Darth Emphatic

Looking good! Glad the line on the bottom of the chest piece is correct.

At least not as bad as with soft parts. The solution for this: cut up an apple, put some paper towel in your bucket and rest the apple on it. It will get rid of the smoke smell.

Hard to tell without it curved around. Would love to see a pic curved over the ab armor.

We need multiple Spec Ops teams!

Agreed, would not hold up basic approval. Update: Saw the new pics, looking really sharp now!

They want you to contact them first for shipping, but they don't respond

Yep, those shieds work great. Pain to find in stores some times.

Yep, great buckets. I had to reinforce my aerator spots just a little more, but other than that, love it!

Nicolae put a lot of work into his, he will be a great resource. You've already got some good parts out of the way. Helmet and Boots.

We only have the photo to go on right now and they seem just a little wide when resting on the back plate. Can you measure the width on them (inches or centimeters)? I am just curious to see how they compare.

How is the bucket looking? Last I think we saw it, it was the face only a mother could love

I am not sure, I just emailed them as well. We'll see if they get back.

They are down to £24.95

I don't know if it is just the photos, but the shoulder straps look over-sized to me.

I thought there was a detail that went around the top of the shin anyway...

Got it!

Wow,£29.95, I am tempted just to have a backup pair...

Thanks for that info Chris

I don't see any reason this wouldn't pass basic approval

No worries, Nicolae. It's all meant as constructive criticism to make us all the best we can be. Armor is a never ending project, there is always that one other thing you can do. You absolutely should be proud of what you have accomplished!

Everything I stated were recommendation, but as I said, nothing would hold up your approval. The back overlap may not hold up your approval, it usually more of a specialist requirement, but I would still recommend doing it if you can. You will definitely find many with more overlap.

I thought the AM had the little drill bump spots on the ab armor ends. Double check yours, they might be there. I am pretty sure the kit even comes with the screws for it.

I updated my post, I think you can accomplish what you need by trimming the back plate at the top and the bottom which will keep it proportional. Yep, most are too short for AM, but you can definitely make it work

You could also reshaped the backs of the thighs a little if you like. This could be accomplished by only trimming the inside of the thigh. from the back center point down. You could make it contour a little more with the butt plate as you it here:

The first thing that stands out to me is the overlap in the back. There should be little to no overlap between the back plate and kidney plate. I think this can be accomplish by doing two things: 1)Bring the back up a little bit - not by much, but you have a little room there, and 2) trim a little off the top and the bottom of the back plate. To give you can idea, here is Apok's Nova: I would definitely connect the sides of the chest plate to the back plate to hold them in place. Your belt is a bit off centered and sagging a little. How do you have it connected on the sides? - Just saw the pick above where you have everything laid out and I see its not attached to to the ab armor. You can connect the ends of the belt proper to ab armor which will help keep it tight and in place. You mentioned to me your ab was dropping. Sounds like an elastic issue. I highly recommend replacing the ab to kidney connector with adjustable suspenders. Do you have a heat gun? It is hard to tell, but it looks like your ab chest and back plate, where they hit the shoulder straps, could be contoured a bit more. That will help with how the armor sits. I didn't own before I started armoring, but it is one of my best friends now. Another recommendation, but not required, is to reshape the chest plate. This is a good tutorial for it. Really makes a nice look. Most of what I mentioned likely wouldn't hold up approval. The only thing I mentioned that is specific to the crl's is the back/kindey overlap. You did a great job Nicholae!