MarkTKNZ

Well, life got in the way of progress, as did bringing this piece of 1980s computing history back from the dead... My boots and bucket have arrived also.

My Trooperbay order arrived--undersuit, gloves, neck seal, holster, belt & rubber hand guards. I've trimmed both thighs, and begun assembling them. I've also done the last bits of trimming on the forearms & biceps. Also, ordered boots & helmet so hopefully they're here when I need them :-)

More progress, all the cover strips are glued onto both arms. I saw on other build threads that people had difficulties gluing the front of the forearms due to the width of the clamp jaws, however, I have a solution that worked well: I cut 2 suitably sized pieces from an offcut of form plywood (that has a smooth, hard surface that concrete doesn't stick to, when constructing formwork for concrete buildings etc). That let me get the joint clamped correctly, and the E6000 that squeezes out on the inside, doesn't stick to it strongly...provided the surface is new and has not had wet concrete in contact with it--I found that out the hard way, and have some cleanup to do!

Today, I have trimmed the left forearm & bicep, cut the cover strips for both arms, and began gluing these on.

I've now tidied up the return edges & trimmed the right bicep. After much measuring, taping, test fitting, adjusting, and measuring again, I now have the right forearm at the same stage. Next task will be to do the same with the left bicep & forearm. I'll definitely have to organise an armour party in the new year.

Today, re-watched some of the RS youtube videos, then rough trimmed the return edges on the right bicep, taped together to match the size of the RS original , and tried it on. I think that size will be close, once I final trim and sand the top and bottom edges to my pencil lines.

I scavenged a carpet offcut from a jobsite skip, and am using that to protect the top of the table, and figured out which are left, and right hand parts, and gathered some of the necessary tools. I purchased some new clamps, and magnets. I already have most of the other necessary tools in my workshop, or in my tool kit for work. I also purchased the last tube of E6000 that the supplier had in the country.

So, after quite a few evenings spent reading various threads on here, I ordered a kit from RS Propmasters. It only took around 10 days to arrive, despite the horrendous problems we are having with supply lines and shipping at the moment. However, when the BBB arrived last weekend, it looked like it had been thrown out of the back of the plane onto the tarmac. So I took several photos, more than I will post here, then unpacked everything, thankfully no damage was found on the armour :-)

I met some of my local garrison members (Outpost42) at an event 3 or 4 years ago, and ever since, I wanted to build and wear an ANH TK. Well, Covid restrictions led to me spending nearly all of my spare time at home, so I have been lurking on here for a few weeks, researching, which led to me ordering a kit from RS, which arrived last weekend--quicker than I expected, given the current supply shortages & shipping issues we are experiencing :-) Now, to start a build thread, then the work begins...