trooper12

Belt My first step was to mark off the ends of the ABS belt including the 45 degree angles. I followed Bill Hag's template (shown below) and adjusted it slightly. For the length of the belt, I measured outward 1.75 inches (45mm) from the ammo pack on each end of the belt. Billhag shows the length should be 1.5 inches with a 3/4 inch button cover. Since the rt-mod button covers are 1 inch, I added the extra 1/4 inch to the overall length. For the angles, I measured out 10 mm on each corner and drew a straight line and cut with my Lexan scissors. I placed the button cover 5mm from the end of the belt after reviewing the Han Solo pic from the archives (guesstimate) Next I marked the locations to drill the holes that will connect the ABS belt with the canvas belt as shown. The next step was to drill the holes in the ABS belt and mark the locations on the canvas belt. I also marked the location of the female snaps that go on the canvas belt. They go underneath the end ammo packs. I marked the locations of all of the ammo packs. This will be covered later by the ABS belt. See the dot below which is the middle of the outside ammo packs. I used a scribe to make the holes in the canvas belt for the snaps. I put the snap-end on the scribe and easily pushed the whole thing through the belt. I hammered on the female attachment and the snaps on the canvas belt were done. The next step was to line-up the canvas belt onto the ab plate and drill holes into it for the male snaps. I laid the canvas belt onto the ab plate and centered it. The canvas belt should go directly below and touching the rectangular plate housing the ab buttons. When you attach the ABS belt to the canvas belt it will overlap a bit. I meant to use the holes in the canvas belt to mark the locations onto the ab plate before filling them with snaps. Since I forgot to do this, I marked the female snaps with pencil lead (actually mark the snap with lead by drawing on top of the snap). When you lift up the snap after placing it on the ab plate, there is a lead mark left on the ab plate. I put a mark in the middle of the circle and drilled for the male snap. By the way, there is an up side and a down side to the canvas belt. You want the left side of the belt to cross overtop the right side of the belt at the back. Be aware of this before you secure your drop boxes. The next step was to add the drop boxes to the canvas belt. You need to do this before adding the ABS belt as you need access to the canvas belt which won't be accessible after you add the ABS belt. When I looked at my drop boes, I realized that they were too thick. I read in a post by gazmosis that the standard is 10mm so I trimmed them. Marked off the spot to trim. I measured out 10mm on the outer covers and 9mm each on the inner covers. I used my Lexan curved scissors as I had an awkward time with the straight ones to do the job. Here are the finished drop boxes (unglued). I filed down the edges and used sandpaper to make them smooth. Much better. Next I added the strap to the inner drop boxes and then glued the inner and outer boxes together. I used a 1/8 inch grip (3mm) and 1/8 inch diameter aluminum pop rivet to join the elastic to the inner box. Next is aligning the drop box to the outer edge of the ABS belt. In the picture below, I used painter's tape to temporarily attach the canvas belt (ABS belt is underneath). I placed the ABS belt in the exact center of the canvas belt. There is a sanding sponge aligned to the edge of the ABS belt and the drop box is aligned to that so if you were to flip it over you'd see the drop box aligns perfectly with the end of the ABS belt. I also put the other drop box underneath to assist in aligning the drop box elastic to the level of the belt when setting the hole to use to attach it. After the holes I went ahead and used the same sized pop rivets to attach the elastic. Afterwards, I also used some E6000 to keep the edges of the elastics down instead of curling upward. You want the top of the drop boxes to have little to no gap from the ABS belt but be warned not to have the elastic stretched when you rivet them in place. This happened to me on on side. It's not a big deal but you want the smallest bit of slack for the drop boxes to hang instead of being pulled slightly upward and below the ABS belt. I'd like to be able to correct this but I am not sure how to remove a rivet that's in place. As I said, it's not a big deal at the moment. A project for another day. Next is permanently attaching the canvas belt to the ABS belt using the same rivets as used above and the pre-drilled holes already in the ABS belt. I poked a scribe through the holes of the ABS belt and through the canvas belt. This was enough to push the rivets through and then permanently set them. Note that you can put the rivet in so that after it's popped the bumpy bit either faces outward from the AB plate or faces outward from the canvas belt. I recommend having the bumpy bit (technical term) face outward from the canvas belt. This means the completely flat part will be underneath your button covers on the ABS belt. This is not what I did and it caused me problems. Here are the 3 button covers you get as part of the rt-mod kit. First note that you don't get 3 of the same button covers. I asked Rob to send me a 3rd identical button and he did so at no charge through the mail in an envelope. Also note that these buttons have a return edge. When I tested the buttons with the rivet bumpy bit facing underneath the button covers, everything worked fine and so I proceeded. After these were in place I then realized that I had to remove the return edge of the button covers so I would have enough surface space for the E6000 to grab onto. Now the rivet bumpy side didn't fit underneath the covers any longer. In the end I filed the bumps down and life carried on. Finally, I added my Darwin holster. Using the handy diagram below as a guide, I realized that getting the first hole correct was crucial and that everything else lined up based on it. My first hole ended up exactly 40mm from the edge of the ABS belt and 15mm from the bottom of the canvas belt. I followed the measurements using WideAMG's build for this first hole and then followed the diagram below for the rest. I once again used my scribe to punch the hole through easily then eventually widened the hole with a drill as it needed to be larger to fit the chicago screws (that Darmin provides when you purchase his holster). Lined up my holster straps to find the location of the 2nd hole. I used the diagram above which guided me to place the top of the leather holster 1 inch (25mm) down from the canvas belt. I used the pre-punched holes in the canvas to mark the leather straps with a pencil and then made the holes through the leather. Pushed the chicago screws through after widening the hole with a drill, tightened the screws and here's the final product.

Here are some pics of the completed thighs and shins. When walking, the sniper plate often comes underneath the thigh. After more trials, I'll probably try to use foam inside the ABS to attempt to increase the distance of the thigh and sniper plate. I need to do more research on this topic. For the strapping to hold up the thighs, I used the method used by WideAMG. I made a single strap belt using extra polypropelene and a buckle purchased from Fabricland for $4. I placed some industrial strength velcro (soft part facing toward your body) on the inside of the belt. I then used two 2-inch elastic straps to attach to the inside front of the thighs and up through the belt. The top of the elastic strap has the hook side of the industrial strength velcro that connects to the belt (facing outward). The bottom of the elastic straps connect to the thighs using snaps. This system allows for adjusting the height of the straps. It's quite simple, cheap and effective. Here is the material and velcro set-up Here is the attachment to the thighs Here is a close up of the belt and velcro set-up. This pic is from WideAMG's build

Thanks Eric. I guess the upward tilt is just an 'rt-mod thing'. Not really a big deal. Here is a side view of the ammo pack. I ended up putting a bit of E6000 on the top to keep it in place. I waited almost a full year from the time I put my name on Rob's list. It was a long wait but I am happy with the product received. Thanks man. I appreciate the encouragement. Thank you sir. I am hoping to be done before 2015. I wish I could say it is but it's the tape that Rob provided and put on for me. Here is a closer picture where you can see the overlap of the tape. I am waiting to the end to do all of the hand painting (vocoder, ear stripe, ab buttons, rivets). I would prefer to keep the tape on as I don't think I could do a better job than the tape but it's less accurate so I'll give it a go. I am going to try to devise a template of some kind to keep the vocoder looking clean. Thanks and I agree. At the beginning of the build I was afraid to make the slightest of mistakes. After working with the ABS for awhile you realize that you can fix mistakes and the little things aren't as big as you think. By the way, thanks for your build. I referenced it for my belt and other tasks. Your build was very well documented. Good thought. Thanks Andrea. Thanks Tolo.

Ammo Pack I've already showed the rounding of the edges in a prior post. When I was considering how to mount the ammo pack, I wanted it to be parallel to the floor. The only way to do this was to mount it above the raised bottom edge and into the main body of the thigh. Thankfully, I reached out to a friend (Mike Brace) from the Canadian Garrison and he reminded me that the attachment has to be in the bottom raised edge for accuracy standards. This means that the ammo pack has to be angled upwards when completed. I was also expecting that the pack would reach almost to the back of the thigh but it only reached part way. I used split rivets and spray painted them ahead of time. I don't have a proper tool to set the split rivet and had a hard time splitting them. In the process, I ended up scratching the paint off the rivets anyway so I then intentionally removed the paint and added the rivets with the idea of painting them afterwards. They turned out fine. Spray painted rivets by pushing them through some cardboard first. Pre-drilled the holes in the ammo pack first. I just eyeballed the location for the holes by looking at other build and film pics. Next step was to align the pack with the thigh's bottom raised edge. I centered the pack so that the back was equal on both sides of the thighs at the back. This also had the effect of having the middle ammo pack directly over the front cover strip. After finding the location I was happy with, I marked the locations with a pencil through the hole I drilled through the ammo pack. I then drilled one hole first, added the rivet and then repeated the process for the other side. The ammo pack kept slipping down at the front so I glued it with E6000. Here is the finished product

I've added the sniper knee plate. It was quite straight forward to add. I believe Rob has made some modifications to assist in making it easy to do so. The key is not to be afraid to squeeze the sides of the outer contact points inward while aligning the front flat with the cover strip and the sides aligned to the angle of the raised top edge of the shin. I added E6000 directly to the outer shin's cover strip after measuring where the knee plate would hide it. For the sides of the knee plate I added the E6000 to the knee plate instead of the shin. I waited a couple of minutes after applying the E6000 to let it tack up a bit so it would be less runny. I used ratchet clamps for a stronger grip. Where there was excess glue, I used a q-tip to remove it from the edges. Here are some pics. Added magnets and tape for extra hold I let the glue cure for 2 days instead of one and here is the final product

As shown in a previous post my s-trim purchased through Trooperbay.com wasn't wide enough to cover the gapping of my helmet. I had planned on trimming the helmet but even then it wouldn't have been enough. Before I trimmed anything I first tried to get a larger s-trim seal. I found one on-line (window rubber) and it arrived today. At first it looked huge; perhaps, too bulky. In the end it fit perfectly and I am very happy. This shows the Trooperbay s-trim on the left and an s-trim I found through sealsdirect.co.uk on the right. The s-trim code from sealsdirect was SWR150. This shows the seal on the helmet. If anyone wants my trooperbay s-trim from the Canadian Garrison, please let me know. It's yours, no charge. The helmet just needs a Vocoder paint job and some ear rank stripes to qualify for Centurion. Next step is trimming and heat-fixing some imperfections in the thighs.

I added the velcro to the shins today. I overlapped the inside ABS strip over the outer and taped it from the inside with painters tape so the ends wouldn't move. This allowed easy access to add the 'hooked' side using industiral strength velcro that Rob provided with the kit. Once done, I taped up the outside of the shins over the 'hooked' velcro so once again the ABS sides wouldn't move. I then added the other side of the velcro on the inside. This shows the velcro connected. The gap is larger than I expected but still acceptable. If it becomes a problem after trooping, I'll change it. Here is the final product for the shins (less the sniper plate to follow)

More shin pics. This shows 9mm on the outer side and 16mm on the inner side. The 25mm cover strip will attach to the 9mm side. This will allow for velcro (13mm) to sit on the 16mm side and hopefully the velcro will be hidden from sight when the cover strip is closed. Created the 25mm cover strips which seem huge Taped up the shins to try out the cover strip and trim for length. Here are the 25mm strips glued to the shins The covers strips appear to be on the wrong side here but it's only because the left shin is on the right side and vice versa. Adding the cover strips on the front. Next step tomorrow is to add the velcro and then the sniper plate then finish the thighs.

I haven't posted in awhile (snowboarding season has begun) but have still been working away in the background. I've been focusing on the thighs and shins. Here are some pics. Before adding any cover strips, I needed to make some cuts to align left and right pieces. A few cuts using the Lexan scissors then using a sponge sanding block. Sanding with a medium and then a fine block. I finished off with some Maguires Ultimate Compound to get a shine. I also tried out my heating iron for the first time on the back of my thighs. I just kept the temperature around 250 - 300 F and pressed downwards lightly and repeatedly. I placed a strip of ABS underneath so the thigh ABS would have something to push against but in the end I didn't need it. This created a large return edge which I trimmed with scissors and again, some sanding and Maguires.

Have you tried searching online for hobby stores in your area? I feel the same as you do and found multiple hobby stores within a 20 minute drive that all had multiple brands of heat sealing irons; much to my surprise.

Eric, the forearms look great. I'll be going over your posts in detail when it comes time for me to do my own. Thanks for all of the descriptions, pics and advice you've placed in your build thread!

Making the helmet ready for EIB/Centurion I purchased the emulated hand painted decals (tears/traps) from trooperbay and replaced the regular decals. These decals are amazing in that you can unpeel and stick them a few times until you get them right. In the end they still stick perfectly. Note the differences in the decals. The set on the left are the emulated hand painted decals. The set on the right are the decals that come with the rt-mod helmet. There's no difference in colour just in the 'painted' lines. I also purchased the s-trim seal to go around the helmet opening from trooperbay. This pic shows the difference between the u-trim and s-trim. Note: the s-trim does not cover as much of the helmet as the u-trim (at least not the one I have). This may turn out to be problematic for me as currently the s-trim doesn't cover what I need it to. Are there s-trims out there that are larger in width? I am not sure I will be able to trim enough of the helmet to accommodate the s-trim and have it cover everything I need (see pics below). Pic with the s-trim on Pic of the s-trim off showing how little room I have available to trim. I'll try to trim right up to the screw cap. Here is a pic of my vocoder and hovi mics. I wish I didn't have to paint the vocoder as I don't think I'll be able to do as good a job as the decals. Do these mic tips meet the EIB standard? I believe so but the EIB description states 'correct 'hovi mic' aerator tips'. It's unclear what correct means in this context. The only difference I can see is that mine don't visibly show white inside the aerator as I've seen in other mic tips. Still lots to do and I also need to install my squirrel fans and add my rank stripe to my ears but I am very happy with the overall look of my bucket.

After deliberating for a couple of days about what sizing to use for my thighs, I chose a size that is comfortable yet only allows 3 fingers on both sides top and bottom. If I have it wrong, I know that I can still trim a bit if they end up being too loose after more experience using them. I took off about 3cm per thigh, keeping the cut horizontal to the original trim from rt-mod. I glued on an inside cover strip to one side of the thighs only and will glue the other side tomorrow. Here are some pics. This tutorial here by Pandatrooper has been a significant help http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/tutorials/article/22-howto-assemble-thighs-butt-join-with-cover-strips/

I had some extra time today so 'fixed' the ammo pack. The edges were ~ 7mm from the ammo boxes and I trimmed them down to ~5mm. I also rounded the edges using my thermal detonator ends to map the curve. I then cut along the line using my Lexan scissors, lightly filed the edges and then sanded them. I am happy with the end result. Here is the ammo pack before trimming Here is the trim amount. I did this for top and bottom. Using the thermal detonator ends to draw a curve. Here is the end result.

I've started working on the strapping to connect my back/kidney/butt pieces. I marked off the locations for the straps in pencil on the ABS first then sanded the 2x1 inch areas with a sanding block/sponge. I applied the E6000 to the ABS (spread with a popsicle stick) as well as the strap itself. You need a lot of clamps/magnets for this task. I couldn't get the job done in one go. After waiting a day, I checked the straps and one of them was off a bit. In taking the strip off to re-apply it, I was impressed at the strength of the bond. No worries about it coming off accidentally. Also, in preparation for strapping the front, I pre-filled the inner cavities in the lower ab piece that will otherwise be problematic. I cut some extra ABS to fill the space, sanded it then glued and clamped the pieces.