TK Monkus

While waiting for my belt pieces to dry, I took a shot at giving my butt plate a hot water bath. There is definitely improvement, but there are also some other issues now. I used the biggest pot I had and basically did each side individually. I would dunk for 30sec then hold to shape while I washed under cold water. I did each side about 4 times. There are now "ripples" in the top of the but plate return edge from the bending. The butt plate definitely sits closer now, but when attached to the kidney it pulls it back out a little bit. It definitely looks better than before, but don't know if it is quite right yet. I also still think the ab and chest need to come in a bit tighter, but if I bathe the kidney, maybe when attaching them that will pull it in enough? See questions and pics below. Questions: Should I trim the top return edge down to deal with the "ripples" or should I just leave them? Or is there a better way to deal with this? Should I do a hot water bath on the kidney to bring those sides in a little bit? Should I bathe the butt plate a few more times to bring it in even more? Do I need to give the ab and chest a hot water bath to make it a bit more form fitting? It feels like I am so close to completing the main body of the armor. Butt Plate "Ripples" You can see the difference as the edges used to meet up. Test Fit Test fit with side snaps un done to show how close the butt plate sits without being snapped Thanks, M

Thanks Mario. Hows this look? I moved the buttons over a bit and the line is where I would cut. I would then cut a new notch as well. The button isn't exactly centered, but it is further away from the box. This would be the only way to also cut off the edge so there isn't as much of an "overhang" while I am wearing it. Right side Left Side Thanks, M

Yep. It's on with E-6000 so shouldn't be to much trouble to move it. I will wait to see what they say, but can do as you say. Move it over a little and trim a little. Thanks, M

Thanks Glen. I was actually considering trimming some off the edge as when I wear the belt it isn't completely flush. See below pics of what I mean and where I would cut. If I did those cuts the covers would be closer to the edge. If the "hang" is ok I can just move the buttons out. Thanks, M

I have the belt together now and so on to the drop boxes. Thanks, M

Thanks Glen. M

Filled in the holes on the ammo belt, repositioned it so it is centered and drilled the new holes. Here are the lines to be cut at 45 degrees meeting the edge of the belt. Question: Should the corners of the cut be rounded out a little bit or left pointed? Thanks, M

Made a post about fixing holes on ammo belt and asking if I needed to fill them in or if I could leave them and make cuts that were not perfectly centered, but decided to fill them in and center the belt properly and stop being lazy. Thanks, M

I did a full(ish) suit up and found that I definitely need to do something to the butt plate (already knew that) but I think I need to try and contour the sides of the ab and probably kidney and bottom area of the chest as well. For those reasons I am holding off on securing the rivets as much as I realllly want to. I will admit that once suited up it looked better and more symmetrical, I still think the ab, kidney and chest need to be contoured, but please give me any thoughts as well. I really am not sure the best way to do this given the size of the ab piece. Hot water? Heat gun? Or maybe once the side strapping is installed that would pull the sides in? See pictures below to show what I am kind of talking about. First picture is "normal", second is pushing the sides in where I think they need to come for a better look. Full suited of what I currently have without any "contour". I know butt plate is going to need lots of work. Any input would be very helpful. Thanks, M

I have added all the strapping to the front and back of my torso. I think I need to bring my backplate down a little bit as there is a bit of a gap between the back and kidney, but I am pretty happy with the rest of it. I did a test fit of the torso and see a few things that definitely need to be addressed, sooo many questions. First I think I need to shorten the strap between the cod and butt plate so it pulls the butt plate in a bit more. Second the butt plate really flares out. I was reading some other build threads and think I may need to do a hot water bath? I don't know if the "V" tabs will be enough? Third is that everything feels like it is just a little "big". It almost feels like everything needs to be tailored in a little. Maybe I need to put on the legs and arms as well, or maybe when the butt plate comes in it will feel and look better. As you can see I am pretty skinny which also probably plays a part since I am not wearing the legs and arms. I will also most likely need some padding around (already planing on thighs and arms). Lastly is the position of the back plate. Where it is in the picture feels right, but looking at pictures from the movies I think it may need to sit a little bit lower on my back? There is also that really big gap you can see when looking from the side (you can almost see all the way through to the other side) Should I wait to attach the kidney/ab rivets? Are some of these pieces going to need more work? Or is it really just the butt plate which I can detach from the kidney? If a full suit up of what I currently have would be helpful I can do that and post some pics. I could pretty much put everything on except my shoulder bells and bucket. Pictures of the Strapping Test Fit Pictures Thanks, M

Not to pile on, but I am in the same boat (ordered and paid in April, last comm was July). I would like to just ask if anyone has talked to him recently (last few months) and seen if he is ok? If so I am sure he will get orders out, but sounds like he may just be overwhelmed. His most recent E-11 post (end of June) was about how he had a "catastrophic failure" on the E-11's and had to remold them. This could be some of the reasoning, but agree better communication would alleviate a lot of this concern.

With the patching complete, I drilled and placed the rivets in the new positions. I have not added any of the elastic yet as I am finishing up the rest of the torso strapping, then will complete the strapping that goes with this. Once I attach the Ab side elastics, I will trim out the bottom corner to match with the kidney as @TKSpartan suggested and then complete the connection to the kidney. Here is how it looks now. Thanks, M

Thanks Mario! M

Awesome thank you Mario! I have marked where the new Ab side holes will be with the tops aligned and plan to trim along the red line. If I want to keep some of the extra return edge on the cod area is that ok, or does it need to be trimmed way down? Once holes are drilled I will clean up the area a bit more as the pencil smudged a bit and is harder to remove where it has been sanded. Thanks, M

Hey Mario, Thank you! See below a pic with the tops aligned best I could. Is that what you were looking for? Thanks, M

I also marked up where the new holes should go and would like to just double check they are correct this time so I do not have to do this again...ever. The dots would be where the hole is drilled following this guide. Once I paired the Ab and Kidney I noticed in order to line them up, I may need to trim the corner off the top. Is that ok to do? See pictures below and red line about where I would trim. Thanks, M

I made my ABS paste and filled in the holes following @kman tutorial on how to make it, @Morgi tutorial about how to apply it, and this link by @Ensi about how to shine. Thanks guys! I am not 100% happy, although pretty happy as I thought this would be a total disaster, with the result as you can still see rings where the holes were. Should I paint over that with white paint? I tested the paint on a piece of scrap and the colors are slightly different as the armor is more of a cream. I did multiple layers of ABS paste and sanding and every time I sanded the rings came back. Do I just need to do even more layers? Thanks, M

Thanks Luca! That link is very helpful

I was able to remove all the ab rivets and even managed to save one to use. Now I will sand the back down and need to head to the store to get some acetone to make some ABS paste. Should I fill where the indentation is on the front with paste as well? Question: I am guessing I will need to move the kidney rivets as well? I did these at the same time but thankfully the kidney had not been attached yet so I can pull the rivets out easily. Thanks, M

Hey Scott, Thanks for that. I think I will try a mixture of yours and using Kmans paste tutorial. I don't think I have a tool that I can cut out the circles with so may just do as Glen mentioned and secure a small piece of ABS onto the back and fill the hole with the paste. Thanks, M

Thanks Glen. As I am shooting for Centurion I should make those changes now, so thank you for the heads up. Do you think I can I pry the current rivets open and re use them or do I need to find some new ones?

Made some progress on the strapping and rivets. Thanks to @gmrhodes13 I was able to find a tool that worked to set my snaps. I use the Phillips head to split and then the snap tool for the rest, as Glen mentioned, and it works great. I added the 3 rivets to the side of the ab with the straps and added the holes to the side of the kidney, but decided to get my strapping set before attaching the rivets to the kidney. I also added the cod rivet and strap. And have the strap bases drying on the kidney and butt plate with the straps waiting to be attached. I am not using elastic as I hope this will help to pull the sides of the butt plate in as they looked like they were flaring out, although that was just with tape, when test fitting. Once those are dry I will get the strapping on for the back and kidney connection. If anyone see's anything that looks off please let me know. Thanks again Glen for the tip on the tool, very helpful. Thanks, M

Thanks Glen. I will check around and see if I can find one locally otherwise will try and order one.

Hey Guys, I am trying to make the strapping pieces and having trouble with the snaps. I am following @justjoseph63 tutorial and doing the double snap method. See below what tools I have, maybe I just need different ones? I am using line 24snaps. I saw @gmrhodes13 thread as well about setting them using a screw driver and I tried that way and still isn't really working, although that was the only way I was able to get to where I am at now. I used a Philips screw driver to try and open them up then tried using the tools I had, which did nothing, so tried using a bolt that fit inside to flatten everything and while one looks ok, the rest didn't really turn out (see pic). I can sometimes get one of them to snap together, but don't think it should require that much effort to snap them so I think I am either doing something wrong, or need some different tools. I am open to any suggestions. Thanks, M

Thank you Glen! I think I will leave off the screws for now and just do those that you mentioned need to be on there. M