A.J. Hamler

Hi, gang... I'm slowly getting back to the build after that pesky work interruption, and had a couple of questions. Since strapping is up next, I wanted to clarify something on the snaps attached to the shoulder straps, the one the Shoulder Bells hook to. It seems that most of you use sew-on snaps there, while some use the regular 24 snaps. First, what exactly is that sew-on snap; that is, what's it called and what kind should I look for if that's what I decide to go with? Second, are the sew-on snaps better than using the Tandy 24 snaps at that spots for some reason? I'm curious why so many use the Tandy 24s everywhere else, but the sew-on snaps there. The second question has to do with hot-water shaping after everything is glued, Velcroed and done. My Shins are a bit too high at the knees and so they need to come down a bit, and I originally thought it would be a matter of just trimming a bit from the bottoms around my ankles. But on closer inspection, I'm thinking the Shins might be just fine size-wise, but it's the shape of the opening at the ankles that is keeping them riding so high. Here's a closer look cropped from some earlier images in the build thread. You can see that the fronts and backs of the Shins at the ankles are really tight to the fronts and backs of the boots, keeping them riding high and not slipping down naturally over the ankles as they should. Meanwhile, you can also see how the sides have bags of extra room. The general cross sectional shape right there is kind of oval from side-to-side, whereas my boot ankles are generally oval front-to-back. [BTW, yes, I know I don't have the shins closed quite properly in the back.] So, I'm thinking that simply dunking the lower portion of the Shins into boiling water and reshaping so they're more oval shaped front-to-back will solve the problem and allow them to sit more naturally around the boots, giving me that extra room I need up at my knees. But what about the glued cover strips and the Velcro -- what will boiling water do to those? I'm concerned I may damage or destroy both. Any thoughts? A.J.

When it comes to removing excess glue, the properties of E6000 make it among the easiest. In fact, it's so easy that I make no attempt to limit the amount of extra that squeezes out (to a point, of course). Here's what I did with my build. First, I used a razor knife to cut through the excess, using the edge of the cover strip itself to guide the knife for a nice, straight cut. Make several light passes with the knife to avoid scoring the plastic itself. The idea is to just cut through the glue, and not down into the ABS. Then, pry up one end of the glue using a fingernail, toothpick, the tip of the knife, whatever, and just pull it off in a long solid "string." E6000 dries firm, but rubbery, rather like silicone caulking. You may find that if you cut through it all the way that you can pull all the glue from the edge of a cover strip in a single string. However, since you're being careful not to cut through the glue all the way to the plastic, you're bound to leave lots of little bits of glue along the edge of the cover strip. Any sharp object will easily scrape those out, but be sure to use something that is not harder than the plastic or you could scratch it. A sharp metal object would be bad, but something made of wood such as a sharpened popsicle stick or toothpick, or plastic, like this scrap of cover strip cut to an angled point, is perfect: This will loosen almost all those little bits. For any tiny stragglers, you can get them with a fingernail. If you want to really be fussy, a pair of tweezers can grab those little guys nicely. Still, rubbing a fingernail along the edge of the cover strip will most likely get the little bits loose. You might still have a bunch of tiny loose bits in the crevice along the edge of the cover strips. Although not really "stuck" to the plastic, the loose bits are still rubbery and tend to stay put on glossy plastic. I found that once you have all the big pieces pulled free and the little bits loose, wiping the armor along the length of the cover strip with terry cloth -- old towel material -- wipes those little bits off. Shake out your cloth periodically to get rid of the bits, and just wipe down the cover strip till it's as clean as you want. A.J.

Test fit! The amount of absolute dread I had approaching this moment was second only to the amount of absolute dread I had before making the first cut in the plastic. Terrified to actually do it. But since I have to put the armor away for a couple of weeks, I couldn't possible put it to bed without a test fit. So here goes. From the front: Holy yikemoly, look at me -- I have Stormtrooper pants! As a bonus, I get to flaunt common decency by wearing white after Labor Day. OK, let's take a look at the back: Again, looks pretty not bad. Yeah, I don't have the Shins closed properly -- hell, I'm lucky I was even able to get this on by myself much less get those things closed -- but it looks like the strips all line up nicely both front and back. I think I might need the Shins to come down just a bit as they feel pretty high over my knees. Not much, maybe a 1/2" - 3/4" trim from the bottoms. Also, from the front view above they seem high at the ankles, so when I have a second person to lend a hand I'll get those closed properly and tugged down where they belong and reassess how high they are at the knees. I also think the Thighs need to come up, as I can feel them scraping the front of my knees. I think I at least need to trim the tops -- although you can't see it in the photo, the peaks at the Thigh fronts are banging the bottom of the Ab, and the insides are really rubbing against each other something awful just below the Cod. You can see that from both the front and rear view. One thing I'm noticing on this my first time wearing it is that I almost have to keep my back arched so the garter keeps the Thighs up. If I lean forward even a little, they come down and rest on the tops of the Shins. Need to do some adjusting to that, but I think maybe trimming the Thigh tops may help there, too. As an aside, wearing this for the first time is the weirdest feeling thing I've ever felt. The armor feels like it's going to fall off at any moment. I can't move at all. Plus, it all seems so "fragile," for lack of a better word. But again, this is only the first time ever that I've put these one, so I'm hoping that after tweaking the Shins and Thighs a bit that it'll feel a little less weird. Man, you should have seen the comedy show it was of me trying to get this on. Thighs first, of course, but when I bent down to get the boots the garter lets the Thighs sag five or six inches when bending forward, pretty much putting a splint on my knees which, because they wouldn't bend, I couldn't put the boots on. I finally had to unattach the Thighs and let them flop around my ankles as I got the boots on. Then it was the same thing trying to get the Shins on -- when I leaned forward I couldn't bend my knees to get the Shins on. It was a nearly half-hour laugh riot of loosening this so I could tighten that, then loosening something else so I could do another thing. Took forever, but I finally just slapped the Shins on and hoped for the best, because I couldn't bend to reach the closures. I literally had no idea what they looked like until I took the photos. That's it for my build for a little while, as I gotta get to work on an assignment with a really tight deadline. However, I wanted to get this step done first and let you all take a peek. A.J.

Thanks, Preston! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about doing my first troop! A.J.

Also: No rivet gun needed, and they're removable at any time. A.J.

Yeah, it fits exactly like that. And right out of the BBB. I may still tweak some of those return edges, especially at the top of the Ab, and that may affect the overall fit a bit. And, if so, I may need to shave just a hair off the joining edges. Not there yet, though. A.J.

"Note: It doesn't have to be perfect considering the cloth waist belt will cover most of the area. " I keep forgetting that. Thanks! A.J.

Hi, gang. I just got a last-minute work assignment with a two-week deadline (of course), so I'll have to set the build aside while I make some money. Before I do, though, I need the group's thoughts on this. Also, my apologies if the photos are funky -- I flipped the images so the armor is in normal wearing position. I've been working on snap plates and straps for the armor main body. The A.M. armor fits me almost perfectly without trimming, and I've taped it as it'll go together and here's what it looks like. Out of the box, this is how A.M. armor goes together, with everything lining up nice and neat. Looks "off" to me, though. There's no Kidney notch here, of course, but since it's no longer required my plan was to skip it. Now, I'm not so sure and am thinking this might not look quite as off if I made the Kidney notch, then trimmed the Butt Plate even with the notch. If I do make the notch and trim the Butt, would I then taper the upper sides of the Cod to meet the notch as indicated by the curved dotted line?. Those cuts would look like this. (I've also added a dotted cut line at the snaps where I need to shorten that tail piece and relocate the two snaps as Tony had pointed out a while back.) So, what are your thoughts on this --- Is the "off" look all in my mind and I should let it all be, or should I make these cuts? Thanks! A.J.

Not sure I follow you. Get together? A.J.

Using a small (model-airplane size) paintbrush, brush some acetone into the crack and hold it together. This will fuse the crack. Then, cut a sliver of ABS maybe 1/8" wide and 1/2" to 3/4" long. Mix up some ABS paste. Dab ABS paste on the underside of that return ridge and press the small piece of ABS into the goo from underneath (quickly!!!) and press it up into the ABS paste. Now, dab a bit more ABS paste over the the small piece that's now on the underside of the return ridge. Finally, dab a small amount of ABS paste on the top of the return ridge right on the crack. Let it cure at least overnight. Sand the top smooth with the surrounding area of the return ridge. Work up through grits to as fine a grit of sandpaper that you have, then follow with Novus 3, then Novus 2. (Don't worry about the underside of the return ridge; nobody sees it.) The crack is not only gone now, but that area will be stronger than before. A.J.

"I’ve never been more in love with glue. Gonna go dig mine out so it can sleep next to me tonight." Geez, Frank. Get a room. (And don't forget to make kissy sounds.) A.J.

Interlude -- Aw, snap! I started on my snap plates today. I began by doing several test plates and straps, then tried snapping and unsnapping them just to get the feel of it all before doing the real ones. I was flabbergasted at just how un-strong the Tandy snaps are. Seriously, it takes almost nothing to pull a snap loose. And it wasn't just one or two I may have done improperly -- although there's no real way to do these improperly -- but about seven or eight practice snap sets. How anyone can use single snaps on their armor and depend on them is beyond me. I had always planned to do the double snaps, but now I'm more determined than ever to do doubles. More importantly, I've decided to put my snap plates and strapping on hold for now and, taking Ukswrath's advice, ordered several dozen Fasnap sets from Mr. Amazon. Thanks, Tony! I'll have them Tuesday or Wednesday and can get back to making snappin' and strappin' happen. In the meantime, there are other things I can get to work on, like the belt and drop boxes or maybe the hand plates, so I can keep busy till my new snaps arrive. A.J.

Gmrhodes13 -- Actually, my comment was a bit of an in-joke. Lorelei is the undisputed Queen of making snap plates. <g> Excellent links, btw. A.J.

Now that you're diving into it, you're gonna need some snap plates. Know anybody who's an expert on making those? A.J.

Glueup Part III -- Stuck on you This will mainly be outer cover strips, but before I got to those I did wrap up the knees. The Knee Belt was difficult, probably the hardest thing (so far; still lots to do), but I got it taken care of and it came out pretty good, methinks. Once I had it riveted and angled the way I wanted it, I added a few dabs of E6000 on the inside to hold it in position. All that's left now is to paint those rivets. I'll probably let that go till I paint the Ab/Kidney rivets, and do them all at the same time. Meanwhile, I also took care of the Sniper Knee. Since I'll be shooting for Centurion, I made sure it was trimmed and glued in-line with the top of the Shin. OK, on with the outer cover strips. I'd mentioned earlier that although I used Duco Cement for most of the armor build, I had planned to do the outer strips with E6000 for two reasons. The first is that I wanted to be able to remove them down the road if I ever lost weight and wanted to resize the armor -- with the outer strips off, I can easily cut through the inner strips, resize as needed, then redo outer strips. Of course, the chances of me losing weight are slimmer than I'll ever be, so the second reason for using E6000 is really the main reason: It is so easy after it's cured to take care of squeeze-out. More on this in a moment. My cover strips have been cut for some time, so the first thing I did was give the strips registration marks to aid in getting them lined up correctly. To do this, put the dry strips in place and lined them up exactly as you need them, then mark the center of the strip and the surface you're going to glue it to in pencil. In this case, I've lined up the outer strips so they exactly mirror the inner strip with the seam right in the center. Then I squeezed a line of E6000 right down the seam (in this case, on one of the forearms), then squeezed lines of glue all around the outer edge of the cover strips. You've probably noticed here that I'm using white E6000. I have both clear and white, but am using the white for all the outside gluing because I think it blends in better. Also, as you'll see shortly, when trimming the squeeze-out it leaves the joint between the cover strip and the armor with almost no visible gap. One of the things I dislike about E6000 is that it's very difficult to get things clamped up without everything sliding all over hell and back. Seriously, the moment you apply clamping pressure, you can almost count on the strips sliding one direction or another. To combat this, I put the glued strip in place on the armor -- again, the forearm here -- and pressed it gently down. Then, I taped the strips in place to keep them aligned while putting on the clamps. The tape isn't putting a lot of pressure on the strip, just enough to hold it securely. With the strips secure, add clamps and magnets as needed and let everything go about drying. Notice here that I've placed that tape such that each piece is under a single clamp. The reason for this is that the glue doesn't dry well under the tape, so I'll come back in an hour or so once the glue has begun setting up, take those single clamps off and remove the tape so air can get to it, then reset the clamps. Let's talk about squeeze-out. I'm sure you noticed above that I'm using plenty of glue, so I'm guaranteed to get squeeze-out. But here's the thing: No matter how careful you are, no matter how sparingly you apply glue, you are STILL going to get squeeze-out. With that in mind, I say embrace squeeze-out, don't avoid it. Squeeze-out is your friend. Love it and make kissy sounds. Say it with me: Slather on the glue, 'cause it's good for me and you. The thing is, removing excess glue later is more difficult if it's in small drips and drabs in several places. But with E6000, larger amounts of squeeze-out are actually far easier to remove than small amounts. E6000 is very much like silicone caulk -- it dries soft and rubbery when cured and, like silicone caulk, it can be worked when dry. Removing excess couldn't be more straightforward. First, very carefully draw the tip of a sharp knife along the cover strip edges to cut through the squeeze-out. The knife must be sharp; change the business end frequently. Cut all the way through the glue, but avoid cutting or scoring the plastic. Cut the entire length of the cover strip. Now use a fingernail or tool to pry up the glue at one end. (I'll show you my glue tool in a moment.) Grab the end of the glue and just slowly pull it free as I'm doing here. It'll probably break from time to time, but just peel up the new end and keep on pulling. Occasionally, you might pull a piece the entire length. With most of the squeeze-out gone, there will still be little bits of the glue in the very edge of the joint between cover strip and armor. This is where my glue tool really shines. It's just a bit of scrap cover strip cut at an angle on the end. Just dig the point of the tool in the groove along the edge of the cover strip, and draw it back and forth to work those little glue bits out. Keep working with the tool -- resharpening the end often by simply cutting a new edge, because it will get dull quickly -- until you've got that groove clean. When you're done, the cover strip will look like this one. Notice how using white E6000 makes the seam between cover strip and forearm almost invisible for a no-gap look. Also in this photo, you can see what all those peeled-off strips of excess glue shavings look like. That's it -- the glueup of the armor is complete. Now, it's on to snap plates, strapping and fitting as I move on to the body of the armor: Ab, Butt, Kidney, Chest and Back, plus strapping up the Forearms, Biceps and Shoulder Bells. I think I'm getting there. A.J.

Since the armor is pristine now, and continuing to build a TK will result in pristine armor, I'd start there. You'll certainly bang it up over the next year or two. My suggestion is to go TK first, and start putting aside a nest egg for a second set of armor. Then, right about the time you've saved up enough for another BBB your TK will be nice and used (and abused), and ready to covert to a Sandy. Just make those changes with the buttons, straps and such and dirty it up some more. Then start on your brand new TK. After that build, you'll have both. A.J.

Thanks, all! I finally got it attached pretty much as in the photos. Devil of a time doing those split rivets. Not a lot of working room in there, and managed to whack my finger mightily. The bruise goes nicely with the magnet-pinch blister about 3/16" away from it. (That blister, in turn, is pretty much centered between the new bruise and a cut from trimming. War injuries in service to The Empire.) Anyway, the knee belt is attached with the correct rivets, and secured with a dollop of E6000 here and there. Finished knee belt photos to come. Meanwhile, I've also done the sniper knee, and it came out fantastic. And, with the legs done I've been adding the outer cover strips, and those are also coming along nicely. Photos on that to come, too. A.J.

The knee belt has been giving me fits. The A.M. knee belt comes already curved, but the curve is really more of a stop sign than a curve -- really angular bends. Spent an hour or two carefully heating and trying to re-bend it to more of a curve. Slow going as I didn't want to ruin it, but I finally smoothed it out a good bit. Still more angular than I'd like, but much better than before. Now, I need some eyeballs on it and some advice. I currently have it clamped into place so that the ends are about 1/4" from the rear "angles" on the bottom thigh ridge. Keeps sliding around, though, so it's been a bit hard to measure, fit and take photos. I *think* I have it about right. Here are three shots, working around the knee from right-to-left. Right side (outside of the thigh)... From the front (note that I've offset the center box so it's toward the inside of the thigh, per the screenshots)... Finally, the left side (inside of the thigh)... I currently have the knee belt at an orientation that would be pretty much level with the ground when in a standing position. Also, I've put a red dot where I think the rivet should go (yes, the dot is on the clamp in one photo). Thoughts and advice? Thanks! A.J.

Also, don't forget to add a bit of "fuzzy" Velcro (not the "hooky" Velcro) to the back of the clips. That'll keep the clips from scratching up your armor. A.J.

Tino's right, Nicole. Those TD belt clips are really thin. But instead of rebuilding them, do yourself a favor and get some from Ukswrath. They're top-notch. A.J.

Like this: A.J.

Depends what you're sanding, but here are some tips. For leveling and smoothing armor edges -- Always use a small sanding block. The pads of your thumb and fingers are soft, and sandpaper will just "ride" over the high spots. You'll smooth it OK, but it'll take forever to level things. I tend to start leveling with 150-180 grit and a sanding block. For edges, once it's level I'll follow that with 220, and maybe 320. The sanding block doesn't have to be huge, in fact, a small one will give you good control. Here's a photo from my build showing what I used to smooth the edges of mine: For leveling and smoothing areas you've filled with ABS paste -- Again, use a sanding block to get things level. 180 grit is a good starting place. Follow that with 220, again on a sanding block. Once it's level, move up through 320 grit. If this is a non-seen area, it's fine to stop there. (For that matter, for unseen areas you could probably stop at 220.) If the area will be visible and you want that classic Shiny Whitey sheen, follow the 320 grit with 400, then 600 or 800, then 1200 and then 2000. Don't skip grits if you can help it. After sanding with 2000 grit you'll notice you're starting to get some reflective shininess. Now switch over to Novus 3, dab a bit on a smooth rag and use your fingertip behind the rag to buff out the sanded area. Follow that with Novus 2 in the same manner, and when you're done the area will be as shiny as brand new ABS. For removing large amounts of stock -- You can't beat a sanding drum. You can do this with a rotary tool such as a Dremel, but those are really small drums. You can get larger sanding drums (and sandpaper sleeves) you can use in a drill/driver, or even a drill press -- my personal choice. Take your time with these and keep the speed low, or you'll find yourself melting the plastic off instead of sanding. If you have a small drill press, I highly recommend it. You can set the speed on a drill press just by changing which pulleys the belts are on. Set the speed BELOW 400 rpm. Also, using a drill press means you don't have to hold a tool and you can keep both hands on the armor you're sanding. For wholesale removal, I like a using a MicroPlane shaping drum on the drill press. Again, here's a shot from my build. These things are great, and because the use tiny chisel-like edges to remove stock, they don't generate heat like sandpaper drums will. Here's a better shot of what they look like when they're not spinning... Hope this helps. Happy sanding! A.J.

How's the trimming on this -- better? It was 5mm, and it's now a hair under 3mm. You can see the trimmings in front of the belt. Thanks! A.J.

I am definitely going for L2 & L3, so a-trimming I shall go. How about the second part of the question, the belt orientation? In the two canon photos you included in your post, the first one is clearly angle upward, but the second appears to be level/parallel with the ground. Personal choice? Thanks Tony! A.J.

Thigh ammo belt question... The Billhag diagram shows that the edges of the ammo belts should be from 3mm to 5mm away from the "boxes." Out of the Big Brown Box, the already-trimmed A.M. thigh ammo belt is 5mm (and I've marked it in pencil at 3mm in the photo below). Can I leave it as-is at 5mm, of do I have to start cutting? And while we're on the subject of the thigh ammo belt, how should it be mounted -- level/parallel with the ground, angled upward, or angled downward? I've seen all three ways in the builds, as well as in movie screenshots. Since I've seen it all three ways, can I assume it's personal preference? Thanks! A.J.