TheDon

Any suggestions on attaching the ammo pouches to my belt? I bought a small Spanish for the right side thinking I had to match an orange pauldron TD ( tuck and roll TD). That pouch has loops to o on the belt but my canvas mp40 pouches do not. I know the shoulder pouch is best on a backpack. ( next on my list once I get basic approval)

I'll have to go get some grout because I'm doing the sand/oil method for the armor

I'm starting my weathering soon and I have a question about the white belt. It's very very white so what's the best way to make it dingy? I was thinking about getting some dirt from the garden and just tossing it in the dirt?

Thanks!! I now know the feeling of putting the armor on for the first time and seeing yourself in a picture. It's awesome. I'm probably going to go the pandatrooper route for weathering

Put it all on, except the belt to see how it all fit. And it's pretty good! I need to adjust my left thigh, te bottom edge is pinching my knee skin and it left a nice mark. Totally need fans for the helmet, it gets very warm. Hands get very warm even with the harbor freight gloves I used and not the chemical gloves. I'll work on the belt next and get pictures of the side so you all can give me an idea where to trim the chest plate

Chest plate and back plate have been trimmed a bit. Still need to trim the sides of the chest plate but I've got all of the snap plates in place and I'll make snap straps today to get everything together.

Looks like a pile of garbage. I see how the chest and back plate are.

The AM armor has some pretty long shoulder tabs so I need to trim them from the chest and back plate. How much of a tab should remain on the chest and back plate?

So here are my gaps. When I measured and taped the sides up the tape helped line it all up nice and tight. I'm thinking of making Velcro patches to go over the elastic straps to help close it up. Not sure if you can see but I wonder if my kidney plate needs to be trimmed or should I trim the back armor. Lastly I need to figure out where to trim the shoulder plastic so I can make the shoulder elastic pieces.

So looking over pandatroopers build I saw he was using elastic snaps and Velcro for his side closer system. I think I'll do the same since got the life of me I cannot get the sides to line up perfectly. Trimmed my butt plate sides yo be flush to the kidney plate. I suspect I needed yo trim an inch or two from the kidney plate but we shall see once I put the OIL panel and chest in.

Working on my strap system now and I have a few questions. My sides do not line up vertically but I figure the belt can help line them up. Net how do I mount the belt? I think I've seen a few posts where people have riveted it across the kidney and butt plate or maybe that was just a canvas patch with snaps? Do I trim the butt plate sides to line up with the kidney plate, I have AM armor so I figure the butt plate has some extra on the wings. Lastly, I need to trim the butt plate where the snaps mount to and redo the snaps After browsing the centurion area on FISD and the SWAT section here I did some work. I trimmed the butt piece where the snaps go so now it looks normal. Added the two snaps. I just need to trim the wings on the butt piece. Also, how in the world do you guys suit up on your own. I tried putting my boots on then my shins and it wasn't happening.

Looks pretty good to me

Some people use shims to cover the gap and install the rivets on the shim area. Maybe that's what you noticed?

I think I know what you mean and I think I'm going to so the same. I do think there is the one snap on the right side that is exposed that is the face of it and not the back. That I can't cheat with a little paper holder

So I just realized that the snaps have to be visible on the outside on the armor and I just glued my snap plates in. To fix this do I just drill holes in the plastic and install the smooth covered snaps? No one really covers that. And for police officer I need 3 buttons on my ab plate. I need to get a different set if ab buttons the AM buttons are too small.

What do you think? The kidney plate has a ton of plastic on the sides since it's AM armor and the ab plate has a bunch too. I taped it up so it's snug but not super tight. I haven't cut anything yet, might tomorrow when I have a friend available to help me check out alignment and everything. Also painted the buttons and put them on with some E6000. The nylock nuts can't be tightened properly so I'll swap them out for some normal nuts and use some nail polish to lock the threads.

Ab plate buttons... What is everyone using? I see some people buying the. From other members and online but what can I buy locally from the craft store? The CRL says 3-4 white painted buttons and I noticed the snaps I have do have a button back. Can I just use 4 of them instead of 3 since 4 fills the space out better. Never mind,I found the buttons that came with my AM armor

I made some thighs! They fit perfectly and with the garter I have stay in place. But the left side catches on the sniper plate a little when I walk. Can I remove the return edge on the bottom end of the thigh or maybe use my iron and fold it in more?[

As long as you make the rear cover strip proportional it will be ok. Honestly I searched a ton to get some decent rear thigh shots(many hours spent staring at trooper butt can change a person) and the only people that will notice that the rears look a little off are those in this group. Your average person or kid isn't going to whip out a ruler and say that yours a sham because your rear covers trips are 1/64th too wide. Look at the swat and police officer sections to get an idea

Go with AM thighs, they are huge. I'm a skinny guy and I trimmed off at least 7" of plastic

Could go for AM, his wait times are a little less. I have AM and I got a lot of comments about how nice the armor looks.

I did leave the molded cover strip on the back because it seems to work for me on the back. How do they look? Cover strips are being made now. They so rotate when I walk so I think some Velcro on the front of my boots might help stop that.

I have flexible hand guards I want to put in my gloves, how should I glue them on? I think that will help setting the arms up. I'm going to head to lowes for some of the adhesive backed pipe insulation to line the forearms with. Haven't made cover strips yet. What part should I work on next? I think my arms are good to go in my opinion. The ends of the straps have velcro so I can dial in the length. Added 3/4" pile insulation foam to the forearms and they fit nicely now, now movement and they are snug. I think I'll move onto shins next? I don't really know which part to do next.

Bucket is done. I'll weather everything at once. Not done with the strapping yet. I need to make the strap for the forearm longer and make the clips for the biceps to hold them in place. I also need to get foam for the insides of the forearms. I'm not sure which part I should work on next because it seems one relies on the other. I'd like to hang the shoulder bells to get the strapping set just right. I'm doing snaps on one end and industrial Velcro on the other so I can dial it all in, I just didn't make the strap long enough for the forearms. What so you all think?

I'll be there in the crowd cheering you all on. I'm a local and go pretty much every day for a few hours.