Easy

Ab ammo belt button covers, home made. I was asked if this was possible so I tried it. 22-23mm. 15-17mm 15mm snap button. Drill a hole to hold it steady and flat. Use a piece of the trimmed armour ABS. Drill a hole about 17mm into a scrap piece of cover strip. This is the press piece. Should fit around the button with a gap. Mark the edge of the press to line up the work piece Like this. Tape the work piece down lined up on the line. Heat it with a heat gun to soften it. Then push the press down over it until it’s flat around the bump. Ready to trim. I marked and cut a square out. Use it to mark the button for cutting and sanding. This is a guideline to get close. Cut, measure and sand until it’s sized and square. One done. The next two go faster because you’re all set up. Hope this helps anyone who needs these.

Thanks CableGuy. I just finished trimming them actually. Total span is 98cm now. Looks way better. Just found out I’m out of white 1” elastic for the drop boxes. Only have black left. Had such momentum going today. Been doing some fine detailing for now, cleaning up a few areas that need it like excess glue, filling in the wrong holes I made with ABS paste and so on. I’ll be adding those pics and posts to the sections of the build they belong in later. Right now I’m trying to decide…coffee or whiskey. Nice look and fit. I hammered the single cap rivets down to attach the ammo boxes to the canvass, cut the white elastic straps for the drop boxes and attached them, and glued the button covers over the rivets. The snaps are on and holding perfectly. The drop boxes are lined up to the edge of the ammo belt. Forgot the flash but you get the idea. These are the specs for the holster location. After measuring and marking I punched the holster hangers with my leather punch. Then I marked the bet for the holes. I punched them out with the leather punch too. Worked fine here. CRL says Chicago screws are accepted so I’m using them, at least for now. Just screw them in and it’s done. Holds the E-11 nicely. That E-11 will be replaced with this one.

The waist ammo belt is not as straight forward as it looks. To do it right use a little math and a lot of measuring. I started with the belt button covers. It’s easier to mark the inside, helps to see the cut line, and cut from the inside. It’s a natural guide for the blade. A little sanding and they’re ready to glue on. The belt comes flat so I centerd it on the ab plate pre-bent it with my heat gun on the edge of the table. You likely can’t see it here but the AM belts come with dimples where you need to drill. I fitted the hanging ammo boxes together. No sanding or trimming was needed so I’ll take them apart an install the straps before gluing them. ALWAYS READ any info that comes with parts you’ll need from other sources. Imperial Issue custom makes their canvass belts to it your particular armour. You have to measure the closed clamshell to get the correct length. The belt is perfect and comes with a sticker for the armour box you’ll store/tote your kit with. This is the way the belt should fit. The end doesn’t hang out past the TD. I find it easier to put on and get it lined up straight if the top flap is to the right. Try it both ways and see what works for you. With the TD centerd in the back I mark the belt center on the front. I clamped the belts together and marked the hole locations to attach the plastic to the canvass. I drilled through the dimples just before. Lots of measurements and lines here. I used a soldering iron, as the instructions said, to burn the mounting holes in. This is where the plastic belt is attached to the canvass. The arrow at the bottom center points to the top of the belt when worn. These are the measurements of where the canvass will attach to the ab. The only issue I found with this reference picture is where the holes in the belt are shown. On my kit that would make the belt cover up the bottom of the buttons about where the red line is. I marked the ab plate where the holes will be drilled. A little math…1/2 of 343 is 171.5. So I put my measuring tape centerd with 171.5 on the center hole and marked the canvass at the end and at 343. To make the belt sit under the buttons properly I need to drill the snap hole closer to the top of the belt. Using the marks I made on the ab plate and my measuring tape laid across the tops of the marks (not below) I was able to determine where the top of the canvass will run. The plastic belt is wider so I made sure there was a gap of that much between the tape and the buttons. It worked out that the holes would need to be 20mm from the top of the canvass, which is where you can see the marks for the snap holes. I drilled the holes in the AB where I previously marked them, then put the belt on to make sure everything lined up. I used Dremel bits in the holes to check the alignment. It’s perfect. Dremel bit in the left side. After installing the snaps in the belt and armour, I hammered in single cap rivets to secure the belt to the am I packs. I then glued the rivet covers on. Nice fit all around. Looks really good when installed.

I have the AM kit too. I put some extra bends in to fit it right and put the rivets where they are in the pictures I referenced. These pics have Chicago screws holing it on but I’ve since bought the correct rivet kit from Troooerbay. It does the AB/kidney straps and the knee ammo belt and are centurion level split rivets and washers. Double cap or single cap rivets are also accepted. I prefer single cap or split rivets myself. Make sure to round the corners. The rivet locations in the thighs are easier to see on the inside of these pics.

The thermodetonator didn’t come with clips so I’m making mine. I bought a strip of aluminum, 1” x 1/16” at HomeDepot. It’s pretty cheap. I made a set last year for another kit so this will be fairly straight forward. ‘Benson’ is seen here with the strip. The clips are formed from a 10” strip I cut two pieces. Using vise grips and a strong thumb to bend the arc for the detonator. I took my time and checked as I went making sure it’s a smooth arc. It took about an hour to make both to this stage. The end caps and button plate are not glued on yet. Using a couple steel strips and a little careful persuasion I bent the pieces over. Before and after. After and after. They are pretty much perfectly formed. I’ll trim off the excess length and add a little bend later. The end caps were pretty large so I trimmed them down to 3/4”. I set this up on the clips to glue the button plate on. It fit perfectly as it came from AM Armor. Oh look…an FOTK motorhome. I don’t think this would go over well at the airport. Here they are done and ready for drilling the screw holes. With much consultation here and on the Facebook FISD sites I got the correct screw locations and drilled them. 3/8" and 2 1/4". Both measurements from the end of the clip. Then I painted the heads black. Looking nice…and blurry m Seems to sit as it should with Benson wearing it.

AB buttons. I didn’t take a befor pic of this but here is an initial trim done to spec measurements. Its almost a perfect fit. A little sanding and smoothing the edges should do it. Fits just right and looks like the archive and spec pics I’ve seen. This row would look really cool as it is but that’s not correct. I started scoring it to bring it down. First stage done. I could have shown every stage but it’s pretty simple. I cut off all the drop edges and then trimmed it to fit the raised area. E6000 and magnets. I’ll paint them once the armour is built so I won’t be ruining the paint while building. I trimmed the button plates some more and gave them nice sharp corners. Got some other imperfections to deal with before I glue them on. I removed all the Chicago screws and replaced them wth smaller flat head countersink screws. It took about an hour, including the button plates. These are much neater and when painted white will look just like the movie suits.

Thanks. Not as terrible as I thought it woud be. Oh, I have the correct rivets coming as well.

Ok, as pointed out by ukswrath[TK] I need to change the rivet locations. I talked with a few troopers and the consensus is that I leave the top rivet as is, space the bottom closer to the step in the AB ABS. So here goes. First thing I did was cut the elastic straps to separate the front from the back. This makes it easier to work with. Easier is better when you have a difficult task like this. The two halves ready for disassembly. I used a dremel and grinding tip to take the head off the riviet. Heat is an issue here so go in short bursts and let it cool between them. The rivet will melt ABS so I always grind on the hinge and not on the outside armour. Also remember that heat transfers through the rivet and can melt the armour if your not patient. I used side cutters to peel of the remaining rivet head. With all the heads off the rivets can be pushed through. Here they are sticking out. Gently wiggle the rivets out Patience will save time repairing damage. This is a nice and clean removal. I cut in with a good sharp blade to separate the pieces. Prying might break the armour. Gently pry with your fingers and saw through the E6000. It comes off fairly easily. I used the old hinge to mark the lower hole position. The AM Armor is much larger, which is why I’m making this modification, and as such the lines differ somewhat from the Lucas kits. For this build I’m matching the rivet spacing to the top rivet, 20mm x 10mm. I measuerd the distance from top to bottom and marked out the four pieces to fit in the length. Scoring and snapping is all it takes to make the hinge strips. I used cover strip material. I drilled the bottom hole, measured and divided the length by 2 to find the center rivet location, then drilled it. The old holes will be filled with ABS paste after the hinge is installed. I clqmped one strip in and drilled the holes. Then I clamped all four and drilled. Four perfectly matched pieces to work with. I lay the elastic strap across two to make getvyhe length I need. I cut three and mark them for rivet holes. I use a soldering iron to burn the holes in them. I used the strap to mark the spots where the straps go. Then I cut and glue spacers to make cover strips. I use ABS trimmed from the shins for the spacers. It’s a bit thinner and will allow a slight pinch on the strap when assembled. The spacers are glued and drying. I’ll trim the excess when they’re dry and set. This is how the strapping will sit in the hinge. I put a bead of E6000 around the rivets where the strap will sit. I don’t want the strap loose in the hinge. Setting it with the glue will place the most load into the hinge and away from the armour. Lay the straps in and mush them around a bit to spread glue on them. I put some more on the other side, a light skim on the spacers and a good amount on the base shim. Make sure the edge that will be along the edge of the armour is perfectly lined up. This will make a strong return edge as a byproduct of the install. Clean off the excess E6000 along the edge. For the other half, push the rivets through the strips, then push the rivets through the holes in the straps, with glue to hold them, put the base strip on and clamp the whole thing together. NOTE: the caps on the rivets are only there to hold everything together while it is being built. They are not crimped. I’m replacing them with centurion level split rivets when I install the hinge. I ordered a set on eBay, they are from Trooperbay. Got the correct split rivets and washers from Trooper Bay. The rivets are too short to go all the way through the armour, hinge and washers. I drilled out the hinge holes. Not all the way through. I ground out the holes with a round Dremel tip. This keeps the hole aligned. Just enough to make the washer fit in. Next I use a flat tip grinding tip that is just the same size as the washer…I think I got lucky here. With a flat base to sit the washers into and a dab of E6000 I set the washers in permanently. They are flush with the surface of the hinge. A nice bit of E6000 and it’s ready to set in. The inset washers let the rivets through, but just barely. Since they are basically only for appearance it won’t matter. The hinge will carry the entire load and leave the armour unstressed. I originally set the hinge in with the rivets in place and clamped to hold it. After I set the kidney plate in I replaced them with small screws with washers and nuts on the inside to pull it all together. After the glue set nicely I put the rivets in and hammered the bifurcated ends over. I might cover them with clear glue with my glue gun so they won’t snag the undersuit. This is how the hinge looks closed… …with the mag latches set in on the right side. I also replaced all of the Chicago screws with the correct slotted flat head screws and nuts. Just to keep them from coming loose I put a dab of hot glue on them with my glue gun.

Ugh! The screws are an easy fix, I think I have them but I hate the stress they put on the armour. The hinge will take some work to change. I scoured sources for the specs so I’d do it right. This is what I used for those.

Stormtrooper Store is basically selling FX type armour. The boots are good, the soft pieces are generally good, much of the armour is good enough to work into acceptable 501st standards. The armour is very thick, which I like but it needs too much work to meet CRL standards. That being said, I’m considering some of the special ops trooper designations that currently have no CRL outline that some aspects of this armour might be well suited for based on the ‘flaws’ in the FX design. I have a kit and will be modifying it and submitting for a new CRL guideline for an elite division.

In this section I’ll be putting the snaps and rivets in the AB plate. The famous Han snap. 20mm x 20mm. Left side river locations marked at 10mm in then 20mm, 52mm and 53mm from the top down. I’m making some support strips to strengthen the area where the left side rivets go. Two of the four strips are marked, 140mm x 20mm. Two equal strips sanded smooth. I set one strip trip in place, evenly spaced at either end past the holes, and marked it for drilling. I stacked the four strips, two shown here, and drilled them all together. I’m cutting the elastic strapping long enough to reach across the two strips that will be glued to the plates. Using my soldering iron I made holes in the elastic straps for the rivets. The strap holes are slightly closer together than the holes in the armour will be. This will keep a slight stretch on them and keep the plates together better. Using the rivets I set the strip in place with E6000 and clamped it to cure. Here is one of the other drilled strips with spacers. It’s a cover strip. These will be glued on so that the elastic strap will fit in between them where the marks are. The spacers are made from some of the trimmed off ABS and are about the same thickness as ther straps. You can see here how the straps fit in. These will sandwich the straps and add even more strength. This is a known weak area prone to cracking or breaking from the stresses of normal use, trooping. I designed this to carry the load without stressing the armour. Once the glue is cured on all the pieces I’ll set the straps in, glue the cover strip on, hammer the rivets in and clamp it to cure. The cover strip is glued and setting with the elastic straps set in the slots. I’ll let it set 24 hours. Next day, got some help from my son Steve to hold it in place while I hammered the rivets. This is why I set the strap holes closer together than the drilled holes in the armour. The strap will need to be pulled to reach the rivets on the kidney side. When the kidney plate is joined to this it will have some tension to keep the halves pulled together. You can see from this angle the straps are sandwiched between the the support strip and cover strip. The rivet will carry the load with all the stress deep in and away from the outside armour. Now for the same on the kidney plate. The support strip is set in and the kidney plate is drilled for the rivets. Kidney support strip and cover strip glued around the straps and setting over night. A better view of the strap sandwich. I think it will be easier to fix it to the the kidney plate after the glue sets up. The rivets are in backwards here (male stems facing outward). The female caps are on the other side to hold them in place while it dries. These will serve as guide pins when gluing to the kidney plate. I’m going to try to push them out with new rivets and set the caps on to hold them while the glue dries. Since this is a new process I’m going to fit the halves together with no glue to see how I can clamp it to setup and dry. I may have to hammer the rivets in (backwards as they are now) to do the clamping. I can’t wait for tomorrow. The hinge looks good. It holds perfectly together. Nice and tight gap. It moves I both directions and is self centering. After some serious going over I decided to leave the rivets backwards. You can’t tell by looking so it’s all good. Some powerful magnets and E6000 to bond it to the kidney plate and wait for a few hours Here it is, my very first clamshell. I hammered the rivets using a 4x4 wood block, about a foot long, on its end. A bit tricky but doable. This closeup shows a neat and tidy hinge with the clamshell open. Closed it’s exactly what I was hoping for. This is the test. Hang it on the mannequin and voila! It holds the plates together and lined up just right. Now there’s a happy face.

I’m building my AM kit now. It’s fantastic stuff. Victor Matts is the guy to contact if you want a great kit. I’m doing a detailed build thread here if you care to see how nice this armour really is. It’s very reasonably priced and comes with a couple extra parts for other versions to choose from. This is my thread. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/46165-anh-stunt-build/

I’ve see quite a few methods for latching the right side AB to kidney plates. Nylon straps, elastic straps, special brackets and hooks and so on. I’m trying something new…at least to me because I haven’t seen it yet. I’m using the same system as I did on the shin latches, magnets. I’m going to build and install these in the HOPE that they’ll work as planned, plan A…there is a plan B that is similar but without magnets. Here is the thre parts that will be attached to the kidney plate. I made an ABS strap with a hole to fit the magnet in and a cover plate to glue the magnet into. The magnet is thicker than the ABS strap so it sticks out a bit. This is perfect because it will sit in the saddle piece that will be glued into the AB plate. Some E6000 and clamps to assemble it, and two more to go. All set, ready for some light sanding to smooth it out. I don’t want it snagging the undersuit. I used two ABS plates for the saddles. Here you can see how the saddle is taller than the magnet. The strap magnet will sit in the saddle effectively locking it in place while you wear it, same as the shins. Here is the three straps with the saddles glued and predrilled. I used the step drill bit to drill out the saddles. They will be sanded smoothe and the strap side of the ends will be tapered to make it easier to feed the straps into them. The straps are smoothed out a bit already. Here are the ends sanded at angles that should make latching nice and smooth. Im only gluing a section at the end. This will allow them to bend up and act as a spring to seat them. The magnets will provide holding power. I painted the area that spans the ab/kidney joint. I don’t want white strips showing through. The paint is nice and dry by morning, SATURDAY!! So I marked the kidney plate where I want them to go and glued them in. There’s no real set measurement as to where I set them, I just tried to space them evenly. I used magnets to secure them while the glue set. Actually the only thing I can say that might be considered a set measurement is how far they protrude into the ab plate. I set them all roughly in line with the Han snap. The inside view. Remember, only the end section of the latch gets glue. This is a pretty simple setup. The latches are glued on the inside of the kidney plate and they make the ab plate fall right in place. All I had to do was line up the top edge and clamp it. A couple magnets help hold the latches in place too. I put a little E6000 on each of the basses and installed them by lifting the latch and putting them on the base magnets, which are on the latch magnets (as they will be when latched). A couple extra magnets help squeeze down on the base while it dries. Once they set I’ll open it up and permanently glue the magnets into the bases. Here they are. The saddles all glued and magnets glued in. They work really nicely on the mannequin so I’m looking forward to how they work on me. There’s still potential for slight modifications to make them better for mobility if I find I need it. Ok…these worked great on the mannequin but just wouldn’t hold when I put the kit on. So, back to the drawing board. I’m thinking bigger is better. I still have the large magnets that I used to clamp the pieces during glue drying time. I have a 6” space to work with so I’m using three large magnetic latches (6 magnets in all). This pic is the idea but I had to change the layout a bit. Here is what I engineered to do the job. The four pieces from left to right are 1) the kidney platform 2) the kidney mag-latch 3) the kidney magnets cover and 4) the ab mag-latch. The kidney half will slide over the ab half and the magnets will align and hold them together. The magnets are all flush with the surfaces so they may slide a bit but should realign easily. The hole at the top is to fit on the Han snap. No snap will be on the latch though. It’s more of an alignment and guide dowel really. It might even provide a bit of anchoring. Here’s how it goes together. With all the pieces assembled as they will sit on the armour…measured and marked the location from the Han snap…I glued all the kidney parts on. The ab half is on only there to ensure proper alignment. The kidney half is complete. Neat and tidy. I glued the ab piece in, the magnets went in a little after and the assembly set for several hours. Once it was all pretty well set I hung it on the mannequin. An absolutely perfect seam and plenty of pulling power. I can hardly wait to see how well it works on me. Hoping I won’t be disappointed. Note: the magnets seen are only there to provide clamping while the E6000 dries more. Slight change of plans…you’ll find that happens more than you expect…as it turns out I’m still a bit bigger than I want to be. During the test fit it almost stayed closed all the way but the magnets slid (as I designed them to) and it opened up so the magnets were visible. This was with the ammo belt off…Weight Watchers is working so it’s just a matter of time. So here it is. I added a small elastic and snap and I drilled the hole large enough to fit it through. It works amazingly. The top stayed tight and with the ammo belt on it doesn’t even move. Here it is closed. The snap is very easy to pull in and attach. A good view fo the slight stretch to snap it closed. This is a vid showing how it draws itself together to latch. Sweet.

I’m making the snap plates that will attach the white elastic straps to the shoulders. I made a total of six plates for the snap anchors. I stacked and drilled all of them so alignment is exactly the same on all of them. These are the male halves installed in the plates. I’ve seen lots of posts about E6000 and metal causing ABS pimples/warts. To avoid this I cut extra shins and drilled them to fit around the snap base. This way the glue will only contact ABS to adhere them to the chestcan back plates. Once again I used my step drill bit like I did with the magnetic shin latches. A little E6000 to glue the snap plates together and clamp them to set. The other two plates are for the elastic straps. I cut a length equal the the length of the ABS straps…shown here…then cut longer ones because I need to fold them over the plates. I’m gluing them into the straps with E6000. This is the longer strap with the plate glued on. After applying E6000 to the other side, I folded it over and clamped it to set. After drying I drilled through where the holes are and installed the female snaps. Both lined up perfectly because I predrilled all the plates at one time while stacked. Time to put the straps on the chest plate. To line them up I found where I’d like to mount them and then clamped the strap on. I marked the lower edge and removed the clamps. This is where the base will sit. I measured and marked the right side as well. I glued and clamped the bases to the plate.

This section is the front armour…chest and ab plates and shoulder straps. Once these are ready and assembled I’ll be fitting them and the back section to me with the undersuit on. Here are the untrimmed shoulder straps. I marked and trimmed one. You can see the difference even before sanding it smooth. Both are done and sanded on the sides. The front edge will be trimmed to about 1/2 the width of the sides. Notice on th AM straps there’s a subtle difference on the front end from most other kits. The longer tapered rise is shorter and less tapered, and the rear hasn’t got this at all. In some cases, depending on the size of the trooper…smaller troopers, that end is trimmed off for a neater look. I don’t think I’ll be trimming them but the fitting session will determine that. Front edges trimmed and they’re ready to be glued on. To make a better surface area for gluing the straps on I cut a couple scraps of ABS to fit into the end divet. There’s plenty of return edge on the chest plate. I’ve marked it for trimming to leave a little for the thicker look. I fit the plate to my chest and there’s a substantial gap on the sides so I’m trimming the entire return edge where the shoulder straps will be glued on. This will allow me to heat and straighten them up and that will close the gap for a really nice fit. This side is trimmed but not sanded yet. You can see the return edge is trimmed flat on one shoulder and the neck edge is still on. Here it is with both sides trimmed and the neck edge removed completely. Some sanding will help finish it nicely. Also notice how deep the neck cutout is. It may come very close to actually touching the shoulder tabs of the back plate. Fitting time will tell if some trimming will be needed. After lining up on the ab plate I marked the area where the strap brackets will go. I made three reinforcement pieces and glued them in place. Once the glue is well set up I drilled the holes and mounted the brackets. The E6000 will cure with everything set in place. Next I cut the elastic straps and attached the chest to the ab. I used E6000 to glue the straps into loops and clamped them together to set. Here are the shoulder straps glued to the chest plate. AM ARMOR has a very long section on the chest and back armour so there’s lots of material for trimming. For this process I’m not trimming off any length. I applied glue to the straps along the edges and across the ribs then clamped them on. This gives the straps lots of surface area for a stronger bond that will hold up under the harshest trooping conditions. The edges that protrude will be trimmed or sanded smooth. Well clamped and setting up.

Time to start on the body armour. I’m going to be securing all the pieces together with elastic loops and metal brackets. You can buy these as a kit but I’m making mine because I’d just rather do it myself. These are a couple of mock ups I did to get a feel for it. They are not bad really. There will be 15 short ones and 3 tall ones in a complete set. I made a jig for quick measuring. These are the tools to mark and cut the pieces. You nee regular pliers and needle-nose pliers to bend them to shape. I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to make a loop in each end. Regular pliers to bend each loop 90° and make sure the bends are as close to even as you can. Here is the template I made to help me keep them all pretty close to exactly the same size. This is a tall one. I marked the bend locations with a sharpie so that it will be 5/8” tall and 1 1/4” wide (approximately) when done. As it happens my pliers are the perfect width to set in and bend around. First one done. On the template it’s a bit off the mark but it’s ok as long as a 1” elastic will fit in when done. Two more like this then the same process for the 15 short ones. Here’s the first one. I only used the big pliers to bend the loops to 90°. The rest was all done with the needle-nose pliers. Easy enough to do in very little time. Here they are ready for when I need them. I just found out I used all my 1” elastic so I’ve got some shopping to do. I decided to do a quick test fit of the ab/kidney plates. At 6’2”, 130lb the AM ARMOR fits nicely as is. Might require only minimal return edge trimming but this is in jeans and a t-shirt so I’m not going to need to cut or add gap filling plates to join them. The AM 2.0 armour is amazingly easy to work with. Nice fit all around for just taping. Ok, change of plans. After looking at the screw heads and seeing how they would come together between the pieces I was not happy. A significant gap because they are round heads looked bad. I tried the flat heads with bevels and don’t like the strain it puts on the armour to set it in deep enough to look ok. Then I thought, “Chicago screws!” They’re nice and flat. The same reinforcement pieces will be fine too. They only need a slightly bigger hole than the screws so no biggie. I made a test piece from a trimmed edge to simulate the actual armour. Here the screws are tight and are the perfect size. Very discrete and white paint will make them disappear. Nice and neat inside as well. Nothing to snag the undersuit. I marked the center of both pieces… clamped the reinforcement shim in… and drilled the holes in the armour. The female half will be to the outside. It’s harder to screw in the male half on the inside but the finished look is nicer. A quick test fit to check the holes for alignment… a smidge of E6000… Then put the pieces together and screw the bracket down. Easy Peezy. Only 17 more to go. I’ll be making the 1” black elastic loops to put on the brackets later. I’ll either rivet or sew them. Not sure yet. Making the loops that will join the parts using the brackets. I sewed the first two by hand then gave up. Turns out E6000 will hold the electric strapping very well. Each strap for the short brackets is 3/4” long and glued with about 1/4” overlap. Heres one of the glued ones installed. The kidney and butt plates connected. I installed the back plate in the middle only. The AM armour is not straight along the bottom edge. It has a beautifully sculpted contour that will have the corners hanging over the ab plate just slightly more than the center point low contour. Picture the ocean bird silhouette with the wings arched up and tips are the lowest point by a smidge. I have a couple specially made brackets for those corners. But now it’s sleep time. I made custom reinforcement shims to match the arch in the corners and glued them into the top of the ab plate. Here is a close up of the custom shim. I also made a couple custom brackets to compensate for both the curvature in the corners and for the return edge angle on the back plate. The back straps all on. Nice and neat on the outside. I did a quick fit to check the feel. I’ll need to trim some return edges for a comfortable fit but the length is really good. I marked the return edges for trimming. This looks a lot nicer. I also removed the entire neck return edge. I put a nice sculpt into the bottom return edge, just to add some character.

Before: Healthy return edges that need trimming. After: Less than an hour with a pencil to trace out the cut and a Dremel with the pink grinding tip to take away the unwanted material. Still enough left to add some definition to the look.

I will be editing the posts each time I have the next step in the build ready to post. This will keep all of that part of the build process in one section in the thread so it’s easier to follow. (Arm build section, thigh build section, shin build section etc.) Some of the replies will show after the build post but may have been posted before the build is complete, and might seem pointless so I’ll try to respond accordingly to minimize confusion to future readers. For those following this and haven’t seen new progress on the build, please have a look back at my posts as the continuation for those build sections are in the original posts not in new ones. Hope its helpful.

I’m using pretty much the same set up as in Crickets build. Here’s the link.

I have a stirup design that will keep the shins lined up and held down. I’ll be making the backs perfectly flat (as close to perfectly flat) and using magnets to close them.

The shins are a special bit of the armour. Just read enough posts in any media and you’ll know what a pain they can be while trooping. They shift up and down, left and right and the worst is that they won’t always stay shut in the back. I’m going to try to build all of that out of mine. It’s m fortunate that I’m building an AM kit and there’s plenty of room to cut and re-cut until it’s right. First step is to identify the pieces that belong together. I did this earlier and marked them. This is the AM shin. Huge. I’m not going to come close to filling it out so I’m pretty comfortable trimming the front to the 25mm width to match the cover strip width. The ankles are to be trimmed completely. It’s easier to mark the inside and follow the cut line. Here isthe left leg trimmed and sanded smooth. The top return edge edge will stay as is for now. Here is the right leg inner half trimmed down the length of the shin and the inner strip glued and clamped. Again I used the strip I trimmed off the shin as the inner strip for support. The outer half is trimmed as well, the trimmed strip is laying there too. Here’s the two halves together to check the joint before gluing. Nice and straight, even lines all the way. Glued, taped, clamped and secures with magnets. You can’t tell from this angle but the mage nets are 3 on the outside and two inside. This is a tougher piece to set because of its shape. I took great care to line it up and clamp it in the position I want it to set up in. I clamped the Back seam to hold it steady in the position that it will be in when I wear it. The main idea here is to only ever stress it when putting it on. It should fit most naturally when closed on your leg. With the glue dried I measured the length to use for the outer cover. 37cm should do it. I measured the other leg and it’s the same so I cut two 37cm x 25mm strips. Notice the offset on the top ridge. A quick check to see how it sits before gluing. Now with the glue on and clamped with magnets. Here is a special magnet. The very top edge doesn’t follow the shin curve so this broken earth magnet pulls it into the correct position. Front cover strip on and looks good. Notice the offset of the crown. That’s normal. Many kits have one or both like this. I pulled the shon on and made a mark where it fit me best. Using that mark I set it with clamps and found the center line up the back and marked the halves for cutting. Here the first cut is done and clamped on to mark the second half. You can see the marks at the top and bottom edges if you zoom in on those areas. Both cuts done. Using the cut off pieces I can mark the left shin for cutting once I put the front of it together. Securing it in the back will be done once both are built to this stage. I’m not using Velcro or bra hooks. I’m setting up a magnetic latching systemthats a variation of a build by Cricket. Left inner strip glued in. Here’s wheee the fun begins. This is the start of the shin magnetic latch closure. This is essentially the inner strip but will only be glued to the inside shin piece. It’s marked for 5 evenly spaced magnets down the center line of the strip. These are to be drilled to fit the magnets in. Part of the system is the magnetic button covers. I’m making these from scratch. The magnets are 12mm x 3mm rare earth magnets, so super strong. I’m using the cover strip ABS pieces supplied by AM with the kit. I centered a pair of magnets on the prepared button piece. I cut this a bit larger than needed so it can be sanded down to size when it cools. This is a tool that came with a faucet kit I bought for the kitchen sink. It just happens to be the perfect size to press the button covers. Using the two magnets makes center ing it a snap. I apply heat until it starts to soften… apply enough pressure to push it flat to the table. This is what it came out like. See how the magnet sits flush in the button. That’s what I’m looking for. I used the button to mark out the next four. I cut them out and made each one individually. Using the inner strip I marked and cut a matching outer cover strip. I marked where the outer magnets will be glued. I’ll make another full set like this for the other leg. See how the magnets fit nicely into the holes. That’s important for easy use and secure latching. Maybe I should have put this up earlier…this is the stepped drill bit I use to make the holes. Using the hole strip I marked the area to be cut out on the shin. This is where the magnets will latch when done. The cover strip will completely hide the holes and the magnets will be glued to it where the cut-outs are. The inner strip (hole strip) will house the magnets, slightly recessed, so the outer magnets will actually sit in a slight depression to lock the back solidly. With the back closed I put the hole strip on and blackened the spots where magnets will join…with a sharpie. I cut out all of the black with the dermel. I fit the hole strip inside and glued it in with E6000. I used a small stack of the 12mm magnets to check the holes and ground off any spots that didn’t allow them to pass right through. I marked the magnets on the ‘north’ sides and laid them in the buttons. A decent dab of E6000 in each one then push the magnets in. All sitting in the glue. A magnet is used to draw it in better… Then I stack them for some real pull to seat them right in. I fit the outer cover strip on to check for any adjustments that might be needed. Everything lined up perfectly. E6000, clamps and magnets. I’ll be able to glue the magnets inside on the cover strip later today. I cut the holes for the left leg. Then alligned and glued in the hole strip. Left leg buttons made with the magnets setting in the glue. Here is the right shin return edge trimmed to fit my leg. I still might trim the back for mobility. This is a link to a clip that shows how well the magnets work. I glued the sniper plate on. Had to heat and slightly reshape the rear tips to make a better mating surface for gluing. The ammo belt is on and glued in the front. White paint onand drying.

I will with the front strips only because the raised area will be 20mm, so that’s all that will fit on the inner channel. I will probably use the 40mm sections I cut off the outer thigh shell front as an inside strip on the rear of the thighs. It’s for strength so the more surface area the more grabbing power. Generally I don’t worry about the inner size as long as it’s not too small.

I like the idea of the strength but I’ve seen many pictures of the return edges broken with large chunks missing. I’m toying with an idea to make a laminated trim piece that will replace the return edge, perhaps two layers of the material I’m trimming off. A 1/4” high 2 layer laminated piece would give it a look of thicker armour and be much stronger than the natural return edge. It would require some cutting, bending and gluing but I think the results would be worth it. My only real question is the order of the steps from start to finish. I’m leaning toward one layer at a time with overlapping seams on the layers. I didn’t destroy the return edges that I removed so I may start by using those.

After a couple discussions I decided to trim off all the return edges on the lower ends but on the shin pieces I’ll definitely have some return edge remaining. I like the heavier look. It’s not really seen at the bottom unless someone is laying down to look. Hoping to avoid some armour bites as well.

From this point on I will be editing the posts each time I have the next step in the build ready to post. This will keep all of the build process in one section so it’s easier to follow. Some of the replies will show after the build post but may have been posted before the build is complete, and might seem pointless so I’ll try to respond accordingly to minimize confusion to future readers. Ok, time to start on the leg armour. I’ll be starting on the thighs. The shins are going to get some special work done so I’ll do a whole section on them after. Here we go… These are the AM thigh pieces un touched as they came. They are huge. Look at the width of the back. I like that they don’t have vac-formed ridges to fight. This will allow any amount of trimming to customize right to my leg because the cut won’t have to follow the edge line or cross over a raised area. The front has the raised area and it’s huge. Hat. Will do here is find the right amount to trim off…an even strip in line with the raised edge…and then do a rough fit to estimate the rear side cut. It may or may not be cut square with the edge, we’ll see. Look at the girth on these. For all the bigger troopers out there this is the armour to buy. You can almost park a land-speeder in that. Here is the total raised front width. 100mm. I’ll find the right amount to trim off each so that the cover strip is centred on it. I used a pencil to trace the inner corner of the return edges then scored along it a few medium passes. The pencil line really helps because, believe it or no, the inner corner disappears in light and shadow when you look at it. The defined line makes cutting simple. Nice and neat, ready to sand smooth. You can can see the top return edge is gone as well. Because the thigh pieces are huge…around and tall…I might have to trim the top for movement, spacing or both. When they are how I want them I can use my heat gun to soften the top edge and ‘curl’ it inward slightly to give it some depth…up to 1/8”. With a quick test fit and a couple pencil marks I estimated the fron raised edge should be 30mm left on each side. I taped the halves together on those marks. It’s a nice straight line top to bottom. Another quick fit and I estimated the rear areas to mark, taped them and tried it on. It fit really nice. You can see how the back will not be right in line with the edge. Much more is coming off the bottom then the top. Again this is a rough estimate of the back. Here is where I notice something I didn’t like. The outer cover strips for thighs should be 20mm. I used some ABS from the bicep trimming to mock up a strip. Then I drew lines to see how it would look with a 60mm raised area. YUCK! I’m tall but not terribly wide so I really don’t need that much area to cover my thigh. The raised area is 60mm so I drew lines at 20mm spacing. With the mock shim clamped on I can see that 10mm on each side isn’t too bad. I could cut 40mm off one to leave 20mm… and 20mm off the other to leave 20mm for a total of 40mm. I used the mock strip to mark down the inside because it’s easier to use the strip as a pencil guide and just slide it down the channel. Before I cut these I’m going to try marking and setting the front at 30mm. With any luck I can eliminate all or most of the raised area beyond the cover strip edges. Marking the left thigh with the mock strip on the inside. Sliding it along the inner ridge makes a perfect line all the way along. Ready to trim. With the both sides trimmed to 20mm I put them together by overlapping them. Don’t panic, this is for test fitting. I taped the back sides the way they were lined up before and pulled them back on for a fitting they felt great like this so the next step is to mark the rear cut lines to as close to the center of the hamstring as I can and trim them. I’ll trim 10mm off each raised edge on the front and a cover strip will cover all of it and have clean butt joints on the back. Victor Matts at AM contacted me before shipping and asked if I’d like the knee ammo/battery belt bent to roughly the correct shape. It’s so close to perfect that I’ll only need a slight adjustment. That’s customer care folks. So back down I go the next day and cut 10mm off each raised edge on he right thigh. This is how it looks just taped together. That’s gorgeous. Below are the strips I cut off. Here I have the mock cover strip taps on so,I can see how well the fit is. It’s going to look perfect, the raised edge with a strip on top really adds character. This is a 20mm trimmed edge from one of the previous cuts. I trimmed another 2-3mm off so it will sit flat in the channel. I like using the trimmed pieces as inner support strips because they fit so nicely. The channel is the same depth as the thickness of the strip so I’ll have no raised edge inside to rub my leg when trooping. Ok everybody flip…good job on this pic, no? This is the inner strip trimmed to 17mm. You can see the deflection below the tape measure, it goes to 18mm even farther along. I’m not overly picky about the inside as it’s not going to be seen all that much, but when it is seen it will show the human touch as opposed to precise machining…my personal taste. Here’s why I really like using trimmed off material on the pieces they came from. They have the natural shape and curvature of it. Setting these in place is easier than strongarming flat pieces in and less stressful on the armour. That’s exactly what adding strength should do. A bead of E6000…I found white E6000…and a pile of clamps to set the inner strip in. A view of the outside. All clamps are in place to apply the force in the right places. Close up. If the gluing process shifts the strip outward, or if it’s too far out and causes a gap between the halves, it can be sanded or trimmed to fit. Next day. The first inner strip is set so I glued the outer and inner halves together. It’s a bit awkward trying to mate them with the glue on and secure them in place. A couple clamps to start with, then I used tape to keep them set once aligned and lots of magnets to clamp them evenly mated while drying. I trimmed the left thigh raised sections to 10mm each. The inner strip on the left leg outer half is glued and setting up now too. Tomorrow I’ll repeat the process and mate the inner half. Ok back from work, down to the building table and off with clamps and magnets…OMG it shifted. The two halves were about 1/4” offset. Damn it. Pulled it apart, cleaned off all the glue and redid it…double and triple checking just to be sure. Since the strip was ready on the other one…and a new batch of magnets came…I glued and set it too. Voila. Thigh Armor that fit me perfectly…I tried them on. From the back you can see how straight the butt jointed seams line up. Odd angle cover strips would look awful so take the time to line everything up with pencil marks before cutting up the armour. It pays off in the end. Heres a trick that I found many people already knew. E6000 can be safely rubbed off or loosened enough to remove by rubbing with bare hands if you scrape at it with some scrap ABS. Remove any excess glue before laying the cover strips on. The rear cover strip goes on very nicely. The surface is flat and clean and requires only single magnets to keep it flat while curing. The front cover strip has the pronounced arc. The strip lays on it nicely but just to be sure I doubled the magnets at each spot to add clamping force. I don’t want it lifting at all. Tomorrow they will be completed and ready for final sizing and edging. It’s tomorrow…today…and here they are. I got nice legs. All set for trimming, sizing and edging later.