Airborne Trooper

I don't remember where I got it but I have a red plastic wedge tool that has become extremely useful in many projects.

I assure you no one is going up to the top of your forearms and checking for a return edge nor are they measuring cover strips with rulers. I have zero return edge on my forearms for comfort.

There's a couple of these threads floating around already but I choose my ID 82573 because I was in the 82nd Airborne Division and served with the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment. Just a nod to my military service.

I use nylon in those areas too!

I don't see that part of the forearm making a difference. That particular section of the forearm runs along the boney part of your arm. Bites and pinches are more common near the inner elbow/bend in your arm.

It's not a bad idea to remove some return and use the velcro strapping. Once you got it down you'll be able to have a more accurate view on the need to shim or not.

You have to taper the thighs like a V

Very sad news. Thoughts are with her friends and family. Buckets off indeed

I went to McEachern High School. Well at least you got AM armor and not a smaller armor type so you got that working for you.

Sorry, to detail your thread a bit. I know the area well. I grew up in Powder Springs and plenty of my friends graduated from KSU in 2008. I went the opposite route and joined the military a year after graduating hs in 2004 though. I worked at Town Center Mall before I joined the military. Small world! Now I live in Albany, NY where my wife's family is from. If the stars lined up, I would move back south in a heart beat.

Kennesaw State University? I grew up around that area

Correct, among a few other things specific for Hero. Unless you really want to go Hero, I would swap lenses for Stunt.

Armor looks great but the one thing that is sticking out to me is the hand plates. Why do they look so thick? if they are the ABS ones, I would sand them down a lot.

I'll let some other more experienced people chime in but I think you should remove from the ab instead. My reason is that the butt plate and kidney line up perfectly. Just make sure you take off equal amount on both sides of the ab. I'm jealous, I wish I had your problem instead of having to add to lol.

My suggestion would be to get the torso section strapped together so it's contouring to your body correctly. You'll know pretty quick if you have larger gaps from kidney to ab plate and need shimming.

I just centered the center battery or magazine, whatever you want to call it. and marked where the end met at each side. Mine was not symmetrical. Your birthday is 4 days before mine except you got me by 10 years lol. Have fun on vacation! Hopefully when you get back you'll have your Hero bucket waiting so you can get your approval.

Fairly common to add foam in many places, especially the forearms. You'll want to go back and make the proper adjustments on your bucket if you plan to go Hero. Or swap the lenses out and just go with Stunt.

Just read all the other build threads around here to get familiar, measure several times, and cut once. You can do it!

I usually put enough to cover it, let it sit overnight, then stir it with a Popsicle stick and use cheap small wal-mart paint brushes to paint it on as evenly as possible to cut back on sanding time.

I'm not 100% because your ab plate is riding so low and nut tucked under the chest but looks like you'll need to shim the kidney plate to get it closer to the ab.

I've seen something like this for Army Flight helmets, so I don't think it's impossible with some creativity getting it to reach the sides of the helmet.

Looking good, just needs a little sand

Judging the amount of overlap on the rear, I think he can do 20mm front and 20mm rear no problem on the thighs.

I think it's safe to say to stay away from the Paint Killer. I would put in a piece of abs backing along the length of the ab plate and use the abs paste as filler to fix the cracked/missing part. It'll take a lot of effort but you'll be able to make it look like nothing ever happened.

Look at ukswrath's ata bucket build thread. He shows his method there with measurements.