maxsteele

I believe that comes in to preference on how you want the frown to look. As you can see from all those screen-used helmets, the frown had different lengths at the ends. The common point is that all of them come to a point on each end. Here's how far I went with mine: It's a little hard to see at this angle, but both ends come down to a point. It looks like I stopped just before reaching the cheek.

Yeah, I had no idea about the chatbox either. I will always check this when I come on the forum for people.

You'll want to bring the frown paint down to a point on each end:

Really, the only way it's going to be end-to-end with the outside edge of the belt at this point is if I cut shorter than the lines I have drawn. I believe that's what Redforce did to get his rivets lining up with the belt edge. If it isn't a requirement to have the rivet edge flush with the belt edge, then I'll keep my cut lines where they are and have that gap between the rivet edge and the belt edge. I have the gap between the ammo boxes and the rivet covers now. I've started gluing snap plates! Many thanks to Redforce for calling attention to the soldering gun trick. I picked up a cheap soldering gun ($10) at Radio Shack. I drilled a hole into a block of wood for my guide peg, and was able to press holes into the white elastic for the shoulder snap plates. I'm using his version of having two snaps at the shoulder connections. I like the extra security it gives at what is a very important connection.

Nope, I haven't glued a thing on yet. This is all just test fitting and getting it the way it should be. I won't even be attaching this to my canvas belt until at least Sunday. Yeah, in several threads, Mathias has pointed out that the edge of the rivet cover needs to be up against the edge of the belt. Perhaps this has changed? I feel like I'm talking about him like he's not around, but he's responded a few times already here. Here's what I have now. The lines drawn are where I want to cut. The rivet cover is over the indent on my belt where the rivet is going to go. I pretty much have to put the rivet cover where it is right now. Trimming down the rivet cover is my only option for getting gaps on the sides. I'm fine with keeping that little gap between the rivet cover and the end of the belt. I've just seen many threads here that state otherwise, both in build threads and Centurion application critiques, linking to the same pics that we're looking at now. And in fact, here's a shot of the "fixed" belt that Redforce had after Mathias had told him that he needed to have the rivet cover edges against the belt edge:

OH! I get what you mean now. Jonathan, I thought you meant there was supposed to be a gap between the end of the belt and the edge of the rivet cover. You mean there's supposed to be a bit of a gap between the last ammo box and the edge of the rivet cover that faces it. I also see there should be a gap on either side of the rivet cover for the middle rivet cover as well. I guess the rivet cover doesn't have to be dead-center over the rivet, the rivet just needs to be covered by it. I'll keep the cut lines where I have them and adjust the rivet covers on the ends to have a gap between the last ammo box and the rivet cover, but also have no gap from the rivet cover edge to the end of the belt.

Hmm... Not according to Locitus and the screenshots he shows from the movie http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/23285-ne-armor-build-thread/page-6#entry302796

Thanks Germain, I'll probably decide how I'm going to do that when I install the rivets. Man, cutting those rivet covers was more work than expected! It looks like I'll have to bring in the belt-end cuts a little to make the rivet covers flush with the ends. It's difficult telling exactly where over the hole the rivet cover is. Next up - seeing how a soldering iron works for burning holes through elastic for snap installation.

NE armor comes with belt rivet covers that you need to cut individually. They're on one piece of plastic in a set of three. I've been searching for the past several hours trying to find out what the dimensions of the rivet covers are. Does anyone have that information?

I'm not sure I really see an issue. This was my initial test fit: I say carry on with your build. At the very least, you'll have to do something with the chest piece when you're almost done. Definitely don't let a little flare-out of the chest stop you from continuing with the rest of it.

Alright, alright. I ordered a couple of sets of Centurion-level rivets from Echo. RainTrooper is going to assist me with installing all the rivets.

Heh, I measure 10 times and cut once. I can really be neurotic with that. As for the snaps, I'm not using a crimper. I'm hammering the snap together with a tool like this: You rest one part of the snap in the round anchor piece, put the fabric down, then put the other part of the snap on top, set the other tool part in, and hammer it down. No velcro for me (except the shin closure. I'm using velcro dammit!). I'm making my own snap plates and straps. That will make sure it's always fitting properly every time. I know that people incorporate the rivets into a part of the strapping system, but with inside snap plates, the rivets are really just for looks. That's what makes me hesitate, because I don't like putting holes in the armor just for show. Still deciding if I'm going to put them in.

Thanks for the pics! I hasn't seen these yet. Is there a method for doing a rivet and then gluing a snap plate over it? The main reason for not doing the rivets right now is some fear and wanting to get it all strapped up. I have pushed my craft ability to the limits and I just want to get it worn. I completely understand the desire to have those rivets, but I don't think I'm doing them now. EDIT: You know Germain, you've got me thinking about the side rivets. The ability to completely disconnect the ab and kidney on the left side is certainly a reason as well, and I think I'll look into what it would take to do the split rivets with the male popper. Also, I think I may have been smashing my snaps too hard and that's what warped my snap tool. I got a replacement, and I'll go a little easier on it this time. I thought you had to really bang on it to get the snap held in place, but evidently not.

I almost had a panic attack when I drilled the holes in my helmet. And I had to drill those holes. I'll consider coming back and drilling holes in the ab / kidney after I have this whole thing put together and wearable. And I know, everyone around here says: "Once you finish your build, you won't go back and modify it!" And to that I say "I might not. And I'm ok with that if I don't.". I still have to drill holes in the bottom of my thigh when I attach the ammo belt, and two holes through the front of the ab plate to secure the belt. I am not looking forward to doing those. There's a heavy duty snap tool? Didn't know that was a thing. Do you know the brand name or the product? Is this it? Because I thought this was just the same thing that came in the heavy duty snaps and tool set: http://www.joann.com/heavy-duty-snap-tool/8562548.html

Not doing side rivets on this build. Also, they don't teach you in snap school that the setting tool will start to warp as you pound more and more snaps. The side that was concave for the cap part is now convex. Gotta buy another one of those.

Let the snap / strapping assembly begin! Alright, I got a bunch of #24 Dritz heavy duty snaps from Joanns. There are 4 Joann stores in a 10 mile radius around my house, so I went to each one and bought one pack of snaps and used a 50% regular price for each one. That's 28 snaps to start off with. I made a few male snap plates with webbing (webbing and pre-melted holes courtesy of Redforce. Thanks!). Then I positioned them one one side of my kidney, then lined up the ab and placed matching plates on the ab. These are held in place with tape for now: Next, I made a test strap. I'm not sure how to determine the length that a strap should be. I am guessing a strap should be just long enough to have the two sides snapped in with no slack or pull of the elastic. Sound right? Yes, I know I installed a snap backwards. Down to 26! Finally, here's a shot of the strap snapped into place on one side. This strap is a little longer than the placement of my snap plates, which is fine because the plates aren't glued and this strap is garbage anyway. Looking right? I'm just kind of eye-balling where the snap placement should be, and looking at how others set up their snap arrangement. I'm not going to make any more straps until feedback is received that I'm even going about all this the right way. I'll get my snap plates all made.

e6000 works fine if you get some good plastic-to-plastic contact.

Well, I can't take a selfie while I'm trying to hold my thigh pieces up, but I at least now feel confident that I'm able to cut the thighs to where they're not catching on my cod and they look alright wearing them. I'm not going to re-visit any cutting of the top of the thighs until I have a strapping system to hold them up on their own and see how it really is walking around. Here are the thighs now that I've shaped and cut them down on the insides: Thank you to everyone for the suggestions. They certainly don't have the ANH shape to them, but they're definitely trimmed down where they were catching.

I gotcha Nick. If I get the time tonight, I'm going to trim like the cut lines you have marked up in your post from yesterday. Studying my close-up thigh pic, it looks like there's a little bump at the top that I'm trimming off so it's more of a diagonal line than an upward curve, and then I'll start trimming lower to get more of a scoop happening. I'm not going to cut nearly as much as I drew in those lines to start off. Just a mm or three at a time. We'll see how it goes!

Hey Nick - I think what you're trying to show with the arrows is that my cover strips are not lined up properly? Where you have the solid blue vertical line is where the cover strips should be? I need to take another shot with my ab plate on and the thigh pieces rotated inward with the cover strips more in line to where they need to be. So - when I walk with the thighs in the position of the pic I took above, they are catching on the cod piece down at the lower 2 arrows on each side. And I think from this pic it's pretty obvious where they're catching. When I walk with the thighs in a more rotated inward position, they are catching closer to the top of the thighs. I haven't pin-pointed where at yet, but I'll be able to find out. I'm still a bit afraid that I fitted my thighs wrong. I was wearing them like the above pic when I sized and fitted them in the back, which would affect how they wrap around my thighs. Rotating them inward will make the inside shapes different. It's a mistake I don't believe I can correct without getting a new set of thighs. I can only hope that I can rotate them inward, and shape them in a way that they don't catch on the cod and I can comfortably wear them. Otherwise, I'll need to order a new set of thighs and re-size.

One word - Jealous! Looking sharp man. Looking forward to seeing the side and back shots! One thing I'm noticing - the tops of your finishing strips for your thighs. I believe they should be rounded off to follow the curve of the top of the thighs?

Alright guys. Thanks for the suggestions. I had thought my thighs were catching up at the top of the thighs on the ab plate where it curves around the front of my thigh, which was the reason for me thinking to cut them down up there. I'm not so sure that it's catching down lower. I'll try to really identify exactly where the thighs are hitting the ab / cod. Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

I would like to take this opportunity at this point in my build to give a very large "Thank you!" to everyone who has advised me. I believe I'm shooting for the longest build thread on the forums. Seriously though, this kind of project is something I have never attempted before, and everyone here has given me the tools, experience, and confidence I need to get this far. Thank you, thank you, to everyone who has helped and who will help me in the future!

Thanks for the confident words, Jonathan. One thing I'm wondering about - will it be ok to trim only the inner part of the thighs down, or do I need to remove the same amount from the entire top of the thigh? Here's a (crude) cut-line drawing of what I mean: Can I do it this way? Or do I need to do it this way: If I need to do the second way, then I'll need to take off the return edge completely.

Thanks Jonathan! One other question that I just saw - I noticed some people had heat-shaped their belt plastic in a curve before attaching it to their belt. Did you do this?