zeroskillz

Looking good bro! I'm curious to see how you handled the thighs as I'm having the same issues. Hopefully I'll get some pics in armor tomorrow to update my build.

Great stuff! I'm pretty sure one or two of these kits is in my future

I'm as far east as you can get in Denton county--I'm in Frisco, north of Dallas. Where are you moving to? Yeah, I've been using the centurion/EIB submissions as reference, and didn't rivet my knee plate for that reason. I may do EIB, but I'm not sure about some of the centurion stuff. Maybe on my next suit. Your suit is coming together great Andrew. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who is going to cut my thighs down a bit.

I think I am definitely going to do it. I'm waiting till I get a better feel of where the belt will sit (read: get some of the rigging done). I really like the idea of it attaching to the belt and not the ab for the sake of simpler potty breaks. Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for my armor, I've got my kids this week, so I probably won't be making any progress till next week. The best part is, both kids want to be TK's.

Interesting...ahh..I'll be happy as hell to just be a member

Kidney what?

Oh yeah--I forgot about that thing, thanks Gotchya...I think I'm going to wait till I've got it more together and can see where the belt lines up on everything, but I do want to have a separate cod

Okay so I finally stopped worrying about it and just cut 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of the chest and did a return edge. I'm not thrilled with the return edge, but it's not bad. Here's what it looks like now: I think the length does look better. I also primed the ab buttons... And does anyone know what these parts are for: Now it's time for some Call of Duty with my boy

I know what you mean...I can't decide

Yeah--5'11" 190# I'm bigger in the gut probably...

The chest does look huge on me for sure. I was hoping to avoid cutting it down, but I don't think I can. Yeah Derek, the commander fits like a glove--the, how shall I say, expansion joint on the ab/kidney connection was handy though I think I'm going to do the AM kit the same way. The size difference in parts is pretty significant, as is the shape in some cases (between the AM kit and the commander). I'm not as concerned with the ab/kidney yet, since the tops get covered by the chest and back, but we'll see. When you cut the cod off, you left the top straight and the bottom of the ab curved?

Very cool, yeah I ended up trimming mine almost identical to yours, but i rounded the nut-hugger a bit more. I bought that tool for all the leather work I do--and because I live in an apartment and would drive my neighbors crazy with all the hammering for holes, snaps, rivets etc. I broke down and bought it when I was making this for my Han Solo costume: That thing has a ridiculous number of holes in it

Your build is looking great bro! I'm hoping to get some strapping done tomorrow to get a feel for how it looks as well.

Okay so here's some pics of test fitting: The butt felt awflly funny until i removed the bit sticking out underneath. it also felt low till I realized it was hanging crooked. Im not sure if I need to take more off the chast/back plate shoulder straps... I definitely think i need to take more of the sides. After digging out the box of leather working stuff, it seems at some point I stocked up on Line 24 snaps That's a bonus. I've got a ton in silver, but used a couple brass ones to test placing them in ABS. Here's a pic: Ok, really that was just to show off my fancy shmancy snap setter It's also my Han Solo belt hole puncher. The black one. That has 1000 holes in it. I also stuck a couple eyelets in the ABS just to see how well that would work out, but i can't see the need for them. Oh and also, the undersuit...by itself, not a good look. Not at all.

It's coming along we'll...I'm messing with chest/back/kidney/ab stuff today. I think I've got them trimmed relatively well. I just bought a bunch of elastic and Velcro...time to pull out the bits box for leather work and see what I've got for snaps I'll post up some pics later

You know, this job thing really gets in the way of my build. Jut sayin.

Yep, sure did. The replacement shin should arrive today Awesome! Thanks Michael

yeah, I'm not too keen on using that myself. I like the idea of the pads that stick in with velcro much more.

I'm curious to know how I change my status to "Future Member"... I tried joining my local garrisons forums, but it won't allow me access until I'm a member or future member. How does this work? Thanks in advance, -Ted

I put the soft part on the cover strip--the idea being that if it rubbed my leg ever I'd want it to be the soft part. So the soft part facing in, hook part facing out.

I did the same, and got the stronger of the two velcros at hobby lobby--it holds really well. Really really well--I have to start at one end and slide my fingers up the joint to undo it.

Your armor's looking great! I'm getting ready to start the chest and back, and looking at what you've done is a big help. Also, just wanted to add, heating with a hair dryer isn't so bad--it takes longer than a heat gun so it's harder to mess it up. I did a little heating on my forearms to ease the pressure before glueing and it worked fairly well.

Mine lined up pretty much as you see it--it's not glued on the corners, just in the center to the top of the shin. So nothing special needed to be done for clamping. I just spread some CA on it and hit it with accelerator. I did line it up before hand and put registration marks on the back to be sure I lined it up correctly when glueing it. Oh and I'm using a relatively slow CA to give me a little wiggle room. It might work for you to do it that way (with e6000 or CA), and then once dry, clamp the corners down to glue them...just a thought.

Update on progress... I got the left shin put together, complete with the velcro. I also put together the arms and thighs, but still need to do the cover strips. And trimmed out the teeth.

Good point. I'm not so much concerned about actually sitting, more so about being able to reach my feet to put boots/shins on. But that's good advice...I'm going to leave them as is till its more together. So I've got arms and thighs together, now on to my left shin (the right shin is on its way). I made a resident evil alice vest for a girlfriend awhile back, I think I've still got a roll of webbing around here somewhere from that to make the thigh belt.