Helmet / Chest Piece - Help needed

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

I have a commission build and have everything just about refined   to get my submission ready for approval . One thing I continue to struggle with is the helmet and the chest piece , for some reason I can't seem to get the chest piece to lay closer to my chest , right now I have  a gap around a my neck that the helmet in turn 'rests' on  and completely limits my head movement left to right , I realize there will be some mobility issues but at times the chest piece will 'raise' the helmet up ( the shoulder strap area hits just below the HOVI tip area) bumping the helmet up.  The part I am having the most trouble with is the shoulder strap area  where the part of the helmet with with HOVI tips hits when moving side to side.

 

If I push the chest piece in with my hand  , I have ZERO issues and it fits perfectly.  

 

To date this is what I have tried with little help.

 

1) lengthened my shoulder straps that connect the back  and the front thinking it would lower the chest piece and provide a better fit , still having the same issue.

2) shortened up the straps on the bottom of the chest piece to 'pull down; the chest piece  thinking it would give me more room to work with, again, not helpful. 

3) Tried added foam pieces inside the helmet to have the helmet  'sit up taller'  so it will not rest on the chest piece  but hasn't helped. 

 

I am at a loss , this is the final tweak I need , do I just need to drop the chest piece down more or maybe trim something , or will this require a heat gun :-) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Jeffnmar

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

How tall are you?

Can someone take a pic of you from the back while you're fully kitted up?

Can you take a pic of the inside of the chest and ab while they're linked togther. How are the chest and ab connected?

Depending on how the ab and chest are connected to each other it could be the ab pushing the chest up.

Try disconnecting the chest from the ab (if possible) and kitting up again (although from your pics maybe this is happening without the ab attached!?)

Also, in your pics, the pic where the chest is higher the back section looks to have dropped down. Difficult to ascertain the cause without the full armour being worn.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

In the image with helmet on the helmet is angling downwards at the front quite a lot, you may find you have too much padding, tilting it upwards so it's straight may help

Here you can see it better and gives a big gap at the rear. Also notice the shoulder straps are flat and angled up. Shoulder straps should be more curved. 

 

 

 

 

Is there anything behind your chest? aker amp or other items, if not you may need tighter strapping at the shoulders to help pull it inwards.

 

 

 

 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

A pic of the inside of the helmet, showing any padding, might be helpful

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 minutes ago, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Can someone take a pic of you from the back while you're fully kitted up?

 

 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Thanks Glen

I'm thinking same, that's theres maybe too much padding in the helmet, meaning it has to be tilted forward more for visibility.

As an example my helmet has some padding near my forehead, but no padding at all at the top. The top of my head rests against the plastic of the helmet.

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

I think you all are spot on, I removed some of the padding I added and left the original ( thin grey helmet pad) , the helmet fits more level and gives me good visibility. I also lengthened the white straps over the shoulders a bit. The helmet  still sits on the chest  piece but that seems to how it is suppose to fit?

 

I can look left to right slightly , and with the helmet sitting lower have better visibility. Below are some pictures I took for reference, does this look acceptable?  The only concern I have is if I look down , even the slightest the helmet stays straight and  I am looking through the nose :-) .

 

IN the second picture below , you can still see the page gap between my chest and the chest piece , I do not have anything in that area , I know I need to work on the plastic shoulder straps , plan on using a heat gun to shape them.  Any suggestions to the get the chest piece closer to my chest?

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Jeffnmar

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

It's looking better.

 

The padding in the top of my helmet is only 10mm thick and a very squishy foam, you really don't need much at the top at all, I find padding on the sides and front is enough.

 

Just comparing your side image to others, notice your chest is quite low and the back plate is up high, the chest should really come up and pull backwards. In fact you could probably drop all the back pieces, backplate, ab and butt plate.

 

Here's my last EIB, notice how high the chest is and tilted backwards at the top.

 

And here is an AM, notice the height of the chest and although his helmet is angled it does clear as the chest is further back

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

Excellent examples of the AM armor ( which I have) ,  Do you recommend I lower all the back pieces and shorten the white shoulder strap to bring the chest piece in closer?  What is the best way to lower the back plate and the ab section? Do you think trimming will be necessary for this? 

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

Not certain yet, but I wanted to ask the board if it seems that the kidney plate is longer than normal? The least risky route is to ensure your butt plate is sitting low enough, can you include a picture of the butt plate so we can see the leg clearance? Make sure you also have the cod elastic set, this area seems a little too cramped imo, likely because it's hanging with no cod elastic. Depending on what it is, you might need to make the 'taint' area narrower.

 

 

The second part may to be kidney trim, but not unless you're certain, because there's no coming back from that.

 

 

Just my 2 cents.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

11 hours ago, fishgoh0nk said:

Not certain yet, but I wanted to ask the board if it seems that the kidney plate is longer than normal?

AM is the biggest armor out there so it will be higher than other makes of armor, really depends on the height of the wearer, this bunching up at the back happens with other makes of armor for those of a slightly shorter stature.

 

How tall are you Jeff?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

17 hours ago, Jeffnmar said:

Excellent examples of the AM armor ( which I have) ,  Do you recommend I lower all the back pieces and shorten the white shoulder strap to bring the chest piece in closer?  What is the best way to lower the back plate and the ab section? Do you think trimming will be necessary for this? 

Correct, bringing the chest up a little and shortening the elastic should bring it closer. Issue with the rear is you don't really have room to bring everything down, unless your butt plate can come down but it looks like you are already hitting your thighs. How tall are you as AM is built for the large build?

 

Only real option would be take some material out of your kidney plate as James commented.

Cricket has a nice build to follow 

 

 

 

A few other builds you may find helpful on sizing :

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/42868-sha-shas-wtf-anh-stunt-build-complete/

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38842-fragarocks-rs-stunt-build-not-to-scale/

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

I am  5'9" and around 210 , I sent a few pieces back to Dave to have them resized which he did free of charge ( AWESOME customer service).  The butt plate is pretty much as low as I can go , so I think leaving it for now is my only option, I don't want to start cutting on things unless I have to :-)  , I will play around with the strapping a bit more  and see what I can come up with but if I need to shorten some lengths I will do that. .  Right now things are fitting just OK , helmet is OK but the hovi tip area does rest on the chest piece, I cant look down at all but left to right is better.  NOT sure if the current set up I have will get me approval or not? 

 

I will check out those builds you suggested , and see what info I can gleam from these , they should provide useful.  There might be a local armor party with my garrison this month as well, praying that goes through and get some some help there as well. 

 

I'll try a few more fittings and send some pics on how well it is going , might be that I have to shorten some pieces and not look back :-).

 

THANK YOU ALL for your help so far , I really appreciate the support. 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

Looking down is hard for all of us TKs, so we feel your pain. Small children, pets and ground level hazards are the bane of our lives while trooping, so don't necessarily worry that you're doing anything wrong with your build in that respect

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

8 minutes ago, CallMeMrTibbles said:

Looking down is hard for all of us TKs, so we feel your pain. Small children, pets and ground level hazards are the bane of our lives while trooping, so don't necessarily worry that you're doing anything wrong with your build in that respect

 

That's What I have come to realize , so no worries there  at all , that's why we have spotters :-) . 

[CallMeMrTibbles[501st]]

 
That's What I have come to realize , so no worries there  at all , that's why we have spotters :-) . 

exactly!

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

On 11/3/2021 at 2:21 AM, fishgoh0nk said:

Not certain yet, but I wanted to ask the board if it seems that the kidney plate is longer than normal? The least risky route is to ensure your butt plate is sitting low enough, can you include a picture of the butt plate so we can see the leg clearance? Make sure you also have the cod elastic set, this area seems a little too cramped imo, likely because it's hanging with no cod elastic. Depending on what it is, you might need to make the 'taint' area narrower.

 

 

The second part may to be kidney trim, but not unless you're certain, because there's no coming back from that.

 

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

Here is a recent picture of my clamshell as requested , I think I have been able to tighten up the straps and attachment points enough to help. I am going to try and tweak my straps firsat before I start cutting :-) ..

 

Anything look off?  I think I am at the point now to try and submit an approval email this weekend.. Feeling confident , I have scoured the CRL and several builds and even YT videos and feel that I a, 'buttoned up' ( pun intended :-) )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Jeffnmar

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

The cod and butt plate look fine from here; one thing I do notice is that the cod strap is very long.

 

 

It should have some tension to it to pull the butt plate forward, like so:

 

 

I think once you get this worked out you should be in a good spot. Best of luck to your approval!

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

Awesome, will work on that piece next , I think you are correct that it is a bit loose now that you mention it…

[fishgoh0nk[TK]]

If you have trouble reaching down to snap it in while wearing it, you can pre-snap it and step into with your calves, boots and thighs already on. I prefer it that way opposed to cramping/pulling my pectoral muscle reaching down there.

[Jeffnmar[TK]]

On 11/4/2021 at 11:32 PM, fishgoh0nk said:

If you have trouble reaching down to snap it in while wearing it, you can pre-snap it and step into with your calves, boots and thighs already on. I prefer it that way opposed to cramping/pulling my pectoral muscle reaching down there.

Great Idea , I will be using that one for sure !