Trimming armour for narrow thighs

[TKSithspit[TK]]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm slowly working on trimming my RS ESB kit but I'm a bit confused as to how the thigh armour is going to line up at the back correctly. I'm 6'0 and have slim thighs so I'm having to really chop a lot off. As you can see it doesn't look right. How do I overcome this, particularly on the right thigh?

[Morgi[Staff]]

I'm very slim myself and face a few difficulties with my armor due to that, so I might be able to help at least a bit. 

 

First of all: it's more than okay to work with padding and not have the armor as close to your body as possible. I know everyone says otherwise, but it's just gonna look weird if the proportions don't work for a TK. So try a bit of a looser fit with padding first and work yourself down from the broader measurements, if you find that looks better.

 

Especially as that helps avoid the second problem: the thighs not looking similar. If you cut your thighs the way they are right now, you'll be left with a shorter thigh in the back on the right than on the left. Currently something I'm still having issues with regarding my Centurion approval, as I got told they have to have a symmetrical curve in the back. Honestly, that is only possible with slim thighs if you either add a shim to the right thigh or cut off more on the left one. Especially if you're taller, even shorter thighs might look a bit too short.

 

Same hight in the back 

 

Do I have a good solution outside of this rant that's been a pain for six months now? Not really. Try bigger thighs to avoid extra work, improvise with padding and remember that you can always take away more if you're not happy, but adding material because you don't like the TK-stickfigure look is gonna be a lot more challenging than adding padding everywhere. 

 

I personally have padding at the top of my thigh for a good front-back gap to my body that's fairly unnoticeable and I've got padding at the bottom of my thighs for a good lineup with my shins.

 

 

Here's a picture from my most recent troop, where I've added in the lines of my body. If you position your padding correctly and have the thigh in a realistic position, most gaps are easily hidden due to the dropboxes, the holster or simply the first impression matching what people want to see.

 

Hope this helps at least a bit and good luck 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I also use some padding inside my thighs, but just at the knee to keep them from getting in the way of the shins. That sniper knee can get annoying hiding under the thigh...

 

On the chance that you're simply asking HOW to trim the thighs, you're very close. You have the bottoms lined up, which is correct.  The tops simply fold over like you have them and then you trim them together evenly at the top to get the proper angle.

 

This was my own leg fitting. Note the extreme overlap. We already trimmed the thigh tops a bit so that they weren't digging into my butt and I could actually achieve a proper thigh fitting. Don't worry about trimming off some pointy parts at the top before you can get a fitting.

 

So you overlap them, tape them, and mark a center line. Then you snip off one side followed by the other and install the cover strips. 

 

USE A STRAIGHT EDGE to make a perfect line from your boot seam to your butt.

 

This was my basic approval rear photo. Note that my cover strips are perfectly straight. However, the line should intersect the center of the knee. Mine is offset. This is okay, but not ideal. SO! Try to get your straight edge lined up at the boot seam, knee center, and thigh center.

 

I hope this helped at least somewhat... the legs are tricky and it's very very nice to have help from an experienced trooper who built them before.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

With trimming armor you don't want to trim them too small or it may look too small once the rest of the armor is on, even if you have narrow legs, I have the same problem and was lucky with my first set of armor as ATA has the raised ridges on the back so you can only trim so far. Since then putting together other armor, RS, AP I check the size against my ATA thighs (still going strong after almost 10 years)

 

A little padding inside is not an issue, I also have some in the biceps and forearms to keep them in place.

 

Only image I have handy

[TKSithspit[TK]]

Thanks for everyone’s input. This will help going forward. Cheers!