The Snake

Yeah, I've been looking at some photos of the original screen armor. I'm more concerned about making straight cuts on curved plastic! I think I will use the snips and then sand any uneven parts.

Continuing to do cover strips, a couple mm larger than they should be, but they're all even. Attached the sniper plate (incorrectly I'm sure) and it looks like I need to trim the ammo belt. Honestly, I'm not really sure how to do it in a good way. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I'll have to look for longer lengths! I made the mistake of buying the same kind ukswrath bought without thinking about the plastic belt thing. It's nice though; no sagging or anything.

I got the holes, but I believe the belt is too thick for the snap to set properly. I would get it punched down, but it wasn't "snagging" and would fall off. Oh well, the velcro should work as a temporary hold until I can figure it out. It's not a total waste as I will be using the snaps for adding the cosmetic male snap to the abdomen.

Installed S Snaps and 3 1/6 Chicago screws for the belt, based on ukswrath's guide. And that's where the issues began. Besides a lot of waiting for various parts to arrive, I wasted an awful lot of time and money triyng to drive snaps through the cloth belt, only to remember that mine has thick plastic inside, and it's not gonna work. So, I'll be using white velcro for this belt. After this I'll be cutting the legs, something I've been putting off for a long time. Then I'll move onto either doing the more "cosmetic" stuff (ab buttons, belt buttons, drop boxes) or re-doing the side straps; I had a snap come undone and I'd also like to make it tighter so there's no gap.

Thanks friend, was really worried. Onto the cover strips, then! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Fitting the Right thigh before doing the cover strip. This was fit and cut at an armor party, but without the upper armor on. Hoping it looks correct. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Crap! Don't watch movies while you work. I measured 1" for the angles instead of .5". Looks like I'll be using the other belt. EDIT: Ha! Patched it back together with acetone and scrap. It's not perfect, but I think it will be fine.

Thanks for posting the diagram! I know I could have hunted that down so I apologize for the inconvenience. Measuring the top and bottom of the belt gives me 4mm, so it looks like we're good to go. I'm following along with both ukswrath's and navajobro's builds, which are earlier AM models, and it looks like they've made quite an effort to make many parts more accurate/ready to go (mine is the newest version of AM's design).. My S Snaps should be arriving tonight, so I'll snap the abdomen and work on the belt. Been messing with my doopydoo E-11 in the meantime

Quick question! Which belt should I use? Obviously the bottom belt would be easier as the covers would not need to be cut, and a local garrison member said that belt was acceptable-- but I thought I should ask here first. Also: Should I remove some (or all) of the material from the top and bottom? I notice there's not a lot of material there in most builds and reference pics.

Thanks, I'll trim them down tomorrow night. Thanks! Let me know if you need any tips or support.

Thank you so much for this! I was really worried I had taken too much. So, since the forums were down, I got some stuff done. First, AM is pretty well-known for their extra plastic, as you can see below: I removed 1" from Front and Back, per recommendation. I also removed 1" from the edge of the shoulder bells. I apologize that I didn't take progress pics of the rest! I was kind of in the zone. I made bicep hooks by cutting 4" x 0.75" strips of cover strip plastic, and bending them with the heat from a lighter. I glued in elastic for the bicep straps (which may need to be removed and relocated higher, not sure yet). Here are some pics of everything snapped together. Some things to note: - I have stupidly wide shoulders; can't be helped. - The shoulder straps are temporarily connected with White velcro; I believe this isn't acceptable, so I'll be gluing them on later. - I need to add more snaps/elastic near the front of the butt plate connecting to the kidney plate (I have it taped here). - I notice my right bicep tends to slip down, but I'm also just learning how the bicep straps sit with the hooks. I'm sure I'm committing heresy here, but here goes...

Back at it after losing 60lbs and attending an armor party. Didn't get much done, but I did get some guidance and made some friends. Tonight I would like to make the crotch and butt snaps, but I see my butt plate doesn't stick out as some build threads I've seen. I believe I did cut a small portion at one point as I do remember it digging into my sensitive area (and tearing my undersuit to boot). Can anybody guide me as to where to put the two snaps? Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I made snap "plates" with a square of webbing I poked/burned a hole through (for the snap to sit), then glued those onto the armor. Then, set snaps in a strip of elastic so there's some maneuverability.

A quick update-- I'm not dead! But the extremely cold MI weather makes building in the garage a pain, so I've slowed down considerably. But in other good news, I've lost nearly 30 lbs since I last posted, so it's actually a good thing that I didn't work in the torso for these past few months [emoji23] Just tried it on and I no longer need the shims Will be back soon! Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I'm still alive! And still working on this guy. I got the cover strips on the forearms and biceps, an easy step (simply measuring and cutting 15mm strips). This did wonders for covering up the uneven-ness of the top of the left forearm. I'll work on removing a bit of the cover strip ends once I'm done with everything else. Next I began sizing the thighs and shins, something my girlfriend graciously helped me with. Unfortunately I don't think she knew exactly where to place them, so I decided to put these off until the torso is done: that way, I can size them in relation to distance from the hips. I'm glad I waited because sizing the various torso pieces was fairly stressful, especially the back piece. But I'm fairly confident so got it right and I'll post some taped up pics once I feel I'm ready to move onto strapping. I did however strap the abdomen and chest, since those are pretty self-explanatory fitting wise. They're probably a bit uneven, but once it's on the body this won't be an issue. That's definitely a benefit of using elastic: the piece kind of "melds" right onto my frame. I went with double snaps not only for strength but because my snap setter (the poundy hammer kind) makes some wildly inaccurate snaps. I got my helmet fans from Henry's and taped those in; I'll use a more permanent solution once I know I'm comfortable with their placement. I even found a cool battery charger to power it. Next I will be doing the shoulder straps and lining up the front and back of the torso armor. Then, figuring out and cutting the thighs. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

When my girlfriend is around tonight, I'm going to have her size them on me, tape them up, and then I'll shoot some pictures. I should have left a little more material on the front, but I was being pretty particular about wanting the front cover strips to be standard sized. It should be fine though; I don't think the gap in the back is huge. The bummer is that the shins actually fit me perfectly, so for symmetry I'll be unnecessarily adding large cover strips to them

EDIT: False alarm! The thighs fit around just fine. It pays to have someone there to help!

It's the left leg; sorry, I should have specified. If it's that much of a problem, I guess I'll just have to do much larger cover strips in the back. I suppose as long as it's just the back, it shouldn't be a problem.

Is it okay to have the cover strip on the thigh extend down over the "lip," covering the butt joint seam? The reason I ask is because I need a little more room in the front so I'll need to "fake it" using shims, and I obviously don't want the gap there at the bottom. I've seen some other troopers with a cover strip going down the entire length of the thigh, but I was wondering if this would impede Level 1 approval in any way. Thanks!

Okay....a little scared to share this, but here goes: Had my girlfriend assist me here. I think my issue was that I was trying to get them too high up.

Yeah, even into last night I was kind of still trying to figure out the biceps--the placement, the sizing, etc. I don't know why, but I'm struggling the most with those. Too high? Too low? Dunno

Well, let's leave the biceps for now and move onto the shins. These were really easy: the normal shin cover strip width is 20-25mm, so I planned on cutting 24, just in case I need to remove some later. The way I see it, better to cut too little than too much! I forgot to take pictures, but I basically just measured 12mm from the return edges on the front (easily identified and flat). Correction: I measured about 5 times. Then I cut them using the same method as the forearms. Done! As for the return edges (as well as gluing), I plan to tackle these after fitting every leg part. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Yeah! Taking it slow is working out pretty well. So today, I went ahead and did the left forearm. I used my "screw it, just do it" approach, and I think it turned out okay-- again, once the cover strips are on and the entire suit is put together, I think it will look perfect. This kit doesn't have flat parts on the arm pieces, so I'm really kind of free to set the cover strips up the way I want. Next I'm moving onto the biceps, but I wanted to run the photos by you all first: is there too much outer and too little inner? Should they be about even? Does it even matter as long as it's comfortable? Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I decided to worry about the left forearm later, and instead finish up on the part I was confident was right. I struggled to bring myself to cut it at first: I was always douubting that I did it correctly. But then I thought: as long as it looks good when the cover strips go on, it will be fine. So I got to prepping by clamping my metal ruler along the pencil line I made. Hey, what's that? Then I ran a blade down the part, using the ruler as a guide. After a while, the plastic could be easily snapped. I put the two together and my fears were assuaged: it all lined up! I used the portions I cut off to make inner shims. After that, I lightly sanded the shims and the areas to be glued with E6000. It was a little annoying to put together, as this glue isn't very sticky until it starts to dry. But some clamps, magnets, and a little tape later, and she's ready to sleep for 24 hours. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk