TK ANH Stunt by CloseTheBlastDoor

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

7 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Very nice, you'd have to be happy with that, now don't drop it 

 I don't think it will ever leave my house!

 

Dare I say that I'm ready to submit for EIB approval? It's a different process from basic, right?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 hours ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

 I don't think it will ever leave my house!

 

Dare I say that I'm ready to submit for EIB approval? It's a different process from basic, right?

Indeed, some reading material: 

 

EIB guidelines/requirements 

 

Photo's required

 

 

Visual checklist

 

How to take action photo 

 

[Doggydoc[Staff]]

Looking forward to seeing your EIB application 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow, that has turned out awesome!!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

On 2/6/2025 at 1:58 PM, Sly11 said:

Wow, that has turned out awesome!!

Aw, thanks! 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

On 2/6/2025 at 5:26 AM, Doggydoc said:

Looking forward to seeing your EIB application 

Hoping to get all of my photos together in the next week, if not sooner!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

26 minutes ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Hoping to get all of my photos together in the next week, if not sooner!

Having a mirror handy can be a great help, not all photographers know the costume and how it should look 

 

Also remember you can reposition parts between photos, in case you move, need any adjustments 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

On 2/8/2025 at 2:37 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Having a mirror handy can be a great help, not all photographers know the costume and how it should look 

 

Also remember you can reposition parts between photos, in case you move, need any adjustments 

I got the photos together and made my submission. I didn't have a large mirror handy or too big of a space to work with, so couldn't check things as well as I would have wanted. My wife assisted, and though she didn't know what to look for, I tried to guide her, and had reference photos up for her to compare. Fingers crossed!

[Chemi[Staff]]

hace 2 horas, CloseTheBlastDoor dijo:

........My wife assisted, and though she didn't know what to look for, I tried to guide her, and had reference photos up for her to compare. Fingers crossed!

 

I did exactly the same 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Hey all, after only a few troops, I see that one of my shoulder bridges is starting to crack. I've seen this article on reinforcing it:

 

But as they are already attached, any thoughts on repair? Here's what it looks like. One flick, and it will fall off.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 hours ago, CloseTheBlastDoor said:

Hey all, after only a few troops, I see that one of my shoulder bridges is starting to crack. I've seen this article on reinforcing it:

 

But as they are already attached, any thoughts on repair? Here's what it looks like. One flick, and it will fall off.

I would try to remove, E6000 is easy to remove, use a knife under a corner then use some upward pressure, you really need a strengthening piece all the way under that crack.

 

It's pretty common and most use a strengthening piece.

 

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

41 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I would try to remove, E6000 is easy to remove, use a knife under a corner then use some upward pressure, you really need a strengthening piece all the way under that crack.

Sounds good, I'll get to work on that! Thank you for the billionth time (and you deserve every one of them)! 

[JBar[TK]]

Mine cracked here too. The key was to put some abs backing underneath it and I used E600. It's held up fine since

Edited March 25, 2025 by JBar

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Mine are metal underneath. I filled the divots with tiny ABS scraps and then E6000'd a thin aluminum strip underneath. After curing, the straps got some fuzzy side velcro stuck to them to keep from destroying the armor they touch. I've not had a problem in over 100 troops... but your chest needs to be quite strong for this to work in the long term. If the armor is quite thin, a metal bridge strap will destroy the chest after a few months. I learned this after helping a friend with his broken strap and replacing it with a metal one... lol

 

If only someone made a rubber flexible bridge strap.

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

10 hours ago, JBar said:

Mine cracked here too. The key will be to put some abs backing underneath it and I used E600. It's held up fine since

Yup, that's my plan. Hoping to get that done in the next few days!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

7 hours ago, revlimiter said:

Mine are metal underneath. I filled the divots with tiny ABS scraps and then E6000'd a thin aluminum strip underneath. After curing, the straps got some fuzzy side velcro stuck to them to keep from destroying the armor they touch. I've not had a problem in over 100 troops... but your chest needs to be quite strong for this to work in the long term. If the armor is quite thin, a metal bridge strap will destroy the chest after a few months. I learned this after helping a friend with his broken strap and replacing it with a metal one... lol

 

If only someone made a rubber flexible bridge strap.

Wow, that's quite some work! But yeah, I have little faith in my chest plate holding up like that.

 

I did find one Etsy seller who makes flexible shoulder bridges, but they are in Spain! https://www.etsy.com/listing/839569448/strong-flexible-suspenders-straps?ref=user_profile

 

From the reviews, they sound like they're made of some kind of latex rubber. I'm tempted to make my own mold!

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

I managed to get the shoulder bridges off the chest plate with minimal struggle. The chest plate got a little scratched up when I went in there, but hoping to take some Novus to it to clean it up.

 

I will use the aforementioned method of making my bridges super strong!

 

Because my shoulder bridges had somewhat undesirable curves to begin with, mainly because the tabs on the chest plate don’t very well line up with the ones on the back plate, I decided instead to form the support the “right” way, then glue the bridges to it instead of the other way around.

 

I still had the ⅛” thick ABS sheet from the TK kit that I used for cover strips. I figured I could use it as a strong base for each shoulder bridge. The trick was to get the ABS cut and then shaped into curves so the bridges could be glued to them without trying to first glue and then bend, which won’t work.

 

Overall, this would mean that the bridge assembly is on the thicker side, but I don’t see anything in the CRL about it needing to be any particular thickness.

 

I had an old 6” curve mold from a previous project, which I again used to shape the ABS. 6” happens to be just about right, give or take.

 

I first tried the water bath method, allowing some water in a glass bread baking dish to get to full boil in the microwave, then immersing the strip in it for several minutes, and quickly pushing it into the mold. This really didn’t work. The strip sprang back quite a bit to maybe a 12” diameter curvature.

 

The glass transition point (Tg) of ABS is 221 degrees Fahrenheit, so that’s just above what boiling water can provide. So, I lined the cookie sheet of my toaster oven with foil, set it to about 225 degrees F, and watched and timed it all very closely.

 

What was good about this is that I started with the partially bent strip from the water bath, which allowed me to figure out the time that it flattened back out, which was around four minutes. As toaster oven thermostats are not known to be accurate, your mileage may vary. I advise you to watch this very carefully.

 

When it flattened out, I waited another 30 seconds or so, then quickly and carefully pulled the strip out and stuck it into the mold. Results were good!

I needed to add two feet to the bottom, though 

 

I then tested the curvature on my armor to ensure that it was good.

 

Next came the glue. I did find the Plastruct Plastic Weld at a local art store. Upon inspection, there were still several wide gaps, so I glued those down with CA glue first.

 

I then applied the Plastic Weld, and sanded down the edges.

 

The seam was still apparent, so I painted over them with some gloss white Testors.

 

 

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Next thing was reducing the circumference of the forearms, as it was noted in my EIB application that they were not as form-fitting as they needed to be for Centurion approval.

 

On the two seams along the length of either forearm, there is a ridge on either side of the top seam, and a ridge only on one side of the bottom seam. So the task was to remove a little bit of plastic from that ridgeless side.

 

As the forearms were some of the first pieces I worked on, I didn’t at the time have an understanding of exactly how strong the cover strips and E-6000 could be. So there was both a front and back one in place. These turned out to be really hard to get off. It took me about three hours of time to get them out. First realization was to not to try and preserve the cover strips.

 

Better to just make new ones. Second realization was to use long nose pliers to grip the E-6000 chunks, and wrap the glue around the pliers to pull them out. Doing this allowed me to get the glue out in long strips, which helped open the joints.

 

Once I had the strips off, I was able to compress the forearms tighter around my arm and re-measure. One of my garrison members had pointed out that my right forearm looked weird, and he was right. It was quite a bit larger in diameter than the left. So some careful marking, scoring, and cutting ensued. I made new cover strips and used the same old way to glue them in place, then trim the ends. As the forearms are now tighter, I found it necessary to trim back some of the return edge at the elbow where the new seam was created, to prevent armor bite.

 

These now fit much more snugly than before, but still allow for my gloves to slide in at the cuffs.

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Another bit of feedback I received from EIB approval was that the belt buttons were not trimmed back enough. I pulled them off, and it looked like there was still a 0.5mm ridge on the inside. So I sanded those all back.

 

Before:

 

Before and After:

 

Back on the belt:

 

The edges still have that curved look to them, but I really don’t think I can get them sharpened up much without removing a lot more plastic, getting too close to the circle. Hoping that this is good!

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, I wouldn't go any further or you will risk interference with the middle circle.

 

In references they are pretty straight on the sides and no rounding off.

[JBar[TK]]

Great work. I remember doing the exact same thing with my forearms. Like you said it took all day but totally worth it for them to fit. Looking great

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

Uh oh, I'm noticing some discoloration on my helmet. I have a separate bag for it that has a soft, black, felt-like interior and I think that it has rubbed off onto the helmet in several places. There is a purple discoloration now along the ears and tubes, and even on the top (hard to photograph, hope you can see it). I tried Novus to clean it, but no change. Any suggestions?

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I would honestly leave it. That's just weathering and experience. It'll get more impossible to remove marks like that. This isn't a bad spot for some weathering honestly.

 

Make sure none of your soft goods are touching your armor inside your storage bin. I keep my soft goods inside a white pillow case. That'll protect it from purple smudges as purple tends to come from clothing dye.

 

If you want to try more aggressive removal tactics, get some fine cut rubbing compound from your local auto parts store. It's like fine liquid sand paper. WAAYYYY more aggressive than Novus plastic polish but still quite gentle on your plastic.

 

[CloseTheBlastDoor[TK]]

15 minutes ago, revlimiter said:

I would honestly leave it. That's just weathering and experience. It'll get more impossible to remove marks like that. This isn't a bad spot for some weathering honestly.

 

Make sure none of your soft goods are touching your armor inside your storage bin. I keep my soft goods inside a white pillow case. That'll protect it from purple smudges as purple tends to come from clothing dye.

 

If you want to try more aggressive removal tactics, get some fine cut rubbing compound from your local auto parts store. It's like fine liquid sand paper. WAAYYYY more aggressive than Novus plastic polish but still quite gentle on your plastic.

 

 

Thanks. I think I'd still like to remove it, but don't want to use too harsh of a compound. I think I am very attached to how pristine it still is, so don't want to lose it to this! Will report back if I get some results.