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Freelancer's AP ANH Stunt Build - Advice Sought


Freelancer

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Greetings All,

 

I have gone as far as I can without consulting the braintrust ;-).  

 

A little background, I joined and started reading the forums in January 2018. Following a back injury 20 years ago (activity waned but hunger didn't) I successfully enlarged myself to over 350 pounds.  I decided that I needed a significant goal to encourage me to fix this problem and redefine a lifestyle.  After working with my doctor on a plan and setting my goal to add a ANH STUNT TK to my costume collection I have worked over a year to drop 112 pounds so far on the way to my final target.

 

Now that I am within a range that armor can be made to work I started to customize for myself an AP kit that Mark prepared for me.  (very happy with Mark at AP, he has been responsive and helpful)

 

So, I have shimmed my thighs and kidney/abdomen assembly and have gotten to where I can actually start to wear the armor for fine tuning.  This is where you folks come in.

 

Q1: Thighs will sit about 1/2 inch higher once strapped to belt under torso but still leave a fair amount of black.  I don't see any way to enlarge them further since they are resting right up to the bottom of my well rounded A$$ and so need some suggestions here.  Should I trim the top of the back of the thighs to allow the front to move a little bit north?

 

Q2: If I fasten the shoulder straps at even their most extreme length I end up with a gap at bottom of chest plate and back plate.  Abdomen is fitting well and cod plate is as high as it is able to go.  I have a long torso and shorter tree trunk thighs so this doesn't help the case.

 

I am sure you will all see other things I haven't mentioned or may not realize yet so fire away troopers.  

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

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  • Freelancer changed the title to Freelancer's AP ANH Stunt Build - Advice Sought

Great to see another AP in the works.  The community here is great and will offer a lot of support and advice.  While it appears you are a much taller and large men that myself I can relate to your issues and can be seen in my poorly organized build log.  Thankfully I was able to avoid shimming my thighs, shins and forearms ( barely ) by using a gap and filling it with scrap abs.  My cover strips are still within range of Centurion if I ever get my sniper knee to align enough.  Working now to improve my should bells but there is a chance I will need to buy a larger set from Walt at WTF.

 

  I'm still green but I can offer some advice from my limited experience.  This advice should not be followed unless a more seasoned member can verify.

 

The gap between thighs and ab is not ideal but I don't think it will stop you from basic approval.  I can see the shim in the back of the thighs putting the cover strips at weird angles.  Maybe taking a little from the back to raise them up would help.  Also,  remove all return edges as suggested in post from justjoseph63.

 

  It is a requirement to have chest plate overlap the ab plate,  so if this can't be done you are going to be stuck.  Purchasing a larger chestplate is possible and would help down the road with should bell gap.  In a drastic step,  you could squeeze out a few more mm or cm by adding a shim under the belt but would want to keep proper position of the belt under the ab plate buttons.  I've seen this kind of cut done to help shorter troopers shorten the ab but maybe could help you with both upper overlap and thigh gap.

 

 I'll be honest,  I'm very happy with AP product and support with many compliments on helmet design from others.  Mark's molds can accommodate most larger waist sizes but can be a challenge in other areas for larger troopers.  I still recommend AP to those that ask about where to start but caution them if they are larger than me about building to fit.

 

 

 

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Thank you for the input Husky68.  I have been working with Mark at AP and have plans for each issue at moment.  

 

First, I have removed the cover strips from rear of thighs at moment and am getting shim materials from Mark to be able to make a single curved shim as a wedge from top of thigh where it will be a few inches wide to the bottom where it will be 1".  I used inexpensive abs sheets that don't match to test the theory and it appears that this will solve the thigh issue.

 

My kidney plate has been extended by a much smaller amount than I have seen some troopers be able to do so that helps tremendously.  Sides fit snug and close well.

 

As for the chest plate I found a couple things.  First, by moving the snap locations in the bottom of the chest to slightly higher in the plate it tends to want to pull it lower and allows overlap.  I am working with this and once the thigh work is done I will make it permanent.  This also needs a slightly lower line on my neck but whereas it appears it will be only roughly an inch compromise on height it should not create an issue.

 

Once these modifications are completed then I will share some pics.

 

Thanks again for the response.  

 

-Rick

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12-1-19 Update....

 

From the advice received through PM, email, and above I have worked out the following:

 

1.  Temporary shims to back of thighs accomplished and proved that they will fit and appear to be able to be high enough for approval.  I have shim material coming from Mark at AP to be able to shim them properly and then fill and polish the area.  Cover strip will be added after the fact in the proper place and orientation.

 

2. Full length shoulder straps are also being sent by Mark  which will solve the issue with the chest plate being too high and resting on top of the abdomen.  Chest plate appears to rest properly now.

 

3. Shoulders are too narrow and so they ride over the biceps in a way that forces them outward and creates a gap that is too large toward to chest plate.  I will warm and flex them outward so that they rest further in over the bicep and I think that will solve that issue.

 

4. Forearm is too tight (slightly) so I will open one seam and expand it with a small shim on the inside so long as the cover strip will still cover completely on the outside.  Working on that this afternoon.

 

The rest of the fit should be easier when I recruit a grandchild or two so that I have a second set of hands to help (That is what grandchildren are supposed to do, right?) .  Working alone is abundantly difficult but progress is being made.

 

A couple pics...  Side note:  Dog hair and black compression suits do NOT mix!!

 

 

 

LEFT Thigh has garter attached and is at the height it will probably work at (I think)...

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  • 4 weeks later...

12-28-19 Updates.

 

-Shim material and parts received by AP in early December (Thanks Mark!)

 

- Return edges and anything sharp filed/sanded/cut from all parts.

 

- First full fitting accomplished today.

 

Still needs work but happy with the progress...  Fire away troopers!

 


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