Red_2's NE ANH TK build ...

[Red_2[TK]]

Ten four! Thanks Andrew!

 

More pics up tonight ...

[Red_2[TK]]

Right bicep sized and cut, feels good.

 

Tried a quick mock-up ... LOL!

I used a thermal shirt to try and support the biceps and arms, but it barely worked.

The shoulder bells are HUGE. Not sure if I need to trim them at the bottom, or if I need to trim them length wise since they can move in a bit to the chest (note: that's an AP chest). 

 

I'm holding up the forearms with the tops of my hand. I think I may go a little tighter on them.

They look good, but they are seriously loose around my arms. I'll try some foam support first then check aesthetics before I decide to trim them down more.

 

 

Here's one of the bells snug against my shoulder. I think trimming it length wise might be necessary. Positioned like this the bottom edge hits the middle of my bicep. Ron, which shoulder bell is left and which is right? The only marked difference in the two is the bottom of the center ridge on one is flared out, and the other is straight.

 

[gazmosis[501st]]

NEGATIVE ON THE LENGTH TRIMMING!!  You want that little bit of return edge on the bottom. If anything, take a little off the edge that sits against your chest. That plus making sure it is up all the way to the top of your shoulder will make it come up. Your final goal should be to have it close to touching the ribbed shoulder bridge when you install that.

BTW, the shoulders are interchageable

[Red_2[TK]]

Hey Steve! That line you drew is what I meant by length. I guess I should have said length-wise. Either way, I agree.

In that pic the bottom edge hits the middle of my bicep, so from top to bottom should be fine.

 

Thanks! And roger that on the interchangeable-ness of the shoulders.

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

NE should have specific left and right shoulder bells, basically the one with a flare at the bottom goes on the left shoulder:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26703-rezablad3s-tm-luke-replica-suit/page-3

 

And i agree with Steve on the trim line. Don't take too much but remove a little. You might want to wait for your torso to be strapped before doing it though.

[Red_2[TK]]

Boom! Flare goes on the left. Thanks, Germain.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Yep, flare at the bottom = left shoulder.

 

I cut off about 3 mm on Steve's cut line from each shoulder.  I prefer the bottom of the shoulders sticking out from the biceps vs. completely flush against them.   Both types were seen on-screen:

 

 

Shoulders sticking out:

 

 

 

 

Shoulders flush with biceps:

 

[Red_2[TK]]

Just got done trimming down the forearms a little bit more. Definitely a bit more snug and now my hands need to be carefully squeezed out/in to get them on. Feels better.

 

I can see now why tons of magnets and clamps are necessary when gluing cover strips down on these babies. That'll be interesting.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Red_2

[gazmosis[501st]]

Make sure your cover strips are cut to length. Don't take the chance of damaging your armor by trimming them after they are glued. Also, If you used a razor knife to cut your cover strips, you WILL have a little raised edge on the cut line. Make sure you remove this or the cover strip will not sit flush on the surface of your parts.

[Red_2[TK]]

Thanks Steve! Will do.

 

Looks like I'm gonna wait on final gluing until I know the forearms, biceps and shoulders are sized up correctly.

Per a previous suggestion, I'm gonna start fitting my chest to help with trimming the shoulder bells just a tad on the sides.

[Red_2[TK]]

Family in town this past weekend and have been sick the past few days with a nasty stomach bug.

But I refuse to not make progress!

 

Was able to finish enlarging the traps and tears on the helmet.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

Hey, green lenses!

 

 

Whoa, that was a big difference. Almost embarrassing.

Thanks again, Ron, for pointing that out.

 

Here's an almost all on the floor display. Tiny room in a tiny house.

 

 

Hopefully feeling better in a day or two to get back on it.

 

(Everybody's gotta play with dad's stuff, huh?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

Ha ha, that last picture is excellent 

 

And your helmet does look way much better. Very nice work. It's always difficult to go back on something we thought finished.

[Red_2[TK]]

Had to leave work early again, as my strength has not been fully regained but after some fluids

and a three and a half hour nap, alas, some energy.

 

So the chest plate. I had gotten a spare from AP just in case the AM was too big and because I was aiming for Centurion anyway. Now that I have the NE, the chest plate is similar in size to the AP except it had a bit more flashing and was wider at the bottom. So I thought of just using the AP, but first I figured lets try and adjust the NE. Why not? (Note: Holy crap! I didn't think taping pieces up to test fit would be such a pain.)

 

Holding the out-of-the-box NE chest up to my own ... chest. Can't see it here but the neckline is just glancing my throat.

 

After several careful heat gun passes. I actually went a little far on my left hand side so I readjusted that. Got some wavy line action along the return edge along the bottom but easily remedied/looks screen accurate anyway. Also you can't see it unless you're underneath looking at the bottom. I tried the ab plate underneath and so far, so good.

 

Also you get a good idea how thin I am. The pec lines are crooked but I figured that's normal.

 

Here's where I'll trim at the shoulder, I think. As it stands the back plate and this area touch each other when I size 'em up. So I'm starting with an inch trim, then go from there.

 

Cut lines for the flashing along the sides.

 

Aaaawwwwww, snap!

 

Now to make some small cuts, and size up with the shoulder bells! Stay tuned ...

Edited September 26, 2014 by Red_2

[Red_2[TK]]

Okay ... scratch that so far, so good with the ab plate.

 

Just as a pre-caution before cutting on the chest, I resized up the ab plate taping it up this time snug and in approximate position. With the chest plate on I noticed, a) the chest plate looks a little more crooked than normal (could just need some fine tuning), and most people have about a couple inches of the center line above the ab plate box showing, and on me the chest plate comes down to the box.

 

Also I have about a 2 inch gap below my crotch. So it seems like the ab plate/cod is lengthy on me.

 

I was contemplating not cutting the cod, but it may now seem necessary. I'll straighten out my chest piece a bit first then start measuring out the cod

Edited September 26, 2014 by Red_2

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Hey Ryan do you have your undersuit pants?  I would just be careful making any adjustments down there without having your undersuit on.  Even though if you have about a 2 inch gap wearing your shorts, I'm sure it will be even worse with your undersuit on.  I am not very familiar with NE armor and do not know if this is a normal issue with the cod being bigger but I would look at other NE builds to see if cutting the cod is something that is done regularly.   

 

As far as your chest plate goes, I wouldn't really make any adjustments to that until you know exactly where it is going to lie with your strapping system in place.  If I were to do anything I would maybe cut out your neck line first as opposed to cutting the bottom of the chest.  You should be able to pull up the chest a little by doing that.

[Red_2[TK]]

Yes, I do have an undersuit! Thanks for reminding me about trying it on that way.

Even with the shorts on I pulled it up and down to check the gap.

After looking at the chest again last night, it doesn't seem too far off, so like you said I'll

wait to see what it looks like as more pieces get fitted.

 

And oh yeah, definitely not thinking about cutting the bottom of chest! 

 

I think everyone that has an NE I've seen so far is taller so they don't need to cut it.

I'm thinking about an inch off the cod and a half inch to inch allowance at the neckline should do it.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Red_2

[Red_2[TK]]

Some test fit pics.

 

Biceps might be a little high. I think I'll trim the shoulder bells about 1/4 inch to start on the insides

as stated before. There's definitely a big gap between the bottom of the cod and my actual crotch.

 

 

Looking at these I'm curious about the width of the chest. It looks wider at the midpoint for some reason. See my mark below. What do you guys think?

 

[Red_2[TK]]

Maybe it's not too wide. I dunno.

It looked nice and snug against my chest but I think with the ab plate underneath, it pushes out a bit making it seem wider.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Red_2

[maxsteele[TK]]

Yeah, I've got about 2 inches on you height-wise, and didn't have this issue with the cod and chest plate.  I'm not really sure about that gap you have at the bottom of the cod.  It could be height-related.

 

I cut out the return edge at the neck line for my chest plate.  You could do this as well and then you'll be able to bring the chest plate up higher, which would possibly let you bring the ab plate up higher.

 

I didn't cut any of the shoulder part off the chest or the back.  I would suggest that you get the ab / kidney / back plates all lined up and fitting well before any further modification to the chest plate.  You just can't tell how the chest will sit until those parts are done.

 

Definitely cut the flashing off of the sides of the chest like you marked, if you haven't already.

 

If I'm reading your previous post correctly, you used a heat gun to shape the chest plate to fit, but you didn't have the ab plate in place when you did so?  The chest plate doesn't form to your chest, but sits over the ab plate, which is where you'd want the fit to be.  As for the "crookedness" of the chest plate, that's just the way these asymmetrical TK suits are

 

 

 

You can certainly bring down the biceps and raise up the forearms.  It's better to have a gap at the wrists than at the elbows (ignore my glove bunching down at the wrists and the position of my hand guards.  I fixed that by tucking my gloves into my undersuit and making sure the hand guard were on properly). You'll want to have a piece of elastic that connects the forearms to the biceps.  That will solve the gap issue completely at the elbow and then you can play with where you want your biceps to sit.

 

I'm not sure I'm seeing an issue with the width of your chest plate.  But it may be a bit misshapen after heat bending it without the ab plate underneath it.

Edited September 27, 2014 by maxsteele

[Red_2[TK]]

As always, thanks for the feedback, Ron! I'll comment in your quote.

 

Yeah, I've got about 2 inches on you height-wise, and didn't have this issue with the cod and chest plate.  I'm not really sure about that gap you have at the bottom of the cod.  It could be height-related.

 

It's most likely height related. But I think the math on where I'll trim the cod and chest plate (at the neckline) should be sound.

 

I cut out the return edge at the neck line for my chest plate.  You could do this as well and then you'll be able to bring the chest plate up higher, which would possibly let you bring the ab plate up higher.

 

I didn't cut any of the shoulder part off the chest or the back.  I would suggest that you get the ab / kidney / back plates all lined up and fitting well before any further modification to the chest plate.  You just can't tell how the chest will sit until those parts are done.

 

Yeah, when the back plate and chest plate are test fitted on me the tops overlap a bit, the above pics have the shoulders already trimmed. As it stands now when I size up the back plate and the chest they have about a half inch gap. But that will disappear when I trim the neckline a bit.

 

Definitely cut the flashing off of the sides of the chest like you marked, if you haven't already.

 

Done!

 

If I'm reading your previous post correctly, you used a heat gun to shape the chest plate to fit, but you didn't have the ab plate in place when you did so?  The chest plate doesn't form to your chest, but sits over the ab plate, which is where you'd want the fit to be.  As for the "crookedness" of the chest plate, that's just the way these asymmetrical TK suits are

 

 

In the pictures I don't have the ab plate on, but I did have it in mind when I was shaping. I actually used the AP chest as a reference since that thing fit right out of the box. And the crookedness I was seeing is apparent on yours and a couple other NE suits I have seen, so looks like the chest should be fine. Thanks for posting that pic!

 

You can certainly bring down the biceps and raise up the forearms.  It's better to have a gap at the wrists than at the elbows (ignore my glove bunching down at the wrists and the position of my hand guards.  I fixed that by tucking my gloves into my undersuit and making sure the hand guard were on properly). You'll want to have a piece of elastic that connects the forearms to the biceps.  That will solve the gap issue completely at the elbow and then you can play with where you want your biceps to sit.

 

Roger that on the gap at the wrists! I was curious about that. And yes, the bicep forearm strap should maintain everything! Looking forward to that.

 

I'm not sure I'm seeing an issue with the width of your chest plate.  But it may be a bit misshapen after heat bending it without the ab plate underneath it.

 

Yeah, it may just be an initial reaction but I did notice today that the NE has about a 1/4" to 3/8" of extra material on either side compared to the AP. Maybe that's what I'm seeing, but the more I look around at reference pics and build pics, it starts to look normal anyway.

 

Gonna try everything on again here tonight after I trim the neck line a tad. Thanks again, Ron!

[Red_2[TK]]

Trimmed the shoulder bells 3/8" along the side edge. I used 3M trim tape to help with the cut line.

 

Measured off 3/8" from the edge and marked every inch or so along the edge.

 

Taped off along markings.

 

Scored and snapped.

 

Done. Shoulder bells trimmed.

 

[Red_2[TK]]

Trimmed the return edge off the neckline (just over a 1/4") and trimmed 3/8" off the inside edge of the shoulders bells.

 

I think with the elastic on the bells it should look fine. I'm wanting a more snug look. I'm wondering about the fit at the top of the shoulder though. Strapping holds the bell in place at the shoulder bridges, so I'm curious how the strapping will affect the positioning of the bell. Where does the shoulder bell hit on everyone else? In this pic it's touching the very outside tip of my shoulder. The chest seems to be okay although I can't tell if the right shoulder bell is pushing on it a little at the top.

 

I tried to lower the biceps a little but now it looks like they're sitting a little too low.

 

 

 

[Red_2[TK]]

I may have the bells up to high. Looks like others have the top of the bell resting on the shoulder.

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

Shoulder bells are good, biceps are good, forearms are too low. Their top should be touching the bottom of the biceps. And if then you have trouble bending the arms, you can increase the trim of the top curve on the inner half of the forarms to gain some space.

 

Also, take care in following what others do. Always prefer the reference pictures of original armors first.

Edited September 28, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[gazmosis[501st]]

Your chest is catching my eye. it seems to be bulging outward at your arm pits. In looking at the before/after shots of your adjustment with the heat gun, you reduced the side flare to adjust so tightly to YOUR shape. Now you ad the ab plate underneath, it seems to be pushing the sides back out making it flare up higher. Maybe I'm just seeing things???????