Misc details on Elite requirements

[Bigturc]

Ok,

 

I have some detailed questions to complete my AP armor.

 

1. Side gap. We should have no side gap, so I'm using large 3" black elastic to do this. Now, the question is, does it matter if the elastic is black or white? I had always seen black stuff to close the gap before, and a few Elite approved used also black stuff. So is that ok?

 

2. Side rivets. I've seen 2 and 3 rivets to "close" the side gap, which one is the most accurate?

 

3. Side rivets location. Is the rivet placement important? You can see in the second pic that it goes in the lower section of the abs plate ...

 

3. Belt snaps. Was the belt attached on the abs plate with snaps on all ANH TK armor? Never read about that one in the Elite standards. As seen on Han here:

 

That'll do for now, thanks in advance for your answers!!

Al

[troopermaster]

These are just my opinions for Elite status.....

 

1. White plastic should be used to close the gap but white elastic would do at a stretch (no pun intended )

 

2. 3 rivets to be used on the left hand side (as you wear it).

 

3. The bottom rivet is hidden behind the belt but should be there all the same.

 

4. Belt snaps should be used to keep the belt in the correct position.

 

Just my thought's mate

[Scott M.[TK]]

Per the desk of the deployment officer:

 

1) There should be no black showing between the ab and kidney plate. Most use white plastic/ABS to accomplish this, but it is not set in stone. The "Elite " standards state there should be no black showing. How you accomplish this is open to creative license, but the look should be clean.

 

2) There is no mention of Rivets on the side plates in the Elite standards, so the question regarding 2 or 3 would not be open for consideration towards granting Elite status. A trooper would not be denied Status if he has 2 or 3 or none. The idea is to come as close to screen accuracy as possible, without getting so anal about it we loose the overall focus. If you want to do rivets, I would suggest 3 (this is what I did, more for strength than anything), but you do not need rivets to attain your "Elite" status.

 

3) Since the need to have rivets does not exist, the placement is less relevant, however I would place them according to the photo shown above "IF" you go that route. I will not decline a trooper status for having rivets, or having one in the wrong place. (Now, I will digress and say if you have a row of 30 rivets that makes the armor look like someone hit it with a white Be-Dazzler, I will have issues with it.)

 

4) The belt location and snaps are a personal preference. The requirements are to have a canvas belt that sits above the butt plate separation, and has a holster attached on the left side behind the belt, attached with rivets or something resembling rivets. If you want to use snaps to hold the belt in place, great, but it is not required. Again, I did this, but my snap location is different than the photo.

 

These are all great questions, but please keep in mind one of the concerns the Command Staff had with using the term Elite is that some people would become more focused on the term than on the armor. The ideas and questions you have asked are great, but really; only question 1 would have any bearing on Elite status being granted. The others are more for personal satisfaction.

 

Good work trooper; keep working on that armor and I expect to see you application shortly.

 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Excellent summation Scott

[Bigturc]

Thanks Guys!

 

That answers my questions .. I definitely should have specified that I asked these questions to be as close to screen accuracy as possible. Not necessairly as details to attain Elite. Thanks for pointing it out. My logic is, if I'm as accurate as can be in my way of doing it, and might as well make them screen accurate, then it's gonna be easier to attain Elite status.

 

My real problem (and correct me if I'm wrong), is that the AP armor abs and cod pieces don't fit quite right/tightly together. The abs plate is kinda angled/twisted on one side which makes it difficult to close it tight on the back piece. I guess using the extra ABS I got with the armor would do the trick, I'm still affraid to make that side so rigid it's always gonna want to open (unless I heat the ABS stripand curve it before guling inside .. mmm) I'm still affraid that on the other side, whatever method I use to close it, will still open a lot when moving around ... That's really just personal preference though, or more likely a problem I share in case others have seen it too. That's why I was so fund of the black elastic method since it'll leave some loose but keep a strong bond, but then, it doesn't fit with Elite if there's a gap .. mmm

[Daetrin[Admin]]

That's a great question for the AP/TE thread (http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showforum=36). The TE2 doesn't have this issue with the front/back - I'm surprised to hear this is the case for AP.