Spycee

I knew the picture existed somewhere on the forum, thanks ! It's almost exactly what I'll do.

I would be interested to know that too. I'm at the point to decide where to make holes in my belt for the holster. I plan to have 1" of holster strap to show below the belt, and the snaps center will be at 3/4" from the bottom of the belt. And the left strap will be at 1" from the edge of the plastic ammo belt. It will be a snap on the holster straps, and on the belt l will use a snap (inside) / split rivet (outside).

@Andrew : No, didn't think of that. It will be easy to try, my wife got a "hockey-sized" Tupperware bag. My belt, but without the drop boxes and holster, I forgot to attach the drop boxes for the pictures, and the holster snaps / rivets are not done yet in the belt : And for the side shims ... Here are the gaps I have : @Steve : I tried to tape the 2 sides directly without using shims and well .. It kind of "explode" everytime I try, impossible to tape the 2 sides, and impossible to breathe. What is on the pictures feels nice to me, so maybe I'll have the shims just a little less wide than that (I'll lose weight, it's a promise !). It sucks that I just need a little shimming !

I have about 2-3 inches of gap on each side when I'm standing straight ... I think I can't physically join the ab and the kidney. I'll do some tests tonight and take pictures.

Wow ! Almost done, it will look seamless with a little more sanding and maybe some small hole-filling. I hope I will be able to do as good as you.

Belt done ! Easier than I thought, even if I passed a lot of time measuring and re-measuring. The only problem I got was that the split rivets were not splitted a lot ... The plastic belt, the fabric belt, the metal washer, it all makes that there is not a lot of length left on the rivet end to bend. If I put the belt directly, I will scratch my armor badly. For the moment I put small patches of elastic taped over the rivets so it doesn't touch directly the ab. I'll post a picture tonight. Fot the storage bin I'm torn between a big 50 gallons and 2 smaller ones (same size but shallower) ... The 50g is great, with wheels and a handle, but it's a combat everytime I try to put it in the car on the backseat. On the other side, the 2 smaller fit a lot better in the car, but I feel I didn't find an optimal way to store the armor in it. And I'll have to put wheels to ease the transport. More testing to do about that.

I use 400 sandpaper for sanding the edges and it's very soft after a while.

I have a gap of something like 1" - 1"1/2 (max) on my shoulders, it seems right for me. Just enough to have the snap for the shoulder bell.

I'll do the ABS paste this weekend. Tonight I began the belt, piercing the holes for the rivets, and bending a bit the belt to adjust to my waist. Tomorrow I'll place the snaps to hold the belt on the ab piece. Still don't know how to place the knee plate ! And for the ammo boxes on the thigh, I'm not sure if it is supposed to be at an angle, I didn't find good pictures of that part. I'll continue to search.

Good work ! I didn't need the little piece to hang the biceps to the shoulder strap, the elastic is very stable in my case, I guess I'm lucky. I'm sorry your wife is mad at you for that :-( I agree it can be a little mess, but oh so much happiness :-)

After 2-3 hours the majority of the velcros began to unglue themselves a bit ... So I will glue and sew them to the elastics, or glue them to the armor. But some will be replaced by snaps. The thighs will stay with the velcros for the moment, it will be ok with the glue. But maybe it will stay longer on the shins, depending on how it will be stretched.

Ok, so now that Halloween is finished, I can tak my time to finish the armor ... What I need to do : - Knee plate (see below) - Shim the kidney / ab - Ammo on right thigh - Belt - Thermal detonator : I'm waiting for the metal clips - Bin to store the armor / helmet : I think I'll take this one : http://www.homedepot.ca/product/50-gallon-mobile-job-chest/944928 . I tried with 2 smaller bin (same size but shallower) but it was not fitting right, and they didn't have wheels. I just need to see if it fits in my car, I'll check that tonight. - Paint the boots I still haven't received the rivets (bought on eBay) and I need chicago screws. The velcro I used is not that bad, but it needs to be solidified : - Put E6000 under the velcro on the armor - Put E6000 and sew the velcro on the elastic strip - Some velcro will be replaced by snaps Next thing I want to do is the knee plate : how the ***BEEP*** can I do that !?!? It doesn't align at all ...

By brush you mean what, a paintbrush, a toothbrush ? So for example tonight I put the acetone and ABS shards in a glass jar, cover it, and tomorrow morning I stir it and apply it. And tomorrow evenig I'd be ok to sand. Did I understand correctly ? Can't find a store that sells Novus ... I'll have to check for that. Thanks !

Very interesting ! It's one of the next steps for me, thanks to do it just before me so I can watch and learn It doesn't seem to bad after the first layer, but with the second it should be ok. Did you do the 2 sides at the same time ? How much time did you wait before sanding ? What do you use for sanding ?

At least 50 snaps, 2 E6000 tubes, 1" black elastic (at least 10' long), 2" elastic white (1' long), 2" black elastic (3' long), nylon straps (at least 10' long). Sandpaper (rough and fine), industrial Velcro white. Green visor, S trim, paint.

My son and me, just after putting on our armors : A lot of pictures were taken with me ! Steps to a door were a real problem ... We ended up removing my son's helmet so he can get his candies safely.

It seems I was not the only one with that problem tonight ;-)

I too went for a little walk today. I picked up my son at school with my armor. Wow, what a feeling ! Many cars stopped right in the middle of the street to take a picture of me and almost everyone had a big smile when looking at me. I was also in my armor for Halloween, but it was sooo cold ! Impossible to see anything, too much fog in the lenses. The helmet was full of condensation after the night. The back of my knees tell me that I need to trim the back of the thigh to walk correctly, it was a bit hard to walk for 2 hours. And I got pinched a lot on my arms. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I even got a couple of big hugs from women on the street ! And many children poked me, hard to deal with correctly when you're circled by around 20 children at the same time without seeing anything because of the fog and the dark, it was a bit overwhelming.

I still don't have touched the side shims ... My next step probably ! Now that I can wear it, it is easier to see how much shimming I need. Did you take pictures of your build ? I'm always curious

Still a lot of work to do, but it advances well

If you do it yourself you'll have the pride that goes with it. It's really not that hard. It's hard to REALLY screw up something if you take your time, cutting a little at a time.

An AP would fit you well with a little trimming, for sure.

It's free shipping even without Amazon Prime, at least in Canada. Ordered !

My first pics where I look vaguely like a stormtrooper ... I was about to write "guys you can't possibly know how I feel right now", but hey, I'm sure you all understand that feeling very well The right shoulder (on the picture) is done, the other is just snapped to the chest. Yeah, my mirror is dirty, I saw it too late

Here is a picture of the thigh :