Zinfer

Thanks Scott, with the armor makers and tutorials there's not much said about fitting and troubleshooting. At least that I've seen. My finest trick that I've learned is splitting the difference on cuts. Even then it's dicey. Apologies for the harsh words earlier. Fitting is so above and beyond my abilities.. It's such a hard learn to actually FIT the suit to your own body. It's practically it's own skillset. I already screwed up once with the entire Torso, so now I'm on a diet but I knew I needed to do it anyways.

Removed Frustration ;o

Removed Frustration.

Yes, I believe I am going to HAVE to cut them off/down because they are not mating up together. However it also appears that I am going to have to cut the material on inside and outside at a crooked angle to get a straight line. Where the boots/ankles are is fine, however there is a lot of meat up towards the top of the calves. It's omg. Only after the cut do you find out if you have a straight line. I created a line on both outer and inner to split the difference at the top center. Wondering if it'd be smarter to just take small segments at a time, but then that blows my mind as well. Is that how it's done? My legs are not fat, but toned. So I'll be cutting more material towards the top which delivers an angle cut. Pretty sure that I am correct on that. But it has to occur on both inner and outer to get a straight line in the center. Wow, this is really hard. If only there were a pro fitter near me. I have approached my local Garrison, but Covid y'know. I've reached out to Panda and Rob for input as well as to how to correctly approach this. Getting one right is just HALF the problem. :p Then to repeat it verbatim. One of the chief problems is that with the RS kit, if you overlap one direction it's near enough fine, if you overlap the other direction, not so much. But that's before any cutting. This is just downright HARD.

Done with the Biceps. Moving on to the forearms. Starting with the Right. Cover strip trimmed, clamps and magnets applied. First one on. Also trimmed the cover strip for the opposite side. Going to have to make a couple more 15mm cover strips tonight. I thought I could maybe get away with half segments for each forearm, but each side took a full segment. Added a couple days, looks like 3 more days. But the step after that is really scary. I HAVE TO get the thighs and shins cut and cover strips applied. If I cut too much, or crooked the piece is toast. Very difficult and I may need help, but with this Covid crap, nobody is available to get this fitted properly.

Ok, early morning here about 1:30am. Please by all means let me know how these look. I know I got mirror problems. Gotta fix that. It's just hard taking pictures of your backside. So keep in mind, these ARE MIRRORED. I did actually make pencil lines after filming. I don't know if these are centered or not, I just squeezed and put the tape on both sides. I intend on fully using Velcro on the 25mm CS. The only place where there is not much meat to cut is down at the bottom of the anckles (around the boot). But anyways. What you think? If the images are too poor of quality I completely understand. I need to do something about submitting armor pics. Especially from behind.

Thanks. I think you have more confidence in me than myself. True that (about having more space than too tight) I think I can compensate at the trim edge on both thighs, down by the knees, plenty of spare. I was surprised with the thigh rise, that it prevents running or moving with a wide gape due to hip limitation the higher that upper thigh piece goes. By all means give me all the critique now before I make a bad cutline that's crooked or incorrect area. I wanna be spot on. Like I said I may have to track down a Ohio Garrison fitter if there even is one. Just to be sure.

I will try taping them both up and trying them on.

Test fit of one Right Thigh.

Giving up on the shins. If I'm not getting it, I tend to move on. Back of Thighs. Does this seem correct? Most likely I am way off. Having problems comprehending the shin and thigh fitting and I am very afraid I'm going to cut these wrong. I'm considering also how in line with the front it is, how straight it matches with the front center. I'm looking at well, this in particular, splitting the difference. Considering the snugness. I may have to approach my Garrison for anyone that does fittings in Ohio but I very much doubt it. Losing my mojo in self confidence.

Well I mean, the problems are all over. Just take a look at this top joint. Practically HAVE to half moon cut it just to try and make it look right. Really not ready to tackle sizing the shins and thighs. This is really looking disasterous.

I am really having a hard time with this. Fitting the rear calves and thighs seems impossible for one person to do. If I had the accurate cut lines it'd be cake, but hard to get those. The pieces want to curl and not give a straight cut line. Hard to fiddle with and get accurate. Not cutting anything until I know it's right. This portion is so HARD to do. Taken after getting dressed in the undersuit and Left Boot. This is the Left calf/shin. Seems like a two man job to me for sure. Over-riding feeling of procrastination and to wait to find someone that knows what they are doing here. Same with the Thighs. This screams of danger.

Finished the Left Bicep. Began work on the Right. Trimmed the 15mm cover strips and applied to both sides of the Right Bicep. Clamped and Magnets applied. Overnight curing.

Yes, I've taken to doing this before applying the cover strips. Just to spread the glue around more evenly before applied to the piece.

Took a tip from PandaProps and picked up a bag of craft sticks (popsicle). The attempt was designed to remove areas of glue that emerged from under cover strip seams. I was absolutely shocked and surprised with the ease with which it removed these 'glue boogers'. Hats off to Panda and this trick.

For the moment work on the legs is semi-finished. Have fit them for size yet and put the final cover strips on them. Starting in on the Arms. Today, the Left Bicep. Trimmed out all the owchies and sanded. Don't need my undersuit shredded by pointy bits. Able to get both front and back assembled. Letting it sit and dry overnight. Tomorrow, the Right Bicep. Going to have to run to Hobby Lobby and pick up some popsicle sticks. Apparently these are well used for removing glue that has seeped from the edges. A lifetime supply of popsicle sticks when I only need maybe a few.

Right front thigh with a 20mm cover strip applied using E6000, clamps and magnets. The last of the legs until fitting time and applying the rear cover strips. I get very nervous fitting. If it's off, the whole piece may be scrapped. I feel the leg parts are the hardest to fit. Muscle groups always flexing, awkward to reach, drawing lines. The whole procedure is just better handled by two people that know what they're doing. Next up is the Arms at 15mm cover strips.

Last project of the day. 4x 15mm Arm cover strips cut and sanded. These will be used on the biceps and forearms. As far as I know, this is the last of the cover strips. Ah I forgot, I need to cut a couple for the insides of the front shins as reinforcements. Those'll be 20's I think maybe 15mm since on the inside.

Well I went out there. Attempted to slide it just a bit. Nothing doing. It's began to set and wasn't budging. Gave me a chance to trim up the top of it anyways. Applied some glue at the very top for the trimmed edge. Only other thing to do would be to take advantage of it being E6000, pull it, pick all the glue off and reapply, but honestly I'm not sure it's worth it.

Optical illusion then. It sure does look fatter than a 20mm. I have to admit, after I observed how off it looked, I did look inside to see if my join was even on both top and bottom. I'm sitting right directly in the middle of it equally. I think I see what it is, CS was probably in fact slid over a bit further and he was catching towards the edge of the join. Your probably right.

My goodness! Now that's alot of clamps and magnets! Honestly that thigh looks to have a 25mm cover strip as well. You know this White Gaffers tape is some pretty incredible stuff.

Odd how that left thigh seam veers off whereas I don't think the right does that quite so extremely. Right

Alright, today the front cover strip and Left thigh parts trimmed and ready. Applied the strip. Looks a little off but it is trimmed to the appropriate center lines. The 20mm cover strip begins at the very pointy end of the join at the bottom. I trimmed the little pointy owchies off at the top. I'll have to do some finish trimming of the CS upper after the glue dries and perhaps use some super glue. I trimmed it too long somehow. Could really have used more magnets here. Apparently 24 is not enough. 3 magnets per stack top and bottom.

Yea I've heard that it tends to be on your leading side, myself I'm right handed, so. But still should ask the doc to take a look my next visit. I should look into it. But I guess the point is, I ride a bike and majority of my exercise is the bike so not a good idea to Precisely fit. Leave a little extra maybe. Thighs I'd like to get snug fit. I wish there were costume fitters in Ohio because the legs are hard. Seems the only fitters are the producers.

Well it's not grossly larger, but it was enough for someone else to notice with my being in biking shorts. Gonna look this up. I guess I should mention next time I see the doc. Never paid attention to it, but I guess it could be a serious thing after looking it up, but you know how those sites are.