Lord_Potato

I continued to make progress on making my own backing for the ab button plate. Another reason why I decided to make my own rather than try and make the replacement one work is that the plate is very tall. I made my ab plate have a shorter profile which better matches the screen shot references and my RS: Side by side comparison in case you veterans think my ABS paste version should not be used (abs paste is on the right) It's now ready to glue on. Just waiting on constructive criticism: Once its glued and dried I can make progress with the belt. I am trying to see what else I can be working on since I am going to wait a day or two for opinions before gluing the plate on. Most of my armor is assembled. Once the belt is attached then thats when I will start trying to make the butt piece fit. So far (besides painting details) the legs, arms, helmet, boots, undersuit, neckseal, chest, thermal detonator, basic approval gloves and centurion gloves are done. The belt, ab plate buttons, and the butt are all I have left before strapping everything together. OH! I have been trying to find a E11 blaster. I don't want to steal my RS blaster. Look like doopy doos blaster is sold out, and original stormtrooper blaster is sold out as well. I messaged praetorian blasters on facebook 3 weeks ago, but have gotten no response. If someone can direct me to a blaster that meets centurion standards I would be most grateful.

Good idea, I think I will do that if I still proceed to rivet my ammo belt onto the cloth belt. I am currently leaning on attaching the ammo belt via snaps. I am just afraid that it might be easy for them to randomly "pop" if the curvature of the belt is too much. I was thinking of doing a combination of velcro and snaps. Looking over your first RS build, your entire ammo belt was attached to the cloth belt via velcro. May I ask your thoughts on it?

I really like that idea.......the concept of being able to remove the belt for maintenance or replacement seems to be a more efficient move than riveting. Have you had any issues with your snaps pooping off? I think I am leaning towards snaps but want to make sure that the snaps wont pop once the belt starts to curve.

So It goes the other way.......I am such a goob! lmao. Anyways, I had a washer on one side, you are recommending a washer for each side? Thank you for all your help.

Got the small ab button plate set with glue. As previously mentioned, i was able to make the flashing "sides" of the AB plate better with hot water but I dont really like the texture of all the divots that surround the button plate and that it still doesnt sit that nicely on the ab plate: I do like Gmrhodes13 opinion that it looks good enough, but since I do have the original button plate sanded down I am going see if my makeshift "backplate" will look better. I didnt have a piece of the same color plastic that size so I am putting two cover strip pieces together with ABS paste and sanding it down. Then I will glue the button plate on and seal the sides with abs paste and sand down. Still working on it. Just didnt have enough time this weekend. So I am getting ready to get the belt assembled since the ab buttons will be glued on soon. I marked where I intend to drill the holes for the rivets: So Here comes my next question. I figured out how to use a rivet gun but it appears that the low profile side of the rivet should be facing the ab plate and the other side (the part with the metal "bulb" is hidden by the 3 caps on the ammo belt. It seems like my caps are too shallow for the rivet to fit under: I thought that is how it is supposed to go? Or do I have a incorrect idea on how it is supposed to be attached?

Thank you. I still dont like the way it looks. The sides of the button plate have all the "divots" that are over the place. I will use this as my last resort. Im going to experiment with making a base for the other ab plate. Thank you for being one of the ones that has been keeping track on my build.

Thank you so much. This site has all the help one needs to build but sometimes finding specific things are tricky. At least for me.

Yes, I was able to improve the shape with hot water, but the bottom right corner, I couldn't get it to fully comply. The shape is improved, just not perfect.

If it looks like making a false base is going to be a lot of extra work I might ask the GML what he/she wants. Hopefully this water water bending works out.

I was able to improve the button plate with hot water. I could not get it perfect. But it might be good enough. I know it is not perfect, will this be good enough, or should If ill some of the space with ABS paste? My smaller ab buttons seem good to go: Another thing, can someone please direct me to a good/detailed thread about belt assembly? I have a general idea of how the belt is supposed to be assembled, but dimensions and locations of where the snaps go on the ab plate....I am uncertain. I tried looking through ukswrath build but the belt portion has all the images blocked. I searched through several pages on the tutorials,tips and how tos section but couldnt find anything. I know I am not very savvy with navigating this sight. So if I can guidance I would be grateful.

Ill try it with the second button plate I got from walt.

Cricket, Yes, I saw what you did and I you did an amazing job. I dont have ABS plastic that size. I have a plastic piece that a made but it is a very different shade of white. I just dont know if it is worth the effort for a small detail that isnt a requirement. But part of me wants to just because it is screen accurate. Not having a piece of plastic of the same color white is the main thing that is preventing me from possibly trying to do it.

It was not my intention to remove the edges. The design of the ab plate is too curved and would not sit on the ab plate. I have a second ab plate from Walt so I can show you the problem with the design of the ab button: Initially i just started to sand the bottom of the ab plate and was hoping by the time the bottom was flat enough to attach to the ab plate there would be some rectangle left. It was not possible to achieve it.

So before I start assembling my belt; I am under the impression that it is important to have the ab buttons already secured to the ab plate since the top of the ammo belt should be touching the bottom ab button. As stated before, the very curved shape of the button plate prevented me from using the surrounding flashing to make a border (just like the screen used versions). So I got the plate sanded down to a level position. My question is that should I just mount the plate as is? Or try and use a plastic square to try and recreate the base? All the cover strip material Walt sent me were pre cut and were too small to make a base. So this random plastic I bought is obviously a different shade of white. Only a couple of mm's of this plastic will be visible but it is noticeable: The CRL does not mention a base/border for the button plate so I am not sure how to proceed.

Oh wow, thank you for some of these ideas! I guess as long as I am using only E6000 I can always change and experiment!