husky68

Heading off on vacation for a few weeks so build will be put on hold. Took some pictures to show my progress to friends while visiting. So much done and so much remains, feels like a mountain that I will never reach the summit until that day that I realize I am there. Enjoy your summer everyone.

Get your orders in today, 3 month waiting period, honest. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Needs some around the boots. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

More action with the ultrasonic cutter, cleaning up cover strips and will need to sand them down. I like the straight look but open to suggestions.

Those looks great. How did you know it was my birthday?

I was also able to borrow a ultrasonic cutter from one of the local members. Anyone that makes a lot of armor should consider buying one, cuts abs like a hot knife through butter. I trimmed some of my cover strips and got my drop boxes down to the recommended sizes.

On Saturday there was a local armor party which I am always happy to join. This time I asked for help with making my belt, which seemed daunting to me as it involved punching holes in my belt and armor. We started by setting the snaps into my armor for the butt and kidney sections, holes already drilled by Mark at AP. Then we adjusted the belt to sit at the back with proper overlap and maybe some room to expand along with my weight if needed. Following advice from wook1138, I changed the snap location measurement from 59mm to 40mm which seemed much better for alignment on AP armor. I took the nervous step of punching the holes into the belt and using tape with pencil rubbing combined with some extra pencil markings I found the right spot to set snaps into the belt. Then I put the center hole into the belt and lined it up with my center mark. Using a members rivet gun I nervously locked the abs to the belt, the rivets did not come out too clean but they should hold well enough and will be covered with those dome caps. I was also reminded to give the belt a natural bend when placing the side rivets so the belt when worn would not be under extra stress. The position is good but I would have ideally wanted it a fraction higher on the button panel. If this becomes a problem I might consider using a magnet as seen in Simes's ANH TK Build to get it up that last little bit. Also the photo angle is slightly from above, so a more straight on shoot might look better aligned.

I've been working on the side connection between ab and kidney. Not wanting to put any stress on the rivets I looked for a method not using them. I decided to try something different making a locking system with my 2mm abs strips. Difficult to cut and shown to others comments were surprise and concern over durability. I will likely add to the thickness and increase the holding section which should give enough strength. I even have design for a sliding locking pin to include a magnet for movement, so this is not the finished product.

This was suggested to me from a Japan Garrison member.

Work continues.. Still debating what to do in the back, velcro or magnets, and how to deal with the additional V gap I will need to add.

Except for biceps I did inner then outer strips because it let me add in carefully measured gaps to get pieces big enough for my size. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to the joys of building. Any pinned log in the ANH Build Threads area is worthy a read, regardless of maker they are building. Otherwise search for similar maker build logs and the pre-approval or high level submission threads for finer details and tips.

Finished the cover strips on the back of thighs, will trim them later during fitting check. I can pull them up high enough to almost need no trimming in the back. Likely I will have to trim later for mobility and follow the *NEW* description in the CRL for higher levels. Took an evening looking at the shins and taped them up with black boots on to see fit. Appears I will need a similar V gap that I have been using on all other pieces. Not sure if I will try velcro or magnets but starting with the front strips first. Will also need early hot bath as the pieces are not aligned front and back without a lot of force.

It might be the angle of the photo, seemed more lined up when I worked on it last night. No worries if I need to cut a little off because top has extra to be removed later.

Finished the front strip on thighs, leaving all trimming till later after a fit test. Starting to work on the back strips. Will put in V shape gap and fill like I did on the forearms.

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/33797-ranks-whats-good-rank-in-the-good-side/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How wide can I go on back cover strips on thighs and shins? I know the back of thighs is supposed to be 20mm and back of shins is 25mm.

Put on some of the armor, missing some straps on arms and sides but just to get a look at the progress. The picture is also from a low angle with camera on chair. Bells are pulling hard on the shoulder elastic, might have to lengthen it. Also I have started on the left thigh with the front inner and outer strip.

Ha ha ha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://trooperbay.com/trooper-helmet-s-neck-trim Where I got mine.

Finally filled the sink with boiling water again and reshaped the forearms. Filling only enough to cover one side at a time, with getting strips too wet, I was able to bend the halves flatter which is still tight on the arm but can be put on and worn reasonably comfortably. Likely tighter than suggested by others and putting in a strap may not be needed but they can now be worn. Still need to trim down the cover strips. Also I got tired of failing at improving the curve of the TD panel so I gave it one last attempt with hot bath and then just glued it down. Used clamps and elastics, tip from Brian on the elastics, and got it to keep the edges down. Dry fitting the caps on the ends without glue I can see that I am at 190.5 matching the CRL, but the space between caps and panel is 13mm on left and 14mm on right so one side could use a slight trim to get the spacing identical. I've just noticed that the clips provided from AP are not bend to match the tube and will need some adjustments. I will have to research or ask around for the best approach to take for reshaping them.

While I wait for some glue to dry I decided to check the thermal detonator length. Somewhere I got my numbers off and the length is 10mm longer than I expected. So out comes the knife and I take 5mm off each end. Then I tried to hot bath the middle panel but could not seem to make it relax. At one point the heat let it curl in more which was opposite of what I wanted. After a lot more slow and careful tries I got it back to starting point and decided that was enough for today.

I'm still here! In fact I have a goal of doing something small each night to keep this train on track for joining the 501st. It is amazing how long this takes with too much over thinking and lots of do overs from mistakes. Best to learn now before I tackle the legs and the dreaded sniper plate. Still working on forearms but getting closer to finishing them. Waiting on third cover stip and then one more left, which includes a small trench fill strip trimmed to fit the gap. After this I will leave them for a while to get fully cured before taping them up for hot bath reshaping. TD got a second coat so might put that together in the mean time or get started on strips for thighs.

Ended up being home today so cleaned the sink and filled it with boiling water. Tested with some scraps first from Brian then started with one of my forearms. Going slow I started to see improvement in the shape I needed but at the same time the front inner strips started to weaken. These were the first strips I did before scoring with a knife, waiting 2 minutes before putting pieces together and drying for 48 hours. The back inner pieces held firm but soon the inner front gave way. So I was only able to get some curve change in one in the right direction. Pulled the loose strips open, even taking one completely off, and started cleaning old glue up. Started gluing them back together and hope it holds, might even fill trenches and put on cover strips before next attempt at hot bath.

Back at it and tried putting elastics in place on the body, all done except sides and crotch. Bit of tape on the sides and feels pretty good. The gap between back and kidney is bigger than I would like but will need to bend up the corners and re position elastics to pull that in. Also getting a gap between my back and back piece, maybe some bending there will help. The butt piece seems to float a bit and flare on corners, might be helped with crotch strap or need to re position two elastics and add a third. Standing a little tilted in the first photo. I got in some snaps and snap tools but I think the size is just a hair off the ones I got from Mark so they may not be compatible with existing ones. Still can use them for other spots but ideally would have liked them to be interchangeable. Although I have not tried making ones yet for an actual comparison. Next task I will go back to finishing the forearms and getting it strapped to the body. Then on to the legs, belt, TD, sides, helmet, etc. No shortage of tasks but putting the body together felt like progress.