My, getting this armor together, thread

[Drgnfly]

Just received our armor kit today from Tambo! Woot!


And now I freak out a little...


I will probably (most likely) have a lot of questions for you all as we do this, lol

Now I'm trying to figure out where do I get started??? I know I want to get trimming on this so what is the best tool for trimming? I have an exacto knife and I'll use that for the smaller stuff closer to what I need to trim carefully, but what about the bigger areas?

And what is the best way to know where to stop trimming? Some of the armor doesn't have a "line" area to show where I should stop...

Help please!

[Scrapper]

I know some of the veteran guys here will be chiming in soon, but when i did mine about a month ago. for the long straight cuts i used tin snips from home depot beacuse the abs is pretty thick, and in the small curves like in the chestbox and neck area of the front and back plate i used a dremel with a cut off disc. as far as lines go i really studied every photo i could to see were it should be cut to and left some extra room for error. I drew a line with a pencil and when i was happy with it i masked it off with blue painters tape. I then cut up to the line but not all the way I used sandpaper or a sanding block to get a straight smooth line. I have posted pict of my work in progress thread if you want to see how mine came out. the Tambo kit is awesome, have fun building it.

Gabriel

[teach42]

I just got chills. That's some fun stuff you're getting into!

My bucket was pre-built, but when putting together my sons armor, I did a pretty similar process to Gabriel. Heavy shears for the rough cuts. Dremel sander to get it really close, and then hand sand the final lines. Just remember, you can always sand it more. But once you cut off too much, well it's hard to get it back! Go slow and take your time.

AND POST LOTS OF PICS!

[ptbenz]

Just received our armor kit today from Tambo! Woot!


And now I freak out a little...


I will probably (most likely) have a lot of questions for you all as we do this, lol

Now I'm trying to figure out where do I get started??? I know I want to get trimming on this so what is the best tool for trimming? I have an exacto knife and I'll use that for the smaller stuff closer to what I need to trim carefully, but what about the bigger areas?

And what is the best way to know where to stop trimming? Some of the armor doesn't have a "line" area to show where I should stop...

Help please!

Xacto knife works great on ABS. Make a good score and then just bend back amd forth at the score until it snaps off. Good clean cut. I use a dremel cutting bit for the odd shaped and hard to get at areas, works great with a little cleanup afterwards.

As far as where to stop cutting? This is precisely the reason thr best build is done by kit. Everyones shape is different. Get some measurments of yourself and start from there. Cut with ample so you can fit and then just trim bit by bit until you have a perfect fit.

I use CA and E6000 glues, both work great on ABS.

I think thats about it to give you a start!

Please keep posting as you need help (LOTS of pics are wise) and the vets will keep popping in and give you advice.

Congrats on your kit and have fun on your build!

[HoseNose]

One word.

JEALOUS!!!

Good luck with the build!

[Blackwatch]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
bit brown box day.

I love it when a plan comes together.

and I love kits!

if you want to see how a build goes, look here:

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ ... 20rebuild/

roughen the edges of the plastic where it will glue together, to give the glue a better bonding surface.

[Drgnfly]

Thank you for the help so far everyone! I think we need to pick up some sharper blades and better tools for the job tomorrow, lol. I will post up pics as I go too

[Rivera]

I would reccomend a stanley carpenters knife for the score and snap technique. The exactoknife is more suited for small detailing I think.
Read some threads on other builds from the same kit before you start to get a feel for the kit and the challenges that comes with it.

RIvera

[Drgnfly]

Ok, so far I'm just getting the "big pieces" off of the chest parts, like in this picture the neck and arm area.


With some of the other pieces I'm trying to figure out how far to cut. I put red lines showing where I want to cut to on the pics, I hope you can see them...
Top of the front helmet part...


And the inside of it...


The bottom of it...


And inside of the bottom area...


The side part of the helmet...


And the inside view of the side part...


And how about this part?

[Blackwatch]

i agree with your lines, but do not cut ON the lines.

stay on the safe side of the lines. drill a very small hole from the inside, on the "safe" side of the cut line where sharp corners intersect like inside the box, this will help you make your slices through those corners.

use tin snips to make your cuts, work slowly and test fit as often as possible.

on your chest box, tape a full sheet of 400 grit wet or dry automotive paper (hardware store) to a sheet of glass, and work that cut line until it is perfect. run in a slow figure 8 motion, with plenty o soapy water. Turn the piece 1/4 turn every 8 sets of figure 8s. Work down close to the cut line but not quite to it. do this to both halves, then work both halves until the joint is as near perfect as you can make it. Model builders have done this for decades to work with vacuumformed models. Your effort in this will result in a nearly perfect joint line that will not be hard to fill, and will not stand out like a sore thumb.

[ptbenz]

Yes lines look good. Make sure you cut them clean so they are easy to assemble. David has the right idea with the fine sanding. Keep us updated!

[Drgnfly]

So far I have done a lot of trimming...

Chest pieces are pretty much done. I have some slight sanding and smoothing out to do...


The front of the helmet needs sanded and then I have to do the eyes and tube holes...


Both sides needs a little more trimming on the top area. But other than that I just need to smooth out the area that I already trimmed...


The two halves of the chest box were pretty simple to trim. All they need now is sanded.

[ptbenz]

Looking good! If you use small jewelers files on the eyes and tube holes, you can get a nice sanded trim.

[teach42]

Fantastic progress! And great job documenting it. Keep those pics coming.

[Scrapper]

Awesome! can hardly wait to see it put together!