supernaut11

Hey Bud! The battle has been slow and steady... Only the helmet and belt are left! I've been doing a lot of work on my brothers as well and have just neglected taking pictures.. Well, maybe a few pics along the way but not much. But there WILL be an update! It was super cool to see you get your approval! Awesome build.. It's helped a lot of people along the way, myself included.. Congrats, man!

BOOM! Good job, man!

Hey Bud! Work is steady and coming along good. My plan is to have a well organized update soon (the build has been ALL over the place).. My brothers build is a bit behind mine because of his work but once he and I get to it, we should plow through his build and get him all caught up! Cheers, and thanks for asking! Outstanding work on your build, btw!

Great idea for the velcro. Is that the cover strip plastic that you used?

Aaron, you da man!

Much appreciated, Dan! I'm really looking forward to getting that ID!

Just a couple of things I think are noteworthry at this point.. First, after looking into things a bit more with the left shin, it was determined that the crooked alignment of the molded ridges at the top is normal. This will cause the sniper plate to mount crooked if you are to line it up with ridges. When I first noticed this, I tore apart both shins.. I was convinced I had them wrong. Not a terrible thing because one, I wasn't happy with the cover strips anyway, and two, this gives me the opportunity to try something with that left shin... I've decided to offset the halves by raising the right side up about 5mm to help level out the bottoms of the ridges that the plate wings will mount to. I've lowered it just a bit compared to what you see in the picture.. I didn't want to offset the bottom too much. As it is, this will require some trimming on the bottoms (ankles), but I figured any bit off offsetting will help when it comes to mounting the plate... We'll see Here's a mockup with plate taped down.. There's still a slight tilt but much better than without offsetting. Earlier I had mentioned the thigh halves being uneven.. One option was to just "hide" it with a cover strip and be done with it.. But I decided to bust out the sealing iron that I've had, buried deep in my hobby closet (It's actually an entire room but functions more like a closet), and see what kind of damage I could do... Here's the before. After some ironing.. If you haven't tried this before practice on scrap! I can't emphasize that enough.. Sacrifice scrap first.. Go slow and don't force it, let the plastic heat up and you'll feel it begin to give but don't hold it on any one spot, and take your time. It will roughen the plastic a bit so you will need to sand and polish if want it to match. And then it's just a matter of contouring the strip to match the curve. Maybe a tad more sanding but I'm quite happy with the results.

Awesome! Let the building begin!.. ATA?

Thanks, David! I'll take a look.

Outstanding work, Aaron. Like Tony said.. you got skilz! (autocorrect does NOT like "skilz"). I haven't gotten to that part of my build yet but with my Peter Pan physique, I'll likely be trimming all of that away and it won't be an issue for me. However, my brother thanks you! His will probably be trimmed very similar to yours and you can bet we'll be following this "PINNED" thread..(wink wink to the powers that be..) very closely! Great work!

Thanks, Dan! I appreciate that.. In regards to the sniper plate fitting, my issue is with how it lines up on the shin, or doesn't line up. In the last pic you can see how the outer half (screen right) has a lower angled mold ridge at the top than the inner half. This causes the plate to line up crooked. I'm just wondering if I paired the halves incorrectly or if this is normal. I think the overall curves of the shins all look right but I'm confused with the top of the left shin. I tried showing a pic of how the plate lines but it's difficult to show correctly with only two hands My brother is bringing his armor over later tonight to get some work done so maybe he can snap a pic of my dilemma! Cheers!

Thanks, Bud! I hope so.. I have no doubt you'll get yours!

After spending some more time with the right thigh I think I may have found the problem. I decided to pull the inner strip off and now the parts line up much better. It's still a bit wonky but it at least it looks right. I'm not certain why the strip would do that but I may try 2-3in. pieces rather than one long piece. I used the cover strip plastic provided with the kit instead of scrap ABS so maybe it was too thick and once glued, distorted the plastic.. We'll see what happens with my next plan! On to other progress. The biceps, forearms and shins all have the front cover strips in place but still need to be fitted. There are still some areas that may need to lose more return edge, but I'll make that determination once I get those pieces on me! I'll be attending an armor party in a couple of weeks.. My hope is to get these pieces fitted then. Does the left shin look right to you? I'm having a hard time telling. The inner and outer curvatures seems correct to me and yet something looks off to me. The tops look odd to me as well, and for the life of me I can't figure out how the sniper plate is ever going to be installed. The lines are just way off and the gap up front is huge. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

I seem to have come across a bit of a dilemma with the right thigh halves. While attempting a trial fit after glueing an inner strip in place, it became apparent that it wasn't going to be that easy. You can see how the right half of the seam bulges out significantly more than the inner piece. Forcing it in place just doesn't seem practical because the plastic is too stiff and it distorts the whole shape of the thigh. The left thigh is almost the same but manageable. Also, the pieces don't line up at the top. I'm not too concerned about that part of it.. I figure I can push the higher tip down a bit with a sealing iron, then contour it with the outer cover strip. Any suggestions on what I can do to get these bad boys to line up properly? Thanks a bunch guys!

Those cover strips don't stand a chance! They ain't going nowhere!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. I think for now I'll leave them alone. If it still bugs me later in the build then I'll snip the corners. I'm planning on removing any remaining return edge on both ends because even with my pencil arms I can still feel them clawing at me so if I do cut, things should look pretty even.

Also, take a look at the EIB and Centurion status request pages. Those are very visual and will give you a great idea of what you may want to do with your build.

I think you'll find this list VERY helpful. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31404-supply-list-for-your-tk-build/

As mentioned, I've been making steady progress.. Lots of pictures, but nothing really too exciting yet. In the meantime, I'm hoping to get some opinions and feedback about the lines on the forearm. As you can see, after joining the "accurate" side with a 15mm strip, it leaves an uneven line along the top (if you're standing). I've seen others leave it this way and honestly, I don't think it looks too bad, however, I kinda prefer a clean line. Do you think it's a good idea to cut a clean line where the ruler is? You'll notice that a line like that would carry the cut well into the other half.. At this point, I'm hesitant, I'd hate to botch it up. On the other hand, I want a clean line. I'm probably overthinking this but that's why I'm turning to you guys! After taking this pick, it's also very evident that quite a bit of the ridge is exposed, too.. It looks like the strip can come down about 5mm... Good thing I'm using E6000. That stuff has already saved my butt twice.

It's going good, man! Thanks for asking. All major parts trimmed and cleaned up, assembly is well under way but still a long way to go! And funny you should ask.. I just logged on to post a question about forearms.. That's next

Thanks! I appreciate that! It's been a very satisfying build so far.

Small update, nothing too exciting.. I'm not as fast as most of you guys are . All the major pieces are at least rough trimmed. The only torso piece I have cleaned up at this point is the ab. It's been a combination of score and snap, tin snips, lexan scissors, a dremel and sandpaper. The dremel has become my new best friend, btw. If there's anything you see that looks off or something that needs more work, please let me know. Any critique is greatly appreciated! BICEPS. SHOULDER BELLS. And courtesy of my brother, here's my action shot of real, actual work. Oh, and these bad boys showed up yesterday!.. That's it for now.

Thanks! The counter top now makes it four workspaces in the house now.. I'll be removing remaining return edge on lower forearms tonight!

Thanks, Dan! And great point about the sniper plate.. I was so caught up in measuring and trying to get things perfect that it I completely overlooked that fact.

Thanks, buddy! I'm just trying to get those laser cuts like you!