Leaderboard

Been letting the summer heat in my workshop and decision paralysis hold me up on this one, but it's time to keep moving and close this out. I finished up my new template, which was approved by my production supervisor: Under the watchful eye of my shop assistant, I covered the back of a side of thinner black leather with self-adhesive felt sheets so that it does not rub or bleed dye into my armor: Then traced my updated template with white wax pencil: And cut out the new base layer with leather sheers and a ruler/razor blade for the straight lines: Working on the pie slices now, but here is a mockup of the first one, which I think was the major, valid point of feedback to be addressed - it's almost half the size of the previous one when set on top! More to come.

Looks like you're well on your way trooper! For fitting advice I think the biggest thing that jumps out to me is that your thighs are pretty high up. By dropping them down a maybe 2-3cm you'll both close the gap with your shins but it will also drastically improve the fit of your posterior armor. Right now the thighs are overlapping it. When you get your boots in they should scoot the shins up higher to close the gap even further. Lastly make sure you have an even gap of armor on each side of your thighs. Right now your right has a much bigger gap than the left around the codpiece Also I'm not sure how much padding is in your helmet but I'd take as much out of the top as you can to get the helmet to sit lower. Very little neck showing: Lots more room to pull your thighs below your posterior armor Some more minor/easy fixes to consider especially for level 2/3 would be to make sure the cover strips aren't excessively long. Some especially over the front thighs look like they could use some trimming down. Also I like to center my belt center button over the raised edge that goes down to the codpiece. That will center your drop boxes too. And ideally you'll want the bottom buttons touching or half covered by the belt for level 2/3. When working on your strapping you'll want to make sure your ab and kidney plates are flush with each other. Also make sure your kidney and back have a minimal and even gap. I think some under suit material might be bunching up in a few places like in your back and around your shoulder bells. Also just make sure your TD clips are pushed all the way down. These are pretty easy fixes and I'm sure these were some quick fitting photos but I thought I'd say something for when you're ready for submitting them. Good little things to keep in mind But again for overall fitting I'd definitely take those thighs down a bit and see if you can work your helmet down lower. Overall looking forward to your build. Looks like you're really close!

I used a very similar strapping system to the one listed above. You'll see I placed a second snap below my original one which I now use instead to snap it all together. Basically I had the opposite problem where my ab armor was rising above my kidney. The lower snap location pulls my ab armor down to keep it even. Since it's your kidney that's high try adding a snap and strap that is lower on the side of the ab armor. That way the strap will pull the kidney down. Let us know if you need help with how to go about making your own snaps and straps

Some add a locking tab system on the sides so they stay level, there's various ways to do so, here's just one

Hello and welcome Brandon, here's a tutorial on adding images to a post, you need to either use the "direct link" or the file with the extension .jpg, .png or .gif Trying to fix what you have will take some effort and I'd suggest reaching out to troopers locally who may be able to help. I have seen a few people add shims/wedges but it would also need filling with ABS paste, sanding and polishing, a few threads may be of help

The link with instructions on how to upload photos worked great. Thank you for that information.