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TK-Jay's ANH Stunt Build [AP]


TK-Jay

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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!

 

3JvyzAp.jpg

 

pBj3mI2.jpg

 

 

Of course I couldn't let it just STAY in the box…

 

mTQfa68.jpg

 

9SQJlmr.jpg

 

 

Deep breath… here we go!

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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.

 

P58G3H4.jpg

 

j9T53Bg.jpg

 

 

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!

 

ct81tPN.jpg

 

 

Since my confidence is building, I decided to tackle the hand plates next.

 

MyKSjQh.jpg

 

 

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.

 

AnLyrEz.jpg

 

NjyepNA.jpg

 

 

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.

 

0aplYfY.jpg

 

aeTDjQf.jpg

 

healU6R.jpg

 

 

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).

 

nB12t3y.jpg

 

MqZ13ef.jpg

 

HAilxf2.jpg

 

 

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.

 

dvGtvVS.jpg

 

 

I used a sharpie to cover the white, and it seems to be working well at the moment. Fingers crossed.

 

ykcJ93J.jpg

 

 

It fits well, and I think looks pretty good.

 

JVnWYeH.jpg

 

UVnxcOd.jpg

 

6cUUvyr.jpg

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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.

 

P58G3H4.jpg

 

j9T53Bg.jpg

 

 

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!

 

ct81tPN.jpg

 

 

Since my confidence is building, I decided to tackle the hand plates next.

 

MyKSjQh.jpg

 

 

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.

 

AnLyrEz.jpg

 

NjyepNA.jpg

 

 

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.

 

0aplYfY.jpg

 

aeTDjQf.jpg

 

healU6R.jpg

 

 

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).

 

nB12t3y.jpg

 

MqZ13ef.jpg

 

HAilxf2.jpg

 

 

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.

 

dvGtvVS.jpg

 

 

I used a sharpie to cover the white, and it seems to be working well at the moment. Fingers crossed.

 

ykcJ93J.jpg

 

 

It fits well, and I think looks pretty good.

 

JVnWYeH.jpg

 

UVnxcOd.jpg

 

6cUUvyr.jpg

 

 

I like how you did the Hand Guards. Very Creative!1

 

Andy

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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.

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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!

 

bGF3ZKd.jpg

 

bend'n snap technique… For the smaller pieces, I had to use the mini pliers.

 

PVv3y0x.jpg

 

 

There's a very small lip on the elbow-edge of the bicep, so I assume there's no return edge here.

 

g93BrqQ.jpg

 

 

I felt like I could get a truer line if I went at it from the inside.

 

SphiGzR.jpg

 

 

As for the top, I think I may not have left enough edge…

 

qGdpLxF.jpg

 

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! :blink: ).

 

 

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.

 

vS74uWC.jpg

 

I marked a few guidelines as I went…

 

hIpn6bl.jpg

 

And then used some painter's tape to get a straight line, connecting all of the marks.

 

XgBd0B2.jpg

 

Then, used the tape to guide my Exact-o blade.

 

HZdibGH.jpg

 

1k2716y.jpg

 

Test fitting the two halves…

 

IkeAjZV.jpg

 

More progress soon!

Edited by TK-Jay
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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…

 

JDM27M6.jpg

 

And attached to the outer part of the bicep.

 

T3OcXkW.jpg

 

One side glued and dried…

 

KdulQas.jpg

 

And both sides glued and dried, inner cover strips added (I'm bad at remembering to take photos BTW).

 

HlxsCIs.jpg

 

 

Here's my setup for the flat pieces:

 

HAVKASB.jpg

 

d8EF2gQ.jpg

 

OkG0Seb.jpg?1

 

It's tough bending these thick cover strips, but the mini pliers help. It still tears my hands up a bit.

 

MhPoIlN.jpg

 

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.

 

Mu6L1Ku.jpg

 

 

Just gotta sand the edges and round the corners and we'll be good to go.

 

qNf0ENa.jpg

 

 

Curvy-piece-tape-method in action on the forearms.

 

tvDtH1K.jpg

 

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.

 

2F36tyt.jpg

 

cckE4bE.jpg

 

HiBa2th.jpg

 

hU6CSjX.jpg

 

 

And due to the magic of the internet, we can see that the forearms and shoulder bells are magically complete!

 

7PeHrKX.jpg

 

4g19RQj.jpg

 

OCsrZ72.jpg

 

 

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!

 

7RatOY1.jpg

 

 

Lining up the cuts where I want them…

 

11eFZS2.jpg

 

Cut! 

 

tvJsUgh.jpg

 

(I know it's upside down in this pic)

 

I just freehanded the smaller rectangle.

 

7HxS59g.jpg

 

 

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.

 

S36oc9E.jpg

 

 

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?

 

1g3rFW3.jpg

 

 

Decals applied to smaller plate.

 

36k1wOg.jpg

 

Heat gun…

 

dhh5fcL.jpg

 

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.

 

v2ESEqK.jpg

 

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!

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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…

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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".

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Thanks Aaron & Brad! It's settled then… the corners will be rounded. Thanks for the input!

 

 

More photos!

 

(lots more photos :D )

 

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.

 

SKH0BVj.jpg

 

 

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.

 

 

tpyq1x5.jpg

 

 

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.

 

NnpDDTv.jpg

 

 

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.

 

sqS13os.jpg

 

 

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.

 

firuRKD.jpg

 

 

And completed:

 

CoR70qS.jpg

 

9FK3dhb.jpg

 

RbUPHDH.jpg

 

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!

 

rn5dXyz.jpg

 

 

I just stick a pencil in the groove and trace a line… seems like the best way to do it.

 

71CTecY.jpg

 

lvKmE0N.jpg

 

 

After a pass with the knife, I can bend and snap with the mini pliers.

 

w62kDWb.jpg

 

 

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.

 

nI3dLNI.jpg

 

i7JTZJu.jpg

 

 

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:

 

I5uDHsk.png

 

 

Cover strips attached and dry:

 

61O4UjM.jpg

 

3bvMZKc.jpg

 

v88CVRY.jpg

 

'Murica

 

00HelvI.jpg

 

 

Location of the proposed  "mobility cuts."

 

Aj8ali5.jpg

 

 

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?

 

HSLE7Ws.jpg

 

 

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.

 

J4uVYcd.jpg

 

 

Added the rivets to secure the ammo pack. These were a pain but after some effort, the connection is secure.

 

r4U08xTx.jpg

 

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.

 

IAqLhMp.jpg

 

9pSXORF.jpg

 

26aKPHf.jpg

 

 

 

 

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.

 

FI5fJ3d.jpg

 

rL9kTjA.jpg

 

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.

 

Z63IHcn.jpg

 

Q5YdyXg.jpg

 

 

 

25mm strips on the back, to give the industrial velcro a little more room to bite, 20mm for the front.

 

P7Y5RJQ.jpg

 

 

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.

 

TH6I2EL.jpg

 

 

 

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.

 

rcgYeNE.jpg

 

3yUMhiE.jpg

 

yGC59zl.jpg

 

bgScteH.jpg

 

 

Trimmed at a 45 degree angle 10mm from each corner.

 

w90Dl5e.jpg

 

0JYq3lb.jpg

 

tnuwyP3.jpg

 

 

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!

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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. :D

 

Looking great, Jayson. You're getting there!!

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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!

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