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RT Mod Rebuild


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A few modifications to the RT MOD:

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I took a couple of inches off of the crotch plate. I'll be trimming off a whopping inch and a half!

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Replacing old snaps:

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I realigned the sniper plate at an angle away from my knee to lessen the armor bites.

 

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Also I'm trimming out the return edge at the tops of the knees cuz they're diggin' in to my flesh.

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Here's a bonus cat pic:

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Edited by TB5K
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HA-ha love it. You are making some great progress. Good work mate

 

Thanks Jeremy. More to come!

 

I'm worried about riveting the sniper plate in place. I've already trimmed off the return edge as it was digging into my knee. Is there a way to make the rivet backs super low-profile? Do they make rivets with a shallow backing?

Edited by TB5K
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Rivets for the sniper? Or do you mean the thigh pack? It is more accurate to glue the sniper plate.

 

As for rivet types, cap rivets are smooth on the back.

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Like Echo says the sniper plate should not be riveted, but glued in place. the thigh pack is riveted with cap rivets, and from what I can see that is already done. all and all I would say your looking good!

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E-6000. Clamp it for at least 24hrs. Or even 2 days.

 

Let cure as long as possible with as many clamps as possible. Put it down and walk away for a few days. 

 

-Eric (not the cat) 

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Let cure as long as possible with as many clamps as possible. Put it down and walk away for a few days. 

 

-Eric (not the cat) 

 

Right on!

 

Gonna hit it with the heat gun a little to bend to fit and then hit it with the E 6000. Does the ABS cool pretty fast? How long should I wait between heat gun and gluing?

 

Thanks Eric-not-the-cat! :D

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I got the sniper plate in shape with a heat gun.

 

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To cool it off I ran it under cold water for a minute. Then I sanded the contact points a little with some 60 grit, washed the dust off, and got the clamps ready. Clamped the hell out of it and walked away.

 

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I noticed that the overlap of the shins pointed outward whereas I've read they should point inward. Luckily the RT Mod shins are identical so I swapped left for right and put the sniper plate on the proper shin piece.

A side note: some of the clamps I use have metal ends so I use a little rubber strip on the outside to protect the ABS. These Pony clamps are hardcore. Typically used for lighting and rigging, these things out clamp any magnet or plastic clamp I've seen.

 

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Then I finished the cut on the crotch plate.

 

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I rounded off with the exact-o and some sanding.

 

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On to reapplying the snaps. I cleaned up the salvaged snaps by removing all the old E6000...

 

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...trimming the sides down, and sanding the corners for a nice clean look...

 

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E6000 and clamped. 4AM and time to sleep...

 

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More snap salvaging, repositioning, gluing, and clamping:

 

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It's a clamp party!

 

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Next: new fans in the lid and initial try-on with new adjustments!

Edited by TB5K
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you are doing a great job....e 6000 is the way to go.. as far as cutting goes dont make passes just one good blaid and snap to many passes makes an easy snap but an uneven snap, but looking real good so far, keep up the good work 

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I'm going to start my build soon. What is a E6000??? Can you post a photo of it...

 

Hey there James. E6000 is a plastic bonding glue popular among armor builders. I've just started using it and it's pretty great. There's tons of info about using it right here on the FISD if you do a forum search for "E6000". You can get it at any well stocked hardware store or hobby shop and they also sell it on Trooperbay.

 

Good luck on your upcoming build!

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I'm going to start my build soon. What is a E6000??? Can you post a photo of it...

 Here's what the bottle looks like:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=E6000&num=100&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=images&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=FRR3Ub_GH-7FiwKC-oGoCg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1696&bih=1118

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The clamps came off Sunday evening and I wore it out on it's maiden voyage to SF's DNA Lounge where they were having a SW Cantina party.

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But before leaving I wanted to do a few more tweaks and get the fans in the lid. First off I took a quarter inch off of the bottoms of the shins and tapered the edge and sanded them smooth so they would be more gentle on the boots. They held up pretty good. I still may put fabric on the edges to ease the boot wear even more. The armor definitely puts a crease in the leather from sheer gravity but the tapering helped from them chewing up the leather I think.

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I wore my TKBoots size 11s with gel inserts for this first outing. TKBoots come about a size large with a longer, narrower cut. As a normal tennis shoe wearing size 11 I decided to buy a size 10 AND a size 11 to compare. The 10s fit pretty good but I like the 11s with the gel inserts. In the 10s I can feel that narrow cut.


The old fans were glued in originally. I bought a new set and decided to try a velcro system. I put the soft loop side on the helmet and wrapped the edges of the fans with strips of hook side. Worked out well and they're adjustable. I can pretty much point them in any direction.

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The armor bites were extremely minimal. Just an occasional pinch here and there. My friend drove us to the club and to get in the car I sort of sprawled out on the back seat. That got uncomfortable so I found another position that worked although I looked ridiculous:

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As far as the undersuit I got an inexpensive black diver skin on eBay. It has stirrups on the feet, and loops on the cuff. It zips up the front and has a small mock turtleneck cut. Very nice for 30 bucks. Unfortunately there is no crotch access so I took a pair of C9 boxers (with the duo dry wick-away tech fabric) and cut out the fly section, had my girlfriend sew it on the crotch of the diver skin and then cut a hole in the diver skin after the new crotch was sewn on.

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Worked great!! I was able to pee without taking anything off.

The party was a fund raiser for Burning Man's 'Black Rock Cantina' camp. I don't go to burning man but if I did it would be with them. So many cool peeps and costumers. I met a Golden Gate Garrison 501st member, TB-9349. Good times!

Edited by TB5K
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LMAO... well at least you could get in the car, I wouldnt have a hope, I cant bend down like that or bend my knees that far lol. Nice job.

 

Yeah I didn't think it was gonna happen but we kinda forced it. My crotch plate was all but unsnapped when I got out of the car among other parts of the armor. I had to do some buttoning up before moving along. :laugh1:

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