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Sandy armour trimming


skyver76
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Hi all. I have just joined. My Sandy armour is nearly complete. I just need to trim my leg pieces as they are a little too long (see attached photo). I was thinking of taking roughly 1/2 an inch from top of thigh, and the same from the ankle. I was going to use something like dremmel but thought it might melt due to heat. Then thought tin snips and sand the edges.

My other thought was to add mesh behind the frown. What is the general consensus of this? I understand it is one of those Marmite moments, either you love it or hate it.

All help is really appreciated. Thanks,Glen 

AF5F11A2-3610-4324-9FED-95A323D372A4.jpeg

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Hey Glen, mesh behind the frown might still be acceptable for basic 501st approval but it wasn't used with the original buckets, so it's not allowed for level 2 or 3.

 

For the thighs, trim them down which ever way you feel comfortable with. 

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On 9/23/2020 at 7:31 PM, skyver76 said:

 I just need to trim my leg pieces as they are a little too long (see attached photo). I was thinking of taking roughly 1/2 an inch from top of thigh, and the same from the ankle. I was going to use something like dremmel but thought it might melt due to heat. Then thought tin snips and sand the edges.

 

Hey Glen, 

I'm on the short side at 5'4", and I've built 4 TKs (and assisted sizing down several more), so I know a little about trimming for height.  I might be able to give some guidance.  Your photo is showing as an itty bitty image though, even when enlarged.  Any chance on sharing a larger pic?

The Dremel is your friend when it comes to trimming.  But for cutting off a larger amount, you might want to trim off the bulk first, then finish with the Dremel.  Tin snips can behave aggressively with the ABS sometimes when you cut on a curve and can leave you with extra sanding work to do.  A better alternative would be to use a curved pair of Lexan scissors.  I own many pairs of Lexan scissors in both straight and curved shapes, and they do an amazing job of cutting plastic.

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Hi Christine, thanks for the input. I have attached another photo, hopefully a better quality one. I do have curved and straight snips, but if dremmel is faster without melting  I would be happy. Although a little sanding would be fine to pass time. Thanks again, Glen 

9E88015D-2B45-4482-B657-6C97910A08EB.jpeg

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Hey Glen, 

Yes, much better photo there!  Thanks!

Dremel will take longer for bigger areas.  It will be faster to cut larger areas first, followed by Dremel to finish and sand the areas smooth.  Dremel is good for tight or curved areas.  I end up with more white ABS "dust" than anything else when using my Dremel.  It melts, but not as much as you think it will.  Test on some scrap plastic first, and you'll see what I mean.

I'm seeing a few fitting adjustments that you might want to take a look at.  I've highlighted the areas in the photo below.
1. Your belt is off center.  The center button should line up roughly where the middle of the ab is (green vertical line).  A little rotation of that should do the trick!
2. Your thighs are rotating out.  The fronts of the shins should line up with the fronts of the thighs, and currently, the thighs don't line up.  This is because the thighs need to be trimmed down.  Once they've been trimmed to fit correctly for length, this issue should resolve itself.  (tips to do this below)
3. Your bicep looks like it's kind of jammed into your armpit, but this might be the angle of the photo.  You can always trim the bicep parts from the top to allow for comfort.
50396798553_6a50326c1e_b.jpg

4. The top backs of your shins can be trimmed for mobility and comfort.  As they look now, you might end up with some fairly decent armor bites back there!  The photo below shows the kind of trimming that is typically acceptable for TKs.  I've trimmed the backs of all of my TK builds.40621282653_bae9d910cf_c.jpg

Don't trim beyond the ridge of the parts.  You can trim in a more square cut or a curved cut- your choice.  I used a pencil to trace initial cut lines, Lexan scissors to cut the bulk of the areas out, then finished with the Dremel.  Here's a pic of what mine look like:
50397518641_0f735e54a0_b.jpg

Now about thigh trimming.  Here's how I do mine:
Put on one thigh with your torso.  Using a pencil, you're going to mark along the areas of the thighs where they hit the cod.  You'll be essentially tracing the cod where it overlaps on the thigh.  You will be removing more material from the inside areas of the thighs than anywhere else.   Remove the thigh and trim conservatively at the pencil line.  Try the thigh on again, mark where the cod hits the thigh as you move around (you may hear it or feel it as you walk), remove the thigh, trim, repeat until you notice very minimal clicking of the cod/thigh.  Repeat with the other thigh.  This is a tedious process, but it really works nicely to shorten the thigh and also maintain some of the original lines of the tops of the thighs. 

Below is a pic of my RS Props TD (converted from TK).  Remember, I'm 5'4", so I had to remove quite a bit from the tops of those thighs.  I even recreated the left thigh notch.   That being said, I removed very, very little from the outer thighs.  Bottom line: use the cod as your guide for trimming.  Once the thighs are trimmed to move a little more freely around the cod/butt plate area, the thighs will have less of a tendency to rotate outwards (that cod is currently pushing on them).
50397548111_17fd4060a4_b.jpg50396907933_546f09a5da.jpg

Hope this helps!

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Thanks Christine, I really appreciate the feedback. I rushed to put the armour on without thinking of aligning the pieces. As for being short, I think other parts will need trimmed  (such as arm pieces), not just the legs. 

I think that I will have to gear up and get some new photos from more angles, in order to see what is needed. Thanks again,Glen.

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@Cricket, great work. This is what we need, troopers helping troopers. I appreciate that you took the time to give such extensive and detailed advice.

Just in case you should decide to recreate those returnedges at the top of the thighs: this gets the job done, an iron which is used for model airplanes. 

image.png.d86464f1207bf96634ae083bde2269e6.png

This will allow you to create a new Returnedge. As I am also not the tallest and trimmed down my thighs as the top, then I recreated those returnedges and it worked brilliantly, pretty easy to use too. 

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