RS PVC Kit / ANH TK Stunt Build / Bulldog44

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Maxim. Appreciate the comments and advice. I tried to research as much as possible before I got working on the belt. Your build was extremely helpful. Well documented. I will take your warning about the holster rivets and make a note before I attempt to attach that. 

 

My build skips around a bit so here is where I found myself this weekend. I wanted to get the snaps installed on the AB plate for the belt and the snap that is used to close up the kidney plate & AB plate. I started with that snap first since it seemed pretty straight forward.

 

I worked on installing the male snap halves for attaching the belt. This was one of those things I was scared to do. I did many mock ups to see where the female snap ends on the canvas belt matched up on the AB plate. I tried to keep the position of the belt at the right height to match the screen shot TKs. I rubbed the canvas belt snap ends with a pencil to transfer the contact spots on the AB plate. After I could make out the areas of contact, I re-marked the spot and drilled one side first. My method to get the snaps in the right spot was not deadly accurate and I have mixed feelings about how it all looks when the belt is attached.

 

Here I marked the spot to drill:

Then after drilling the hole. This hole sat a bit high but it was where the belt looked best during the mock ups:

 

After the first snap was installed I mocked up the belt again to confirm where the other snap will be installed. Already I felt I might have set the first snap too high but there was no turning back and to avoid a lopsided looking belt, I set the snap to keep it all horizontal.

 

And here it is with the belt attached. Looks & feels a bit high but looked close to the screenshot TK belt positioning.  I even tried mocking up the button plates to see where the top of the belt sits and it seems a tad high. Hopefully its okay, I can't change anything now but opinions are greatly appreciated. 

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Looks spot on!

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Looks spot on!

Thanks Nick. I was worried I made another permanent mistake.

 

 

I am about to glue on the shoulder bridges but before I permanently fix them to the chest plate, I would like your opinions on the positioning. They are just attached with double-sided tape. As recommended from other builds and reference photos, the bridges rest on the ends of the chest plate between the 5th and 6th thin bump not counting the first big bump. If it looks correct,let me know and I will glue the down.

One other question, does the entire bridge edge (up until the 5th thin bump)need to be glued to the chest plate? I saw many photos where the bridge looks glued only toward the first large bump to about the 2nd or 3rd bump and kind pops up a bit near the chest ends.Hope that makes sense.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

I also spent some time trimming the ankle edge line on the shins. 

 

Here is how they looked before with no major trimming to the original shin halves:

 

ANH screenshot of the ankles- front view:

Reverse:

 

 From knee to ankle, my legs seem longer than the shins so removing too much will end up looking funny. On top of that, the right shin is a lot shorter than the left shin.

I do not think I was able to get the same ankle line like in the screenshots but it looks much better than before.

 

The back ankle lines are not really that good but I might take a bit more off the sides to get them to look consistent. The shin on the left in the photo above is the right shin & you can see how much shorter it is than the left shin. As always, opinions/advice welcome!

[maxsteele[TK]]

I have seen some bridges glued with 4 bumps on the chest (not including the big one at the end) and some with 5. For my build, I went with 4. I didn't like how far down on my chest the bridges were with 5. That was just my preference and the design of my armor. Because of this, my bridges extend a little further in the back. That is also ok.

[LeMaxim[TK]]

Your bridges looks a lot like what I did.

I ended up looking at screen shots and centurion applications.

I'm guessing there's a bit I leeway here to fit different body types.

I'd say you have it right now.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Glue as much of the strap to the chest as you can. I have always added extra slivers of scrap PVC between the ribs on the underside to create as much gluing surface as possible. There is stress on these shoulder bridges. You don't want these popping off.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Glue the bridges on last after you have test fit your armor. 

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Long stretch between updates. Finally got to use a PC with Flash so I can link up photos. 

 

I was inspired by another FISD member,(Tim?) to have my hand at using a sewing machine. Got the elastic strapping loops for the brackets sewn up and parts of the garter belt. I managed to bend one needle and break another while attempting to sew velcro on to some strapping. Thats when I decided to retire my efforts and hand sew the rest.

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2014 by Bulldog44

[Bulldog44[TK]]

I couldn't help but notice that my holster looked rather large in size and after comparing measurements to the Bilhag PDF measurements, my holster was about 1/4 of an inch or more in size especially the straps. You can see below where I trimmed the left strap down to 3/4 of an inch and the strap on the right in the photo is they way it was when it arrived.  The distance between the straps is about an inch wider than the markings provided in the canvas belt. I don't want to make holes on the canvas belt for this holster if the size is incorrect. I could buy another holster but the funds are low so I might just make holes for the average size holster (Bilhag measurements) and attach my holster as is. 

Maybe it was a mistake trimming the strap down but the size looks more real to the screen holsters I have seen in the reference photos. I don't have a photo yet but I did trim both straps. 

 

Installed the snaps for the butt plate/ crotch strapping. I measured, marked and drilled the holes from the inside of the plate for these which looked properly centred. I should have measured and drill from the outside surface. I was about 2-3mm off it seems and this drives me crazy. Lesson learned again: measure and place place things according to how you see them from the outside if you worry about how it looks. 

I think I have been off in measurements this whole build by about 2 mm Good grief!

 

Hole drilled for the split rivet to install the crotch strap:

 

Matched up the holes drilled on the AB plate for the split rivets to the kidney plate; marked and drilled the holes.

 

 

Installed the split rivets and elastic straps on the AB plate:

 

Trimmed the Button plates to size ( not sure if the corners are too curved but hope it looks okay when its glued in place):

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Uploading more progress photos taken over the summer.

 

Just finished up the thighs and adding the knee ammo pack. I used cap rivets to attach the knee ammo pack to the thighs & hope this is correct. I didn't heat bend the ammo pack to follow the thigh bottom edges. Just attached the side facing outwards first then pulled it tightly around the thigh bottom edge and marked where I wanted the rivet on the inner thigh edge. Again I would say I was about 2-3 mm off from where I visually wanted to have placed the first rivet but that is the theme for my build so far- off by 2mm & slow !

 

 

The cap rivets provided by RS have very long stems and might have collapsed the wrong way when hammered down since there wasn't much plastic in-between. So placed 2 clear acrylic washers to create some thickness. Hard to make out but you can slightly see the clear washers on the inside of the assembly.

 

 

Thighs finished:

Left thigh rear:

Right Thigh rear:  

Right Thigh Top Edge :

 

I was not entirely happy how the cover strips cam out along the top edges for the front and rear thighs. I initially wanted to keep them looking like the RS original but decided to meet somewhere in the middle. I wanted to match some of the screen TK thigh examples but with so many variations I went with what also looked decent but reduced any unwanted obstruction when trooped in. Fire away with any opinions or advice if you have any.

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

Everything looks excellent, and i think you did well sizing down the holster. And don't worry about being 2mm off, nobody cares (except you ) !

 

However, the corners of your ab button plates are too rounded, they should be at a 90° angle:

[I'm Batman[501st]]

2mm!! That terrible. You may as well throw the whole armor out. Seriously, I had to look hard to see where that 2mm could possibly be. Don't worry about it. Looking good!

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Germain and Ian for your input. I think if I was going to build this as an accurate display piece, I would have pulled out all my hair by now.

Germain , I just tried getting the corners on the button plate to around a 90 degree angle but probably it won't be as close the screenshots you posted. I think when I trimmed that I was trying to match the outer lines of the raised area where its glued down. Throughout this whole build I keep trying to stay accurate as possible but once in a while I do things that I personally think looks better.........but then later regret why I even thought that.

In the process of gluing it down at the moment but If the button plate doesn't stay glued down properly, I will remove it and re-do the corners.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

More Updates:

 

Rear Cover strips for both shins glued on and holes drilled for the hooks & straps:

    For the holes, I measured 20mm down from under the lip of the top ridge and roughly 10mm in from the vertical trim line. Then 20mm up from the bottom of the shin & 10mm from the trim line. The center hole I just eyed it to about where I thought the original shins had their hole. I made sure the position also sealed up the back without too much of a gap. It measures about 11mm from the centre of the bottom hole.

 

Hooks & Straps glued in place:   

 

Sniper Plate added:

Clamping overkill but it held batter than the magnets did.

E6000 held it on the first try:

Again, off by the 2mm mark from my intended position but I will live with that

From the top view you can see the pressure that is placed on the top return edge of the shin from the way I glued the sniper plate on. Lots of warping and buckling & the shin halves look like they are going to split from the front cover strip. Not sure this will hold up with repeated wear but so far nothing has happened. I might trim back the return edge more to relieve stress where its buckling under the pressure.

 

Shins Completed:

 

One other thing I was able to do last week was to get the bracket screws to sit more evenly with the surface of the armor. With regular drill holes the countersunk screws would stick out a bit and come into greater contact with the joining armour parts resulting in unwanted scratches. And it just didn't look nice.  I do not have any fancy tools to drill nice countersinking holes so I found that the tip of my slim metal cutter knife had a good dull head on it. I  just carefully rotated it on top of the already drilled holes with some light pressure and it slowly scratched a nice beveled hole. The drill hole ended up a bit bigger but the screws sat perfectly in the hole with little of the head above the surface. The countersunk holes also still maintain some of the plastic for the screws to grip onto. In areas where I thought the plastic was too thin, I am using clear acrylic washers on the underside of the return edge to add some strength. 

Not the best photo I have of this but here it goes:

Hard to make out with this pic but you can somewhat see how the screw heads were protruding out a bit too much :

I will try to post a better example of how the screws sit with the countersunk holes, next time.

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

Nice job, all done like it should be! And indeed removing more ABS from the return edge is a very good way to improve the flexibility if you ever need it.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Here is another closeup of the screws installed on the Chest plate after I beveled the drill holes. They stuck out a lot more prior to doing this.

 

 

Drop Boxes- This is not sticking to the originals but I wanted to be able to change up the elastics if needed or add some hardware in the drop boxes to open and close them. I haven't figured that out yet but since I had lots of extra Chicago screws, I thought they are perfect for this. I can always attach the elastics with rivets later on if I want to.

 

Bicep & Forearm Straps- I was going to just glue these in place but I wanted more flexibility to adjust the arms so decided to use velcro sewn on both ends of the strap. Not original but practical. 

 

Thigh Straps & Garter Belt- I looped the straps and sewn on velcro to attach them to the thighs just like the arms. The strap just loops around the garter belt. 

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thermal Detonator in progress-  I already trimmed the end caps and the control plate more than a year ago. Can't believe its taken me so long to start work on this again. The aluminium strips provided by RS Props looked rather short to make the clips but I went ahead and gave it a try. 

 

 

I went to the home centre to pick up some 1 mm thick aluminium to cut into strips. I just a cutter knife and a metal ruler to cut this up. I had to score the aluminium many times before it finally broke off. Not the easiest or smartest way to do this but it worked and left a fairly clean edge. I just used a metal file and some fine grit sandpaper to clean up the rough parts.

 

I curved the strips around the pipe. I kept rolling it on a piece of lumber with a little pressure to get a better. I was careful not to crack the pipe.

 

Made a practice one too. I still need to research the actual size of the clips and find a clean way to bend them. After I figure the size out I will cut down the strips.

Comparison shot:

 

There is where I am at with the TD. Hope to finish up the clips this weekend and then put it all together.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

First test fit of the leg armor- I was able to put it on without cracking anything or falling over on my head. Here are the results:

 

My dog Luke sharing his thoughts:

 

It fit comfortably, a bit loose around the knees but can't help my skinny legs. The straps for the shins were hard to undo and there was a noticeable gap along the back seam exposing the drill holes and straps. Hoping to find a better way to close up the back better. 

Adjusting the thighs higher and lower was easy with the velcro attached straps but unsure exactly how high or low they need to be. Too low and the sniper plate kept catching the lower left thigh.  Any thought or improvements I can make?

 

Hoping to keep the momentum going to finish this off soon and finally join the ranks!

[I'm Batman[501st]]

The straps for the shins were hard to undo and there was a noticeable gap along the back seam exposing the drill holes and straps. Hoping to find a better way to close up the back better. 

Adjusting the thighs higher and lower was easy with the velcro attached straps but unsure exactly how high or low they need to be. Too low and the sniper plate kept catching the lower left thigh.  Any thought or improvements I can make?

 

I'm not happy with my hook closure either. 1: the big gaps like you speak of. 2: open the hooks up to allow to do up easy, they kept falling undone. 3: close up the hooks and I couldn't get then done up, impossible to undo. I might be going to velcro for that....

 

Thighs - a bit hard to tell until you get the torso/codpiece on to see how it all sits.

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

That's what i call a good fit!! The height of the thighs seems good but as Ian says, you will be able to finalize it only when you will have the torso on at the same time.

 

I know you aren't going to like it and that it will keep bothering you, but don't worry about the shins' gaps. As they are oriented inward, no one will ever notice it from the back and neither from the side as then the other shin will be in the way and hide it.

 

About the drop boxes, how do you keep the inner boxes secured inside the outer?

[Bulldog44[TK]]

I'm not happy with my hook closure either. 1: the big gaps like you speak of. 2: open the hooks up to allow to do up easy, they kept falling undone. 3: close up the hooks and I couldn't get then done up, impossible to undo. I might be going to velcro for that....

 

Thighs - a bit hard to tell until you get the torso/codpiece on to see how it all sits.

Good advice Ian. Need to get the top finished to see how it all fits in relation to each other.

Yeah those hooks are strange, as you said if you use them as is they are hard to remove and if you bend them out a bit they pop out unexpectedly. There must be some way to get reduce the gaps. I will probably spend the weekend on a solution.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

That's what i call a good fit!! The height of the thighs seems good but as Ian says, you will be able to finalize it only when you will have the torso on at the same time.

 

I know you aren't going to like it and that it will keep bothering you, but don't worry about the shins' gaps. As they are oriented inward, no one will ever notice it from the back and neither from the side as then the other shin will be in the way and hide it.

 

About the drop boxes, how do you keep the inner boxes secured inside the outer?

Thanks Germain. I spent way too much time trimming and resetting those parts so they looked right and hopefully fit well. As you and Ian advised I will see how it all comes together with the upper armor parts.

 

As for the gaps in the back of the shins, I might try one idea to tight them up but my wife said the same as you, not to worry as its not that noticeable.

 

The outer and inner drop boxes are not yet attached to each other. Still thinking of a good way to attach then but make it functional to open and close. I will probably end up using some Velcro inside if nothing else comes to mind.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Worked on the TD this weekend- First I started by making a practice clip-   Sorry Pic Heavy post!!!!!!

 

 

Comparison of the clip I made using the RS metal strip on the left to the practice clip on the right- Practice clip was a bit too long so I adjusted my measurements for the final clips.

 

Curved the strips around the tube

 

Lightly scored a line for the bend. Scoring a line helped the metal fold over exactly as I wanted it to. It might have weakened the bend a bit but I don't plan on messing with this..

 

Measured the length of the clip that goes behind the belt- 70 mm in length, just a tad over the RS props original TD. I wanted to leave some room for error.

 

Scored and removed the excess metal-

 

 

Using a crude wood vice, I measured and made the small bends at the end of the clips- about 6 mm.

 

Filed down the corners and sanded the edges to a smooth finish.

 

Drilled the holes for the screws- I was going to place the scows closer to the edge of the clip like the RS TD seen in the photo reference section but I instead went with the measurements off a TD that RS props assemble for me.

 

 

I mocked up the canister with the end caps and taped on the control plate to see where the clips need to be screwed on. Marked & drilled the holes.

 

 

Clips attached with the screws. I used black pan head screws to match the originals but I couldn't find anything smaller that these. The head diameter is about 5 or 6mm. They are not very smooth so I ended up sanding them down. The black wore off a bit so I will repaint them later.

 

TD canister with clips and caps in place-

 

Glued on the control plate and waiting for it to dry- Almost finished with this!

 

The overall length of my TD is about 190 mm but the 501st CRL states it should be 190.5 mm. Will this be a problem that is slightly shorter than stated?

The assembled TD I got from RS measures even shorter. I could pull off the caps a bit but that will affect the clip placement. Hope its not a problem as it is.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Bulldog44

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

About the TD length the CRL specifiates "approximately" because there's no way all the TD on the film were 190,5 mm. So don't worry about that and keep up the excellent work you're doing .

Edited September 1, 2014 by The5thHorseman