TKModder421[TK] Posted April 21, 2019 Report Posted April 21, 2019 Hope you all had fun at Celebration!! I'm so jealous, wish I could've been there! Ok so on my initial fit tests of the abdomen and kidney plate you can see how oval the two are. This makes them fit fine front to back, but it gives me a decent gap on each side. Looking at reference pics I can see the torso look much more tubular and form fitting around the abdomen. I also don't see much return edge on them. So I'm wondering what direction I should take with this. Should I trim and hot bath the shape to be more round and form fitting? I'm thinking I'm going to need to trim down the vertical sides on the kidney and ab piece, and maybe a little bit of hot bath to make it fit properly. I've been looking for examples and what is necessary to fit these pieces for thinner/smaller troopers (I'm 5'9" and have about a 30" waist) and I've found a few, but I was looking to get some advice on the best way to go about this. Maybe even a good thin/small trooper build to check out? IDK, maybe I haven't seen it yet? I also have some questions... First off what return edge is necessary to keep on these pieces? I assume if I have to cut into the notches when I trim down the kidney I'll have to rebuild those? Also right now I have a fair amount of return edge (around 4mm in addition to the original cut line) on the top and the bottom of the kidney plate. I'm not entirely sure yet if I'm going with a bracket system or the supplied ANOVOS strapping to connect the ab and kidney to the chest, back and butt. Any advice? I'm not super concerned with accuracy, more with ease of installation, use, it's sturdiness and being hopefully Centurion level approvable. My concern right now with the return edge is when I flex the kidney to test fit, I'm getting warping and bending on the return, and I don't want to crack it, so I don't think that will be able to be kept, at least not as large as it is currently is. If you all would be so kind as to give me some suggestions on how I should proceed so I can weigh my options. TIA Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted April 27, 2019 Report Posted April 27, 2019 I wouldn't fight with the return edges, no matter what you do you'll end up warping them, I left my ATA at the minimum trim size which left quite a gap between the armor and myself but I just added a couple of blocks of foam behind the ab plate which fills the gap nicely. If you try to trim the ab/kidney down you may find the rest of the armor will look out of proportion. I also have some foam pieces in the forearms, biceps and thighs which help to hold things in place, again I've got quite a lot of gaps in these because of my thin frame. Quote
TKModder421[TK] Posted April 27, 2019 Author Report Posted April 27, 2019 (edited) 20 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said: I wouldn't fight with the return edges, no matter what you do you'll end up warping them, I left my ATA at the minimum trim size which left quite a gap between the armor and myself but I just added a couple of blocks of foam behind the ab plate which fills the gap nicely. If you try to trim the ab/kidney down you may find the rest of the armor will look out of proportion. Thank you Q!! Oh really? I guess that makes sense about keeping it proportional. I just hadn't noticed too many others having the same issue, and those that did, such as some of the smaller troopers, ended up modifying the kidney plate. So I was thinking that's what was needed. Having a wide waist won't end up looking disproportionate to my narrow shoulders? I got the sense from reference pics that you would want the whole lower abdominal piece to wrap more fitting around the waist. I was waiting to start the strapping until I knew if I was trimming the pieces. But if that's normal then I'll just leave it and start working on attaching and strapping things together. I think I'm going to trim down my extra return edge on the kidney plate at least to the original trim line. There are two points that warp on the top and the bottom of the kidney plate when I put on the belt. Should I try and reinforce those points? Han seems to have very little return edge on the kidney plate from this angle. Is there any L3 requirements for the amount of return edge on those pieces? Edited April 27, 2019 by TKModder421 Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted April 27, 2019 Report Posted April 27, 2019 I added some plates behind the kidney plate so when butted together it stops the ab from pushing outwards and keeps them in alignment, the belt will help them stay in position, perhaps this may work. Remember if seeking L2 or L3 you will need to add rivets to the side of the ab/kidney so don't do too much work behind there as you will need to add strapping. A couple of builds you may find helpful on sizing : https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38416-crickets-rs-stunt-build-for-the-vertically-challenged/ https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/42868-sha-shas-wtf-anh-stunt-build-complete/ https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38842-fragarocks-rs-stunt-build-not-to-scale/ 1 Quote
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