Ab and kidney plate gap strategy

[Kagamaru[TK]]

The tk crl for centurion build says that the gap between the ab and kidney plays should be minimal to none. While I’m not a really big guy I’m not 170lbs. 
 

If I’m going for centurion level what do I need to do about this space that will still pass?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Adding sides shims will help, you need to fill the seams with ABS paste for centurion

 

 

Some armor makes are bigger than others, AM being the largest, thread here may be of interest

 

[Nairy[Staff]]

9 hours ago, Kagamaru said:

The tk crl for centurion build says that the gap between the ab and kidney plays should be minimal to none. While I’m not a really big guy I’m not 170lbs. 
 

If I’m going for centurion level what do I need to do about this space that will still pass?

Side shims as @gmrhodes13 said is the way to go! If you have Centurion in mind, it is not much work to hide the seam that the shim creates! Since you are building the kit yourself, save the scraps and create ABS paste - put the paste in the seam, let it dry and sand it smooth! 

My method was to buy Apoxie Sculpt, and sand it smooth - but then I had the issue of color matching with the armor to make it seamless! I really wished I had some ABS paste because color matching was a pain!

 

Also, this shim seam was attached in a bad way, just slotted under the kidney plate, instead of lined up next to the kidney plate and held together with a cover strip on the inside. I had to sand at an angle and follow a curve because of the way this was attached behind the kidney plate and I would have been able to use much less Apoxie Sculpt to hide the gap, had it been attached in the right way!

 

[Nairy[Staff]]

Two straight plates are easier to sand smooth than one curved and one straight 

[Nairy[Staff]]

9 hours ago, Kagamaru said:

The tk crl for centurion build says that the gap between the ab and kidney plays should be minimal to none. While I’m not a really big guy I’m not 170lbs. 
 

Also, when "dry fitting" armor, try to fit it to yourself without normal clothes on! If you have an undersuit or something tight, use that instead (or just your underwear even) since you will ultimately use an understuit when wearing the armor, and if you have measured and built a kit based off of how it looks when you are wearing jeans or something else, the fitment will not be accurate to your body!