woobiee

Back at it again with some progress. 1) Adjusted the butt flap to be one layer, and sized down to size 2) Rear thigh patches sized down 3) Completely remade the cod piece with new shaping. 4) Shortened the thigh straps. 5) Adjusted the chest a bit. Thoughts? Please disregard my bund not being aligned and my pouches flaring out here. After looking at these photos, I think the back armor can still be slid up by a fraction of an inch. I think the neck line is where it should be? The tape is currently placed where the two halves overlap and not the final location of the shoulder covers.

Thanks! I've been looking at those images too but it's hard to judge distance without any hard measurements. If it were me, I'd say my rivet is still too low compared to the production images! However, I'm glad I won't have to relocate it

Hello all! I'm trying to figure out if this rivet location on the bottom of the tank would pass Lancer approval: This kit is made by RS. I've seen some people's RS kits in the past with the rivet much lower and were required to be relocated. Is mine high enough to pass or is it still too low? Thanks!

Here is an attempt of getting the chest armor to size to my torso. My chest is naturally funky so getting it to look right is a challenge! Before I cut this down to size, what are your thoughts? Do you think I should rotate it forward by 0.5-1"? Is it still too wide around the arm pit areas? Just to note, I have not done any strapping updates yet!

Thanks. Yeah I was going to replace the 1.25" elastic with 1.5" cotton webbing already!

Flight suit is back with the tailor for suede adjustments. Today I successfully took apart the chest armor in hopes of getting fitment right -- quite a tense proposition! Now that they are separated, I might as well ask if the tank rivet is located fine for Lancer approval. Hope I don't have to do anything to it!

Food for thought. RS got back and said they use acrylic paints and believe the hot water method will NOT end well. So you all with RS kits, DON'T use the hot water trick!

Good idea. Just sent Andrea at RS an email.

Thanks for the reminder. Do you have a recommendation of which one to get on Amazon? And for the hot water on paint, I'll ask the armor section of the forums.

Thanks as always. I'll definitely start with the shoulder bridges first before addressing the width. Since my RS armor is weathered, will the hot water damage the paint?

Today I went ahead and made the cod piece. As mentioned, my Imperial Boots cod piece was made out of a twill like material and would not pass lvl 2. I think overall my version came out just okay but certainly better than Imperial Boots'! I used 3 layers of 3/16" batting with a layer of buckram as people have suggested. Prior to adding the arch detail, I was really happy with the shaping. However, I did not anticipate how the stitch detailing would alter the overall shape; it is now a little too square. In the coming week(s) I'll attempt to create another one with a rounder silhouette -- perhaps even a little bit more narrow too. New pattern on left, IB on right I really liked the shaping here! Left: new version. Right: IB version Finished with velcro in the right places Comparison: IB. New. CRL. Now to address the most difficult part of the build I think: the chest armor. I did a test fit and unfortunately it's big on me. I knew going in this would be the case but I really wanted to get this to work! I think two main issues are at play, 1) it's too tall, and 2) it's too wide. In the photos you can see in order to get the front chest to fit, I had to raise the front and pivot it towards the back. This lowered the rear armor significantly, relocated the shoulder bridges off centered which caused the shoulder bells to not sit correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I can mitigate this by trimming the shoulder bridges on both front and back armor. The more concerning issue is the width. Do you think the armor is just too wide to manipulate with heat/boiling water to fit my torso? Oh and if it's not obvious, my flak vest has not been adjusted yet! I'm also working on the thigh straps and suede patch/flap updates too!

You got it boss.

Here is another test fit. This is with the adjusted thigh patch shaping with real suede, remade cummerbund+pouches. Keep in mind these photos still uses the old cod piece. I will be making one from scratch in the next few weeks. Would love your thoughts! This is what I think: Front -The thigh straps can be shortened by 0.5" more. Back -I need to put on the cummerbund more straight -The butt flap needs to be one piece instead of two pieces back to back. -The butt flap needs to be shortened by 0.5" or so in height and about 0.25-0.5" on each side. -Is the rear thigh patches too wide? Anything else I am missing?

Thanks chopper. You are correct, my current butt flap is rather stiff. I'll reduce it down to one layer. The CRL photo looks like there is stitching along the bottom edge of the flap. I can't tell if it's also on the left and right edge -- it's hard to tell. And is my assessment correct that the stitching is 1/4 - 1/2 inches away from the edge?

It's been awhile since my last update but I assure you the project is alive and well! The project has progressed from multiple fronts. Firstly, the flight suit needed the suede replaced with the real stuff. This was something I was not comfortable with doing myself so I sent it to the tailors for her expertise. Besides the suede, I also needed to let out the back side for me to bend over/kneel more comfortably, as well as shortening the thigh straps a bit. If you are curious, the Imperial Boots flight suit that I have here uses fake suede. In this photo you can see the difference between the fake and real stuff. Lancer Level 2 requires real suede. A question about the butt flap. I have it as two pieces of suede back to back and turned inside out. Is this not correct? Should it be just a single piece of suede? Next up is the cummerbund. Unfortunately, the IB cummerbund was made with a twill material that would not pass Level 2 so a new one must be made. After making the pouches, I was confident I could do this as well. I used AradunFF's thread as a blueprint in conjunction with Chopper's thread of putting velcro in specific areas. I made my bund inside out in order to have a clean seam on the left and right side. The bottom is folded and the top is sewed as usual. It turned out fantastic! Sewing like a crazy man Backside with velcro to interface with the flight suit/flak vest Lines drawn on the backside Bund is now poofy! AradunFF's WIP called for 3 layers of 3/16" fill, however, since I have a smaller frame, 3 layers ballooned the appearance in a negative way so I only went with 2 layers total. Ribs were super stressful to do! Front side with velcro for the pouches Backside with velcro to attach to flight suit/flak vest Finished! Oh and some easy stuff. Added velcro to some arm armor Hopefully the flight suit will be done in the next couple weeks!

Are you going with the dirty route, or keeping it clean?

Congrats!

Hi Hilary and welcome! You are in good company as I am also a rookie, working on my first kit! I noticed that you may be planning on an Imperial Boots flight suit. That is what I am running with but there is a chance that the suede they use for the thigh patch/butt flap may not be up to Lancer spec. Lancer requires real suede and I am having difficulty finding answers from IB if what they use is real or not. In the end, I got some real stuff and will attempt a material swap this weekend.

Question for folks and sorry if this has been debated before. I will be getting my thigh patches redone in real suede this weekend but would like to ask about the shaping of it. These two ref images show different shaping: One of them rounds closer to the crotch area, whereas the other reference has it rounded higher up. Are both acceptable? Personally my preference is rounding it closer to the crotch to somewhat match the arch on the cod. And then, for the shaping of the rear. Is it a mirror image of the front side?

Pouches are done! Sewing the front flap to the back was a pain. Something like 7 layers of material! Also made some cardboard boxes as many have done. Lastly, added some velcro to the belt to interface with the cod.

That's a neat tid bit!

I've updated the back strap to be more symmetrical. Think that did the trick! On another note, I noticed that the original straps that went through my drop boxes had a 180 degree twist to them. At first I thought it was a mistake but upon further thought I think it is to prevent the boxes from sliding around the strap. Upgrading to cotton webbing made it moot because of the heavier material but for those that use thinner material, it definitely prevented the drop boxes from shifting. Maybe it's common knowledge but if not, here you go!

Thanks Chopper! So yeah the buckles...they were originally how you describe it, but I was following the main CRL image: The CRL image has the buckles opposite of the photo you have. Which way is correct?

While I wait for more needles to come in for the pouches and the pigskin suede material for the flight suit, I tackled the updates to the knee armor and the belt+drop boxes today. For the knee armor, I went ahead and replaced the 1" elastic that RS used with 3/4". I also took @Chopper's advice and added a large velcro patch to eventually interface with the flight suit so it stays put. Old 1" vs new 3/4" I was careful not to damage or warp the plastic with this scary contraption! All done! Next up is the belt and drop boxes. I slightly adjusted the belt length to fit my waist better and replaced the 1.5" elastic from RS with some 1.5" white cotton webbing. But before I permanently make the change, mind you all evaluate the straps? Are the drop boxes/parachute buckles in the right location? I've included a photo with the thermo det. New 1.5" white cotton webbing vs old 1.5" elastic

Is this in the upcoming CRL Level 3?