BIDS

Hi Laura, Thanks for the kinds words regarding my build thread, I hope it is of some use to others. I'm in Australia & sourced my Snaps from Mac-Lace Leather in Brisbane (www.maclace.com.au), although I'm sure you'd be able to source them locally these guys offer great service and an online ordering system if you wish to use them. These are the exact ones I used If you scroll about 1/2 way down the first page of my build thread you'll see how I made the snap plates. I sewed a 40mm long piece of 50mm wide loop velcro to the same size piece of nylon webbing (same material as used in backpack straps), sewed around the border & then diagonally both ways. I then punched the holed in the snap plate and attached the snaps using the punch also available from Mac-Lace. I made them this way so that they were flexible for any curved areas of the armor so that they would form the largest possible surface area for the CA glue to adhear to. I've yet to have a failure. I doubled up & used 2 snaps in each so that if one ever fails I can continue trooping and replace it when I get home. I used elastic for the straps to attach to these to offer some flexibility, and used the hook side of the velcro, again sewed on. I found it easiest to glue the velcro to the nylon/elastic with the CA glue before sewing. I hope that's of some help to you. Feel free to pm me if you have any further questions. I'd love to see some pictures of you Iron Man suit when your done. Cheers Craig

Congrat's Lee, all you're hard work has paid off, nice build mate, Rob will be proud.

Hey Lee, Big Congrat's on EIB mate, well done your hard work & attention to detail has certainly paid off. In regards to your shoulder strap issue I thought I'd share what I did in case it's of any help. As you can see from the picture I only have the Large Mold on the end of the strap, and one of the small molds on the chest. To ensure a strong bond I cut some scrap ABS to fit into the back of each of these molds and glued them in. This then allows a bigger surface area to bond between the strap and the chest plate. I used CA glue and I can't see me ever having an issue with the join. In fact the problem I can see is that if you're not careful when picking up the torso assembly you can actually form small cracks in the edges of the straps. Mine has done this and I've glued from the back to repair but I think I might actually get a replacement set of straps and make a full piece panel of ABS to run underneath it. I'm thinking I'll heat it into the correct shape and permanently glue it to the back of the strap before glueing the strap onto the chest. I have a rack made for big troops that I can sit the torso over to air out between days, and I also use this when I get home to let it air out. Hope that's of some help to you. Cheers Craig

Looking great Sean.

Bucket off to you for helping someones dream come true. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of her armored up and hopefully trooping.

Nice work, the look on his face is priceless

I think you're snaps look pretty good mate, very neat and well made. Mine is probably a little overkill, but then again I carry a little more heft than most troopers and I haven't had a snap fail yet. I double up not only for strength, but also to provide a backup in case a snap failed. Having the extra one beside it means you can keep on trooping and fix it when you get home. You'll definitely find things to adjust/modify once you get trooping, I'm still tweaking mine here and there trying to get better range of motion & comfort. I think these are a perpetual motion type thing, never totally finished, always evolving, repairing ect. Nice progress mate, keep the pictures coming when you can

Great idea with the spacer for glueing your snaps on. I used a similar system to glue my Nylon Snap Plates in and it worked well for me.

Looking good Sean. I struggled a little with room in my Forearms & Calves so I've used bigger Cover Strips than some of yours. Basically as long as you keep the sizing consistent your OK. By that I mean if you run 15mm Fronts on the Bicep use 15mm Fronts on the Forearm, if you run 20mm Rear on the Bicep use the same on the Forearm. Try to keep the Fronts to the recommended sizes, and if you need wiggle room go bigger on the Rears. For mine I ended up with the following :- * Forearm - Front 20mm / Rear 30mm * Bicep - Front 20mm / Rear 30mm * Thigh - Front 20mm / Rear 35mm * Shin - Front 20mm / Rear 35mm I could have gotten away with narrower on the Thigh Rears, but stuck with 35mm so they matched the Shins. Nice work mate, keep it up.

Looking good mate, go the RT-Mod

Hey Lee, Here is the link to how I strapped my thighs :- http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/21968-bids-anh-hero-build-thread-rt-mod/page-3 (if the link doesn't work for some reason it's on Pg.3 of my build about 1/2 way down). I use a webbing belt around my waist done up tight, and then a pair of suspenders over my shoulders clipped to this belt to stop it sagging (the belt and suspenders are put on before my Neck Seal. I then have a snap plate glued into the thigh at the top/front, and an elastic loop that the belt runs through. I've found it easiest to put the thighs on with the loops attached to them, unclip the belt and feed each one through it. As you have no doubt found so far if you look at 3 different suits or armor you'll find 3 different strapping methods. Nice work on your build mate, very neat. Cheers Craig

Hey Jeremy, Sorry for the late reply mate, I haven't looked at my build thread for awhile. I've still got to finish the Ab/Kidney Shims and fill the 4th Teeth holes in the bucket. I've got the Ab Shims in place and I'm just working on getting the join as seamless as possible. Once I'm happy with that I'll go on with the teeth. I certainly haven't given up on it, have just been enjoying trooping the heck out of it. We had one of our 4 biggest troops of the year 4 weeks ago, a 2 day event and had a ball. This weekend just gone was our biggest event of the year (the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere) with over 120 characters invading Dreamworld on the Gold Coast (a theme park) for 2 days. We had all 3 of our prop/back drops setup (including our new Trash Compactor) and had an absolute ball. Thanks for the kind words regarding my build. I'll update the thread as soon as I've got the Ab/Kidney shims completed. Cheers Craig

I also have the RT-MOD and we have the same size head so you should be OK. I've got 2 squirrel fans & a Wireless Mike Module in mine & with care can still get it on and off OK. As a comparison I can just barely get a standard EFX bucket on, but it squashes up tight against my cheeks & I wouldn't be able to see out of it to troop in. Keep in mind the RT-MOD has quite a big return edge under the chin which you can trim back a bit. Hope this helps. Cheers Craig

Sounds good, happy to help out with anything I can. I love my RT-Mod and I'm still working on the last 2 things I need to do for EIB/Centurion, so as you said together we can take over, and to borrow from our illustrious leader "1 giant sized trooper at a time". Talk soon mate.

I might try that on some scrap as unless I can get it to turn out better I won't use it again. I did try to work in more with the applicator in the hope that it would work the bubbles out, but I didn't try it with my fingers, or after it had started to set.