Scimitar[TK] Posted August 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 (edited) A little more progress: the second bicep is completed and the second forearm is well on its way. This forearm seemed to have a lot more tension/resistance going together for some reason even though it's the exact same as the other side, so I'm letting it cure for a while longer than usual just to be on the safe side. Then I'll put the inner strips in immediately after. And I'm already plotting another future build (on top of the Anovos FOTK a lot of us are waiting on)... Addicted or glutton for punishment, I'm not sure which yet. Maybe both. Edited August 10, 2018 by Scimitar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 10, 2018 Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 10 hours ago, Scimitar said: And I'm already plotting another future build (on top of the Anovos FOTK a lot of us are waiting on) Awesome, already looking forward to it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 (edited) So I got hit with the strep bug, took me out of action Friday afternoon and all of Saturday, finally started feeling better today as the meds I started yesterday kicked in. So I didn't get much done this weekend unfortunately. Still, the forearms and biceps are now officially done: The forearm return edges were removed to meet Centurion requirements: Tonight I got the first cover strip glued to the left shin armor piece and I started the final assembly on the thermal detonator (not pictured), which I just realized I need to undo the caps because I used the AP supplied screws and forgot about using the slotted pan head screws (that I don't have yet). D'oh! I also test fit the ab and kidney pieces, I had to trim the ab sides down to the max removal line that Mark provided (I'm skinny) and I still have 3/4" between me and the armor all the way around my body. I'm hoping that won't be a problem in the long run. Edited August 13, 2018 by Scimitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook1138[TK] Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 Hey Eric, hope you are feeling better. Strep is awful. In the first pic above with the arms: you might want to remove/sand down that point at the top of the forearms and biceps where you trimmed the coverstrip. That might poke into your arm. And, did your kit have trim lines for the ab? Anyways, don't worry too much about the space around the mid section. If you find it too loose while wearing it, you can always add a bit of padding. The extra room is nice for air movement anyways. However, I did find with my first build that I had to make a tab and slot connection for the right side to keep it from overlapping because I had a lot of extra room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 12 minutes ago, wook1138 said: Hey Eric, hope you are feeling better. Strep is awful. In the first pic above with the arms: you might want to remove/sand down that point at the top of the forearms and biceps where you trimmed the coverstrip. That might poke into your arm. And, did your kit have trim lines for the ab? Anyways, don't worry too much about the space around the mid section. If you find it too loose while wearing it, you can always add a bit of padding. The extra room is nice for air movement anyways. However, I did find with my first build that I had to make a tab and slot connection for the right side to keep it from overlapping because I had a lot of extra room. I am doing better, thanks! Now if I can get this residual cough to go away I'd be perfect. lol Good point! I had rounded/smoothed the underside of the strip/arm at that point where it contacts my arm and it didn't dig uncomfortably while I wore the forearms for a bit, but I was considering rounding the outer point a little to keep it from picking my undershirt. The ab did have the trim lines, that was the line provided by Mark that I was referencing and that I ultimately ended up cutting back to. And yes, the tab and slot connection is already noted and planned. I think some padding will ultimately be needed but sounds like I can worry about that when I get to more actual fitting of everything together. I'm off to hunt for properly sized slotted pan head screws. Thanks as always Greg! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 13, 2018 Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 And with the Tab’n slot you don’t have to worry about any shifting, my TK suits don’t have any space so everything stays pretty much put but the TD was another matter with pouches and back pack pushing and beeing a pain to keep things in place on the right side and the tab just works wonders 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Let's see, where were we? Monday night I didn't get to do any armor work, my daughter got some 24 hour stomach bug and that wasn't fun. Fortunately by midday Tuesday she was back to her normal self (and her strep test finally came back negative), so all good there. Tuesday night I scored/snapped the right shin fronts for cover strips and trimmed/smoothed the right thigh pieces. I still need to trim a little more off the left thigh pieces, remove the upper return edges, and then smooth those out. Wednesday night I got the left shin pieces glued together and glued a cover strip to one of the right shins. And then last night I glued an inner reinforcement strip inside the left shin and glued both halves of the right shin together (no picture, sorry!), so tonight I'll be gluing in the right side inner strip. Then I'm going to let the shins sit for a couple days before I begin sizing & trimming the rears up, let the E6000 get the full 72 hr cure time since these will see a lot of stress over time. May not need it but I can work on other things and it'll give me some peace of mind that it's hardened as much as it can. I'm hoping that this weekend I can begin working on snap plates and start strapping the torso and arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook1138[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Things are coming along nicely. It really starts to feel real when you start strapping pieces together. Always exciting to see it come together! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 17 minutes ago, wook1138 said: Things are coming along nicely. It really starts to feel real when you start strapping pieces together. Always exciting to see it come together! No kidding, I can't wait to start on that and wear pieces without tape. lol When I was doing the ab/kidney test fits, I taped on the chest and back plates and wore the arms and my helmet. Looked like a very disheveled trooper, but it felt great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 4 hours ago, Scimitar said: No kidding, I can't wait to start on that and wear pieces without tape. lol When I was doing the ab/kidney test fits, I taped on the chest and back plates and wore the arms and my helmet. Looked like a very disheveled trooper, but it felt great! It`s a special feeling for sure and great to hear everyone is feeling better 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 (edited) My hope for free time over the weekend didn't go quite as planned, so no strapping but I still got a few things done. First my slotted, pan head screws for the TD showed up, they're 6-32 x 9/16" for reference. They screw into the nuts AP provides and the head is about the same size as the screws from AP. I got a bag of 50 in the mail for a few bucks so if anyone else needs any I have 42 left that'll I'd be happy to share, you'll just have to paint the heads black. And no, my math isn't wrong, I shared 4 with a buddy already. lol So after the screws got painted, I rounded the edges of the clips and bent the ends a bit as others have done as well. So now my TD is complete! (I had more TD progress pictures to post once it was done but they accidentally got deleted. ) Moving on, I decided to fine trim the ab button plates. The larger plate is correctly sized after scoring/snapping it flat at 1/8" all around. So a little sanding to ensure the edges were straight and rounding of the corners and it was done. The smaller vertical plate definitely needs trimming attention and I noted it as an item that routinely gets noticed as being too large when submitting for EIB and Centurion. Measured from the back of the small plate, I trimmed it down to 3mm off the button edges on both sides and then trimmed the top and bottom until it didn't overhang on the ab. Hopefully that all makes sense. Anyway I think the sizes of both are good, but I welcome input if not! I had seen other people use circle stencils to help paint the ab buttons but it seems like back to school has cleared them out around me, although to be fair, I only looked at a couple stores that I happened to be at. So I gave freehanding it a shot, only the blue is done so far but I think it looks ok! Edited September 13, 2018 by Scimitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook1138[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Looking good, as always! Nice job on free-handing those buttons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Painting looks GREAT! 31 minutes ago, Scimitar said: I welcome input if not! If you want uber accuracy then the plates could have straighter edges 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 1 hour ago, wook1138 said: Looking good, as always! Nice job on free-handing those buttons. Thank you sir! 55 minutes ago, TheSwede said: Painting looks GREAT! If you want uber accuracy then the plates could have straighter edges Thanks! I take it you're referring to the corners? I did go with more of an idealized vs. screen accurate finish there as I preferred the plates to match the mounting surfaces, I didn't like the sharp corners there when I first test fit them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 4 minutes ago, Scimitar said: Thank you sir! Thanks! I take it you're referring to the corners? I did go with more of an idealized vs. screen accurate finish there as I preferred the plates to match the mounting surfaces, I didn't like the sharp corners there when I first test fit them. Yes I meant the corners and roger that 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 (edited) Finished painting the ab buttons, glad that's done with. lol And I started gluing in the bicep to forearm straps. I took inspiration from Greg's (wook's) build (which followed Ukswrath's AM build) for this step and I'm using 1" elastic strap glued along the inside of the outside cover strip. Hopefully E6000 peels off of the elastic as easily as it does plastic, had a bit squeeze out onto the exposed part of the strap. Edited August 23, 2018 by Scimitar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 23, 2018 Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 Nice work, it is a good tip to use snaps on the elastic as an attachment as it can stretch over time and may need replacing. Although if needed the elastic will pull off the glue if you need to replace 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2018 8 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said: Nice work, it is a good tip to use snaps on the elastic as an attachment as it can stretch over time and may need replacing. Although if needed the elastic will pull off the glue if you need to replace Thanks! And a good tip! I like doing things ahead of time to help facilitate quick fixes later. For now, it's a definite to-do item after I get my basic approval. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 (edited) Last night I finished gluing the arm straps together, the end result is a 1/4" gap as recommended between the forearm and bicep. I also glued my ab button plates onto the ab and made the rookie mistake of gluing the large plate upside down. I blame my long work day. lol So I pulled it off and reglued it this evening. Tonight I've been preparing for my first armor party that Cricket is graciously hosting tomorrow and I am very excited to finally get to attend one! Meanwhile I threw on my boots and shins and marked the backs, but I decided that before I trim them down according to what I sized I'll take them tomorrow to get a second opinion. It just seems like what I sized is a lot of material to remove, even though I do have chicken legs. So I started looking for something else to do and ended up measuring and marking the ab & posterior for the lower rivet/snaps. And then I ended up drilling and countersinking the posterior for the snaps, which led to actually installing the snaps. I was going to hand countersink the holes with a 3/8" bit as I had noted from Ukswrath's build (I think it was his build) but I had recently broken that bit working on a car project, so I stepped down to 5/16" and it worked just as well. I practiced with the snap setting tools on a couple pieces of scrap plastic and that actually helped a lot, I definitely recommend going that route if you haven't ever set snaps before. Interior: Exterior: Interior: Exterior: Hopefully tomorrow I will make a LOT of progress! Edited August 25, 2018 by Scimitar 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 Armor-party at Cricket, I’m jealous so please say Hi for me I’ll expect a complete Stormtrooper by tomorrow then 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) On 8/25/2018 at 5:28 AM, TheSwede said: Armor-party at Cricket, I’m jealous so please say Hi for me I’ll expect a complete Stormtrooper by tomorrow then I was sure to say "hi" for you! Unfortunately, no completed Stormtrooper for me. Haha! Between getting to meet everyone, talking to others working on items I still had left to do and lending a helping/taping hand where I could, I was a little less productive on my own armor. But that's ok and I did make good progress on the legs with Cricket's help! Had I done them alone they probably would not have turned out very well (a second person is very helpful to line them up), so I'm very grateful for that. I also made some good notes for a couple different snap placements, reinforcements to prevent cracking, "Cricket Closures", etc. It was a very good day! So while at the armor party I removed the upper return edge on the left thigh, then trimmed both thighs for 20mm cover strips on the front, and taped everything together. Slapped those on my legs with the shins and Cricket made quick work of helping me size and mark everything for trimming. Here's the trimmed left leg. I had trimmed the right thigh but before I could get the right shin done it was time to clean up and pack up. So I finished the trimming at home that night and now I'm working through gluing the thighs, currently the front cover & inner strips are glued on and tonight I plan on applying the rear strips. I figured I'll wait until I can wear the torso armor so I can trim the rear to match the shape where the thighs and posterior meet: In the meantime I installed and painted the lower tab split rivet, like a few others I also added a snap base to make it more functional and easier to replace that strap if needed. While parts have been curing I've begun making snap plates, I'll mostly be using double snap nylon plates. The ones pictured below were test pieces I made while getting used to setting the snaps, I've since made a template from a scrap piece of plastic to ensure that the snaps will line up on both the plates and straps. And once I get my 16qt pot and the magnets (should be tomorrow for both), I'll be following Cricket's method of closing the shins. After seeing those in person it's definitely the way to go! Edited August 28, 2018 by Scimitar 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook1138[TK] Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Looking fantastic! It is great to have the help with the legs! Keep it up. The magnetic shin closure looks incredible. Only if I wasn't so lazy... . BTW, the cod rivet does not get painted. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket[TK] Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 25 minutes ago, Scimitar said: Here's the trimmed left leg. I had trimmed the right thigh but before I could get the right shin done it was time to clean up and pack up. For everyone following this thread, Eric was working so hard that he was the very LAST person there cutting and trimming like a banshee. His was the very last work table to be put away by the other people at the party. If we'd left him there, he would have worked well into the following morning! This trooper is dedicated!!! Sorry I couldn't help you more on your kit, Eric. You're making really good progress on your own so far! Can't wait til you get your big pot and magnets so I can see how those shins develop! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 59 minutes ago, Scimitar said: I was sure to say "hi" for you! Unfortunately, no completed Stormtrooper for me. Haha! Between getting to meet everyone, talking to others working on items I still had left to do and lending a helping/taping hand where I could, I was a little less productive on my own armor. But that's ok and I did make good progress on the legs with Cricket's help! Had I done them alone they probably would not have turned out very well (a second person is very helpful to line them up), so I'm very grateful for that. I also made some good notes for a couple different snap placements, reinforcements to prevent cracking, "Cricket Closures", etc. It was a very good day! Sound like one awesome day to say the least and now I’m even more jealous And by the looks of it you made pretty good progress yourself - legs look great 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar[TK] Posted August 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 1 hour ago, wook1138 said: Looking fantastic! It is great to have the help with the legs! Keep it up. The magnetic shin closure looks incredible. Only if I wasn't so lazy... . BTW, the cod rivet does not get painted. Thanks! I think the closures are one of those things that if I don't do it now, I might not do it later. D'oh!! At least that's easy to fix. Thanks for the catch! 33 minutes ago, Cricket said: For everyone following this thread, Eric was working so hard that he was the very LAST person there cutting and trimming like a banshee. His was the very last work table to be put away by the other people at the party. If we'd left him there, he would have worked well into the following morning! This trooper is dedicated!!! Sorry I couldn't help you more on your kit, Eric. You're making really good progress on your own so far! Can't wait til you get your big pot and magnets so I can see how those shins develop! I don't know what happened! I sat down and there were a bunch of people working on their projects, then I looked up and people are cleaning up and I'm the only one sitting around playing with armor. Totally zoned out. Figured I'd better get up and help clean up too! Haha! And you helped me plenty! Thank you so much!! 3 minutes ago, TheSwede said: Sound like one awesome day to say the least and now I’m even more jealous And by the looks of it you made pretty good progress yourself - legs look great Definitely was! Sorry to increase the jealously level. lol Thank you! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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