Teach-

Did a test fit. I'm going to lengthen the thigh buckles a little bit to give more room around the cod armor and I'd prefer the thigh armor to sit a bit lower on my legs, I also need to shorten the right lower leg armor just a bit. It's longer than the left one. I need to tighten it around my calf and add velcro as well.

Getting back to the build! Started the lower legs. Like other parts of the 850 Armor Works kit, the sizes are big for me. I needed to cut down the length and mold them so they were tighter around my leg. I used a large pan on the stove top in order to get the full piece heated at once. It was tricky and took several times of shaping and fitting before I was happy with them. I decided to use a butt joint rather than overlapping the front joint. I felt that the front cover strips wouldn't cover the joint if I overlapped it. I do worry that taking the lower legs on and off will eventually weaken the butt joint, however, it's reinforced on the back and will eventually have the cover strip on the front. I'm hoping those will make the joint strong enough. I had to trim the back of the lower leg armor quite a bit in order to duplicate the CRL. Once I sized them for me, the raised detail and the opening of the back of the knee had to be recreated as best I could. I worked on the left leg with the sniper knee plate first. The sniper knee plate also had to be reduced in size to match the size of the leg armor. As I attached it, I taped a cover strip underneath to ensure there was enough space when it comes time to attach one. After a final test fit, I attach a little bit of foam on the inside to bring it off of my leg a little so it was more comfortable and sat more symmetrical along my shin. I also attached velcro at the back bottom of the armor. In the picture below, the inside of the armor is on the outside to show where the velcro was placed. I finished up with the right lower leg and assembled it with a butt joint like the first one. At first, I was overlapping the joint but after I thought about it and did some test fitting, the butt joint made more sense and allowed me to get the front width for the cover strip to be more consistent from top to bottom. I still need to clean the excess glue off the front once it dries more.

Using the two, long pieces of belt material provided by Armor Works, I started the belt. I doubled up the front of the belt by using one of the strips to raise the level of the ammunition belt so I could create the protruding teeth that nest between the ab details and vertical ribs. Without the bottom layer, the belt would sit too far under the ab armor and the teeth couldn't come up into the gaps. I heated, curved, and cut the front strip to length. I used snaps to hold it in place and decided to use some velcro as well. I attached the ab details (and I'm mostly happy how they came out). I curved the ammo belt, marked the teeth, and then used a sander to knock out the bulk of the material. One notch between the front, right detail and rib wasn't depressed enough to put a tooth into the gap. The ab armor just didn't have enough detail at the lower edge to make it happen. All the other gaps were fine. This was a tougher part of the build. I went slow, measured and fitted a lot, and made adjustments as I went. Once the belt had the teeth, I attached the drop boxes and separate ammo boxes. While things were drying, I heated and curved the back belt. I also noticed the the bottom the the recessed, black ribs on the sides will likely show once the back belt is on. I continued the black angle a little farther down into the belt area.

I was really happy with the 3D prints for the back and abdomen details and the fact that I didn't have to sand down the resin from 850 AW so I decided to print the cover strips as well. Things went well for the first batch until there was an overnight printer jam during the second batch

The snaps are from Tandy Leather: Line Snaps (matte black line 20) and I also purchased the Line 20 Snap Setter. The buckles are from Amazon. They are 1 inch buckles and I used 1 inch nylon webbing. I also cut off and sanded the first part of the buckle where normally you'd weave the one inch webbing through. Since I stitched the webbing around the buckle, I only needed one attachment to do that. The suspenders are from Amazon. If those links don't work, let me know.

In order to prepare for the belt, I first needed to get the abdomen details attached. I sanded and filed the 3D prints. I worked on the back armor cog and bars as well as the thermal detonator holder at the same time. Before sanding and filing them, I was researching ways to reduce print lines. I came across XTC-3D. In the end, I chose to use it not to reduce the print lines (because unless you are painting the print, the lines are still visible through the clear finish), but rather to give the pieces a glossier finish. The original print was a flat white and it stood out against the armor. In the end , the finish is a little glossier than the armor, but I still think it's better than the flat white. A couple of the pieces need a light, second coat to get the finishes consistent. I also painted the blue, gray, and black on the ab details. Once those are dry, I'll attach them to the abdomen.

I'm back! The seniors have graduated, final exams are over, the teachers' last day has come and gone, and I now have some time to get back to work! Did a couple small projects in the last few weeks, and I'll start with those. Sewed the cloth covers for the thigh buckles. I used a cotton/poly/spandex cloth (thank you Fruit of the Loom). I trimmed and sanded all the ammo boxes for the belt and for the drop boxes. There is not a lot of room for error on the ammo boxes. The ammo boxes will cover the under-boxes on the belt itself, but too much trimming will start to reveal a gap, particularly once the belt is curved. I was careful about not trimming too much. The drop boxes are also finicky. The two pieces that fit on the inside are not quite wide enough but that won't be noticed when they hang from the belt. I cut a slit in the drop boxes for the webbing and then attached black webbing to the inside of the front of the boxes before putting them together. Next will be the belt assembly.

I cut the openings a little wider on the back of the thighs so it's easier to bend my knees. Also attached the small ammo belt to the right thigh. It was trickier than I expected. Had to heat the piece several times to get it the right shape. Because I haven't added the cover strips yet, I taped a placeholder on the thigh so the ammo belt would sit high enough to slip the cover strip under. I also had to glue some shims underneath so the ammo belt had more points of contact to glue to the thigh. I'm mostly satisfied with it.

Two straps, that's good to know. I didn't catch that as I looked at images. My armor seems light enough that one strap suffices. But I only wore it for a short time. I'm also thinking a second strap will limit any twisting the thigh armor does after wearing it for a while. I'm glad you passed that on. I did know about the material covers and plan to sew those some time in the future. Thanks for sharing the details and thanks for the feedback!

Worked on the thighs for the last couple of weeks. It took a lot of test fitting, trimming, more test fitting, and several hot water baths to reshape them before I got them finalized. I've glued the front and used white velcro for the back. I bought two 1 inch buckles for attaching the thighs to the body. I sewed 1 inch nylon onto the buckles and added snaps. I also added snaps to the body armor and thigh armor. I trimmed the small ammo belt and cut the bottom outside edges at 45 degrees. I gave the ammo belt a hot water bath. Once I curved the small ammo belt, the return edge caused some buckling along the edge. I sanded those down so they are not as pronounced. Below you can see the large pan I've used for the larger pieces like the thighs. I ordered paints from Trooperbay. I included a white in order to see if it matched the white of the armor. I'm trying to determine if I'll be painting the parts I 3D printed. So far, no white has been an exact enough match. The same is true of the Humbrol gloss white so I'll probably be using the pieces as printed and not painting them. Below are the newly finished pieces. After walking around for a while, I'll probably make the cuts behind the knee a little wider. I'll also be attaching the small ammo belt to the right thigh tonight.

Trimmed the posterior armor. The 850 AW posterior had an octagonal type edge to the sides of the armor and one too many sides. The gallery shots show just one angled side, so I cut from the top of the first angled side up to the top (along the yellow line below). I then added snaps to the posterior and inside the kidney armor. Trimmed but didn't sand the ammunition belt and boxes.

Trimmed and then added snaps to the cod armor. Made nylon straps to fit it to the abdomen. Started trimming and fitting the thigh armor. Plan to get the cod and posterior armor on the abdomen before finalizing the thighs. Working on the posterior armor next.

Printed 11b30b4's abdomen details from his file at thingiverse. Thank you Jeff! They are perfect and save me from lots of sanding (the resin details from 850 Armor Works would need lots of sanding if I used them). I'm also pretty satisfied with the white of the print. It's a better match than any paint I've found yet.

Thanks FN1313. Slow going but getting there.

Just a little work this week. Cut down the sides of the ab/kidney. Before and after:

Did a test fit. Things that went well: the side extensions and the velcro work. The snaps work and everything is relatively fitted in the right place. Things I will fix: the shoulder straps are raised and need to sit lower onto my body. I'm going to hot water bath the chest armor and bend the area where the shoulder straps insert and get them closer to my body. I might then lengthen the nylon straps that hold the chest and back armor together to get it to sit just a little lower. And because the armor runs a little big on me, I might trim the sides of the chest armor a bit too. Looking at the CRL and gallery/screen captures first. So I did both: bent the top of the chest armor and lengthened the straps by about an inch and a half. I also cut the width of the shoulder down a little based on the CRL and gallery images. I also trimmed a little from the sides of the chest armor. I did another test fit and then shortened the length of the shoulder armor. The CRL and gallery images show the length to be about even or a little below the horizontal line created by the pectorals. Mine were too long. I also added velcro to the shoulder straps and inside of the back and chest raised trapezoids. Drilled the 8mm circular indent described in the CRL. When looking at gallery images (two of them below), it certainly looks more like a hole than an indent. Any advice on whether to add a piece on the inside so it becomes an indent and not a hole? Latest test fit below. Still need to cut down the ab/kidney so it doesn't show above the extension pieces. I'll take any advice you have.

Painted the side extensions black and put industrial strength velcro on the chest, back, and extensions. Had a little time after work to get it done. Looking forward to getting everything that's assembled on this weekend.

Used "SNAP Setting 101 by justjoseph63." Didn't mention that last time but that post made the work a lot easier. Used a soldering iron to put the holes in the webbing. The shoulder strap took a bit of trial and error until I could get the chest and back armor to sit at the right place. Below is the strapping with all the different snap placements I tried. In the end, I used the two closest ones and that's the second picture below. Had to heat and bend the back armor so the shoulder straps would go in better and so the armor sat on my shoulders better. The arrows show the angle where I had to bend them down. Also had to lower the chest neck opening by about 1/4 inch. It was riding too high for comfort. The two picture below show the shoulder strapping from the underside. Second picture includes the shoulder armor. Fitted the extensions between the chest and back. Had to trim them a little once they were fitted. Also had to heat and bend them a bit more too. Might trim the back plate so it's the same width where it meets the extensions. Painting them black will happen this week. I was originally going to snap the extensions to the chest and back armor like I had seen in other builds, but I've decided to try velcro first. We'll see if that's strong enough once it's all in use.

Snaps and straps today. Getting ready to strap the upper body. I've been using Tandy Leather Line Snaps (matte black line 20) and Line 20 Snap Setter. Learned quickly that I needed enough material between the two snap pieces so the center post wouldn't lean while I was setting it. Doubled the thickness of my nylon for that reason, and I'm using thinker scraps of armor when I use those. I also learned to be mindful of not applying J&B near the center of the snaps. If too much is used, it oozes up and interferes with the inside of the snap. After making the male and female snaps, I tested them all before applying them to the pieces of armor. I'll be working on the chest and back next. Need to get it test fitted and marked up, and then I'll be setting the snaps for the shoulder straps. The T shaped nylon (picture above) will attach the back and chest and the perpendicular strap will attach to the shoulder armor. I saw a few other builds like that and I'm going to do the same. Thank you to all those that did this before me.

Boots and gloves from Imperial Boots arrived. I also dug up my neck seal that I purchased a couple of years ago. Got to work on the hand plates. Filled the depression on the underside so the velcro would sit flush. Put the velcro on and voila! The 850 AW shoulder armor was really narrow at the top. I hot water dipped and widened them a bit (where the yellow line is). The picture below is after I widened them. I think I'll be trimming some length eventually but I'll get them fit on the body armor before deciding. The upper arms were too big in their raw form. I had to cut them down quite a bit. I took about 1/4 inch off the top of each piece. I also had to dip and bend them a bit more too. They were not concave enough. I made one mistake when gluing: I intended to glue the fronts and velcro the backs. I checked twice but of course made two left arms! Not the end of the world and I might disassemble one in the future. For now, one will be glued on both sides. In the images, the ones on the left are resized and reshaped, on the right are the original forms. More to come...

Worked on the chest armor for a resizing today. The neck and trapezoids were too high for me. Made a template for the neckline and then traced it below. Cut the new neckline and cut off the traps. I then cut a hole for the shoulder straps before adding the traps in their new location. I bent the top of the chest armor with a boiling water dip so the traps would sit more flush to my body. I think I'll be doing that agin once I get the back armor fitted. Since the dremel was out, I added the indents on the hand plates too.

The work continues on weekends: I attached the kidney plates to the abdomen and painted the black, depressed angle line. I also used industrial white velcro for the rectangular plate. I liked the thought of a zippered closure like the one pictured in the R1 TK Reference Gallery so thought I'd give it a try. Used a six inch zipper and sewed it to 3" wide strapping (a guitar strap). I used 3" so I could add additional snaps in case I had to increase or decrease the size and how tightly it fit. I shortened and re-stiched the suspenders. I also reversed and replaced the snaps so they would snap to the armor on the inside and were stronger than the ones they came with. After fitting the armor though, I don't know if I'll need the suspenders; the armor fits pretty snug. Decision later. Did a test fit and it's pretty good. Eventually I'll use a heat gun to reshape some of the armor so it fits a little better but for now I'm happy with it.

What the heck have I done, lol....six things going on at once...no longer have a dining table...but loving it. Trimmed the chest and back, glued the two halves of the detonator, worked on the forearms. The back plates where the cover plate attaches were too high for the plate to fit over so cut about 1/2" out of the middle to make them shorter. Saw the same issue in other 504 AW threads. Also fitted the abdomen, kidneys, and spacer plates. There wasn't enough room for tightening it all so I cut the kidney plates down by 5/8". (Picture is before cutting them down) Learning that this is a slow and steady process.

Thanks for the help! Did some cutting, trimming, and sanding this weekend. Cut the abdomen, kidneys, and back plate. Watched the 850 ab tutorial first. Rough cut and taped and then fine tuned the sizes so had to trim some more...figured it's best to go slow and try to avoid over trimming as long as I can. Pre-sanding Pre-final cuts and before final sanding I cut about 1/2 inch back from the 70 degree line on the kidney armor. That helped get away from some imperfections and still allowed it to fit me. I'll be leaving the gap for the black, recessed rib mentioned in the CRL. I also ordered some nylon suspenders for the ab/kidney. Comes with velcro and snaps. I did some more work on the detonator. No pics yet. Two questions: 1. For cementing the ab and kidneys, many threads and the 850 video suggest something other than E6000 because of how much stress/flexing the ab/kidney get when going on and off. I plan to use JB. Good plan, yes? 2. In the pic below, you'll see that the forearm of the 850 armor has what looks like a pre-made cover strip. I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how those would have the actual cover strip go over them. I've looked at the threads and the 850 tutorial but can't ever see clearly how others have done it. I'll take any advice out there.

BBB day was three years ago and it's finally time to get started. Thanks for the welcome on the new members forum. Here I go... No more BBB, kit was put away and stored in a bin. Started off with the thermal detonator. Figured it'd give me experience trimming, sanding, adhering, using a dremel, and making some mistakes in a place that might not be as critical as other pieces of armor. Made all the cuts using straight cut snips. Sanded the edges on a belt sander and then hand sanded. The oval greeble sat lower than the bottom edge of the control plate so I sanded the bottom off so it will eventually sit smooth on the tube. Ended with a little more hand sanding today (post picture taking) and I still need to cut out the D shape recess. One important lesson learned already: read the CRL more than I think I need too. 850 provides a panel line around the control panel that matches the Level Three Certification ("There is a panel line approximately ¼” 6mm from the edge around the control panel"). I actually cut along that panel line and I wouldn't have if I had read the CRL more closely. Lesson learned, read carefully you fool! Three thermal detonator questions: 1. The CRL says it mounts to the belt with no visible screws or clips. I'm assuming some of you rivet or screw it to the belt and do not use snaps. I've been reading a lot of build threads but have not come across that yet. Any help on good ways to attach the thermal detonator to the belt would be appreciated. 2. I've come across several ways to fill seamss (e.g. bondo). I'll have to do that after I connect the two halves. I'm new to any kind of model work so I'll take whatever advice you have for a newbie's first attempt. 3. The total length will be 8 1/4 inches. The CRL says approximately 8". I'm assuming my 1/4" extra is okay.