HOW TO - Glue your AM KIT Biceps Together - The First Step

[mr0072003[501st]]

How to Glue your AM Biceps Together - The Begginers Step

 

Things you will Need

- AM Biceps peices Front and back a total of 4 Peices

- ABS Cement - I used the regular color, but I suggest the black ABS Cement

- Dremel with Grinder and Cutting bits

- Earth Magnets

- Painters Tape

- Sand Paper (400-800)

- Small wood block

- Womens nail file

 

Ok so you got your new AM kit and you are wondering where the heck do I start.

One of the easiest parts to put together will be the biceps peices. So dig around

and look for your peices.

Here is what you should have:

 

 

Step 1

First thing to do will be to clean up the return edges.

Here is a before pic of the bottom part of your biceps. This is the back peice.

Here is a before pic of the top side of your biceps, also the back peice. This part is the closest

to your shoulder

Now get your Dremel with cutter tool out and cut as close as you can to the edge leaving just enough

return edge. When your done, it should look like this.

AS you can see, the cut is very rough and needs a bit of clean up. Just get some sand paper or even better

a womens nail file. This helped TONS and kept my lines straighter.

Notice that I went into the notch. This is so you can pass your strap system through, but thats later in the build process.

 

STEP 2

Now lets work on the other side, the smaller side. This side you will NOT need to cut into the

notch. Becuase of this I opted to use the grinder bit over the cutter. You can see I cut close to

edge but still leaveing some return edge.

 

 

Here are both left and right back side peices cut. One peice is showing the top and the other is

showing the bottom. You can tell the differnce as one side has the notch cut out and the other does not.

There is the womens file I used too

 

Step 3 - Front Bicep Peices.

Here is a pic of what the front part of the biceps look like. (Note AM kits have dimples one both sides)

 

We need to cut the return edges here as well. (At least I did)

Here are some before pics. Bottom only

 

 

Here is pic of the front return edge already grinded down on the top part. I sadly did not get a close up of this side before I grinded it down, BUT if you look at the first pic on this post you can see the return edge there very easly.

I used sand paper here to clean up the edges.

 

Other side of the front part. Return edge was grinded down with the grinder bit

 

Bottom portion being test fitted (its the best pic of this I could find of this part).

Note that the part I am mentioing can hardly be seen is its the back peice I am reffering too.

 

Next steps continued on next post. I ran out of pics I can post on this particular post.

[trooper[501st]]

Nicely done sir. keep up the good work .

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Great tutorial Peter! Good to have you on the team!

[toddo[TX]]

Keep these coming Peter. Nice work.

[mr0072003[501st]]

Step 4 - Cutting the edges to match your mass or lack there of.

So using your painters tape, tape one side of the bicep. This will be so you can use a marker or pen to mark your

cutting point. Shown here is the front bicep being taped.

 

 

Do the same for the back part of the bicep as well.

 

Here I have them both lined up and marking lines as where to cut.(PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BACK PART OVERLAPS THE FRONT PART).

 

 

Something not pictured here is me test fitting them on while taped together. This part is key as it will

help you determine where to cut. For me it was a lot as I have Pencile arms. For some, they may not even

have to do this.

With your lines marked on the back peice of your bicep.... These lines were based on how big I wanted the

"Cover strip" part to be. I opted for the OVER LAP method, hence why I wanted to get this sized down first.

 

 

Now just use your dremel and cutter bit (not the one show in this pic, thats the grinder bit) and cut away.

This is where the dremel really saves time.

 

 

Now that it's cut, you may notice the lines are not as straight as you may like. Considering this part will act as

a cover strip (if going with the over lap method), you may want to clean it up.

 

 

So to clean it up, get some 400 or 800 Sand paper....

 

 

Wrap it around a small wood block or similar like so..

 

 

Start to sand like so...

 

 

once your done it should look like this.

Repeat this step to both sides as well as both back peices.

 

Step 5 - Cutting the Front pieces.

Now peice both parts together (Front and back) and overlap them to the point that it fits nicely around your biceps and mark to see how much of the front needs to be cut. You determine this by making sure the overlap portion goes over the front without any extra making the part bulg out.

 

 

Mark it and cut

 

 

 

I had to hack off a lot for my pencil arms. Point being that this measurment will differ for each based on your body type. Also if the lines are not straight just use the sand block method mentioned above and clean it up.

Here they are side by side next one side that is NOT cut. You can see how much was cutt off. Repeat to both sides

 

Now that they are cut, butt them together with the back half and check fitment and overlap. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BACK OVERLAPS THE FRONT)

 

Thats it next up will be Gluing and using earth Magnets

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

Score/snap method is so much easier, faster, and cleaner than the dremel.. I used the dremel sanding drum on the curve parts but why'd you use the cutting wheel for straight cuts?

[mr0072003[501st]]

Score/snap method is so much easier, faster, and cleaner than the dremel.. I used the dremel sanding drum on the curve parts but why'd you use the cutting wheel for straight cuts?

 

To be honest, at the time I had not experience in scoring at the time and I knew I was going to use cover strips anyway (even though I was doing overlap), but in case I did not I wanted straight lines. AFTER making cover strips using the scoring method, (which is much cleaner as you mention) I realized that would have worked here. But as for being easier and faster, no way, dremeling it took less than 45 sec, and to sand it (took more time finding the small wood black ) was no more than a minut or 2 of sanding.. nothing to bad, but will aggree it woud be cleaner to score, but its a pain in the butt (at least for me)

[izzi[TX]]

I prefer the dremel. The scoring method is boring! Give me power tools baby!

 

-iz

[mr0072003[501st]]

STEP - 6

 

Ok last part - Now that its all fitted and ready to go you will need to glue your peices together. This is one of the peices that actually gets glued on both sides and not left open.

 

First you need your ABS Glue

 

Then you will need to sand the part that the glue will go one. Do this to both front and back parts that will be glued together. This will help the ABS adhere. Here is an example.

 

Once you have sanded it, apply your ABS glue. Dont go crazy with it, just enough. You will have time to move and adjust for about 30min or so, but I would not wait that long. Once your happy with the placment, get your Earth Magnets and clamp the one side together. Use as many magnets as you can to get a nice even set. Here is one side glued

 

Let it set for the day or at least 4 hours. Do both left and right Bicep.

 

Once its dry repeat to other side. Here are both glued and magneted together on the last side

 

Once the Glue is dried on both sides, remove your magnets and clean up any mess left behind from the ABS and your DONE. Thats it folks, you can use this basic method to trim down and glue your parts together. Hope this helps other out there. Sorry for no Pics of the biceps after this, but I forgot to take a pic before I added cover strips.

[THE TROOPER[501st]]

Awesome peter. I too am a fan of power tools Im also a fan of e-6000 glue, well,. for some parts. Again awesome job bro...

[Griffin-X[501st]]

I like the smell of E6000...but I'm just weird like that!

[mr0072003[501st]]

I like the smell of E6000...but I'm just weird like that!

I Thought I was the only one!

[Tekket[501st]]

So will the return edges need to be ground down on the legs aswell all the return edges on my AM kit look huge to me

[mr0072003[501st]]

So will the return edges need to be ground down on the legs aswell all the return edges on my AM kit look huge to me

 

Yup.. the return edges on this kit are big... Here are the best pics I could find of showing this... Dont worry I have an armor party coming up on the 6th of April and I will get as many pics as I can.

 

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Awesome work on this tutorial...!