DarthDyer76[501st] Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 After drooling over the contents of my brown box, I hooked up with one of my local Garrison guys over the weekend to get started with more of my TX build... the ATA armor is very sturdy and thicker than some other kits, so I felt most comfortable using the dremel to do the rough cuts... I completed the thermal detonator and cut a couple other pieces at home, but I will post pics of that later.. I did most of the rough cutting, then measured for Ed while he did some of the detail cutting... We got everything rough cut, now it's a matter of sanding and starting to glue pieces together... but it's a good start! Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Yes, ATA uses the glossy ABS for his kits... Link to comment
TK-1422[TX] Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Nice start and nice bike in the pics! I personally miss my GSX-R. Keep posting your progress - Looks like a lot of fun! Gotta love a box of unassembled armor! Link to comment
toddo[TX] Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 It's nice to have someone to help with those intimidating first cuts. Great start, so keep rocking. Link to comment
Scubacat[TX] Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Looks great! Keep it up! Link to comment
Griffin-X[501st] Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Keep up the great work! Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Thanks, guys... planning to work more with Ed over the weekend, but we'll see how things pan out... Link to comment
Master Tej Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Hmm, maybe I can find somebody in the Tyranus Garrison to help me in the same way . . . Great progress! - Master Tej - Link to comment
THE TROOPER[501st] Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Dude, that is sweet !!! Cant wait to see your progress. Chicks cant get enough of the shiny black armor.... Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Got some more work done today on the kit... did lots of sanding/smoothing of pieces and started to glue the cover strips (most of which we cut last weekend)... Ed started making the snap plates and glued a few of those on... it's starting to come together... hoping to make some more progress next weekend! Link to comment
Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM] Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 That is how do my snaps places too (using strapping). Looking good. Assume that's a CBR? Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 If you're talking about the bike, it belongs to Ed... I don't know much about motorcycles... but it looks fast... LOL Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 More work photos, after an impromptu and short visit with Ed on Sunday... we should be getting pretty close.. he did some more gluing of the legs and arms, and got all the snap plates glued on... the only issue was with one of the biceps, which was dramatically different than the other... when assembled, the one bicep had a very narrow opening, so it would be impossible to get my arm through... he used some CA glue and accelerant to reinforce it and took the heat gun to it... we were able to bend it enough to get it closer to the right shape, so it should be fine now... I keep telling him the imperfections and asymmetrical nature of the armor is both cool and weird at the same time... as long as it works, it doesn't matter to me... LOL I hate my camera phone, so some of these pictures suck... I apologize in advance... LOL The corrected bicep... I didn't get a side by side shot of how different they were, but picture the correct one with a horizontal opening, and the other with a vertical egg-shaped opening... pretty crazy... just glad we got it fixed... Completed thigh... we didn't have to do much sizing, because it fit me just right... guess I'm the perfect size for a stormtrooper... Strapping done to connect front and back... Sizing for shoulder straps... Next up was the belt... because I'm going for Specialist, I got a patent leather woman's belt off eBay... by some mistake, they sent me two belts, but it didn't matter because using both proved to be the best method to mount the plastic belt... we riveted the belt to the plastic in the center... Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Ed said we could put snaps on the ab plate to help hold the belt in place... more secure and less likely to shift around... Snaps on the belt to connect to the ab plate... The joint where the two leather belts come together... overlapped and riveted... Drilling holes for the rivets on the ends of the belt... One more session, and we should be ready to go... just some polishing and approval here we come! Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Working on drop boxes today, and I think Ed and I will be finishing up this weekend.. will post final results! Link to comment
Griffin-X[501st] Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I caught your post on the FISD site last night. Great job so far on your build. I'm looking forward to reviewing your Specialist application! Link to comment
toddo[TX] Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 That patent leather belt technique is basically what I did on my Shadow. It works great and holds the weight of the blaster quite well. Looking good man. Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Thanks guys!! Link to comment
Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM] Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Ed said we could put snaps on the ab plate to help hold the belt in place... more secure and less likely to shift around... That's what I did. Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 While Ed has been tinkering on some of the detail assembly and gluing (sniper plate, ab buttons, etc), I've been working on the drop boxes... to be approved for Specialist, the back of the drop boxes have to be enclosed... I had a couple ideas in mind based on some build-your-own threads I saw... they involved using the excess plastic from the untrimmed belts (ammo pack and large belt), but the ATA belt had very little return edge to cut off on the main belt, so I saved the excess from the ammo pack... The idea was to use the corners and basically make an inner ledge around the box on which to glue a cover... I tried making the corner pieces fit inside the box, but since they were angled slightly I never could get them flush against the side... several attempts at shaving them down and reshaping left me searching for another option... I decided to try using single strips of plastic along the two sides, since the extra plastic for the covers was already the correct width to fill the hole without much (if any) gaps on the sides... so the long strips would create a ledge to rest the cover pieces... Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 I already had the elastic to attach the boxes to the belt, so I cut those strips and glued them to the inside of the box while the ledge strips were drying... The only mods I had to make for the cover pieces was trimming the length slightly and shaping the corners to fit... I also shaved out a notch at the top for the strap to fit through... it was just coincidence I had a long piece of the extra plastic left after making cover strips, and it was the exact width I needed... I had enough to make both box covers and have some left over... gotta love those extra plastic pieces from ATA... Sanded and glued, and all I need is to clean up the boxes with some polish and attach! Link to comment
Griffin-X[501st] Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Great work Doug! Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Got everything strapped up, and put the full kit on for the first time yesterday... still some tinkering left, but I think it's looking good... Link to comment
DarthDyer76[501st] Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Just got word from my GML that my kit was approved! TX 31705 reporting for duty! Just need to make a couple tweaks and will be ready to submit for Specialist! Link to comment
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