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Ab, Kidney, and Butt alignment.


Musesoldier
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I am having trouble aligning my Ab, Kidney, and Butt plates to eliminate gap between the three.

For the rigging to hold all my armor in place, I am using a back brace with shoulder straps. Using elastic, nylon, snaps, and some sewing I have created snap plates and hangers to attach the armor to the back brace. Working from the front, with the ab and cod piece choked up all the way to fit under the chest plate, the kidney plate sits too low. Unfortunately, the butt plate sits about as high as I would like it, and I do not think I can move it up much more.

I do not know how to adjust the back and kidney plates to create alignment across the top of the ab and kidney while closing the gaps between the back, kidney, and butt plates.  I can rework the rigging to move the kidney up and align it with the back and ab plates, but that would create too large a gap between the kidney and butt plates. Moving the ab down would pull it out from under the chest and leave a gap between the kidney and back plates. I tried dropping the chest and back to over lap the ab and close the gap between the back and kidney but doing this leaves a lot of under suit around my neck and shoulders exposed.

What is the right way to move the pieces around to get good fitment all over?  I am about 6' tall, so I expect that the armor should fit with enough finesse.  

 

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I see what’s the problem but since you’re using a completely different method to mine I can’t be of help I assume.

I did my strapping just like the original strapping with brackets and elastics.

You might want to consider changing your method or adjust the length of your straps.

I can imagine that having some fixations on each back section could solve your problem...

Sorry I can’t be of more help, I’m sure others will chime in to help.

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The original armour was designed to fit a 5'.10 person, I am 6'.1 and had similar issues with my armour, I can only suggest dropping the kidney and back plate so there is little or no gap, I wouldn't worry too much about the gap around your neck, it will not be that noticeable once your helmet is on, in the grand scheme of things!.

note:- if this is Anovos armour you may need to heat and reduce the tight curve (straighten out) the parts near the shoulders at the top of the back plate to allow it to slide down your back more.

The alternative would be to look into replacing some of the pieces with 'big boy' part but personally I don't think it is worth the extra cost.

My armour is strapped differently by the way, I have built four so far for fellow legion members as well as other costumes and improved on the strapping method each time to make the armour more practical for trooping while still retaining the 'screen used' look

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

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4 hours ago, RoCKo said:

You might want to consider changing your method or adjust the length of your straps.

I believe that will help, I was able to close up the gap a bit by unfastening them and dropping the chest and back. I have to reposition some snaps for the ab plate so I will have to buy a new back brace belt. I'll take the opportunity to try and shorten the hangers and lift the butt plate just a bit.

 

3 hours ago, welshchris77 said:

The original armour was designed to fit a 5'.10 person, I am 6'.1 and had similar issues with my armour, I can only suggest dropping the kidney and back plate so there is little or no gap, I wouldn't worry too much about the gap around your neck, it will not be that noticeable once your helmet is on, in the grand scheme of things!.

Any tips on finding a neck seal with a longer skirt around the collar bone and shoulders? My current one wants to come untucked when I let the back hang down farther. 

 

3 hours ago, welshchris77 said:


note:- if this is Anovos armour you may need to heat and reduce the tight curve (straighten out) the parts near the shoulders at the top of the back plate to allow it to slide down your back more.
 

I found a few recent threads where this was recommended. My suit is ATA armor, but between the required sag and my own bad posture I will definitely have to get out the heat gun and flatten the chest and back around the collar. Do you have any tips for heating and bending? I am afraid of warping the compound curves and contours around the collar. 

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Here are a couple images to show how my current strapping method works. Eventually, I'll have to clamshell the ab and kidney together with the six side rivets, but that shouldn't be a problem with the belt. When everything (Ab/ cod piece, kidney, butt, and thighs) is snapped onto the belt, it is fully supported and seems pretty robust. Any other details like screw heads should be easy to add later for officer deployment and will only be for aesthetics. 

The suspenders attached to the back brace are used to hang my shoulder bells and biceps as well. If my back plate drops far enough, I may have to separate the suspenders where they cross between my shoulder blades, but that shouldn't be hard at all. 

 

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I found a few recent threads where this was recommended. My suit is ATA armor, but between the required sag and my own bad posture I will definitely have to get out the heat gun and flatten the chest and back around the collar. Do you have any tips for heating and bending? I am afraid of warping the compound curves and contours around the collar. 
I know there are a few makers out there who make neck seals with a bigger skirts but I can't think of any vendors off hand.
Personally I always put my neck seal on first before my base layer which keeps it from popping out, you could try that, if not get someone to sew extra material to you existing beck seal to extend it

I used a saucepan of hot water to heat the plastic on my first kit, it worked but was slow, I now use a heat gun, if you use a heat gun set it to the lowest setting and heat it very slowly from 12 inches or more away, 'slow' is key and evenly, turning the pkastic as you heat it, you have to heat the plastic gradually, it will take time and you will also need gloves as it gets hot!, when the plastic is soft enough you have a 'window' of opportunity in which to bend it, it doesn't take much extra heat beyond this window for the plastic to go from being able to be bent to becoming a wrinkled mess so be careful, practice on some scraps and again don't be tempted to hold the gun too close to speed things up, it will end in tears

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

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12 hours ago, welshchris77 said:

I know there are a few makers out there who make neck seals with a bigger skirts but I can't think of any vendors off hand.
Personally I always put my neck seal on first before my base layer which keeps it from popping out, you could try that, if not get someone to sew extra material to you existing beck seal to extend it
 

Tucking in is a good idea. I just figured that most guys wore it on the outside. 

Fortunately, I have a heat gun, but its from the Uline catalog, so its pretty industrial and can get really hot. Low and slow is definitely the way to go. 

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