REAPERofDAISYS

Boots arrived today! Picked these up off the ol interwebs for about $30. Saved a couple bucks and I just need to paint them. Unfortunately having them showed me that I cut both of my shins WAY to small. Luckily my right will only need a few mm and can easily be covered by the cover strip. Not so lucky with the left. It’s beyond too small. So I’m going to have to shim it back out. So I’m just wondering now if I need to shim both sides, or if I could just put the shim on the inside or outside and only have one seam to deal with? Here is about how much I will need to shim it out. (Maybe 2-3mm less) Also pretty sure I’m going to have to redo the sniper knee now as well. The shins have turned into my Achilles’ tendon. Any advice is appreciated as I’m trying to avoid making this into a bigger problem than it already is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I tried that, but unfortunately if I make the chest to shoulder straps longer the back gets so low and it looks even worse. So I’m gonna leave it alone for now and see how it looks when the build is done. Maybe when the whole thing is together I’ll see a different way to get the gap smaller. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

More with the belt while I wait for E6000 to dry on the main body. Ive looked around the centurion forums and decided to remove all return edge from the top and bottom. I also shortened the ends about 12mm. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Made my belt today. I filled the inside of the belt with a random material I found at the fabric store. (Can’t remember what it’s called) It’s like half felt and plastic. It’s pretty stiff while still being easy to sew. Unfortunately I was a few inches short so I added a double layer of the white denim in the middle to get the extra length. Then I sewed the denim around the middle of the belt. After that I wrapped it completely around and pinned it in place, before sewing along the black marks. After that I cut the denim to leave about 1/2” extra. I ironed that over so it was easier to sew, then sewed that over itself so there won’t be any frayed edges showing. Lastly I flipped back to the front side and sewed the last edge to the edge I just sewed wrapping it all up nicely. It isn’t perfect but I’m happy with it. Still need to do the Velcro and rivet the ABS front to it. But that will be another day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That makes a lot of sense. I will just leave it long for now and probably do the same then. Not with my boots yet. I have them ordered and on the way. But still waiting for them to show up. Which is why I haven’t finished trimming the backs of the shins yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have looked at a lot of EIB and centurion ATA builds. From what I can tell they all have that curve that you see in mine. Unfortunately mine does seem a bit more extreme. My biggest problem with reshaping the back is I’m also skinny so it limits the directions I’m able to bend the material without looking even wonky’er due to being 6’ 150lbs. On another strange armor question. My shins. The right shin on the outside piece it sticks down almost 2” more than the other. The left shin doesn’t do it, so I think it should just be trimmed. Just wanted to check if this was supposed to be this way? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got my thigh garters made today. Took some trial and error on my part using a sewing machine. (Haven’t touched one since middle school) But using justjosephs63 style with Velcro I finally finished them up. And I’m pretty happy with how my thighs are sitting with them. For the belt I used some leftover 2” nylon and wrapped that in some denim material to be a little less likely to slip. Not the prettiest thing ever, but it gets the job done, and it’s completely covered by the armor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I’ve done a bit more adjusting and it’s a bit better but still won’t get higher levels of approval in my opinion. In these pictures my chest is as high as it will go without... talking in a higher voice. I’m hoping I can find a better way to fix this than shimming the back piece about an inch or so. Basically same premise as when people shim the ab to kidney. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That actually sounds like it will make it way easier, thanks for the advice! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mixed up some ABS paste and am starting out on the thigh behind the ammo belt to get a feel for it before I do anymore. As you can see a little accidentally touched the cover strip and it ate off the shine before I could wipe it off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So my back is giving me a lot of trouble. Too much gap between it and the kidney. Also doesn’t stay close to my body. I’m gonna have to give it some serious water baths, and probably redo most of the straps to fix it unfortunately. From what I can tell I’m basically going to have to reform it to be almost straight, removing all curve from it vertically. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I also used a pencil to mark center on both parts of the helmet, that way when I’m moving it around to find the right placement I know it’s still centered. And not that you want to cut more off. But I had to remove about 3-4 mm from the brow to lower the back shell down for the look I wanted. Good luck, but seriously be careful where you cut, I almost removed too much from a couple spots that would have been hell to fix. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a similar issue with my bucket and also had to take it apart. I found getting the shells as close together near the tubes helps a lot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Getting the shoulder straps glued on. I’ve seen it somewhere where a trooper recommended putting something to fill the empty gap in them to hold better. So I got some scraps and threw them under with E6000 on both sides. Really I’m just hoping they don’t shift at all from where I placed them. Either way I have plenty of E6000 to clean off the chest after smearing the straps all over. Other progress. Got the arms pretty well strapped together. I will have to tighten the shoulders some more I’m sure. But otherwise should be good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Now that I’ve gotten it trimmed down it seems like it won’t have any issues bending. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I’m onto the belt. Was going for 60mm on the sides but decided to bump it down to 50mm. Is it recommended to give the belt a bit of a water bath to shape it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So i decided I couldn’t stand my bucket anymore. Took it completely apart. (Rivets and all) to get it looking better. I’m super happy with It now. I lowered the brow a tad, gave it a slight bow up in the middle, and got the ears fitting waaaay better. Before After Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just got my single cap rivets from justjoseph63. So I’ve started on the thigh ammo pack. First I gave the ammo pack a nice run over with some boiling water and shaped it pretty close to its final form. The right side seems about right as is and only needs to have the curve cut out. The left seems to need just an inch or so cut then the curve cut as well. For placement I put the joint from the thigh between two of the bumps in the ammo pack. Pretty happy with how it’s lining up. But I think I will put a small piece of ABS behind the small slit to help hide the gap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Started on strapping. Using double snap system. E6000 to glue the female snaps to the armor, clamp it in place (turns out they slide pretty bad if you don’t) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That isn’t required even for L3. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Depends how large you need it. If your arms fit as it currently is you should be able to use the ‘butt and joint’ method to glue it together. Here is how I did my ATA forearms. ------------ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just received my split rivets from justjoseph63 and am ready to install them. They will be 100% just for looks as I’m using the double snap method completely for interior strapping. I measured 10mm in from the top and the bottom, and 10mm in from the side. Just wanted a second opinion that these spots look correct? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m looking for a 9.5 US. I should just go with TKboots. Originally I was going to try to save a few dollars but it’s turning into way to much of a headache to save a couple bucks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input. I’m gonna pass on these and continue looking around. Probably going to get in on the next wave of imperialboots. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Little more progress. Got the chest pretty much trimmed completely. And started trimming the shoulders. Can’t decide if I should remove all of the return edge from the shoulder or not. Also painted my ab buttons. Two coats seem to be enough but I may try to sand lightly with 1000 grit then and add another layer of paint to see if they smooth out a bit. Hard to tell from the picture but the paint is quite uneven. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk