wook1138

Thanks! I just ran out and bought some 1" elastic. It has been -30°C to -40°C here for a few days - so leaving the house for supplies has become a nuisance - but... you know... for the Empire. I should be building snowtrooper armour. I guess I shouldn't complain, it has warmed up to -25 today.

Actually, now that you mention it - it is 3/4". I guess I could use something a little wider.

Dead centre it is. I might try cutting a slot to allow the elastic to wrap around the snap - that was my wife's suggestion. Otherwise, there is not a lot of elastic left after cutting around it - some, but not much. I've seen other builds where a notch is cut - not this bad though. I really have a talent for buggering things up extra good.

What should I do here? I was planning to just cut a hole in the elastic. Or should I move the snap?

Outstanding, Sean! Good luck.

The wife has imposed a build-ban until after Christmas. Something about spending attentive and quality time with family or whatever - I really wasn't listening that carefully as I just downloaded TrooperTalk and was trying to figure it out. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

A bit. Looks like I will need to cut notches in my elastics that connect my drop boxes as well. Thanks.

Everything you said in that paragraph is awesome.

That's worth a shot. I think I'm gonna steal another one of your ideas, Sean.

So I have a question about the belt - I think I messed something up. I used the measurements for drilling the holes in the ab as provided by ukswrath and others on this site - and I'm fairly close as far as i can tell. I centered everything. I've marked where the ABS connecting rivets will go and where the snaps should go (by holding the belt up to the ab). Now the snap locations are not perfectly centre - which is fine. But they seem shifted over. The backs of the female snaps that go on the canvas part of the belt are not completely behind the bump part of the ABS belt (if that makes sense). Will this cause an issue? Will the ABS not sit right on the canvas? I could drill new holes on the ab - which would be the only way to fix this.

Yeah, I guess it has been about 72 hours since I had to tear something apart and re-glue it - so I'm due. It pains me, as those were a bugger to get lined up. I guess good advice is not always good news Thanks!

That paint job looks great! I've been too terrified to do the stripes - that and I can't seem to find the time. Not something I want to rush.

No I didn't. I thought about adding some scraps and decided to just glue the strap on with lots of E-6000. Filling the void with E-6000 is a great idea. If (when?) they do come loose, then I will certainly try this. Thanks!

Great news, Sean. I'm sure it will happen before Feb. You'll probably be Centurion by Feb .

Awesome! Thanks guys!

Oh yeah, I started putting the strapping on (I'll go over that in more detail later) and I also started to install the snaps. I put line 24 snaps on the cod and the right ab snap. To make the snap bases sit flat and somewhat flush, you need to ream out the hole a little (I think they are 5/32" holes - Mark pre-drilled them so I'm guessing here). When I bought my lexan scissors they came with a reaming tool. It works like a charm. Just a couple of light turns and the snap base sits nice and flush. the tool. Nice clean bevel to the edge of the hole - kind of hard to see. This was probably two turns with very light pressure. Snap base just sitting on the plastic - not actually set yet.

I need some opinions here, please. I glued the ABS shoulder straps on to the chest plate. They are not symmetrical but seem to line up with the back plate ok. Is this passable? Also, I have a question about the holster - see below. And I replaced the black straps on the holster. I read someplace that I should use 7 to 8 oz leather. But the stuff I got looks way thicker than what was on there. Is this thick of leather going to cause issues? See second pic for comparison. On a good note, the straps were attached with Chicago screws so this was an easy fix.

Ha ha. Yeah, let's just say I had a choice of fingers to use for the picture. Thanks!

Hey Sean, I just saw this. I was thinking of getting this as well. Have you had a chance to use it out and about? Is the Aker amp you are using loud enough? How many watts?

Oops. Double post.

I puttered a bit today. The Loctite I ordered from Amazon arrived so I glued my latex hand guards on to my gloves (both from AP). I know people have had issues getting the latex or silicone guards to stick to the rubber gloves (or whatever they are made of). So I followed Sean's advice (which I think he got from Darthanael, who got his idea from FencingCorvetteTrooper, who got... anyway, you get the idea - this forum is great. And if you are building an AP kit, check out those threads - all really great builds). Anyway... I wasn't sure how well this would work, so I prepped my gloves in case I had to let this glue set up for awhile. I had some old rice that was past its prime, so I filled up the gloves with the rice. This is after I marked where I wanted the guard to go while wearing them, of course. The one on the left is done, the one on the right is not. By the way, the glue sets up really fast. I forgot to apply the primer to one of the guards and it did not adhere at all. I applied the primer, and within seconds the guards are bonded to the gloves - and anything else that might have some glue on it. yeah, that is a piece of the hand guard. I forgot my PPE. I usually wear gloves when using superglues - I forgot and paid the price. That is not coming off. True test for the hand guard.

That looks very slick. Nice work!

Arm strapping. I glued in nylon snap bases to the forearm and bicep. I followed the Billhags diagram and instructions. At first the forearm placement looked good. But when I bent my elbow, the elastic (1.5 inch) stuck out from the armor and the forearm moved around a bit. The front strips were not lining up. The elastic was too loose and the snaps allowed too much movement. The forearm was also dropping when my arm was bent. The strap was too close to the inside of my elbow. So for my right arm I just glued 3/4" elastic along the inside of the outside cover strip. See ukswrath's AM build. Anyway, it works much better now.

Decals? Thank God. I was starting to wonder if you were actually human. That is funny about the Sandtrooper. I was going to do a Sandtrooper right out of the gates - but I figured I should ease into it. I even built a DLT-19 (way back in early summer) with a sandtrooper in mind - or even HWT. I like the idea of weathering the kit - making it more unique or personnel. Here's to wives who are willing to put up with this nonsense... .