Red_2

I'm about to screw down the holster and noticed that the furthest fastener is going to be hidden by the belt since it'll be underneath the overlap. Is that okay? Did I mess up by not making the overlap portion on my left side? I'd be looking like this guy to the furthest left ...

Screws with smaller heads for the detonator!

Yeah Germain, I have an extra button plate to redo that! Forgot to mention.

Moved the belt up a tad. (Only took a couple tries. ) Now it's overlapping the button plate a tad which is more accurate and as recommended earlier in the thread. Detontator slid onto the belt. My clips are the bent version, which I'm not to fond of now that I'm finally getting to see how it fits. It's snug but doesn't seem to slide all the way down. Maybe I can adjust it. I also bent the shoulder straps back a bit to help sit more flush. And added some velcro to my boots and inside of my shins to help prevent pop outs. That was my biggest issue the first time I walked about in it.

Also bolted down my detonator clips. Heads on these are a tiny bit larger than I'd like so I'm gonna keep my eye out for bolts with a smaller head.

Ha, Germain! You guide me through my build, I teach you random English military derived nuance. So got some more stuff done. Lone male snap on the top right ab. Cut the corners of the belt, and hung the drop boxes. 1" elastic riveted to the back of the drop box, also riveted through with the same rivet attaching the ABS portion to the canvas. Caps on the end area left and right aligned accordingly. (Thanks again, Germain.) Looks great from the front ... ... but not the sexiest look in the back. The straps ended op going over my ab snaps. So I notched the elastic. Oh well. May have to fix that down the road.

Ten four! And thanks for the heads up on the belt caps.

Pulled my belt out of the pile to prep for holster install and then noticed I didn't even have my drop boxes attached. Nor the belt corners trimmed properly. Amateur hour. Putting this here for reference:

So per Germain's recommendation and photo reference below, I went ahead and installed the rest of the strapping brackets to the kidney and back plate. Reference photo showing bracket screws used despite lack of/instead of the return edge. Here's my result. A little more space than my strap/snap set up had so I may cinch up the elastic here. And something is up with my camera or Photobucket cause every picture I've posted recently is slightly out of focus. What gives?

Back to some details on the upper end. I'm going to set up the back plate and kidney for the last of the brackets. Also need to add the lone snap on the right of the ab plate. Need to bend the butt a little more to meet up with the cod better. And this? Since I'm tiny the shoulder straps have a bit of excess in the back. Do I just trust the elastic string to hold them down or do I trim them?

After adding a little more ABS paste last night I went ahead and tried sanding this morning. Sorry again for the fuzzy iPhone pics. Before: After first run of sanding (using 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1500 grit). There are some tiny pits from air caught in the ABS paste, easy to smooth over in the future: After a little rubbing with Meguire's Ultimate Compound: A little bit more rubbing. The side view and front view look great. It's not a perfect smooth edge but again, I actually like the imperfect parts of the suit. I think after looking at soooo many screen shots and reference pics. The imperfect reminds me of the process of making the original suits. For some reason it makes the experience really enjoyable, which is opposite of my usual want for perfection when it comes to certain details. I'll do the other thigh next ... oh and I found this guy on the couch this morning when I went to upload pics. He looks cozy.

Awesome! I was only concerned about the front anyway.

So I added some ABS paste to the newly heat ironed return edge to fill in some of the grooves. Worked out okay. I did notice a couple areas where the return edge was either super thin or almost non-existent so I think I'll have to go back and add some more filler or do a little more bending. I took dark pics so you can see the result better. White washes out with the bright light in my art room. Much smoother with the added paste. Also I just realized there's a portion of the thighs that I trimmed that still need a return edge. Does there need to be a return edge all the way around on the thighs for certification? Lastly, I got my detonator clips trimmed today, as recommended previously. I used an ancient band saw at work. Nice slow moving blade. Worked like a charm. Hopefully I'll keep making regular progress.

Yeah, Germain I may resculpt in the future, right now I just want a more comfortable fit. I also want to do the notch in the future, Jason! Once I know this session is successful I'm gonna move on to other details so I can apply. I want to start wearing this thing more often.

Trimmed the sniper plate while I was at it. Taking some of the material away exposes the top edge of the shins a bit. Is that kosher?

So cut made on inside edge of tape and pencil mark for return edge reference on the outside edge of the tape leaves me with this. First pass with the heat iron. (Sorry this pic is fuzzy.) From the front. The top and sides of the return edge are a bit easier to fold over than the sharper curve at the bottom. This may be my lack of skill, but I think the ability to heat a larger portion of the line is lost at the curve so the heat is concentrated in points which make it less smooth. I think a little ABS paste to fill in then sand will smooth it out. Did both sides this morning. From the front they look pretty good. I'll try 'em on later. Gonna trim the holes a bit so they stop rubbing hard against my knees.

I went ahead and heat ironed the other thigh to the original line I made to match the first attempt. That way I could retape both to match them better. I think this cut should be enough. I just want a tiny bit more clearance there at the cod.

Link in here for future reference. Got some helmet stuff in the past few days.

Roger that, Germain. Thanks Art! Sorry the "progress" has been slow going.

I'm back. Here's the test fit after that first heat iron pass. I barely made a dent it seems like. So I'm going to trim back a little bit more. Or should I trim the cod back a bit on the sides?? Thoughts?

Heat iron first pass: Rough return edge. I tried to bend it so that the pencil mark was no longer visible from the side. See next pic. Side view. Doesn't look too bad. Pencil line just visible at some points. Need to try on to see how it fits with the cod. Onward ...

CHROME TROOPER??!! *throws NE suit in the garbage*

Thanks Anjel! But nevermind I just threw the suit in the garbage after seeing the trailer today. I want a Chrome Trooper costume.

Next step was to re-tape the line and trace with a pencil. This will be my guide for the heat iron. If all goes smooth I'll have plenty of room to sand/clean up and have a decent return edge. Re-tape. Traced line: I've taken to tackling small steps every other day. Let's see if I can keep up some momentum.

Thanks Germain! I'll need it.