greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 The long wait is over. My SC armor kit showed up today. Time to get to work.
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 Starting with the easy stuff. Cutting a few pieces of self-stick velcro and attaching some greeblies with E6000. I always rough up the surface of smooth plastic before applying the adhesive. Gives it a little more bite...and some tape to hold it in place while it dries.
Haflinger Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 11 minutes ago, greenyone said: The long wait is over. My SC armor kit showed up today. Time to get to work. When did you order?
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 The SC kit comes with stickers for things like the red detail on the tank greeblie and the white button. The button decal is quite a bit larger than the recessed button and I gave up on drying to trim it perfectly to fit in there. Then I tried some acrylic paint which looked a bit too much like it was brushed on. I have some clear resin/epoxy for doing resin inlays on CNC engraved signs. Mixed up a little of that with some white coloring and put a few drops in the greeblie. This stuff is self leveling. So takes the guess work out of it.
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 3 minutes ago, Haflinger said: When did you order? I think I ordered mid May.
Haflinger Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 Just now, greenyone said: I think I ordered mid May. Ack. I ordered early April. Hopefully mine is in the mail.
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 I've seen a lot of solutions here on the forum for attaching the end caps to the thermal detonator tube. I'll add my take. I cut out some ABS disks, put a small threaded eyelet in the center and solvent welded them to the end caps. This small bungee cord will pass through the tube pulling them tight...and hopefully provide some give and snap back into place when/if they get snagged on something while trooping. 1
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 5 minutes ago, Haflinger said: Ack. I ordered early April. Hopefully mine is in the mail. You know the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? Well I was that squeaky wheel with Jeff. Have you reached out to him to get an ETA on your kit?
Haflinger Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 10 minutes ago, greenyone said: You know the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? Well I was that squeaky wheel with Jeff. Have you reached out to him to get an ETA on your kit? A couple of times now. I’m actually part of the assembled group, so I’ve been checking in.
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 Finishing up the TD. Bungee end-cap success, greeblies glued on and zip tie well....zipped. I had previously bought these black holster clips from amazon to allow the TD to be easily removed from my belt. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MR3CQCC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 After a little bending to better conform to the TD hose I riveted them on. Some scrap plastic on the inside of the hose combined with some small washers should keep the rivets from pulling through.
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 Video of my springy end caps. https://photos.app.goo.gl/govwELr91UbyFrna9
greenyone Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 Sent a photo to my GML and he said make the hose/tube darker. I look it apart and sprayed it with a Krylon Medium Gray. Think this is in the ball park?
greenyone Posted June 13, 2019 Author Posted June 13, 2019 The instructions that come with the SC armor kit call for a "T-Strap' to connect the front/back & shoulder using 1.5" velcro. I see a lot of TB's use the zip-tie method for hanging the shoulder bell. I may ultimately do that at some point, but since the SC armor included strips of velcro I'm going to do that for now. Making the 'T-Strap' is simple but I need to find a way to make the strip to cover the gap where the 2 halves meet. Here is my take on it. Taking some of the same white cotton I used for my pouches (plain ol' Lipton tea dyed just a bit) I made a little loop, sewed one end to the 'T-strap' and on the other end put corresponding hooks & loops on the underside of the strap and loop. This all goes together and comes apart very easily.
Chopper Posted June 13, 2019 Posted June 13, 2019 What you've done is fine for basic clearance, but keep in mind that the SC instructions likely haven't been updated in quite some time. What's listed may not always be the most current construction methods. Your choice, but I do encourage you to at least take a look at Strider's Lancer Build Tutorial:
greenyone Posted June 13, 2019 Author Posted June 13, 2019 3 minutes ago, Chopper said: What you've done is fine for basic clearance, but keep in mind that the SC instructions likely haven't been updated in quite some time. What's listed may not always be the most current construction methods. Your choice, but I do encourage you to at least take a look at Strider's Lancer Build Tutorial: Thanks Corey, I realize that but I'm not looking for Lancer. Just a nice looking and hopefully durable costume for basic approval. 1
Chopper Posted June 13, 2019 Posted June 13, 2019 No problem at all dude. We here to help no matter what. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of some of the other resources that were out there. 1
greenyone Posted June 13, 2019 Author Posted June 13, 2019 Yup. Appreciate it. I'm a charity event guy. So lancer stature doesn't do much for me at this point. 1
greenyone Posted June 13, 2019 Author Posted June 13, 2019 The MC helmet came with the eye lens that I found to be useless. Similarly the SC armor kit came with 2" elastic webbing for the chest/back underarm connection. I really appreciate that these vendors attempt to include as much as possible to complete these kits however I think this is another one of those useless parts. The provided slots are barely over an inch. I carefully opened them up to 1.5" but even at that size this 2" strap looks pretty bad stuffed in there. Maybe SC has yet to revisit their parts inclusions from previous versions of the kit. I guess 1.5 elastic is on my shopping list now too.
Lawless Scout Posted June 14, 2019 Posted June 14, 2019 The MC helmet came with the eye lens that I found to be useless. Similarly the SC armor kit came with 2" elastic webbing for the chest/back underarm connection. I really appreciate that these vendors attempt to include as much as possible to complete these kits however I think this is another one of those useless parts. The provided slots are barely over an inch. I carefully opened them up to 1.5" but even at that size this 2" strap looks pretty bad stuffed in there. Maybe SC has yet to revisit their parts inclusions from previous versions of the kit. I guess 1.5 elastic is on my shopping list now too. That strap should not be 2”. Only the belt has that. These straps are 1.5”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1
greenyone Posted June 16, 2019 Author Posted June 16, 2019 After acquiring the correct 1.5" elastic this portion of the build is making more sense. I still had to open up the slots a bit to accommodate the straps width but also to be able to pass the velcro through the slot a bit easier. Unlike the SC instructions which have you putting the velcro tab right near the strap slot...I opted to put the sticky velcro further toward the sternum and add some extra length to the straps. This gives a few inches of slack when disconnected from the chest piece and allows me to pull it over my head easier without having to fight with getting the velro through the very tight strap slot. I can easily reach behind the chest to attach or detach the straps.
greenyone Posted June 16, 2019 Author Posted June 16, 2019 I'm guessing all the armor vendors make these to be a universal fit because the radius of my belt was waaaay to big. I'm not a big guy, but not a bean pole either. I gently added some heat (hair dryer) to these areas and bent it around my abdomen. Fits much better now. 1
greenyone Posted June 18, 2019 Author Posted June 18, 2019 Phooey. I made a bund but I think the batting I used is just too thin. The ribs don't really show up that well. Try again I guess. Back to the fabric store.
HSM76 Posted June 19, 2019 Posted June 19, 2019 Open it up at the upper seem of the ribs and try stuffing it with padding.
greenyone Posted June 19, 2019 Author Posted June 19, 2019 8 minutes ago, HSM76 said: Open it up at the upper seem of the ribs and try stuffing it with padding. Meh. An hour of seam ripping for a $7 piece of fabric. I'll just start over. No biggie.
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