TK-Jay Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Hello all, After months of research, planning, and waiting, It's finally time to fulfill a childhood dream! First, the details… Armor: AP (untrimmed) Bucket: AP (unfinished) *The new kit looks great Mark! Love the new additions. AP painted-look decals AP split-rivet/washer/helmet screw kit AP Helmet details (visor, neck and brow trim, Hovi tips) AP Canvas belt AP T-Det. tube & clips Supplies (that I currently have): Mechanical pencil Exacto knife Box Cutter Scissors Steel ruler Drill - (w/bits of various sizes) Soldering Iron Hammer Screwdriver set Spring clamps (8… but I know I'm going to need more) Painters tape Sandpaper (80/120/300/600/1000 grit) E6000 (lots) CA Glue (lots) Nylon webbing - black 2" Nylon webbing - white 2" Elastic - white 1/4" (for shoulders) Elastic - black 3" Elastic - black 1" Elastic - black 1/4" (for hand plates) Black felt - 4 sheets - 8x10 100 Tandy leather line 24 snaps (black finish) 10 Tandy leather line 24 snaps (nickel finish) Snap setter tool (with base) Industrial velcro - white (for back of shins) Misc. Darman's neckseal Darman's holster Disney-Doo's E-11 Blaster (build thread Here) Random spandex shirt and pants bought from amazon - black Nomex flight gloves - black (these are awesome, you can use a smartphone while wearing them) Disney's Imperial Binders Imperial boots - 421 (in the mail) A big, flat desk with computer access (so I can browse the FISD for tips) A loving and understanding wife Onto the build! BBB Day! Of course I couldn't let it just STAY in the box… Deep breath… here we go! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamikazebam Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Awesome man!! My AP kit is in the mail. Look forward to your build 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder918 Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Congrats! I too look forward to your build! You have a ton of help on here, you got this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILLSID29 Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Watching this as my kit is being delivered on Tuesday! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted April 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Thanks guys! The forum members here are some of the most helpful folks I've ever met. This all seems daunting at first, but there's an answer for every question on the FISD! Here's some quick photos of the initial cuts. I thought i'd start with the drop boxes because they are mostly straight lines. I'd like to have some kind of storage system for them, as it seems that might come in handy, but I haven't decided on anything yet. I have experimented with different ways of cutting the plastic, and found that the Score/Bend/Snap method works best for me. Drop boxes cut! Since my confidence is building, I decided to tackle the hand plates next. I couldn't resist trying it on, and… well, it's pretty large. Bigger than I thought they'd be anyway. They are also flat-bottomed, so I'll need to put a bit of a curve on them to fit the contours of my hands. I tell ya, this plastic is thicker than I thought it'd be, and making cuts thinner than 1cm is pretty difficult. I had to bust out the mini pliers and go piece by piece. Time to mess up my nice, clean work area and sand these edges down. Wear a mask, this stuff gets everywhere. I hit it with 80 grit and worked my way down until I was happy with it. I decided to add elastic on the inside to go around my wrists and middle finger. To finish off the look, I added some black felt inside. The plates are so big that can see inside them when I make a fist or hold a blaster, so the felt should make it less noticeable (I hope). I wasn't too picky about how it looked on the inside, because as the glue was curing, I cut some felt to size, and laid it inside. Yikes! The piece fits ok but the glue seeped through the felt and dried white. I used a sharpie to cover the white, and it seems to be working well at the moment. Fingers crossed. It fits well, and I think looks pretty good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGHtrooper21 Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Thanks guys! The forum members here are some of the most helpful folks I've ever met. This all seems daunting at first, but there's an answer for every question on the FISD! Here's some quick photos of the initial cuts. I thought i'd start with the drop boxes because they are mostly straight lines. I'd like to have some kind of storage system for them, as it seems that might come in handy, but I haven't decided on anything yet. I have experimented with different ways of cutting the plastic, and found that the Score/Bend/Snap method works best for me. Drop boxes cut! Since my confidence is building, I decided to tackle the hand plates next. I couldn't resist trying it on, and… well, it's pretty large. Bigger than I thought they'd be anyway. They are also flat-bottomed, so I'll need to put a bit of a curve on them to fit the contours of my hands. I tell ya, this plastic is thicker than I thought it'd be, and making cuts thinner than 1cm is pretty difficult. I had to bust out the mini pliers and go piece by piece. Time to mess up my nice, clean work area and sand these edges down. Wear a mask, this stuff gets everywhere. I hit it with 80 grit and worked my way down until I was happy with it. I decided to add elastic on the inside to go around my wrists and middle finger. To finish off the look, I added some black felt inside. The plates are so big that can see inside them when I make a fist or hold a blaster, so the felt should make it less noticeable (I hope). I wasn't too picky about how it looked on the inside, because as the glue was curing, I cut some felt to size, and laid it inside. Yikes! The piece fits ok but the glue seeped through the felt and dried white. I used a sharpie to cover the white, and it seems to be working well at the moment. Fingers crossed. It fits well, and I think looks pretty good. I like how you did the Hand Guards. Very Creative!1 Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zv288bot[TK] Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Man, hand guards look awesome! My box gets here Monday! I'm following this thread my friend. Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Trooper[501st] Posted April 25, 2016 Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Awesome work so far. Enjoy the build! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrates[TK] Posted April 25, 2016 Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Beautiful work mate and I can't wait to watch the rest come together! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucnak[TK] Posted April 26, 2016 Report Share Posted April 26, 2016 Hi there, good luck with the build! Drop box depth is 15mm. Not sure if you continued to trim those down after your photos, but it looks like you left a little more on there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted April 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 (edited) Thanks everyone! And wow Luc, That's a good eye you have there! To be honest I haven't done much research on the drop boxes yet, but I figured i'd probably need to trim them a little more. Mine are currently 20mm so that should be a quick fix. Thanks for the heads-up! Time to trim the biceps! bend'n snap technique… For the smaller pieces, I had to use the mini pliers. There's a very small lip on the elbow-edge of the bicep, so I assume there's no return edge here. I felt like I could get a truer line if I went at it from the inside. As for the top, I think I may not have left enough edge… But this edge will be hidden by the shoulder bell, so I don't think it's that big of a deal (or at least I hope not! ). Moving on to the seams… I'm 6' - 175lbs. so I will be using the regular 15mm cover strips for the arms. This means I need to measure 7.5mm from each ridge line. I marked a few guidelines as I went… And then used some painter's tape to get a straight line, connecting all of the marks. Then, used the tape to guide my Exact-o blade. Test fitting the two halves… More progress soon! Edited April 27, 2016 by TK-Jay 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zv288bot[TK] Posted April 27, 2016 Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 Looks great! Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucnak[TK] Posted April 27, 2016 Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 Regarding cutting those straight lines, I would clamp my metal ruler and then use that to cut along. Just a suggestion for technique. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Trooper[501st] Posted April 28, 2016 Report Share Posted April 28, 2016 Yep, clamp your metal ruler. Mine has some stupid cardboard backing so I flip my ruler upside down and clamp it down. Don't worry about the top of the bicep as the shoulder bell will cover it like you said. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentry71[TK] Posted April 28, 2016 Report Share Posted April 28, 2016 Looking great so far!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted April 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 Thanks everyone! *Whew* Glad to know I didm't screw up too badly on that return edge. I'm using the metal ruler/clamp solution to cut my cover strips and stuff like that, but I was having trouble getting the ruler to lay flat over the curviest of the armor pieces. I did almost two semesters of nothing but cutting things with the XKnife back in college, so I guess I feel most comfortable free-handing it. It's not as perfect as some of y'alls builds, but it gets the job done. The thighs scare me the most, because that's a lot of plastic to cover… did you use the ruler/clamp solution for those pieces? More photos! I got the cover strips cut and sanded… And attached to the outer part of the bicep. One side glued and dried… And both sides glued and dried, inner cover strips added (I'm bad at remembering to take photos BTW). Here's my setup for the flat pieces: It's tough bending these thick cover strips, but the mini pliers help. It still tears my hands up a bit. The problem with using the mini pliers is that sometimes you get little ridges at all of the stress points… But a little shaving and sanding takes care of the edge. Just gotta sand the edges and round the corners and we'll be good to go. Curvy-piece-tape-method in action on the forearms. Aaaaand like an idiot I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the forearm construction or the shoulder bell trimming. It went great though! BUT I did take photos of my attempt to make the bicep hooks for the shoulder bell strap. I got out my trusty heat gun and mini pliers and went to work. And due to the magic of the internet, we can see that the forearms and shoulder bells are magically complete! And I also tackled the ab button plates. Mark at AP has kindly illustrated where the cuts should be made on the big plate. I can see how someone could be in the groove and forget to leave a bit of flashing around the raised box. Good looking out Mark! Lining up the cuts where I want them… Cut! (I know it's upside down in this pic) I just freehanded the smaller rectangle. While I was at it, I cut and sanded the belt button covers. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have done this so early because I had to tape them to the belt piece so they wouldn't get lost. I am going to use the decals that came with the AP kit for the buttons, and possibly the helmet details too (I am debating whether I want to hand-paint them or not). How do these look? Decals applied to smaller plate. Heat gun… Just a light touch of heat makes these things conform to the curves very nicely. I'm really impressed with how it all turned out. I have seen some builds that round the corners of their ab button plates, and some that leave them square. Not sure which I'm going to do yet. Thanks for reading! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILLSID29 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 Awesome job Jayson! Everything's looking great . Buttons are really nice do you think there will be any issue with them peeling off? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Trooper[501st] Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 You can't even tell that's a sticker. Nice work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted May 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 Hey Bill, So far, they seem pretty substantial. It feels like a vinyl wrap, but not quite as thick. I have a feeling that if you tried to get them to curve around the buttons without heating, you'd see some wrinkles. I will update on durability as I go along. Thanks Jason! Stay tuned… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrates[TK] Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Awesome work mate - that was a brilliant way to conquer those decals! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68Brick[TK] Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Looking good Jayson! It's up to you what you want to do with the ab button plates. Rounding out the corners of the ab button plates ensures they wont get hung up on anything, and makes them look less "stuck on". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted May 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Thanks Aaron & Brad! It's settled then… the corners will be rounded. Thanks for the input! … More photos! (lots more photos ) Time to tackle the thermal detonator, the legs, and the ammo belt. Starting with the thermal detonator (or the O2 canister which I think makes more sense but whatever), I am using the AP t-det kit with the included brackets and screws. The screws are black, but they are phillips head… I may get some flat heads later. The tube is white instead of grey, so it'll need to be painted. In order to get accurate guide holes, I measured the spacing with the circular end caps on. I have seen people get dinged for having too much space between the metal clips and the caps. I thought it would be cool to use the extra tube space as a storage pocket, so we'll see how that pans out. The end caps fit very snugly, so I could just use friction to hold them on. The clips are fitted and screwed. I had to bend the clips slightly to get them to behave, but it all worked out in the end. Remember the felt that I used for the inside of the hand guards? Well, I had some left over so I decided to line the inside of the tube, so if I had anything in there (keys and whatnot, I dunno) they wouldn't jangle around, making more noise. I painted the tube and I have laid the plastic on so I'd know where to scrape the paint off before gluing. I just used some primer I had laying around and it matches the grey on the ab buttons almost exactly. And completed: After the paint was applied, I guess it made the tube just thick enough that the end caps won't come off easily. I may scrape some paint off later, but I'm getting antsy, so I'm moving on. Time to tackle the legs! I just stick a pencil in the groove and trace a line… seems like the best way to do it. After a pass with the knife, I can bend and snap with the mini pliers. After an exhaustive fitting/measuring session, it was time to cut the seams. The raised line is a little ambiguous… I had to get creative when deciding where to cut. I used the tape to average out the variations and took a deep breath. I didn't take any pictures of the cover strip/trimming/gluing but I have attached an image of what I think is an accurate depiction of the process: Cover strips attached and dry: 'Murica Location of the proposed "mobility cuts." Maybe it's because I have skinny legs, but the upper back of my thigh pieces do not meet very cleanly. Will this be a problem? What about in the upper levels of the 501st? I am keeping the ammo pack stored in it's bent position so it gets used to being that way. I lightly hit it with the heat gun once a day for a few days while the thigh was drying. Added the rivets to secure the ammo pack. These were a pain but after some effort, the connection is secure. r Please ignore the dirty floor, That is what the plastic's for. I may add some velcro to the ammo pack to keep it from sliding down. It's a pretty tight fit, but the slightest bump can send it flying below the lip of the thigh. I didn't take many photos of the shin construction, but it was pretty straightforward… until I got to the sniper plate. This thing has been the biggest pain in the build so far. I fought with it for hours before giving up and hitting it with the heat gun a bit. I was scared to heat it up too much, but a little bending eventually got it to fit. It stayed clamped for 3 days just to be sure. 25mm strips on the back, to give the industrial velcro a little more room to bite, 20mm for the front. The contours don't quite match, but the velcro holds everything together nicely. Can't wait till the shoes come in so I can see how it all looks together. To finish up the post, I thought i'd trim the ammo belt. I needed to keep the button covers from getting lost so I taped them together. Trimmed at a 45 degree angle 10mm from each corner. Next up is the snaps and straps and all that good stuff. I had a question though… Does anybody know where to get the old-style tandy snaps? The new ones have their logo on the back, and if I want this suit to pass centurion requirements I have a feeling it will need the older snaps. Specifically for the two visible on the butt plate and the lone snap on the ab/kidney section. How are the new builders getting around this? And that's it for now! Thanks for reading! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentry71[TK] Posted May 9, 2016 Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 The tube is white instead of grey, so it'll need to be painted. In order to get accurate guide holes, I measured the spacing with the circular end caps on. I have seen people get dinged for having too much space between the metal clips and the caps. That's due to Centurion requirements - you'll have that covered this way. Excellent looking Thermal Det! Maybe it's because I have skinny legs, but the upper back of my thigh pieces do not meet very cleanly. Will this be a problem? What about in the upper levels of the 501st? I ended up taking some off of the top of the thighs for extra mobility (front and back) in addition to the mobility cutouts on the back, so don't worry about the edges until after everything gets test fitted together. I may add some velcro to the ammo pack to keep it from sliding down. It's a pretty tight fit, but the slightest bump can send it flying below the lip of the thigh. I used a large dot of E6000 to secure the ammo pack to the ridge. I have also broken it loose several times, so that's one point that will need addressed on occasion. The contours don't quite match, but the velcro holds everything together nicely. Can't wait till the shoes come in so I can see how it all looks together. I had the same issue with the contours, and yes, the Velcro does help. A hot water bath might assist as well. Next up is the snaps and straps and all that good stuff. I had a question though… Does anybody know where to get the old-style tandy snaps? The new ones have their logo on the back, and if I want this suit to pass centurion requirements I have a feeling it will need the older snaps. Specifically for the two visible on the butt plate and the lone snap on the ab/kidney section. How are the new builders getting around this? To my understanding, the back pattern of the snaps doesn't matter. I agree that the older version looks better, but honestly if they can read the TANDY, they are way too close. Looking great, Jayson. You're getting there!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-Jay Posted May 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 Thanks for all of the info Gary! I will be looking into the hot water bath. There is a bunch of info on the forum to help me out there, but I know it's always risky when you start bending plastic. Your help and support is much appreciated! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABS80 Posted May 9, 2016 Report Share Posted May 9, 2016 Very nice super clean job!!!!! Mark (AP) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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