BAZINGA

Thanks. I do feel the arms are working good now. Probably easier to sort out than it ended up for me, but once I got my head around the strapping it wasn't too bad to work on. I can say I had a personal hand in a small amount of the work to get it looking good! Yes that is easily done removing the helmet foam. The top padding is fairly thick. Once I puzzle out how I'm going to do the hardhat suspension I hope to have that held in with velcro so I can play with the higher/lower position easily and find the sweet spot. I can probably lower it at least a half inch yet and still see through the tops fairly well maybe even more once it sits secure on my noggin. Bart

Ok, so after strap adjustment number 4 or 5 I think I have the forearm centred nicely top to bottom so elbow and wrist seem about the same gap, with normal and expected movement, and the biceps in such a position that I feel fairly comfortable when bending my arm. Still lacking some padding in the forearms but that is an easy one to do. I think I can move on to fitting the rest now. - Duplicate the right arm to the left for strapping positions. - I have ordered modified shoulder elastic from AP that will hopefully rotate them forward a bit. - I am going to add the butt plate v-tabs today to try and see if that is enough to reduce the bit of butt flare I'm seeing. I haven't found any other threads that seem to apply or give me additional ideas. - Still thinking on the drop box move over fix. - Waiting on the neck seal to finish the top and the harness so I can fit the thighs correctly. - Will add the velcro tab on the front of the boots and inside the shins for rotation fix. - I have the white elastic for the back of the shoulder straps but just can't position it well on my own yet (But all considered I'm able to dress 90% of myself now which is way better than when I started). Thoughts? Bart This is me smiling because I think I am done with the arm sizing and see the light at the end of the tunnel (at least I don't think it is the train coming down) for the rest of it. I felt somewhat closer to stromtroopery look this morning. I know I can paint the front of the tips white to keep moving it forward in accuracy. Again, easy to do. Does the height of the helmet look correct? This is unaltered. It just has the padding it comes with from AP on the top and sides. I am going to use a hard hat harness ultimately to snug it onto my head to reduce the bobble head feel for me. As it sits right now I'm looking pretty much dead centre out of the eyes (not that I can see a lot).

I have to be careful getting it on while wearing my glasses but it is doable and I can't not wear the glasses and hope to see anything at all. I'm sure it will get easier the more I do it. Bart

Because of bad travelling conditions my family postponed Christmas day so I puttered around with my arms. I moved up the forearms about 1/2 inches which didn't translate to the same at the wrists, but there was an improvement. I found if I moved the bicep up about half an inch I had the best fit for spacing and comfort so despite not wanting to do anymore adjusting I am and have adjusted the bicep snap again. This now must be the last adjustment before I drive myself crazy. Forearm still not centred to my liking: Pulled the bicep up a bit and it feels better here: Beginning to think my arms change length every day since this shouldn't be this hard to find the happy spot for this:

Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for all the support and help that has been offered to me since I started this process in August! Bart

Yeah the belt I was using was not ideal but worked in a pinch to just see if the fit would be okay. If I am understanding you correctly you are saying the elastic from the thigh should go straight up to the belt or harness not be at any kind of angle. That makes perfect sense. I will have to see how this harness will arrive and if I have adjustment options with it. I'm flying blind on what exactly Geeky Pink is making me in this regard other than she says it will be better than a belt. I am referring to velcro on the shin not elastic. That is what I see on a bunch of photos and one of the easier tweaks I think. I'll do one more arm fitting after the glue dries, but I don't think I want to try any more tweaking there other than adding the padding. It's time to get the legs fitting nice and move closer to the final photos! Thanks. Bart

Good to hear. I thought it seemed pretty reasonable for fit and once I get the harness for the thighs I can better adjust their height. I still need a helper to see things I can see well when trying to get into it. Up to this point all these attempts have been just me. I was happy I managed to get the legs and the torso on without too much struggle. It will take some getting used to for the sound. It's funny because I had never noticed any sound watching one of them walk around recently but sure noticed it when I tried it out. I was thinking of doing the velcro on the front of the boot as a starting point to keep the shins aligned but want to wait until I get the harness to ensure I'm lined up nicely first. I am not anticipating having to use any padding in the thighs as Mark has the diameters very dialed in for me. At most maybe a half inch piece of foam here and there. I am going to add the butt v-tabs this weekend and I am adjusting the distance on the forearm elastic as previously mentioned also this weekend. The first one is reglued and drying. Bart

I'm down to the legs. I don't have my final harness system yet so had to make do with an old belt that I had to wrap around to try and get a general placement for the thighs. Not ideal, but should be enough for you guys to give me the goods on what will need to happen. Generally I felt things didn't fit too bad. I could walk. Couldn't really bend much. I noticed the shins wanted to turn but knew that sometimes happens and there are easy fixes for that. It was very strange walking in it as the armor noises from the drop boxes clacking and just the armor in general was weird to hear. I do realize that the back of the one shin missed getting closed. What do I need to do to whip the bottom half into shape? Bart

That does seem to be about one snap width forward if I just try and eyeball that photo. I think that is going to be my plan. I've been considering the forearm since last night and still debating, but the more I look at the photos the more I think moving the elastic just half an inch higher will bring the forearms within tolerance and ease my OCD on them. I will still do a bit of padding in the forearms after that change as I think any further tweaking doesn't gain much in look but does feed my OCD to the point of not moving forward just obsessing. I am aiming for early January to be ready for basic and I think I can manage that. Thanks for the input on the snap position and everything else you have helped with thus far. Bart

I was thinking about a half inch forward so my guess is pretty good. They will need to remain singles though as I would just get new shoulder elastic done and not try to redo that whole thing. Maybe Glen will weigh in here on the rotation before I order new straps. I'm still looking at photos to decide if I'm happy with forearm position resting. I think my bicep position looks good, compared to photos but it's that movement that drives my OCD over the top and round the bend trying to come to terms with it. I still feel the forearm could come up about half and inch to allow for a bit more wiggle room. I will try and cypher out the butt flare thread. I was going to try to get the legs on tonight with the torso for a check on that fitting, but got home late and don't want to end up in it and over thinking something anymore today. So that is now the plan for tomorrow night. Bart

I'm going to attempt to put in a hardhat liner with Velcro when I get to that part. It is what a couple others here have done and were happy with. Bart

I'm not sure. Forearm just ended up lower than my tape test. It's not hard to fix these sorts of things and I'd rather just get them done than revisit later. And, the shoulder I'm sure needs to rotate forward regardless. Maybe move the snap halfway forward? Or a half inch? Three-quarters of an inch? How can I gauge what would do the trick? I had an idea tonight for butt flare. What happens if an elastic were to run between each corner just taunt enough so when my butt is in there it pulls the corners in just a bit? Is that crazy? Bart

Onwards. It's the always fun photos of my crotch night. Still working on getting the arm spacing correct. Really seems to be a bear with fiddling. After taping up the strapping and checking it a few days ago I glued it and still seems to need more adjusting. Not sure if I should raise the bicep about a half inch to pull up the forearm or shorten the elastic between the bicep and the forearm by half an inch. The bicep is the easier of the two to do. I put some glue on the back of one of the drop boxes to hold the top in better and you really can't tell looking at either of them. They both hang OK I think, but there is the horizontal problem to puzzle out yet to move them outwards. Remember I cannot remove the belt and no cutting of anything is allowed going forward. The shoulder bells strapping might need to be a bit shorter then there is the front gap to address. I see there is some butt flare which I had noticed before but something else to address. I also think the v-hooks might be a good idea. I might be able to add some additional elastic snaps from the kidney to the butt plate on the outside edges as I have the two that I won't be using on the forearms. I don't have the belt or garter system yet, but thought I would try to just hold a thigh in place and see how the clearances were. I think so far so good. I could walk up and down the stairs holding it in this position and there doesn't seem to be a lot of black camo showing in the crotch area. Remember, I'm just holding this sort of in position. So here is what I need to know to proceed: 1) The arm shortening either bicep or forearm elastic or do I leave it? 2) if I get new shoulder elastics made how far forward to move the snap? Photo attached to show the size of the strap which is 4 inches which seems fine. I don't have a lot of offset room to move it. 3) Adjust the shoulder strap to the torso be shorter or leave it? 4) V tabs on the butt plate and/or add the extra elastic? I don't want to heat this even in water. *** remember, no cutting of anything is allowed *** *** working on BASIC right now *** Bart

Tomorrow night I'm hoping to try another fit with the fully glued left arm then need ideas for how the shoulder needs to be repositioned for the snap to close up some of the shoulder gap on the front. If the left arm is fitting well then I can glue up the right arm and call the arms finished. Then it will be time to sort out the legs and ensure they are where they need to be. Preliminary fitting of the thighs ( holding them at various heights) seem to suggest I have enough room to wear them high if need be or a bit lower and still bend my knees. I've been told that leg adjustment is usually straight forward so hoping for that. Bart

Thanks. It's, unfortunately, my nature to feel I F%^$d up here badly, There is still some return edges, I didn't remove an inch, it's just not as noticeable as some examples are. I have added some glue to the top edge of the drop box to hopefully move the pivot point so it hangs better. This is a non-invasive thing I can do. Other than my original gluing idea to move it over I don't think there is any other way of fixing except for cutting something. Won't cut anything ever again so I know this would remove me from any higher levels but at the end of the day I can be happy to get to basic because the people who will be excited to see the costumes won't care and if I can make some smiles then that is what I wanted all along. Still hoping for a different idea on sliding it over because I don't need to do that as a priority Bart

The history is all in this thread as well as the link posted about return edges and the butt plate cracking. That was the logic behind it all. Yeah I got the message it was all wrong to do. If I could go back in time and not do it I would. I have to live with it now. Hopefully I don't need to order replacements to be approvable. I've already puked over it and having an anxiety attack. Not sure what else I can do at this point. Bart

I read that thread and many others before deciding it was something that needed to be done, but I guess I didn't dig deep enough and now am the fool for trying to do what I took as being a standard. My bad. No more cutting of anything for me. I just hope it didn't ruin something in the process. Bart

I guess since I did a big blunder by trimming I won't be cutting anything else. The drop boxes are good enough for basic approval as is if I just add the glue to the backs of them so they hang straighter? Bart

My apologies. Just was trying to do the right things. Bart

Well lovely. Seems to be conflicting information in this thread. Bart

It's not mounted there through the torso. The rivet it under the cap. That is for sure. I had another idea to probe the space with a zip tie. I put that up from top to bottom and slid it outwards. There is something under it all that keeps the zip tie from moving past a certain point. So, whatever the fix it is not going to be easier or maybe even desirable as it would all be done in the blind. @ABS80 what can you tell us about what is under there to keep me from just sliding the whole loop to the outside edge further? I can't see anything, just not the greatest way to probe with a plastic tie. Bart

That's a tough one to photograph. I'd say it is trapped in the concave under which is a happy place for the elastic to sit because it can't move one way or the next and it wants to slide back into that hole left to its own devices. Bart

I can apply the glue fix to the back of the boxes as that is easily done and accessible, but removing the elastic requires ripping up the rivet on the drop box at a minimum (I can't tell what is going on under the belt itself as that is permanently attached to the torso too) and that is beyond my abilities to fix. If I could magically cut a notch in the elastic without removing it then that may work, but I don't have that power either. Thus far glue is the only "fix" I can see but not a good fix. Bart

The last shot is where I moved it to. The middle shot is the natural position. To keep it in the last shot position will require some idea, Mine is to glue the elastic against the canvas. I don't know if that is a good idea or will work, but limited options without taking it apart which is a hard no. Bart

Looking at the drop boxes. The belt is riveted in place and I won't tackle removing it to adjust the elastic. The back of the boxes are also riveted so not going to remove anything. If anything can be done it will need to be done with non-invasive ideas. I can add some glue to the backside of the box to make the pivot point the top of the box. I think that is easy enough and fixes that problem. This photo is the "natural" hang right now: If it must come to the very end of the plastic part of the belt my only idea is to add a bit of glue under the belt itself to force the elastic over just as bit: Are there other ideas or input on this? Bart