MI first TK build

[johna1177]

Thanks. I'll check those out.

[johna1177]

Ok, so i just spent the better part of an hour cutting finish strips. For my efforts I now have five 27" long sets of 7/8" wide strips. I'm currently using a razor knife and straight edge, cutting one side flush then a second cut 7/8" over from the flush cut. As a result I have the following questions:

 

1) anybody have a solid method for cutting consistent strips quickly? 

 

2) My strips are about .08" (2 mm) thick. Is this a typical thickness? This is approximately 33% thicker than the armor itself. I assume this is because the strip material provided with my armor is perimeter material which is not subjected to the vacuum forming process and as a result is not drawn out like the armor.

 

Total time: 57 mins.

Edited April 9, 2016 by johna1177

[Sentry71[TK]]

The strips will be thicker; that's normal. You're spot on as to why.

 

It sounds like you already have a pretty quick method for creating strips - I don't know of a faster one.

[johna1177]

Cut more cover strips between last night and today. My lesson for the day...ALWAYS score the ABS with the glossy side down. It seems obvious, but when i started I wasn't paying attention to that detail initially, but learned my lesson. Additionally, scoring with a utility knife tends to leave a small lip along the cut edge on the side its cut on. It's a much cleaner appearance to sand the edge of the side that will get glued to the armor. I spent an hour and 57 minutes between the two days cutting strips in addition to the 57 minutes i spent originally, but now i have an assortment of 15mm, 20mm and 25mm cover strips along with some surplus that are 23mm.

 

Total time cutting strips: 2 hrs. 54 mins.

[johna1177]

Well I've been making slow progress on assembly and even slower progress on posting. currently working on gluing all the required pieces, but thought i would post an update on some of the components recently purchased or on order.

 

Boots from TKBoots.

Received these as a gift from the wife and daughter.

 

Gloves.

I've been crossing into Windsor, Ontario lately for work and thanks to the tip in MechaPumpkin's build thread I stopped in at DollarRama and picked up a couple pair for $2 CAD/ pair.

 

Latex Hand Guards.

Courtesy of justjoseph63. Great quality and service (and they smell good too). you can find these in the Ongoing Sales here

 

E-11 Blaster

Picked up this beauty from Brett at Quest Design. His contact is brett.fulford@sympatico.ca. Eventually the plan is to build my own, but this makes a fine first piece to the start of my collection.

 

...and finally, on order, a set of Hovi Mic Tips from keith. They can also be found in the Ongoing Sales here.

 

Hopefully in the next day or two I will post another update. This time on some actual armor progress of the completed forearms and biceps. Those forearms are giving me fits.

[johna1177]

Also, anyone have any tips on scaling photos on this site? I upload all my photos to Photobucket and then resize all so that the maximum size is 650 x appx 480. Some photos, when linked to the site, are of a decent size (e.g. the TD side-by-side shots) others appear really large (e.g. the gloves shown above). Is there something I'm doing wrong or something that I can do on this site to control that?

[Sentry71[TK]]

I've never been able to scale pics on the site. I just let the site do its thing... a few will be huge, but they do size ok on a mobile device.

[johna1177]

I completed gluing the arm components together. I started by trimming the pieces to the appropriate width. I made myself some templates for marking the cut locations. These were nothing more than heavy paper stock cut to half the width of my cover strips. Lined up one edge where I planned to glue the cover strip and drew a line using the other edge.

 

With the arm pieces all trimmed I then began assembly. The biceps went smoothly. The forearms were a little more challenging. I started by sanding the glue surfaces on both the arm components and the cover strips (keep in mind, one side of your strips will be shinier than the other…shinier side should face out to match the armor). First I glued both cover strips to one half of the biceps and the forearms (typically the piece with the longer edges), clamped and allowed to dry overnight.

 

 

 

Next I glued the other half of the biceps to the previously glued half. After clamping and drying overnight the biceps were complete.

 

For the forearms I glued one side of the half without strips to the mating half with the cover strips, clamped and allowed to dry overnight, similar to the biceps but only joining one half.

 

Once my previous forearm work dried I went to work completing the forearm assembly. This is where things got tough. The clamps were not strong enough to hold the assembled parts. The pieces kept shifting or pulling apart completely. I found the best method was to use tape to hold the halves in alignment, then apply clamps and magnets.

 

 

Even this resulted in my previous work being pulled apart and requiring additional gluing. Eventually I was able to get everything to hold. I think in all likelihood I will add strips on the inner forearms for additional strength. All in all it took 4 overnight drying sessions to complete, using the E6000. Super glue would have gone much faster but I don’t trust myself enough just yet to go that route. I may experiment with the super glue for the inside strips.

 

The other thing I noticed is the openings for the forearms at the elbow are elongated in the opposite direction as my physical forearm, making it tighter on the sides of my forearm, but looser on top and underside. Anyone else have this issue? If so, what did you do to rectify? Heat maybe and reshape the opening? Sanding to flatten out the surface more? Is this more a comfort thing and I shouldn’t even worry about it as long as it’s durable and wearable? For the record, my build is somewhere between ectomorph and mesomorph, leaning toward ecto.

 

Total Arm Assembly Time (excluding dry time): 3 hrs. 20 mins.
Note: for those who are new, like myself, this took much longer than the average builder would take, as I spent a lot of time (too much actually) sanding my strips to a consistent width that was within .1-.2 mm of the desired width. They would have been fine even if I had left them alone.

Edited May 10, 2016 by johna1177

[Pyrates[TK]]

It's because you get 2 left sides from AP - totally normal mate!

 

You're doing great and slow progress is still progress

[Sentry71[TK]]

Once my previous forearm work dried I went to work completing the forearm assembly. This is where things got tough. The clamps were not strong enough to hold the assembled parts. The pieces kept shifting or pulling apart completely. I found the best method was to use tape to hold the halves in alignment, then apply clamps and magnets.

Yep, taping the items so they don't shift is a big help when using E6000. Good work there!

 

I think in all likelihood I will add strips on the inner forearms for additional strength. All in all it took 4 overnight drying sessions to complete, using the E6000. Super glue would have gone much faster but I don’t trust myself enough just yet to go that route. I may experiment with the super glue for the inside strips.

 

The other thing I noticed is the openings for the forearms at the elbow are elongated in the opposite direction as my physical forearm, making it tighter on the sides of my forearm, but looser on top and underside. Anyone else have this issue? If so, what did you do to rectify? Heat maybe and reshape the opening? Sanding to flatten out the surface more? Is this more a comfort thing and I shouldn’t even worry about it as long as it’s durable and wearable? For the record, my build is somewhere between ectomorph and mesomorph, leaning toward ecto.

Inner strips are a great help. I used E6000 on mine, but CA/super glue would work well. Remember to sand all edges on the inner strips, so they don't catch on the underlayer that you wear.

 

The forearms seem to do that for everyone. My solution to the elongation issue was a hot water bath to help "round" out the elbow end, and allow for a lot more comfort. It makes very little visual difference from the outside, which is a bonus as well.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Sentry71

[johna1177]

Thanks for the tips Sentry. It's also good to hear it's not just me, making mistakes.

Edited May 10, 2016 by johna1177

[johna1177]

That makes sense, thanks Pyrates.

[Pyrates[TK]]

That makes sense, thanks Pyrates.

Anytime

[johna1177]

Gluing strips to shins. You can never have too many clamps.

 

[SheaJeff[TK]]

I'm just staring out next weekend. I think I need more clamps!

[johna1177]

Gluing the inner and outer shins together. Can never have enough magnets either. For those of you who haven't come across Khazid's post on making magnet sachets here is the link. I used a similar procedure in assembling mine but I used two magnets, stacked, inside each sachet. I always place the black sachet inside the armor in the event it gets glued to the ABS. This way when I remove it, any debris left behind is black in color and will be concealed by the under suit.

 

The end result...

 

 

Originally I was concerned about the alignment of the two halves in the back, but there is more than enough play in them that once the velcro is installed it will hold them in place. Now if only I could figure out the scaling issues with my photos (PC viewing).

Edited May 20, 2016 by johna1177

[johna1177]

Assembly of the thighs was next. Much like before I glued the cover strips to one half first. I originally cut the strips for the full length of the thigh, but after much research here, discovered that the thigh strips do not extend all the way to the bottom of the thigh. I'll clean that up after everything is completed.

 

Then glued the two halves together in the front. Once that’s dry I’ll make any final cuts necessary in the back before gluing them to adjust for the proper size.

 

Had a mini disaster. Because the thigh cover strips don’t extend all the way to the bottom of the thigh in the front, it’s important that the seam be butted as tightly as possible. I didn’t realize after the clamping that the two halves shifted apart and I discovered I had about a 2-3 mm gap between the halves of one thigh after I removed the clamps. It was significant enough that the previous days work had to be pulled apart and re-glued (E6000 to the rescue). This time I included tape to help prevent separation. 

 

final front view (minus trimming strip)

 

I will either trim that overhang on the lower edges or possibly take the heat gun to them and create a return edge. 

[johna1177]

completed the thigh assembly. Glued the back halves together. I like to use as many clamps/magnets as i can fit. probably overkill but no harm.

 

Trimmed and sanded the cover strips that were hanging over in the previous post...finished product (front)

 

...and the back. I've tried them on for fit and feel I'm gonna have to make some mobility cutouts in the lower thighs, but I'll wait for now until I fit everything just to make sure. 

 

In the mean time I decided to try my hand at shaping the ABS using heat. I decided since I was going to most likely cut away the lower backs of the thighs anyway I would reshape the overhanging material on the right thigh (thigh assembly on the left in pic). My method was a simple heat gun. I just slowly and repeatedly hit it with heat until i was able to bend it by hand. Probably not the best method, but pretty quick. I may look into an iron, but you can see the results below and compare to photo above (lower thigh on left side).

 

I have a little more glue cleanup to do and then the thighs will be ready for the ammo belt.

 

Total time assembling legs (including rework): 7 hrs. 10 mins.

Edited June 13, 2016 by johna1177

[johna1177]

Next I added the thigh pack and sniper plate. First the thigh pack. This went fairly smoothly. I found a really good reference using ukswrath's build thread found here. I started by drilling 1/8" holes in the appropriate locations on the outside of the thigh. I used rapid rivets as opposed to double cap rivets.

 

the only downfall to this is they can only go in one way, with the post starting on the inside of the thigh and protruding through. then the cap gets placed on top from the outside. This means hammering on the post end which is a little non-traditional but worked. I also experienced a bit of a challenge setting the rivet on the inside, as the other half of the thigh would interfere with the mallet. I resolved this by using a long Craftsman punch (seen below next to thigh) that extended beyond the opposite side of the armor. With one rivet set I just wrapped the thigh pack around, making sure it was centered in front and then drilled for the second rivet.

 

 

and a little E6000 to hold it in place in the middle.

 

With the thigh pack complete, I turned my attention to the sniper plate for the left shin. Unfortunately, I had previously designated a right and left shin. AP shins are nearly identical and therefore interchangeable for me. The only thing that differentiates mine is I glued the rear cover strips to the outer shins, velco on the inside half. Based on that I did a test clamping of the sniper plate to the left shin. the result...

...not very appealing.

So I clamped it to what I had previously designated as the right shin. The result was better.

 

so I made the decision to go with this. Now I just have to deal with removing the rear cover strips and gluing them to the opposite half of the rear shin so I can once again have the cover strip on the outside half of the shin. In the end it looked considerably less crooked this way.

 

 

Total time securing thigh pack and sniper plate: 46 mins.

[johna1177]

Question. Is E6000 adequate for securing the Velcro on the backs of the shins? any other recommendations?

[SheaJeff[TK]]

I wanted to use the magnet method I saw somewhere here but was told it couldn't be approved even for basic with magnets.

I'm about t to glue my shin Velcro too so I'll be interested in responses the your question.

[Sentry71[TK]]

Question. Is E6000 adequate for securing the Velcro on the backs of the shins? any other recommendations?

 

I used industrial Velcro, and its own adhesive was plenty strong when used against the plastic.  You should not need any additional adhesive.

 

If you are using Velcro without its own adhesive, E6000 would work well in that situation.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Sentry71

[Haso[TK]]

I used E6000 and although only early days with two troops, it's holding up just fine. To separate the shins I tend to run my hand up in between the velcro strips to reduce the direct pulling apart force needed.

 

Sent from my SM-J100Y using Tapatalk

[johna1177]

*

 

After cleaning up the excess glue I discovered that the 1” white Velcro I purchased has adhesive on the back of the hook side (rigid half) but none on the back of the loops (fuzzy half). So I glued the loops and used the adhesive backing that came on the hooks. I placed the loop side on the cover strip portion of the shin because it wouldn’t catch on my under suit. I used the full 1” width of the loops portion and glued it in place using E6000. For the hook half I actually cut the hook piece in half, lengthwise, applying a ½” wide strip to the non-cover strip side of the shin using the attached adhesive. In the end, using Haso’s suggestion above of separating the Velcro from one end to the other using my hand or just a finger seems to be holding up under the limited number of times I’ve removed it.

 

 

Total time for cleanup and Velcro: 28 min.

 

 

With all the leg pieces completed it was time to create a support system for the thighs. I borrowed ideas from Pencap510 which can be found here. I elected to go with a garter system. I created an adjustable belt using 2” ribbon (sold as decorative tape in craft stores) and a 1” black, side-release parachute buckle. I folded the ribbon in half lengthwise and sewed the long edge (left the two ends open in the event I need to slide plastic or something else inside to lend additional support in the future). The thigh support straps have double snaps on the thigh end and Velcro on the belt end. Using about 5” of Velcro, the thigh straps are also adjustable by wrapping them around the belt and securing them to themselves.

 

Total time for garter assembly: 2 hr. 3 min.

 

 

With the legs complete I spent some time making a dozen snap soft plates.

 

Total time: 30 min.

 

 

Next I started on the support system for the arms. For the biceps, using a heat gun and the technique suggested on ukswrath’s build thread in step 7n (near the bottom of p. 2), I started by bending 15mm wide by 120mm long ABS strips, 20mm from one end to form a hook. I would suggest hitting the ABS in 5 second graduated intervals until you find the right duration. I started at 5 seconds and when that didn’t work let it cool a bit and then went to 10, etc. For my heat gun 20 seconds did the trick for me. Next it was gluing and clamping, leaving about 25mm of the hooked end exposed above the bicep. 

 

 

Total time: 27 min.

 

 

Gluing the elastic to the shoulder bells was routine. The biggest decision here was whether to glue the elastic or use snaps. I prefer snaps because I know how elastic loses its recoil over time and will eventually have to be replaced. My concern with snaps is that they would create excessive wear on the biceps and also create additional standoff where the bicep and bell overlap so I elected to go the glue route. I measured from side to side of the bells near the bottom and added 80mm to that dimension. I then glued 40mm of elastic to each side of the shoulders approximately 12mm up from the bottom of the bell. I used excess ABS (seen below) to aid in applying even pressure to the elastic underneath each pair of clamps. After allowing them to dry for 24 hours I’ll remove the glue runs on the inside of the bells. 

 

 

Total time: 23 min.

 

 

Which brings me to my next question. As pictured below, I have a return edge on the bottom of my bells. I’m looking for opinions on how others trimmed their bells and how it affects the overall fit of the bells and biceps. Anyone find that a return edge or no return edge provides a better fit? A better look?

Edited July 22, 2016 by johna1177

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good, just a tip, don't have your bicep hooks too long, they will tend to catch on your armor sometimes