Harbinger

I make mine in a small (glass!) jar. Take scraps and cut them into ~1/4 x 1/4" squares, fill the jar with them, pour in acetone, put the cap on. Come back an hour later and stir, and I am usually good to go.

Is the plastic not dissolving? I would start by going to Home Depot (or equivalent) and getting industrial strength acetone. If that still doesn't do it, you may not have ABS.

Looks like the TFA kits should be shipping within the week according to that calendar. So my guess is we're going to get an email soon.

One of the owners used to post on the RPF but that was several years ago.

Good luck trooper.

Great problem solving Daniel, if you have to paint it anyways may as well chop away.

Looks like a lot of 3D printed parts. One of the reasons I've held out for Anovos is because KB and Jimmi (and others) have much softer details/asymmetry compared to the film or even pre-production Anovos FO suits, this is the first non-Anovos I've seen that has had nice sharp details. Can't wait to see it in person.

You will want to remove the return edges on both of those plates. They should ideally look like this:

Most people I know use these (from Home Depot):

I will add though, if you CAN make the changes to follow the proposed new CRL go for it. Your armor will be future proof AND more accurate.

Me too. Also we will probably be having an armor party in the next couple of months, you are more than welcome. I will let you know time/place once that gets agreed upon.

Thanks Dan, feels good to troop again, haven’t trooped in three months. At least I had FISD to fill the gap!

That sucks that it had to come to that, but I am glad that we will soon have a local FOTK.

I don’t use it (no electronics other than fan for me, for now) but our TB has it and it can add some nice ambiance when we are just standing around, he usually turns it off if it gets too crazy though.

I originally posted this in my Hero build thread, but I'm now reposting it here for more visibility: Hero Belt - Removable Holster w/ Snaps (HOWTO) As part of my effort to be able to avoid redundancy, I plan on swapping my holster between my hero and stunt belts. I would also like the option to swap out my E-11 holster for an SE-14R holster, or an imperial binder holder at some point in the future. I could just use the chicago screws I have been using, but I'm not a huge fan as 1.) they scratch up my kidney plate and 2.) they take time to remove and re-install. So, I present an alternative solution, using pop rivets and snaps to allow for easy removal while still staying screen accurate. Step 1: Using a 3/16" drill bit, manually drill out the center of a male snap fitting. I am using Tandy line 24 nickel plates snaps, but any snap of the correct size would probably do. Even though these snaps have a 3/16" center hole, it is just a tad too small to allow a similar sized pop rivet through the hole. Step 2: Place your snap on the inside of the belt (facing armor) and push a 3/16" aluminum pop rivet through the opposite side: (Thanks @Hoda!) Next, using a rivet gun, set the rivet inside the snap. Hold the snap and rivet tightly together as you start pulling the rivet through the gun - this ensures a nice snug fit with no gaps. The ball bearing may fall out, but the rivet should have deformed enough to hold the snap on tightly. You may need to use the snap setting tool to clean up/compress the interior if this happens. Step 3: Repeat four more times (or two, for a Stunt belt!). The end result should be something like this: Step 4: Mount female snaps to the holster as normal. The holster can now be snapped to the belt and removed as needed: I find the domed side is more resistant to scratching armor than the slotted heads of the chicago screws I was using previously. In may case, I'm re-using a holster I got second hand (came with the extra Anovos bits) so there were a few extra holes I didn't need. See my Stunt build thread for more details. So, there you have it. For any additional holsters, just repeat Step 4, making sure your holes line up with the snaps. I made a photocopy of one of the holster straps before installing the snaps so I can use it as a template down the road. If swapping between Stunt and Hero belts the uppermost snaps will sit behind the belt, un-used.

Here's a very brief overview of how to re-size thighs (or other armor, in my case it was thighs!) with a mix of scraps (always good to save what you can from trimming/assembly!) and some ABS paste. You will also need: * some spare ABS sheet (you can but it online, some use "For Sale" signs) * glue (E6000 or other) * sandpaper in several grits (I used: 80, 150, 320, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500) * a dust mask (ABS dust is probably bad for you) * ABS polish (Novus is what I used) In this case, I had to add several inches to my thighs, but this should work for biceps or other parts as well. The first thing I did was disassemble my thighs. I chose to do this in the back as they are flatter and thus less work would be needed (easier to find scraps to fit) and any gaffs (ABS paste isn't perfect!) would be less visible. I did a quick fit of my thigh armor to determine how much I would need to add, and then cut some spare ABS sheets to span the gap with an inner shim. I then used a heat gun and a large pot (that I use to fry turkey once a year) to give them a gentle curve so they would conform to my existing thigh curve - this will help with assembl versus gluing them on straight, which would probably work but may also add more stress to the gaps we'll be filling. I didn't take pictures here, but the process is simple. Lay your ABS sheet on the side of something round, heat it up with a gun (or an oven in a pinch) until it gets soft, it will start to "bend" and conform to the shape it is sitting on, take it nice and slow being careful not to scorch the plastic. Another quick test fit with the curved sheets to make sure everything still was good to go, then onto the next step: (Note: I used E6000 for all glueing in this process as it's easy to remove if you mess up and also somewhat flexible, but you could use the adhesive of your choice such as ABS cement.) Next, you will need some to rummage though your trimmings/scraps and find some bits and pieces that will work to span the gap you need to cover. You will also need some ABS paste: What is ABS paste? In summary, it is ABS shavings mixed with acetone to form a slurry that can be used to fill gaps and sanded/polished to help minimize gaps. There is a great article that goes into depth on how to make and use it here: (Quick note: I like to make small batches of ABS paste as I have noticed (and heard from others) that it can discolor over time, make just as much as I plan to use within 1-2 days just to be safe.) I went through my bag of scraps and found some bits that would work (3 per thigh, with a slight gap that should be covered by the cover strips). I had to modify a couple parts as they were originally from my shin armor so the curves were wrong, a little help with some pliers and a heat gun fixed them right up. Here they are after some slight trimming to fit, being glued down to the inner shims: After both thighs had dried, I trimmed the top and bottom of each thigh so they were flush with the existing curves, then put down a rough coat of ABS paste, using a combination of a toothpick and a razorblade to spread it out and shove it into the grooves. It helps to leave a millimeter or two so you have space for the paste, otherwise trying to force it into a hairline gap is very, very hard. I then sanded them down with some 80-grit sandpaper, then did another coat of ABS paste to fill in pockmarks, holes and goofs (not pictured). Here is my thighs after two rounds of sanding and filling, in this picture I am in the process of using 150-grit sandpaper on my left thigh (wear a mask!), you can still see the gooey ABS paste mess on the right thigh: Once I was happy with the results and was seeing no more low spots (in my experience it is near impossible to get rid of every small hole) I went on to increasingly finer grits of sandpaper, moving to wetsanding somewhere around 1000 grit: There is a great guide with more information here: After working my way up to 2500 grit, I then switched to Novus plastic polish. This is a two-stage polisher, here are my thighs after about half an hour of polishing: After that it all I had to do was re-attach the rear cover strips and I was ready for trooping: In summary - I wish I'd trimmed them correctly the first time, but this was a good learning experience and hopefully this will help others avoid the same mistake.

Haven't had much time to troop or build armor (busy summer!), however I did work on my armor in anticipation of this weekend's 3-day Balloon Race troop. PSA: When trimming your thighs, trim for height FIRST. Thighs are a cone. Cones work like this: For future reference, I suggest trimming for width (circumference) first: I did not do that, and so my thighs have always been just a little too tight. I can force them on, but they sit lower than I'd like and I have zero room for comfort (or weight gain). I finally addressed that over the past couple weeks, so with that in mind:

Fans are great, if yoy have a beard wear a balaclava or keep it short or they will rip your hair out.

You can find them on eBay or Aliexpress pretty cheap, there are also a few sellers on Mazon last time I checked. Just search for white ABS sheet, however be aware the color may not match.

Working on a project, if anyone has a nice 1”x1” or larger, flat piece of scrap RT-Mod plastic (left over cover-strip or similar) they are willing to part with, please PM me. Thanks in advance.

This is how I did mine too. Helps a lot. Nice tote.

Yeah, best to take it a little at a time. Harder to add it back (I learned the hard way!). Good job so far.

TM is darker but they are probably “close enough”.

The Anovos helmet should already have S trim. Mic tips should be fine as well, but if you have an older one the screen mesh is too fine (fixed on new kits).