fishgoh0nk

Should've bought 2 orders at 2015 celebration if I had known they'd double in price; I really like the clean up they did on the casting, like an improved, but accurate, reboot.

If you're really willing to sink some money and time, I would buy from a good vendor that may also sell you by the part later in the future. You might be able to build a suit that fits you now, and as you grow, update the suit by modding or purchasing a new piece. Just be aware that sometimes the plastics may differ in color, usually not by much if from the same vendor. I would start off reading these stickied posts: Feel free to ask questions; there's a lot to take in on this site, sometimes it might just take a person to point you to the right areas to discover more info.

Sounds like it's definitely being trapped behind occlusion, being muffled by the armor. Kind of like talking while smothered by a pillow. I don't think there's an easy way to fix this since there aren't many places you can hide a large speaker on a TK. If I absolutely had to have the speaker on my body rather than my helmet, depending on the speaker size, I would try to hide it in my thermal det or in my ab plate. I would find a place that has the most room away from my body to place it. I might as go as far as to drill holes in the armor, cover the holes from the rear with white fabric, and then place the speaker behind that- but this obviously depends on how comfortable you are with your own work and CRLs/accuracy. If that's too much work, you can use an @ukswrath hovi tip mic system. It's pretty tinny since it's exposed and comes from your helmet. This is what I use. I use a different mic that comes with the system so I can mount it to the helmet, so I had to make modifications to reduce feedback. But the mic that comes with it works great with the system as is. If you're currently using an AKER, the TRAMP wouldn't help you as it's basically the same output hardware/speaker. from what I know, the TRAMP just has extra sound and volume, but muffled sound is still going to sound muffled.

Congrats and welcome to the gang! I hope your trooping endeavors enriches your life as it has mine.

Congrats and welcome to the gang! Good to see some gusto and enthusiasm for higher levels from the get-go!

If you have trouble reaching down to snap it in while wearing it, you can pre-snap it and step into with your calves, boots and thighs already on. I prefer it that way opposed to cramping/pulling my pectoral muscle reaching down there.

The cod and butt plate look fine from here; one thing I do notice is that the cod strap is very long. It should have some tension to it to pull the butt plate forward, like so: I think once you get this worked out you should be in a good spot. Best of luck to your approval!

Not certain yet, but I wanted to ask the board if it seems that the kidney plate is longer than normal? The least risky route is to ensure your butt plate is sitting low enough, can you include a picture of the butt plate so we can see the leg clearance? Make sure you also have the cod elastic set, this area seems a little too cramped imo, likely because it's hanging with no cod elastic. Depending on what it is, you might need to make the 'taint' area narrower. The second part may to be kidney trim, but not unless you're certain, because there's no coming back from that. Just my 2 cents.

I've purchased from ATA to replace my botched bicep (used heat gun like a noob). The color is not noticeably different, and they do sell in parts. Trooping in the day would yield a good contrast, indoors with weird lighting might trigger an eyebrow raise from a Centurion.

I think Q1 depends on Answer to Q2, @justjoseph63sells a pretty nice set of silicone handguards that come with fabric embedded on the underside that allows E6000 to soak and bond to the glove. Make sure you rough up the glove with some sand paper and clean with IPA to ensure the bond. You can purchase a set of new black gloves from TrooperBay. I used some rags to stuff the gloves to fill them, applied glue and attached the plates, then with blue painters tape, I secured the plates to the glove bundles by wrapping then tightly. Waited 48 hours for dry, washed the rags to remove the E6000 smell. Hope this helps

Thanks Glen, very helpful info especially on the fiberglass cracking under strain, definitely the info I'm looking for. How thick would you say the jimmi material is? I'd assume it's a lot thicker than ABS vacuum molded material, would you say filling the thicker material with bondo is easier than patching ABS with paste/fiiller?

So the armor bug bit hard and I'm looking for TLJ armor now. I've browsed a lot of TFA and TLJ builds and couldn't find an apples to apples comparison in regards to weight, comfort and maintainability (probably because of how new the armors are). I'm hoping to draw input from people that have built, or worn from the different vendors, mainly jimmiroquai's and another ABS vendor in regards to the aforementioned aspects. I like thickness and high durability as I'm not the most graceful person; but I wouldn't want anything too heavy, especially on the head. Repairs - I'm familiar with repairing ABS; but are there any benefits to the material the jimmy armors use in terms of modding/fixing?

Looking slick! Good luck!!

Welcome!

Wouldn't trust it, reverse image search shows it on several questionable sites, so its possibly not original or captured by the actual seller/owner.

Looking good! Fingers crossed!

I would putty those cracks on the main tube body, I did not and they do show slightly after paint. Regrets haha

I added some putty to mine for some seams, especially front barrel shroud to receiver, that one definitely needs patching. I used paint+primer , then dulled it with another layer of flat top coat to deaden the texture.

Good luck on the build! Completed mine from trooper96 a month ago and I ABSOLUTELY love it! Be sure to go slow and support the weaker parts while sanding. Crazy glue was my best friend.

Lol no concern now, someone bought it.

Congrats!!

Welcome! Looking forward to see your progress!

Not sure if the powers that be would agree with my methods, but I didn't like the gap formed between the lower plate and the shin where spiders and other vermin can crawl up into, so I used some heat to shape the plate onto my shins for a flush profile. While the e6000 was drying and the plate clamped (use non marring clamp feet on non conforming points), I masked the exposed shin with painters tape and used a low heat setting and slowly heated the plate. As the plate softened, the clamping force flexed into the crevasses.

Hot water pour is pretty safe. Just be sure to apply pressure on the joints and pour water on the neighboring areas as well. To clarify, unless you're doing a sharp bend, all areas affect the curvature of the plastic, so you also have to heat the support areas to achieve max bend without fold. I usually allow it to cool while under pressure until it's mildly warm or hardens, whichever first.

Welcome!