drosch

45 degrees and sunny today - 25 degrees and snowing tomorrow. Welcome to western PA At least the ski slopes have their grand opening tomorrow. Only a few runs on machine snow but its better than nothing!

I'm a skier. This is what you want. Way better than neoprene. There is a 100% waterproof Xtreme version that is one step up from this but they are a little thicker and they have a red "X" that the handplate may cover or you may need to blackout. This should do the trick for most conditions. Seirus All Weather Glove

I used the 16 gauge as well. I used a 4" grinder with a cutting wheel to score the inside of every bend. Made bending much tighter and easier.

I'm in as well!

Looks like you had a blast! Your armor looks great! I told you this would get addicting!

Yeah the elastic did the trick! Thanks so much for suggesting that setup. This thing is really coming together. Its starting to feel solid. My FX always felt like everything was just going to fall off me. But from the tips from this site I feel like I could actually see action in this armor. Very rewarding building it all from scratch. Final fitting is tomorrow. Pics will follow. I even got my PVC blaster looking respectable. Not EIB certifiable but better than my hasbro. Its going to be a good next couple of days. Thanks again!

I'm wallpapering my room with them as we speak!

I did mine pretty much the same and then I glued wider strips over the shim because the rest of my armor is all put together with glued strips. I will try to get some pics up!

Those straps chest to ab and back to kidney...make those out of elastic or webbing? Not sure if it all should have give or is it better to give in the back for bending over (that doesn't sound good but you know what I mean) and have less give in the front to keep it from riding up?

I'm glad he posted that femtrooper drawing. I was looking for that as a suggestion. That would be a great alternative look.

The pipe portion of the TD is gray. The plate with the buttons and the end caps stay white.

Just the thigh pieces. 2 inches on the left leg and about 3 inches on the right at the tops and kind of sloping down. They overlapped at the bottom. I have really big thigh muscles. All that sled pushing from football days. Even buying dress pants is a challenge. As soon as i get the cover strips of ABS glued on I will post a pic. Other than that I just didn't trim the seems as tight as you should but with the strips glued on you can barely tell and I'm really happy with how most of them came out. I'm still baffled how at 6'2" the knees are still pinching. I think my big butt is keeping the thighs from going all the way up. But the fronts dig into my groin area when I bend my knees up. I have a pretty broad chest and shoulders. I think that is where the most trouble is. The chest plate is very close to looking too small especially if the shoulders get out of wack. The shoulder bells are pretty tight too. Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming.

Alright here are the results of the first fitting of the whole suit. What I like to refer to as fitting 10lbs of crap into a 5lb bag! I'm not completely done yet. Still need to paint the rivets. I need a strap from the chest plate to the back plate. Should that be black or white? I didn't include the drop boxes or TD. And I have some pinching behind the knee. I'm just gonna cut the thigh backs. And it pinches really bad at the elbow. I either have to trim the bicep or the forearm for comfort and functionality. I know you guys don't like alot of black at that point but I can barely bend my arms. Enough talk - Here are the pics. Remember I'm 6'2" and 230ish. Let me know what you think.

There is the dang rubies helmet again!

Same here! Other than my TK I also have a full authentic Ben Roethlisberger costume. Pants from the team, authentic jersey and pads, authentic riddell helmet. I even just added the pink arm band that players have been wearing for cancer this month. People flock to me for pictures and ask about the costume. I even wore it 3 weeks ago in Detroit when we played the Lions. Big fun. I wore it to a party last weekend and I have 2 more this weekend that I'm wearing the TK. From here though New Years is the best time of the year for sure!

I knew this was discussed a while back so I thought I would stir it up again. I still get the "kicking butt" thread on all my searches and I've been doing alot of searching lately. I guess nobody ever figured out why?

Not sure how big you are but I'm 6'2 and 235lbs. All of my new AP fits me like a glove. I left a little room in all the pieces when I trimmed it but for the most part used the standard sized strips to close them all up. The only shimming I did was about 3 inches on the side gaps to close them up for EIB status and on the thighs but I have a pretty athletic build and my thighs have always been big. I can't wear pleated dress pants unless they are athletic cut. Hopes this gives you some perspective. I will have my armor done this week and will have pics up shortly.

People do both but I believe for screen accuracy those suits used the strips. I'm just finishing up mine with strips. Didn't really ever think about how many strips there are. 2 on each arm and leg piece. Thats 16 strips! No wonder it seems like I've been cutting and sanding strips forever! <_<

Would you happen to have a set of flat green ones for a new AP helmet?

Just found that my AP came from Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada

Yeah thats what I'm thinking too. Nothing off the top just the bottom in the back of the knee.

I was always able to kind of skip down making it easier. Going up I almost feel like I'm going to fall backwards.

True Dat!

Perfect sense. I was concidering cutting into the trim that molded into the bottom of the thigh pieces just to give me more mobility. If I'm going to troop in this setup I want to be able to function like walking up stairs without looking like I have a stick up my butt. Just wanted some opinions before I started cutting. Below is one of the reference pics from the gallery. Looks like the trooper on the right has that portion removed in a arcing cut but the one on the left is intact.

Very true. I bought a used FX suit off ebay 2 years ago without coming to this site first and without doing any research. Not that I regret it because it served as a Halloween costume and got me started in this hobby. But here I am 2 years later and 2 years more informed on the different types and buying all new armor. In the long run taking your time, doing your research, and planning your project will ultimately save you money and you will be far more rewarded with your results. Oh, and have fun with it.