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Good ole mobile double post.

Haha I need 501st first! Thanks for the help sir!

Dang it Germain! Its comfortable the way it is! Ill add strapping to the shoulder bells instead of the hooks. Anything else thats an obvious fix for EIB?

Thanks Jason. Appreciate the advice and everyone taking the time to look and respond! Couple new photos after the adjustments. Fixed the belt height, drop boxes are affixed, and adjusted the shoulder strap (right), forearm size (right), and the cover strips on the backs of the legs. Additionally, I added a small layer of fleece at the bottom of my shins to try to eliminate much of the scratching on the boot paint. So far, so good. I know on the front photo, it looks like the sniper plate is below the thigh... but rest assured, it is not. I had my wife take the photo from above to show how the angle of the photo distorts. I'm planning on setting up a tripod for my EIB and Centurion submission.

Inside, I glued a backer piece from scrap. Closeup of the almost final product. You can see a slight discoloration, but I'm hoping after the polish it won't be as noticeable.

The bottle is called "100% acetone nail polish remover" but I was worried that the other ingredients might affect it. It doesn't appear to have affected it any, as it made the paste in only a couple hours. Fun! Here's the original gouge. CA glue holds a lot better than I thought it would. Laid down first coat. After about 4 very thinly applied coats, with 60 grit hit after about 30 minutes each layer. *almost* final product after 60, 100, 150, 220, 320, 400 grit. I still haven't acquired any Novus yet, but once I do I'll probably get some wet sandpaper and polish it up.

Thanks for the reassurance. Will the extra ingredients in nail polish remover be a problem as the solvent?

Pulled off the cover strip (nervous!) and trimmed the inside of the right forearm. My hand can *just* fit through the opening, and the top is certainly more snug now. Good news is they match size a great deal better now. Also adjusted the cover strips on the back of the shins and thighs. The thigh bottom ripped out a bit when I pulled off the cover strip. I'm assuming I just use some homemade ABS paste, sand, and polish to get it filled in... yes?

So fresh and so clean. Hit the scratched up parts with 100 grit, then did the whole boot in 220 grit to reprep and take off the old acrylic finish layer. Gonna let these dry overnight then hit them with a coat of acrylic finisher again. Won't put the shins on until I can get some felt to protect them from the terror of the shins. Pulled off the right shoulder strap, reattached with E6000 again. Appears a good bit more balanced at first look, but I'll test fit it again tomorrow after it's cured overnight.

Haha, I want it looking right, though! Man, I first started reading your post and was scratching my head with: "why the hell is he posting photos of the legs?" lol Didn't realize that translated to the rear, as well. I did notice it on the fronts, but so many of the backs look so different, I figured it was a matter of fitment. I can definitely take off some of the cover strips - should be no problem.

Split rivet in crotch with strap: TD clips using TK_LEPER's guide (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/14283-how-to-make-thermal-detonator-belt-clips/):

A few more build pics I didn't post. Right thigh: Ammo pack is attached via two split rivets right on the "bumps" of the end of the thigh. A small piece of Velcro holds the center ammo pack on the thigh to ensure it does not slip down. Curved bottoms of the ammo pack. Ammo pack on both sides: Ammo pack split rivet:

Thanks Germain and Leo! I'm in the process of fixing quite a few of these things - especially the ones that are common themes! I'm a little confused on the elbow gap. There are so many threads detailing the "hook" method of the bicep, and that's how this is connected. I get trying to minimize the gap there, but did the original actors just have some stubby arms or something? I'd prefer the forearms to not be connected via straps, but if I can't find another solution to close the gap well enough, I guess it'll have to be done! Biceps and thighs were intentionally left a little large, as I'm in the middle of a weight gain program for football. By the time I'm ready to submit for EIB, this whole kit will probably look significantly different on me. The forearm is a different thing altogether. I *think* it's due to the foam and it's not centered in the obvious larger size photo from the rear... but the bigger right forearm was brought up a couple times in other conversations and everyone seemed to think that's normal. I may be able to retrim that one, but getting CA apart is going to be a bit of a challenge! Believe it or not, the belt isn't attached at all! And it only slid down a little bit after walking around in the armor for about 5-10 minutes before this photo was taken. I'm planning on adding velcro instead of the snaps after talking with a few of the guys at the Legoland troop - so that'll be fixed. Noted on the drop boxes, but that's so odd... it is indeed affixed by velcro and it looks fine after I take it off. I'll post photos in a bit. Right strap is being fixed... E6000 is curing Butt plate does NOT have snaps in it yet. The crotch has the riveted strap, just haven't put in the snaps yet. And dammit, I knew it looked wrong when I was putting it on, but I swore I saw it the other way! I'll order some new stripes when I place an order for some other bits from Trooperbay. Lastly, I tried just touching up the boots, and that's not going to cut it for me. I'm sanding them tonight and repainting again. Once snowpacalypse II is done in Atlanta, I'll pickup some felt to attempt to make sure this doesn't happen again. Thanks guys!

Thanks Glen. I appreciate any critique, as well!

Appreciate it. Got a great tip from a fellow Georgian: attach felt to the insides of the base of the shins. I'll get to sanding and repainting the boots this weekend. I submitted for 501st approval this evening.

So, I'm not so sure about this Angelus thing. I prepped by sanding, painted 3 coats, then did the acrylic finisher. Shins are sanded at the ends, I verified there are no sharp edges. Just friction from how tight the bottom of the shins are (I have skinny ankles). I guess it's time for TK Boots, once they get some sz 11 in stock.

After wearing the armor and walking around for about 20 minutes tonight, I already know some areas I want to modify - I discovered a few spots that are biting me frequently enough that I need to do something about it. Still need to install the helmet liner and source some clips for the TD. Finally, need to decide on a good method to get the shins to stay down over the boots. I've read a few of the options out there, but I haven't figured out what's going to be the best for my situation.

You actually end up going sort of behind where you think you're actually cutting to get the teeth squared up... hopefully that makes sense. I feel like the eyes could use some cleanup. I ended up using the hobby knife to do the finish the eyes because I still wanted some of the jagged edge to it rather than a sanded look.

Made more progress here and there after a very busy weekend. Also got my replacement ears from Trooperbay on Monday. Followed a suggestion to apply Bondo on back side of the mic tips, as the ABS is very thin at that point. Hovi mic tips installed New ears installed Getting mah ears did Split rivets on the kidney/ab connection. Planning on covering these with a bit of fleece and a dab of E6000.

I glued a bit of scrap to the back of the plate, then hit the whole thing with E6000. So far, it's holding pretty well, but there are certainly bits that pulled apart once I removed the clamps and magnets.

Great job! Good luck with EIB!

I use imgur, just because I get stuck surfing the stupid (but often times funny) photos.

Some fitment photos. I'm going to trim some of the return on the abs, it was cutting into my lower ribs - as well as the butt piece that goes under the crotch. It was clipping me right in the back of my thigh and it did NOT feel nice . You can see in these photos how the abs overlap the kidney - but the kidney is almost perfectly aligned with the butt plate. This is where I need some advice on what part(s) to trim. My black underarmor was dirty, so the white will have to do for now! left side right side

Thank you for the input. Good to know on the asymmetric nature. I've had a couple people help me try it on and attempt to mark it... but it's been difficult to determine what I should be trimming once I put the belt on and tighten it to my body. There is significant overlap on both sides when I get the belt tightened around me. Far more on the left side where the rivets are supposed to go. I *think* I should be cutting the ab plate, since the butt lines up so nicely with the kidney, but I'm just not certain. I'll try to get photos tomorrow since we're snowpacalypsed here in Atlanta.

I have a few questions and seeking advice on trimming and strapping the torso together. First photo: the abs have a slight indentation. My assumption is I should be trimming the abs instead of the kidneys. The kidneys line up almost perfectly with the butt plate. Second photo is top down of the kidneys (pulled the back underneath to show the return). I'm thinking that I need to trim along the pencil lines. Next photo shows closeup of proposed trim line - with no return along my ribs. Thoughts? These final photos show discrepancies of the length of the kidney on each side. Should I make the sides of the kidneys match lengths? Strangely, the butt lines up well with it, so if I trim one side down, I'll need to trim the butt, too: Thanks in advance!