SupRsloth

My snaps came early so I got to work on finishing the arms. Added the bell to shoulder strap connection. Added snap plates for more firm connection between the bell and biceps as well. Made the straps to go in between and just need to wait for the glue to dry. All I have left now is to put the 7 holes in my new belt, add the two snaps, and connect the holster etc. to the belt. My checklist is almost completely done!

So close to being ready to submit for 501st application! Can't wait. Couple more shots of the torso section. Gluing on the forearms Extra snaps should arrive on Wednesday so I can complete the shoulder bell to shoulder strap connection. Then I'm pretty much done. Can't wait.

Last work for the weekend..... Made clips for biceps to retain the shoulder bell elastic and added the elastic to the shoulder bell. Also added the elastic for the bicep to forearm connection. I'm out of snaps so I can't finish the arms this weekend. Off to the wonderful world of MIT homework for the rest of the day.

Thanks for the compliment sir. Couldn't hurt to try a Sharpie. [emoji1] Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Found one other issue today.... Took the tape off my gloves/hand guards and found that I had a few spots where CA glue spread beyond the hand guard. Is there a way to remove the CA from the rubber gloves without damaging the rubber? It kind of sticks out and doesn't look so great. Picture of one of the spots is on the top side in the picture near my thumb.

Got the internal strapping done today minus the right side (I'm holding the right side together in the following pictures) and did a test fit. Found a couple of issues. Front Left Side Rear View of the internal strapping The posterior wants to ride up. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm thinking maybe I need to use canvas straps instead of elastic to hold it tighter, or do I just make shorter elastic straps to pull it in? I also noticed that the right shoulder strap was not sitting how I would have liked so I'v since rotated it slightly and re-glued to the chest. Final work for the day... glued on the ab buttons. I think I need to touch up the paint after I'm done with everything.

Sorry folks didn't intend to start a battle just trying to get clarification so I can pick a direction and keep going on my very first build. Appreciate the feedback. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

So I'll start the discussion here Tony suggested made sense to post here since no one else has. I had to ad 1 1/4 inch shims to the kidney to get the armor to match properly with my ab piece due to my evidently larger than expected TK gut. Reference the picture below and obviously I still need to sand down and polish the ABS paste. I did the shims as simple as I could.... Question is do I need to extend the shims down and recreate the 22x22 notch forward on the kindey to meet centurion level? I don't think it will be a big deal but don't want to do the work if I don't have to. I still have enough other stuff to do my build. but definitely want to make sure I do it right the first time... Any thoughts? FYI... My build thread can be found here if interested. I've got all the major pieces complete except for updating my belt and completing the strapping.

And finally I went to town on all of the internal snap brackets. I did double snaps in the front and single snaps in the back. No super good reason for the difference. I think it may have been the fact that I've learned that making snaps is not what I consider fun. Also got the latex hand gaurds glued on in the top right corner of the above picture. And finally started making the internal strapping. The strap at the top was my first attempt. Notice the buttons look out of place but are positioned correctly on the opposite side. I found that adding a bit of tape to the anvil kept the button from wandering. The one on the bottom after this trick turned out much better. Learning as I go.

After that I started with the snap fun. I'm primarily using Tandy Line 24 snaps but did use the ANOVOS supplied ones in a few places. The right upper ab and the two snaps on the posterier.

Got quite a bit more work done today. First put on my ABS paste in the shims as well as the belt rivet covers and also some other places that had some small cracks. The consistency was pretty good. I'll let it dry and then looks like I have lots of sanding to do.

Thanks for the feedback sir. I'll grab some foam and see if that helps out with the sniper knee. I did do a bit of a cut out on the back of the thighs and the shins as well. Look alright?

Pretty much finished all the lower body components. Finished my thigh garter. First time using a sewing machine since home economics in middle school. It took me forever to get the machine set up. My wife and I had a good laugh , but I think it turned out all right. Suited up the full bottom half. Finally starting to feel like a trooper. Couple of issues that I could use some advice on. The shins seem to want to bight in around my knees. I still have quite a bit of return edge that could be removed. Any other suggestions on how to fix that? Also my sniper knee seems to want to wander under the thigh armor. I think I can round off the edge on my thigh that is a bit too long but I'm thinking I'll still have the problem. Any tricks for fixing that?

Made a little more progress so far this week. Sniper knee in place. Also installed the Velcro on the back. I've taped the shins closed in hopes that will help the back closures sit a bit more flat. I think they are OK but the flatter the better. Also started on my garter system for the thighs. Currently gluing on 3 inch elastic and will get them sewn to a cheep tactical belt tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback all! I'll give it a shot sometime this week and share the results.

For making the ABS paste I'm planning on putting some small scraps of ABS in a baby food jar as I've seen others do. Any suggestions on how much acetone I need to add? Do you just try a little and see what happens?

Decided to work on updating the belt today. Got all the covers off with little damage to the plastic on the plastic ammo pouches. Glued on some scrap ABS to fill the holes to have something to drill new clean holes in when I remount on my new TKittell belt. However there was a bit of damage to the rivet covers..... I'm thinking I can just fix the small hole with a bit of ABS paste that I will be making to cover the seam in my kidney shims.... However not sure how to fix the bubbles that formed on the middle piece when that one got a bit too hot. Any suggestions?!?!?

Got some more done Saturday. Finished gluing the thighs and shins and did a final sanding with the dremel of all glued parts that I previously did. I think I'm finally done with the bulk of the plastic dust! Glad I've been using a dust mask. Did a test fit of the ab, kidney, chest, back and butt pieces and found that I'm just a bit to large in the belly. I could suck it in and get the ab and kidney to fit together but that definitely would not be too comfortable. Added the ammo pack to the thigh and painted the rivets. Started working on my shims for the kidney piece. The only scrap I had left was pretty warped. Gave it a hot water bath and used the kids Harry Potter books and a cookie sheet to flatten the two shims out. They aren't completely flat but should be close enough. And finally glued on some inside cover strips to the kidney for mounting the shims after I get the return edges bent in.

Progress for the weekend. I finished front and back cover strips on the thighs and front cover strips on the shins. Also had my next big mess up. My left thigh ended up 1/2" larger than the right. Not sure how I missed that measurement so badly.... Since I've been using E6000 it's been a pretty easy fix. Pulled the rear cover strip off, trimmed the extra 1/2" off and reapplied the cover strip. Good as new and both thighs now fit and look the same. I'll post fitment pictures after I get the rear cover strip and Velcro on the shins. Sorry for the blurry picture. Also got the thermal detonator put together. Used leftover screws from my E11 build in place of the Anovos hardware. Also did a hot water bath for the end caps to get them to slide on easily to the tube. Also painted the screws black. Going for Centurion out of the box. Fingers crossed I'm doing a good enough job. Overall I think it looks pretty good. Also so that I didn't have the center plastic piece centered on the tube after posting this picture! Guess this is my screw up day. Have since removed and re-centered to correct this....

Awesome pictures! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

All you can do is give it a try. Be very careful. I was super nervous that I would crack it. Removing the return edge and going slow and firm seemed to do the trick. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Double post

The pictures are with the but, kidney, and back all where they should sit with little to no gap so I'm definitely low enough. I'll also clean up the curve. Just did a first rough pass. Thanks for the feedback sir!

Final Progress update for the week. Started test fitting the torso pieces and found that the back piece didn't sit correctly. Thanks to Tony's build for the tricks I trimmed out a bunch of the return edge, gave a hot water bath and bent the top portion on both sides up a bit. Before pictures. (obviously I was holding the chest piece to high as well.....) After pictures. Does this look good enough or do you think I need to bend more? (worried that it will start cracking if try to do too much more......

Progress update 2 for the week. Next I started working on the thighs. Got the right thigh test fit, cut and front cover strip installed. Had issues with the left thigh. The front area for the cover strips is not very flat and I ended up having to take the cover strip off after gluing as I couldn't get it to sit flat. So I tried again and installed on half the thigh to see if that will help. Anyone else have this issue? Any other ways to help make the surface a bit flatter to install?