Spectre Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Posted January 14, 2012 Also yes some of the snaps are off-centre. Quote
Spectre Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Posted January 14, 2012 Nope, I cannot make these stupid forearms work. >.< I tried reshaping them for about the fourth time, and still they won't work. I should just buy a new set. Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 Ok, a little bit more done. I've added the two male snaps to the butt plate, glued in three snap plates on the kidney and butt plates, and hopefully fixed the forearms. I'm glueing the forearms one cover strip at a time, and I am hoping this will fix my problems with them. I also trimmed down the ab button plate, using my Dremel with a thin cut cutting wheel. It's not an entirely even cut but I think it works well enough...hopefully. Button box thing Male snaps in the butt plate The pot I use for reshaping, it fits a forearm sideways comfortably. Forearm cover strip curing and snap plates setting Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) Does this look like too much of a gap between the bicep and my arm? It feels a bit loose, should I take it apart and trim it or just add some foam? Feedback appreciated. Edited January 15, 2012 by Spectre Quote
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 Tough to tell without a head on shot. Can you snap a photo with your shoulder bells on too? Did you trim them much before glueing? I made mine pretty tight and I've seen a bunch of AM troopers with big bicep armor, so I assume they come sized for those who have season tickets to the gun show. Aloha, -Eric Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 Sure can. Here ya go I can't really remember how much I trimmed off of the biceps, but I don't think it was much. *shrugs* lol Haha yeah I think they do. I might just put foam in them..or if the size interferes with how the shoulder bell sits and stuff I might trim them more. Also glued one of the snap plates into the shoulder bells (photo was taken before I did the top ones) and I attached female snaps to some of the elastic that comes with the AM kit (for use between shoulder bells and forearms). Quote
Darth Aloha[Admin] Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 They may look a little big but until you get the whole upper body put together its going to be tough to really judge. I would suggest holding off on the foam too until you can do a proper fitting. Either way big biceps won't prevent you from getting your TK ID. Just be emotionally prepared for one of us to say "Brah... your biceps are huge!" Ok... by one of us I mean me... because TK5707 is the only other active member of FISD whose vernacular might possibly contain the word "brah"... and he's a much nicer guy than I am Aloha, -Eric Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 Alright, will do. That might be a while, because my forearms still need to be done (and I have to use clamps because the pieces need to be forced together :/) so I only have a few clamps to use on snap plates for now. It's getting there slowly. Bahaha that made me laugh. I'll be prepared for it haha Thanks mate. Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 What do you think of this? Does it look right? The kidney plate and butt plate are curing at the moment, so I can't show them, but you get the idea. There looks to be too much of a gap between the chest plate and the back plate, yeah? Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 Here's how I've done the strapping between my cod piece and butt plate, very basic stuff really.. I will eventually put a split rivet into the crotch tab (won't be functional) for the Centurion requirements, but for now I have simply double snapped the butt plate and used velcro on the cod piece. I have used one of the elastic and loop velcro straps supplied with the AM kit for this, it was the perfect length. Quote
Spectre Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Posted January 15, 2012 Ok, so I've seen a few different designs for thigh garters, and I though I'd show people my own attempt at making some. I'm following a pretty basic design, but instead of using a belt that goes all the way around my waist I decided to have one that just attaches to the ab plate. I am pretty much following the design from this old thread I found whilst fishing through the HOWTO section: http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=293&st=20 Admittedly, I am making them this way because I already attached loop (soft) velcro to my ab plate in preparation for a single velcro strap to the thighs. I've heard tell that this allows the thighs to spin around and in general be a nuisance, so I am going to change their purpose to suit the garters. I will be using nylon webbing for the whole thing, mainly because I bought way too much of it and not enough elastic and really can't be bothered buying more elastic. Anyway, here goes! (sorry some of the pics are sideways. >.<) 1. Measure the distance between the velcro pads and cut the nylon webbing to fit, then mark where to attach the hook velcro on the webbing. 2. Cut the hook velcro to size, and stick it on the webbing and sew it on as well. ---Now, I am using adhesive backed velcro because it's all I had on hand. It would be much better to use sew-on velcro.--- 3. Once both of the hook velcro pieces are sewed on, Measure how far down the 'V' needs to go to get a hold on the thighs, then fold the webbing on that mark and cut it like so: 4. Tape the webbing in a 'V' shape to your 'belt' and test fit to make sure it goes down far enough. 5. Sew the 'V' straps to the 'belt' and attach a plastic square using rivets. The plastic square should have self-adhesive hook velcro on it to attach to the thighs. Alternatively you can use snaps on the square, whatever floats your boat. 6. Stick velcro/snap plates in the thighs, attach them to the straps, and bam! Done. Also don't forget to use a lighter to singe the nylon after cutting it, or it will fray! Quote
Spectre Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Posted January 16, 2012 Ok, I wanted to see how the pieces went together, so I just attached a heap of velcro (I ran out of tape. >.<) for a test and put it on, I think it may need some modification, yes? The whole thing just seems to sit weird, but that may be the way I stuck it together or the way I was wearing it. I dunno. Any tips? Stupid butt plate overlapped the kidney plate in these two Chest plate lifted up, which was annoying, as I didn't realise until after these photos were done Chest plate fixed up but back plate dodging up on me Is it just me or does the chest plate come too far down on the ab plate in this photo? Feedback? Quote
Spectre Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Posted January 17, 2012 Just looked at some screenshots and heaps of that backplate needs to be trimmed, mainly the sides need to come off and then maybe a bit from the bottom to make it fit better with the kidney plate. Quote
ZeroRoom[TK] Posted January 17, 2012 Report Posted January 17, 2012 I agree with you about the trimming, but I'm impressed with your attention to detail on your strapping. Good work. Quote
Spectre Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Posted January 17, 2012 Ok, I'll trim the sides off tonight and mark where to cut the bottom. Thanks mate. Quote
Spectre Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Posted January 20, 2012 Ok, I've done a little bit more. The shins have both outer and inner cover strips on the back, just gotta stick the velcro on and attach inner strips to the front as well. Both forearms are glued shut, but incredibly misshapen. >.< They'll need inner cover strips glued in before I try to reshape them, or they will pop open from the strain as soon as the glue loosens. >_> Very warped. :/ This one is not as bad, but still warped at the wrist end. There was that much strain on the join that even with magnets and clampps along the length of the strip, it still almost pulled apart while curing. This was the only way to get the strip to get a nice surface area to join to, even magnets and clamps couldn't make it stay down properly. I've trimmed the top of the kidney plate to try and make the back pieces fit together more nicely, does that look like enough has come off? I also receved my latex handguards attached to rubber chemical gloves, courtesy of a local garrison member. I think they're pretty good! I haven't got any pictures of it, but I attached a double snap plate made with webbing to my chest piece shoulders, not the ribbed straps, but the actual shoulders underneath. I'm going with a similar setup to this: http://www.tonybarnett.plus.com/snaps.html Only I am going to eventually replace the 'bridge' with white elastic. Quote
Spectre Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) Not much to do now: - Glue inner strips to forearms and reshape again - Glue inner strips to the front of the shins - Glue snap plates to the top of the kidney plate and the bottom of the back plate - Glue snap plates to the inside of the thighs and inner elbows of forearms - Glue a snap plate to the cod piece - Finish hand plate strapping (DONE) - Trim sides off back plate (DONE) - Finish the thermal detonator - Attach plastic 'face' to my canvas belt - Wait for the parts to finish my blaster - Wait for paints to repaint my helmet - Make elastic suspenders for ab and kidney plates - Paint ab buttons and attach to ab plate - Might edit this post and add more here as I see it Centurion requirements: - Split rivet ammo belt to the right thigh - Glue sniper plate to the left shin - Add split rovet to the cod piece - Rivet the ab and kidney pieces together on the left - Replace black webbing 'bridge' between chest and back plates with white elastic - Hold down ribbed straps with small white elastic Edited January 22, 2012 by Spectre Quote
Spectre Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 Hand plate strapping is done (Pandatrooper style), back plate trimming marked with tape. Left forearm inner strips curing. Both biceps' snap plates curing. Quote
daennika Posted January 22, 2012 Report Posted January 22, 2012 Hey John! I would suggest you to glue shim strips inside your forearms soon, if I remember the trouble you had to put them together you could use more secured trims. Your kit looks sharp and nice, I have faith that it will look great on you! Quote
Spectre Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 Hey! Yep, that's the plan, I've glued the inner shim to the left forearm and am waiting for it to cure. I will glue shims in the right forearm tomorrow night. Thanks! The AM is definitely a nice sharp kit, I am very happy with it. I just can't wait to wear it! Quote
Spectre Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) To-do list: - Glue inner strips to forearms and reshape again (DONE) - Glue inner strips to the front of the shins - Glue snap plates to the top of the kidney plate and the bottom of the back plate (DONE) - Glue snap plates to the inside of the thighs and inner elbows of forearms (THIGHS DONE) - Glue a snap plate to the cod piece - Finish hand plate strapping (DONE) - Trim sides off back plate (DONE) - Finish the thermal detonator - Attach plastic 'face' to my canvas belt - Wait for the parts to finish my blaster - Wait for paints to repaint my helmet - Make elastic suspenders for ab and kidney plates - Paint ab buttons and attach to ab plate - Attach drop boxes to belt Centurion requirements: - Split rivet ammo belt to the right thigh - Glue sniper plate to the left shin - Add split rovet to the cod piece - Rivet the ab and kidney pieces together on the left - Replace black webbing 'bridge' between chest and back plates with white elastic - Hold down ribbed straps with small white elastic - Attach drop boxes to belt and close the backs - Trim corners of plastic belt face at a 45 degree angle Edited January 23, 2012 by Spectre Quote
Spectre Posted January 24, 2012 Author Report Posted January 24, 2012 Ok, so I received my belt, helmet fans and paint today. I painted the ab buttons and repainted the helmet (first coats) I also made a few straps. I made the ones for my shoulder bells to biceps, half of the ones for the bicep to forearm, and the ones from chest plate to back plate (which I think might be too long). I am going to have to do the belt and loop option for the thighs, which I suppose I knew I would. The velcro simply cannot hold. The chest plate/back plate strapping. I think it's a bit too long..not sure yet. Haven't done a full fitting. The strapping for the shoulder bells to biceps. I also glued a snap plate onto my cod piece. More to come tomorrow. Quote
daennika Posted January 25, 2012 Report Posted January 25, 2012 I like the curb on your shoulder straps. It's not easy to have these bent right, unless yours came that way. Good job! One question though: you left all of the return edges intact, aren't they going to dig into your skin over time? It seems a little uncomfortable to me... Quote
Spectre Posted January 25, 2012 Author Report Posted January 25, 2012 Yeah that's how they came. Good old AM I've left return edges anywhere I could. I figure I'll try it out with them for a while and trim them down or off as I need to. Quote
Spectre Posted January 28, 2012 Author Report Posted January 28, 2012 Had a test fitting of my armour again today. What I've noticed: - I need to shorten the straps between the chest and back plates, the back plate sits WAY too low. (not pictured) - I need to adjust the straps between the shoulder bells and the chest plate/back plate strap, they also sit too low. - The thighs need proper loop and belt garters made up, they sit too low and out seem to twist outwards too much. - The shins (not pictured) need to have padding inserted to raise them up a bit, they sit too low at the moment. - The back plate may require a little trimming to stop it overlapping the kidney plate. (not pictured) Other than those things I still need to: - finish painting ab buttons and attach to ab plate - glue together and paint my TD - paint rank stripes on my helmet - attach plastic face to canvas belt and attach drop boxes - attach snaps to ab plate to hold up the belt - rivet together the left sides of the ab and kindey plates - attach snap plates and velcro to forearms for biceps and handguards - reshape forearms - add velcro strap to shoulder bells to hold biceps in place - finish my blaster - add snap plates to attach back plate and kidney plate Can anyone see anything else I need to do? Or just general feedback is good. Quote
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