kevnaminute Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 (edited) Well, I kicked it off good on Friday night, spent a little time on it Saturday and got a good day of work in on Sunday (wife was out of town...) As most of you know with an AP kit, there's lots of trimming so that's basically what this weekend was about. Trimming the main body parts and sanding. - First, that box of plastic parts looks really intimidating when you first start. You're thinking "man, what the heck have I gotten myself into?!!" Just take it one piece at a time. THERE IS a light at the end of the tunnel and I can see it now thanks to this weekend of getting the basic trimming out of the way. Score, snap, repeat. Trim the hard parts with Lexan scissors (which, thankfully, came in the mail on Friday or I probably wouldn't have gotten any of this done). - I will also say that the biceps was probably the HARDEST part to get cut from the mold. Just really difficult! - At some point the plastic will bite you. I have a couple of small cuts on my right hand right now. My advice, that I didn't follow, wear gloves. Oh, and armor bites. You will get them during test fittings. - That exacto knife is great, but GO SLOW. I started getting cocky after awhile and tried to trim my chest plate late on Friday night and it slipped, creating about a one and a half inch mark on the front of the plate.....*@**$&*#*$# (that's me swearing by the way). I took some fine grain sandpaper to it and it's not nearly noticeable as I thought I would be. I still may try and get a replacement part from AP, though. LESSON LEARNED. Heed the warnings of the people who've done this before. - I know now why people love the Dremel so. At first I had not decided whether or not to use one, but I picked up the variable speed option at Wal-Mart. OH WHAT A TOOL! Sunday, I sat out back of the house and sanded and sanded and sanded. And believe it or not it's actually quite relaxing! The cool thing is once you start sanding all the edges and getting everything trimmed just right, you really start to see the armor taking shape. But like the exacto, be careful! A rotating sander can RUIN your armor quick. Thankfully, I had already learned my lesson with the exacto. - I had saw where the ABS dust when sanding was bad for inhalation, but I didn't think that much about it on Saturday afternoon when I took a piece just to Dremel for a few minutes and practice. BAD IDEA! I only sanded for about two or three minutes and my throat felt like I had some bad sinus drainage going on. WEAR A FILTER. - Oh, and use the boards! See what others have done! Because someone has usually run into the same problems you're having. Just some randomness that hopefully some of my fellow newbs will be able to use! Edited October 8, 2012 by kevnaminute Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezablad3[TK] Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Post pictures of you progress.....and do be carefull with the exacto blade and dremel....The AP kit is fun to work with, i have the same armor. Ill be watching this build closely.....good luck and have fun on your build Kevin.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horrendous Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Oh man.. you're making me excited to start mine. I was planning on using a dremel for the whole thing... Did you notice any benefit the razor had over the dremel? Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clamps[TK] Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Great post Kevin. Keep up the hard work. There IS light at the end of the tunnel, it's just a very long tunnel. Slow and steady! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrooperTim Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 The points you made are very true. Thousands of people have built a TK. Learning from those before you has never been easier. There is a finish; but all the fun is in the journey. Good luck with the build Kevin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mogwai[TK] Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 This is great. Everyone goes through this starting their TK. Keep up and show us some Pics from your Work. And btw, i did not use any mechanical Tools, all Handwork on my Armor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyTrooper[TK] Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Sounds like you got yourself off to a good start! I am a fan of the dremel as well, but I used it for almost all of my cutting, not just sanding. I could never quite get the score and snap to work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin-X[TK] Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Best of luck with your build! Make sure to post pics and ask questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-42779[501st] Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hmm...well I ordered my first kit from RT pre trimmed because I didn't trust my skills but after more research it sounds possible. Lol I think my next one I will start from scratch like this. Sounds kind of fun (minus the having to reorder a piece due to accidents). Can't wait to start the process though! Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevnaminute Posted October 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Oh man.. you're making me excited to start mine. I was planning on using a dremel for the whole thing... Did you notice any benefit the razor had over the dremel? Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2 Hey Peter, I just didn't have the Dremel when I started the scoring and snapping...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnnfr72[TK] Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Those are good tips, Kevin. Makes me wonder if I had a dremel if it would have been good, or if I would have hurt my armor?! I cut myself several times, too. I should have worn the gloves! I made such a big mess with all the sanding, but looking back, it was fun. Do you have plans on trooping for Halloween? Get lots of pics for us all! Cheers! Jenny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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