Time to Suck In That Gut

I started strapping the torso armor last night. But before I talk about that, I'll talk about the ab button plates and shoulder straps.

I used to paint miniatures. Admittedly, it's been a while. Here's something I did more than a decade ago, mashed up from parts, with some custom sculpt added, and painted by yours truly.

Painting these round buttons was a little harder than expected due to the rounded edges, but overall, I think I did a good job for freehanding it. Not my best work, but certainly not my worst.

Mind you, the edges will need to come off a bit, especially on the four-button plate, but I'll worry about that when I mount these pieces to the ab plate, which won't be until after the strapping is done.

But let's talk about the shoulder straps next.

The reinforced shoulder straps came out very well, and flush on the bottom.

I measured 4 bars plus the first front bar, just to be on the safe side to have enough in the back. It looked great on fitting, so I marked where the the straps would lay and scuffed the chest plate on those areas, as well as the length of the straps that would cement to the plate. Then I applied cement and clamped.

I unclamped them after two days, and the look great. They're nice and flush on the armor, even with the reinforcements.

NOW let's talk about strapping the ab plates.

I connected the three split rivets on the ab plate to the straps already joined to the kidney plate. Because I ended up covering both the "mistake" holes on the cod plate with AB paste I also connected the groin strap to the cod after I drilled a new hole in the code 20mm from the edge. I forgot to take pictures of this, but the cod looks great, like the mistake never happened. I'm just waiting on some Novus 1-2-3 to bring back the mirror shine after I sanded with 150, 350, and 600 grit sandpaper.

After the split rivets, it was time for the easier stuff, namely putting on the ANOVOS H&L straps. Besides replacing the straps on the left side with the full split rivet treatment as described in the 501st Stunt CRL, I'm currently trying the ANOVOS strapping system until I need something better, as laid out in the ANOVOS instructions.

I came up with a system for putting on the H&L tape. First, I marked the area where the tape would rest using a Sharpie, and scuffed it with 150 grit paper. After sanding, I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol, which also removed most of the marks, but left just enough to easily help me place the loop end of the H&L tape, cut to just the correct length.

Although I didn't have enough time to get the chest and back plates before needing sleep, I was able to get the lower torso done, as far as the ANOVOS instructions go at any rate.

One thing I realized is that, at least with the test fitting, my pudge causes the bottom of the armor to pop away between the ab and kidney plates. I need to lose some weight, or at least get a shaper until I can shed what little weight I want to lose, which is mostly on my lower abdomen :P I've got a basic shaper, but I ordered a better one due in by the weekend, so we'll see if that helps.

Next on the build comes the chest and back plate. Until then...