johna1177

TK 11772 requesting access http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=23305

So I added up all the time I logged during my build and it came to the following: Total time spent trimming & sanding the armor and cutting strips: 16 hrs. 27 min. Total time spent assembling and painting: 58 hrs. 32 min. Plus the countless hours I put in researching, quite possibly as many as I spent building. The challenge was finding the time for those 74 hours and 59 minutes. From start to finish it took me just shy of 11 months. This is probably on the average to slower side for a rookie build as I tend to be overly cautious and often would double and triple research little details to avoid making a mistake. Many thanks to the vendors I purchased from along the way and especially thanks to those troopers who took the time to respond to my questions or post comments. TK-11772

...and the final product for 501st basic approval (non-submission)

In the final stretch, time for a belt. I’d recently ordered and received a neck seal and holster from Darman. These are both of excellent quality with excellent service and can be found here for the neck seal and here for holster. I started the belt by measuring around the armor while wearing the torso sections and adding 5” for overlap. Using white duck cloth I cut a length just over 9” wide. A double fold and some pressing later and I had a 3” wide belt ready for sewing. I first inserted some extra stiff interfacing to add support to the belt, placed strips of Ultra Bond (available at most craft stores) between the center layer of cloth and the back layer, and then sewed along both sides of the length, leaving the ends open for now. Additionally I marked the outside location of the ABS armor belt onto the cloth belt and sewed along the width just inside these marks. This was done to provide a stop for the additional plastic support I would add for the holster. Finally I cut to length, inserted the plastic (shown below), sewed the ends, pressed it one last time to set the heat sensitive interfacing and bond and then attached 2” wide Velcro at each end (appx 6" in length). Next, I drilled 1/8” holes in the armor belt, one dead center and two centered in the flat surfaces at each end. I aligned the armor belt with the cloth belt, centering the two, transferred the holes of the armor to the belt and punched holes for the rivets. Then, using carpenters chalk on the male S-snaps of my ab plate, I placed the cloth belt into position on the ab plate to mark the location for the female portion of the S-snaps. I secured the S-snaps and then riveted the armor belt to the cloth one. Three steps to go…I attached the holster to the left side of the belt using this guide. Secondly, I glued the rivet covers to the armor belt. Lastly, using ¾” elastic I attached the drop boxes to the belt. Total Time: 4 hrs. 50 mins.

next was the gloves. I ordered latex hand guards from JustJoseph a while back and finally got around to completing the gloves. I started by applying 4 light coats of fabric paint to the guards for an extra bright white appearance. After drying I inserted hand towels, rolled into a tube and flattened, into the gloves to provide a backing and support during the glue drying. Using rubber bands to secure, I allowed the E6000 to dry for 24 hours. Total Time: 58 mins. (inc. dry time between each coat)

I bought a pre-trimmed AP helmet. here is my helmet build in pics: masking prime interior Plastidip interior assemble helmet, trim ears paint frown and vocoder paint ears apply decals (these will be replaced with hand painting at a later date) lenses (i used paper and a pencil to make a tracing of the eye openings from the inside and then used that to make lense frames of ABS) ...used CA glue to secure ...added spacers (on future builds this will be done prior to priming) ...secured with screws (the center spacer was removed) glued in the frown screen using drops of CA glue between each tooth and a stick to apply pressure painted the hardware added the chin strap helmet complete Total time: 13 hrs.

quick update (no photos). measured for and made straps for the chest to ab connection. Total time: 27 min. I also decided to remake my shoulder straps. Originally made from nylon, I decided to make a set out of elastic. The procedure was the same as the one I used to make the original nylon ones. With all of the other torso straps being made out of nylon I'm counting on these elastic ones to provide for a little more range of motion. Anyone have any feedback as to their preference for elastic vs. nylon for the shoulders? Total time: 63 min. Next I'll be moving on to the helmet.

After a couple weeks off I finally resumed my build. I’m in the final stages of the body armor build. I made all the straps for back to kidney connections and the kidney to posterior connections. Also made the posterior to cod strap and glued the snap plates to the upper ab. ** Next, I glued 30 mm wide strips of ABS to the left side of the ab and kidney to reinforce the rivet locations. Once that was dry I drew a line parallel to the edge of the ab and kidney on the reinforcement strips at 10mm from the edge. Then I marked points at 20mm, 80mm and 140mm from the top edge of each. I then drilled 5/32” holes at each of these locations. For the ab plate I will permanently attached the straps. For the kidney I will use the rivets to secure snaps in place. I will still have work to do on my kidney plate to reach the upper level approvals so I elected to make it detachable for future work. I also drilled the 5/32” hole required for the male snap in the upper right corner of the ab plate for the ab to kidney connection. The hole was drilled at 20mm from the top edge and 20mm from the side. The hole was counter bored by hand with a 3/8” drill bit and then the male snap applied. I cut three 1” wide nylon straps a length of 60mm for the ab to kidney strap with holes 20mm apart and centered. I still use the soldering iron method for the holes as I like the results. Then I set the straps on the ab plate using split rivets and washers. Prior to setting the snaps on the kidney with rivets I cut the rivets down by a millimeter or two so they would nest inside the snap better (at this stage Ukswrath’s AM 1.0 build, found here, has become my go to reference). Then when I set the rivets I started with a tapered punch to separate the rivet at the split, followed that with a small round, flat punch to bend each individual leg and finished it with a larger round, flat punch that just fit inside the interior of the male snap. (cut rivet on left) (the punches I use, in sequence from left to right) result... I also glued a snap plate to the right hand side of the kidney and set the 3 female snaps on the straps fixed to the ab plate. And finally, after lightly sanding the surface of the rivet heads I applied 5 coats of gloss white paint. Total Time: 4 hr. 4 min.

Glued the other row of snap plates onto the lower edge of the kidney plate and let dry. Total time: 16 min. Next, I glued the button plates onto the ab plate (for the record, wife's weight). let dry and... Total time: 17 min.

Set male S-type snaps (poppers) on ab plate to receive the belt using the TK-1650 reference diagram shown below. Also glued snap plates to the chest for ab connection approximately 110mm from the bottom edge. Total time: 44 min. * Did a quick fitting of the chest and back to mark for the shoulder bell snap locations. Marked the straps (with some assistance) where they crowned over my shoulder bone. I sewed the male snaps onto the shoulder bells centered and approximately 35mm from the point of the bell. This took a little longer than it should have as I originally sewed the first one to the wrong side of elastic strap. I should have quit then, but I forged forward and finished then called it quits for the day. Total time: 1hr. 35 min. Next I sewed the female snaps onto the underside of the shoulder straps offset 35mm from the outside edge of the strap at the location marked during the fitting. Total time: 39 min. Made 10 more soft snap plates. Centered the back and kidney plates with each other and marked locations for snap plates. Glued snap plates (3 on each) onto kidney and back 20mm from the edge, aligned with the marked locations. Next, I glued snap plates (3) to the posterior. Once dry I will align the posterior and kidney and glue 3 snap plates to the lower part of the kidney. Total time: 1 hr. 3 min.

Made some shoulder straps out of nylon. I fitted the chest and back, clamped it up and measured the distance between the chest and back plate at the top of the shoulders. Using this dimension, I added the additional distance to the snap plates and this became my center-to-center distance from snap to snap. I started with 200mm of nylon then I folded over 30mm on one end with the intention of centering the snap on that end. This is the end that snaps to the chest. For the back snap I made the fold larger to allow for the 1/8" elastic to be sewn to it. once folded I sewed up each end. Then i set the female snaps (line 24). after setting snaps I attached everything together and marked the location to apply the 1/8" elastic and then hand sewed it in place. Total time: 1 hr. 53 min. Next, I set out to paint the ab buttons. I started by cutting masking templates. Using a 7/16" diameter circle template I made circles on painters tape (attached to an ABS strip) and cut each circle out using a razor knife. I then applied each circle individually around the buttons. Next I applied white paint in a thin layer to seal the circles. After that it was two coats of gray and french blue, allowing enough time between coats for the previous to just set up (appx. 5-10 minutes between coats). after I applied the final coat I waited just long enough for the paint to set up then i removed the templates. The process in pictures... Total time: 1 hr. 2 min.

Latest progress, I added snap plates on the shoulders for shoulder straps. Again, I elected to use snap on straps vs. glued ones. Using scrap ABS I installed male snaps into 1" x 1.5" pieces and glued them approximately 20mm from the shoulder edge on both the chest and back. Glued and let dry. Total time: 34 min. Next came the snaps on the posterior. For this I started with a centerline on the interior of the posterior and drilled 5/32" holes at 15mm and 35mm from the edge. Not quite perfect but close enough. Then I chamfered the outside of the holes using a 3/8" drill bit, twisting by hand. I chamfered to provide some additional clearance for the radius of the snap post so it would sit as flush as possible on the posterior. ...then set the two male snaps. N Total time: 20 min. Next up, some straps to connect the chest and back at the shoulders.

Chest To attach the shoulder straps to the chest plate I first sanded the width down so there was a 3mm edge between the ridges and the long edge of the strap. Then I cut small shims to glue into the voids behind the straps to provide more surface area for gluing them to the chest plate. Next, I clamped the entire assembly together for alignment, including chest, straps and back plate. I then marked the location of the chest in pencil on the back of the shoulder straps. This allowed me to disassemble, apply glue, reassemble, clamp and let dry. After completing this I sewed the Velcro onto my previously assembled garter system. It was originally held on by the adhesive but wasn’t holding up. As a precaution, don’t try sewing adhesive backed Velcro to anything. It gums up the needle and becomes frustrating. I ended up replacing the original adhesive backed Velcro with 3/4” wide sew-on Velcro. Total time: 1 hr. 41 min. (36 min for sewing) …bells cont. Continuing on with the shoulder bells, I cut 140mm, 1” wide black elastic for the bell to shoulder strap straps. Glued 70mm of the strap to the top of the bells inside the crevice of the bell, applied magnets and let dry. Total time: 15 min. Cod rivet So now that I had started in on the torso parts it was time to do something I had been dreading…intentionally drilling a hole in my armor. I started with the cod piece and installed the rivet in the crotch. I marked a spot 20mm from the edge, eyeballing the center from side to side and drilled a 5/32” hole. Next, using an idea I found on ukswrath’s build thread (referenced previously, about 2/3 down p.1 of that build), I installed the male snap using the rivet…GREAT TIP, killing 2 birds with 1 stone. I did not trim down the length of the rivet as mine sat flush with the top of the snap. Length of the rivet is something you will want to consider though. The rivet will need to be short enough to flare into the interior of the male snap and leave enough room for the compressed post of the interior of the mating female snap. Note: setting the rivet will draw everything tighter, so take this into consideration. To set the rivet I started with a tapered punch and then switched over to a flat one to finish the flare. I tested it out with one of the straps from my garter and the snap closes snug. Going forward, I'll likely trim a little length off the rivet. If the post on the female snap isn't well centered it may cause problems snapping it. Total time: 18 min. Arm suspension system Glued snap plates to upper biceps and shoulder bells, about 1/3 from the top. Cut 100mm elastic straps of 1” black and glued about 40mm of it to the inside seam of the forearms. While I had the E6000 out I also added more glue to one of my forearms that was separating slightly. Let dry. Once the biceps were dry I glued snap plates into the biceps on the interior seam to receive the forearm strap. I was mixed here on whether or not to glue or snap forearms to biceps. I have enough room to fit it and I prefer snaps over glue because of their versatility and modularity. While that dried I measured and installed the female snap onto the forearm strap. I left about a 7mm gap between the forearm and bicep once assembled. To accomplish this I measured from the lower edge of the bicep up to the center of the male snap and added 7mm. This dimension was the distance from the end of the forearm to where I placed the hole for the snap post and set the snap. Finally, once everything else was dry I assembled the shoulders and biceps and measured the distance from center to center of the male snaps previously added to each. This dimension was used to create 1” wide nylon straps for joining the biceps to bells. My plan was to fold over 20mm on each end to reinforce the straps to receive female snaps. This required adding 60mm total to the strap length (30mm for each end). I cut to the appropriate length, used my soldering iron to make holes through the double thickness of nylon 10mm from each folded end and set the snaps. Total time: 1 hr. 26 min.

Do you mean the actual hook or how far they extend above the bicep...or both?

* After cleaning up the excess glue I discovered that the 1” white Velcro I purchased has adhesive on the back of the hook side (rigid half) but none on the back of the loops (fuzzy half). So I glued the loops and used the adhesive backing that came on the hooks. I placed the loop side on the cover strip portion of the shin because it wouldn’t catch on my under suit. I used the full 1” width of the loops portion and glued it in place using E6000. For the hook half I actually cut the hook piece in half, lengthwise, applying a ½” wide strip to the non-cover strip side of the shin using the attached adhesive. In the end, using Haso’s suggestion above of separating the Velcro from one end to the other using my hand or just a finger seems to be holding up under the limited number of times I’ve removed it. Total time for cleanup and Velcro: 28 min. With all the leg pieces completed it was time to create a support system for the thighs. I borrowed ideas from Pencap510 which can be found here. I elected to go with a garter system. I created an adjustable belt using 2” ribbon (sold as decorative tape in craft stores) and a 1” black, side-release parachute buckle. I folded the ribbon in half lengthwise and sewed the long edge (left the two ends open in the event I need to slide plastic or something else inside to lend additional support in the future). The thigh support straps have double snaps on the thigh end and Velcro on the belt end. Using about 5” of Velcro, the thigh straps are also adjustable by wrapping them around the belt and securing them to themselves. Total time for garter assembly: 2 hr. 3 min. With the legs complete I spent some time making a dozen snap soft plates. Total time: 30 min. Next I started on the support system for the arms. For the biceps, using a heat gun and the technique suggested on ukswrath’s build thread in step 7n (near the bottom of p. 2), I started by bending 15mm wide by 120mm long ABS strips, 20mm from one end to form a hook. I would suggest hitting the ABS in 5 second graduated intervals until you find the right duration. I started at 5 seconds and when that didn’t work let it cool a bit and then went to 10, etc. For my heat gun 20 seconds did the trick for me. Next it was gluing and clamping, leaving about 25mm of the hooked end exposed above the bicep. Total time: 27 min. Gluing the elastic to the shoulder bells was routine. The biggest decision here was whether to glue the elastic or use snaps. I prefer snaps because I know how elastic loses its recoil over time and will eventually have to be replaced. My concern with snaps is that they would create excessive wear on the biceps and also create additional standoff where the bicep and bell overlap so I elected to go the glue route. I measured from side to side of the bells near the bottom and added 80mm to that dimension. I then glued 40mm of elastic to each side of the shoulders approximately 12mm up from the bottom of the bell. I used excess ABS (seen below) to aid in applying even pressure to the elastic underneath each pair of clamps. After allowing them to dry for 24 hours I’ll remove the glue runs on the inside of the bells. Total time: 23 min. Which brings me to my next question. As pictured below, I have a return edge on the bottom of my bells. I’m looking for opinions on how others trimmed their bells and how it affects the overall fit of the bells and biceps. Anyone find that a return edge or no return edge provides a better fit? A better look?

Question. Is E6000 adequate for securing the Velcro on the backs of the shins? any other recommendations?

Next I added the thigh pack and sniper plate. First the thigh pack. This went fairly smoothly. I found a really good reference using ukswrath's build thread found here. I started by drilling 1/8" holes in the appropriate locations on the outside of the thigh. I used rapid rivets as opposed to double cap rivets. the only downfall to this is they can only go in one way, with the post starting on the inside of the thigh and protruding through. then the cap gets placed on top from the outside. This means hammering on the post end which is a little non-traditional but worked. I also experienced a bit of a challenge setting the rivet on the inside, as the other half of the thigh would interfere with the mallet. I resolved this by using a long Craftsman punch (seen below next to thigh) that extended beyond the opposite side of the armor. With one rivet set I just wrapped the thigh pack around, making sure it was centered in front and then drilled for the second rivet. and a little E6000 to hold it in place in the middle. With the thigh pack complete, I turned my attention to the sniper plate for the left shin. Unfortunately, I had previously designated a right and left shin. AP shins are nearly identical and therefore interchangeable for me. The only thing that differentiates mine is I glued the rear cover strips to the outer shins, velco on the inside half. Based on that I did a test clamping of the sniper plate to the left shin. the result... ...not very appealing. So I clamped it to what I had previously designated as the right shin. The result was better. so I made the decision to go with this. Now I just have to deal with removing the rear cover strips and gluing them to the opposite half of the rear shin so I can once again have the cover strip on the outside half of the shin. In the end it looked considerably less crooked this way. Total time securing thigh pack and sniper plate: 46 mins.

completed the thigh assembly. Glued the back halves together. I like to use as many clamps/magnets as i can fit. probably overkill but no harm. Trimmed and sanded the cover strips that were hanging over in the previous post...finished product (front) ...and the back. I've tried them on for fit and feel I'm gonna have to make some mobility cutouts in the lower thighs, but I'll wait for now until I fit everything just to make sure. In the mean time I decided to try my hand at shaping the ABS using heat. I decided since I was going to most likely cut away the lower backs of the thighs anyway I would reshape the overhanging material on the right thigh (thigh assembly on the left in pic). My method was a simple heat gun. I just slowly and repeatedly hit it with heat until i was able to bend it by hand. Probably not the best method, but pretty quick. I may look into an iron, but you can see the results below and compare to photo above (lower thigh on left side). I have a little more glue cleanup to do and then the thighs will be ready for the ammo belt. Total time assembling legs (including rework): 7 hrs. 10 mins.

Assembly of the thighs was next. Much like before I glued the cover strips to one half first. I originally cut the strips for the full length of the thigh, but after much research here, discovered that the thigh strips do not extend all the way to the bottom of the thigh. I'll clean that up after everything is completed. Then glued the two halves together in the front. Once that’s dry I’ll make any final cuts necessary in the back before gluing them to adjust for the proper size. Had a mini disaster. Because the thigh cover strips don’t extend all the way to the bottom of the thigh in the front, it’s important that the seam be butted as tightly as possible. I didn’t realize after the clamping that the two halves shifted apart and I discovered I had about a 2-3 mm gap between the halves of one thigh after I removed the clamps. It was significant enough that the previous days work had to be pulled apart and re-glued (E6000 to the rescue). This time I included tape to help prevent separation. final front view (minus trimming strip) I will either trim that overhang on the lower edges or possibly take the heat gun to them and create a return edge.

Gluing the inner and outer shins together. Can never have enough magnets either. For those of you who haven't come across Khazid's post on making magnet sachets here is the link. I used a similar procedure in assembling mine but I used two magnets, stacked, inside each sachet. I always place the black sachet inside the armor in the event it gets glued to the ABS. This way when I remove it, any debris left behind is black in color and will be concealed by the under suit. The end result... Originally I was concerned about the alignment of the two halves in the back, but there is more than enough play in them that once the velcro is installed it will hold them in place. Now if only I could figure out the scaling issues with my photos (PC viewing).

Gluing strips to shins. You can never have too many clamps.

That makes sense, thanks Pyrates.

Thanks for the tips Sentry. It's also good to hear it's not just me, making mistakes.

I completed gluing the arm components together. I started by trimming the pieces to the appropriate width. I made myself some templates for marking the cut locations. These were nothing more than heavy paper stock cut to half the width of my cover strips. Lined up one edge where I planned to glue the cover strip and drew a line using the other edge. With the arm pieces all trimmed I then began assembly. The biceps went smoothly. The forearms were a little more challenging. I started by sanding the glue surfaces on both the arm components and the cover strips (keep in mind, one side of your strips will be shinier than the other…shinier side should face out to match the armor). First I glued both cover strips to one half of the biceps and the forearms (typically the piece with the longer edges), clamped and allowed to dry overnight. Next I glued the other half of the biceps to the previously glued half. After clamping and drying overnight the biceps were complete. For the forearms I glued one side of the half without strips to the mating half with the cover strips, clamped and allowed to dry overnight, similar to the biceps but only joining one half. Once my previous forearm work dried I went to work completing the forearm assembly. This is where things got tough. The clamps were not strong enough to hold the assembled parts. The pieces kept shifting or pulling apart completely. I found the best method was to use tape to hold the halves in alignment, then apply clamps and magnets. Even this resulted in my previous work being pulled apart and requiring additional gluing. Eventually I was able to get everything to hold. I think in all likelihood I will add strips on the inner forearms for additional strength. All in all it took 4 overnight drying sessions to complete, using the E6000. Super glue would have gone much faster but I don’t trust myself enough just yet to go that route. I may experiment with the super glue for the inside strips. The other thing I noticed is the openings for the forearms at the elbow are elongated in the opposite direction as my physical forearm, making it tighter on the sides of my forearm, but looser on top and underside. Anyone else have this issue? If so, what did you do to rectify? Heat maybe and reshape the opening? Sanding to flatten out the surface more? Is this more a comfort thing and I shouldn’t even worry about it as long as it’s durable and wearable? For the record, my build is somewhere between ectomorph and mesomorph, leaning toward ecto. Total Arm Assembly Time (excluding dry time): 3 hrs. 20 mins. Note: for those who are new, like myself, this took much longer than the average builder would take, as I spent a lot of time (too much actually) sanding my strips to a consistent width that was within .1-.2 mm of the desired width. They would have been fine even if I had left them alone.

Also, anyone have any tips on scaling photos on this site? I upload all my photos to Photobucket and then resize all so that the maximum size is 650 x appx 480. Some photos, when linked to the site, are of a decent size (e.g. the TD side-by-side shots) others appear really large (e.g. the gloves shown above). Is there something I'm doing wrong or something that I can do on this site to control that?