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Some more updates happening! After today, every piece of the kit is in at least the first coat of filler/sandable primer! Lots of sanding and several more coats to go, but getting there. I also ordered a quart of Fibre Glast 1110 vinylester resin, which hopefully will work well to reinforce some of the thin/stress prone areas of the suit. It advertises a flexible but impact resistant finish, so I'm optimistic. Trying out "Ultra-Thin" 1" Velcro for the closures... Man, I've tried several without being happy so far - regular Velcro, Dual-Lock, low profile... It really doesn't need much to keep pieces shut, so hopefully this will do the trick. A few pieces are in final prep before the last coat of white paint - really hoping I can get a decent finish with Rustoleum 2X without too much orange peel. I purchased several extra spray nozzles (and uncovered an international spraypaint conspiracy apparently - did you know Rustoleum switched to a unique female cap a couple years ago, but doesn't sell replacements at all? I think they just assume you'll buy a new can instead of cleaning or replacing the nozzle. Google this, it's actually weird. I found an eBay seller who makes aftermarket nozzles that fit though) because it seems like I get only one good spray out of the can before it goes to hell and spews 100% chunks. Warming the cans up in water and thoroughly shaking has helped too. Fighting my own perfectionist nature to try to get things MOVING ("'Good enough' never is!" haha). A little afraid to actually trim the kit, but will be taking about 1" off the sides of the barrel, top of the cod, and will be splitting the thighs at the rear cover strip to overlap them. I was debating how to do the rear barrel closure when I ran across Rogue Repro on Facebook and their sweet zippered rear closure system. It looks pretty darn nice for the price, so I'm going to give that a try! Finally, I have Jeff (@11b30b4) whipping me up a pair of his excellent flexible urethane shoulder bridges - the ones supplied with the kit are way too long for me and prone to cracking from my understanding (and ANH experience), so these should be a nice upgrade. Getting all my ducks in a row! I have two more rounds of chemo left before radiation, and it does get harder every time. But things could always be worse - I'm determined to stay positive. In general, moving in a positive direction, and the masses in my neck and chest were 1/4 the size they started at in my last PET scan. My Garrison has been very supportive and I appreciate them immensely. I helped coordinate a mini TK Armor Party this weekend for about a dozen guys, so hopefully we get some good work in and have some more TKs approved soon! That's it for now, but hopefully I can get everything in white in the next week or two, then focus on strapping and weathering!

Thanks everyone for the added advice. I will bring our GML into the chat with the guy I am helping. I personally prefer the armor to look fairly screen accurate and prefer he does the extra work and blend in the abs extensions and have a cover strip more in line with 25mm. The gap is far to wide to get away with a wider cover strip I think but just wanted to get some feedback here if he were to try that way. We are also considering to buy larger fitting thigh armor if the mod option seems to difficult for him.

Cover strips attached Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

THERMAL DETONATOR PART 3 So hooking on the TD to the abdomen, you will notice that the gap is huge, and there is a curve with the back of the abdomen piece that makes it worse. So what I intended to do was to use magnets to try and bring it closer. It also helps during trooping that the TD is not going to slide or worse, unhook itself and fall off. Here is the gap that I am talking about. Ugly: So what I did was to stuff 4 balls of epoxy putty on the inside of the back plate of the TD, and while they are wet, place 4 stacks of magnets on them. These are the places that I want to have the most strength to pull the abdomen and the TD together. I placed the magnet stacks lightly, making sure that they PROTRUDE out of the back plate when seen from the side: Then it was simply to hook the TD on the abdomen piece, have corresponding magnets on the inside of the abdomen piece, and reinforce with more temporary magnets so that the epoxy putty gets pressed, and the permanent magnets inside sit EXACTLY on the abdomen piece, ensuring the strongest pull to the ones behind the abdomen piece. Not sure if I have confused anyone already, but here's the photo. Already, you can see that the pull of the magnets has closed the gap between the TD back plate and the abdomen piece. Success! The magnets inside the abdomen piece. They are temporary, as I have not decided how I want the abdomen piece to close at the back. After letting the epoxy putty dry, I took it out, and reinforced around the magnets with another wad of putty, to ensure that the magnets do not move or fall off in future. Yes I am THAT paranoid. This does make the TD a little heavier, but I feel it is well worth the peace of mind and the aesthetic look of it sitting flush against the abdomen piece. Finally, another test fit without the temporary magnets. It sits nicely, the gap is almost gone! Looking good! So, this marks the end of the TD part build. A little more putty and sanding in places where I feel can be improved, and this part is ready for the paintshop.

OP Post #3 I'm back! After a month of absence (from posting), I finally have an update. I'm sill waiting on my TK armor to arrive, and have also been preoccupied with other aspects of life, but I've been making slow progress with some of HWT components. First up, the pack. Those of you following along will recall that I purchased three different oil drums to test out for the backpack, and I've been really hoping that the Midwest one would work out. It has a larger depth than the most-used 12.5qt Wedco/GarageBOSS, but is more narrow and shorter. The Midwest has more detailed/unique sidewalls, which I believe better mimic the Battlefront packs, but in the end, I think the pan is simply too narrow, as the photos below show. I could probably overcome the shortness, but short of cutting the pan in half and widening it with filler, I don't think I could make the Midwest work. Perhaps with properly-ratio-adjusted boxes on the back I could build a slightly down-scaled version for petite troopers or youth. Now on to some other plastic parts. It turns out that the Dr. Browns narrow baby bottle caps I purchased on Amazon are the perfect size, at 1.5 inches! And they have ribbing on the outside and the inner circle (a recession). And with Prime shipping they're cheaper than buying even a single gallon of milk! The Nibco 2" PVC end caps I purchased at Home Depot are also perfect, with their flat tops and 1" height. At $3.20 USD each they are perhaps just a little more expensive than rounded caps or couplers, both of which would need to be trimmed. To me, the extra couple of dollars is worth it. I'll just need to sand down the lettering and notch. And here are the MP40 pouches with finally arrived from China. My photos aren't great because I took them in incorrect lighting, but I think they still give an accurate depiction of the quality. I purchased two pairs for a total of $87 shipped via Aliexpress, after applying several coupons acquired through Aliexpress' coin system. The particular seller I purchased from didn't have any reviews of the actual pouch item I purchased, but I took a gamble knowing that I could get my money back through Aliexpress' escrow system if I wasn't satisfied, and these were the cheapest leather ones I could find anywhere on the web. Of course I will be using a G2 pen and fine point sharpie to color in the white stitching. I've also decided that I'm going to have a separate belt which I use for my HWT, so that I don't have to reconfigure my ANH belt each time I want to troop. This way, I won't need to remove the drop boxes and holster, and add the pouches. I received the spare ABS belt and shoulder bridge parts from Mark (AP), and will soon be affixing a bridge piece to the HWT tube. I intend to utilize hot water, E-6000, and thick produce rubber bands for that task. As previously mentioned, I will also be using Cricket's Step 1 procedure on her magnetic calf closures thread to create the raised round area on the square belt buttons which I will cut from spare sheet ABS. Moving on to an area of a HWT that isn't actually required, but really it is. T-21 baby! After all, isn't a BFG (and an orange pauldron) the real reason we go HWT?! It has previously been suggested that I reach out to Anthony (Blaster 8266) about his ready-made T-21s (sale thread), but alas they are out of my price range. So instead I plan to scratch build one, or try to get my hands on some of spOOL68's resin parts. Roger doesn't produce them anymore, due to dried up interest, so if any of you have the pieces laying around collecting dust, let me know and I'll take them off your hands! Armed with Panda's large-scale printout and Jax Malachor's Technical Drawing Plans (PDF) and build thread (MEPD), I've now purchased some pine board and hope to begin sawing and sanding soon! Other T-21 References and Resources: spOOL68 build | pandatrooper build | FarEast build | 11b30b4 build v1 | 11b30b4 build v2 MEPD | Cricket EVA build | TK3199 Wordpress If any of you T-21 builders have other resources that you think would be helpful, including your own build threads, feel free to send them my way! @justjoseph63 - I recall you mentioning somewhere that windshield washer tubing works great for the ribbing, but do you have a purchase link or tube dimensions? I think I've seen one before, but I can't find it at the moment. I suppose that is all for now. For anybody wanting an update on my OT TK build, here's the link: Quote responses: Randy - I definitely think you should have bragging rights for that screen. I had actually seen your pack in threads and never even noticed that it was a screen. Brilliant!

OK, future Troopers, many of you have asked about how to set snaps for your armor connections, so I thought I'd whip up a little tutorial. Please note that the example that I am making is based on using the "double snap" connection system (see last photo). I highly recommend this method, especially on the back/kidney, kidney/butt, and ab/kidney connections, as it provides an extra layer of confidence. Yes, it costs a bit more to do due to the extra snaps involved, but you can be sure that no matter what happens, you will NEVER have a piece come loose or fall off on a troop. Some builders may have used others, but after countless troops I have experienced no problems. So here we go.... Materials needed: 1. Hammer 2. Soldering (woodburning) iron. (Available at home improvement and craft stores. WELL worth the $10-$12.00 investment). NOTE: The tip of this thing gets CRAZY hot, so be very careful where you set it. Many come with multiple tips, but I suggest the pointed one. 3. Snap setting kit. (Available at all craft stores). Please note that I am showing both sides of the base... more on that later. Convex side Concave side 4. For this purpose, I am using 2 inch (5cm) wide black nylon and 1 inch (2cm) black nylon. The 1 inch strips will be attached directly to your armor. I suggest using E-6000 glue and clamps for this. 5. Snaps, of course! Don't "cheap-out" when buying these. The cheap ones come undone very easily and are garbage. For this tutorial, I am labeling the 4 parts as such: STEP ONE Cut the 2 inch strapping to about 4 inches long** (or as needed) for the particular connection. Cut the 1 inch nylon into 2 inch lengths as seen below. **NOTE: The actual length will depend on there you are using them, i.e. the kidney to posterior plate connections will be shorter. Just be sure there are no gaps, and that the 1 inch wide base pieces are in the correct position before attaching them. Example: The ends will be a bit ragged and will fray. Use the soldering tool to seal them. Again, using the soldering gun, make 4 holes in the 2 inch wide nylon as seen below. Be careful not to make them too large (just larger than the shaft of the snap base) or the snap may eventually pull out. Take one of the 1 inch wide nylon pieces and slide it up under one end of the 2 inch wide piece, even with the end. Once it is lined up, use the soldering iron to make holes in the 1 inch wide piece. This will assure that the holes for the snaps line up correctly. (VERY important)! You should end up with this: Repeat for other side, but be sure not to get the sides mixed up, as one set of holes may be farther apart. Insert one of the male bases into one of the holes in the 2 inch wide piece. Flip it over and place one of the male snaps on the post. Place the base in the concave side of the snap setting kit base. Place the striking rod in the center (straight up and down) and strike it several times firmly with the hammer. The inside shaft should be sufficiently widened to keep the top from coming off. There... your snap is set! NOTE: Do not attempt to do this step on a regular table. You need a hard surface, and a heavy duty workbench or concrete surface works best. Repeat this step for the remaining 3 holes. Now onto the 1 inch wide strips.. Insert one of the female bases into one of the holes, then (as above) place one of the female snaps on top. Place the female snap base into the convex side of the snap setting base. Again, using the striking rod, give it a few good whacks. (Getting the hang of this now)? This is what you should have at this point (only one end shown) CONGRATULATIONS, you have one strap completed! Now that you realize how easy this is and have it down to a science, repeat as necessary. NOTES 1. For added security, the double snap system can be applied to other areas as well, including shoulder bridge attachments and bicep to shoulder bridge, (example below) This is especially good for those who wear packs (HWT, Sandie, Spacetrooper). 2. Snaps set in elastic (as seen above) can pull out over time with repeated use. For added strength I recommend doubling the elastic over before attaching the snaps. 3. Be sure to use the female base on all the straps that will be glued to your armor. The reason being is that the bottoms are flat, insuring a tight seal. 4. Some folks set the female snaps in ABS instead of nylon when gluing them to the armor. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it's just a different way of accomplishing the same goal. The reason I use nylon is that I find it conforms to the curved parts of the armor better, and gives a larger surface area for the glue to adhere to. 5. Some use CA (super) glue to attach the 1 inch nylon to their armor. I have found that it can get brittle and break off or even cause warping on ABS due to the heat it puts off while drying. E-6000 needs to be clamped and takes more time, but trust me, it's worth the wait. 6. When gluing the 1 inch nylon to your armor, do NOT keep the 2 inch wide nylon attached with the snaps. Some of the glue may seep through the hole in the snap and glue the whole connection together. Not a good thing. If you should have any questions, just ask here or PM me, and best of luck on your build! Photo 1 (Double snap system.. note clamps). SHOUT OUTS: Gary jr. ( @flashpoint0214 ) The guy who introduced me to the double snap system! Jeremy (Copper) who supplied the nice clean photo of the double snap system.

Beautiful work, well done

Well...almost

No need to worry, I’m almost 100% sure I have extras, will check tomorrow

Oh, I know that feeling. lol Should be an easy fix, though. Keep up the good work

Haha, how did I never notice that?! I guess I'm always too busy looking at the actual armor components of the various CRLs. I'm glad HHP got it correct on my E-11.

Looks good but you might want to find some smaller screws. and clipping the corners on the metal tabs will help with reducing scratches on your armour.

TD should be done now! I will paint the screws later. Thoughts?

Thank you for your offer. I'd like to post it here to share experiences with others who will build this kit, too.

Thanks. I will do that.

Your geographical location determines which garrison/outpost will be evaluating your costume. Edit: Sorry Brian for highjacking your thread a little. Daniel, if you have more questions, please feel free to PM me.

Gotta love magnets! I use them on my TDs - such a worthwhile mod. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks Mark, I have reverted your email back to the original in the vetted sellers list. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you all for the help Email issue resolved! Mark (AP)

Beautiful work on the TD, I'm loving the attention to detail.

My modest FISD coin collection thus far. I really want to start collecting some of the older v1 etc

Congratulations sir! Salute!

To make sure that the damn thing gives me many extra miles! Haha!

You certainly went the extra mile on that mod [emoji1303] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

THERMAL DETONATOR PART 2 After settling the tube portion, I moved on to attaching it to what I call the back plate. Looking at the physics of it, I think this joint will be weak as it will only be held together by the thin frame of the rectangle on the tube part to the back plate, and the area of contact is really tiny. There's not much to sit on, and if there's any knocks during troop, I am afraid of risking it breaking off. This is the joint, and I don't think it's strong enough: So I decided to reinforce the inside of the tube with a 3mm thick strip of acrylic, with 2 bolts fixed onto it, which I will tighten to the back of the back plate. The long strip will pull the tube down towards the back plate and form a really secure hold. This is where I will drill the holes through the acrylic strip and the backplate for alignment: And this is how the acrylic strip looks like with the 2 bolts CA glued to it, and then epoxy glued around it. Yes, call me paranoid. And this is how the strip looks inside the tube portion. I made 2 balls of epoxy putty at the ends to hold the flat strip down on the curvature of the tube ends. Then, I applied my Weicon glue around the inside of the rectangular edge, put the 2 bolts through the 2 corresponding holes in the back plate, and secured it from the back with 2 nuts, clamp the whole thing down and let dry: This is how it looks after drying. Super tight and secure! No wobble, no play. Then comes the ever dreadful task of achieving "no visible seams" in the CRL. Epoxy putty, sanding, priming, putty, sanding, priming.... you know the drill. At the same time, I added the lip which will hook on to the back of the abdomen piece. Do note that instead of gluing it right at the top of the back plate, I glued it further down, so that the hook will be as close to the back plate as possible, which will in turn ensure that when hooked on, the back of the abdomen piece will be closed up and there are no gaps between the TD back plate and the back of the abdomen piece when worn. So, after many (insert vulgarity here) rounds of puttying and sanding, I am finally calling this part done. I can still see a few imperfections, but I am willing to let it slide, and the white paint and gloss coat later on will hide most of it anyway. Here is the finished TD part 2:

I went with the 4.5 armor kit. It's what he's currently offering. Thicker plastic so more durability. He doesn't offer all that much soft goods, so you will need to source yourself boots, under suit, and such if you decide to buy the armor from him. He always responds within an hour or two, so the communication is on point. He just made a new fan kit for the helmet that looks pretty easy to install, you can see it on his facebook page. His armor is a little more expensive, but nothing else like it on the market from what I've seen. I bought his fan kit, his Hasbro/Doopydoo E-11 blaster (I am going to have like 4 E-11s in the near future. The dakka will be all mine). I also bought a resin kit from DoopyDoo so I can have something to work on while I wait for BBB day. Eventually I would like to put together a Fieldmarshall E-11 aluminum blaster, but that's further down the line. For Centurion status though, I'll just buy a rubber one. once I receive everything and my armor is finished. IIRC, Dave also offers strapping separately. Do mind you that I bought the unassembled kit. I don't even remember if it is trimmed or not, lol.

You narrowed down to RS and AM which are two completely different suits in every aspect. RS movie accurate more expensive thin plastic = more fragile for trooping made for slender troopers AM not movie accurate less expensive thicker plastic = solid for trooping but less comfortable designed to fit larger troopers RS and most suits that have movie lineage are pretty narrow at waist unless you wear approx 34" pants, AM is better suited if your on the heavier side but not movie accurate so all depends whats your priority, the main problem with movie lineage suits are the waist and thigh sizes and the reason I extended AB/Kidney molds on my AP kits so it can fit up to 41 pants size, I basically added 3" extention on AB and kidney plates so you can trim them down to your exact waist size without the need of adding shims. Also most people have a misconception, the thicker the plastic is not necessarily more durable actually more prone to crack since there's less flex making parts too rigid, heavier and less comfortable to wear , you want the parts to flex when you move around (thicker = less flex) and also softer details when forming, too thin is not good either you want the best of both worlds accuracy/durability! Mark (AP)

OP (MV) Post #11 Well folks, it's been a minute since I last posted. Work has been crazy, medical concerns with my infant, and home improvement projects. Now back to armor improvement, or rather, construction. Well, sorta, as you'll see. Perhaps the most significant update is that I received my TK strap system from @TheRascalKing. I figured I would enlist the expertise and service of a seasoned TK veteran and purchase a kit, rather than make my own [mistakes]. The double snap strapping items I received are shown below, but keep in mind that Justin offers several options, so this is simply what I selected. He has kits which contain both more, and less. Throughout the process Justin was great about communicating updates, and unless I were to decide to make my own, if I ever needed another kit I would go straight to him again! If you remember, keep Justin in your thoughts and prayers, as he has been battling cancer. Additionally, not too long ago I received this box in the mail. Yes, it was ABS, but no not my white TK armor. Just another one of my distractions while I wait for my ATA kit to arrive—a 3D printed black ABS Shoretrooper helmet from Christine (Cricket)! She had scaled it too small for her to wear so I thought I'd snag it to get some practice at finishing props and use it as a display (probably at work). Some additional photos may pop up later on this build thread, but I'll try to keep things mostly on-topic for this TK build thread. Speaking of 3D printing and distractions, I sold my drone and purchased a second-hand new-in-box Ender 3 Pro printer to use for some TK props (DLT-19 and E-11s). The cash from my drone sale greatly exceeded the cost of the printer, and I'll be able to cover the cost of my armor with the remainder. Now just to unpack and assemble the printer, choose some PETG and/or ABS filament (once I build an enclosure), and time to start practicing! And not that I need so many E-11s, but I grabbed these two Rubies blasters on eBay for $24 shipped which I will be refinishing with more accurate features, in a manner similar to artimorty (thread) and happytrooper (thread). I figured it never hurts to have backup, and I'm sure my 8-year-old nephews will love "playing" with them too. When I crunched the numbers, the seller I bought them both from only netted $8-9 from the sale once shipping, ebay, and Paypal fees were accounted for. That does not include the up front cost that the seller would have initially purchased them for, so great deal for me—maybe not so much for them. Since I'm apparently a glutton for distractions, and am probably stretching myself thing, I've also begin the initial steps of scratch building a DLT-19. Here are the first components purchased for the build, and I'll likely be starting a dedicated thread in the weapons locker forum. I'm starting on the barrel and muzzle, and will be taking inspiration from the following threads: Astyanax | rl180 | HappyTrooperDotCom Now for a soft goods update. I've already picked out all the soft goods I'll be purchasing for my TK, and the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger with Darman and Kittle is the money. I think I may ask my wife for some Etsy gift cards for my birthday in several months. I also purchased a super cheap 2-pack of balaclavas on Amazon, but I haven't even opened them to check the quality. I suspect they'll be pretty bad at that price-point, and I'm not even really sure if I'd want to wear one anyway. I also dug out my old black cotton marching band gloves from high school, to potentially wear under centurion-level rubber gloves. Sure, I could purchase some for less than $10 on Amazon, but I thought it would be kinda neat to recycle the ones from my marching band years for use during troop marching. As usual, here is my obligatory non-build Star Wars-related content. One of my young nephews recently had a birthday party which was partially Star Wars themed, and while I expected all the children to receive party favors, I was surprised to get one myself. My sister-in-law must think I'm a kid at heart. She might be right. First is the Leia doll which my baby daughter received (from Galaxy's Edge), followed by my mini lego set. I think I'll display it with my Lego Microfighters. For those of you interested, I've also just posted an update on my HWT build thread, linked below. I've made a bit more progress on that front since there's the backpack, pouches, and T-21 which I have been able to occupy myself with while I wait for my ATA armor to arrive. Until next time, as Stephen A. would say, peace and love.

Not making any collection, just received as a gift and bought some of them that really like . and a "V" Buck from Fortnite Video game as well

Hey Brian, I just finished doing the same thing for a guy in our garrison. We did have some extra cover strip material, but other than than we were working with the existing finished armor which was woefully undersized. I cheated in every way I could - I used slightly larger coverstrips on the back than the front The front coverstrips were probably more like 25mm I opened up the front seam and separated the two halves so that they don't butt up to each other. I added a inner coverstrip for reinforcement. The pieces were trimmed too small so I did this to buy a few mm. The front coverstrip isn't quite wide enough to cover the whole raised ridge on the front - this bought me a couple more mm without making the actual coverstrip any bigger. All return edge at the top was removed and sanded smooth. His arms were resized the same way, so the armour looks proportional .

Yes, that's right. If you're the same size and proportions as on screen, stick to those. Adjust as required. Brian, I'd recommend bringing your GML in on the discussion to see what they would accept as well.

Hi, Brian. I have used up to 25 mm for back of thigs cover strips. May be your friend can make some test using ABS paste with leftover plastic pieces. Here are a couple of threads that can be usefull. Cheers

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.

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.

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.

Not sure about the quality of the Corsairs boots, but they look pretty darned nice. At $110.00 they are a little more expensive than Imperial boots at $80.00. I have owned 2 pairs of IB boots for years and they have held up great. They run a bit small, though, so if you go with them be sure to order a half size larger than what you normally wear, and a full size if you wear inserts.

Have you tried over at MEPD home of Sandtroopers http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?act=idx

I think it is the same material in both pictures. My hunch is the noise reduction (looks like phone pictures) is knocking down the details.

That's really good info. Thanks for sharing. My first reaction was that the ribbed material was the correct fabric, but you have pictures showing both, so who knows.

Since the strapping work, I’ve done more, but it’s all slow, tedious, and boring. I’m almost done adding internal cover strips to each *$%# joint in the armor. The forearms and biceps are easy (side note: Working on the biceps is great. Between the short length and the cutout, you really don’t need to use magnets to clamp! I can easily fit 4 clamps in, for excellent clamping across nearly the whole length, along with tape.). Cutting interior cover strips is simple, btw. Lots of scrap left from the initial rough cut, so just find a piece that’s long enough, get out the ruler, and cut a strip that’s the same thickness as the front strips (or close to it... it’s fine if it’s a smidge thinner, since it’s on the inside and can’t be seen). The scrap is somewhat thinner material than the supplied cover strips were, but these aren’t the main structural bits anyway, so that’s irrelevant. In fact, it’s probably good to have them be a little thinner and more out of the way. Anyway, cut the strips with a ruler, chamfer just the like the outside strips, sand it REALLY smooth (remember, this is the part that touches you and it'll be a pain to get in there later), and glue them down, same as the first time. Very simple! Just tedious and time-consuming, waiting for glue to dry. (The one downside of E6000.) The other thing that I have worked on is filling in the gap in the front of my thigh pieces. When I first made them, I purposely spaced them out a bit, behind the cover strip, to give myself a little extra room inside. (I’m a big guy) It worked well, but it’s more noticeable than I first thought, as you can see in the “action” pic just above, in my previous update. That little gap really jumps out at you with a black background! So I decided to make inserts to fill the gap, and sandwich them in place with the inner cover strips. I basically hand cut a little filler piece, and bent the tip to match the return (it’ll get sanded more perfectly once glued in). After it’s all dried, I’ll use ABS paste and sand the fronts even more, to make a perfect finish. (These photos are all various pieces, since I had the same issue with one forearm, but they all illustrate the point) Here I’m adding the inner cover strip, and you can see the final result. (pre ABS paste, of course) (I'm not sure why I didn't use tape on this one to secure it, but it was fine)