Kredal

Ahhhh! It is! I didn't have my usual handler (wife) with me for the photoshoot. Note to self: mount a mirror inside the armor case and carry around a hand mirror. (:

I used the new AM2 armor, chest and all, and have submitted my Centurion application, with the recommendation of the guy who gives the final approval. I fully expect to be the first Centurion using the AM2 kit without trading out parts. Cristian, this is the second thread (at least) you've posted in saying that the AM chest is bad. And it's the second thread I'm responding to, saying that it's not anymore. The new mold is perfectly acceptable, and doesn't look like "robot boobs". You have the right email address, it can take him a couple days to respond... I'm not sure he does the email thing on the weekend. Here's my Centurion request thread with full AM2 armor (except for the ears, because I did a Hero suit and not Stunt) http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32605-tk-44678-requesting-anh-hero-centurion-status-am2/ Other than my ... heft... it's about as accurate as you're going to get, I think. I had to trim down everything except for the kidney and ab pieces, which fit around me like a glove with my bellah.

Don't rivet the sniper knee! The tutorial here is probably several years old, and the doesn't represent the latest research into Sniper Knee Technology. (:

1) It's really hot! I was dressed inside with air conditioning and I was still sweating. I hope to have fans installed inside the helmet but we'll see how that goes. --Yes, it's hot in the suit. Make sure you hydrate a lot before wearing it for any appreciable amount of time. 2) Like Luke said in ANH, "I can't see a thing in this helmet!" It's true! I can slightly turn my head side to side but to tilt my head forwards or backwards is really difficult. I can see straight ahead but if a child should be standing right in front of me, it's possible that I might not see him. --Hopefully, you'll have other troopers around, and will be able to alert each other to small people. Barring that, try looking out the teeth holes? 4) It's really difficult to put this on by myself. Perhaps I need to re-think the process of suiting up but the more pieces I put on, the more limited my range of motion becomes. You can see that the belt is crooked and it's really difficult to reach back there and pulling it tight without it looking crooked. --I think I've gotten the order of operations down pretty well for putting it on myself. Thighs and thigh-belt, boots, calves, core, white belt, TD, arms, gloves, helmet. Your milage may vary. And remember, you should never troop alone, so you'll always have a handler or another trooper around to help you put your belt on tight and straight, and then attach your TD and arms if you need help. Your cod-butt snap is up to you, unless you really like your handler. (: 5) I'm not certain if I would be able to kneel or sit in this thing. The tops of the thighs cut into my groin if I attempt to raise my legs and if I try to sit, they cut me into the backs of my knees. Perhaps, they're too long. --Don't expect to be able to sit or kneel. If you sit, you're sitting on your TD and buttplate, which is bad. If you kneel, there would be a ton of stress on your sniper plate. Stormtrooper armor is standing room only. (: 7) The chest plate is riding too damn high! You can see from the front pic that there's a huge gap between the chest plate and the AB plate. The elastic loops are starting to loose their strength and I'm thinking that I can fix this issue by shortening the elastic loops on the brackets that I've installed. --That was the first thing I noticed. (since it was the main thing wrong with mine...) I solved it by putting a non-elastic strap between two snap plates in the center of the chest and ab. You can see it over on the left here. It will cause your back to pull up some, or stretch out your shoulder straps more, depending on where the tension goes. You won't know until you try it on... but at least you won't see daylight under your chest plate!

Check out the ammo pack pictures on my Centurion app. I put the outside edge where it needed to go, which centered the middle box over the seam, and the inner side just went where it would go to. Short of stretching the plastic or cutting down the front of your armor to nothing, it's going to end up where it ends up. I think the biggest thing is getting the middle box centered on the leg, which it sounds like it is on yours.

Sniper knee looks great from the side. Just a lot of daylight under the front. Probably not a big deal. (: Yes, the black stripes are meant for around the ear. But since you have to paint them grey anyway... May as well paint the black too. I don't care for the decal look anyway. (: What are the black straps sticking out at your elbows?

I would resubmit, just to have more eyes on it, to verify that it meets the criteria.

Your snaps are fine. Don't need the extra decoration there... unless you really want to make your butt look pretty. (:

Those are Dritz 5/8 inch snaps from Joanns. (:

You should take off the S-trim until the ears are in place and finalized. Then fit the S-trim over the bottom part of the ears... after trimming down any pokey bits. For the sniper plate, if possible, I would keep the inside edge glued, and re-do the outside edge, pressing it further back on your leg.

Make sure the foam you get is high density. Otherwise, it will compress down to nothing when you put your arm in.

For the little button panels, you only need the bottom ones for the belt? Cut them on the lines. (:

Find the center point of the belt, top to bottom. Measure up and down 1.5 inces from there, and draw lines on the 45 degree angle frome those points.

Yup, cut the backs like you're putting on a normal cover strip, but then only glue it to the outside half! Ideally, without velcro, you should be able to close up the halves and it will look like a finished piece. Then run velcro hook side on the inside of the cover strip, and loop side down the outside edge of the other half, just far enough out that it will be covered by the cover strip.

Tops of the shins look like they're in the right place (or at least the right neighborhood...) just need to get rid of some of that jagged return edge. (:

A "safer" option is just cutting down the center of the inner strip, leaving them in place, resizing, cutting right through the strips where you need to, and gluing in (with E-6000!) new strips when you have resized your forearms.

As for the back of your thighs, I'd try to make the cut in the red line here, so they are more symmetrical.

I don't think I would take anything off the bottom of the shins. What I would do, is get rid of a LOT of the return edge at the top, including all of it in front of your knee, so it's not slicing into your kneecap. Wear boots whenever you try on the calf armor so you know exactly where it will sit with boots on. (Wrap some blue tape around the top of the boots if you're worried about the unsanded calf armor scratching it up) I'd also do away with the outward-facing return edge on the back of the calf before trying it on and figuring out where to cut for size. That edge looks like it would mess with your measurements like crazy.

Hey, while you guys are over here, I just posted my Centurion request thread. Go check it out! http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32605-tk-44678-requesting-anh-hero-centurion-status-am2/

Then it really would have been Star Wars porn!

Mandatory Information Armor = AM 2.0 Helmet= AM 2.0 (ATA ears) Blaster= Doopydoo with T-Jay kit EIB thread: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32391-tk-44678-requesting-anh-hero-eib-status-am2488/ Optional Height = 6' Weight = 235 lbs Boots = Imperial Boots Canvas belt = TKittell Hand Plates = Rubber from Trooperbay Electronics= Aker amp Neck Seal = Veedox Holster = Darman I've made a lot of changes to my armor since applying for EIB, so there will be mostly new pictures with just a few old ones. Full body front Full body back Full body right Full body left Right side detail Left side detail Gloves (and rubber handplates) Shoulder bridge with elastic strap Thigh pack attachment (inside and out) Sniper knee (inside and out) Drop box backs cod/butt detail Helmet front, side, back Hovi tip Lens color and shape (bubble) Ammo belt inside Neckseal Blaster left, right, and D-ring Thermal Detonator back Couple action shots Internal strapping Abdomen detail I gotta say, getting the feedback from the EIB thread, and making the changes requested there, have made this armor fit me SO MUCH better than I thought possible. Hopefully these new pictures show what an ideal suit of armor on a larger frame looks like. Thank you for your consideration!

http://i.imgur.com/HJcVZjEl.jpg The arm on the right side of this picture shows where I have my forearm straps now. Right inside the elbow, and just enough outside the armor to keep them from binding up.

Oh, I got it just fine. (: I'm not THAT young!

So I was studying EIB and Centurion applications, and my wife looked over at the screen and said "Oh, you're looking at Star Wars porn." And then she reminded me of a picture that she took, and that a friend edited... That picture is below for your consideration.

Congrats, welcome to the club! (: