rwmead10

More progress. I used the back plate and butt plate to line up the snaps on the kidney. Also glued the snap plates for the shoulder bells.

I guess I am rusty. After months of researching the measurements for the butt plate male snaps, I measured 5/8” and 1 3/8” and centered the holes. If you can see from my picture, I actually measured 1 3/16” which put the holes too close together...something i didn’t notice until after drilling the holes. After drilling the correct hole, you could see light through the extra hole that wasn't covered by the snap. So I got a leather punch, punched an ABS plug and used the snap to keep it in place. The process was infinitely more frustrating than that. Hopefully this passes approvals.

Well I’m back. Life has been crazy since my last post. On with the torso assembly. I cut some strips to help in gluing the snap plates. I am starting the strapping on the chest, back plate and shoulders.

I splurged and got a Quest Designs E-11 to upgrade my hasbro conversion. Does anyone know where to get the correct sized spring to add?

Do you have a picture of this?

Thanks for all the advice. Following Scimitar and Mayo’s builds, I made a snap plate template that is 1” X 2”. I marked the holes at the 1/2” mark and the 1.5” mark. Then I cut out the nylon from 2” webbing and used a soldering iron to make the post holes. Then using the Tandy leather line 24 setting tool and my vice anvil, I made 30 base plates.

I am planning on using the wingnut65 strapping diagram below I pulled from white armor.net. Do most people only use 2 straps for the ab/chest and back/kidney attachments? I’ve also seen 3 used.

Quick update: all return edges on the torso pieces are trimmed and ready for sanding. As I begin planning for snap plates, I wondered what most people use for the connector pieces. I have 2” white nylon webbing for the female snap plates and I got 2” elastic for the torso/forearms and 1” for the shoulder bell/biceps. I noticed that the builds I follow have nylon webbing for the torso straps. Which is preferred?

Do you have any issues with overlap on the back/kidney/rear pieces with 5mm return edge? I wasn’t planning on trimming them but it would help get me closer to movie size.

How much?

On to the torso! I am leaning towards removing all of the return edge on the top area if the abdomen. Is this recommended? Want to check before I make the cut.

I was able to bend the sniper knee plate using a hot water bath. I bent the left side up and the right side down in a sort of twisting motion described in other builds. I then clamped the middle and let dry for a few days and glued the sides down. The middle separated a little bit so I had to re-clamp to get it more straight. It isn’t perfect but it turned out better than expected.

The TD caps are on so tight I decided not to glue them. Hopefully that works out ok and I don’t lose one. The color is dark admiralty grey and is lighter in person.

The paint on the TD has finished drying so I began reshaping the clips included in the AP kit. I used paint sticks to keep from pinching them closed and my vise with plastic inserts to bend the clips. Then I used the vise to make a small bend 6mm from the end and then rounded the ends. I attached the clips to position the control panel And glued it on. I added a before and after comparison and the final products. I am thinking of using loctite on the screws so they don’t back out after I glue on the end caps. I don’t want the clips to come off and have to cut the end cap off in the fu