maxsteele

What method did you use for bending the ammo belt?

Sorry you had to learn about other snaps the hard way. Yep, I know what you mean by you're bound to make some mistakes. We all have. You're having a great attitude about it though, and you're working at moving past it. I have seen a build thread or two that made a similar error and they have extra snap plates on the inside of their armor that they can't remove. While it's a mistake, you are certainly not the first to make it. Definitely put your trust in e6000. It may seem to go against the thought of using a glue that can be removed for gluing stuff together, but it is true - e6000 does not come unglued unless you want it to. And the rubber consistency when it dries makes it great for pieces that need to have some flex after they're joined. You just need to have patience and let it set for 24 hours before doing anything with the pieces. I know it adds a bunch of extra time, but it's worth it when you find out you placed a snap plate in the wrong spot, and you're able to just pull it away from the armor and re-glue it somewhere else. I already had to do that with the snap plates inside my thighs. The thing about the snap plates - the original armor didn't use them either. They used metal brackets drilled into the return edges and held together with elastic. The sides were elastic held together with the split rivets. There were one or two connections where a snap was used, but everything else was brackets or rivets that held the strapping together. I can guess that people started using snap plates as an alternative to the brackets instead of the buckles because buckles can be pretty bulky and for pieces that need to fit up against your body, they may become pretty uncomfortable.

Working on the elastic length for the chest and back connections. It seems my kidney likes to float down on my back from walking. My belt is cinched tight. That's just how it's going to be. Probably that way for everyone. I taped down the bottom of the chest to my ab where I wanted it to be, and then I swung around the back plate. It's difficult to do this with one person, because the back piece wants to float off of your back. That piece will get pulled in by the strapping that runs from the bottom of the back to the top of the ab, which when it's all put together, will prevent the ab from sliding down, since everything will be strapped in. I got a good estimate that the gap between the back shoulder pieces and the front shoulder pieces should be about 10mm for my body. Unfortunately, I can't really test that at all without making straps. The enclosure is too small for me to put my head through. I think what I need to do is have an anchor for the back piece. I need to put the snap plates into the top of the kidney, and strap the kidney to the back. Then I'll have that resistance pulling the back down and the kidney up when I'm fitting the back to the chest. I just need to get the line-up horizontally correct with the back and the kidney. That will require studying builds and eyeballing it. Once that is complete and the back and kidney are connected, I'll be able to get more of an idea as I pull on the top of the back to see where it should go in relation to the chest shoulders. I always have one person to help - my wife. While she is completely supportive of everything I'm doing, she gets frustrated pretty quick when I ask her to help me with fittings. I think it's because she doesn't really know how it should all come together, so she's hesitant to assist. I think once I have all of the prep squared away and it's just figuring out the gap between the chest and back shoulder tabs, she'll be able to hold and measure the gap. Then I'll be able to make the shoulder straps.

I had recently commented on another thread about the gaps issue. Here was my response: I had similar issues with my forearms. I didn't use an inside cover strip on them. I did use inside strips for the shins and thighs, but still used this method for the outer strips on those pieces: First, I got the cover strip in place after applying glue. Next, I clamped each edge with either spring clamps or c-clamps, depending on how much pressure I needed to put in order to make the edges sit flush. Next, I placed a series of tape strips perpendicular to the strip, first affixing half the tape on one side of the strip, and then cinching down the other half of the tape across the strip and down on the other side to the armor. I did that down the entire length of the strip. Finally, I put my 3/4 inch magnets at regular spacing down the whole length of the strip. For my forearms where I just couldn't get the pressure, I did the clamps on the edges and then tape. Then, I tied three pieces of elastic around the forearm at the ends and the middle, and pulled each one really tight and tied them off. Then I put down the magnets.

My method probably only works for the first time gluing down cover strips. I had similar issues with my forearms. I didn't use an inside cover strip on them. I did use inside strips for the shins and thighs, but still used this method for the outer strips on those pieces: First, I got the cover strip in place after applying glue. Next, I clamped each edge with either spring clamps or c-clamps, depending on how much pressure I needed to put in order to make the edges sit flush. Next, I placed a series of tape strips perpendicular to the strip, first affixing half the tape on one side of the strip, and then cinching down the other half of the tape across the strip and down on the other side to the armor. I did that down the entire length of the strip. Finally, I put my 3/4 inch magnets at regular spacing down the whole length of the strip. For my forearms where I just couldn't get the pressure, I did the clamps on the edges and then tape. Then, I tied three pieces of elastic around the forearm at the ends and the middle, and pulled each one really tight and tied them off. Then I put down the magnets.

And normally I'd agree with you on the butt plate, but the way the NE crotch tab is molded, it doesn't wrap underneath and meet with the cod piece. It angles down so when any kind of strap is placed there, it pulls the butt plate out and down, making the sides flare and causing more of a gap between the top of the butt and the bottom of the kidney. I'm thinking it would be better fitting to bend the crotch tab so the place where the strap will get attached is lined up with where it will attach to the cod. Then there will be no pulling at all and it will sit properly with the strap attached. Did you leave the crotch tab on your NE butt plate how it's shaped? If so, you didn't run into this issue at all? Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Anyone heard of heat bending the rivet covers on a belt? It's a pretty solid piece without any flexibility, and I'm thinking I will need a curve to it in order for it to stay on the belt. I haven't tried gluing it down yet, but I just have a feeling it's not going to stay properly without some type of heat shaping.

Thanks Chris! I had a real hard time getting over my anxiety in this build. It has been an uphill battle for me personally from the start. Everyone on these forums has helped me out and pushed me to get to the point I am right now. If you need any help along the way, please don't hesitate to send me a PM and ask any questions you want. Also, make sure you start your own build thread and document your progress. It's not only to show your progress, but you can get some great suggestions and tips from people here before you make permanent changes.

I have three days off this week. Crazy, I know. What better time than to work on some armor! Today, I'm working on attaching the belt plastic to the canvas belt. This topic doesn't seem talked about or documented much on the forums. What I did was find the middle point of the belt by halving it and marking the center point. That's where I lined up the middle drill hole for my belt plastic. Make sure when you drill the holes through the canvas belt that you have some bend to it. Otherwise your holes won't quite line up when you want to put the belt on and you'll have to move them a bit. It's not a big deal if you do this, but it's extra work. I used my dremel to drill the holes through the canvas. It worked well and if you have it on a fast enough speed, it doesn't seem to snag any threads and pull on the canvas while it's drilling. I have decided to use screw posts to hold my belt plastic on to my canvas. I've noticed people call these "chicago screws", but my Ace Hardware had no clue what I was talking about until I showed them a pic. I'm using 1/4" wide holes for the screws, and I went with 3/16" length for the post. How about some pics of what these screws look like? I didn't like how the 1/4" lengths were just a bit too long going through the plastic and the belt. 3/16" lets me just see the end of the post once it's through the plastic and the belt, and then I get a good fit with the screw. Once attached, I put the screw covers in place with some tape and tried it on! I did notice that the middle screw hits right on a bump in the ab plastic, and that pushes the screw outward a bit. This might be an issue when I go to glue down the screw cover in the center. We'll see if the glue holds! (Yes, I had my regular shorts on when I took this. I was just getting shots of the belt. ) You may also notice in these pics that my butt plate seems to be behaving itself better. I trimmed off half of the return edge around the butt plate. Reference photos show this return edge was barely there at all. I don't have the crotch tab tucked under and attached to the cod, but when I do a heat bend to make that tab sit underneath better, the butt plate should still look close to this. Also, I was able to bring my thigh pieces back up to the higher position and still have space between the backs of the thighs and the butt plate after the trimming. It really did make a big difference and I highly suggest anyone with NE armor to do the same. I also did my first lower body suit-up yesterday and walked around the driveway a bit. Pieces were feeling good and mostly staying where they should. I was having some sagging on the ab and kidney, but I'm confident that will be resolved when I have the chest-to-back elastic and the chest & back attached to the ab and kidney. I can only cinch that belt so tight! Today I'm going to try and get the spacing for the chest and back over the ab and butted up against the kidney so I can cut the white elastic for the shoulders and get snaps installed. Once that is hanging on me correctly, I will place the snap plates inside for the ab/chest and back/kidney attachments. I also need to re-glue the snap plates on the inside of my thighs for my garter system. Only having them 2 inches on the inside was not enough to bring the thighs up to where I want them. Having those snaps down 7-8 inches isn't too bad to snap in place. I am certainly considering a second snap on the webbing where the first snap is to have some snap security. I think there's enough room down there.

I haven't done any fitting with my shoulders yet until I get the chest-to-back spacing and elastic made. However, here is a very rough test fit with the shoulders / biceps / forearms. I have very skinny arms, so I think the shoulders will fit un-altered on me:

I would vote against cutting down on the wrist end. I haven't seen anyone do that. I believe the curved piece on the elbow end would be fine, but again, I haven't seen that mod before. I think you're more safe with the elbow side cut than with the wrist side cut.

If you have any overlap on the sides, you will want to trim it up so it fits you and the sides touch. I took off all the flashing from the kidney side completely, and then trimmed the ab plate until I had a good fit on each side. With our armor, the maker built shims into the sides of the armor on the ab side, which can be trimmed away to make it fit. I also made straight cuts at the top and got rid of the bottom point on the ab side so it goes straight across to the kidney. The bottom of the kidney doesn't line up with the bottom of the ab. That's ok. You want the tops lining up more than the bottom. I ended up having to take away the return edge on the sides where the ab and kidney meet. For the wrist pieces, line them up at the elbow end and cut the extra off at the wrist end. The way you have your red lines drawn is where you should cut the extra off. You'll notice that the extra is on the piece that doesn't have the divets in it. That way you're not cutting detail off the armor. Also, for the return edge at the elbow side, you can remove the inner return edge, and trim down the outer return edge pretty small to assist in movement. Some people completely take the return edge away on the elbow side. It's nice to leave some outer return edge as that's more visible to people, but it won't be a bad thing if you need to remove it. For your butt plate, it may need some heat bending on the crotch tab, as it doesn't really wrap underneath between the legs well for me either. And with the current shape, if I put any type of pressure on it to simulate a strap, the sides of the butt plate really flare out. Me saying your butt plate looks good is referring to the sides. They don't flare out at all and really seem to follow your body shape. For me it's probably because my butt is too flat. Yes, take off that extra flashing on the sides of the chest plate. It's not supposed to be there at all. And, I'd like to say thank you for the kind words on my build and my suggestions. I'm in a not-so-good place at the moment with getting my thighs and butt plate in place. It's frustrating when I think I have something right, then when I put it on it all looks sloppy and I don't see a solution to correct it. I am happy that I've been able to move you forward in your build, and your encouragement certainly helps me.

Even after you trimmed the tab? I'm considering cutting mine shorter. I'm also thinking about making the tab thinner. Heat bending may happen in the future, but I'm really resistant to that type of modification. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to get my ab / kidney sitting where it needs to be, get the chest and back plates in the proper position, then create the straps for the shoulders and the straps between the ab / chest and the back / kidney. I gotta get everything sitting on my body before I can start making any more modifications. I think I need to have the thigh pieces up as high as I do in the second pic, or else the front of my knees can't bend because the bottom of the thighs will go over them. The second pic I have the bottom of the thighs are scraping my kneecaps. And in regards to the right thigh, that's going to have a lower edge after I get the ammo belt attached.

Thanks for those Germain. When I'm talking about room to bend my knees, I'm referring to the front. Where I lowered the thighs in the second pic, the tops of the thighs are scraping just above my knee in the front. I can't have them any lower. I'll try to get a shot with my thighs and shins on. Of course, I don't have the battery pack around the right thigh or the sniper plate on the left shin, which will change the look as well. The thing with this damn kit is when I put any kind of pull on the butt plate crotch tab, the sides of the butt plate flare out like in that second pic above when I lowered my thighs. Here's a shot of another guy with NE armor, and I have no idea how he got his butt plate to sit like that on his body. It certainly looks like he cut off the return edge from the bottom edges of the butt plate. Here's a side shot: I think I'm seeing a pretty small return edge if any at all on the butt plate, pretty much all around. That could help with having it sit better on me. I want to say he also heat bent the butt plate both on the sides and the crotch tab. It just seems to wrap around his body better than my plate does. I'll try to see if I can reach him via PM to ask.

Oh yes, I'm going to strap the crotch tab of the butt plate to the cod. How tight should that be? That's another part that I just can't tell from looking at anyone's builds. I'm going to use scientific words to describe this next part, so no vulgarity is used. The bottom of the cod is immediately underneath my testicles. If I bring the ab plate up any higher, the bottom of the cod doesn't cup around them and they are trapped between the bottom curve edge. That cod is as high as it can go, which to me means the ab is as high as it can go.

Man, this build is tough. I got a garter belt set from VaderDave, and got to try it out tonight. I glued in the snap plates about 2 inches from the top of my thighs. This didn't work at all. Even after pulling up all of the slack in the adjustable elastic, the thighs were not high enough. I had to drop the snap plates down to eight inches before I could get the thighs sitting in a spot where I could bend my knees and they were high enough. After I got the garter system in place, I put on the ab / kidney and cinched it down with my belt. I found the highest part that the cod will go, which determined where the rest of the ab and the kidney would sit. Here are pics from that fitting with my butt plate attached. Also, that is the way the finishing strip position on my thighs from the top to the bottom. I can't get the bottom of the thigh cover strip to come to the middle of my knee. Adjusting the angle of the top doesn't change that. I know you can't really see what my knee position is, but it's straight on, and the finishing strip at the bottom is more off to the side. If that affects EIB or Centurion, then so be it. I don't see it affecting base approval. Opinions are requested, please. I'm not sure what to do with the butt plate and how low it comes with the tops of the back of the thighs. I cannot bring that cod piece up any higher, or it's past my boys. Which means that's where the kidney will be. I have no gap between my kidney and butt plate, so do I trim down the butt plate, or do I trim down the backs of the thighs? If I trim the butt plate, that return edge is coming off and it's not going back. I could try lowering my thigh pieces. I can't go too low or they interfere with bending my knees in the front. EDIT: Here's a front and back shot with the thighs lowered. The bottom of the thighs are scraping the tops of my kneecaps. I can still walk, but I can't get a shot of what they look like in this mirror down by the knees. I also tucked the butt plate in to give a bit of a strap simulation.

Did you heat bend your butt plate? It's wrapping around your body nicely. I'd like mine to sit that way. The spacing in the back looks good too. You'll want to black out that undersuit logo on the back. Also - try some pics with your arms up on the left and right side so we can see how the ab and kidney plates join together. You can take off the flashing on either side of the chest piece:

If you have a moment to - take a pic with the thighs pulled up more and the shins on, and then a pic with the thighs where you have them in your previous pic here and the shins on. Then we can see what it looks like with the different positions.

If we want to get "official", base approval for 501st says in the CRLs for ANH Stunt: Frown is painted gray and does not leave the teeth area. Eight total teeth on the frown are cut out. That should answer that.

I know Mathias just said that Stunt is 5 teeth, but recent ANH Stunt builds I've been following have all been 4 teeth. Also, in the photo reference gallery, this is marked as "ANH Stunt Frown": Majority of those are 4 teeth. I went with 4 teeth for my ATA ANH Stunt helmet.

I haven't connected my cod and butt yet. Here are the two lines I had drawn originally, and when asked, I had the suggestion of cutting between the two lines. I had cut the bottom line, but then I cut between the two:

I eyeballed how others have cut the cod and butt plate. I also posted here with my cut marks to get opinions. After people said what they thought was good, I cut on the lines I drew. Here's my cutting. Here's how much I cut on the cod piece: Here's how much I cut off the butt plate: And here's how I cut the top and bottom sides of the ab: The bottom doesn't really line up between the ab and the cod. That doesn't matter too much. Make the top line up. That's where it counts.

Can you pull the thighs up any more? I know that our NE thighs have to be worn lower because of their shape, but since you've taken off the return edge from the top, it's no big deal to cut them to make sure they don't catch on the cod.

Velcro is fine for the shin enclosures. Use the Industrial strength velcro. Put the hook part on the cover strip side, and put the fuzzy part on the shin piece. And make sure the closure side faces inward.

I sanded down the front with 400 grit, then 600, and I noticed that the black lines of the cracks was still showing. When I ran my fingernail across them, it didn't catch, so they must be under the ABS paste that I laid down. I mixed up a little more ABS paste and made it a little runnier, put that down, let it dry for a few hours and then hit it again with 400 grit, 600 grit, 800 grit, and finally 1500 grit. Here's a close-up of the hole with the cracks: The big crack that extended to the end of the piece is barely visible any longer, and the smaller cracks can be seen, but the surface feels smooth with no edge catching. Then I took a pic of the ab piece with the rivets in place and at a reasonable distance but still much closer than anyone would be looking or taking a picture of me from: You can barely make out the black line of the crack that goes from the top right of the middle rivet up toward the edge. The real test will be when I try to set the rivet again and see if those cracks open back up or if they'll stay exactly like this. If they do open up, I'll keep the rivet there, spread some more ABS paste into the cracks, and sand it back to smooth. I'm pretty busy with work the next few days, so I won't have much time to work on the rivets. I may go over to Raintrooper's place on Sunday to get some work done. Otherwise, I'm off Wed - Fri of next week and I hope to get more done then.