Phat Rob

Good afternoon fellow troops and artists! Today we've got a mini drop of appendage snap plates updates before-finally!-inching towards the straps. Here are the freshly glued (E6000 adhesive) shoulder bells and thighs. Here's the ab plate with punched male button snap. Here we have the bicep and forearm pieces with newly adjusted snap plates. Notice how they follow the reference more closely. Thank you @gmrhodes13 for the supplied reference! As always, sincere thank you's for your continued support and guidance through this project!

Good afternoon, fellow artists/builders! Todays post includes snap plate updates. All plates have been applied with good ol' E6000 glue. For the ab plate note, that I haven't punched the holes for the cod piece or the upper right hand corner. The cod piece area has been left intact until I get started on the straps. That rivet will actually be used to tether the actual strap to join with the butt plate. The area along the upper right hand corner has been left unpunched because I'm not sure what type of button, rivet or whatever to use. I think that area contains a male snap but I'm not for real sure. Any insight into this mystery would be greatly appreciated. Here's a pic I'm referencing for my theory on that male snap. Thank you @gmrhodes13 for your suggestion to place the side snaps along the kidney and butt plates outwards to provide more sufficient support. So here's where I think I made a major booboo. It appears that the snaps are too close together. If this assessment is correct I'm prepared to take my beatings and redo. Aye caramba... Ok, so that takes care of all the trunk area updates and inquiries. Onto the arms & thighs... Hopefully everything is lined up correctly. Again, this is the reference I used for snap placements. Once again, thank you so much everyone for your guidance and help throughout this project. I sincerely appreciate it!

Good morning fellow builders! This months collection mainly involves creating/placing the snap plates. Before we get into that though, here's some pix of the shoulder straps. First, the corners were marked on the chest plate to properly align them for gluing/installation. Next came the clipping after gluing. The right one shifted slightly after doing this so I had to reattach it. Onto the good stuff! First, let's take a look at the tools used. I opted for old shool hammering in opposed to the punch tool as I wasn't keen on making my fist sore from constant punching in all 7000 snaps. These plates measure at a little wider than 2"x1.5". I don't show my drill, but yeah holes were drilled in before installing the snaps. I've checked out many other builds as well as this diagram to make sure everything's in place properly. Does everything check out? The next set of photos shows my markings for the placement of the split rivets along the kidney plate and ab plate. The last set of photos shows additional snap plates included on the ab plate and kidney plate. I'm not sure, but checking out collections from other builders, it appears as if the split rivets serve as purely ornamental and not necessarily functional. The same applies to the crotch rivets? Is this observation correct? The snap plate on the crotch was heated to apply a bend so as to fit along the curvature of that area. Thanks again for your continued guidance and time throughout this project, I truly appreciate it!

Good Morning everyone. Today we're starting out with long overdue revisits towards the posterior plate and the shoulder pieces. I got rid of the slight bumps/irregularities at the marked areas. The shoulder pieces have been realigned and recentered. Notice the ridges go over 3 times over the chest plate. Once I have been assured that this is an acceptable placement I intend on cutting off the rear tabs of the shoulder strap. Lastly, for todays post we have the ab control panels. What we're looking at here is how I marked the underside of the mold pull for cutting out. I marked the panels edges at approximately half a centimeter for final cutting. The corners are cut at 90 degrees. Notice the markings for paint application do not touch the base of the raised buttons. Finally, we have the painted panels. For the blue color, I used what I believe to be the last bottle of Humbrol 14 French blue glossy enamel paint on Earth, haha. As always, thank you so much for your guidance and assistance throughout this build. 2022 may be the year it gets done lol!

Ah geez...I knew taking care of baby while the wife attends to her Masters studies was gonna be a bear but I still feel sooo lazy lol. It's been 7 months since my last post but I've tried my best to address those callouts from waaaaay back in September. Alright let's get to it! My main concern were those nasty gaps between the ears and cheeks. I like to think I took care of those from both the front and back sides but I'll let y'all be the judges on those. I made sure to carve out some pits for the ear screws so's the screws sit in flush. I also cleaned up the vertical lines in the back (gray areas) and made sure the blue stripes decals are situated correctly. Lastly, I made sure that the harness was oriented correctly within the interior of the helmet. I tried following a very thorough tutorial on this forum concerning cutting/shaping the ear attachments but it completely went over my head. Being a trained artist with both traditional and CG media I'd always considered myself pretty adept at anything visual/spatial but this helmet project proved to be a true challenge. If I ever finish this part of the costume at a reasonable standard of acceptance I cannot tell you how proud (and relieved haha) I will be. As always, I sincerely and truly appreciate your guidance and time!

Happy Labor Day! This well-earned holiday brings you a monthly update focused on the helmet! Let's start with the frown! Using some extra-small q-tips (You can find these at Hobby Lobby.), paint thinner and good ol' 1138 Gray. (That CAN'T just be a coincidence lol!) for touch-ups, I managed to neatly trim those trouble areas. Onto the tears. Using some Gloss Black paint, I expanded the black outline, which of course, resulted in having to completely repaint the tear lines. In this next pic, you'll also notice the difference that decals make in comparison to my previous, hand-painted effort. BIG Thank You's to @justjoseph63 for sending me a set of FREE blue decals! They obviously make a HUGE difference! BTW the sticker was applied before the ear piece was removed to ensure a proper fit. Also note the brow trim's...trimming haha. For these decals, I not only used paint thinner to remove the previously-placed blue paint, but Goof Off, as well. There were some expected stains that I knew would be difficult to completely remove. This next pic shows a more obvious stain. I made sure to use the pencil test to guarantee a proper width from the corner of the cheek. Next, I decided to adjust the black lines as seen on the back gray areas of the back. I used a not-so-successful masking method to produce straighter lines. I'm not sure if it's an improvement-which is a shame cuz this was truly tedious work. Lastly, I removed the lining along the bottom of the bucket to remove the predicted stains. Yup, I see the two prominent stains along the bottom there, underneath the comm-links. I'll be sure to take care of those. Also, as much as it pained me to decide, I'm gonna go ahead and redo those ear pieces. With my experience adjusting all of these pieces, my confidence has greatly increased and I know that I can do better. Aye aye aye, what am I getting myself into, lol? Hopefully, next month I will be showing off those new earpieces with minimal to no space shown between the ears and bucket! That's all I had time for this month, ya'll. (Life is crazy with a baby and a wife who's in grad school haha!) In addition to the improved earpieces, next month I will include work on the hardhat suspensions and bottom-liner mounting. As always, your help and suggestions are most invaluable and appreciated and I can't wait to see what you have to say about the latest and greatest. Take care y'all!

Good morning! And thanks @TKSpartan and @Chemi for your suggestions regarding the final adjustments to the detonator. As you can see, I've shaved off a bit from the bottom of that middle panel (1 cm) and simply rotated said panel towards more even cap-end cuts. I also noticed that for some reason I never actually trimmed, sanded and smoothed the butt plate. Referencing the CRL, the edges are angled. Oof. And now the area I've been dreading. The bucket. So bear with me on this guys. Before I decided to try my hand at completing a 501st approved full TK suit I had ordered my ATA Works bucket by itself just as a project. Of course, this thing is RIDDLED with...discrepancies haha. Oh my lord, here goes... What I'm not sure about are the comm tips and the paint on the grill-but let's be honest I'm sure they need some adjustments. The ear pieces are very much sub-par. It looks like there's a lot of return edge still on that upper section. I plan on severely trimming this to drastically reduce the empty space between the helmet and ear piece. The blue stripes were created with my own stencil (obviously lol) and will need reworking I'm sure. I'm leaning towards decals so if anyone has any insight or suggestions I'm all ears. Any overspray will be washed off. The cheek markings were also hand painted and do not appear symmetrical from left and right sides. Also leaning towards decals while keeping the original black and gray paint borders. The left side looks slightly better I think. Still gonna fix. The black grill lines are pretty rough. Again, I think I can keep the black and gray paint job but would like to paint over the grill lines and replace with some sweet decals. What'choo think? Oh man this is embarrassing. So you can clearly see that the hardhat suspensions are on backwards. Again, all overspray will be washed out thoroughly along with any dirt. Other than that I'm really not sure. All suggestions are most welcome. I feel like I'm 8 years old, my dad just found out what trouble I've been into and the whippings are finally over haha. Thanks again so much for your always helpful suggestions and ideas!

Good Morning! Back for my monthly armor update! Last month was devoted towards finishing the gloves and the thermal detonator, Thank you @justjoseph63 for the glove order and the flexible hand guards! Even if they are essentially chemical gloves they look and fit great! https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49156-fs-rubber-gloves-for-expert-infantrycenturion-level/ The hand guards are also spectacular! To ensure the best centering, the gloves were marked with a Sharpie and blue tape. Before sanding these guys, I etched scoring marks with an x-acto for that added layer of traction for gluing. Good ol' nail polish remover was used for removing the printed text. Here's how the guards sit at the knuckle and with a closed fist. Aaaand open palm... Alright, continuing the work on the thermal detonator here's what we have so far... Thank you to @ukswrathfor the Belt Clips! Superior craftsmanship and hyper fast service! Thank you @MaskedVengeance for your guidance regarding the detonator. It certainly made life easier when acquiring the necessary items for completion. For the detonator body I ran down to the local hardware store, purchased a 2" PVC and sawed it down to size. I eventually whittled it down to 6 3/4", filing down a bevel along both rims. As you see among the snapshot of items used, I bought a spray can of Testors 1238 to achieve that dark gray tone. I have assembled all of the pieces to fit for eventual fastening, Before I fasten everything, I just wanted to clear all of the measurements first. From end to end, the canister is 7 and 1/4". (I know the pic looks like 1/2" but it's not.) The width between the middle panel and end caps is 1/2", There are some different angles to make sure everything sits correctly. I know it's not much but believe me I'm trying. Looking after little LeeLee requires my full attention nowadays but I wouldn't trade that hard work for anything. I will not fasten anything until I receive y'alls well-experienced knowledge and blessings. As always, my humble thank you's for your help and time! I ALWAYS and SINCERELY appreciate it!

Oh man, it's been a while lol! And with good reason at least haha! Ya see, I had hoped to have most of the trimming and fitting work done before our first born introduced herself last December. Well, our little one had something to say about that and decided she was ready to hatch a few weeks early! So on Thanksgiving Day appropriately enough, little baby was born! Meet Frances Leonor, the newest member of the Galactic Empire! Coincidentally, she goes by "Lea". That is pure coincidence and not a Star Wars nod I swear haha! After moving across the country a few months back and little Lea FINALLY sleeping through the night I now have the time to devote at least a couple of hours a week to my armor. I've decided to forgo adding shims to the sides of the kidney plate (or was it the ab plate?- idk). This gives me a reason to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle so that's gotta have some worthwhile benefits right? Taking baby steps (No pun intended lol) I'm now gonna work on those little nick-nacks like the gloves, ab attachments and thermal detonator-or is it the o2 canister? Today's progress is just me sharing how I've measured the canister for eventual cutting. For accurate measurements, I've referred to several threads including : Without further ado... Here are my tools of the trade. And the measured pieces. I've got a PVC pipe in mind for the actual canister piece but would like to clear it with more experienced builders first. I've managed to track down a 2.5" pipe which I'll of course, color the right shade of gray. I'll have to do more research on the best paint. And hey it's shipped from my state! https://tinyurl.com/4mck9ke9 care of Ebay. Is this a good find or am I completely barking up the wrong tree? I, of course, will be ordering those super nice clips from Ukswrath. I hope they're still available haha. So that's it for this week's post guys. I eagerly await your well-educated responses and suggestions. Thanks as always!

Yeah that right shim has me a little worried as well. I think I'm gonna cut that top section out and replace it with a much flatter piece I think. Thanks Glen.

While today's share consists of the ab piece and kidney plate I'd first like to thank you guys for your suggestions regarding the shoulder bridges. Thanks Mario for your insight pertaining to the amount of ridges overlapping the chest piece. I do plan on moving the shoulder bridge forward slightly to have three ridges and tab over the chest area. Ideally, I do plan on removing that rear tab but I won't commit to that until I see a perfect fit. Of course, another fitting will determine how well everything looks. Thank you Caleb for your suggestion to don the ab and kidney pieces to ensure a more proper fit-I plan on doing just that when I check for my next shoulder bridge fitting. Last but certainly not least, Glen, I also appreciate your echoed recommendation to arrange a more thorough fitting that includes more adjacent parts. In the meantime, let's take a gander at what I've worked on... First, I have sanded the abdominal piece to reflect the more angular edges apparent towards the groin area. For the top portion of the ab piece I have kept one centimetre of space from the corner to the edge of the plastic to allow for harness hardware. Next, for the bottom area of the kidney piece I've merely cut along the area where the return edge meets the flash. If there are any other insights regarding the "ideal" or more effective cut for this area I will most certainly consider any suggestions. The top area of the kidney piece has a full centimetre of space between the corner and edge of the plastic. This is to hopefully, prevent the kidney or chest piece from riding over each other. If this is not correct I will make the proper adjustment depending on any suggestions. Soooo as my wife and I were fitting everything last session we noticed a nice inch and a half gap where the kidney plate edge should meet the ab plate corner. Thanks to my big, fat gut I am one of the lucky ones that gets to shim along the kidney plate! Yaaayyyy! Check a look at the proposed shim attachment and the first round of ABS paste applied to the inner and outer shim pieces. Alright, so I'm going to apply another layer of paste and hopefully that'll do it before I sand that mess to a velvety smooth finish. I'll post my results before attaching to the kidney plate. Once I receive the blessing of this community I'll attach the shims to the kidney plate and proceed with paste applications and sanding. Yuck. I'm not looking forward to this haha. Lastly, it's butt plate time! Looking at the CRL and the trim outlines of the butt piece I see that the corners are distinctly more angular. Hence, this is why I plan on retaining those sharp angular corners when I trim and sand. What say you? That's it for now fellas! On our next visit I plan on sharing some more fitting pix and hopefully get a little closer to solving the riddle of the shoulder bridges. In the meantime I await your always helpful advice and suggestions. Thank you so much guys!

Happy Veteran's Day everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying themselves and their families as we honor and recognize all who have served this country. Today's share will be a mini-drop showcasing the shoulder bridges. As you can see on the front side, I've got the front tab and two ridges overlapping the chest piece. Even at this placement you can see that it pretty much already touches the creases on the chest. From the back side you can see that the shoulder bridges extend all the way down until they almost touch the back detail. Also you'll notice that the shoulder bridge is waaaay off-center on the right side there. Looks like I'm gonna have to realign that shoulder bridge. So yeah, I'm thinking about moving the shoulder bridge further down the front to have the front tab and three or four ridges overlapping the chest piece. As always, any thoughts, concerns or suggestions are most welcome and appreciated. Thanks, guys!

Good evening my fellow costume enthusiasts! For this update let's start with the forearms. As you can see the insides have been reinforced with extra support strips. For the chest plate I've completely scooped out the collar all the way to the very edge. For the back piece I've kept all the return edges with the collar going all the way to the very edge. Notice that I've kept the bottom portion intact to a thickness of 1 centimeter. Thank you Joseph for your insight regarding the matter of the kidney piece riding up the back piece and using this return edge to butt against the kidney piece. Regarding the shoulder bridges I've made the executive decision to cut out any return edge/lip in the front area. I simply prefer this look sitting flush against the chest piece and I know that it's still accurate to the costume. As you can see with only two ridges and the tab of the shoulder bridge overlapping the front piece it still hangs just in front of the chest sculpt. This is where I intend to adhere it, but of course only a test fitting will truly determine that. Depending on how the tabs sit on the back piece we'll see if cutting them out is necessary. Once I get rid of any logos on my spandex undersuit via nail polish remover, I'll resume the process of test fitting. In the meantime, here is where I intend to cut along for the abdomen piece. As far as the top section, I've read where the chosen strapping method will help determine how much return edge should remain. I need to do more research but I am leaning towards the snap method vs. brackets. Either way I'm completely clueless so any advice in determining where to cut along the top of the abdomen would be sincerely appreciated. Lastly, I've marked where I intend to cut along the kidney piece. Similar to the bottom of the back piece I am thinking of leaving a centimeter of return edge to combat riding of the kidney over the back piece. (The photo on the left represents the top portion of the kidney piece.) With everyone's busy schedules and much more important obligations I'd like to express my gratitude in anyone taking the time to inspect my progress and offer your suggestions and advice. I truly appreciate it!

Hey folks! It's chest and back plate time! Here's some pix of the trimmed edges for the chest piece. You'll notice that no trimming has been done along the "collar" area. I neglected to question how much of, if anything, this area needs to be trimmed. If you have any recommendations or insights about this area I would love to hear them. The bottom section has been trimmed so that all return edges are gone. Theoretically, this should allow the chest to butt more snug against the ab cover. The sides have been trimmed a half-centimeter from the corner molds (again, I know it looks thicker haha). For the back plate I intend to trim from the molding that obviously separates from the excess flash. According to the CRL, leaving some return edge here will not affect approval. What do you guys prefer? For the bottom section I have seen some folks leave a significant amount of return edge from mounting or strap assembly purposes. What would you recommend as the thickness for the bottom edge of the back plate and why? For the portions that butt towards the shoulders you can see the markings that indicate my intended trim area. The shoulder bridges have proven to be an unexpected enigma for me. Looking at official movie references I see how thick the trim is on the sides and along the end of the front tab. It looks like there's pretty much no flat edge in front of it hunh? Orizz that just me? I've seen official movie references where the tabs are removed from the back and I've seen 501st approved photos that prove this is not completely necessary (as mentioned in the CRL). I guess it all comes down to body proportions. Anyways, regarding the shoulder bridges I intend to trim from the underside of the piece as indicated in the photo below. You'll notice that there are two markings for trimming along the front tab. Would you recommend trimming along the red or dotted, white lines? I would like to cut out the tab that runs along the back but I will wait to see how my shoulder bridges sit on my chest and back plates before I commit to that. Any suggestions or concerns you may have about my construction choices are of course welcomed and appreciated!

Dude, that is a great idea! I've already glued at the indicated spots but I will certainly look into this idea as a means of added stability. Thanks Andrew!

This week we've got some forearm progress and questions along with questions regarding the chest plate. I have trimmed (and sanded) even more along the wrists and wide ends to leave out all return edges. Here's a shot of the butted sides with cover strips attached. I'll patiently wait for any suggestions or oversights caught before I proceed with gluing. I have searched the CRL and other threads for a unanimous agreement on edge thickness and the best I can get is that side thickness is generally right up to the return edge-and that edge thickness along the sides is less strict regarding accuracy. Please, please, please correct me if I'm mistaken. My battle plan here is to cut half a centimeter away from the obvious corners of the sides. ( I know it looks thicker.) Again, smack some sense into me if you think this is ill-advised. Onto the bottom of the chest piece. Here the edge thickness towards the flash is all over the place. In areas marked "a." the width from corner to flash is 1 cm. In areas marked "b." the width from corner to flash is 1 and a quarter centimeters. In areas marked "c." the width from corner to flash is 1 and a half centimeters. This bottom shot of the chest plate, more than any other, has eluded me the most. I'm guessing that the trim here should be right up to the edge of the bottom corner. If anyone has any knowledge regarding the suggested thickness for this area, your advice would be most welcome and appreciated. Sincere thanks for your time and expertise!

Yeah looking at my step areas on the wrists I think I can go a little closer as there does appear to be some return edge showing. I'll post some pic updates. Thanks Glen!

What's up fellas? Today is really just an arm dump with a few questions. Ok, firstly I have removed that troublesome bulge at the top of the bicep. Are there any other corners/bulges that need nipping? Next, we've got some forearm trim pics. To my knowledge I have shaved off all of the return edge from the wrists and trimmed all along the middle "hump(?)" at the top of the forearms. This was to keep the shape consistent with the wrist shape. Do the forearms require any more trim that you can see? Lastly, the last few pics are my forearm cutouts after fitting on my...forearms? lol Alrighty then, I 'm moving on to the chest and back pieces (FINALLY!) next and await any suggestions or corrections that this community may have. Sincere appreciation for your time and expertise as always!

Thanks Glen, for that input! Regarding the calf closures I am leaning towards magnets. I need to do a bit of research. Thanks again Caleb! While I create and apply my inner bicep support-strips I have a quick question regarding cutting the edges of the forearm pieces. Is it recommended to cut along the very edge of the flattened section or can you leave a rounded edge as indicated on the green outline? Thanks as always for your time and help!

"Additionally, here's a note regarding the bulge at the top of the bicep; it's recommended that it actually be removed." Hey thanks for that catch, Caleb. I'll remove that bit and get to sanding the butted edges. Also, considering you can slide your whole arm through the affixed bicep pieces, is it recommended to glue both the front and back cover strips to the bicep parts or just for the front cover strips? Thanks as always guys!

Thanks Mario for the awesome reference! Arm work this time around consisted of sanding the tops and bottoms of all bicep pieces. I've kept the butted ends unsanded until I get a nod for gluing. The cover strips were measured at 15 mms across. Pretty short n sweet for this post. If everything checks out I await anyone's recommendations or approval for gluing the front areas. As always, I appreciate your support, time and help.

Got it Mario-back cover strips have been glued/attached! I guess now is as good a time to clarify that I have decided to go for a Centurion level-stunt build. "Power Extreme!" Every reference I look at is at Level 3 Centurion level so it makes sense to me lol. Ok, on with the progress! I've finally applied the thigh ammo belt. In an effort to keep the thigh belt stable, I've read some folks prefer to punch in a third rivet but I have yet to see any visual evidence of said application. I've also read other threads that advise gluing certain sections underneath where the ammo belt touches the lower ridge of the thigh. If anyone else considers gluing acceptable the areas that I've marked are where I plan on applying glue. Other than the thigh belt I've begun some work on the upper arm pieces. Noting how the 501st insists on minimal gaps between the shoulder bells and chest and shoulder links I've cut out as much return edge as possible. As for the bicep pieces I have only marked where I intend to cut away the extra flash. Is this correct? I've also noticed that for the outer bicep pieces one of them flares out at the end. Does anyone know why this is? Speaking of shape differences, the end corners of the inner bicep pieces are also noticeably different. On one piece the end corners arc at a near point, the other has two angled corners on the inside. Any insights or directions regarding these observations and markings would be greatly appreciated.

Good evening folks. This post is mainly about my progress with making and sanding down ABS paste. First, I'd like to show the adjustments I've made on the rear cover strips for the thigh pieces. As you can see they're just a hair narrower than 2.5 cm. With a little help from the Kman (Thank you!) I was able to make a healthy sampling of ABS paste culled from the smallest pieces of leftover trim. I only needed an itty-bitty amount so the instructions were spot on for the correct amount of plastic to acetone ratio. Here's what my poor thigh gaps looked like upon immediate application. Pretty grody-I know. After over 30 minutes of vigorous sanding here are the results. You'll notice what appear to be bubbles. Drat! After refining my acetone concoction I proceeded to add another dab, let dry and sand away. Here is the final result, pre-buffing. IF no further adjustments need to be made regarding the smoothing out of the potential gap areas, do you think I am ready to apply the thigh ammo belt to the right thigh piece? I know most dudes dread that moment of riveting this piece but I can't wait to be honest haha! I eagerly await your advice or concerns- as always I really appreciate your time and help!

"Out of interest, what made you choose Velcro for the thigh rears?" Hey Dan. Honestly, my decision was purely based on convenience. I've had some velcro boxes left over from another costume. I will pull out the velcro and replace it with bands as well as adjust the rear cover strip of the thigh. Thank you for your advice!

Hey y'all. Work continues for the leg portion of the armor. Both the left shin and the right thigh are what we're looking at this week. I went ahead and purchased a hardware set by Joseph Pedigo. Thanks for the heads-up Shawn! And thank you, Joseph! For the thigh ammo belt I'm gonna apply cap rivets for attachment. In the pic there's only two but I think three should be applied for secure fastening. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Both pieces have been painted over with three coats of white enamel paint. Speaking of the thigh ammo belt, is this the correct height and area of attachment on the right thigh piece? Note the circled-in holes. Is that the correct hole placement for the side rivets? Again, I believe there should be a third rivet punched through the right-middle area. I will supply an additional pic to confirm soon. On to the right thigh. After measuring for accuracy the cover strip was glued in. There is a noticeable gap along the bottom area where the side join. I have placed a small cover strip but I'm thinking I'll make some ABS paste and cover it up on the inside. What do you think? An additional cover strip was added on the inside for additional support. After measurements were confirmed, a heat gun was used to conform the sides inward. After the cover strip was measured, created and glued the awkward task of gluing and applying the velcro was completed. Here's a pic of that small strip piece I mentioned earlier on the front part of the thigh piece. Yeah, I think I'll see about pasting that up. On the rear portion of the right thigh you'll notice that gap there (again!). Looking at the CRL, I noticed some pics do show mobility cuts along the back of the knee. Is it recommended to reshape or cut out this area? Lastly, the sniper plate was worked on. As you can see I decided to further trim the bottom area to make it more flush against the shin armor. I will admit, I was so excited to attach this thing and got a little ahead of myself by actually gluing it onto the armor. Doh! For what it's worth, here are the shots with clamps aaaaand glued. If this doesn't work I'll take my lashes and reapply to ensure accuracy. That's all I have for now. Oh! And my homework for this weekend will be doing more research on Hero, Stunt, EI and Centurion differences as I STILL haven't fully decided the path I'm going to pursue. I know, I'm awful lol! Thanks in advance for your guidance and time-I really appreciate it!