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I'm almost finished. I have been waiting for a replacement knee ammo belt which should be here any day now. All I have left is to mount it, measure and trim the shins and add the Velcro to the back of the shins. Hopefully I will be able to post some updates in the coming week or 2.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, I finally got my knee ammo belt and I am ready to finish my legs. Is there an exact measurement from the corner that the split rivets need to be placed or is it open to what will work best? Also, do any of you attach it at the front center with glue or Velcro or is it best to just use the rivets? 

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For a liner, couple options. Can use hardhat webbing, the original foam (bleh) or, as I did, gut a batting helmet. Bought it from a sports resale shop, took the foam pieces out and glued them in my bucket.1d156e9257c8b15b9d4b0345050f7b1c.jpg

 

 

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IMG_20170609_224525915_zpsp0sutf0a.jpg

 

IMG_20170609_224519877_zps6vhjxh11.jpg

 

IMG_20170609_224511579_zpscne3lcay.jpg

 

IMG_20170609_224531959_zpsp6gcalvk.jpg

 

IMG_20170609_224634035_zpsjp5lma3z.jpg

 

Ok, so I attached my knee/thigh ammo belt with split rivets. From what I read this is still upper level approvable. How does it look? My ultimate goal is to get Centurion approval so please, if anyone sees anything so far that needs changing please speak up! Does this look ok so far? I should have everything together soon. Been slow the last month or so due to waiting for parts and not having a 2nd hand to help me with suiting up and measuring/fitting everything to make sure it all fits well. 

Thanks!

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Ok, so I attached my knee/thigh ammo belt with split rivets. From what I read this is still upper level approvable. How does it look? My ultimate goal is to get Centurion approval so please, if anyone sees anything so far that needs changing please speak up! Does this look ok so far? I should have everything together soon. Been slow the last month or so due to waiting for parts and not having a 2nd hand to help me with suiting up and measuring/fitting everything to make sure it all fits well. 

Thanks!

 

Looking good all the the way to L3. My only suggestion would be to maybe trim the top cover strip a smidgen so it doesn't get caught on anything.  

 

Here's a screen used armor photo to reference

gallery_12157_15_41437.jpg

 

 

I made my drop boxes so that they can be opened or used to store small items. Good or bad idea? 

 

For L2 & L3 the drop boxes need to be aligned with the outer most edges of the ammo belt as they appear to be in this last photo :duim: . They will also need to be positioned just below the belt, technically touching yet not quite viewing the connection strap, yours appear to be a bit low and should be brought up a bit.

 

Regarding the drop box thickness, though not in any CRL the back of the inside box should sit flush with the edge of the outer box. My drop boxes are detachable also so it is possible to have both. 

 

Reference photo

gallery_12157_59_37792-crop.jpg

 

Excellent work btw.  ;)

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Good job Brian!

 

On the thigh ammo belt also just get a little white paint on the rivet heads. I used a little dab of E6000 in the center inside of mine to ensure it doesn't droop down.

 

Also as a general rule for finishing on the cover strips you can do a little 45 degree clip on each corner so it's not a sharp corner. Just a tiny little clip off of each corner will help to prevent snags.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

OK, so I got an Imgur account. Hopefully this works. I did a test run on myself without the final adjustments to the straps so please don't tell me how bad it is... I know! LOL! Then I built a duct tape mannequin to help. I have since been in contact with the local SOuthern California Inland Empire squad to help me dial it in, which I am in process of now! ANyways, here are a few updated pics.

 1tgHx5j.jpg 

 

 

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jiOsy47.jpg

 

 

iUxtlxS.jpg

 

 

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Oh, I also trimmed down my drop boxes!

pmTi3pD.jpg

 

I did have one question... can the kidney shims overlap/underlap on the ab plate at all for EIB/Centurion levels? I need to shape them some more, but if I don't cut them I will have a 1/2-1" overlap. It would look seamless when I finished it, but I thought I read they should but up and not overlap. Any advice how to get it tight? Here is a pic of them. They have not been heated and rolled in to contour my body yet. It just shows the amount of overlap and what it looks like tucked in.

NGVmBzT.jpg

 

fT8ZMpo.jpg

 

ouG5Gfk.jpg

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Looking good Brian :duim:.

 

Question, your shins appear to be a bit large in relation to your ankles, do you have muscular calves?

 

As for the Ab to kidney, EIB no more than 1/2" gap between the two, left or right sides, though zero gap is preferred. If you have enough armor to overlap then I would suggest trimming to zero gap.

Centurion - Zero gap on the left side, minor overlapping on the right is ok. 

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Thanks Tony. I think I should be able to trim it to be pretty close to flush. As for my calves, yes they are on the large side but it appears like that for now for 2 reasons. First, I have not trimmed the lower section to contour my boots yet and 2nd and probably the primary reason is that I have not added the Velcro yet so the shin armor is not closed in the back. Once it is attached on the back it will close that big opening at the ankles. 

More to come... had to redo my drop boxes and shorten a lot of the elastic straps to close up some gaps. I picked up some black snaps (Sew-ology brand) and realized that once I already did 3 or 4 new straps when I went to snap them together they didn't even come close to holding. The female part was way too big to snap onto the male end. 1 more trip to the store for supplies lol! Oh well, I'm almost there! 

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7 hours ago, ukswrath said:

Copy that. May I suggest you at least buy Tandy snaps or better. Sew-olgy are junk IMHO.

I am considering going with dual snap straps for the body armor. Would you consider that overkill? I ordered Tandy snaps that should be here by next Monday (hopefully sooner). I am concerned that all the movement while trooping may cause a snap to come undone and lets be honest, reattaching a snap is not always the easiest thing to do while wearing this armor. I figured with 2 snaps on each end instead of just one it should be pretty solid and not have to worry about it coming apart.  

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Well I use Fasnap or DOT, both military grade quality. Both are so strong sometimes I have a difficulty fastening single snaps let alone double. You shouldn't have a problem with the Tandy single snaps but that's just my opinion. 

 

Fasnap - https://fasteners.fasnap.com/category/premium-snap-fasteners

DOT - http://www.sailrite.com/Snap-Fastener-Cloth-to-Cloth-with-Silver-Buttons

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the new straps and snap plates done and made the final fits to the ab and kidney armor. Fits nice now! Have to finish the straps for the chest plate, trim the bottom of the shins and add velcro and redo the straps and snaps for my belt and thigh armor but other than that it is almost finished! I had a question on the belt drop boxes. Are the boxes supposed to line up with the very outer edge of the ammo belt or are they supposed to line up at the edge of the 45 degree cut? I posted 2 pics at the bottom here for reference to my question. Thanks!

 

JgWaqKB.jpg 

 

p9Yv3eO.jpg 

 

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GGJMuqC.jpg 

 

R6Mw9Fs.jpg 

 

TyrQPpd.jpg 

 

 

 

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