DarthBerry Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Aloha Scouts! I'm new to the legion and just did my first few troops in my TIE reserve pilot last week (you can see me on the 501st social media posts today next to Kylo! #pacificoutpost). I purchased a used (previously approved) set of biker scout armor from someone my exact same build while I was working on the TI. It fits like a glove, but didn't get approved after I submitted it because of the rivets in the belt. The CRL states: "There are only two (2) visible rivets on the belt: one on each side toward the back to connect the webbing closure material to the plastic belt." My GML just had a problem with the 2 on each side attaching the hard plastic to soft, but I realized there are a total of 10 rivets because of the ones connecting the leg boxes and the plastic to itself. My current plan is to drill out the bottom rivet connecting the plastic to the soft belt, then fill it, paint it, and resubmit photos. I plan to remove the rest of the remaining rivets if he still doesn't approve the belt because of them. What I wanted to ask you Scout veterans is if this is a common problem from getting older armors reapproved and if there was any better way that I should go about doing this. Is drilling out a rivet the best way to remove it? Any suggestions on how to fill? Mahalo! Images: http://imgur.com/a/DudeDgE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 31 minutes ago, DarthBerry said: My current plan is to drill out the bottom rivet connecting the plastic to the soft belt, then fill it, paint it, and resubmit photos. I plan to remove the rest of the remaining rivets if he still doesn't approve the belt because of them. What I wanted to ask you Scout veterans is if this is a common problem from getting older armors reapproved and if there was any better way that I should go about doing this. Is drilling out a rivet the best way to remove it? Any suggestions on how to fill? Mahalo! Images: http://imgur.com/a/DudeDgE Aloha! This is a problem with buying old armor kits -- a lot of folks did multiple rivets back in the day. Particularly with the SC belts when they were sold in 3 pieces. The screen used belts only show one rivet on each side of the closure in the back so that's all we allow now. But I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to clean that one up. E6000 does a great job holding the different belt segments together. That's what I did with my old SC belt. I've always had success drilling out the rivets so I never tried any other methods. If someone knows a better way, maybe they will chime in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawless Scout Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 54 minutes ago, DarthBerry said: My current plan is to drill out the bottom rivet connecting the plastic to the soft belt, then fill it, paint it, and resubmit photos. I plan to remove the rest of the remaining rivets if he still doesn't approve the belt because of them. What I wanted to ask you Scout veterans is if this is a common problem from getting older armors reapproved and if there was any better way that I should go about doing this. Is drilling out a rivet the best way to remove it? Any suggestions on how to fill? Mahalo! Welcome to the Pathfinders. Fixing up those rivet holes isn't too hard at all. Drill out all the current rivets and use either e6000 or even any plastic weld from a hardware store like ACE or Home Depot to secure the 3 pieces together as well as filling in the holes! It will be really solid and sandable. Once the holes are filled and the belt made to be one piece a little sanding, wet sanding, primer and paint - BAM! One piece belt. You can do it man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pvicta Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I think SC do a 1 piece belt now, so that's another option?Then make it to fitBut unsure of the time/cost benefit of thisLiving in Aus means a few weeks to get here, so...Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 23 minutes ago, pvicta said: I think SC do a 1 piece belt now, so that's another option? Then make it to fit But unsure of the time/cost benefit of this Living in Aus means a few weeks to get here, so... Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk Yes, SC has pretty much revamped their whole kit. Much more accurate now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 3 hours ago, DarthBerry said: Is drilling out a rivet the best way to remove it? Any suggestions on how to fill? Yeah, drilling it out is the way I've always done it. It also helps if you have a carbon steel drill bit, which should make it a lot easier as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthBerry Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 Thanks all! I'll get to work on it soon and update you guys with some (hopefully) good news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenyone Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 If you don't want to mess with the alterations you can just order a replacement belt from SC. $67.00 (+shipping/tax). They are pre-trimmed, so you just drill the two holes for the rivets and you're done. https://www.studiocreations.com/howto/bikerscout/forsale_bike_replacementparts.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Doesn't Altmann make complete kits now? With all the stories about AUS shipping costs i would think it's cheaper to order it from AUS based guys... (Not saying SC is bad, i have a one-piece SC belt myself) I'd love to see a picture of a belt with those pieces stuck together with E6000 . Is the rivet in the softbelt behind the Thermal Det? if so you could just leave it, otherwise... well stitch it or relocate it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenyone Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I'm a fan of E6000. Great adhesive, but at the end of the day it's still an adhesive. That being said, all adhesives tend to fail over time. Especially in high stress areas like a smooth plastic belt. My 2 cents: I work a a lot with styrene variants of plastic. Mostly ABS and HIPS. Assuming that belt is ABS (which seems to be the most popular armor material), my suggestion would be to solvent weld those pieces together rather than gluing them. Same goes for the rivet holes. You could tape up those holes on the backside of the belt and fill in the holes with a mixture of solvent (acetone) and small scraps of ABS in a glass jar to form a thick white melted plastic slurry. Then just drop it in the rivet holes, give it a day to completely harden up and sand it flat. You'd never know it was repaired and you'd have a ABS to ABS welded repair rather than a glued and puttied one that will probably form cracks or separate over time. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Hi Scouts, ALT doesnt do kits, can do "parts" which are finished ready to go, exchange rate is good for US$$ at the moment to Kurt has some good information there 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthBerry Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 Good news! It took a bit of time but the E6000 fill, light scraping, and paint was good for approval and I had my first troop as a TB today. Thanks again for all the help, pathfinders! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 1 hour ago, DarthBerry said: Good news! It took a bit of time but the E6000 fill, light scraping, and paint was good for approval and I had my first troop as a TB today. Thanks again for all the help, pathfinders! Excellent! Glad to hear it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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