Frank4vt

I did this to mine too. Glued them directly to the armor. Two years, 35 troops and counting & still holding strong!!

Sorry it took so long, and I hope this hasn't derailed this thread... Here are some pics of the snap loops. Once again, genius idea. Thank you 5thHorseman for the idea! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey guys, I forgot about this thread dang it! I made the snap loops for the brackets, and I've trooped them twice. They work great! I don't have pics yet because I'm lazy, but I'll post a couple soon. LOVE being able to break the armor down again. Great idea 5thHorseman!!!

Tears here too. "Chewie...we're home". How could you not? I'm gonna be a wreck watching it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

O...M...G... You sir, are a genius!! I've been needing to replace the year old frayed elastic on mine for a while now, but have been soooo dreading the sewing. I'll be replacing them soon now! THIS is why I love FISD!!

Yes, exactly. On my ATA kit, I just used scrap ABS to make shims and glued them onto the inside return edges with E6000 before I ever drilled the first hole for the brackets. There's really not much pressure on the brackets during "normal" trooping conditions. Plus, the elastic is gonna take the majority of the beating. There's pros and cons, but I didn't like the possibility of multiple snap failures during a troop, so I went with the brackets. But, as Todd said, if you want the ability to break down your chest, ab, back, kidney, and butt, you'll have to use snaps. The straps turn all those pieces into one big clamshell. And I found out the hard way if you don't thread lock the bracket nuts, you'll be making another trip to the hardware store.

I use the original strapping on my ATA kit. There really is no comparison when it comes to ease of use vs. snaps. Ingenious design. Takes me longer to put my shins on than the main body. I did use reinforcement shims under the brackets on the inside because of the 2mm thickness, and when & if it finally breaks I'll just switch over to snaps. 15 troops and no cracks yet though!

Yeah, I hope it didn't deter anybody. I guess they thought "jape" was in everybody's daily vocabulary...

That's why we do this. My Garrison has a hospital troop next Friday. Great job trooper!

Just realized I never followed up on my dye progress. Sorry guys! I did the exact same steps as Brandon (OP), except I used the Angelus on the elastic as well. I have trooped for a full year in mine (14 troops). They're beautifully scuffed now, and the Angelus has held up amazingly. As stated by someone in an earlier post, scuffing will happen automatically with trooping, so unless you're going for Centurion immediately, have fun making battle scars! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to the ranks!!

Welcome to the EIB ranks trooper!!

Whooohoooooo!!! Another EIB for GT! I'm so glad you decided to go for this David! Congrats!!!

It's about time you put that awesome kit up for EIB!! Looks good man, and looks even better in person. I love that ATA!! I see what Jonathan is asking about, I actually had to redo my biceps after a member here pointed it out to me. On the front seams, the edges of the cover strips should meet evenly with the top of the ridges. The rear seams can overhang the cover strips some if needed for fitting. I had mine evened out on both sides as well, and I was told it's better to have the front seams correct and do what i needed to the rear to make them fit. Not sure if this will affect EIB or not, and definitely don't change anything until Steve says so. Good luck man, you got this easy!!!

Welcome to the ranks!!

Welcome to the ranks trooper!

Looking forward to it bud! See ya Saturday!!

Thanks Paul!!

Welcome to EIB trooper!

Thanks guys!! Terrell, your armor is top notch bud! Proud to wear it

Yeah!! Another ATA EIB trooper! Congrats!!!

Yeah, David, I cut the stock plastic rail off and made an aluminum rail out of 1" x 1/8" thick flat bar. I just eyeballed the width I wanted, measured from the block under the scope to the rear sight, cut my piece & bent the rear of it over the rear sight and hollowed out a slit under the scope for the front. You can get like a 3 foot piece of alum. flat bar at Lowe's for about 7 bucks. I used the rest for my T-Det clips

Frank Williams 23325 EIB Letter Thanks Mathias!

Thanks so much guys!!! I'm so proud to part of the EIB ranks! Like I said before, it'll be a while before I get to tackle a new blaster, but it will happen! Looking forward to making the adjustments mentioned and having my armor looking top notch! And special thanks to our DO Steve. Turns out there are some pretty helpful guys around here ;-) Oh, and Steve, I did modify my strapping bracket attachment for strength with ABS shims and extra washers. I used #6 slotted countersunk screws. I also cut down some rubber screw protectors and glued them on a few screws that were scratching the ab & kidney plates. I'll post pics of that when I apply for Centurion. Oh, and new pics of slotted TD screws too :-) Thanks again!!!!!

Lookin' sharp trooper! Gotta love that ATA!! Good Luck!