HSM76

Small update today, the torso strapping is cured and so far done. I glued on the button plates. The poppers for the belt were installed in the last build session, but I forgot to mention it. Fortunately I found some that work with the ones already installed in the belt. Here is the torso: I worked further on the arm strapping, the snap straps to the torso are installed as well as the loops for the bicep and a connection to the bicep: In the biceps I have glued the 5cm elastic for the connection to the forearm: I am still struggling with finally making the leap and cut the backs of the thighs.

Hi Tuomas, the RS forearms should only have one ridge, one half on the outer and one half on the inner forearm. The ridge is, if worn on the upper part of the forearm. The outer parts are easy to discern, the left has 11 dimples the right one has 12. Here is a picture of my left forearm from the wrist: Here you can see the ridged area on one side and the flat area on the other.

The back of the shin has a 25mm cover strip. The only difference to other armour parts is, that it is only attached to the outer half of the shin shell. This is my left shin (still in the making):

Yep I know, maybe I change it later but for now I opted for this version. Changing in the other direction is easier :-)

Another small update today. I got to work a bit further on the armour, I connected back and front: Added the strap in the groin: And glued the shoulder straps and corresponding snaps into back and chest: I worked a bit on the arm fitting to try to find out where to place the 5cm elastic. I think I have it now. Those will be glued the next time I get back to building. Then the upper body will be done. When the torso parts have dried, I can finally get to cutting and closing of the thighs. I left those until now, to see the fit with the completed torso to get a better idea where to set the seam so it corresponds with the butt plate. The shins will be done after that, I bought 1mm white craft foam, which I will glue in the lower part, where the connect to the boots.

The original tube is a pluming tube, the gray is semi gloss, I would say. Maybe you can polish the paint a bit after it is dry. Have a look in the gallery, there are pictures in the RS Suit Album

You can make it yourself, with scraps of the armour and acetone. Cut the scraps into an airtight container, add a bit of acetone until the scrap pieces are covered. Let it cure for some time in the closed container. If it is to thick add acetone, if it is to thin you can leave it open for some time. It should be a thin paste. Be careful with it, the acetone will melt the abs. If you drip on the armour you have either a bump, or if you wipe on it, a dull spot. Oh, and use only clean scraps for that, no markings of pencil or anything, this will alter the colour.

I got to work a bit further on the armour this evening. The bracket strapping is done, maybe I need to adjust the loops in the chest a bit in the future. I installed the Han snap on the right side as well as the strap for it in the kidney plate: The snaps for the belt are only sticked on with double sided tape. I will install them when I did a fitting with the belt. The RS armour has spots where I think they should be, but trying out with the belt is better I think. But first the Torso strapping needs to be done, at least the shoulder straps. Also I drilled the holes for the split rivets in the left side. Right now they only sit in the holes, the straps are not done: While drilling I also installed the two male snaps in the butt plate and made the hole for the split rivet in the cod: The strap for the connection will be done also, when the shoulder straps are installed.

Same here I started with the arms. In my case I did some, few things on the torso and then the shins. But I did not cut any part on the lower end until now, I just made sure that they fit well over the boots. I will do the rest of the legs (cutting the lower end of the shins, cutting and glueing the back of the thighs) after the Torso is strapped, so I can see the overall fit.

Hmmmmm... With the measurements in the picture I come to a rivet position at the bottom that is roughly 2cm above the bottom ridge. Somewhere else I read that it should be at 1 cm above the ridge. If I use the placement referenced in Marc's Lucas Archives photo will it be Centurion approvable?

Yes those rivets, I had a picture in my last post. The picture Marc posted clarifies it. My problem was that in a lot of builds I saw in the Centurion applications the rivets looked further from the seam to the kidney (that was the distance I was talking about) than in Marc picture. The vertical orientation was not the problem. This is the picture I was talking about: The two pencil lines are 1cm and 2 cm the edge to the kidney plate. If I use the 1cm line as middle of the rivet the remaining 6mm to the edge seemed to narrow. But in the reference picture it looks like it, at least the lower two rivets.

No one got any tips concerning the placement of the split rivets in the side?

Got a little bit done this evening. I started to do the strapping brackets in the Torso. Chest and Abdomen are installed and the Back got started. I braced the brackets with 1mm ABS strips. The painted screws are already countersunk, where they are installed. I am a bit in doubt about the split rivets. I market off the 1 cm mark and it looks so very near the edge, especially if it is the center of the rivet. The second pencil line in the picture is the 2cm line. It seems to me it should be closer to that line. Oh and in other news, I totally forgot to post pictures of the thermal detonator, which was finished some time ago.

Not enough time and to much armour

Had a bit of time during the weekend to do some more work on the armour. The cover strips on the left shin are done: Glued the outer and inner cover strips to left thigh: And the back cover strip to the right shin: Next up, is the strapping of the torso. I am planning to put strips of ABS under the brackets for added strength. The ABS for that is already cut in larger strips. I used a rather flexible 1mm sheet I bought.

I did a first run with the legs, kidney and butt plate in the water bath, the thighs got better, but not level, but I hope it is enough to keep them level when closed with the hooks. The Thigh needs another run. Kidney and butt are okay. Glued the back cover strip to the left thigh I hope it were enough clamps...

Okay, time to bring out the big gun.... err pot: I have to admit I am rather nervous about this....

At the upper part of the forearms there is not much space to take of, since there are raised areas for the cover strip, you should better remove on the underside of the forearm if it is needed. I am not sure how much I trimmed of mine on the underside, but I left the upper part as it was, with the appropriate amount left on the upper part 7,5mm on each side for the 15mm cover strip. If one of the more experienced builders wants to chime in, am I right here?

Great, thank you. Will try it, as soon as I have a pot that is big enough. :-)

Up until now I used the heat gun for heat treatment. How hot does the water bath need to be?

Great, thanks!

No, the rear edge to the but plate is rather clear, how I will cut there. What I am talking about is the lateral shape of the thigh, with removal in the back it looses in "roundness" I have no space to the thigh at the sides, here it is pressed to it. But in the front and back there is a lot of room between thigh and plate.

Did you reshape the overall form from an oblong shape to a more rounded? Or did you leave it as it is?

I came to work much less on the armour than I had planned. I only got to glue the outer cover strips in the front of the right leg and cleaning the glue residue. Right thigh: Right shin: I will clean up the lower edge of the shin during fitting of the whole armour, I have rather long legs, so I don't want to cut of to much. The thigh needs to be cut in the back, this is how it looks right now: The overlap is still about 2,5 cm (1 inch) And I think I need to shape it a little bit so it gets a little more round, it sits rather snug in the sides and has a lot of room in the front and the back, I fear the back cover strip will not eliminate this. (see also last pic in the post from Sept. 13th)

The shape of the thigh will change a bit, when I close it in the back, I think.