Great Lakes Garrison & Base

Hey Dee Oh

Short Story - I'm having a bit of trouble sizing the arms on my TK. It doesn't help that I don't know what I'm doing. And it also doesn't help that I can't find anything detailing how the process is supposed to work (they all seem to focus on construction, not sizing)

Longer Story - I trimmed and sanded all of the arm pieces. Then assembled the with wonderfully green masking tape. The Right Forearm fits with no modification. The Left forearm is a bit tight right near the elbow.

The problem is both biceps.

1. I tried taping the halves together "as trimmed", I couldn't get them up my arm.
2. I split one taped joint and tried it on my arm. Figured a 3/4" gap was needed.
3. I taped one side to a 1" gap (just in case). SURPRISE, I couldn't get up my arm.
4. I taped the other side with a 1" gap. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, I couldn't get up my arm.
5. I reduced the return edge to a bare minimum, And Stopped. I noticed when I tried on each half that the corners were digging into my arms.

I either need a good (or just decent) tutorial, or a knowledgeable Armor Guru.

It sounds like you will need shims on your biceps. This means you will want to assemble using the original finishing strip (provided in the ANOVOS kit) for the outside and then decide how big you need it on the inside.

So I would assemble the arm pieces but leave the inner side open. Meaning you will have a partially completed bicep that will open like a clam shell on the inside. Then it will be easy to decide how much shim you need because you are only fighting with the inside. Then make the shim and finishing strip larger on the inside to cover the gap. Use E6000 in case you aren't happy with the results and want to try again.

To avoid confusion, the shim can just be a larger finishing strip.

I think I have to do this for my biceps.

I found a good tutorial on shims. I'll see if I can find it again and post it here later.

Well Thats interesting...

I was following your advice Mike, and I discovered that the top edges did not line up a long the front seam. I pulled the edges apart and discovered that a 1/2" was missing. I looked through my scraps and there was enough on the drops t account for the deviation.

Oh Well, Time to use some of the skills I got when doing my Rex Armor.

I can probably fake the return edge on the shim. And the nice thing is that the stock cover strip will hide the shim work.