wook1138

On to snaps and belt. First off - Belt: I used the standard measurements (various builds and the Billhags diagrams) for placing the snaps on the ab on my first build - the left side of the ab calls for 59mm from the return edge as shown below. this is way too much for this armor. I went with 40mm instead and it worked perfect. The right side stays the same - 28mm. Usual measurements By the way, taping the anvil to the back side of the armor works great for setting these snaps. Also reaming out the holes helps the snaps (male base) to sit flush. The left belt snap (tandy line 24) and two snaps for the posterior. Right ab to kidney connection snap and the right belt snap. Once I've centered by belt to the armor, I taped it in place. I took a sharpie marker and marked up the snaps on the armor - then I pressed the belt to the snaps to leave an impression of the marker on the belt. The belt is level and placed just below (but touching) the center button panel. This leaves nice marks where the snaps should go. I did this process twice - just to be sure. Belt in place. I still need to trim and glue on the rivet covers. I used Tandy small single cap rivets to attach canvas belt to ABS ammo pack. The docking bay 94 captain actually has a low fitting belt - it looks like is has fallen down post-weathering. I will need to reposition this belt for SWAT application - but I am told that I need to have the belt here for basic approval. I find it weird that something good enough for L3 approval is not good enough for basic. Oh well. anyway, I was going to install another set of snaps to allow me to easily adjust this in the future - but I forgot and put on the ammo pack before adding the snaps. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice work, Dan. I’m agonizing over the weathering. I’m going the paint route because I have it in my head that the Fullers Earth will rub off and I don’t want that. Especially if I get the pattern right - I don’t want to do it again. I do like the subtle look that the powder gives. Maybe a final coat of powder once I have the pattern right... hmmmm.

I fixed the sniper knee plate. I had to bring it up about 1 inch. Thank you MEPD. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sniper knee plate. A lot easier than a TK knee (for the AP kit at least). Added some pieces of plastic to the back and glued into place. I hope it is enough to hold. The shin is curved and the plate is flat, so I piled on the E6000 and will hope for the best. Reference Also trimmed this guy. Reference pic Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks good. I think everything has been mentioned. The main thing for me was the black between the bicep and forearm. I would try to bring those forearms up a touch - the black between the hand guards and the forearm should be balanced with the amount of black at the elbow if possible. Good luck with approval!

So awesome! You are in for an amazing journey. Going for upper level approval out of the box is the way to go. Post lots of pics, we’re here to help!

Really nice work! You did a really good job on that back piece - it can be difficult to lose that gap.

A few more things done on the build. Pretty much all the gluing is done with a few small exceptions. All holes are drilled and I think I'm ready for some strapping. Anyway, here is what I've been up to. Sizing the shins and thighs. Here is my crazy method of figuring out how much to trim off each side so that it fits and the seam will run at a nice angle down my leg. I hope it works. Belt and thigh ammo belt trimmed and ready for installation. Kept my trim to about 4mm - default for how Mark pulls these pieces. My 45° cut on the belt is 10mm to fit my canvas belt properly. The canvas belt is sitting a bit low in the picture, but it does meet up with where the 45° cut meets the outside edge. I had to do a whole whack of hot bathing and heat gun. I needed to reshape my kidney piece and make it not so wide. I traced the original shape on to cardboard for reference and used hot baths to squish the outsides in a little. This caused buckling of the top and bottom return edge, so I had to use a heat gun and some pieces of wood to reshape the return edge. Sorry no after pics, but it worked out pretty good - mind you, I am terrible at hot baths and heat guns. Also had to reshape how the back meets the kidney. This is an issue with my TK as well - no amount of strapping adjustments could fix it. the back seems to pivot at the outer edges when fitted to my body. This is the return edge along the top of the kidney and AB. The AB side flares up so I also had to reshape that too. Again, no "after" pics. But all is good now. Also shaped my shins to they close better and my posterior to avoid "butt flare". Marked the hole for the cod. Measured about 1-1/8 inch from end and drilled with 1/8" bit for a split rivet. Posterior. Two 5/32" drill holes for line 24 snap bases. I think I measured about 1" from edge and then another 7/8" for second hole. 5/32" hole for snap in right Ab connection. The hole ended up being about 18mm from edge and top. 1/8" holes for split rivets along left ab to kidney connection. the holes are 10mm from seam. 20mm upper return edge and there is about 58mm between each hole. So, at this point, all the arms and legs are assembled except for the 25mm back coverstrips for the shins. I still need to drill holes on the Ab for the belt and assemble belt. And some trimming of coverstrips here and there. Also need to finish up the helmet. And then... I can finally start getting dirty. Need to trim for the three-button button plate and the sniper knee. Anybody know how thick this thing should be? Time to do some research... . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats trooper!!

Like Dan says, the snaps with an elastic works well and will likely work just fine. I needed to use both methods - the snaps to keep the bicep from popping out and the bell elastic to keep the bells from flaring out.

Yes, from what I've seen it is more important to have the spacing at the back equal. For the rivets, there was some rumblings about the knee ammo pack needing to be a single cap rivet for L2 or L3. You are still good to use the split rivet at this time as far as I can tell from the CRL. It is still one of those "screen accurate" things at this point. The build is looking amazing! The attention to detail is impressive. I think I might try the iron trick as well. Good job!

For the right thigh I used a combination of having a little extra return edge below the cover strips in places and trying to bend the cover strip. I got a bit of a bend in the cover strip by gluing the bottom half first - letting it set really well - then gluing the top half. The flex in the cover strip allows for a little bit of movement to correct for the curve. I also used an inside cover strip beforehand to "rough" attach the thigh pieces.

TK is either E-11 or DLT-19. You can holster the E11 so it is nice having one for trooping. The BFGs are usually for heavy weapons trooper or sandtrooper.

Really!? I've been on this forum for about a year and always thought a blaster was optional - as per my interpretation of the CRL. I would propose a re-wording in the CRL to make this more clear. Mind you - I speak Canadian. Anyway, there are some very cheap compression shirts and pants on Amazon. I have stick-man arms and found shirts that fit me very nicely for about $15 to $20. I've been trooping with cheap amazon compression pants and shirts with no issues thus far - expect for a little bit of transfer of dye from a shirt - I recommend washing the garments a couple times before wearing on an extended (sweaty) troop. And if you want a DLT-19, get one! Just don't dirty it up like a sandtrooper's DLT-19.

I'd say you are good to go. Don't boot it.

Tapatalk seems to be working now. Thank you to whichever poor soul has this typically thankless job.

Just checked the mail... got it! Sweet!. Thank you sir!

Awesome! Yeah, Looks like Tapatalk isn't playing nice with the site. Boo.

Yep. Tapatalk is broken... at least for displaying pics. Check out the thread below:

Testing tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did. It made it easier to manipulate the template into place. If I remember correctly, the templates were a little long for my tubes - I didn't paint the back stripe (I painted 14 stripes on each side) and then I still had to remove one stripe from the back of the right side after I was done. So, try fitting the template with the ears on first to double check before attaching them for painting. Here is what I did - note that I put the stencils on the wrong side!! https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/43437-wooks-first-build-anh-stunt-tk-ap/?do=findComment&comment=589733

Yeah, the painting is not easy. It almost broke me. Take your time. For the tube stripe templates, I found putting down a couple of very light coats at first helped a bit - this helps seal the template edges a bit. For the final coat you will want to put it on a bit thicker so that it levels off nicely and you don't get brush streaks. There will be some bleeding of the paint - can't be avoided. Once you have enough paint on so that you are happy, remove the templates. Let it dry overnight, then go back in with a toothpick to clean up. Good Luck! Keep it up - almost there!

Top of pic is right side of helmet.

Thanks! Yeah, I haven't finished fine tuning the ear gaps yet. The whole right ear is still fitting funny. The right tube is wonky - painting the stripes on it really highlighted that fact. I struggled with figuring out the ear thickness too. They do look different in some pics. I've decided to leave as is for now - it seems the angle of the shot (movie) really makes the ears look different. I'm glad to hear that I wasn't the only one thinking that.

I have not been working much on the armor these last few weeks - summer weather and young kids keeps a guy busy enough. I have managed to get a few things done. Tapatalk is broken so I have to see if I remember how to use imgur. So I have my arms glued together and ready for strapping. My thighs have the inner cover strip glued in. My right thigh needed some extra work so I glued the top half first and the bottom half is setting tonight. The shins have an inner cover strip in place and one shin has the outer cover strip glued on - then I ran out of magnets. Managed a little more work on the helmet. I painted the frown and started on the traps and tears. I will need to expand the traps and tears a bit - the return edge is tricky to assess on the softer AP helmet. Taking a picture with the flash really brings it out so it is easier to compare to the reference material. I broke off a piece from the upper left corner of the left eye (right corner in pic). You can kind of see it in the first picture above. I added some ABS paste and will sand it down tomorrow. Doesn't look like much in the picture, but I almost threw-up when it happened. Gotta love that ABS paste! I also started the tedious process of sanding my T-21 3D printed model. I'm using a rust coloured filler primer - I might use this with liquid mask to create a worn rusted look eventually. I'll see what I think then I actually start to paint. This is actually my second coat of filler primer. the pieces on the left have been sanded up to 600 grit. I will need at least one more coat of primer - probably two.