The bridge between the Chest & Back Armor is supposed to be covered with 1/2 to one inch wide cotton webbing…
I cut two short pieces, and sealed the ends with super glue…
I then used Shoe Goo to adhere them to the shoulder bridge area, taping them in place to dry…
The Shoulder Bells are supposed to be attached so that it appears they are held on by zip ties…
The first step is to feed zip ties through the holders…
These zip tie mounts will be used for the rest of the process…
Each Shoulder also gets a strip of 1/2 elastic to help keep the bell from flopping around…
Each strip is sewn into a loop…
And then zip tied to one of the mounts…
The excess zip tie is cut off…
And, the mounts are adhered to the center of each Shoulder Bell, a few inches up from the bottom edge…
Now, back to the main attachment area. The zip ties need to be cut off, leaving maybe four inches, or so…
Then, two more of the mounts need to have loop Velcro added to the adhesive side…
Here, both mounts have the loop Velcro added…
Those mounts are then slid onto the zip ties, with the loop Velcro facing UP…
Then, another zip tie is added to the end of the cut off zip ties, but only pressed on until they “click” into place. These will now act “stops” to keep the mounts from sliding off the end…
The excess zip tie is removed…
Leaving only the “stop”. The mount should freely slide on the piece of zip tie that remains…
Two short pieces of hook Velcro are then cut and mounted on the inside of the top of the shoulder strap area. This is where you attach the Shoulder Bell mounts…
The Chest & Back Armor are attached together with 1 1/2 cotton webbing…
I added some Velcro so the webbing can be looped around the front (Chest) piece, and then will connect to the Back through the slot in that piece…
I’ll be adding some loop Velcro to the Back to help with adjustments…
The hook Velcro added to the side straps…
Here, the side strap has been looped through the slot in the Chest Armor…
And here, the side strap has been pulled through the slot in the Back Armor…
Full shot of the Back Armor with the Velcro and straps disconnected…
Here, the straps are connected, and attached to the Velcro…
The last major thing I need to do is get the Chest & Back Armor fitted correctly. I first marked the location where the metal brackets end with painters tape…
Then tried to figure how much strap I need to leave in place and made a pencil line..
Here’s my mark. Let’s hope it’s right…
Here goes nothing…
One side has been cut…
Then, I marked the other side…
And cut it off…
I’ll be using these small metal plates to join the Chest & Back pieces…
To hopefully help strengthen up the strap portion of the Back and Chest Armor, I will be adding metal reinforcements. I picked these pieces up at Menards…
To help reinforce the area where the breaks occurred I want to try using this wire mesh…
First, I need to add the reinforcement material to the break areas, so I cut a small section from the main roll…
I want to make the repair as strong as possible, so I cut a piece of mesh that bridged a large section around the break…
That piece of mesh was just too big to heat up with my soldering iron to get it to melt into the plastic, so I tried a smaller piece…
The smaller piece was also just too big, as well, so I had to resort to very small pieces…
These pieces finally worked, and I was able to get them embedded into the plastic…
I repeated the process on the other break…
The other pieces, fully embedded…
Now, for the strap reinforcements…
The metal is just a bit too wide, so I’ll need to trim it down a bit…
I trimmed it down with my tin snips…
The metal now fits the upper part, so I marked it for cutting at the bottom…
And, the bottom has now been cut…
The same process was used on the other strap…
I marked some spots on both metal reinforcements…
And drilled some holes to help give the adhesive something to grab onto…
To attach the metal to the Armor, I’ll be using this JB Weld KwikWeld…
I applied the JB Weld KwikWeld, allowing it to seep through the holes I drilled…
Then, everything was clamped in place. The KwikWeld dries pretty fast, I like to leave it clamped up over night for maximum strength.
I first cut two thin strips of self-adhesive Velcro…
That were adhered to the back side of the Back Armor…
I then cut a small section of 1/2 inch black elastic, and doubled over one end, and sewed it. I’m hoping this will help keep it from ripping when the rivet is put through it.
Then, a second strap was made. This gives me one strap for the top of the tank, and one strap for the bottom.
I then heated up a piece of wire and used it to make the rivet holes in both straps. My theory is, if I melt the hole into the elastic material, it should make it less likely to rip. I guess time will tell…
Then, two small pieces of regular Velcro were sewn to the opposite end of the straps.
Bottom rivet ready to be installed.
For the top of the Tank, rather than gluing the Topper in place, I’ve decided to just add a small screw. So, I drilled a small hole in the top of the Tank aligned with a thicker part of the Topper.
Then a matching hole was drilled in the Topper.
Small screw installed, and the top rivet ready to be set.
Top rivet installed.
Top of the Tank, when attached to the Back Armor.
Bottom of the Tank, when attached to the Back Armor.
Back side of the Back Armor, with the Tank attached.
Now, it’s time to add the button/dial thing…
I’ll be using a screw to attach this, as well. So, a small hole was drilled…
A matching hole was then drilled into the back of the button/dial.
