Acidedge

Finally got approved!!!

Just approved, TK 60819 requesting 501st access. https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=31176

Name: Mark Witt Garrison: Great Lakes (hopeful) Armor: AM 4.5 Helmet: AM 4.5 Belt: TKittell Neck Seal: Darmans Holster: Darmans Boots: Imperial Boots Blaster: doopydoos Height: 5’9” Weight: 220 lbs TK Type: ANH stunt https://i.imgur.com/KsIXfsw.jpg

So it’s been a busy couple of months and finally getting back to finishing this thing. Any tips I could get on trimming down the shoulder bells? Ie how much and where? I’m in the process of changing the attachments of the bells to the shoulder straps, so it’s a great time to get them right once and for all.

Sorry it’s been a while since posting, been a very busy couple of months. All the pieces are tentatively done, just have some adjustments to make. here is my fix list so far: adjust sniper knee plate (needs to come out more so it doesn’t get caught under the thigh) better snaps on belt re align drop boxes redo straps on shoulders and shoulder bells (currently all elastic and it’s stretching too much, but plus shoulder bells are hard to attach) touch up paint on ab buttons and bucket trim butt plate sides (remove 90° angle on end) possibly readjust ears on bucket reglue latex hand guards (peeling right off the gloves...any input here would be great) remove more return edge on biceps and reshape rounder try to fix back plate so it lines up better with kidney beans plate and no overlap (need advice here too) anything else you guys see please let me know.

What a busy couple of weeks. Finally got to get some work done today. I was able to get the shoulder strapping all done. after fitting and taking the pics I got the centurion rivets and the snap on the ab plate put in, and painted the rivets. I’m thinking about trimming a little on the outsides of the butt plate so it’s not such a sharp angle. Thoughts?

So its been a few days since I posted. Life has been busy this week and I haven't been able to get a lot accomplished. I did managed to get the strapping put together for the torso, and I'm waiting for the E-6000 to dry (which it probably is already) on the shoulders so I can do a fitting and look at the sides/butt plate. With school having started this past Monday as well it been slower going, but I will keep working on the kit as I can. (also been distracted this weekend trying to catch up on celebration panel videos) As of right now I'm undecided on the notch for the sides of the kidney plate. I did order the set of split rivets from joseph, so I'll be able get those done when they come in. I removed almost all of the tab between the legs of the butt plate, left just enough room on it for the two male snaps and got those on. The butt plate is a little loose on me, but I also don't have much padding in that area, so I'm hoping when I get to put on the elastic strap between the legs i can use that to pull the butt plate in closer to me just a bit. For the torso strapping I'm using the strapping method, using Line 24 snaps from Tandy. Man these things are strong at first. I'm using the placement diagram from Joeseph's snap setting 101 thread, and so far so good. I started using elastics for all of the straps, but I've found I'm not able to get the right spacing on them, making them either to tight or to loose leaving overlaps and gaps, so I switched most of them to nylon strapping. Setting the snaps is still a bit of a challenge, but I'm getting better at them. Yes I've gone through the tutorial thread, watched lots of YouTube videos on them, and they still don't always look the best, but they are holding so that must mean i'm doing something right. I ended up taking off about 1/2 an in from the shoulder tabs on the front and back plates, just enough so I would have some of a gap between them. I'll make the elastic shoulder straps after work tomorrow and do the fitting then so everyone can see the progress and give feedback. Sorry no pics tonight, as I just finished writing 2 papers for school after work, tired and have to be back up for work in 7 1/2 hours. "And there was much rejoicing in the land.... yay." I'll get the fitting pics up tomorrow evening. Thanks again to everyone for the tips and pointers.

Makes sense. What about the sides?

So I got started with the elastic snap connections, and realized off of other photos that the posterior plate does not line up evenly on the sides with the kidney plate on most, and mine does. Since I already have the snap parts glued in, I was thinking about taking off the 1” - 1 1/2” extra from the outside of where the snaps are glued. It would be the blue tape area in these pics: Any thoughts? I know I’d need to smooth out the bottom of the cut to round it off a little on each side also. Next question: how much room do I need for the part between the legs, as mine is quite long and needs to be trimmed. Do I leave just enough room for the two male snaps? While waiting for that input going to work on the ab plate to kidney connections, and possibly the kidney to back connection.

It’s the full resin kit. Only thing missing is the scope rail.

Also- got my blaster kit in today from doopydoos. Anyone know if it is good enough to be approved out of the box or if I would have to get the finishing kit for it?

Busy day so didn’t get as much done as I wanted. I made some snap plates that will attach the butt and kidney plates (using elastic instead of scrap abs). Also had to repair a small crack on the return edge of the butt plate. Don’t have pics of them yet, but I’ll get them up soon. The crack was small and still only on the return edge, so I used some ca glue to hold it together, and put a small piece of scrap abs along the actual plate to make sure it won’t go anywhere (e-6000 for that one). Next I turned to my last forearm, did a hot water bath to get it to close better, and glued the last inner strip on to close it. Will add outer cover strips in a day or two. This is before the bath: and after gluing: also got the elastic glued onto the shoulder bells. Did some one work on the td as well. Trimmed down the caps to 3/4”, glued on the control panel and glued on some elastic to the inside of one cap. The other cap and end of the elastic got some snaps, so I can feed it through, hold the caps on tight and still hold something inside. At the moment I’m thinking the key for my husky box I’ll be using for the armor, but we’ll see. Now just waiting for the td clips to come in from Ukswrath (tomorrow probably) Going to to keep working on the torso over the next week or so, working my way upwards so I can have everything in place. Think my next step will be the strapping between the butt and kidney. Planning on starting with elastic straps, but might end up switching to nylon if i need to. From there I’ll do the ab plate, and then the chest and back.

Been a busy week so far. I’ve been working on the forearms and biceps here and there when I can. While waiting for each strip to dry I’m wanting to get started on the torso. As I’m test fitting, looking for how it all fits, I noticed the the chest doesn’t seem to be sitting even. If I have it centered with the an plate, it’s not even on the sides, and the pec muscle in the chest isn’t even, a little lopsided. First question: is this normal with AM armor? Next question is how much of the shoulders should I trim back? Right now the chest and back shoulders overlap, and I know it needs something of a gap, but how much? (sorry the camera angle isn’t great)

Thanks! I’ll give it a shot tomorrow after work.

Day 4- another productive day. Finished the paint on the helmet and put in the frown mesh. Aside from all the electronics (still have to get them) helmet I think should be done for now. I know the angle of the ears isn’t what it should be, but going to save that issue for another time when I have more experience. next I started to move on to the arms. I started working on the right arm first. Had to do a bit of trimming since the AM is made to fit large troopers. I went with small cuts at a time, tape them together, test fit, remeasure, rinse and repeat. In the end I got the forearm and the bicep trimmed to fit cover strips all cut, and glued the inside cover strips on. Using E-6000 for the entire build, not wanting to take a chance on the zap a gap just yet being so new. After work tomorrow I’ll be gluing the other parts of the arm together, and then Monday I’ll get the outer cover strips on. It feels great to see it start to take shape.