Tormentist's AP ANH Stunt build

[Tormentist]

Hi,

So I've been lurking around here for a while now, checking up on people's builds and ultimately deciding on ordering a kit from AP.

This place has already been invaluable and I'm barely started, so thank you guys.

 

Good news this week: I received a nice brown box filled with glorious shiny ABS !

Couldn't be more excited about this!

Buuuut... this is my first build, so even though I've been reading stuff here all this time, I still don't feel anywhere near prepared for this endeavor. (oh well !)

 

Anyway, I figured I might as well get a thread started to sort things out.

 

 

Here's the unboxed kit (crappy cellphone pic, newer pics will be much better I promise):

 

I got the helmet trimmed by Mark (AP) and the rest of the kit untrimmed.

I'm 5' 6" and 140lbs so I figured I'd have a fair bit of trimming to do anyway.

Currently going into this aiming for centurion because why not ?

 

Alright, here we go.

 

After staring at it a while I built up the courage to take a knife to it.

I started with something small and simple: The Thermal Detonator endcaps.

 

I built a simple jig which honestly made this somewhat foolproof, here's some (better) pics:

• 7/8" strip of plyywood
• X-Acto Blade
• Clamp
• 

Turning the endcap while applying light pressure against the blade:

I gave this a few turns as I wanted to go through rather than doing a "score and snap" to get the cleanest/squarest edge I could.

 

End results, clean and flat:

 

Not too bad, I like how these turned out.

Also dry fitted them on the TD tube (not pictured), need to shorten the tube a bit.

 

 

 

I also started roughly trimming the forearms and biceps. I know I didn't trim nearly enough yet, just trying to get a feel of just how much I need to remove.

Inner bicep - top edge:

 

Inner bicep - bottom edge:

Got *plenty* to remove on the bottom edge, not sure how much I should leave. FWIW, I have small chicken arms.

 

Forearms:

I removed the return edge at the wrist-end on both halves.

The thing is I'm not quite sure how it's supposed to be coming together lengthwise?

I left a return edge at the elbow-end of the forearm parts and no matter how I align the two halves together, there is a a bit sticking out, either at the elbow or at the wrist.

Kind of hard to describe, but also not that easy to photograph!

Forearm, when I align the outside wrist corner:

Looks wrong

 

Forearm, when I align halves at the elbow (looks less wacky to me):

 

Seems to fit better, I 'm pretty sure it should be aligned like this and that I need to cut that pointy bit at the wrist ? Anyone?

 

So.. my first questions:

• Inner bicep top edge looks somewhat alright to me? or is too much / useless?
• I was thinking of doing a similar return edge on the bottom edge of the inner bicep ?
• Forearm alignment, I'm thinking:
  • Align at elbow
  • Fit for my arm diameter
  • Measure *multiple* times
  • Trim for my arm diameter
  • (Assemble/Glue cover strips ?)
  • Get rid of pointy bit at wrist edge (after gluing?)

That's it for now,

 

Thanks,

[68Brick[TK]]

Welcome & you're off to a good start on your build.

 

For your forearms, you can join them either way and trim off the excess. I'd encourage you to check out an AP Centurion application(s) for great photos of forearms. When you take your forearms off your arm (when you are wearing them), you should be able to stand the forearms up on their ends (on the wrist end) on a table... so that cut line should be roughly straight. The joint at the elbow can be (an most likely will be) on an angle.

 

So...

Lining up the wrist end means cutting at the elbow end with a little iron work to recreate the small return edge

or

Lining up the elbow end means cutting the wrist opening to be roughly straight

 

I hope my descriptions make sense

Edited February 24, 2017 by 68Brick

[SlyFox740[TK]]

You made a great choice going with AP, I Love mine! you won't be disappointed. I have a build thread going for my AP kit, I haven't updated with the most recent progress I've made but I will soon. Check it out, hope it helps; http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35049-slyfoxs-anh-stunt-build-ap/

 

-Henry

[Cricket[TK]]

Hey, you're off to a great start!<br><br>

Don't stress too much over the bicep returns. The area at the top will be hidden by the shoulder bell. You can always adjust the return at the bottom once it is fitted to your arm. <br><br>

For the forearms, I would trim at the wrist. There is detail at the elbow that you don't want to lose, and could be challenging to recreate if you cut it off.<br><br>

Chicken arms here, too. Chicken arms FTW!

[fragarock[TK]]

Agreed,

 

Align the elbow ends then do your trimming at the wrist end. You're gonna cut that return edge anyways for centurion. Just try not to cut into the dimples.

 

You're almost the same size as me, just 10 pounds lighter so I bet you'll be trimming just like I did.

 

Crickets build is good to follow too. She's about our size but much lighter and with mad skills when it comes to creative modifications.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[zv288bot[TK]]

Great choice on the kit. Have fun and post lots of pictures!!

[Tormentist]

Thanks!

I had already checked a few Centurion applications before, but something still eluded me.. (kind of figured it out below)

and gone through Henry's and Cricket's threads once or twice as the pictures are nice and it's the same kit so that helps to compare.

 

Quick update:

Everything makes SOOO much more sense now that I've trimmed the outside forearm to 7.5mm from the ridge to eventually received the cover strips.

Before that I couldn't possibly visualize how I would possibly make this look like the pictures I've seen in peoples' builds and Centurion applications.

The excess material emphasized some weird angles that threw me off and since I was holding off a bit on the cutting (scared to trim too much), this wasn't going anywhere.

 

I've seen plenty of posts around here with the outside forearm half protruding a bit at the elbow, but I've seen flush elbows too.

Watching ANH again, I think maybe both are screen accurate?

It's not obvious because it's somewhat hidden by the cover strip. TK on the left looks like he has a notch, kind of like this:

 

While TK on the right looks like the elbow parts are flush, kind of like this:

 

I might end up doing a bit of both, aligning as close as possible to the elbow without having to mess with the overall wrist shape too much.

Because aligning the elbows 100%, would possibly make the wrist a bit weird (I don't wanna have to cut into the dimples if I can avoid it)

 

Got time to think about it anyway, magnets are only coming in on tuesday, will possibly cheat it a bit on both ends (no trimming at the elbow, and minimal shaping more than actual trimming at the wrist)

 

Anyway, thanks guys/gals, I can't really explain it, but there's something therapeutic about the forums.

Cheers.

[Cricket[TK]]

I've seen plenty of posts around here with the outside forearm half protruding a bit at the elbow, but I've seen flush elbows too.

Watching ANH again, I think maybe both are screen accurate?

 

 

Great observation Peter!  You may want to be careful on that assumption, though.  Sometimes the actor's suits would get bunched up under the armor and stick out a bit.  So what you may think is an odd cut of the armor is just black shirt overlapping from below.  Just my two credits!

[Tormentist]

Quick update on the forearms:

I've managed to make them look like this (marked in blue is to be cut, then gluing cover strips):

 

 

Although I'm still pondering if the AP kit was supposed to line up this way, or if maybe it's more like this but without the velcro (This photo is from Mark's photobucket):

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen both ways in plenty of approved centurion applications, which really is what I was trying to clarify earlier.

Hmm..

[Tormentist]

Stopped procrastinating and this is how it looks now

 

I decided on inner strips for the arms and biceps. All inner strips are now done and this is the first cover strip that's cured, others to follow.

[Tormentist]

Alright so I ran out of magnets AND clamps today, which means a few things:

• I should have gotten more !
• Today was productive !
• I might finally be over the constant doubt phase and start actually building something !

While I was waiting for the E6000 to cure, I started putting snaps in webbing as well as making bicep hooks.

As far as putting snaps in webbing, I used a metal scribe (it's like a sharper version of a center punch) to push the webbing fibers apart because I thought this would compromise the webbing strength less than cutting or melting a hole through it. (time will tell)

I'm thinking about making a short video / GIF of my process to share.

 

For the bicep hooks, I found this great post by SIMpixels, with measurements and everything and honestly, I would have done them that way, but I thought I'd draw one up quickly and make my 3D printer work on this while I did some snaps and continued trimming the other pieces.

 

Here's a few pics of my version, these are 2mm thick and 22mm wide.

 

And only 34 cents.

 

Here they once printed and being glued on: