RynoHawk

*Blows off dust* I'm still here, just haven't had much time to put towards building. I went out to my GCOs house a couple of weeks ago and he helped motivate me and gave me some tips. While I was there, I cut down the thighs and the forearms to proper size (was gonna do the calves too but forgot them at home). Also cut out a bunch of cover strips. just gotta glue those together and I'll have biceps, forearms, and thighs complete.

I wouldn't recommend sitting on it. I busted my top that way. You could maybe fit a nice collapsible camping chair in there though.

Congrats, Jon!

Congrats! Shouldn't be long to get your approval.

Congrats! Welcome to the club!

Haven't made giant progress lately. My work area (garage) is not climate controlled so it get's a bit chilly sometimes. I have cleaned up the extra paint I put on the vocoder and cut the other (right) bicep to fit and glued and set the inner strips. Tomorrow I'll probably set the cover strips and play with one of my hovi mics as I don't like the way it's sitting. Next after that will be to trim and glue the forearms.

For me, I see that mostly on the top of my hand where the hand guard covers and not too much of a big deal. Nomex is good though and I'll probably upgrade as well eventually.

Look up Navajo Bro in your local Garrison (Northeast Remnant) or on this site and he might be able to help you. He's great at building armor and helping new folks. Building TK and TD is essentially the same.

I see what you're saying. I did the same on the bottom but have already removed the excess paint. Kinda tough as that is how the ribs are molded.

It is very thin. I had an "oopsy daisy" drilling the hole for the right side hovi. I did get the screens and hovi mics squared away though so except for the frown screen, helmet assembly is complete. So far now I have a helmet and a left bicep. I spent some more time getting everything inside where I want it. I pulled the fan system from my gunner helmet and fiddled around with making everything (2 fans and a 4x AA battery pack) fit. Battery pack was the biggest issue as it's rather large and boxey. I eventually placed the fans under where the tears are and the battery pack behind the vocoder. I then had to adjust the helmet padding because my chin was pressed against the pack. I'm actually happier with the padding now as I took out the provided padding and strategically placed some foam blocks so the helmet sits straight on my head, doesn't wobble, and I have some airflow in between the blocks. Right now it's just raw gray foam, but I may at some point attach some fabric to it for aesthetic purposes.

I've been concentrating on the helmet when I've had the time and am almost finished. After my minor freak out about how the cap and ears lined up, I continued on my way with the rest of the decals (maybe I'll hand paint everything some other time ). They do however simulate hand painted. I was most happy with the tube stripes. AM kit comes with 16 for each side, but I only used 14 (CRL says between 9 and 16). I did however paint the ear bars (no decal for that ). Also painted frown (decals provided but didn't use), hovis, and vocoder. Only thing I need to do is put screens on hovis and mesh in frown. Almost there... Interior. For the lens I just have it velcroed in for now (still has protective film on inside). AM helmet now comes with a foam pad to put in there, but my head wouldn't fit if I used the foam as is. The back of my head touches the helmet without the foam, so I trimmed off the back "leaf" of foam, cut it up into two smaller parts, and added them to sides just above my ears (you can see the two bottom pieces in the pic). This fit much better and also stabilizes the helmet on my head. I also used a small piece of extra foam I had lying around and placed under lens where my nose hits. I smoothed out the lens where I cut it, but this feels much better. Tomorrow, I may pull the fan system out of my gunner helmet and see how everything will fit in my TK one. A question about the hovi screens if anyone can help. The hovi screens in the AM kit are shaped kinda like thimbles. Do I put it on the hovi tip "upside down", glue it, and cut off the flare part of the screen (if this makes sense)?

TK Boots are cheaper and made with real leather. Mine were just shy of $100 with shipping added. Your feet will be happier (they will stretch to the contours of your feet, faux leather won't) and your boots will probaly last longer. Also if you are planning this as a hobby, you might just want to go ahead and open a PayPal account. Much of our purchasing of costumes, accessories, etc. is done that way.

I'm not there yet, but maybe a couple of extra inner small cover strips going crosswise and some extra time to cure.

Great pics. I agree that his B grades are typically real good and I'm happy with mine. Should call them "A-" grades.

Thanks! After looking at your helmet pics again, I'm thinking the issue I have is just the design of the helmet as you seem to have went through similar issues. I think importantly, the brow and traps line up as I can tell and the cheek is not much of an issue so I will carry on. Good job with the paint! I went with the decals as my hand is not that steady (in fact, I may need to redo my trap decals). Also, forgot to add my kit has been baptized in blood. Poked myself with my knife in the thumb while digging at some glue on the bicep. Good thing I had those cut resistant gloves close by keeping an eye on things.

Okay, I've come across an issue and don't know if I need to start the helmet over and redo or what. When I matched the faceplate to the cap, the right side cheek between the faceplate and cap seem slightly off. However this was the only way I could get the cap over the eyes the way I wanted it. If the cheeks evened out, then the cap came down over the eyes. Here's how it looks in the front. Also, my clamps seemed to have distorted the right eye a bit. Will a heat gun fix that? Here's how the right side looks. Compared to the left. I haven't put the ear on yet Is this a major "omg, must fix!" or is it "meh, the screen used weren't perfect either."? I wonder even if I fix if that will make the ears out of wack. There's a bit of a gap (wasn't to worried as I know that was seen onscreen) but don't know how much more I can sand them. Thanks for assistance and opinions. Wanted to check before I moved on.

Cool, didn't see the 4.0 videos. Checking them out now.

Outer cover strips installed on the left bicep. Once dry and cleaned up, my first costume piece will be complete. I think I need more clamps and maybe more magnets so I can work a little faster. I did get some tools to start working on the helmet while I wait for glue to dry on other pieces, but I need to get some better clamps to hold it together while I figure out where to line everything up.

That's a great tutorial series, Cameron! I'm gonna use some of the tips fto r my build I think. If you have the Latest run of AM armor, you can probably skip the first two vids involving joining the cap and back as AM helmets now come with the single cap and back piece. As of ideas of the inside, I was going to plasticoat the inside black, but now I may not. Still need to put mine together to figure the it where stuff will go.

I could use to drop some pounds myself. I'm hoping I don't have to shim the kidney and ab as it's kinda looking that way. Haven't trimmed return edge there so maybe I can get some inches there. I saw the helmet and it's looking great! I have the teeth mostly done, but that's it there. As for the rest of the build, I made some decent progress today and made my first cuts after a few thousand measure and fits. This was done on the left bicep. You would think a t-shirt would not make that much of a difference when trying to fit a bicep. Wrong! My shirt kept bunching up around the edges so I finally changed into the compression shirt and that was a better result. After fitting and measuring, I stared at it for awhile to see if it would magically cut itself. When that didn't happen, I referred back to Terry's (Navajo Bro) thread and had an "aha!" moment. I used a ruler to line up with the overlap (or underlap in this case) seam edge underneath. I clamped the ruler to where it lined up and traced with a pencil on the outside opposite the seam. It will appear at an angle to the actual edge but that's okay. I repeated with the other side doing same. I made my cuts using the cut and score method and checked the results. The pieces lined up straight and perfect to each other and fit well. I used the excess strips I had just cut off and made them into cover strips for the inside. Once trimmed to fit, I glued them in place. You can see the cut on the one side. I was happy with how it came out and it gave me some confidence moving forward. I have also trimmed all the necessary return edge off of the forearms and taped those to fit. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the other bicep cut and glued and start cuts on the forearms.

If you normally wear a size 12 but a size 13 off the shelf works for you, then a size 13 TK Boot might work as well. I wear a normal size 13 off the shelf when I get shoes and the size 13 TK Boots fit me fine. If you go to a shoe store and measure your foot with one of those doodads and tell him the size (or if you know already), he will recommend a size boot for you. I thought I would need a 14 but he recommended the 13 and it fit perfect. When I was in the Army, I wore 12 1/2 wide boots.

Looking nice!<br><br> Go Cubs (saw the Indians cap)!

Glad you feel better, Jon!<br><br> Got a little bit done today (no pics today though ). I had some more tools come in and am mostly over my cold. I filed down the teeth on the helmet a little further and trimmed of return edges on the bottoms of my biceps. After that I tried them on for a basic fit. I got them pretty much were I want them I think but will double check tomorrow. I will also put on my compression shirt to get a better idea of the proper fit. The sleeves of my tee shirt kept bunching up and interfering with pulling the bicep up over my arm.

Thanks! I'm suffering through a cold right now so I haven't made in progress since then. Did you use the screws that came with the kit to assemble the faceplate to the back or did you use blind rivets? Also, did your kit come with the frown mesh? I seem to not have that nor one screen for a hovi tip. Should be easy to acquire though.

Haven't made too much progress thus far with work and all. I drilled out and scored the teeth a bit and cut some cover strips. Still some work to go there, but it's a start.