Where do I find how to fit and size armor?

[mjrose927[TK]]

I have been scouring the forums here and online looking for how to fit armor to ones body.  By that I mean, I have am 5'8" and about 180lbs.  I have seen numerous posts and videos on how to put the pieces together but nothing on how the pieces should sit on my body or fit.

 

I have an FX set that I thought initially I would have to do a ton of trimming down.  Apparently, I am more stocky than when I first bought it.  

The forearms are very tight and frankly a little oval in shape.  I am I do not know how to fit them to me if they are too long or if I have to leave them to get the proper armor detail.  They look the hardest to modify.

 

The next piece that I thought would be fairly easy to start putting together would be the biceps.  These seem to fit better than I remember originally when I first opened the box.  Again, the concern i have is the length on my bicep and how tight they should fit to the bicep.  If I have to shorten them, which side to I remove material from?  what is best method to do so?  Cutting? Scoring? dremmel?

 

After looking at the biceps, I thought the calves/shins would be next easiest.  These pieces seem to be a little long because they dig into the bottom of my knee cap.  I Another issue that might be contributing to the length issue is the shape of these as well.  The edges on each side of the clam shell do not seem to follow the same curvature.  I read online where people have used boiling water to soften the abs to shape it.  I thought if I taped the 2 halves together under stress with the parts lining up how i want, then the heat would allow the parts to soften and better conform, but then I am not sure how they would soften.

 

I really want to do this on my own, but I have a lot of questions on sizing and fitting it to my body.  If anyone can link me to a good reference material or contact me through the forum to meet up for coffee in the northern oakland county in the Detroit area, i have a lot of questions and really would like to try to get this done before Halloween.

 

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[DroidHunter]

I'll let the other guys join in here, but you want a good fit so that the pieces are neither too loose and baggy, nor cutting off circulation. You want to achieve that movie look. Have you joined up with your local garrison? Sometimes the best thing to do is squire with other people and look for an armor party. The troopers there will be happy to help get a good fit.

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

i specialize in "shrinking" suits. the fx and AM that are meant for taller folks I've chopped down to fit me, i'm the same height and weight as you. as long as you know where to cut you won't have problems with fitment. though out of the box ATA or AP is the best fitting. ditch the fx bucket too.

 

heres where i cut the AM, which are the same cuts i made on the fx

[/url]

 

fx

 

the trick is to trim enough that your comfortable while not showing too much black. as far as tightness goes, the general consensus is to make cover strips movie size, but if you're bulkier its fine if you need to make them wider to make the halves fit right. ive seen troopers with 2 inch wide coverstrips, we go for accuracy sure, but not everyone is a 1970's skinny british guy. contact your garrison armorer, theres bound to be troopers near you that can help!

Edited September 3, 2014 by DizzyStormtrooper

[mjrose927[TK]]

@DizzyStormtrooper: Thank you for your post.  Cool looking armor finish.  Would love to see that in person at some point.  Your diagrams will help me with the midsection pieces.  Right now, I am struggling with what should be the easier pieces like the arm pieces and calves.  The shin/calves are too long and dig into my knew caps when I try to walk.  I thought about trimming about a 1/4 to half inch from bottom , but I am afraid of loosing too much of the look of the details.  I was also planning to use the butt joint method on the calves to get more diameter without having to use a wider shim in back.  I just want to get it to fit the boots right  and not tear up my knee cap.

 

The forarms are also a little snug and thought about using the joint method again here even though FX uses overlap design.  Again this would give me 1/4-1/2in more in diameter without having to use a wider shim.

 

I have read to use E6000 to assemble and I was planning to use it but i was under the impression that using this would allow to separate the pieces later if needed.  This does not appear to be the case.  Should I use velcro for now and wear it a few times before doing final gluing?

 

Thanks,

Mike

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

i used velcro on the shin backs and forearms the industrial stuff at walmart is pretty strong as long as the surface is clean and glossy, everything else was e6'd or snaps. for the forearms i made the opening just big enough i could squeeze my hand through, then glued foam near the wrist so it doesnt twist around

[mjrose927[TK]]

i specialize in "shrinking" suits. the fx and AM that are meant for taller folks I've chopped down to fit me, i'm the same height and weight as you. as long as you know where to cut you won't have problems with fitment. though out of the box ATA or AP is the best fitting. ditch the fx bucket too.

 

heres where i cut the AM, which are the same cuts i made on the fx

[/url]

 

fx

 

 

the trick is to trim enough that your comfortable while not showing too much black. as far as tightness goes, the general consensus is to make cover strips movie size, but if you're bulkier its fine if you need to make them wider to make the halves fit right. ive seen troopers with 2 inch wide coverstrips, we go for accuracy sure, but not everyone is a 1970's skinny british guy. contact your garrison armorer, theres bound to be troopers near you that can help!

Can you give some reference dimensions of length there?  I will probably start at least half the distance of what you post, but it would be good to have a do not or should not exceed dimensions.

[mjrose927[TK]]

Well, this weekend with a huge amount of trepidation, I did it.  I made my first trims to arm pieces.  My first attempt at scoring a curved surface was less than stellar.  I did not get it to work the way I wanted.  I was only trying to take off about 1/8 in.  I stopped messing with it when I realized it was not going to work.  So, I got out my sandpaper and spent 30-40 minutes to sand the section to my pencil line.  it was a pain, but was able to recover from my mistake.  Learned what not to do and after than had much easier time going forward.  I will try to post pictures later. 

 

I was hesitant to glue anything because I am concerned about pieces interacting with other pieces and comfort on my arm.  On the forearms I plan to glue the front joint at the right movie dimensions, but I am thinking with my Popeye like forearms I am going to need a 20mm cover strip on the back.  Should i just velcro the the cover strips to both sides for now until I wear it a few times to see how it feels wearing it for a couple hours?   If that is the case, can a person get approved or troop events with rear facing cover strips double velcro?

 

Another question I have is about cover strips.  If I glue the front cover strips on the biceps and get the corners of the cover strip rounded nice, then I decide i need to shorten the bicep 1/4in.  I imagine to do this would be with a dremmel wheel on a nice straight line.  Then carefully round the edges of just the cover strip again?  Or do i just velcro everything for a while until I am sure of fit of armor so I can make adjustments more readily?