Mayo's ANH Stunt (AP) build

[MakeNoiseMan]

Thanks so much, everyone! We are getting there! :-)
 

18 hours ago, ABS80 said:

Did you use the supplied screws for the ears? somehow the head look smaller which are inaccurate, the supplied screws are the correct size

I used the screws that came with TrooperBay's helmet kit - I never realized they were different sizes from yours. Whoops! If it's an important detail, I'm sure I can swap them out with the ones you sent without too much trouble.

 

I decided on slightly rounding the cover strip corners with sandpaper and glued them in place. I also closed up the biceps and left them to dry.

 

 

Once the glue dried, I cleaned up the biceps and cut, sanded and glued the outer cover strips. 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, my forearms had finished drying meaning they are 99% finished. Woohoo!

 

 

 

 

All I have left to do is remove the E6000 that squished out from underneath the cover strips. Does anyone have any good suggestions for doing that? I don't want to scratch the armour, but my fingers don't seem to be enough and toothpicks aren't strong enough.

Next I'll be cutting out the shoulder bells, and then the chest and back pieces. I'm thinking about creating and installing the strapping for the shoulders and arms after that, followed by the ab/kidney/butt plate assembly, and then lastly the legs. I'm theorizing that having the torso section finished will help fit the thighs properly. Is that right, or am I overlooking something with that project outline?

Thanks for your input, all!! Talk soon!

[Bud Spaklur[TK]]

Thanks so much, everyone! We are getting there! :-)
 
I used the screws that came with TrooperBay's helmet kit - I never realized they were different sizes from yours. Whoops! If it's an important detail, I'm sure I can swap them out with the ones you sent without too much trouble.
 
I decided on slightly rounding the cover strip corners with sandpaper and glued them in place. I also closed up the biceps and left them to dry.
 

 
Once the glue dried, I cleaned up the biceps and cut, sanded and glued the outer cover strips. 
 

 

 

 
Meanwhile, my forearms had finished drying meaning they are 99% finished. Woohoo!
 

 

 

 
All I have left to do is remove the E6000 that squished out from underneath the cover strips. Does anyone have any good suggestions for doing that? I don't want to scratch the armour, but my fingers don't seem to be enough and toothpicks aren't strong enough.

Next I'll be cutting out the shoulder bells, and then the chest and back pieces. I'm thinking about creating and installing the strapping for the shoulders and arms after that, followed by the ab/kidney/butt plate assembly, and then lastly the legs. I'm theorizing that having the torso section finished will help fit the thighs properly. Is that right, or am I overlooking something with that project outline?

Thanks for your input, all!! Talk soon!

I used tweezers to pull at the excess glue and just pulled it with my fingers. As for doing legs after the torso, that can work just fine. A lot of people work from the top down (helmet down to the shins). Strongly suggest you have someone help with your thighs though. I did my own, but it was a major pain and made me stop working on the kit for 5 months.

Your armor is looking good!


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[wook1138[TK]]

14 minutes ago, Bud Spaklur said:

I did my own, but it was a major pain and made me stop working on the kit for 5 months.

Haha.  Don't let Matt scare you - he has no patience and overreacts all the time.

 

That said, the thighs are not as straight forward as the arms.  If you think you need to trim the tops for height - do that the best you can before fully fitting them for width.  And be sure to leave a little room in the thighs - it is better to have a little extra space (you can always adding padding) than having them too small.  I've seen a lot of people undersize their thighs.

 

Also, the right thigh front coverstrip ridge is slightly curved.  I found gluing half (lower or upper) of the coverstrip on first then forcing the other half into place later (and holding with good clamps) worked - forces the coverstrip to follow the curved return edge / seam.  If that makes sense. 

 

Arms look very nice!  Great work, trooper!!

[Bud Spaklur[TK]]

Haha.  Don't let Matt scare you - he has no patience and overreacts all the time.
 
That said, the thighs are not as straight forward as the arms.  If you think you need to trim the tops for height - do that the best you can before fully fitting them for width.  And be sure to leave a little room in the thighs - it is better to have a little extra space (you can always adding padding) than having them too small.  I've seen a lot of people undersize their thighs.
 
Also, the right thigh front coverstrip ridge is slightly curved.  I found gluing half (lower or upper) of the coverstrip on first then forcing the other half into place later (and holding with good clamps) worked - forces the coverstrip to follow the curved return edge / seam.  If that makes sense. 
 
Arms look very nice!  Great work, trooper!!

Agreed and my thighs sadly are a little tight.....gotta drop a couple lbs.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Using scrap ABS is good for getting in to areas that has glue residue, you will find after some use the ABS gets blunt, just cut to a point and continue. For larger areas I just rub with my thumb.

[MakeNoiseMan]

Thanks, guys! Great ideas. Tweezers did the trick for me perfectly. 

 

Man, being back at work after the holidays really slows one's progress. The Emperor's gonna be displeased. I have managed to make sure I get at least a small amount done each day, though.

 

The biceps finished drying and are now complete. Woohoo!

 

 

After that, I got the shoulder bells, chestplate and backplate cut out, trimmed and sanded.

 

 

 

 

And the collection so far:

 

 

Next, I'm gonna start on some strapping for these pieces, so I can get a feel for it before doing the ab section. I really like how Scimitar did his strapping, so I've been using his build thread as a model for my game plan. You can see it all here: 

 

Today, after spending an embarrassingly long time trying to untangle the spaghetti ball of velcro strapping and nylon webbing I had thoughtlessly stored together in a plastic bag, I measured and cut out a template for the male snap pieces that will be glued inside the armour, as modelled in Scimitar's build. 

 

 

 

That's as far as I've gotten for now. Next I'll start hammering snaps into nylon and test-fitting. :-)

 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

I will probably get a lot of flak for this, but I feel the need to offer yet another suggestion, Brendan.  Using ABS plates for mounting snaps to your armor can be tricky.  ABS is flat, but many of the areas you will be mounting them to are curved.  Unless you heat up the plates and conform them to the shape of the area you are gluing it to you will have gaps, and E-6000 (being a very viscous glue) will seep out of those gaps, possibly making it not as secure.  However, if you mount the snaps to nylon they will conform to the shape of whatever part you are adhering them to.  Just my two credit's worth.

 

[MakeNoiseMan]

3 minutes ago, justjoseph63 said:

I will probably get a lot of flak for this, but I feel the need to offer yet another suggestion, Brendan.  Using ABS plates for mounting snaps to your armor can be tricky.  ABS is flat, but many of the areas you will be mounting them to are curved.  Unless you heat up the plates and conform them to the shape of the area you are gluing it to you will have gaps, and E-6000 (being a very viscous glue) will seep out of those gaps, possibly making it not as secure.  However, if you mount the snaps to nylon they will conform to the shape of whatever part you are adhering them to.  Just my two credit's worth.

 

Whoops, I should have been more descriptive!

I do plan on gluing all the snaps in with nylon webbing, as you describe. The ABS template pictured above is just to help me make all those little nylon bits with the right dimensions/snap placement. Sorry for the confusion!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

3 minutes ago, MakeNoiseMan said:

The ABS template pictured above is just to help me make all those little nylon bits with the right dimensions/snap placement. 

EXCELLENT idea!  That way they will all line up properly.  On my very first build, I used ABS plates for mounting the snaps.... disastrous!  After switchem out for the nylon ones I haven't had any problems.

[Scimitar[TK]]

Yup! Using a template is very helpful in getting everything to line up when you go to put the snaps in the straps. At first I was punching holes though my template and then heat sealing the edges but I switched to just using the soldering iron to make the holes. That removed a step and, with the properly sized iron tip, it made the holes just the right size for the snap posts.

 

Build is looking great! Keep up the good work!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Using a template is ideal, doesn't matter which straps you are making as the connections will always be the same at the end. I went with ABS plates for the first few builds but they are some extra work when having to heat to conform to areas that are curved, so I quickly converted to nylon, quicker to make and contours to the armor a lot better in places, can just use a solder iron to make the holes and it also seals around them. I have a container of ABS strips I use, some are curved and I use them to hold down the nylon while gluing, then just add magnets or clamps.

 

Coming along nicely.

[MakeNoiseMan]

Hi everyone!

I got a start on some strapping done. Using the template, I created twenty strips of strapping to glue inside the armour (as a start). As many have suggested, I used a soldering iron to do this—and HIGHLY recommend it! Not only did it make the task really easy, but it was also really satisfying. Simply poke the iron through the holes in the template and then run it along the edges to stop them from fraying.

 

 

 

Then I hammered male Tandy snaps into the straps. I bought 40 pairs of male/female snaps, but since I'm doubling up on snaps, that'll only be enough for 20 connections. I'm expecting I'll need to order some more snaps. 

 

 

 

And lastly, I got the first few straps glued into place on the chestplate, backplate and shoulder bells. I forgot to take a picture of the chestplate, but it's essentially the same as that of the backplate. 

 

 

 

More updates to come! Thanks for your ongoing input. :-)

[MakeNoiseMan]

Hello everyone!

With the glue tried on my snaps, I started on some strapping today! Regretfully, I didn't take too many photos this time around. I was too caught up in the work!

 

Firstly, I did some test fitting of the chestplate and backplate with painters' tape in preparation for the shoulder straps. I've seen it suggested to reinforce the snaps on the shoulder straps with ABS since they're elastic instead of nylon. So, I first cut out and drilled four 2-by-1" rectangles of ABS.The straps themselves are 2" white elastic from TrooperBay.

 

 

 

Then, I installed the female snaps. After another test fit, this time with the shoulder bells, I cut and cauterized straps for the bells and installed female straps in those, as well as male snaps on the underside of the shoulder straps.

 

 

 

 

 

And the test fit so far!

 

 

In that photo, there are no straps on my biceps or forearms—they're just sitting freely on my arms. Currently, the next set of snaps are drying inside the bells and biceps. I have a question about the forearms, but I'll come back to that in a moment.

 

Lastly, I prepared my latex-ish handguards for gluing onto the black gloves (all from AP).

 

 

I stuffed the gloves with plastic bags first to simulate hands. I can't remember which thread I saw this on. Probably several!

 

My reading here on the FISD forums indicated that Loctite Plastics Bonding glue was just about the only glue that would hold these pieces together, so I tracked it down. I ended up finding it on Amazon.

 

 

And there sit the gloves, curing until tomorrow:

 

 

And that's where we are for now! As always, I welcome and appreciate your critique and feedback. On to my questions!

 

1: Does everyone attach their forearms to their biceps with a strap, or do some just let the forearms free-float? Mine are pretty secure on my arms all on their own, and I haven't even added any padding inside yet (which I plan to—a small amount).

 

2: Next I plan on doing the outer, ABS shoulder straps. The ones come from AP come straight and I expect they'll need to be curved with some heat. What are your suggestions for doing this? I've heard of hot water baths, but I don't know all the steps (how long, etc.). I've also seen a hair dryer suggested, which I could do. I don't have a heat gun, though. 

 

3: Is there a proper amount to cut off of the shoulder straps? Most builds I see trim off the back large rectangle. 

 

That's it for now! Thanks everyone. :-)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Coming along nicely.

 

There are different strengths of elastic also, I found the ribbed style elastic to be not as strong as the denser sewn elastic and you can even find a thicker version of the tightly sewn elastic which is what I use, definitely makes a difference on the shoulders., or you could even double over.

 

Most do attach the forearms to biceps, they can move around when bending and stretching, but if you find tight enough and don't move you don't have to add strapping. It is screen accurate to have it though  

 

Elastic is used in most areas that need flexibility and for stretching, bending.

 

 

I use a heat gun for the shoulder straps, it is a lot quicker than using a water bath or hair dryer, here's a post on using water bath:

You can bend the shoulder straps using a hot water bath (boil water, remove from heat, dip part to bend in for 25-30 seconds, bend, cold water).

 

It is more screen accurate to cut off the larger tab at the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MakeNoiseMan]

4 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Coming along nicely.

 

There are different strengths of elastic also, I found the ribbed style elastic to be not as strong as the denser sewn elastic and you can even find a thicker version of the tightly sewn elastic which is what I use, definitely makes a difference on the shoulders., or you could even double over.

 

Most do attach the forearms to biceps, they can move around when bending and stretching, but if you find tight enough and don't move you don't have to add strapping. It is screen accurate to have it though  

 

Elastic is used in most areas that need flexibility and for stretching, bending.

 

 

I use a heat gun for the shoulder straps, it is a lot quicker than using a water bath or hair dryer, here's a post on using water bath:

You can bend the shoulder straps using a hot water bath (boil water, remove from heat, dip part to bend in for 25-30 seconds, bend, cold water).

 

It is more screen accurate to cut off the larger tab at the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the tips! 

Based on your suggestions, I went with the hot water bath. It wasn't nearly as scary as it seemed!

 

Firstly, here are the shoulder bridges as they come from Mark at AP:

 

Cut them out:

 

Removed the rear tab and sanded:

 

 

Then came the hot water bath! I boiled a big pot of water. Q's directions were bang on. 30 seconds in the water:

 

 

Then I curved it in my hand and ran it under cold tap water (no picture—hands were full, haha).

 

And the result!

 

Once more, and we're done.

 

 

Next, as many suggest I reinforced the shoulder bridges by cutting out small bits of scrap ABS to fill in the slots on the undersides. I was rather generous with the e6000 here. I figure that, if needed, I can peel away the excess, and the goop that remains will further reinforce the bridges. 

 

 

 

And that's where they now sit. Once they dry, I'll glue them to the chestplate. 

 

Here's a question. I know that the bridges will free-float at the rear and will be secured by a thin white elastic to the straps at the backplate. How does this factor into suiting up? As we've already established, my head is on the large side and doesn't fit through the head opening on my armour on it's own, so I'll have to undo and redo one shoulder each time I put it on. I might be overthinking this—we'll find out once I glue them to the chestplate, haha. Is it doable to snap the chestplate on, then reach back and slide the bridge through the elastic?

I know this is a total non-issue if you have a second person to help, which will be always when trooping. But I'd love to be able to put the suit on by myself just in case, even if it is more of a pain. :-)

Edited Sunday at 04:20 AM by MakeNoiseMan
grammar

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Pretty easy to kit up on your own, but some can struggle, with time it gets easier. You only have to unsnap

one shoulder strap, the other stays connected as you open the armor up, it’s like a clam shell. Still easy to get the elastic over the strap once connected.

 

Well done with those shoulders bridges, came out great.

[MakeNoiseMan]

Hi everyone!

I got a lot of little jobs done today.

Firstly, while the glue was still drying from yesterday, I cut out and painted the ab buttons. Here's how they come from AP:

 

I trimmed them out, leaving the 1/8" border around the bigger plate, and sanded them.

 

 

And paint applied! I will clean up the edges with a toothpick once it dries.

 

 

By this point, the glue on the shoulder bells and biceps had dried:

 

 

So I cut, glued and installed the bell straps, using small rectangles of ABS to sandwich them in place:

 

 

 

Then the shoulder bridges were ready to be installed, so I got those glued to the chestplate. You can also see the velcro and straps I installed to hold the Aker amp I'll be using. Ukswrath's helmet speakers sound awesome, but are a little too quiet on their own in my opinion. Using a 3.5" Y splitter, I'm running my helmet mic to both the hovi-tip speakers and the Aker speaker in the chestplate for a satisfying blend of volume and clarity. I'll post pictures later on in case anyone else wants to do the same!

 

 

Next, I cut two strips of scrap ABS and hot water bathed them into hooks for the biceps.

 

 

 

 

Lastly, with all my clamps and magnets used up, I started trimming the ab section.

 

 

 

 

And that's where we are for now! Question—I've seen the return edge on the top of the ab section used for bracket assemblies. Since I'm using snaps instead, should I trim off this return edge for a closer fit to my body? Or is it still better to leave it? I can see how on the back, kidney and butt plates the return edges will keep them all lined up together, but the since chestplate will hang down in front of the ab section, I am unsure here.

 

Thanks guys! :-)

[wook1138[TK]]

You can trim the ab or leave it - whatever is more comfortable for you. Personally, I would trim some more off - to reduce the chance of rubbing while trooping.  Also, leaving return edge increases the rigidity of the piece. 

[Bud Spaklur[TK]]

You can trim the ab or leave it - whatever is more comfortable for you. Personally, I would trim some more off - to reduce the chance of rubbing while trooping.  Also, leaving return edge increases the rigidity of the piece. 

Agreed. Brendan- If you are set on using snaps and not using brackets, then there really isn’t a need for you to keep that extra material.

 

 

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[MakeNoiseMan]

Thanks guys! Away it shall go.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You don't want too much of a hook on your biceps as they can catch

 

 

Ab button paint is a little big on your smaller plate

 

[MakeNoiseMan]

You don't want too much of a hook on your biceps as they can catch
 

 
Ab button paint is a little big on your smaller plate
 

Noted! I will correct those once the glue/paint has dried.

Thanks! :-D


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[MakeNoiseMan]

Hi everyone, happy Monday!

Since those other pieces were still finishing up their 24-hour dry-time, this morning I set about the ab assembly. Since I'm building for Centurion, this means the left side will have six visible rivets (three on the ab, three on the kidney) painted white, and the right side will have one visible male snap.

I used Ukswrath's ANOVOS build as a guide for my measurements here:

 

After a test fit, I discovered that trimming to Mark's indicated "movie accurate" size is the correct fit for me. Hooray for accuracy! Those OTTKs must have had some extra room in there. Also, I decided to leave on the ab's return edge for now, until I have the strapping done. Then, I'll see how it feels and if I need to open it up some more I'll trim some or all of it away. Back to business: I scored and snapped both the ab and kidney to the pre-drawn pencil lines.

 

 

 

For clarification, I'll be referring to the sides of my pieces as "left and right" relative to how they fit on my body when assembled (i.e. "left side" of the ab closes on the left side of my body). 

 

Here is the left side of the ab with its drill holes marked, starting 2cm away from the return edge and spaced 6cm apart from each other:

 

 

And here are my pre-drill guide marks:

 

 

Voila!

 

 

Since I would still like to disassemble the ab and kidney at will, I'll be using the "turn rivets into snaps" method. I cannot remember where I read this first, but it's a great idea. All you have to do is trim down the split rivet, and using a chisel (or in my case flathead screwdriver) and hammer, set the rivet into the inside of a male snap. I found that finishing the job with the snap-setting tool firmed up the snap nicely.

 

 

 

 

Next, I moved on to the right-side snap, which I'd like to be functional. As directed in Ukswrath's guide, I measured 20mm away from both the return edge and the kidney-side edge.

 

 

I drilled, countersunk and installed the male snap. I used a supplied AP snap instead of a Tandy snap for this so that I didn't become a non-canon Tandy advertisement (even though half of the Empire is held together with their supplies!). 

 

 

 

And that's where things are for right now! Tomorrow, I'll get the interior strapping done. I'll be adding one more strap on the bottom of the right side, and also using the "tab and slot" method to keep things lined up properly.

[wook1138[TK]]

Looks great!   Things get real when the strapping starts to go in. 

 

I'm sure you are aware, but just in case - remember to paint those ab/kidney rivets white.

[TheSwede[TK]]

39 minutes ago, MakeNoiseMan said:

I'll be adding one more strap on the bottom of the right side

Great job so far And really no need for any extra as the belt holds the rest - up to you though