kaptinkaos Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Canadian beer is pretty awesome. It's our national pastime, lol! Beer drinking. (You read my beer thre... I mean build thread, right?) I bet you're going nuts waiting to get home and finish up your build though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Canadian beer is pretty awesome. It's our national pastime, lol! Beer drinking. (You read my beer thre... I mean build thread, right?) I bet you're going nuts waiting to get home and finish up your build though... I was thoroughly impressed by the local breweries large and small... Propeller, Garrison, Rogue's Roost, and Hart and Thistle. I did go a little nuts knowing that there was a tube of e6000 going unused on my desk -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Femtrooper Julie[501st] Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Looking great! Commander Fox in my photos is the PAC501 GML to approve your armor BTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 Vario Pliers Suck As mentioned before the tandy heavy duty snaps do not work with the dritz vario pliers. They are not the same size and don't sit right in the space provided. I should have purchased a snap set tool for my Tandys... but I didn't. Rather than pay for increased shipping costs from Tandy for the right snap setter or run the risk of parcel post taking a month (it took 5 weeks for my snaps to arrive) I had decided to just buy more dritz snaps locally. The cost was higher but since they set well with the pliers the instant gratification was even higher. I will not tell you how much they cost per snap because it even depresses me. The high prices for goods and services here is called "Paradise Tax." My first go-round with making webbing snap plates went really well. I even snuck use of one of the electrical guy's soldering irons to poke nice clean holes. I was cranking out snap plates easily before my trip last week but I still needed about 18 more. Yesterday I had a heck of a time getting the male snaps on the webbing. I wasted a bunch of snap bases in the process. At first I assumed that because I was using a larger and hotter soldering iron the melted nylon created a taller ridge around the hole. I suddenly wished for the taller tandy snap bases. I smoothed some of the ridges around the hole out with the iron and it seemed to work a little better. While I was away I received a package with more magnets from Woodcraft. They're way more powerful than the magcraft of the same size. It allowed me to glue in all the snap plates except the 6 for my cod. This morning I was noodling around with my kit before work and decided to install the righthand ab snap. I sat and stared at other people's builds and screen captures before I drilled a hole by hand. I squeezed the heck out of my vario pliers but I never seemed to get the snaps to squish against the plastic. No matter how hard I squoze it never really set nicely. It took me a little while to realize that I may have bent my vario pliers in such a way that they don't squeeze down all the way. It wasn't easy to tell yesterday because the webbing I'm using for snap plates is quite thick, but it does explain why I ruined so many snap bases. My hope is that none of the snaps I made yesterday will come apart. When I get home tonight I may try and figure how if I can bend the pliers back in such a way that I am able to get more squeeze or so they meet closer together. I will probably use the pliers for the cap snaps for the elastic.and then use the crappy setting tool that came with my dritz snaps to really really set them. Using the webbing plates poses an interesting problem for the left side rivets. The plates about 1.5" long and placing not only the snap but the webbing out of the way of where rivet/brads will go took some forethought. I'm hoping that I'll be able to drill a bit through the plastic and then melt the webbing the rest of the way through. Tonight the blue tape comes out and I test my wife's patience for fitting. Photos soon. Aloha, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaptinkaos Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Yes... I too detest the Vario Pliers. I ended up getting the proper setting tool for not very much $$$ at Tandy when I bought my last batch of snaps. It works awesome! I'm super curious to see and hear more about how the snaps work in the webbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 First Imperial Snap Detachment Can we put an acronym name change up for a vote? I am sick and tired of all things snap related. No good photos of my recent progress. I keep managing to leave my camera at work. I have all the snap plates glued on except for the cod. The whole torso (sans cod) is put together and the arms are attached to the shoulder elastic. No work on the legs yet but maybe tonight. I have been through feet and feet of blue tape as I test my wife's patience during torso fittings. After staring at the short English dudes in white armor for so long you get a sense of scale in your mind. Once I put my torso together all I could say over and over was "Holy crap am I one giant mother trucking trooper!" Even now I can't get how freaking huge I look out of my head. I think I may be better sized for a Vader... I'm a Vader sized TK. Count me in to play the trooper that hits his head... on everything. I picked up a new undersuit yesterday on shopping run to Kona. Target sells inexpensive Champion brand underarmor type gear. The shirt and pants are light and ventilated. The spandex in my dive skin is lightweightish but if I'm out in the hot Hawaiian sun for any length of time I may die. Soon I need to figure out how to get the plastic part of the belt on the canvas belt. The three covers where the rivets would normally go are integrated on the RT belt. Hopefully something besides snaps will be the solution. More soon. Aloha, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkrestonva[TK] Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Soon I need to figure out how to get the plastic part of the belt on the canvas belt. The three covers where the rivets would normally go are integrated on the RT belt. Hopefully something besides snaps will be the solution. I also have an RT belt, which I use for my ANH configuration. If there is anyone in the Pac Outpost that recently built an AM kit, they'll tell you it comes with six covers. Three of which of course I used for my AM belt - but the other three I used for my RT belt. I drilled straight through the integrated covers, attached my canvas belt, then covered the fasteners with my extra AM covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevster[TK] Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I would say just glue the ammo belt to the cloth belt. Or do you want the ammo belt to be removable from the cloth belt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I would say just glue the ammo belt to the cloth belt. Or do you want the ammo belt to be removable from the cloth belt? I don't see a need to make it removable but I think a mechanical fastener would be more robust. I also have an RT belt, which I use for my ANH configuration. If there is anyone in the Pac Outpost that recently built an AM kit, they'll tell you it comes with six covers. Three of which of course I used for my AM belt - but the other three I used for my RT belt. I drilled straight through the integrated covers, attached my canvas belt, then covered the fasteners with my extra AM covers. Brilliant... I would never have thought to just put covers over the existing integrated ones. I'll start asking around. Thanks! -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 (edited) Oh Snap! Outside of the crotch snap and the tops of the thighs I am done with gluing snap plates. Placing the snaps at the bottom of the ab for the cod was somewhat tricky. The detail in the center mad it difficult to put a plate in but I the beauty of the close snaps is that they'll bend around corners. So I just stuffed a plate in the center box thing and put a clamp on it. If I didn't put one in the center I would have needed to on either side making 4 snaps just for the cod. Side Rivet Sizes I have two types of brass paper fasteners in front of me. One is 12 mm and the other is 8.1 mm. The lengths I went through to get them both is a bit comical. Maybe I'll just skip the rivets for now and focus on my build Caring is Creepy (The Shins... get it?) I had plans to glue up my shins tonight. Instead I stared at them for the better part of an hour. The tops of the shins are bumming me out a little and I'm thinking of trimming them. The perils of pre-trimmed armor are upon me in a small way. The oddities of overlapped armor is also playing a factor. Fronts The tops of the shins are weird looking no? Of course one top will be under a sniper plate and the other might be covered by the thigh ammo. Bottom left needs a little bit of trimming. Backs Check out the one on the left (actually the right shin.) It looks like Rob went a little trim happy. Tomorrow I'm going to trim to the red line but I've had too much wine tonight and its late There's no reason to wield lexan scissors in this state. Hopefully my shins won't be two different heights when I'm done. Overlap I am also considering trimming the return on the tops to make them line up a little better.... once I'm more sober of course. Finding a clear shot of the top of a trooper's right shin in the screen captures is tough. Either way they should line up better on the top. More about the ill fitting sniper knee tomorrow. Aloha, -Eric Edited October 21, 2011 by Darth Aloha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaptinkaos Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Tomorrow I'm going to trim to the red line but I've had too much wine tonight and its late There's no reason to wield lexan scissors in this state. Hopefully my shins won't be two different heights when I'm done. No reason to be wary... Heck, I had a Corona in my hand the whole way through my build, LMAO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 (edited) I'm All Strapped Up (Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!) The past couple nights have been spent fitting and adjusting lengths of elastic. I am still not there yet, so no photos yet of the fittings. This part of the process been really fun. I will need help with chest and back placement at some point. The forearm armor is too short on me thanks to my monkey arms. I have spent most of my fitting time with those issues. My shoulder bells refuse to sit nicely. If I shortened the elastic on the top of the bell going to the shoulder strap, the shoulder strap contorts and moves down my shoulder. I decided to use a piece of elastic across my back behind my neck to keep them in place. I still have the option to add a snap and attach them to the shoulder straps at a later date. Today will be more fitting. I also need to stop avoiding the inevitable trimming of my shins to make the tops to line up nicely. Overlap construction has its pros and cons to be sure. Too many snaps.... You can see the funny placement of my center ab snap for the cod inside the divot. I could not have achieved this with a plastic snap plate. There would have been snap plates on either side or one long one in the center otherwise. Dritzkrieg Bop I had my first snap plate casualty thanks to my bent ditz vario pliers. Hooray for E-6000! I just peeled the webbing off, re-glued another plate, and moved on with my life without undue snap angst. (it was already peeled off in the photo) Aloha nui, -Eric Edited October 22, 2011 by Darth Aloha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinSivertsen[501st] Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 You're making great progress, Eric! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Never Enough Magnets Just when you think you have enough magnets... you end up doubling them up. I glue my shins like I put on my pants... one leg at a time. What amazing me is how E-6000 can still ooze out after vigorous wiping. I went back 20 minutes later and there was still more oozing. I clearly used too much. Once my snap plates from last night finish curing there will be a final fitting from the waist up. It doesn't look like I'll get my legs all done this weekend as planned but there is still lots of other stuff to do. My crappy RT TD tube got a coat of paint today in case there is a mailing snafu coming from Jesse's detonator factory. I spray painted some 8mm brass paper fasteners too. The belt, ill fitting sniper plate, and knee battery pack are the only major thing left after the thighs. You're making great progress, Eric! Thanks Martin I'm having way too much fun.... and I'm already thinking about my next build. Sandy? Phase 1 clone? Hmmm. Aloha, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevster[TK] Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Have you decided how you're going to attach the shins in the back? I know you're tired of snaps but would you say the nylon snaps have worked out for you pretty well though? and hey, you might get to around to making your thighs, if you're able to do just a bit of it over the next few days it would all be done. Remind your wife of her vows, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health.... and to help you with a stormtrooper suit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaptinkaos Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Whoo hoo! Nice progress dude! You're flying along! P.S. - My ATA is shipping within a week for a TD, I think if you do another, you should do a TD! I tossed around the idea of a clone (Ep III), but after learning that no actual armor was ever made for those troopers and that it was all just CGI... Well, that kinda spoiled the fun for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Have you decided how you're going to attach the shins in the back? I know you're tired of snaps but would you say the nylon snaps have worked out for you pretty well though? and hey, you might get to around to making your thighs, if you're able to do just a bit of it over the next few days it would all be done. Remind your wife of her vows, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health.... and to help you with a stormtrooper suit For now I'm going to use velcro for the back of the shins. I'm interested in the bra strap solution someday once the velcro wears out. My forearm velcro is already getting a little worn from the fittings The nylon snap plates have worked out well so far. I did have one start to peel off but I haven't looked to see if it was just a crappy glue job. The plate I had to peel off because of the dritz snap that failed took quite a bit of force. If I had to do it over again I would have ditched the extra thick webbing I found laying around at work and gone with the thinner material from ace hardware. So yeah... another shin today... then on to the thighs Whoo hoo! Nice progress dude! You're flying along! P.S. - My ATA is shipping within a week for a TD, I think if you do another, you should do a TD! I tossed around the idea of a clone (Ep III), but after learning that no actual armor was ever made for those troopers and that it was all just CGI... Well, that kinda spoiled the fun for me... I really like the looks KW's phase 1 EPII armor. I'm pretty sure it won't fit me. If I do end up going TD I'm guessing I'll have to do mostly out of RT again but maybe take my time and butt join with cover strips. Aloha, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Torso Fitting I have been playing with my shoulder bells and biceps off and on for a couple days. My upper arm and forearms are long. I can't seem to physically get the biceps up high enough. I did trim them a bit but I do not think it would have much of a difference. I really do need slightly longer forearm armor. There no elastic between the ab and chest yet. I have blue tape holding the chest down in position. I have not glued on the shoulder bridges yet either. Given my size I thought it was a good idea to wait rather than count the requisite number of ridges. My rear end sticks out a little farther than a thin english dude. I keep trying to get the belt to go across the butt/kidney seam but like the stunts in ANH the belt wants to go across the kidney. More on that issue later once I get other things aligned. Bells Attached to The Shoulder Straps I first tried attaching the strap at the top of the bells to my shoulder straps. I need to make them tight to get the shoulder bell up over my shoulder. This makes the should strap elastic pull down. It is tough to see because my wife, who took the photos, is shorter than I am... but my shoulder elastic is being pulled down toward my arm. The shoulder bells just do not seem to fit my shoulders. Howzit? Bells Strapped Across The Back I forgot to put my neck seal on for these photos I have a few general questions: Should I shorten up the back/kidney straps a bit? Is the back at the right height on my body? Does the chest look right or is it too low? Do the shoulder bells seem rotated back away from the chest? (I just noticed this now) Any and all comments are welcome.... I have a thick skin so lemme have it. Aloha and thanks, -Eric Edited October 24, 2011 by Darth Aloha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaptinkaos Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 I think it's like you say, the bells are just rotated towards the back a bit. Try and make them sit more forward and they will look just fine. I have long monkey arms too and even my AM biceps seem a bit short, but yours look good to me! They look low enough and as long as you're not sacrificing movement for the sake of looks it's just fine. Looking awesome man! Great progress!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkrestonva[TK] Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Agreed. The only thing I would do is bring the shoulder bells forward a bit based on the last three photos. Other than that, everything is looking well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 Hey Hey, Thigh Thigh I finally got the front of a thigh glued tonight. Really in the home stretch now. Belt stuff, thigh ammo, knee plate, thighs... then I'm all pau. But before gluing I spent some time wearing my legs for the first time. I have mightytank's garters to help but they're taped to the sides of my thighs for ease of adjustment. One thigh is taped up smaller than the other. I'm contemplating trimming my thighs. Can you even tell which looks trimmed? Back in Black Does it look like there's a crapload of black showing between my belt and thigh? Even if I pull the thigh up as I can there's still lots of black. TK Got back In all of my photos so far I go out of my way to get the belt around so that the top of my butt plate is covered by the belt. The reality is that as soon as I walk anywhere the belt slides up and then my butt plate juts out... following the natural contours of my posterior. The majority of the stunts I've seen in the screen caps have their belts up around their kidneys. Does anyone know of a good way to prevent this? The elastic could be maybe 1/4" shorter but that won't make much of a difference. I've tried pulling up the abs but that didn't help much either. Looking awesome man! Great progress!!! Thanks Joe. Agreed. The only thing I would do is bring the shoulder bells forward a bit based on the last three photos. Other than that, everything is looking well. Whew! Thanks Brian. It took a long long time to get to that point. Longer than I expected for sure. Aloha all, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaptinkaos Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 (edited) For belt creep use some velcro from belt to kidney plate. That's how I prevented belt sag when I have my holster and E-11 on. Thighs look good. I think the thigh that you have taped tighter is your left thigh. Either looks alright though man. Which feels better? They look a good distance from your shins too. Edited October 26, 2011 by kaptinkaos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 For belt creep use some velcro from belt to kidney plate. That's how I prevented belt sag when I have my holster and E-11 on. Thighs look good. I think the thigh that you have taped tighter is your left thigh. Either looks alright though man. Which feels better? They look a good distance from your shins too. Ah velcro... good tip. That should stop the thing from sliding around back there. I think if I added shims to the sides, butt wouldn't jut out so much. Or, god forbid, stopped drinking beer for a few months. I measured my shins and thighs for RT before I ordered the kit. His legs are about the same size so I figure once I get the thigh ammo and that stupid knee plate on it should look even better. And yeah the left one is the slightly smaller one. The smaller one feels better I think. I'ts pretty tough to tell walking around when everything is held together with tape. I might close the thighs with velcro for the time being before I decide to trim anything. Thanks for your help. Aloha, -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue For the moment I think I am done with the majority of my E-6000 application. Until I decide if I am going to trim my thighs.... the rest of this build should be mostly velcro, split rivets, and pop rivets. Last night's gluing.... My beeotch of a sniper knee plate. There was a moment when I wondered if it was a knee plate from another set of armor. I also mangled the poop out of the inside trying to trim it before I understood how it was supposed to lie. The other thigh: Drop boxes: I did not glue the shoulder bridges with the recommended 5 ridges on the chet. My back and chest are too far apart or else the back end of the shoulder bridge would barely be touching the back plate. I went with 3 small ridges plus the big one. I checked on it this morning and I think one of them moved last night from the weight of the clamps. Hopefully it won't look weird or cut into my neck. In my rush I forgot to scuff up the chest plate before gluing which is a little bit of a bummer because there isn't much glue surface area. If I was not rushing I would have glued the Kevster approved small bit of nylon webbing to the shoulder bridge first to make more glueable surface, and then glued the webbing to the chestplate. I have the heat gun from work all packed up to bring home. Tonight the belt goes together, thigh battery attached, my icomm gets installed, and then a final fitting (minus the sniper knee which I will leave clamped to dry until tomorrow) before I head to the farmer's market Saturday in costume. If I get to it, I'll also add the side rivets but I doubt I'll make it that far. Aloha, -Eric Edited October 27, 2011 by Darth Aloha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted October 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Painting Split Rivets Palm trees, dumpster, harbor, and spray painted split rivets stuck in packing foam at work. Not exactly the look I was going for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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