MoreWag

This week I spent way too much time focused on snaps lol. Special thanks to @gmrhodes13 for the continued encouragement and tips. I ended up purchasing all new snaps (Dritz) and nylon. After using the Dritz snaps I realized my initial purchase (random bundle from Amazon) were not very high quality. Same for the nylon I initially used, which was probably less than 1mm thick. I purchased new nylon on Amazon that was billed as 2mm thick, and that coupled with the Dritz snaps really did the trick! You can see a photo below for reference that my initial snaps were just too big for the thinner nylon, thus resulting in overlap and bad snaps. Tough lesson to learn, but I ended up redoing ALL of my snaps this weekend but totally worth it. Everything feels so much more secure now! In addition to redoing all of my snaps to date, I also used snaps/elastic to close the back of the abdominal barrel (not pictured). It's actually snug enough now I'm not even sure I need the suspenders - but I'm still using them for now. I also trimmed and strapped the cod and posterior pieces. I'm using elastic with snaps on the top (to the abdomen barrel) and velcro on the bottom (cod and posterior). Thanks for following!

Well, I see how easy it can be to let these projects fall by the wayside! With summer in full swing, it's definitely getting harder to find a block of time each week to work on this project but this weekend I was able to get back to it. I did some additional trimming to the abdomen armor to make sure it's not visible on the sides above the black side pieces. I was trying to be conservative so there's probably a good chance I'll take another 1/2" or 1" off as I finalize the entire strapping system. I also trimmed down the shoulder straps another 1/2" - again - I may end up taking even more, but I'm very happy to keep making small trims along the way rather than doing one big cut that ends up being a big mistake. The other big thing I worked on was connecting the upper arm armor to the shoulder bells. This was also the point in my build where I realized it has become difficult, if not impossible, to put the armor on myself. Most of my strapping system are snaps, with some velcro here and there. I am running into an issue where some of my snaps just aren't holding well. I understand not all of them will have a nice "snap" sound to them - but some just don't really seem to want to stay closed at all. I think that the nylon I'm using is perhaps to thin, and since I've switched to using plier snap setting tool when it "peels" back the inner piece it's actually overlapping the lip a bit on some pieces (see last picture for reference). I'm going to try and go back with some really thing needle nose pliers and curl them in or cut them off and see if that helps. If that doesn't work, I'll look at getting some thicker nylon (or other material with the right thickness), rip off the existing snaps, and redo everything I've done up until this point. That's it for now, thanks.

This weekend I worked on the strapping for the chest armor. I'm trying to find ways to not permanently adhere any piece to another when it doesn't have to be - especially considering I'm hoping to save painting for the final step. For the side piece that connects the chest and back armor, I went with velcro in the back and magnets in the front. So far so good, but I'm mentally preparing myself for one or both of these systems to fail and for me to go back to the drawing board with a more permanent solution. For the top I'm using some elastic velcro straps that snap in on both the top inside of the chest and back armor. To mount the shoulder straps to the back armor I sunk nuts in with some JB Weld epoxy and used two screws that screw in from the back inside of the armor. On the front of the shoulder straps I cut off 2 of the ridges and sanded down the next 3, then wrapped the top of the sanded area and the bottom of the shoulder straps in velcro. Again similar to the side connectors, so far so good, but I'm preparing myself to go another route should this not work out after continued use. Thanks and hope to have another update the week after next if not a small progress update next week (with Father's Day coming up this may be the first time I won't get to work on the armor since I started).

This weekend I started strapping the abdomen armor with suspenders. I made several snaps the weekend before using the included snap setter tools which require a mallet. I found out this weekend that most of my snaps were poorly set and so I ended up buying one of the plier fastener tools which was way more effective. I also took the cover strips off the thigh armor, took out about an additional 3/4" on either side, and took about 1.5" off the top. It's all rough cut now so next weekend I'll do more fitting, additional trim as needed, and then do some sanding to get it looking smooth and uniform. I did realize after all the trimming on the back that the two sides are really different in length now, which won't be a problem to taper down one side, but it probably means I'll also have to do some trimming on the cover strips which was not something I was planning to do. This coming week I'm hoping to continue working on the abdomen (still need to decide how to help fasten it in the back), the thigh armor, and will probably try to tackle attaching the shoulder straps and black extension pieces to the chest armor. Lots of great ideas to sift through from previous builds - I really like the idea of employing magnets in at least a few of those connection points. Thanks!

This weekend I was able to finish the cheeks and frown cutouts - I'll be leaving the tear and back bents as is and will attempt to paint those. I also did my first partial test fit with some help from my wife. I'm going to try and do all of my trimming and strapping first, followed up by coating the interior of the armor, and wrap up with priming, sanding, and painting. I started trimming my first piece - the barrel. Took 3/4" off each side in the back and then took a little off the top of the barrel on either side. I know I'll need to take more off the top, but this was the first time I've used a cutting tool with my Dremel so it was a good practice run knowing I'm probably going to end up going deeper anyways. Finished out the long weekend by making some snaps. That's it for now, thanks.

@TheRascalKing for the traps and tears, did you paint the recessed line areas black? I can't tell from your photos but is that not a requirement for the CRL? I was originally going to cut out these lines and back with black material, but to save me some time and headache I'm leaning towards leaving them as is as you have done and just painting those details. Thanks!

Nothing you haven't see others tackle as one of the first few steps. Started with all of the cutouts on the helmet this weekend. Used a Dremel with a drill bit to make initial holes and then went to work with my file set. As others have noted, I'm glad I added an extra layer of resin to the interior of the helmet - it was definitely noticeable how thin some part of the helmet are as I started filing. That's it for now, thanks. (and thanks for the tip on posting photos @gmrhodes13!)

Hello friends! I’m excited to finally make this post and begin this project. After spending several months here on White Armor, I decided to go with a R1TK kit by Jimmi. This will be my first build and while I’m not particularly handy, I feel like the resources and community here have already been a huge help, and that’s before I even started! One of the triggers for finally doing this project was purchasing our first home last year - one with a 2-car garage that will double as my workshop when the cars aren’t inside. I work a 4-10 schedule M-Th so I will be doing a majority of work on this kit on Fridays when I have the house to myself. My goal is to get (level 1) 501st approval. Big brown box day was April 19th but due to some travel for work I’m only now getting started. Today I cleaned all the pieces with Simple Green. I also applied a coat of Bondo Liquid Resin to the interior of the helmet for some added strength. I used some 120 grit (coarsest I had) sandpaper first and then mixed and applied using foam brushes. I’m happy with how it turned out, and it cured well for me here in the dry heat of Las Vegas. That’s it for now, hope to continue work on the helmet next weekend. Thanks https://imgur.com/a/bbb-day-ZqoXBbv https://imgur.com/a/washed-0mCGVS0 https://imgur.com/a/bondod-bucket-YADqWIM

Hello, Starting to research doing my first TK build. I'm 6'1" (186cm) and 180 pounds (82kg) and want to take armor kit sizing into account when making that selection. On the main "The various types of armor..." thread I saw AM, RT, and TM all size well for someone bigger than the original armor/actors from the 70s. If I go this route, I'm leaning towards ANH Stunt kit from Dave's Darkside Depot. However, I really like the look and symmetry of the ROTK. Are either of the kits from Jimmiroquai or 850 Armor Works sized well for someone over 6 foot? I know I'll be doing some trimming and/or use of shims, but it would certainly help sway my decision on which kit to purchase if I knew one was designed for someone my height/size. Thanks!