Hi,
So I've been lurking around here for a while now, checking up on people's builds and ultimately deciding on ordering a kit from AP.
This place has already been invaluable and I'm barely started, so thank you guys.
Good news this week: I received a nice brown box filled with glorious shiny ABS !
Couldn't be more excited about this!
Buuuut... this is my first build, so even though I've been reading stuff here all this time, I still don't feel anywhere near prepared for this endeavor. (oh well !)
Anyway, I figured I might as well get a thread started to sort things out.
Here's the unboxed kit (crappy cellphone pic, newer pics will be much better I promise):
I got the helmet trimmed by Mark (AP) and the rest of the kit untrimmed.
I'm 5' 6" and 140lbs so I figured I'd have a fair bit of trimming to do anyway.
Currently going into this aiming for centurion because why not ?
Alright, here we go.
After staring at it a while I built up the courage to take a knife to it.
I started with something small and simple: The Thermal Detonator endcaps.
I built a simple jig which honestly made this somewhat foolproof, here's some (better) pics:
7/8" strip of plyywood
X-Acto Blade
Clamp
Turning the endcap while applying light pressure against the blade:
I gave this a few turns as I wanted to go through rather than doing a "score and snap" to get the cleanest/squarest edge I could.
End results, clean and flat:
Not too bad, I like how these turned out.
Also dry fitted them on the TD tube (not pictured), need to shorten the tube a bit.
I also started roughly trimming the forearms and biceps. I know I didn't trim nearly enough yet, just trying to get a feel of just how much I need to remove.
Inner bicep - top edge:
Inner bicep - bottom edge:
Got *plenty* to remove on the bottom edge, not sure how much I should leave. FWIW, I have small chicken arms.
Forearms:
I removed the return edge at the wrist-end on both halves.
The thing is I'm not quite sure how it's supposed to be coming together lengthwise?
I left a return edge at the elbow-end of the forearm parts and no matter how I align the two halves together, there is a a bit sticking out, either at the elbow or at the wrist.
Kind of hard to describe, but also not that easy to photograph!
Forearm, when I align the outside wrist corner:
Looks wrong
Forearm, when I align halves at the elbow (looks less wacky to me):
Seems to fit better, I 'm pretty sure it should be aligned like this and that I need to cut that pointy bit at the wrist ? Anyone?
So.. my first questions:
Inner bicep top edge looks somewhat alright to me? or is too much / useless?
I was thinking of doing a similar return edge on the bottom edge of the inner bicep ?
Forearm alignment, I'm thinking:Align at elbow
Fit for my arm diameter
Measure *multiple* times
Trim for my arm diameter
(Assemble/Glue cover strips ?)
Get rid of pointy bit at wrist edge (after gluing?)
That's it for now,
Thanks,