Steaditrooper

Forearms are done...mostly. I've taken off most of the return edge at the elbow. They are still a little tight but not uncomfortable. I glued the painted buttons on the Ab piece too. Love those magnets.

I just put holes where needed on the belt, following his build as a guideline. I did use his measurements for placement of the snaps on the Ab.

I've got those but I question how strong and durable they actually are. Guess I'll do some testing today. Nice thing about those is they're less likely to scratch the armour under the belt.

It turns out that my pop rivets are too short. I'll have to get longer ones tomorrow. Dang it. I wanted to glue the rivet cap covers on tonight. Oh well.

Not sure what you mean by make snap rivets? You mean a split rivet into a snap back? I have split rivets for the Ab to Kidney and I'll be using nylon webbing for that connection. I'm going with the screen used brackets for attaching all the armour together. That involves elastic loops at the back. I'll see how that goes for the first little while as far as the elastic stretching or wearing out. Very easy to replace though. Nice thing about all the stuff 'behind the scenes', as it were, is it can all be replaced with something else and not effect the look of the armour. Right now I'm putting the belt together. Not sure how much I like pop rivets to attach the ammo belt to the canvas belt though.

I'm pretty sure I'll be done by the 15th. Not sure when the Locktite arrives. Maybe the 12th if I'm lucky.

I placed and order for popper snaps from Amazon.ca. They shipped a while ago and are long overdue. I might have to go with the line 24 snaps provided by AP. Not screen accurate but approvable. Before I knew AP provided all these pieces (thanks Mark for such an amazing and complete kit) I purchased snaps at Michael's here in Toronto. Although I don't need them for the armour, it's nice to have a bunch to practice with and figure out before installing.

Split rivet time. As per all the great info here, thanks Ukswrath for your hyper detailed build threads, I've drilled the holes. Starting at the top 20mm down and 10mm in from the edge. The top of the Ab had a steep angle on the return edge so I took out my heat gun and very carefully worked the edge down to more closely match the kidney piece for a cleaner look. I took my time. The heat gun really focuses the heat and it would be very easy to warp the armour in a bad way.

I've started fitting the padding in my helmet. I need to replace the green with something darker. I can see my eyes while wearing it. A local 501st member told me Acklands Granger has a curved welding shield which works really well. That might be my task this Thursday.

Hey Greg. FYI, the hand guards from AP are silicone and almost nothing sticks to them. I've tried both E6000 and Zap-A-Gap. Nope. Darthanael's AP build thread has the solution. I ordered it from Amazon.ca. Loctite Super Glue Plastics Bonding System with Activator 2-Gram (681925) is what he used and it worked. Shipping is about a week with Amazon Prime and was $10 CDN. I'm expecting it next week. I might have to apply to the 501st using the hand guards AP provided and then go for EIB & Centurion when the glue comes. I also ordered the S shaped helmet trim from Trooperbay which shipped today. Wonder how long USPS is going to take for that one?

Ok. Pretty happy with how this turned out.

Gave the shoulders a bath. As you can see the shoulder doesn't sit properly around the bicep. Bath time and...good.

Hard at it today...while I can. Forearms are glued up now. Tomorrow will be exciting when I take away all the clamps , magnets and tape. I will then be able to figure out how much of the return edge at the elbows will need to go. I've taken my bucket apart in order to give the interior a proper Plasti Dip coating. This is just the first coat. Three have been done and I'm just waiting for it to dry in the garage. Stinky stuff. Trimmed the Ab piece to the proper screen accurate spot. Getting ready to cut. Yikes! And no going back now. Fitting the Kidney. And trimming the kidney. Well, that's that. Have been working on fitting chest, back, ab, kidney and butt. When my wife gets home I'll have her take a pic of the rough fitting.

Hey Greg. Check out Ukswrath's AM 1.0 build. Fourth build down on the ANH Build Threads. On page 4, part way down, there is a completed pic of the back of the thighs. I think this is what you mean. I know it's the answer I was looking for.

Congratulations!

I cut off the big one. I'm going to wait with the other one until after I've fitted everything. Mark did say that BTW.

I was rough fitting my thighs last night and realized I'd either have to trim the top by around an inch and raise them or remove the detail at the bottom back in order to walk at all. It dug into the back of my leg something awful. I looked at the CRL and it definitely is gone. Hopefully someone in the know will chime in.

Was having a dickens of a time last night rough fitting my chest and back. The shoulder straps AP provides come flat. Time to do some cooking while enjoying some coffee. And that should help.

I'm looking at trimming my Ab armour. AP provides a lot of excess to help avoid shimming. I have more than enough on the kidney piece and am wondering where on the Ab piece I should cut? I think the screen used armour Ab pieces end around where I marked #1. I originally was thinking about cutting at #2. Also, should there be a return edge here once trimmed? p.s. Pro tip: Knives are sharp. Don't use them before the morning coffee kicks in. Also, avoid getting Zip Kicker into any cuts. Ouch!

Congrats on your BBB. I'm enjoying building my AP kit. Only started last week. Ask lots of questions, post lots of pics and have a great time!

It might be all I get done today. Busy day full of Christmas events and guests.

Woke up early this morning and got to work. First thing was to "unwrap" my biceps. Woohoo! A little E6000 clean up and time for shoulder bell clip installation. Well, the clips I made yesterday were too short. No biggie. I made longer ones. 15 minutes later and they're in. Zap-A-Gap for a quick set up time, a clamp and good to go. Completed biceps...other than a couple small tweaks if needed. Finally, before breakfast, gluing my forearms together. One side only. A little E6000 and...wait until tomorrow to squeeze the halves together and complete the forearms! So far, it's been a productive day.

Congrats on your BBB. There are a bunch of us doing AP builds and having a great time. I'm a few days into mine. I've also found a few other recently completed AP build threads. Darthanael's thread is full of good info.

2,953 km. Sorry we hijacked your thread Greg.

Nope. Just two friendly Canadians who got their armour at the same time from the same guy...in Canada. However, Greg's thread is better & more detailed and he is funnier.