Maxsteele's New NE Armor Build

[maxsteele[TK]]

I cut my lengths of white elastic for the shoulder connections, and installed the two snaps on one end.  I'm going to follow the suggestions by Germain and Jonathan to glue down the elastic on the back.

 

I do have a concern with how I'm going to hold down the free-floating shoulder bridges though.  I know CRLs aren't written in stone, but it does say for Centurion:

 

• The plastic shoulder straps need to be held down in the back via a white elastic band to the white fabric that connects/bridges the chest and back piece

 

I think because I don't have any size to my shoulders or upper chest, the chest and back shoulder tabs touch each other.  The elastic is just binding the two together, with no actual elastic exposure.  Because of this, there is no white fabric that I can attach this elastic band to.  The band would have to wrap around the outside of my back plate shoulder tab, which I don't think would be acceptable at all.  In order to reach Centurion, I don't know how I would do this band.  

 

Not thinking of Centurion, I'm going to have to have the plastic shoulder straps free-float in the back in order to put on and take off the back and chest plates, unless I use velcro or some other temporary adhesive to hold them down once I have those pieces on.

 

Which brings me to my next topic - do I need to trim back the back / chest shoulder tabs so there is a gap?  Are my tabs just too long for my body shape and I need to cut them in order to have exposed elastic that I can attach the elastic band to in order to hold down my plastic shoulder straps?  I think if I were to cut any, it would be from my back plate.

 

One step I haven't done yet is to see exactly how the plastic shoulder bridges sit on my back / chest shoulder tabs when they are touching.  The point where the tabs touch is on the rear part of my shoulders, and that tiny gap between the two may be back far enough to have the elastic band poke out and hold the shoulder straps down in the right spot.  I'll look at that this evening.

Edited May 11, 2014 by maxsteele

[gazmosis[501st]]

I am not understanding your concern how you are going to "hold down" the shoulder bridges. They are curved to sit over the curvature of your body. Once glued to your chest, they have no choice but to remain against your back.

[maxsteele[TK]]

I am not understanding your concern how you are going to "hold down" the shoulder bridges. They are curved to sit over the curvature of your body. Once glued to your chest, they have no choice but to remain against your back.

 

If the bend wasn't enough, I could see them sticking up a bit in the back.  But as I mentioned, I haven't seen exactly how they sit on my shoulders yet, so I need to do that to see how the bend is.

 

My bigger concern is the Centurion requirement of the elastic band to hold the back part of the plastic shoulder strips down to the back plate.  If I don't have any elastic exposed, I don't have anywhere to put the elastic around to hold the shoulder strips down.

[Raintrooper]

I glued my elastic tie-downs to the back-plate, not the shoulder elastic.  While the tie-downs are required for centurion, they aren't necessarily essential to hold the bridges down.  The bend of the plastic forces it to rest on the back-plate nicely.     

[maxsteele[TK]]

I glued my elastic tie-downs to the back-plate, not the shoulder elastic.  While the tie-downs are required for centurion, they aren't necessarily essential to hold the bridges down.  The bend of the plastic forces it to rest on the back-plate nicely.     

Ah ha!  Now that would work.  Thanks Jason.

 

I have been looking at lots of other builds and haven't seen anyone that has their chest and back shoulder tabs touching each other.  Everyone seems to have anywhere from a 1/2 inch to an inch or more gap between the two.  I'm not saying there's something wrong with mine, I just don't have a reference on how the pieces fit on a body when those tabs touch each other to get a good fitting of the chest over the ab and the back touching the top of the kidney.

 

The closest reference pic I've been able to find is this one:

 

 

This is the closest I've seen.  It also certainly looks like his elastic band wraps around the whole back plate shoulder tab, doesn't it?  

 

 

Both Ford and Hamill had a good inch or so gap between the two:

 

[SCTrooper[TK]]

You can tell Lukes back piece tabs have been shortened considerably, so not to overlap.

[maxsteele[TK]]

You can tell Lukes back piece tabs have been shortened considerably, so not to overlap.

 

Heh, good observation.    It also looks like the large majority of his plastic bridges are on and down the front of his shoulder.  Ford's is half-and-half.

 

I think I'll keep my tabs the lengths they are.  They are not overlapping, but they butt right up against each other.

[gazmosis[501st]]

I think you know at this point what needs to be done. You need to put your chest and back on to see where they sit on your body. You can dry fit the shoulder bridges at that point to see how they sit. If they stick up a little, hit them with a heat gun or hot water to adjust the fit to form to your armor. Once you get that far, your white elastic will fall into place by itself.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Thanks again guys for putting up with my paranoia.  Details like the gap between the chest/back shoulder tabs isn't a topic I've seen discussed anywhere on the forums, so when a detail like that looks different than pretty much everyone else's builds, it makes me question if I should continue with how I'm doing it or if I should be modifying.  I'll continue with having the tabs touching each other, and I'm going to glue the elastic directly to the back shoulder tabs.

[BobbyFromBUF]

I tried taking as good a pic as I could myself, while flexing my legs to keep the thighs from sliding down. Here's the shot I got:

 

 

 

 

That's how the thighs fit on me. Looking at this Stromtrooper line-up, it seems the height of the peak at the top of the thighs in front is both directly in-line with the legs as well as off to the side. What I'm seeing is it's a puzzle piece, where the thigh fits into the curve of the cod area. Some troopers have it straight up and down, and it leaves some more black showing. Others have it rotated a bit more to the outside, which makes it fit with the curves on the other piece.

 

 

RIght now, my thighs have been trimmed to fit, and I don't think there's much more I can do to alter them on how they fit on my legs. I've also looked at a couple of other NE builds, and it seems to be in-line with how they have their thighs as well.

 

Hey Ron, I am beginning some work on my thighs, and I just have a quick question. If I am understanding correctly, you didn't reshape the tops of the thighs. My NE thighs seem like they are just completely the wrong shape at the top. I am going to try and search the AM threads, and see if I can find any clues.

 

Any advice from you would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[gazmosis[501st]]

That is because they are. Remember, for the exception of RS Props and Troopermaster, no other armor available has the exact shape of the screen used thighs. Some  come close on the right thigh but fall short on the left. These armors come close because of having some screen lineage. 

the thighs of your NE armor are still the Armor Master thighs which have NO screen lineage.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Hey Ron, I am beginning some work on my thighs, and I just have a quick question. If I am understanding correctly, you didn't reshape the tops of the thighs. My NE thighs seem like they are just completely the wrong shape at the top. I am going to try and search the AM threads, and see if I can find any clues.

 

Any advice from you would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

Oh, I did end up trimming the tops of my thighs.  I did it in a separate thread:

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26884-thigh-piece-a-little-pinchy-on-the-inner-part/

 

However, I would suggest to not consider trimming the tops of your thighs until you are able to wear your ab / kidney / butt plate where you will for close to the final fit, and have a system in place to hold up your thighs on their own.  You really can't tell exactly how your thighs are going to hang and fit until you're not holding them up manually.

 

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have cut my thigh tops until I had all of this in place first.  It's very possible that I may have still cut them, but I didn't see how they would truly fit unassisted before trimming.

[maxsteele[TK]]

I had forgotten that in order to get an idea of how the straps will be, I can just tape the hell out of them and then try it all on to see how placement is.

 

I spent about 2 1/2 hours last night putting on my ab / kidney / back / chest, looking in a mirror, seeing an adjustment, then taking it all off, moving the straps, re-taping, putting it all back on, and checking in the mirror again.  I'm getting good at putting it on and taking it off.

 

I found what I thought was a good placement of the shoulder elastics, and I've placed glue, clamps, and magnets:

 

Edited May 12, 2014 by maxsteele

[maxsteele[TK]]

Oooh man - I'm getting closer!  Here are the boots, shins, thighs, butt, ab, kidney, back, and chest strapped up and wearable!  (I still need the straps from the chest to the ab):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed I can see the garter rubber pieces at my thigh gaps.  Now I know the reason for the drop boxes.     Also, my chest plate is a little crooked.  I think that will be corrected when I get the chest-to-ab elastic installed.  It'll pull the chest down which will pull the back plate against my back a little more.

 

Also, I held up my shoulder plastic to my chest / back, and they wrap around very nicely from front to back.  No issue there.

 

Next - research on how to line up and connect the forearms / biceps / shoulders and the best way to connect all that to my shoulder elastics.

Edited May 14, 2014 by maxsteele

[Pencap510]

Looking really good!! The sides have really come together nicely! I can offer ya some tips and tricks with getting the arms to hang well, if ya need.. It took me several sizings. A few things I notice- it might be the shadows, but the button plate in the top pics looks a little crooked. (Again, it might just be shadows)..still seems like your going to want to bend (heat or otherwise) that butt plate.. And are ya gonna add the snap on the top right cod piece? Oh yeah, you--- like me-- will need to start working on armor for your puppy! Lol..

 

Looking awesome!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited May 14, 2014 by Pencap510

[maxsteele[TK]]

I haven't glued on the button plate yet. It's just held on by some tape.

 

Yeah, I'll need to do some modification on the butt plate, but I'm not letting that slow down my basic approval.

 

I'm considering gluing straps to all the arm pieces instead of using button plates.

 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Having the chest plate a little crooked is normal, it's just the whole asymmetry of the armor:

 

And your backplate could use some more trimming on the side. There's still a lot of flashing left right now:

[maxsteele[TK]]

Hahah!  Of course it's normal to be a little crooked.    Thanks Germain.  I won't worry about trying to correct it.  

 

Yes, I've been aware for awhile now about the extra flashing on the sides of the back plate.  I used the excuse that I've seen other NE builders leave it there and no one gave them a hard time, so I've been leaving it alone myself.  Now that I have more experience cutting and shaping my armor, I will get to that.  There are other build items on the list in front of it, but I will take care of it.  It shouldn't take me longer than an hour at most to measure and cut away the excess.

 

These last couple of weeks I've really been enjoying my build, as it all starts to come together.

[maxsteele[TK]]

I'm getting ready tomorrow to start on the strapping system for my shoulders / biceps / forearms.  I know that there needs to be a strap from the forearm to the bicep, and the bottom of the bicep should be as close to the top of the forearm as possible to prevent a gap.  

 

Questions:

 

1)  Do I use webbing or elastic for the strap from the forearm to the bicep?

2)  Is there any issue with just gluing both sides of the strap into the bicep / forearm instead of snaps?  I don't really see a need to separate the pieces once they're connected.

3)  Is there a strap that runs between the bicep and the shoulder?

      3a) If there is a strap, should that be webbing or elastic?

      3b) If there is no strap, how do the biceps stay up?  I've seen threads about a hook on the bicep which catches the shoulder elastic that goes around the arm, but it seems like that's optional.  Would they just otherwise float on my arm and be secured in place                     because of the strap between the bicep / forearm and my gloves keeping the forearm up?

      3c) If there is a strap between the shoulder / bicep, can I just glue both sides of the strap into the shoulder / bicep instead of snaps?

4)  What is the purpose of the strap that goes around the inside of the shoulder?  Is that just to keep the shoulder plates pulled down onto the shoulder?

5)  How tight should the inside shoulder strap around the arm be?

[Locitus[Admin]]

1)Always use elastic

2)It's fine to glue them. Use E-6000 and you can easily take it apart and redo it if you need to. It will still hold up to trooping.

3)No strap between shoulder bell and bicep on real armour

3b) Biceps stay up by floating on top of the forearms. Forearms stay on by themselves.

4)The purpose of the strap that goes across the inside bottom of the shoulder bell is to keep it close to your arm and not flop around as you move.

5)Not very tight, but no very loose either. It's no big deal and don't worry to much about it. You will notice if it's too much in either direction. And use glue when you put it in.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Thanks for the answer Mathias.  Here's where I am with the forearm / bicep fitting:

 

 

 

This is my right bicep / forearm.  I fitted my biceps up closer to my shoulder, as that's the biggest part of the arm in order to get them on.  The bicep floats a bit above my elbow, because it hits the bone there and won't come down further.  I know with the elastic strap, that will pull the forearm up with it and there won't be a gap.  I think I'm ok with the fit of the right bicep and forearm.  I need to cut that bottom part where the finishing strip is so it's straight across instead of coming to a point like that.  This was one of my first pieces to size and trim, and I see the armor mold needed trimming down at the bottom.

 

 

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Now, the left side is where I'm having some issues.  FIrst, I think the bicep is just too big.  I think I need to pull it apart and re-size it.  Second, the forearm slips down over my handguard.  I'm not sure what to do about this.  Re-sizing my forearm would not work because I can just get my hand through the wrist opening now, so I'm not able to make that opening smaller.  It's possible if the bicep fits better, that will let the bicep be a little higher on my arm, and when it's connected to my forearm, it will pull the forearm up, which won't let it slip down so far over my handguard.

 

I'll get some tape between the two pieces and pull them on again to see how that changes things.  But at the moment, I think I need to take apart my left bicep and size it smaller.  Resizing the left forearm just doesn't seem like an option.

[maxsteele[TK]]

If I let my biceps free-float, they drop down below my elbows.  Also, when that happens, there is actually a gap between the top of my bicep and the bottom of my shoulders.  While there may have been some troopers like that, it looks poorly fit on me.    I will need to put a strap between the shoulder and the bicep in order to keep them up at a decent height.  I understand I don't need the bicep to be hugging my armpit, but I'm going for a middle ground between "as high as it can go on my arm" and "dropping below my elbow".

 

I want to say I'm trying to combine form with function here.  I think it'll work and be a nice middle ground.

[maxsteele[TK]]

I fit my biceps incorrectly.  Probably because I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  I should have fit the biceps so the inner piece with the curve fit nicely with my arms pressed down at my sides, and then trim the outer piece to fit around my outer arm.  Because of this, when the inner bicep piece fits against the inside of my arm, the outer bicep piece bulges out.  That bulge also pushes out my shoulder pieces, and then it's all off.

 

I'm thinking I need to take my biceps apart.  I did use some super glue to close a small gap on one of them, but hopefully I can get that apart without much trouble.

[Pencap510]

I can't send a pic right now- but you might be ok- you might consider doing the bent "hook" method attaching the bicep to the bell. Then the single 2 inch black elastic strapping from the bicep to the forearm. It will not only allow you to hang the bicep correctly and keep it up- but it will keep the forearm for sliding to low. I'll send you pics of mine when I get home <br /><br /><br />Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maxsteele[TK]]

Thanks Ty.  I've been trying to talk myself into the delusion that my biceps are the right size.  They're not.  When I put my arms to my side and my inner bicep piece snugs up to my inner arm, there is a good 1 1/2 - 2 inch gap on the other side between the outer bicep piece and my outer arm.  That in turn pushes outward on the shoulder piece, which makes it not sit right.  It's all sorts of messed.

 

I pulled the right bicep apart.  It took me 5 minutes.  All hail the great and powerful e6000!  That stuff is awesome.  I think I'll even get to re-use the same cover strips.