First off, Happy New Year, everybody!!!

My questions were answered in my other thread, so I'm going to start another one!!

I've got my armor (graduation present!), and I'm just wiping ABS shavings off to get it ready. I'm nervous about actually starting to trim and fit everything, so I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions about how I should go about getting it fitted and all. To put the stuff on, Tupperwaretk sent velcro, but to join the parts (like the bicep plates, leg plates, etc.), should I use hot glue like with the O2 tank?

Second question. I may have mentioned it in my previous topic, but I figure it's better to consolidate them into one. I didn't buy the updated FX helmet because . . . well . . . I've heard it isn't that good. So I am looking for a helmet, but I'm not 100% sure what helmet I should go for. My price range is $200 and below (preferably below), but accuracy is a concern. So I'm worried about recasts because I don't know how good the quality will be. AP is kind of what I've been looking at, but they're a little pricey. To sum it up, I'm looking for a helmet that is fairly cheap but is still good. I want my cake, and want to eat it, too.

Enough questions for you?

Jeff

You can find plenty of accurate and reputable helmets for sale on http://www.whitearmor.net

Here is a really nice CAP kit being sold for $125: http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=13876

If your head fits into a CAP, grab it. Great kits. You can see what I've done with mine if you scroll down through this thread: http://www.501stspecopsdet.net/forum/index.php?/topic/162-helmet-collection/. (Or you can just look at all three of the small pics in my tag)

If you decide to go CAP, drop my name and Scootch will be sure to take care of ya. (Though he generally does that for troops anyway).

-iz

I have seen the CAP helmets and think they are good for the price. Doug in Idaho has one as well.

Don't use hot glue for your armor arms and legs and such. If you are glueing them, get ABS glue. It is either a clear liquid or a milky white, don't get the black. The only drawback to glueing the parts is that if gain weight (lots of it) you can't redo your armor, so maybe leave a little "growing" room. I used ABS glue on my armor and have loved it. I glued the biceps, and the thighs completely together, and the forearms and shins I glued the front seam (the shins) and the top seam (on the forearm) with velcro on the back and bottom. The velcro worked okay, but I would change them to snaps if I get the chance. I also glued the chest, back, and shoulder strap parts all together. I liked it and it worked for me, but not everyone would be able to make it work. I was able to slide it on over my head.

Alrighty, I sent Scootch a PM about the helmet. They look good, so I'm interested to see if it will fit. It should, as I don't have a big head . . . I think.

About joining the different parts . . . does the velcro wear out after a while of using it? He sent along A LOT of it, so that may be what he figures most people do. But that would probably be easy enough to fix, right? That would probably be the easiest.

I guess the biggest concern right now is how complex fitting each piece will be. I guess what I'm wondering is: how should I do it? I've got one hand holding a piece, say the shin plates for my right leg. Should I just mark the pieces to how much they overlap, and then just cut off that amount (or half that amount on both pieces? This will be the part that takes the most time, I think.

Everybody here is an expert, so pretty much any advice you can give is appreciated. Muchly.

The velco does wear out, it needs to be replaced once a year. The draw back to velcro is that on a hot summer day at an event, it only takes about 1/2 hour before the adheisive heats up and starts to get soft, at that point your armor starts to fall apart bit by bit. I would use as little velcro as possible. There are lots of different mods that can be done to make your aromor hold up, and last years with good care.

Velcro is great in places, but it does have to be replaced once or twice a year. Mine started as a purely velcro build and that lasted for one photo. I have since done modifications to a snap/glue/velcro mix. If you know anyone close by with aror I'd ask to see ow they put it together. If you give me a heads up, I don't id having you come over to look at how mine is put together either. We may be able to get a start on yours as well.

-iz

I'm really enjoying the feedback from all this. But wouldn't using a snap leave a little bit of a gap? More of a gap than velcro, I mean?

the only places I use snaps on my armor are:
-connecting shoulder bells to shoulder strapping
-connecting thigh garters to belt
-connecting chest to back armor via straps
-connecting upper arm to shoulder bell via straps.

Any places that you think might have a gap by using snaps wouldn't be noticeable. The snaps in the places bluehickey listed would be covered up. I'm not familiar with tupperware tk so I'd like to check out your armor kit. I need to make some progress on mine too as I currently don't have a place to work on it and I need a few more tools.

Yeah, when snaps are done right they're 99-100% hidden. They're mainly used on plastic chips that are then glued to the underside of the armor. I also snap my knee plate on, because I find that works best for me. However others glue, rivet or velcro it. Depends on your preference.

-iz

When I was pricing things and asking around about the quality on whitearmor.net, there were a lot of people that recommended him. I'm not an expert, but it seems to be good quality stuff.

On a related note, I bought one of the CAP helmets from Scooch on FISD. I'm feeling really waku-waku about it coming. This seems to be a never-ending hobby that feeds itself.

It sounds like that would be a good way to use the straps; in places that don't necessarily show. Parts that I was thinking about were things like the forearm plates, bicep plates and leg plates. Would it be better to glue those?

Adam,
tupperware TK is just another user name that the maker of FX and AM armor uses on the WhiteArmor.net boards.

Ah. I assumed it was another armor supplier "brand" like FX or AP. Shows what I know.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. The thighs typically attach to the ab or cod section with a strap, but in terms of just assembling the thighs they're typically glued. Same with the forearms and biceps. Depending on your body type / size you may want to clamshell some pieces with velcro but you shouldn't need straps to assemble the individual armor pieces. Strapping is typically a step towards the end, if not the last step.

The hobby will never end. Just so you know. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I don't think it's a problem with your understanding, but with my explainifying.

Thanks for the other info, though. It goes a long way in explainifying the process-icity of the whole project-ness we've got here.