Stripping Them Thighs

... so hopefully this will be the last time I need to attach the sniper knee to my shins :P Still need some Novos to help clean up the other shin.

Anyhow, it was time to start setting the strips on the thighs. I measured the taped-together pieces one last time to ensure the dimensions were good, or at least close. Using UKSWrath's reference, you can see that the strips don't go all the way down to the knees, so after sanding one side of each strip, I measured using the actual strip and sizing it up to the longer of the two sides. I can trim down later after gluing.

Once the strips were marked for length, I put the center line down the sanded side of the strip to help ensure I didn't glue too much onto the one side of the thigh.

After that, it was just a matter of scoring & snapping the strip, beveling the corners with the Dremel sanding drum, applying the E6000 to the thigh piece, and clamping on the strip. Wash, rinse, and repeat three more times for all four edges.

I originally decided to not join the two thigh sides together at the front in case I needed to trim more, but in hindsight that's a silly notion, since if I were to need to trim, I'd be trimming off the back of the parts anyhow, not the front edge return. Besides, these thighs are pretty snug already, so it's very doubtful that I'd need to trim. But it is what it is, and at least doing it this way will make forcing the two butt joints together a bit easier without worrying about the strip sliding off while trying to get the two ends clamped in tight.

You'll also notice that I inadvertently did the treatment for the outside of the right thigh and the inside of the left thigh. Chalk that up to trying to rush the step before it got too late. Again, I doubt I'll need to trim any more, but I'll know more after the strips set and I can tape them together one last time before gluing. If I have to remove a strip for the purposes of trimming the thigh pieces, worse things have happened :P

These are the only pieces I have yet to trim. I'm getting down to the point where I'll need to start worrying about installing strapping, rivets, and snaps. And I'm still waiting on my arming suit, gloves, and boots (which should be available next week with any luck). With an armor party coming up next Sunday, I'm looking forward to meeting fellow squaddies and TK builders, and getting some advice on final touches for the armor :)