ukswrath[Staff] Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 Hey Mark looking good. PM sent regarding the TD clip fitment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukswrath[Staff] Posted June 15, 2018 Report Share Posted June 15, 2018 Hey Mark looking good. PM sent regarding the TD clip fitment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted June 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Hey all, I've got a question on the arms. I'm working on the strapping between the shoulder bell, bicep and forearm. The shoulder bell to bicep is pretty straight-forward, but bicep to forearm leaves some questions. I think "screen accurate" is having an elastic strap sort of at the inner elbow connecting the bicep to the forearm. However, I read in Wook's build that when he did that, the elastic strap would bunch up and bulge outward when his elbow was bent and create an loop of strapping at the elbow. Is there a better place to strap the two together? I'm thinking maybe the outer or inner elbow at the side? Would that still be ok for Centurion? Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wook1138[TK] Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 For centurion approval, it really doesn’t matter where. Part of the problem for me was using the wider elastic on my first try. The wider elastic contributed to the bunching as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukswrath[Staff] Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Suspend said: Hey all, I've got a question on the arms. I'm working on the strapping between the shoulder bell, bicep and forearm. The shoulder bell to bicep is pretty straight-forward, but bicep to forearm leaves some questions. I think "screen accurate" is having an elastic strap sort of at the inner elbow connecting the bicep to the forearm. However, I read in Wook's build that when he did that, the elastic strap would bunch up and bulge outward when his elbow was bent and create an loop of strapping at the elbow. Is there a better place to strap the two together? I'm thinking maybe the outer or inner elbow at the side? Would that still be ok for Centurion? Thanks, Mark If you install the 2" elastic in the correct location and you have roughly 1/2" or smaller gap between the forearm and bicep you shouldn't have any bunching issues. Here's an Anovos kit I just finished, note the elastic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted July 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 23 minutes ago, ukswrath said: If you install the 2" elastic in the correct location and you have roughly 1/2" or smaller gap between the forearm and bicep you shouldn't have any bunching issues. Here's an Anovos kit I just finished, note the elastic. Well, I'm 6' 1". It looks like I'm going to have closer to a 1" gap between the forearm and bicep with my arm hanging straight down. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukswrath[Staff] Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Well I'm 6' so were not that far off from each other. Drop the bells farther down if you have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted July 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 10 minutes ago, ukswrath said: Well I'm 6' so were not that far off from each other. Drop the bells farther down if you have to. Ok, I don't have the torso assembled yet so it's quite possible the bells could come down further. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Ok, I'm playing "catch-up" here.... So I decided for now that I would KEEP the hooks that I made for the biceps to shoulder bell straps. If I find I don't like them later I will remove them. I went ahead and attached double-snaps to the inside of the shoulder bell to connect the bicep. Then I sewed the sew-on snaps on to elastic for the shoulders. And finally attached the arm pieces together. I originally used the wider (more screen accurate) elastic to attach the forearm to bicep (close to the inner elbow) but I was getting the same "bunching" of elastic that Wook mentioned when I bent my arm. I used a similar solution by going with narrower elastic and attaching it to the front inner cover strip. This seemed to work much better. Not sure if this issue is specific to the AP armor, but not a big deal. Next up I did a lot of trimming and sanding for the torso parts... That's it for right now... Mark 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Nice catch-up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Alright, I wasn't going to post this........but I also did a quick test fit just holding the AB... Mark 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Looks great - it`s coming together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Are there any guidelines for the COD to Posterior elastic? It it basically just 3/4 in black elastic with line 24 snaps from the COD split rivet to one of the posterior snaps? Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 14 minutes ago, Suspend said: Are there any guidelines for the COD to Posterior elastic? It it basically just 3/4 in black elastic with line 24 snaps from the COD split rivet to one of the posterior snaps? Thanks, Mark I used 1 inch but that would work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableGuy[Admin] Posted August 18, 2018 Report Share Posted August 18, 2018 Great fit on the legs, by the looks of it. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted August 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Ok, managed to squeeze in a lot of work on the torso over the weekend. I started off by adding snaps to connect the AB and Chest. I used double-snaps in doubled-up 1.5 inch elastic. I made a loop out of the elastic, sewed the ends together then punched the holes and installed the snaps. Next I installed the COD split rivet. I installed a snap on the inside to make it functional. Then installed the posterior snaps. The AP kit comes with a pencil line which shows how the movie suits were trimmed. This is drawn on both the AB and Kidney. I did a test fit and it looks like I'm going to be really close to the movie trim line. I trimmed about 1/2 inch larger than this line and did another test fit. It was way too big. Then I trimmed right to the movie trim line and did another test fit. Still a little big. I had 1 to 1.5 inches at the small of my back. I wanted to keep the seam near the middle of my side, so I stopped trimming the AB and took one last 1/4 inch off of each side of the kidney. I think I'll go with this. I measured and drilled the holes and cut 3 lengths of 1 inch elastic. I found the center of the elastic and punched two holes 1 cm either side of the center line. Next I cut a strip of ABS to use on the inside and then hammered the split rivets in place. Then I realized that I had a small gap where the kidney and AB meet and I had to take the whole thing apart again. Measure twice, hammer once. That's what I forgot. So I took it apart, cut new elastic with the holes 9mm from the center line and put everything back together again. Now it fits good. Then I installed the snap on the right side (Han Snap?) and glued in a snap on the kidney to connect it. No, it's not misaligned. I'm just holding it crooked because there's still wet glue on the kidney. Then I still had a couple of hours so I got the chest buttons done... The stickers that come with the AP kit work really well. It's really thin vinyl. You put them on at the center and hit them with a hair dryer to soften them. Then you can work down the edges with no air bubbles. It's super smooth and looks like paint. Plus it's a perfect circle, something I wouldn't be able to paint by hand. I think that was a fairly productive weekend. I'm feeling more comfortable about my "self-imposed" October 31 deadline. Mark 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableGuy[Admin] Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Looking great! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Nice painting on those ab buttons. With putting holes in elastic I apply a little E6000 before assembling, helps stop stretching around the holes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABS80 Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 great job so far! Mark (AP) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted August 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 I got a bit more done tonight...this time the shoulder straps. Here's the original AP shoulder straps. I trimmed them up... And following Mark's (AP) instructions I removed one large tab and one small tab from the back of the straps. Next I got out my large pasta pot, grabbed my daughters soccer ball and did some cooking. :-) I heated the water to a boil and dipped in a shoulder strap. I left it in for about 45 seconds then took it out and forced it over the soccer ball. Once it cooled it took the curve of the ball. Next I cut some little strips of ABS to fit into the underside of the straps. This is to fill up the voids so that there's more surface area to grab on to when you glue the straps to the chest piece. And then I glued the tabs in place. That's it for tonight. :-) Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede[TK] Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Nice work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly11[Admin] Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 Such a nice clean build, keep up the stellar work Mark and Centurion will be yours!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspend Posted September 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2018 Shoulder Bridge Update... So I was going out of town a week ago and I was eager to get the shoulder bridges glued before I left. They would have several days to dry completely. So before leaving I glued them into position and clamped them down. However, in my haste I forgot to check the alignment to the back. When I returned and removed the clamps, they looked great from the front... But from the rear they didn't exactly align with the back plate... They were a little narrow at the neck and came back at quite a different angle than the rear shoulder pieces. I thought about removing the bridges and trying again but the angle concerned me. It's possible that I could have re-glued everything and still had an issue. It was suggested that I hot water bath the chest piece and gently widen the shoulders by reducing the curve of the neck. This could align the shoulder bridges better at the rear and at the same time it would reduce the angle of the bridges. I ended up heating water in my largest pasta pot and once boiling I dumped the pot into the kitchen sink and was able to submerge the top of the chest piece. Anyway, it worked and the alignment is much better. Next I attached some snaps to the back and chest pieces... And I also constructed a tab and slot system for the side of the ab to the kidney to keep the sides aligned. I didn't have any black ABS so I gently roughed up some white ABS, spray painted it matte black and gave it a couple of coats of matte clear coat. Hopefully it won't scratch off right away. Then I worked of some of the torso strapping... I also did a bit of a test fit and I found that the side still opens up at the bottom and causes the tab to slip out of the slot. Most likely the belt will hold the bottom closed but I think I will add another strap to the bottom to help hold the AB/Kidney closed. Right now I'm only using the "Han snap" at the top to hold it closed. More to come.... Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted September 3, 2018 Report Share Posted September 3, 2018 Nice work, I also use a tab type system on my sides, definitely helps them not to spring outwards. Almost there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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