smaller 10mm magnets. None of the was done particularly accurately, I eye balled the centre and checked by using a glue spreader to measure and compare them to ensure they where at least close, mm accuracy here is a waste of effort I felt. Parts just need to match their counter parts which is easy to do just by lining them up. I also trimmed down some returns on these parts for good measure whilst I was in there. Namely the kidney and the top of the butt plate. There's still a good 5mm on there but not the massive return there was before.
  2. I wasn't planning on cutting my TD and was worried it wouldn't look right, but it looks fine. Still not decided if I want to chop the 1/4" mainly as the chop saw is at the bottom of a very large pile of boxes.
  3. How much glue are you using, it looks like a quite small amount. I used a wooden stirrer liberated from a coffee shop to smear a layer of glue over the entire surface to be glued. If you leave this a minute or two it starts to go tacky and makes the clamping far easier.
  4. I should also mention the pyrm pliers are a god send. I couldn't imagine having to do all of those snaps with a hammer!
  5. Last couple of evenings I've spent working on more of the elastics. Last night I sewed my poppers onto some 3/4" black elastic for the shoulder bells. The phone show one with the other half popped on so I don't lose it. My sewing skills aren't much so it took me a really long time. Got faster by the end though so hoping the part on the white elastic will go faster. Today my snaps came from Rebel Scum Workshop. I ordered 100 to allow room for mistakes and I also ordered the pliers. I bought a hole punch to do the holes in the webbing and elastic a while ago. It's a cheap Rolson one was I figured it would only be used for this project. I'll come back to if this was a good decision later in the post. As you can see I made a 1" loop in the end of some 1" elastic and sewed this on the machine. I then used a silver pen to measure and mark the centre. This done I used the punch to make the hole and sealed with a lighter. I found that you need something soft under what you want to punch or it won't punch a clean hole. I used a doubled over off cut of elastic from when I was practicing on the sewing machine. I also cut a 2" strip of 1" webbing for the armour plate. I heat sealed the ends with the lighter but the punched hole was left alone, the snap will press the fibres into place and the punched hole didn't want to fray anyway. It almost seems as if the pressure sort of melts the fibres together. Tests done I made a template webbing 2" long with a central hole and used this to cut and punch against with out having to measure dozens of times. This allowed me to make 25 straps pretty fast. This should be roughly about the right amount I need, but I have some questions. I based my count on the following Billgrams: These show only 2 plates joining the upper armour sections to the lower ones, yet almost all armours (including the wire hooked originals) use 3. Whilst I've seen amour in this exact layout I suspect there's a good reason most used 3? Am I just paranoid. Also they show 1 snap for each of the 2" white shoulder straps. I've seen many use 2 snaps here but then a lot use double snaps for all lengths, which I am not. I suspect 1 will be plenty but then I don't know how much stress they are under. Not hard to change but that means more sewing Finally what length should the elastics be. It strikes me as easier to make a standard length elastic and then I can have spares. I was thinking 4" (plus the folded over sections so call it 6" total). I'd then glue the plates to this distance. Again not hard to change but I don't want to make up a dozen or so and find they are too long/short. For the 3 rivet side do people use snaps still or just rivet through the elastic directly. I have also seen people use the split rivet to hold a snap in place, I'm toying with this idea but I don't have enough rivets to do any tests with I don't think. I mentioned the Rolson punch tool. Once I remembered I needed a "pad" to punch against it was fine, bit short on leverage but worked of you squeezed hard. However before I realised you needed the pad I of course chipped a punch, the one that's the correct size for the snaps. On fabrics going down 1 size wasn't a big deal as they can stretch a bit. For the snap needed in the armour this is a HUGE irritation. Fortunately it looks like pliers came with a punch tool also so I'll test that on some scrap to see if it a: works and b: is the right size.
  6. It took me a long time to find M3.5 countersunk last night in any qty that wasn't by the 100! Also do I need washers or just nuts?
  7. I don't plan on filling mine, the originals wouldn't have been. My reference isn't high enough resolution to prove this, but I can't see them spending the time to do it. I'd want it a bit tighter too, I'll be doing mine some time next week.
  8. In a break from our regularly scheduled program I broke out the sewing machine. I have a new nemesis. Initially I had the machine set for a small tight zig zag but was having lots of issues with snapped thread. That one snapped about 2/3rds of the way across. After a lot of trial and error on some sacrificial 3" elastic I discovered I needed to increase the tension and also change to the next size larger stitch. This gave me almost perfect seams going forwards. On my 1 inch elastic I left the stitch the same size but reduced the tension down to 7 from the max of 9 I was using on the 3" elastic. I'm not sold on if sewing the 1" doubled over for the snaps will be worth it. I folded over 3" and after sewing this left a hole 2 3/4" wide for the waist belt. Currently I am trialing a belt I got with some outdoors trousers but the large loop gives room for a more robust belt if needed. As I did with the shoulder elastics I've not cut the elastic and just added the loops at each end. Next job for them will be to figure out how long to make these and to glue them in. Thankfully my new mask came today so I will no longer be starved for oxygen when using the mask.
  9. So if I wanted metric (as they are easier to source in the UK) I'd want to use M3.5? And they'd want to be about 20mm long?
  10. The included ones are nasty little self tappers. I'm ordering some pan head machine screws, washers and nylocs this evening. I'm not 100% sure on the head size though ukswrath used #6 which looks to be a 6.9mm head. M3 is 6, M4 is 8 so I'll probably go for M4.
  11. I'll use Chicago screws I think, if I need to remove them I'll be able too. Then I'll glue on the covers with E6000 which is also removable.
  12. I took the clamps off the plate today: You can see the plate has a healthy slant, but I'm not worried as this more or less matches the reference, maybe a tiny bit worse. I've now started gluing the corners, but it's really held in place already. I also added the cover strips to the rear of the shins. These are added to the outers and I'll leave the inners un-glued for the hook holes. As you can see I'm glad I bought so many clamps! I also used almost all the magnets I bought on the rear of the thighs (not pictured). This nearly brings me to the end of the main build work on the limbs. I just need to add the elbow elastics, thigh belt elastics, bicep hooks and shin hooks. Oh I also need to add the ammo box to the thigh. Any input on the size and distances for the shin holes would be appreciated. Starting to get exciting now. I have about 10m of 1" webbing I got for the snaps so I'm thinking of getting a cam buckle for this to make the belt for the thighs. This will be nice and low profile, I'm just worried if this will be up to the job. Tomorrow I'll be ordering the snaps so will be able to get on with the body too.
  13. What size are the brass helmet screws? I need to get those too.
  14. I'll probably go for something easier to remove then rivets too, then E-6000 on the covers.
  15. in some ways melting out the rivet would give a nice neat hole rather than a huge tear. I just hope I'm one of the small amount of glue people.
  16. I am petrified of removing the belt now. I've seen 1 or 2 success storied and 4-5+ where there's been issues. I think I'll use a dremel to grind of the rivets a small amount at at time and use a damp cloth to keep the heat down. In theory I could apply this to the caps too once I get that far. What do you think?
  17. Did a little bit more this evening. Not too much as I A: Needed the glue to dry and B: My mask needs replacing and I can't wear it long at all now before I struggle for breath. I have a 3M 4251 which is great but mine is super old and clogged. Trying to work out if I should get another the same or if I should swap to the units with replaceable filter units. This evening I got the joins on the back of the thighs straight, one side on each leg was bowed out slightly. I then attached a cover strip as before gluing to one side. Once that's dry I'll do the other side. I didn't trim the sharp point just yet, though I did just soften it a shade. I can always go further later if needed. I also started gluing the sniper plate in place. I first trimmed the side i mentioned which was too long. This done I made a light pencil mark to help get the glue right and removed the protective coating to stop it getting glued in by accident. To try minimise damage during glue up I applied a layer of blue tape to the face of the plate. So far I only glued the main face of the plate, the side clamps are purely to keep the alignment. Tomorrow I'll glue the sides, though I'll possibly do one side at a time depending on how well the glue holds. For the record i've followed TMs advice on the sides. Longer edge goes on the inside, so for me the left is parts 24 and 27. Other people have this as the right for the exact same parts. Seems the labelling on the shins is a mess. I will probably also punch the holes for the #4 hooks too. I need to look up exact measurements, I've seen 5mm (edge to hole centre) in ukswraths post but looking at the reference below I think it might be a bit more. Maybe 6mm from the edge to the edge of the hole. The same post suggested a 1/8" hole which is about 3mm, is this a good size? This is how I left things for the night.
  18. Also I have about a 5mm return on both ends f the bicep and also on the outside edge of the forearms. Should I reduce this at all or leave as is. Fit seems good as is (if anything I need to make the bicep smaller), more the reference i've been looking at has little to no returns on these edges and it may also be a comfort thing. This image shows what I mean, you can just about see the forearm is also pretty return free as well through the gap. But again I want to say that I think fit is currently good it's just something I noticed fishing through my reference.
  19. Based on the reference image I posted previously I trimmed the top of the thigh returns. This gave me a lot better fit at the top and generally allowed for better movement, I could actually walk. To further improve this I used the same method with the 6mm tape to trim the back down removing approx half the return. This again gave me far more movement. I still can't bend my knee much, and having hitched up the thing so far can't lift that high there either. I will probably need to remove more at the base of the thigh to allow me to get more movement and lower the thigh a tiny bit. Though this will happen later once I've got a troop or two in I think. I do have this digging in now though This clearly isn't all that comfortable. Would this be okay to round off a bit? If so would this line be acceptable? At the suggestion of TM I have swapped the L and R shins. This puts the slightly longer bottom edge on the inside. I had a 2nd go at getting the plate aligned and I think I can just about do it. On the other knee (what is now the R) it lines up pretty easily. On the correct L it's going to need some force. I can get the centre lined up okay: And the outside edge lines up easily enough. The inside one is where the force is needed. First it's a bit long but this can be trimmed down. 2nd it need a fair amount of force to hold down, will E-6000 be able to hold it? Finally once all lined up are the lines okay for Level 3 approval? It does also introduce a general lean to the side s you can more easily see from above. This reference seems to suggest this is perfectly acceptable: Other than that I spent the evening cleaning up the excess glue on the arm parts which are now all full glued up. I can probably add the elbow elastic, I just need to double check where it goes.
  20. If I want to swap out the horrid screws for pan heads on the TD do I need an 6 or 8mm heads? I am pretty sure it's 8 but I can't find where I saw that.
  21. Must have missed he did the sniper will go find that. CRL said 7.5" off the top of my head. What ever it was it was either fine or 1/8th under, it wasn't cut all that straight.
  22. I started last night by trying to get a proper fitting of the leg parts with my boots on. Looking at the fit I think I'm pretty good for general fit on both the thighs and the shins. The shins just need the holes for the #4 hooks and the rear cover strips adding. Once that's done I can neaten up the trim on the curved sections and call the, done. For the thighs I am struggling to bend the knee. If I force them up a bit I am fine so probably only need 10-15mm or so but with them forced I am not comfortable at all. Looking at other builds and some reference I will start by trimming the top return. This is an image of a genuine thigh and you can see how it has very little return. I'll start by going this far and see if I can get the thigh up further. If more is needed it looks like I'll have to either trim off the return entirely or add a 'notch' behind the knee. I'd rather not do the notch as I think it's ugly but I already have a large gap between the thigh and skin so moving the thigh up even further would make this huge. Though hopefully the return trim I suggested will do the job. Whilst fitting the shins I found that the left pinched a bit on the outside. Looking at the return it was far larger than the rest. To address this I added a strip of 6mm Tamiya masking tape as a cutting guide and cut along the edge. This gave a much nicer edge and hopefully will stop the pinching. With the shins sized and sorted I tested the fit of the sniper plate. Whilst this fits it needs a fair amount of force to get into place. Looking at other builds and reference it looks like I can remove the return on the bottom of the plate. This would make the plate easier to flex and so glue into place. Would this be acceptable? I also used the tape trick to thin down the moulded hand guards, I don't plan on using these but figured I may as well do it. I finished off the evening by starting on the TD. First job was to add a light chamfer to the edge to help fit the end caps. With this done I measured the depth of the caps and scored a line this far from the end to help me mark out where the clips will go. I want to use nuts and bolts as I don't trust screws to not strip out. This means I need to fit the clips before the end caps, hence the marking out. How big should the gap be? Ive seen anything from 0 to loads. The image in the CRL seems to be right up against the end caps, is this the best bet? If so I'll attach right up against the marks and push the end caps on until they butt up. The more astute of you will notice the screw up in the above. The score lines are at the actual internal depth of the end caps. If they don't fit 100% full down you'd see the score mark. Doh. To fix this I used some 180 grit to lap around 1-1.5mm off each end to give some clearance. This should mean you can't see the mark any more but did make a HUGE mess. I then re did the chamfer again, and did a much better job this time. I'm about as far as I can go on the TD until I can get the M4 pan head screws, nuts and some washers. Pay day at the end of the week which lifts the parts ordering embargo. I'll also be ordering the Prym snaps which means I can get on with the body.
  23. Tier 2, but I was also one of the first in the pay it forward chain of vouchers so I didn't pay the full $450. I can't grumble at the VAT and duty though I do feel the £12 handling fee a bit of a joke seeing as the whole point of Fedex is to handle packages, often across borders, and should be factored into the base international shipping cost.
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