Bullseye

More progress. With limited time last night I initially thought I’d just cut and prepare my snap plates for the arms. After cutting 10 1”x1” plates, burning the edges, and setting the snaps, I realized I had a little more time than I thought. I grabbed my my left shoulder bell, bicep, and forearm and tried to do some rough measurements. I can get the distance between 1 1/2” to 2” comfortably. Not sure if that’s okay or not. One thing that stood out was that the bell wasn’t really fitting over the bicep. Part of that is me needing to hot water bathe and reshape the bicep from an oval to a circle. Another part is the return edge. (See above). Should I take that edge down further to maybe 2-3mm? While trying to properly measure the complete arm I realized the until I knew where the bell was going to sit, my measurements were going to be off. So I took a final look at Tony’s AM build shoulder section and put the front and back of the armor on the work bench. Grabbing my ruler, a pencil, and the back plate with the should strap attached, I measured three inches on the white elastic and marked it. Next using painters tape, I wrapped the elastic at the 3” mark, and then using that marking attached the back plate to the front with more painters tape at the marking. 3”. I’m pretty happy with the result. Obviously I need to sand, trim and create the top return edge for the shims, but the fact that everything is lining up is pretty exciting. One thing that’s coming up is my kidney shim is legit, unbent 2mm abs. As such, it’s stronger and less willing to bend than the rest of the suit. Any suggestions on safe ways to bend the shim inward toward the ab plate would be appreciated. To to keep things simple and moving along, like going to use snaps for the shoulder bell connectors to the shoulder elastic. My understanding is that using snaps there won’t effect EIB or Centurion approval. It’s just a personal preference for canon accuracy. I still need to mock up the shoulder bridges at this length, so I’m hoping this fits the length of the bridge. Once the shoulder straps and bridges are confirmed in their final positions, I’ll do the setting and snapping along with the center snap for the shoulder bells. Once those are in place I’ll be able the gauge how much length I can squeeze out of the bell/bicep overlap. Getting close!

Thanks. I was looking at Tony's build and I wasn't sure if there were required lengths of strapping. I'll test fit the forearms, biceps, and bells tonight and use painters tap to mark distances. Single snaps this time for the arms!

Progress over the weekend. Using the advice everyone was kind as kind enough to post I got to work preparing the internal straps for the armor rigging. I had my missteps. My original measurements were too short, so I ended up with the butt and kidney mashed together. Regrouping, I remeasured and made a second set of straps. This is goes back to my rant on snaps. They have to be just right or they won’t work. Spit the post to far, it will jam in the snap rung, do t do it enough it won’t hold. I’m glad I got the 100 pack because it seems like I’ll use all of them before this is over. Needing to begin the shoulders I cut four 2” x 1” snap “plates” and set in the snaps. Measuring two seven inch 2” wide strips of white elastic, I folded the edge over by an inch, glued it down, soldered the holes with my jig, and set in the snaps. They’re ready to be measured once the rest of the rigging is done. I intentionally cut them long and left them unfinished. Once I do a painters tape dry fitting, I'll be able to get the distance correct, overlap the elastic on the chest snaps, punch a guide hole in the elastic into the snap, then burn the hole with a soldering iron, overlay the extra, cut, seal, and snap in the female aspects. Same process for the back straps. The result: There's a little more gap than I’d like, but I’ll see how it fits before I worry about re-strapping it. As discussed Friday, I decided that it made more sense to move the pec chest snaps up from the original position I placed them at. I made new snap plates for the new position, and I was over zealous with the hammer. As a result the snaps wouldn’t connect. It took me an hour to figure out why. I’d “over split” the snap posts on the male and female aspects. As a result, they wouldn't connect. I redid them and finally got everything to snap together. The chest: All in all, I’m happy with the progress. One thing that made life easier was to due the straps one end at a time; meaning I’d fold and snap set one end and leave the other long and unfinished. Snapping the finished end into the set snaps and letting the unfinished end drape over the bottom snaps. I’d mark the snap position with a silver sharpie and then used the soldering iron and my jig to burn the holes where I’d marked them. Then glue, set and snap. Another thing that helped, breaking in the snaps first. After setting the female snaps I set and unset the a half dozen times in one of the male snap plates I’d pulled off. Made a world of difference. Next step is to measure and set the shoulders. Hopefully, that shouldn’t be to rough given what I’ve learned to date. Once my split rivets arrive, I’ll tend to the ab and kidney shim. The next headache is the arm strapping. Are there required lengths for the straps or required gaps for the space between the armor? I’ve got 37” arms, so I want to be sure of how much of a gap I can have between the bottom of the bicep and the top of the forearm.

Thanks again Justin! I'll be working on this tonight.

Thanks Justin. My initial thought was double snaps, but I started second guessing. I'm going to set the back plate snaps in place tonight (along with the integrated elastic loop). Looking at the photos you posted, I think I got the idea from one of your earlier posts on the forum. So thanks!! A question on the length of the strap. I've been referencing Tony's AM build for the shoulder strapping. He has the distance between the back and shoulder as set forth in the photo below: I wasn't sure if the 80mm gap was what I should be shooting for or if there's a limit to how far I can stretch the distance between back and chest. I know the Bridge needs to be able to reach the back and free float. The bridge here is the big bump plus two bumps before the edge of the chest. I understood three bumps to be the minimum. Obviously, that extra bump is a few extra millimeters I can work with and use (as a bigger trooper), and the impacts the length of the strapping underneath. As you've got pre set strapping kits, I want to know if you based that should gap on a set figure. Thanks for this suggestion also. I think I'm going to reset the pec snaps as you indicated. When I put them on I didn't understand the rational on the Billgrams and other examples for having them so high. Now I know. Again, really really appreciate your thoughts on all this. Additionally, shout outs to Mario, Dan, Q, AJ, Darren, Tony, and everyone else for their help. Y'all are amazing!

Progress continues. Given some free time last night I set to the internal rigging of the armor. My goal is to complete the rigging of both the back and front so that I can properly measure the sides for their final cuts, split rivets and rigging. Using a tailor’s tape measure and my metal ruler I tried to keep everything in line. And charted on the armor how long each strap would need to be. By the way, Snap setting is miserable work, as is gluing them in place. Just wanted to get that out there in the ether. That said, the progress was palpable. I’d previously set a bunch of double snaps in nylon, so I used E6000 and painters tape to secure them in my pre measured and pre marked spots. The photo below was meant as an example. I actually took the top end of the tape off, so that I could accurately gauge the spot mark for the strip. Having the tape on the sides and base was key. It allowed me to set the snap in place immediately and secure it there once I liked the spot. I didn’t have to go fumbling for tape or reset the thing if it moved while I was fumbling around. After it was in place with the sides and base taped down, I put the top tape strip on and a narrow strip down the middle for pressure on the center of the strip and adhesion. I’d set the front snaps for the ab and chest earlier. I'm not as happy with this, but I can always re-do it later as necessary. The photo make this look a little off kilter, but everything is even. With my split rivets on the way, I’m going to cut, put in the snap caps, and cure the strapping tonight. The only thing after that is to do the shoulders, and then I’ll be able to better judge the kidney shims and finalize the trimming. As as a practical matter, is it better to do a single snap or double snap for the shoulders? Also, is it better to glue down the back plate end of the shoulder fabric to the back plate or to use poppers/snaps? Single snap would seem to give more freedom of motion for the strap and allow the armor to sit flush on the shoulders. That said, it’s not going to be as strong as a double snap which would allow more support and put less stress on a single point. This would be the same for gluing it down directly to the armor (back plate only). Downside would be that you’re locked in to how the strap sits. Just trying to get my plan of attack on place. Thanks again everyone.

With rivet time coming up I wanted to confirm the distances for the rivet placement. I understand that on the LEFT SIDE the holes should be 10mm in from the edge of the LEFT Ab and the LEFT Kidney. I also understand that the top hole on the ab and kidney should be 20mm down from the top edge, the bottom hole should be 10-15mm up from the bottom edge of the Kidney and the ab edge (not the crotch), and the middle hole equidistant between the top and bottom rivet holes. Thanks in advance for confirming.

Repairs waiting to be set. I used the excess from my shim trimming to make bottom shims to fill in the bottom kidney plate notch I’d mistakenly left out. After trimming off the ragged edges I left the new notch shim a little long than the kidney plate at the bottom so I could trim it later (no sense in cutting until I’m sure I’ve got it right). Next I prepared backing plates for the notch shims like the one below. next I placed and clamped the notch shim and the plate in place also using a small clamp at the top to help the shim keep its shape. Then I got greedy and started reaching for the abs paste And I filled in most of the gap to help secure the shim. tomorrow I’m going to put in two small back side backers on each side to allow for freedom of movement. I’ll fill in the last of the abs paste tomorrow too. Once that sets I’m going to do the measurement for my belt.

Wasn't sure about that. I trimmed as they met the plate. I'll trim the shim to be a straight edge. I had extra space in there anyway. Appreciate you pointing that out.

Thanks. Sigh. Oh well. Since I’m already shimming it, it’s just a little more paste and e6000. Appreciate you pointing that out and letting me know before I started sanding. At least the additional bottom shim isn’t going to be load bearing.

Progress. Haven’t sanded yet but my wife helped me measure around he waist so I could cut the excess sim off. First I mocked up the chest and ab plates (pardon the toilet in the background, this is where the mirrors are). Then I marked off and glued on the snaps They’re not pretty. After basic if I need to I’m going to redo them. If need be, I’ll support it with Velcro temporarily. Halloween is around the corner and I want to get this complete! then I had my wife measure the kidney shims for me and mark them top and bottom, and I used her marks to cut a straight edge on each side. I need reorder my split rivets as Joseph is temporarily out of service. Was planing on trooperbay for the split rivets. As for belt poppers and single cap rivets, eBay seems to be my best bet. Any other suggestions are welcome. A good night of progress and that’s not including getting the 25 mm back cover strips on my shins (which I also got done).

Beauty! thanks

Quick question. I'm going to rig up the ab plate and chest plate tonight so that I've got a good idea of where the armor's gonna sit. I'm on the tall side, 6'3". How much chest plate overlap on the Ab plate is mandatory? With my height, the chest plate isn't going to hang as low on the ab plate as other TK's but it's also not going to leave a gap. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Planning to let it sit for 24 hours. I had questions about the sandpaper grit so mentioning the grit in your comment was really helpful!! Thanks!!

Progress. I trimmed a bunch of ABS clippings into a baby food jar and then slowly added acetone to the jar and mixed until I had the right consistency. Then, using a putty knife, I went to work. I’ll see how it set shortly. After that it’s carefully sanding it down as getting it ready for trimming and rigging with the ab plate.

Timely repost Q, thanks. Started trying to do my snaps and butchered three of them before quitting for the night. This couldn’t be more helpful. Thanks!!

For the Mods - This might be a good thread to pin. I remember trying to figure out what armor would fit me at 6’3” and having trouble finding a link to a list with this kind of specific info for the lanky TK. Just a thought.

Since you’re doing a WTF, this build thread is one of the best I’ve seen. I’ve used parts of this build for my own. Hope it helps.

If you can, use 100 grit sandpaper to do your sanding. It eats through the plastic but doesn’t go so fast that if you sneeze you’ll wreck your armor. Score and snap, then sandpaper, then Dremel for finishing touches.

Josh, Whose armor are you building from? Given the diversity of builders, I'm sure someone has a work in progress ("WIP") build thread that may answer some of your questions. With regard to your rigging/strapping for the build, the bag-o-bits you posted is a strapping, not a bracket, system. I really recommend you look at A.J.'s build thread for some strapping guidance. It's certainly helped me in my build. It's the ole' measure twice times, cut once. But by god it works. Here are the locations for where that strapping goes: Edit: Here's how the snaps will look once fully installed. This photo is from A.J.'s build linked above: If you're using single snaps, the positions will be the exact same. Hope this helps. Good luck!

No problem. Always appreciate the help and input from everyone. It’s getting close! Started doing my strapping last night. Going to try to iron down the top side return edge tonight and mix up the ABS paste. Once I have the front and back re-mocked up, I’ll trim the overage of the shim. Hopefully by then my rivets will have arrived from Joseph. Should have this ready for submission by the end of September!!

Thanks Mario. Whew!

Tony - I understood the notch to be as in this illustration: [REMOVED THE INCORRECT IMAGE I WAS BASING MY SHIM ON - use the image at the very top for reference.] Am I going about this wrong? I lined it up like the above.

I actually took that into account. This a big kidney plate. The shim lines up with the ab plate lines perfectly, that’s how I cut it. My thought was I would let the shim be the “notch” where the butt and cod plates line up. I had to trim the kidney so there’s no distance between the end of the kidney and the butt plate. I didn’t measure it to be 22 mil, so it’s probably a little more. Given that the shim measures we’ll for the ab, do I still need to reset?

Looking good so far, abs paste tomorrow.