beginning assembly questions (woo-hoo!)

[freakengine]

Wellllllllll, I got that box of plastic in the mail today, and have now begun my journey. After debating long and hard, I decided on an FX kit to start with (because of both my stature and my bank account) with future plans for a more accurate bucket. Until then, I have a coupla questions.

I keep reading that many people tape their helmet pieces together to test the fit before assembling, but since the face plate on mine is a little wide (it needs to be bent slightly inward) it keeps pulling the whole thing apart, even with good tape everywhere. Maybe I should heat it a bit, but I'm terrified of screwing it up. I've seen tutorials wherein the lid and back are attached to each other first, then the face and ears are fitted. Which way do you think is best?

My second question is regarding the ab and back plates. I'm a little thicker than the armor pieces, and even tho it's only an fx kit, I think it'll bug me to have that black gap on either side. I've read a lot of posts about people shimming extremities, but never this. Is this done often? Are there problems? I suppose I could connect the pieces with black elastic and would have an easier time bending over, but I'd prefer the look of the plastic going all the way around. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, I decided today that I'll be a TD from the get go. I was tempted to do TK first, then convert, but then came to my senses.

[IanL]

For the helmet start by attaching the front and back pieces with the ear covers. You may also want to attach the lenses. Put the dome on last.

[SethB6025]

Some people do add a shim to the sides of the ab/back, but a gap is not objectionable to most.

[Arppegio]

I'm going to make this quick because I'm really supposed to be doing my work here in the office, lol.

If you want to tape the face and back plate together for testing, use splints. Because of how I was modding my FX suit, I had pieces of ABS laying around. Partly from the spare ABS sheet that's included in the kit. You can cut them off of the spare sheet but, like I mentioned, I had bits laying around from my modding. You can also use tongue depressors or popsicle sticks. Just so long as you have something flat. You'll need 4 total about 2 inches in length.

For the tape, I think I used Filament tape. The kind that has a whole bunch of lines running along the length. It has a strong and rigid hold which helps prevent the pieces from bursting apart while using the splints, but also has low tack so there's little to no residue when pulling it off after having it sit there for a while.

You will be putting the splints on the outside of the helmet. Not the inside. The splints are meant to keep the pieces from "bursting" apart while test fitting.

Put your helmet plates together and place one of the splints near the top (on the outer side) across where the two pieces touch and tape it down. Like placing a bandaid on a cut. Go ahead and run a piece of tape from the inside of the helmet over the top and then covering the top splint for a good hold. Don't worry about reinforcing the tape just yet though.

Get the second splint and place it to the bottom of the first one right where the helmet starts to curve. That puts them about 3 inches apart from each other. Tape them down. At this point you can start reinforcing the tape for a stronger hold.

Reinforce and finish one side first before continuing to the other.

[freakengine]

Thanks for the good advice, guys. I'm sure i'll be all over this forum over the weekend, and for some time to come. I really do appreciate it.

So, from what I can tell from the instructions, the sides of the helmet are held together by the screws alone. Is that right, or should I try to glue it in some way? Are the screws really enough there?

[IanL]

I lined it up with the screws first, but after I got all the pieces lined up (including the dome) I reinforced all the seams with "superglue" hot glue. I think screws alone will be a little weak to survive the abuse of trooping.

[TD4549]

As far as the Back and AB plate gap-

I personally picked up some white leather with snaps to cover this. I found out later many cut a white plastic trashcan and velcro/snap also. There is also a gent that sells a kit on ebay occasionally.