building your own sniper plate/ab plate

[TheKido]

Hi!

I'm planing to turn my TK into a TD and I would like to build my own Ab plate and Sniper plate. I've checked the forum and found like 20 posts with the same questions but out of all the links posted I only found one that was still working (http://www.legionxxiv.org/trooper124/sniperplate.htm) and on this one there weren't any measurements. So I wonder if anyone can help me found any good links for this (I guess there are hundreds i failed to find). And yes I know that TM among others sell all the parts I need but as I said I would very much like to build my own.

Thanks for the help.

/STB

[troopermaster]

Sculpt the shape, build a vacuum forming machine and form the part. Simple

I have the knee plate and 3 button strips available if you don't end up making your own.

[P3laton3]

Paul is right, the one you showed us is too sharp and also I wouldn't use the velcro to fix it.

[Smally]

Welcome to the MEPD Adam.

Just buy the parts dude. It's much easier and quicker.

[TheKido]

The reason for why I want to make it myself is that I want the armor to be more personalized, so if there is any good way of making these (without a vacuum former) so they still look ok I would prefer that, however if there isn't any then could you send me the prices in a message TM? And thanks Brad

[ryates]

Here's a quick sketch I made with chicken-scratch dimensions. I have the same problem - changed my mind from TK to TD and now am missing the sniper plate.

I think I'm going to still knock out a custom one for approval, but will replace it with the proper piece as well as the proper ab buttons (three instead of four).

Troopermaster, pm on its way .

[DirtyBoy]

i messed around with one a while ago....used a couple layers of scrap plastic....then made a mold....no my kids use them for chinese throwing stars ....the originals were vacd so that route would be more accurate.

[Darth Voorhees]

For the sniperplate, the tutorial you linked is basically how i would do it, however that one is WAY to big! Be sure to get proper measurements. I would also sand the edges of all the parts before you attach them together to round them off to make it appear more vac formed. You could also put some autobody spot filler in the seams of all the edges to further round them off. You would then need to paint it, but being a sandy is dirty, you probably would be ok with that as any color difference wouldn't be noticeable. I understand you wanting to do something like this yourself. It feels good to have something on your gear you fabricated, and also its just fun to make stuff. I think if you do what i mentioned it would work out ok.

As for the ab button plate, basically i would do the same thing. layered plastic sand edges and fill seams to round it all off. If these parts are too sharp looking they wont look right or match the rest of the armor.

That said, i agree if you want the most accuracy and durability, just buying the vac formed pieces from TM, or another vetted maker would be the best way to go.

[TheKido]

I just thought I would show the result of my sniper-knee build just in case someone else will try to do it in the future.

As a starter I realized I didn't have large enough peaces of plastic but I thought that the superduper-abs-paste (That I never even tried before) would level of the seam created in the middle so I went with it anyway. Ye maybe not the brightest Idea Iv'e had, if your in the same situation you should buy the plastic. Except for overestimating the power of the paste (which worked well otherwise) I think it looks ok, I'm not sure about the size of it but it looks roughly right according to me (allthough now when I looked at the pictures it looks somewhat larger ) I already had everything I needed so it didn't really cost me anything to build and it was quite fun so if it isn't accepted I can just buy one

The flaws aren't as noticeable in real life luckily. (And yes those are my pokémon cards )