Ab plate to Kidney plate gap

[Vader Rocks]

Hey everyone, still working on my AM build. I'm a little on the bigger side and have more than the required 1/2" gap between the ab and kidney plates. Anyone else had this issue? What can I use to shim it up to make it accurate?

[Terry19D]

I had this issue, as well, on my old FX armor. I used some extra panels of ABS that color-matched fairly closely and just secured them across the gaps with Velcro. It looked quite clean, although I was not securing the ab/kidney plates movie-accurate so I didn't need to be concerned with the elastic straps showing across the shims.

[captsafe66[Admin]]

Yes Jim, I have shims on mine as well. Personally, I used an extra kidney plate and trimed out what I needed for closure. I too used velcro on the inside to secure it. Any white ABS will work, Troopbay offers some if you can't find any locally.

Edited August 8, 2012 by captsafe66

[theisaac]

Since you wont use the ABS that came with the kit to make the belt, use one of those to fill the gaps on the kidney. Cut to size and glue on each side of the kidney. It will close the gap just fine.

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

As long as the line is straight and flush, you don't really need to fill the gap. Just reinforce it on the back side with ABS. However, if you do brave the goo or bondo or something, that's good too.

 

Here's an example. The gap is on the left and the seam on the right.

 

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Edited January 23, 2021 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2021

[Vader Rocks]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I picked up some abs strips from the local hobby store. Was going to use them for cover strips, had them installed on one side bicep and forearm, and after meeting with local garrison member he thought better off to not use them due to color difference. Not sure if extra abs with the kit will take up enough of the gap. Do armor makers usually sell spare parts like Mark suggested or more likely to find something like that on the forum?

[Dday[501st]]

Most will sell you ABS panels for this, generally pretty cheap, of you can get white ABS as well, it's the same stuff they are getting, you just have to know where to get it, maybe ebay?