Harbinger

Great progress on all your armor pieces!

Agreed!

No truer words were ever said. It took me two years and 10+ troops to dial in my TK. I expect the same with my TB.

Congrats Dennis. We started our builds about the same time, and I know I took a two-year break but you have been a great face to see around this Detachment even during my lull period.

Congratulations! An obvious choice for the role.

A shield could be fun!

I would wager real suede for the gloves, like the riding patches, is your best bet. As for wire - most of us who went that route used electrical wire, like you'd find on a cheap ungrounded extension cord, and rip it down the middle. If you check out Strider’s build thread more info (and recent discussion on how heavy they are) here:

Congratulations @Chopper! And thank you for your service, Pete! Darth Real Life comes first. Both of you a a wealth of knowledge and a great example of Pathfinders leading the way. Your help on my Lancer build has been invaluable.

Consider these learning experiences vs. mistakes - soon you will be an expert in ABS. I learned a ton building my TK, and even more building my TB (like sewing!).

Butt flap 90% trimmed (will trim upper portion where the velcro is attached post-Celebration): Also, my friend has begun printing us blasters (resin!) courtesy of @MrPoopie’s EC-17 files. Almost to Lancer!

Triple checking, before I do so – any additional velcro/snaps/etc. on the inside of the vest, bund etc. – if not visible from the outside, are completely fine even for L2 correct?

Congratulations!

Added velcro to my vest and stirrups to my pant legs: Marked some cut lines in chalk, how does this look for the butt flap (lines are a little light, sorry!)? And last - for dropboxes, how is the 1” calculated? From the return edge of the belt box or the bottom of the belt plastic?:

Congrats! I have been following your build and it turned out great. Terrific idea on using the elastic cording on the shoulder bridge covers - I sewed zip-tie mounts to mine but there’s no flex, your idea would solve that.

Up to you, that’s the beauty of patches.

TB-92802... Approved! Now on to Lancer! To-do before I put in my L2 application: Fix drop box strapping (move inward towards TD, boxes need to drop by ~1/4") Trim down butt flap Blaster... gonna need a blaster. Working on printing one in black resin. TBD! Any feedback, please let me know.

Thanks! Easily fixed: Flap, also (fairly) easy to address before Lancer.

Both

Oh it was way more than an inch. I just decided to trim and redo it (more on that in a bit!). In other news! Approval photos taken and sent off to my GML! If any of the Lancer review team want to point out any possible issues now - please! - less I have to possibly fix later. I’m already aware the drop boxes are too high (I clearly measured wrong, they seem to be sitting closer to 1/2”). Re: the cummerbund, the velcro tore off so I was wondering if it’s okay to stitch it like this? (Already tweaking, more velcro on the vest!)

More updates - sorry, no photos this time… Sewed the codpiece velcro and did a final test fit of all parts Sunday. Noticed the cummerbund is offset - likely from aforementioned weight loss - how far ‘off’ of dead-center is OK for the 2” velcro closure? I also added additional velcro to my shoulder bells to keep the flak vest from getting bunched up inside the armor.

Sewed up the chest/back strapping. Using elastic on the inside of the chest to give it some flex, but hidden so the outside all you'll see is webbing: Got the rest of the strapping sewn up and adjusted as well. More to come...

Been busy so I’m getting my build thread updated - past couple weekends have been very productive. I got the belt nylon installed, glued and riveted, and dropbox webbing sewn up. I'll eventually replace the stitching with snap rivets (to be more film accurate) but for now, I want something less permanent in case I have to adjust for Lancer: I was able to fix my boots by undoing the top stitch and removing the extra loop velcro so you won't see it when closed, as well as stitch in a stirrup to help keep my boot up when I have a blaster holstered (thanks to BSN for that tip!). I then used some leather scraps to re-enforce the holes before I riveted the holster in, using the 3mm rivets and washers:

Corey, thanks again mate. I think that will do the trick! I will report back.

I was able to do a test fit of nearly everything last night: I still need to finish assembling my belt, obviously, and everything felt/fit pretty good (missing a couple straps that broke, and chest/back strap is on the floor, as I was measuring it) - but does anyone see any red flags? One thing I am slightly confused by is my flak vest. It fits fine until I put the bottom shoulder elastic on and which point it seems to pull the sleeves up and under the bells.

Is there a reason most of the boots have the hook Velcro facing towards the leg (inward)? Isn’t it usually best practice to have the loop/soft Velcro inward so that it does not damage fabric on the wearer?