hondutrooper

Marked off the areas to cut off the cod piece and the thigh ammo belt. Before I cut, thought I would check to make sure...does this look right? I used the spray can method for the ammo belt and also used the same can for the cod piece. Also painted the ears - my lines look right in terms of thickness? Painted the inside of the mike tips white Installed backing to make the mike tips more stable and secure

Thanks so much for the pointers Tony! Working on the changes and will take more pics soon.

Here's my first time wearing most of the pieces together. Forgot to put the arms on ;( Missing the belt and holster (ordered from Trooperbay), TD, and boots (TK boots requested but not in stock) Please provide feedback on my progress so I can continue to work on improvements. Does the length of the chest and ab plates look right? Cod piece is obviously not hanging right, will need to adjust the strapping. The shoulder bells and biceps were attached with black 1" webbing - should this be elastic instead for better mobility? Shoulder bell length look OK? Should I shorten the thighs and/or cod piece? Note that the thighs are missing the front cover strips which I will install once I have a better fit. Does this make my butt look big? Do I need to trim a bit from kidney or butt plate? Side view. I need to trim the midsection - do I trim from the ab plate or from the kidney plate? Shoulder bell length look OK?

I used the heat gun to expedite the process of bending the shoulder cover. It worked fine on one side but a few extra seconds on the other side melted the plastic. I figured it would need replacement...all part of the learnings as I go through the build. Where can I get replacement shoulder covers...didn't see any on Trooperbay.?

So I tried to get the shoulder cover corners closer to the chest plate using a heat gun. One side came out nice but the other side I think I got it too hot and flattened out some of the ridge detail. Thoughts? Good side Not so good side

Found this 40 gallon wheeled plastic tote at my local Walmart for $24. All my TK gear fits nicely.

Hope I'm doing this right...

Shins are done...velcro in the back, strips in the front. Not sure if I did this right though...I followed this topic http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28321-sure-fire-am-20-shin-identification/ and put the 45 degree edge on the out side, 20 degree on the inside. Does this look correct? If this all seems OK, I will attach the sniper plate on the left shin

Redid the inside strips for the thighs, no issue fitting into them now...also looks much cleaner. Haven't done the front strips yet...will post new pics once that's done.

OK, I think getting my thighs to fit shouldn't be a problem with the 20mm cover strips. I'll redo it and get it right. Thx.

Question on the thighs. I haven't done the outer cover strips yet. I realized that the front parts are showing different widths - one is about 3cm and the other about 4cm. Should I make these be equal at 3cm? I want to check before taking the inner strips off and doing some more trimming to the front. I used E6000 so it should be doable with a bit of elbow grease.

Thanks for your feedback Tony! Yes, I'll go back and make the circles sharper. My overall approach on the build is to try to get the basics done on an initial pass and then take the time to really nail the detail. For me, I gotta keep building so that I don't lose momentum and get frustrated. Same reason why I will go back and trim the cover strips on the shins and other pieces I've already completed.

Cut out and painted the button sections for the ab plate. Does my paint job look OK? Think I still need to trim some more off to make it fit flush on this part.

Shins Got the shins trimmed and glued, front and back. Still need to put the velcro on the back for the closure as well as trim the length to size after doing a fitting with boots once I get them.

Thanks...I'll give that a shot and report back.

Any tips on how to do that? Happy to try it, I'm not liking that part of the shoulder cover corner not being flush with the chest plate.

Progress...building some momentum. Trimmed the shoulder covers, chest piece and attached the shoulder straps. Attached the kidney plate to butt plate with snaps and straps. Cut the cod plate from ab plate and glued snaps

Going to work on the chest/back next...more questions: I cut about 1" from the top part of the chest plate on the shoulder straps. Is there a specific length they should extend out? Is there a specific gap distance that should be kept between chest and back? I'll be glueing white elastic between the chest and the back. I will be cutting off a piece of the chest at the bottom...see second picture with blue tape...is that accurate? Do I need to cut off anyting from the back plate? The shoulder straps will be trimmed to blue tape...accurate?

OK so it's been a while...but I've made some progress. Shoulder bells - glued black elastic Biceps - trimmed and glued cover strips Arms - trimmed and glued cover strips Helmet - mostly done with the outside, need to put tube stipes decal, paint the ears and attach the s-trim. Some questions on the helmet: Is the brow supposed to be glued? I didn't and it's pretty secure and not moving Do I need to paint the mic tips white on the inside? Left and right ear have a small gap and are not completely flush...what's the tolerance needed for approval?

I'll go with the decals for now. Need to get more confident which will happen as I get more experience with my build. Will eventually try for EIB and Centurion. I'll keep the white paint tip in mind for the future. 80 small magnets - nothing that can cause any harm...I don't think

Thanks for the response! Currently looking for basic approval and then I'll worry about EIB and Centurion.

Not sure if they are from Trooperbay, they came with the AM 2.0 kit.

The lens didn't stick well and I have to redo this part. I don't think I had enough weight/pressure on the lens so trying to adjust. Hope for better results this time around. Question - can I use decals for approval or should I use paint?

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Sometimes I get frustrated and overwhelmed and feel like I have no clue what I am doing. I guess most newbies feel the same way.

Installed the lens. Used black Sugru around certain parts of the eye to create a spot to glue the lens to. Glued the cap to the back of the helmet. This was the first time using the glue on the build - a little nervous but it went well. One thing I do know for sure is that I need more magnets - 80 more on the way - yay AMAZON!