Meanders TK Build [*ATA]

[meanders[TK]]

I made up the canvas belt today. Now I haven't attached the ammo belt front yet and was deciding on where the end of the belt  (i.e. when its velcroed around the back) should go? I was planning to have it hidden under the thermal det., so that the det clips sit over a double thickness of the belt.

 

Is that the traditional approach or should I be considering something else? At the right side maybe?

[meanders[TK]]

A word about snaps.

 

I'm using these Tandy Leather Line24 snaps. They're available locally at DS Horne.

 

 

Now I don't have a heat gun to flatten the snap plates (as suggested by Glen over at the DSS) but I have an oven. A couple of minutes at 160C softens them up enough to flatten them out. I used a piece of MDF with a hole to do the job.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, they came out well.

[meanders[TK]]

Yep. Pleased with those. I even rounded off the corners of all the plates so there'd be no scratchy bits

[meanders[TK]]

I was experimenting with how to attach the shoulder bell straps, which go around the biceps, and had a play around with the ABS paste I've been using.

 

Some paste on the elastic strap and the ABS forms a great bond as you can see here.

 

I then hit upon the idea of using squares of ABS offcuts (not from the 2mm sheets, but excess from the arm and leg trimming) to reinforce the female snaps attached to the elastic.

 

 

You can see here how the when the elastic stretches its not putting pressure around the snap, but spread evenly across the elastic.

 

 

I've used this on all the torso elastics.

 

Also, all the elastic I've been using is the Birch High Density Elastic (See www.birchhaby.com.au - search for code 009495) available at Spotlight (here in Australia) by the metre.

 

[meanders[TK]]

I had a few issues with the shins which have since been resolved. After I'd joined the shins with the front strips, this is how they looked. In their natural state they opened fairly widely at the back. (Note the back cover strip not attached at this point)

 

I contemplated a number of options to close the shins. Velcro is common. Hooks and eyes are a more screen accurate. But whatever I decided there was still going to be a lot of tension required to keep the shins closed.

 

So I decided to try to close the shins up a bit.

 

I strapped the shins up with some poly webbing so the backs closed to the extent of overlapping. Put these in a bucket and filled with boiling water.

 

 

This softened them up so that they remained in that shape and now close naturally.

 

 

So the shins now close by themselves. So no need for velcro or hooks (obviously the proof of that will be in the first troop, but it looks good so far).

 

Top stop them closing up too much, and to line up with the back cover strip I added a "stopper" to the inside, near to top of the shin, so the inner edge slots nicely into the outer edge.

 

 

 

[meanders[TK]]

Closing the sides. How hard can it be?

 

I wanted something that was detachable, so snaps and elastic; that reduced lateral movement; and provided some coverage when the side gaps opened.

 

So I came up with these brackets. The left and right sides were made from one piece of ABS which I heat curved and then cut in half.

 

The left side bracket has holes for the snaps and for the exposed outside rivets. The right side bracket, just holes for the snaps.

 

With the male snaps attached. Note the exposed top right male snap does not get added until the bracket is attached to the ab plate.

 

 

The left side bracket can be attached just by using the exposed rivets. I used some double cap rivets I had left over from the Tusken bandolier build. You can also see I like to write notes to myself for work to do later. Its also a good idea when setting the snaps to tape over the holes you don't want to snap (the front right top for example which needs to have the male side exposed)

 

 

You can see here how this fits together. When the sides come together everything locks into place.

 

 

And from the outside. 

 

 

 

[meanders[TK]]

First fitting with all the strapping completed (except for the very last snap plates in the front shoulders - I've been holding off, but it all looks good now)

 

 

All feedback welcome

(And I know the purple tape is not canon )

 

[Geaux Saints[TK]]

Looking really good.

[Techne[TK]]

Interesting interlocking plates on the sides there.  Question--when you put the shins in boiling water, did it seem to affect the glue on the front of the shins?

[meanders[TK]]

Interesting interlocking plates on the sides there.  Question--when you put the shins in boiling water, did it seem to affect the glue on the front of the shins?

I'm using PVC cement so the joins are effectively welded together. I'm also using strips on the inside and outside. So no, the water did not affect the shins. I've not used the more popular E-6000 so I don't know what would happen there. I've always done some experiments first on ABS offcuts and whatever glue I was using, before trying to do anything.

 

I have had a couple of warping problems when gluing the snap plates. Initially I used a lot of glue covering the entire plate, including the metal snap back. This caused problems on the thinner butt and kidney plates where the plastic warped in around the snap. After that I avoided placing glue on the metal part and being more careful with the clamping.

[meanders[TK]]

Time to keep the behind the scenes stuff ticking along. So, how do I keep my thighs attached? After lots of research, as usual, on the FISD I settled on this approach.

 

I got a pair of 50mm 3 bar slide adjusters from Adelaide Leather and Saddlery Supplies.

 

 

Half the problem with looking for these things on-line is knowing what they're called. I got the metal one, but afterwards also found out they have plastic ones as well.  BTW, this place also sells bifucated rivets, which are the ducks nuts if you're going for super TK accuracy.

 

The slide adjuster is threaded through the 50mm high density elastic which is double snapped to the thighs.

 

This then slots through a belt to hold up the thighs. I ended up using a fairly heavy leather belt. I started with a polyester webbing belt but it sagged and crumpled so I couldn't get it to sit in the right spot. With the leather belt, everything sits fairly firmly on the hips so its not going to move. The thigh strap lengths can then be adjusted if needs be.

 

The slider is also sitting high enough that its hidden under the ab plate.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, I use adjusters on my thighs and also ab and back plates, makes life a bit easier to get everything sitting right at the start

[meanders[TK]]

Yep. I've also got some other type of adjuster on the chest/ab plate straps. 

[meanders[TK]]

Built some TD clips recently. Used some 25mm x 1mm aluminium strip from Bunnings.

 

 

Curve it around the TD tube so that the end sits just under the attached plate. The back part of the clip (that attaches to the belt) I bent around a couple of strips of 3mm MDF. Make sure its wide enough so it slides over the belt.

 

 

Here's where the bolts attach. I used 1/8" x 12mm bolts from Bunnings. The ends of the clips are filed back to a nice smooth edge so as to do as little damage to the back of the armour as possible

 

 

 

 

[meanders[TK]]

Also made up some drop box covers. Takes a while to get the back cover the right shape to fit snugly into the drop box. Also a bit fiddly to get the inside strips the right width so the back cover sits at the right height. Keeping everything labelled helps.

 

 

 

The longer side strips are only glued in the middle so the top and bottom parts flex a bit. That means when the back cover is glued on and clamped it pushes everything into place.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Very nice keep up the good work

[Clamps[TK]]

nicely done with the clips 

[bigironvault]

No idea's on how to stop the shins riding up unfortunately, mine are pretty snug. Good to see you getting in some TK champ!

 

Velcro on your boot to where you want your shins to be.

[meanders[TK]]

I used the strap at the back of the shin technique to keep the shins in place bigironvault. I only needed it on the smaller left shin. The right is big enough that it sits OK.

 

 

Even something seemingly as simple as fitting the shoulder bridges to the chest plate has its challenges.

 

In their natural state the bridges have a bit too much curvature where they should be sitting on the chest plate.

 

A dunk in the boiling water can soften them up so they sit more flush with the chest. I'm not putting a lot of pressure on the bridge in these photos, I swear

 

There's still a gap between the underside of the bridge and the chest, so an offcut of the 2mm ABS makes shim which is attached. This means when the bridge is glued to the chest its not going to warp. As always keep the left and right sides marked.

 

Mark out the spots where the bridges are going to go. I kept the back plate strapped on as well so I could make sure the backs of the bridges are lining up correctly with the back plate.

 

The obligatory clamp shot!

 

And the finished piece.

[meanders[TK]]

I'm mounting the lens using some blocks around the eye openings. These are just 2 or 3 tabs of 2mm ABS glued together and drilled out (before gluing to the faceplate!) You can also see I've taken a lot more of the back of the teeth in these photos as well.

 

If the lens are attached this way you can actually get two lens for the price of one! Though the ATA supplied lens seems dark enough to avoid my eyes being seen under flash photos.

 

I used 6mm self tapping screws and washers from Jaycar. With at least 4mm on the block, plus the lens and the washer, the screw isn't going to go through the face plate.

 

[meanders[TK]]

I made up the belt a while back and here's how that went together.

 

I had some stiff vinyl from an advertising banner I got from work. Its about 0.5mm thick and I'm using this inside the white canvas to give it the belt some support.

 

There's three layers of canvas on each side of the inner vinyl. The green plastic is cut from a plastic folder and is used to slide under the folds whilst pinning to keep the width consistent.

 

The belt is slightly narrower than the ammo belt cover. Ideally it should be where the width of corner cutouts are, but I felt if I did that the belt would be too narrow. I think the ATA ammo belt is not as wide as more movie accurate suits.

 

So three layers on each side sewn along the middle.

 

Then folded over so the vinyl insert fits inside.

 

 

Before sewing up the vinyl inside, velcro is sewn onto the ends. There were a few fittings of the belt on the torso armor to make sure the ends of the belt sit just inside where the thermal det will sit. Once that was sorted the belt length could be fixed and the velcro put in the right spot.

 

I've done something a bit different in attaching the ammo belt to the canvas. Most builds I've seen use rivets, but I have commitment issues in this build so I've used Chicago screws. The smallest screws I could get were still longer than the thickness of the ammo belt and canvas belt so I added a small piece of leather to pad it out.

 

 

 

 

The Chicago screw idea still has to prove itself. It has helped where I could take the belt apart to add loops for the drop boxes and I've since added snaps to get the belt sitting right on the ab plate which would have been tricky if the ammo belt was attached.

 

When the button covers are attached to the front of the belt its a bit tricky tightening the screws, but its ok so far.

[Techne[TK]]

Some very nice touches here, like the details on the belt and eye scrim.

[meanders[TK]]

A few details on the bucket painting. This is all done with a fine brush.

 

I painted the trap outlines by first doing a satin black outline.

 

At the same time I was trying out different tube patterns found on FISD to get the sizing and position right (or at least the way I like it). I spent a lot of time looking at the DaveM helmet for reference.

 

Masking for the rear traps.

 

A coat of grey before painting the black strips to seal the mask and stop bleeding underneath (a good tip I picked up during the build). 

 

And the black

 

The first result. On inspection these stripes were too long, so I ended up just painting another coat of grey along the top.

 

Found a tube template I liked. Printed it out and cut out the stripes. This is not a mask, just for marking the strip positions. The tear trap lines are hand painted, though I used a pencil to rough out where they would go. You can also see some of the practice/experimental tube strips in the background.

 

Used a pencil to hatch out the tube locations which you can see here.

 

Ran a line of white gloss along the masking tape to seal it, otherwise you get little "legs" on the edge of the strips running along the mask edge. Then hand painted the stripes ... very slowly and carefully! I think this was the most tense part of the build!

 

Pics of the final result to follow.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Some nice work, just try to narrow a couple of your black lines on your cheeks, will look a lot crisper, carry on the great work

Edited September 15, 2013 by gmrhodes13