Trogdor's first build (mtk)

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Yeah Joe everything is looking great!  Should be absolutely no problem getting approval!  Good work and its great to see another approved MTK!

[Trogdor[TK]]

A huge thanks to FISD especially all those that suffered the questions and freak outs during the build process. <br><br>

TK13881 now reporting for duty! I still have to write up stuff but I had to post the good news.

[Sabyre]

Congratulations trooper!!

[toybiz[TK]]

Congrats trooper and with your commitment to the finish and learning along the way, you have succeeded. Welcome to the ranks and now bask in the glow of all your hard work!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Congrats Joe, excellent work trooper 

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Congrats Joe!  Awesome News!

[Trogdor[TK]]

Thanks guys. The help made it easier. I know I need to fix the belt, any other advice for EI and centurion?

Edited January 14, 2016 by Trogdor

[Trogdor[TK]]

So instead of writing stuff with older pictures I thought I would share my fix for the belt puckering.

 

I decided to do it the hard way by using a seam ripper and removing the velcro and end of belt stitching.  This opened the belt like a tube except for the rivets joining the plastic to canvas.  I then did some rough measurements between the stitches and cut a piece of for sale sign plastic for each end of the belt.  Making sure the colored part of the sign was facing the inside of the belt I cut a notch for the rivet, rounded all the corners with sand paper and slid the plastic in the tube (some trimming was involved as I sewed the belt my self).

I made the wear's right side plastic a bit longer to help support the weight of the holster.  Time will tell but my hope is that I can move the plastic back and forth locking and unlocking on the rivet to store the belt more compactly but still securely troop.  Hind sight I probably should have bought a belt or done more research on construction.  I still have to sew the velcro back on but this will address one of the biggest thing that bugs me when I look at my photos.

[ComradeDave[TK]]

Lookin slick brother! YOu're way farther along than I am but it's nice to see follow ESB troopers progress. Keep on Keepin on man

[Trogdor[TK]]

Here is a shot of the finished look with the belt fix.

I shared one of the lessons I learned on ComradeDave's build thread.  That is that nous polish is not safe for paint.  Make sure you clean all the polishing oils off the piece before you paint it or it will make a big mess.  Basically paint that does't ever dry.  My only recovery was to scrape the loose paint off and sand it down to plastic.  Then wash with dish soap several times and throughly dry before repainting.  It was a painful lesson so hopefully I can stop someone else from making it.

 

I went on my first troop.  3 school awards assembles in back to back.  It was awesome, I found out that I can do stairs in armor.  Now its fixes and fine tuning.  I still may have to trim out the backs of the thighs for a little more comfort and flexibility but I want to make sure thats really needed.

 

I am getting ready to submit for EIB.  I have been remaking some elastics and moving some snap plates around trying to fine tune the fit.

 

I am getting the distinct impression that I could tweak this forever.  The good news is this keeps the build bug in check, which allows the budget to recover...

Edited February 15, 2016 by Trogdor