Seansull

Here are my ab buttons glued with e6000. I made these “removable” in the event this TK becomes a TD some day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great idea! I was curious how that would play out. The snaps are rather large, but they needed to be strong to pull the inner box out to access interior. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I decided to attach my ammo drop boxes with snaps. This will me to easily put items inside, should the need arise. This actually worked out better than I expected. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TD final assembly complete. I decided to get the belt started next. Corners cut at 45 deg. Rivet cover plates cut and polished. Rivet holes drilled Snaps installed on back side of belt and snapped in place to check fit. I’m very happy with how it crossed the ab button plate. Finally, I glued the rivet cover plates in place. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I finally received my thigh ammo boxes from Rocky! This was the last item I needed to finish. I need to buy some rivets, they it’s fine for final cleaning! Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I finished up and installed my Hovi tips this afternoon. I think they turned out pretty well. After that I attached the reinforcement strips to the ab plate. Finally, I trimmed my ab button plates with the help of a Billgram. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve got quite a few things accomplished over the weekend. In no particular order, here is what’s been going on in my shop. Midway through fabricating my TD clips. TD parts trimmed to centurion specs and ready to assemble. Roughed up control plate and mating surface of the tube. e6000 applies and set aside to set up. I decided to take a stab at making internal Hovi tip parts. I decided to ya some of the epoxy putty for this. Here are the Hovi tips with base epoxy trimmed. Also, you can see the metal base plates I’m using for the internal mic to me modeled. Initial forming of my part complete. Primer. Parts painted white and Hovi tips painted. I opted for very slight weathering on the rim of the Hovi tips. I’m going for that shiny new TK look. primer and paint for TD screws. Next, I moved towards trimming of torso parts. No shins needed on AM 2.0!! So easy! I ended up removing about 1.3” from each side of the kidney plate. Next I trimmed the cod and installed a split snap. I’m very happy with the way the ab and kidney fit together! 22mm notches cut. I added a reinforcement plate on the inside of the kidney. Ready to trim Butt plate and add reinforcement strips. Gluing plates with CA glue. Finished produce side view. Edge view of sanded and polished reinforcement plates. All in all, I’d say it’s been a productive cold weekend! Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let me get a few more things completed and I plan to do a piece by piece photo comparison. In the meantime, I’d be happy to pm you anything you would like to see specifics on. Also, take a look at my WTF build thread. You will get and idea of everything I had to modify to fit my frame. Cheers! Sean Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was able to get quite a bit completed tonight. I started with fitting and trimming the shins. Easy peasy with the new AM2.0 shins. Since the shins went faster than I expected, I jumped right into the thighs. After a quick test fit, I determined I was ok to trim the fri. To 10mm per side for the cover strips. After cutting the front down to size it was time to test fit and determine the rear cuts. These AM2.0 thighs are FANTASTIC! These to a fraction of the time to fit vs. my last kit. Here you see front and rear trimmed 98% for now. I will do final fitting and return edge sanding just before glueing my cover strips. Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Malace, I used a two part milliput putty from Hobby Lobby. Here is the link.. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Hobbies-Collecting/Tools-Blades/Milliput-Standard-Yellow-Grey/p/25393 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I spent about an hour working on trimming the front of my shins and finishing the epoxy bases of my Hovi tips. Then, I primed and painted inside of tips white. I’ll paint the outside black tomorrow. Also, I want to recreate the mic inside the Hovi top before I install the screens. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I managed to get s few more things finished tonight. I installed the ears, applied the remaining decals, and installed the interior padding. Since I’m still waiting for the epoxy putty to fully cure, I thought I would get started on the shins. I think I have these paired up properly. I’ll start cutting and sizing these tomorrow. Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Today I finished my ears. The small holes are for Ukswrath’s HA system. Next, I started on my Hovi tips. I put a small coat of Vaseline on the recessed areas. I mixed up a small batch of epoxy putty and applied it to the base of the Hovi tips. After these set up I’ll remove and clean everything up. This should give me a nice contoured base final installation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes sir! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I spent some time working on the bucket today. Here I am getting everything masked off in preparation of interior coating. I applied three liberal coats of bed liner spray. Fitting the lenses as one piece. I will bolt these in with the side bucket bolts. Bucket bolted together and ready to trim the ears. Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I contacted TG yesterday and he replied with this shoulder Bell confirmation. ... “The one in the picture on the left goes on the right shoulder. They swoop back, if that makes sense.” So tonight I finished the taper cuts on biceps and forearms. I’m really with the fit. I am going to get arms and legs ready for covers strips, then do strips all at once. I decided to get started on the 4.5 bucket next. Here you see the teeth cut out. This is going to be a really easy helmet build. The eyes came pre cut from TG. Ear bases trimmed and brow rubber installed. I am still trying to decide if I want a low or mid brow for this bucket. This pic shows a mocked up mid brow vs. my low brow WTF bucket. I am leaning towards mid to give me a little more room for interior padding. That’s all for tonight.......cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not much to report, but I almost have my arms fitted. This new AM kit is so nice to work on. Can someone identify the left and right bells in the photo below? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, the button paint is literally not dry on my WTF TK and look what arrived on my doorstep today! My first build (WTF) was definitely a learning experience. I had to make numerous modifications to the armor to fit my 6’1” , 200 lb frame. Everything finally turned out well. However, I really wanted something that would fit me better. So, I ordered an AM 2.0 kit last week and it arrived today! I must say, this kit is REALLY nice. The packaging was impeccable as you AM builders know. I spent some time comparing parts to my WTF kit and I really think it’s going to fit me well. After playing with parts for a bit, I decided to jump right in, and get started on the forearms. Here we go again! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just realized I've been posting my build in the general ANH form not builder pages. Can a mod move this to the correct place? Thanks!

My repairs are complete and I’m pretty pleased with the results. One thing for sure, my bracket system is way stronger now. Here are a few overview photos of the major repair areas. At this point all I lack is abdominal button paint, and my replacement knee ammo pouch from rocky. As soon at that arrives, I’ll submit for pre approval. Cheers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Repairs going better than expected. I reinforced all of the return edges where brackets will be reinstalled. The extra ABS served as a nice base for paste touch up. I am particularly pleased with the broken back corner fix. Everything is rough sanded and ready for polishing phase. Here are do. Photos of the repair so far. It won’t be a fresh off the assembly line TK, but that might be nice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess a TD or HWT may be in my future.....haha. I'll play with it. I am going to boil some abs reinforcement pieces and form fit to the inside before gluing. Then, the ABS paste hell will begin. My biggest concern is the missing back corner (I'll have to totally recreate that), and getting enough gloss on everything to blend the repairs. According to Rocky, it will probably be cheaper to buy an entire kit and build/sell the helmet to offset the cost. However, with all of the mods I had to make for my size, if I start at square one, an RT-Mod kit might be a better option. Either route, I'm looking at a number of months before I could have the parts. Such a frustrating scenario to have to contemplate.

Well, I basically finished, fitted, and adjusted my TK this past weekend. I decided to make some finishing touches before final polishing my entire armor. What happens next is horrifying!!! In my infinite wisdom, I decided to put a drop of thread lock on the strapping bracket nuts. Upon returning to the garage today, I am completely devastated. My midsection armor is ruined. Apparently, the micro amount of thread lock that came in contact with the plastic had a violent reaction over time. It’s has shattered the plastic around most of my strapping screws. Here are some pictures.... Needless to say, I’m not sure where to go from here. I think all of the flanges will have to be reinforced with ABS, followed by extensive ABS paste filling, sanding, and polishing. I glued one chunk of the back plate corner back on but the remaining pieces just crumbled. I am asking myself many questions right now.... Is it even possible to recreate a large section like this with paste? Will a fix like that hold up long term? After I try to repair everything, is my armor going to be so beat up that it looks crappy? (I was going for a new polished TK look) If I order new parts, I’m looking at 2 months minimum and a lot of extra $. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT USE THREAD LOCK ON YOUR HARDWARE. I will be using a dab of paste on V2.0 when I decide what that is. Thanks for allowing a frustrated Builder to vent. Sean Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have discovered that assembling the armor is only 1/2 the battle. Fitting/adjusting everything is a whole new endeavor. I think I finally have my arms the way I want them for now. As you can see in the second photo, I decided to lower the cod area by .7 inches. This made a world of difference in overall fit! At this point, everything is built, it’s just needs to be assembled and tweaked. Here are a couple of 98% finished bucket photos.... Thanks for watching! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes Lou. I have a ton of photos that I have been trying to post, but was limited by the site max kb. I'm in the process of uploading everything to google photos, then I should be able to post everything. I'll try to get them posted ASAP. Thanks!