The5thHorseman[501st] Posted April 28, 2015 Report Posted April 28, 2015 If you read his Centurion thread completely you will notice that he has dropped down his biceps from his EIB application so they sit more at the right place. He surely has kept the previous snap plate positioning and lengthened the strap, and thus making the snap plate appear to be positioned very far from the biceps top (which surely wasn't the case before). Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted April 29, 2015 Author Report Posted April 29, 2015 Ahh so des kah ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
Zarlon[TK] Posted April 30, 2015 Report Posted April 30, 2015 Ahh so des kah ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk hai so desu yo Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 1, 2015 Report Posted May 1, 2015 hai so desu yo Ahh so des kah ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Ni sotte ido! Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 1, 2015 Author Report Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) Ni sotte ido! And kawasakie to you too! The strapping is going to be a battle! Trying to find the right shoulder length that allows the back to drop down enough to cover my butt. But, when I added inches to the length of the shoulder strap this happens. I get that big gap in between my back and the plastic. BLAH! I think I will go ahead and connect the abdomen via the clam shell method and I can figure this better. I looks like THIS is the hard part of the build! Now I can also see how far down my back the back plate was. The strap is not centered on my shoulders. Edited May 1, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote
Fumanchewie[TK] Posted May 2, 2015 Report Posted May 2, 2015 Excellent work! Thanks for sharing your build. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Posted May 4, 2015 (edited) Strapping cont: I made new slightly longer (by 1") shoulder straps just to see what would happen with the length of the armor down my back. I think I have a small improvement but I cannot be certain until I get the ab strapped up. I made the connection on the left side to create the clamshell function. Inside on the left is a 3" wide elastic (black) with a plastic plate on top for protection and a little stiffness. Not too crazy about those exposed split rivets. I might put a blob of silicon on top of each one to protect my undersuit. Here is the outside with the split rivets inserted. Looks pretty tight and hardly opens at all when I tried wearing it. The notch is on each side. it actually gets covered by the belt anyway but there it is for centurion approval. The rivets get painted while later. I'll wait until I am done strapping everything and worry about paint later. BLLLAAAHHH! Not what I wanted to see!! • The back is too far down at the shoulders. Strapping the ab might pull it back to the front. •The butt plate is tilting because I am pulling on the crotch strap ....too much? what keeps the butt plate from tilting out like this? •This is hard to describe but: The kidney and butt plate look like they are splayed out wide on each side. Should I be heat bending them back in? The diameter of these things is larger than MY diameter as such. What way to being in the sides???? Why is it all so dumpy !??? Edited July 18, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 4, 2015 Report Posted May 4, 2015 Russell, try this. Put your shorter shoulder straps back on, throw on you belt, cinch it tight and see if things fall into place. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Posted May 4, 2015 Russell, try this. Put your shorter shoulder straps back on, throw on you belt, cinch it tight and see if things fall into place. Thanks Tony! I knew I could post this stuff go out and water the lawn, pull some weeds and come back and get some advice from you! Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 4, 2015 Report Posted May 4, 2015 Thanks Tony! I knew I could post this stuff go out and water the lawn, pull some weeds and come back and get some advice from you! That's all you did while I was away? Very disappointing! Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 5, 2015 Author Report Posted May 5, 2015 HEY ! FOUL ! The hinged side of my ab/kidney opened up. Now it has about 1/8" of black showing. I was using webbing to avoid any stretch here. Its not perfect any more! I think this gap will NOT affect my centurion application in the future?? Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 6, 2015 Author Report Posted May 6, 2015 That snap is all that keeps the RIGHT side of the ab and kidney plates together? I know it is all under your belt, but would it be better fitting with some sort of tabs that fit into slots inside to align them and keep them from shifting around? I saw one build with Velcro here. What is general opinion here? Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 6, 2015 Author Report Posted May 6, 2015 Really! You're killing me smalls! But it has to be perfect ! Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 6, 2015 Report Posted May 6, 2015 That snap is all that keeps the RIGHT side of the ab and kidney plates together? I know it is all under your belt, but would it be better fitting with some sort of tabs that fit into slots inside to align them and keep them from shifting around? I saw one build with Velcro here. What is general opinion here? Ok, as much to your dissatisfaction as this is going to sound..... this is a grey area. Yes, besides the belt, that is all that holds the two together. The CRL even states the ab button does NOT need to be functional. If you look at movie snap shots this section is mess, inconsistent. It's the entry point of the armor so the most prone to look all jacked up IMHO. So, what to do? You can leave it be, or as I've seen others do make a tongue and grove connection between the two. Adam Toy in my garrison did, came out pretty cool. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 9, 2015 Author Report Posted May 9, 2015 SOME BUILDING! AND A NEW FITTING ! Securing the right side of the kidney plate to Ab plate. I decided I did not like how the right side has no fixture to align the two pieces. I made a tongue and slot thingy to align and fix the two halves together. I will use two elastic straps to hold the halves together tight. Heres the idea. The big flat wide tongue will fit snugly into the other half and hold the alignment of the right side. The tongue slides flush but not tight in the slot I made with some pieces of thin plastic. I used my heat gun to put a bend in the tongue so it slides along the natural curve of the armor. After aligning the tongue with a masking tape trial fit I glued it in place. I made a couple straps to hold the side closed. I am using a soldering iron to melt holes in the straps for the snaps. Also melt the cut ends of the elastic so they do not fray. I put a very thin sheet of plastic between the elastic to make a strong base for the snap. This leaves "just enough" room to instal a snap. Two straps ready to be finished. Note the white mark on each. I snapped one side on the snap in the armor and stretched the strap across to the other side snap to see where I need to instal the second snap. I made them just a little short so they will pull the two halves together. The finished right side closure mechanism with straps holding it closed. Works well! Here is an outside view. The alignment holds fast. I aligned the top because this will show with the belt on and the bottom will not. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 9, 2015 Author Report Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) FITTING DAY!!! This is a second trial fitting. I INVITE CRITIQUE, PLEASE! General comments... Fitting the upper body here. Below I am fitting the legs. THE FRONT: Here is where "I think" the ab armor should go in relation to the chest armor. The chest extends right down to the top of the line above the button plate base. It looks like I have the collar off a bit but that just needs to be pulled over by hand. I I was always pulling the chest and ab plates down to get the collar off my neck and stretch flat the shoulder straps. This also pulled the back armor apart to reveal black gaps. I also have to remember not to stand with my tummy sticking out.....stand up straight like your mother taught you! The armor fits so much better with good posture. In the photo I am pulling the thighs up to where I will hang them. They really cannot go up any more as they are skin tight in places now. So, the black showing at the top of the thighs is about what I will end up with this fitting. I have a garter belt for the thighs that I will need to draw the thighs up fairly tight. I am using my "long shoulder" straps. I also have a "short set". • For Centurion build ...NASA we have a problem. Big gaps! How to get these sealed up?????? • Should I "re-strap the back to pull the pieces harder together? What makes the back armor go together without gaps? • Does the Butt Plate snug in at the sides with the belt? What holds the two sides in to the hips? On my armor the two ends of the Butt Plate are sticking out like ears. how to cure this? • QUESTION: Should the AB Plate/Chest Plate straps be powerful enough to PULLLLLL the CHEST PLATE down over the top of the AB Plate...strongly or just hold it lightly over the ab plate? For me it seems that I needed to keep pulling the front of my armor down as it wanted to ride up. Doing that pulls open the back armor and shows the gaps between the parts. You can see the back armor being pulled up high (the shoulder tabs are lifted above my shoulders) Edited May 9, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 9, 2015 Author Report Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) MORE FITTING: Observations and comments (I welcome all your comments and suggestions!!!!!!!!!) Fitting the legs to the bottom of the AB. Too much space in the knee area???? Question: In this photo I wanted to show how high the bottom of my thigh is. The bottom of the thigh is not quite behind the sniper plate. It is above it. Is this OK? To make the thigh go behind the sniper plate I have to lower the thighs and I get a big wide gap at the crotch which doesn't look too keen. Here is a better photo with both thighs at about where they will end up, unless you guys see something wrong here. Note the bottom of the thigh is above the sniper plate, not behind it. OK??? blahh??? What do my brothers in white think? This is the largest gap I want under the AB / over the tops of the thighs. Another try at fitting the Chest & AB & Back armor. I think I have a better fit on the back except that gap under the backplate is still too wide. How to minimize those back plate gaps???? Again my back plate tabs at the top are up above my shoulders from being pulled over by the front of the armor. Edited May 9, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote
Tusken RTT Posted May 10, 2015 Report Posted May 10, 2015 I think you are fine pulling the thighs up, dont worry about them being above the sniper plate. Your lucky you will be able to walk really good! I had the exact problem with my butt piece flaring out; some people heat bend it but I ran two straps and snaps from the sides of the butt piece to the cod area of the ab piece. Keeps it now tucked in nice and tight. Pulling your back piece up more by shortening those straps is about all you can do unless you reshape that back piece a bit- it looks like for now no matter what you do the back piece curves down a bit while the kidney piece is straight. It looks fine though in the last pic, you could tighten that strap on your left, but more than that I would not mess with it unless Gaz comes back with some suggestions during your submission. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 10, 2015 Author Report Posted May 10, 2015 (edited) Mother's Day Fitting (Mommy and daughter are out dong their nails and things ) WITH SHORT SHOULDER STRAPS - The previous fittings were with my long shoulder straps. General comments: On BOTH short and long straps I have the elastic doubled. This seems to be a bit too heavy duty, I am going to try a single layer strap to see if the front and back stop pulling against each other so much. Seems a bit uncomfortable on my shoulders now...like carrying a heavy back pack. After todays fitting my shoulders are tired! BOTH long and short straps seem to be about equal in how they hold the front and back up. I think the long does allow to back pieces to close up better and hang lower. Today's fitting with the short shoulder straps. Maybe go back to the long ones? Here is that butt plate popping out in middle of the back. How to pull it back in? Does the Belt take care of this???? I heat bended the ends to tuck in and it worked to an extent but, the back middle is pushing out. Edited May 12, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 11, 2015 Report Posted May 11, 2015 So many questions lol. If I told you your armor looks excellent and with a belt, including the TD would disguise most of the concerns you have would you believe me? Lol I personally have nothing to add except for armor up and put your belt and TD on so we can see what it looks like. Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 11, 2015 Author Report Posted May 11, 2015 (edited) Lol. BUT ITS NOT PERFECT!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited May 11, 2015 by russellr2d2 1 Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 12, 2015 Report Posted May 12, 2015 Lol. BUT ITS NOT PERFECT!!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk lol Quote
russellr2d2[TK] Posted May 12, 2015 Author Report Posted May 12, 2015 STRAPPING CONT. Gluing in the thigh snaps I have a garter system that used webbing snap plates. These will hold well as the glue gets into the threads of the webbing. Inside the thigh the magnets are holding down the snaps. Straps and snap plates for the AB plate and chest connection. I am going for THREE straps here because it seems I need a lot of pull to keep the chest from ridding up to my neck. Gluing in the snap plate across the chest and Ab plates. Magnets hold the plates in place. I have found these snap plates take a full THREE DAYS to dry. The glue on the outside drys overnight but the inside glue is still wet after two days ! These magnets are 1/4" x 1/2" and plenty powerful while not being too big to fit into areas. Quote
ukswrath[Staff] Posted May 12, 2015 Report Posted May 12, 2015 You need 4 snaps on the chest plate to be CRL accurate Russell, no wait 3, or was it 2, shoot! could be 5, gosh can't remember. Oh and one of your mounts appears to be off by 1mm compared to the others Snap mount cure time 3 days? I know ambient temp makes a difference but yikes. I accelerated mine by throwing a little heat on it then letting it sit, but that's me. Looking good sir Quote
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