Cracks and armour bites - PVC ANH TK RS

[BuffyNZ[TK]]

Hi folks, I have some cracks appearing in my PVC ANH TK from RS.

 

I was hoping to get some advice on how to repair them, and how to strengthen similar areas to stop it happening there.

 

Also, I am getting some wicked bites on the back on my left knee.. To the point I have scars.

 

Can I just cut a little away from the back of the knee with a dremel tool?

 

 

 

Any advice appreciated!

[T-Jay[TK]]

Hi Stuart. As far as I know, cracks can be stopped and prevented with a support on the rear side.

Add a piece of plastic or poor-man's fibreglass (that is a cloth, soaked with CA glue) to distribute the stress to a larger area.

But that is all just theory to me. Maybe someone who already did this can chime in.

 

The rear sides of the knees had been trimmed on many screen-used armors and from many troopers here. Just have a look at the build threads.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

You can also use scrap strips of ABS glued behind the affected areas (blue line) to reinforce them.   I noticed that you have another potential crack area as well on your shoulder bridge.  Since that area has a sharp angle (it shouldn't have) you could eventually have issues.  Better to prevent them before they start!

 

  

 

On the side of the chest, it is the wide return edge that is causing that split.  I have a tutorial here that will explain it a bit better.  If you trim the backs of the knees, just don't go below the raised ridge at the top.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Hi Stuart. I have RS PVC armor and have had cracks happen. I never found a way to weld the cracks back together but as Tino and Joseph explained, I used scrap PVC to reinforce the cracked areas from the underside. It works well but sometimes this also directs the stress to other areas along the return edge. In areas that seem highly prone to cracking that seemed uncontrollable I trimmed away the return edge as far back as possible without making it look too obvious. One area I had a huge return edge crack was direct center on the neck return edge of the chest plate. It was alarming enough that I trimmed the chest plate neck return edge away. The thicker the return edge the greater the chance for cracking in certain places. If you want to maintain the return edge then I suggest to reinforce behind the areas you pointed out in your photos. 
 

Is it the return edge biting into your skin ? for behind the knee area, you can trim some of that off but just do it a little at a time. Try to identify the exact area and trim it back a bit, test and see.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

22 hours ago, Bulldog44 said:

The thicker the return edge the greater the chance for cracking in certain places. If you want to maintain the return edge then I suggest to reinforce behind the areas you pointed out in your photos. 

[BuffyNZ[TK]]

Thanks for all the advice! I also emailed RS for advice and they are sending me a new chest piece.  Awesome people!

I used the t-shirt and superglue method to re-enforce the cracked and weakened areas, and have trooped a few times since then with no issue.

I also ground away some of the bottom of the backs of my thigh pieces which made a huge difference.

Thanks for all the advice!