wreckdivr

Here is my dilemma. Not knowing the real difference in the community (or the preference) toward butt joint or overlap construction, I went with overlap RT-Mod as I was told it would be stronger, etc. Not knowing at that time that I might want to go for EIB / Centurion, I thought that overlap would be just fine, but know I'm wishing I had requested butt joint. That said, I do believe that it is possible to trim the overlap pieces and then just butt joint (with cover strip) them all together, using the correct width cover strips, etc. My concern is being able to fully understand how I go about trimming my armour to do this. Initially, I thought I was screwed and that I would have to stick with overlap and just forego any advanced approvals. Now, I see that a few others have done what I'm trying to do, but I'm a little confused as to how to go about this without messing anything up or making it look bad. Rob mentioned that I could just trim 10mm off of each side of the overlap and underlap and then just butt them together and add the strip. Or... I could trim the overlap all together and then butt and cover strip. I'm just afraid of doing something that doesn't look good (and I'm somewhat of a perfectionist) and not being able to reverse it. I'm going to get Rob to send me to cover strips to do this, but I'm just hoping for assistance with the trimming part for the butt joint. There is also the lip piece at the top of the overlap pieces that I think I will need to remove, as well. Please see the picture below for what the top of my shin pieces look like. Does anyone have any advice for how I should proceed so that this looks like it should, as if it was meant to be butt jointed in the first place?

Ok, so here we go... After many years of contemplating joining the ranks of the FISD, the day has finally come. And it all started with a big brown box delivered to my door from Rob at RT-Mod... I was very excited to get the box open, but had to go back out for a bit, so I left the box on the ottoman in the bedroom. Apparently, I was more patient than my little friend, as I came home to this.. Wasn't too impressed that I couldn't be the one to open the box first, but really, how could I be upset at him for this. He had been waiting so long. And inside the box... I'm not gonna' lie, Rob's pre-built helmet is truly a work of art. Absolutely masterful. So, as the rest of my soft parts and accessories continue to funnel in, I am researching the death out of this build, as I want to get it right and avoid some of the pitfalls and benefit from some of the "lessons learned" from many of the fine folks and experts here on the FISD. Please be patient as I will likely have lots of questions as I continue on this journey, and I apologize ahead of time if some of them seem stupid. I'm trying to inform myself as much as I can ahead of my first cut, but it's that first cut that is going to be the most terrifying. Wish me luck! To be continued...

** Please delete. I posted originally in the wrong section. Have re-posted in the "Build Threads" area. Sorry.

This is seriously cool. Looks like this is a Stanley box, correct? I am going to borrow some of your ideas, but I think I am going to make mine either more white or more black, because I keep thinking of a referee when I look at yours. lol Very well done, my friend. The CF touches are really nice, as well.

Do you still have your size 10's? I don't have anything to trade, but if you are interesting in selling, I may be interested.

That is a great looking tote. Where did you buy it, and did it come that way with the white accents or did you paint it or add decals? I would be interested in some of those same decals.

These really do look great. Please let me know if you think they will work and are of acceptable quality as I need to order some very soon, and this is a smoking good deal for snaps!

I have found Francois' response time to be very quick to all of my communications to him. He has also been quite helpful and informative. Unfortunately, they are catching up on a backlog of orders, which means I cannot have my order filled for a few weeks, but I understand he will be launching an online ordering system shortly which should help streamline the ordering process.