AP sniper plate help PLEASE!

[brokenskateboards]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm building my first TK and am using the AP kit. I'm having some REAL problems with the Left shin with the sniper plate though. The 2 halves seem to be so different from the right side. Regardless, I can line them up and they're OK. When I go to put the sniper plate on though it seems totally Kooky! Maybe pictures would be better.

 

 

Here's the sniper plate in place. Looks OK!....

 

 

 

 

the outside edge (the side facing out on the left) is aligned to the shin's grooves (sorry I don't know how better to describe it)

 

 

but the inside alignment is off!

 

and looking at it from the rear you can see it's off a bit too. I'm thinking if the glue holds up, it can be twisted a bit and held in place with the velcro strips.

 

Now then..... what if I aligned the sniper plate to the grooves on the shin? Well! I can get both sides to align...

first the outside

 

then the inside... it's still not that great as you can see

 

but then look at the front! The sniper plate looks totally crooked!

 

but the back is pretty much the same. Some twisting and industrial strength velcro will hopefully do the job.

 

Now then.... what if I could align the plate to the edges but get the plate straight? Well here we go...

 

photobucket is crashing so I'll post those pics next. Don't want to lose all this by not posting.

[kupertrooper[TK]]

I'll be watching this thread. I'm almost to this step in my AP armor. I've read a couple posts about the horror of this piece. I've heard a couple things like 'glue the middle first and then glue the sides' and I've read something about shimming the middle.

Edited October 26, 2012 by tkuper05

[brokenskateboards]

OK.... here we go again.

 

So lining up the outside first

 

and then the inside.... but making sure the plate is on straight of course

 

and now the front view... looks pretty good!.... but look down! Look how much longer one side is than the other! To get the plate to stay straight you have to have the 2 halves of the shin totally misaligned!

 

Now I could imagine trimming that whole inside part at the base by the inch it's off or so.... but what about the back?!

 

You've gotta admit that's pretty messed up and no amount of glue is going to stay in place to twist it up in the back to be OK looking to be held by velcro. No way!

 

So what am I suppossed to do? Am I missing something here? I have no experience with this stuff at all so I'm pretty overwhelmed and freaking out a bit.

[DudeSidious]

assemble the shin first like you have it in the first couple of photos, but use cover strips dont lap join unless your building ROTJ armour.Then what i did was glue the center of the sniper plate first then force the sides into place and glue.

Edited October 26, 2012 by DudeSidious

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

you have it assembled using the overlap method in your photos. the butt join and cover strip method changes the alignment considerably

 

and to glue on a knee plate you need to use heat and melt it into place like the originals if you're going to glue it.

 

always align shin and thigh parts on AP armor from the top down.

 

the originals had some mis-aligned parts too...

 

here's an original, and a few shots from the gallery

 

 

Edited October 27, 2012 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Hi, Matt,

 

I feel your pain. There are two things to know ahead of time: 1. when you "break in" your greaves they will start to align better; the velcro I use in the back has really helped to hold its shape while wearing and it seems to be less wonky now. 2. it's okay for the sniper plate to be a little bit crooked, apparently.

 

Originally I had put it on straight, such that the outside was not aligned with the top edge of the shin. Even then it would not hold. So I riveted it. For Centurion I had to remove and fill the rivet holes and glue it, and the powers that be said it was okay for it to be crooked if that meant it aligned properly with the tops of the shins. It is now glued, and it also has stayed on so far.

 

I did a lot of "shaving down" of the corners to help them sit more flatly on that molded ridge with less pressure. The butt-joining really does also help give you more flexibility in aligning the two pieces. You can use a slight angle on it to twist the outside slightly so it lines up better at the top.

 

Instead of | | perfectly parallel, you can cheat a little with | \ by maybe a millimeter or two.

 

That's about all I have to contribute - moral support and brute force! It is a truly challenging piece. However, your AP is going to look awesome.

[brokenskateboards]

Thanks for the input guys!

 

So a few things.... the top pics look OK. Can I really force the inside malalignment to go flush? Will the glue hold? What kind of heat source would I need to use to "melt it" into place? Sounds like a massive mistake in the making in my clumsy hands.

 

I've got chicken thin legs and arms (ladies! Ladies!... one at a time please!) so the overlap method works well for me. I think it also looks cleaner and is a lot less work than cutting and glueing strips if it's not really necessary. But you say it'll make the plate fit better? How so? And how should I do these strips? Cut down the shins and butt the sides together and glue strips below and above so they line up over the seam?.... or just glue a strip ontop of the overlap?

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

to be accurate to anh you MUST do the butt join method.

 

only ROTJ armor has the overlap, and for that you could just rivet the knee.

 

please don't be fooled by the overlap method, it's only used for one film in the series, which AP armor is derived from.

 

if you do the overlap method you'll be sorry when you want to go EIB or centurion.

 

and if you don't care about those levels of costume, then you should just rivet the knee anyway.

 

I used a lighter to melt my knee plate so that it fits. it's not pretty like a riveted knee plate.

 

I wish we didn't have this requirement, if you look at the original armor, it's falling apart from the pressure

 

needed to glue it down.

Edited October 27, 2012 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[Clamps[TK]]

Hey Matt, as Vern mentioned, using the butt-joining/coverstrip method for sure TOP Down. When you are done, you can always do a little trimming to make the bottom look clean and consistent.

 

That is what I did and showed to you on our FB site. I then used a boatload of E6000 to hold it in place (I did not require heat for mine and it feels rock solid), the front will look a tad wonky, but the sides will look good as we showed ya.

[OsotheBear]

I'm having the same problem myself, I haven't glue anything yet but it seems it's a bit tricky to align them straight, my kit it's an AP, and I was thinking to butt-join it since it will be a ANH , I hope that makes it easier to align, oh and you can bend stuff with one of these

Edited October 27, 2012 by OsotheBear

[brokenskateboards]

At this stage I'm not as concerned about Centurion level but who knows what I'll think in the future. My problem with doing shims though is that the legs fit just fine with the overlap method and I feel I'd essentially be ruining the fit and the basic shins in general for the sake of authenticity. What if I do the overlap method and then put a cover strip over that? Would that satisfy the authenticity requirements?

[brokenskateboards]

Now I'm paranoid if I build it with the overlap method ill have spent all this money and made all this effort only to be told I'm not good enough. . So how does the butt joint method work? Would I size it up like it is now and then cut off the overlaps and glue a strip down the centre to hold the 2 halves together?

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

here's a tutorial for thighs http://www.whitearmo...h-cover-strips/

 

 

here's a tutorial for shins http://www.whitearmo...eaves_.2F_shins

 

 

just glue the sniper and youre golden

Edited October 27, 2012 by TK Bondservnt 2392