Darth Emphatic

Can't wait to see the pics from the pant job. An auto body shop can do some amazing work.

Looking good. Take all the time you need to get it right. This is going to look great.

And, they will be on the inside

Eyes look good, but I am steering clear of the photo above it...I did not need to know if you were a boxers or briefs kinda of key...I apparently could not resist. Back is usually easiest to cut because it has the straightest lines, but be careful about automatically cutting the same amount along the entire edge, sometimes, due to the curves, can lead to it not lining up properly. I recommend taping off where you are cutting and then overlaying the back or butt piece to it to see how they line up

Hope you were using E-6000. A pain, but it will at least come off cleanly in the end. ABS glue will be a

I haven't been able to locate the pics, but I will be pulling my armor out to work on a couple things this weekend, so I will see what I can do to take some new ones. Rhea, an image that is burned into my brain now. Thanks.

Thanks for moving this over, Pete.

Al, you can use elastic or strapping to run across from bell to bell in the front or to the inside of the chest plate. That will keep the bells facing forward at all times

I will see if I can grab a pic of the inside of mine. I actually used 2 inch wide canvas and put it on its side with snap plates along the edge where the armor meets. I like it's hold better, but that could just be me.

For screen accurate approval, there should be little to no overlap, but there should not be a large gap between the two. From the pic, the bottom of your back plate is two far away from the top of the kidney plate.

Barnstormers are pretty popular. Can't remember if I have seen a 360 of them. The moniker on the Ralph Lauren's would cause problems.

You have a few options here, many which have been mentioned. Hasbro with Doopy-doo kit: Many of us have done this (including me). Looks really good once you add the additional touches (wiring, ring on the back, etc) PVC/Doopy-doo Blaster: Can look great, but requires more work than the hasbro doopy-doo IMO Hyperfirm: The nice thing about these is they are rubberized so no worry about dropping it or handing it to a kid and them dropping it

The strawberry ice cream melted on his head! Looking good. Sanding will be fun!

You sure can and that is the way to do it. From a mobility stand-point, I don't think it is huge, from a sitting or leaning sit standpoint, it is a pic difference. Cod uncut, no real sitting. Cod cut, much better sitting options. From a bathroom stand-point, I also think things are a big easier. Unsnap between the crotch and lift. The problem is, if the rest of my armor is on, I cannot resnap the crotch myself, so need help there. That is what wives/husbands are for.

No doubt!

Nice Jim!

Pete, I need to get down to SM and see this thing; that looks awesome!

Welcome John. BSN is the Pathfinders detachment, which is located at bikerscout.net. That is where the BSN comes from, Biker Scout .Net. PM stands for Personal or Private Message. Chef was indicating he was sending you a message. The shadow scout is very similar to the white biker scout, so BSN is also a great resource when working on that set of armor.

I modded a walmart special for the garter. Our DL uses the same one. I had a bucket painted by an auto body shop and it came out great! I then ruined the bucket, but the paint job was great

I don't at the moment, but I know some other troopers do. You will probably need to pull from a few different sources to get the whole picture and you may want to change things after trooping it a few times. Without pics, I recommend suspenders for the ab/butt, a garter system (around the waste with hanging straps in front) to hold up the thighs, and connecting the chest in front to the ab armor to keep it in place and down. You have a lot of options for the chest to shoulder straps to back plate. My straps do not free float, I was never happy with how they came out when I went that route. Right now, the straps are permanently glued in the front and snap to the back plate. I have split my butt and lower back plate. They connect with a wide black canvas strap lined with snaps. This ensure it always stays lined up. The sides of my ab armor and the back plate connect the same way, thought you would never see it because of an extension piece of plastic on each side that bridges the gap for the ab to back armor. Shoulder bells connect to my shoulder straps and run a piece of elastic to either connect the left and right shoulder bells in the front or each one to inside of the chest. The reason for this is it keeps the should bells forward, otherwise they tend to rotate open. Biceps are connected to the inside of my shoulder bells. I don't connect my forearms to the my biceps as they sit perfect on their own. I do have foam in the forearm that prevents them from rotating. Same thing with the thighs. Calf armor free rest, but connects to the boot to keep them down. My calves clam shell in the back and are glued permanently in the front. I use one fabric hook and elastic in the top back of each calf to make sure they keep closed. That was a mouthful full of run-on sentences; I am sure I am missing things and now I will see if I can actually grab pictures of all this for ya.

Chris, that all sounds like a great plan to me. We all want to see the day that LOL is removed from your subject line

I used some fiberglass in a scootch bucket to strength it up, smart move. As for the harness, I would do it from the start if you can. If you do go velcro to get it done quicker, you will be ripping it all apart again in 6 months to improve it so might as well start there.

It's from the TK side, but I found Ingrid's build to be very useful to new troopers. You can check it out here.

I will say, a plastic belt can hold up just fine as long as it has plenty of overlap and is affixed securely.

Love how clean the lines are!