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Basic Approval completed with a request for one minor fix, have my strapping in my shoulder bells cover the biceps more. I originally removed the hook as I dropped the biceps down to allow for more even black undersuit to be showing between the handguard/forearm and forearm/bicep. I looked over the part and I cannot move the strapping itself down more inside the bell so I will be putting a ABS hook back in the bicep to pull the strap down over the bicep more Thought I would get to it this morning but its such an easy thing to do I'll tackle it later. Soo happy to join up with all the other great members that makes up "The Bad Guys doing good!". Basic Approval complete, and soon will be enlisting for EIB certification

TK-22706 reporting in

The ties, seal and belt issue to be fixed. Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

How I picture opening a box without a sharp object ------------ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s not required but don’t remove all of it, maybe around half of what you got now, leaving some has, in my opinion, a better look to it

Thanks, I think sand it down a little more. Just a note on the vertical one, it is slightly in the raised area, there's a tiny bit of illusion there, as I stuck it down with a couple of pieces of rolled over blue tape, and it's sitting a little up compared to when I hold it in place with my fingers. I didn't work on anything yesterday as I got a call to work, but am hoping to make some more progress today. Maybe even some painting! Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

so I wanted to make sure my measurements that I took were correct and everything lined up in the back and sides with no gap at all. So now I can attach the front and back. It's actually comfortable to wear too. Test fit of the forearms, biceps and shoulder bells is pretty good too. I'll be attaching them like a sleeve. next is snaps. Not looking forward to snaps. I had to do some heating and shaping on the back plate to get it straight and remove a small gap in the middle but that wasn't that bad. I don't like my shoulder bells not fitting around the bicep fully. You can see the black elastic pretty good from the bell on the bicep. I tried heating and reshaping it helped a little but it's still not how I want it. I might take an 1/8" off the front of the forearm for more room for my hand to go through. Btw. Thanks guys for your builds.

A few more things done on the build. Pretty much all the gluing is done with a few small exceptions. All holes are drilled and I think I'm ready for some strapping. Anyway, here is what I've been up to. Sizing the shins and thighs. Here is my crazy method of figuring out how much to trim off each side so that it fits and the seam will run at a nice angle down my leg. I hope it works. Belt and thigh ammo belt trimmed and ready for installation. Kept my trim to about 4mm - default for how Mark pulls these pieces. My 45° cut on the belt is 10mm to fit my canvas belt properly. The canvas belt is sitting a bit low in the picture, but it does meet up with where the 45° cut meets the outside edge. I had to do a whole whack of hot bathing and heat gun. I needed to reshape my kidney piece and make it not so wide. I traced the original shape on to cardboard for reference and used hot baths to squish the outsides in a little. This caused buckling of the top and bottom return edge, so I had to use a heat gun and some pieces of wood to reshape the return edge. Sorry no after pics, but it worked out pretty good - mind you, I am terrible at hot baths and heat guns. Also had to reshape how the back meets the kidney. This is an issue with my TK as well - no amount of strapping adjustments could fix it. the back seems to pivot at the outer edges when fitted to my body. This is the return edge along the top of the kidney and AB. The AB side flares up so I also had to reshape that too. Again, no "after" pics. But all is good now. Also shaped my shins to they close better and my posterior to avoid "butt flare". Marked the hole for the cod. Measured about 1-1/8 inch from end and drilled with 1/8" bit for a split rivet. Posterior. Two 5/32" drill holes for line 24 snap bases. I think I measured about 1" from edge and then another 7/8" for second hole. 5/32" hole for snap in right Ab connection. The hole ended up being about 18mm from edge and top. 1/8" holes for split rivets along left ab to kidney connection. the holes are 10mm from seam. 20mm upper return edge and there is about 58mm between each hole. So, at this point, all the arms and legs are assembled except for the 25mm back coverstrips for the shins. I still need to drill holes on the Ab for the belt and assemble belt. And some trimming of coverstrips here and there. Also need to finish up the helmet. And then... I can finally start getting dirty. Need to trim for the three-button button plate and the sniper knee. Anybody know how thick this thing should be? Time to do some research... . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello all! I've seen a lot of confusion about wetsanding and polishing with the goal of increasing the shine. Lots of people mixing up terms and using the wrong methods/products at the wrong time/place. So I decided to put up a little tutorial to clear (hehe) things up. DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional, I do auto detailing in my spare time and have some experience with paint correction. This will be a pretty long tutorial but stick with me and hopefully we'll learn something 1. What is shine? To be brief: when something is really really flat, it will reflect a lot of light directly into your eyes, making it appear shiny. Below is an illustration of perfect paint reflecting light, this would look like glass: (Illustrations are not to scale, just there to give you an idea). But that's a show-car-130-hours-polishing-lunatic-finish. Most of us use spray cans, and spray cans suck. They spit out paint unevenly and most of it is propellant anyway. And we do it in conditions that are not optimal, so we end up with very uneven paint full of orange peel. For this tutorial i've prepared a plate of ABS plastic which has been painted black (easier to demonstrate) and clear coated. See this pic below? See that wrinkly, orange'y look to it? That's orange peel. Image 1: If we want to go the extra mile to get rid of this, we need to do.. 2. Sanding - Levelling the paint Using sandpaper is ABRASIVE. From Merriam-Webster: abrasive 1: causing damage, wear, or removal of surface material by grinding or rubbing Focus here being "removal of surface material". Every time you swipe that sandpaper it removes some material. What we are trying to achieve here is a flat surface, we are trying to flatten out those "peaks and valleys" by removing/flattening the clear coat. A sandpaper's "grit" determines if it's coarse or fine. A higher number means it's more fine, and will remove less material. A lower number means it's more coarse and will remove more material. You need to have enough clear coat on your piece to be able to do this correction. Or else you might sand into the basecoat or even the primer. Which sucks because that means a re-paint.. Here is a list of my PERSONAL sandpaper grits: 40 - Super coarse for doing an Alderaan on whatever you are working on, I never use this 80 - Very coarse, for removing material quickly. I use this on woodworking projects 120 - Quick removal of material while still being in control 180 - I use this to knock down 3D-print lines and filler 240 - Smoothing filler if i'm feeling a bit scared 320 - This is what I sand my parts with before primer 600 - For wetsanding my primer 800-1000 - Anything from color-coat/clear-coat fixes to wetsanding hard clear coat 1200 - For knocking down tough orange peel 1500 - For knocking down orange peel 2000 - For removing 1500 scratches 3000 - For removing 2000 scratches For this test piece I started with 1500 grit to knock down the orange peel as the clear coat I used is kind of soft. Keep in mind every sanding step in this tutorial is done wet/wetsanding. As you can see here i've flattened out the peel on most of the piece but I missed a spot. I went over it again and made sure the entire surface was equally "dull". After this I went over it with 2000 grit. This is a finer sandpaper and my goal here is to eliminate the scratches from the 1500 job. Notice the sanding marks going the opposite direction this time. This is a good way to gauge if you've successfully sanded away the marks from the previous steps. And finally I went over it with 3000 grit in the opposite direction to remove the 2000 grit marks. At this point you should start seeing some shine My camera really struggled to focus taking these pictures. And we're done with sanding! Dry off your parts and move on to.. 3. Polishing - Levelling the paint again, just very very little From Merriam-Webster: polished; polishing; polishes transitive verb 1 : to make smooth and glossy usually by friction : burnish 2 : to smooth, soften, or refine in manners or condition 3 : to bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state : perfect This is were it gets confusing. Some people "put polish" on their car, but they really mean wax. Some people "polish in the wax". I mean, it's been used so much in so many different ways I know it seems confusing. For simplicitys sake: Polishing is the last step in paint correction. In the auto detailing world, if you would let's say fix orange peel on a car, you'd go through all the steps above then.. 1. Use a RUBBING COMPOUND with a machine to knock down the 3000 grit scratches, paint should look like ANH Vader at this point 2. Use a POLISH with a machine to further level the paint from the faint marks the COMPOUND may have left, at this point the paint will be as clear as an ESB Vader 3 Apply a WAX/SEALANT/COATING on top of the newly corrected and flawless paint, to protect it (and also add a tiny bit more shine). Wax/sealant/coatings will fill in tiny tiny scratches making the paint appear more shiny, but the effect will diminish as the wax deteriorates. Rubbing compound and Polishes are ABRASIVE, they will REMOVE clear coat, just like sandpaper, only much much finer. Think of them like liquid 30000 grit and 80000 grit sandpaper After drying off my newly 3000 grit sanded piece, I found a foam polishing pad, and primed it with some rubbing compound. Priming is basically just "feeding" the working area of your pad with polish so there are no dry spots. All my compounding/polishing was done by hand. I then applied some more compound to the pad, a pea sized drop and went to town in small, circular motions. Follow the instructions on your product. After finishing I wiped off with a microfibre cloth aaaand... BAM! Shine!! The compound I used was Menzerna FG-400. It's a really good compound, it finishes super fine and you could just leave it as it is right there! You can also use Meguiars M105 for this step. Or any "rubbing compound", as long as it doesn't have fillers/wax in it which will trick you and lie to you. You can also just straight up use a polish, but you might have to work a bit longer to achieve the same effect. Now on to the polishing, for this I did the exact same thing with a finer foam pad and Menzerna SF-3500 (Meguiars equivalent M205). Honestly it didn't make much of a difference since the FG-400 finished out so nicely. If you're using other products you may have to do this step if you see "haze" from the compounding step. I tried my best getting an in focus picture but my camera got so confused because of the shine 4. Wax/Sealant/Coating - Protective Layer A wax is a protective layer, it is NOT abrasive. At this stage you can add wax if you want, it'll protect the paint a bit and also give it a tiny bit more shine. It's the prep-work and COMPOUNDING/POLISHING that really makes it shine. I didn't bother adding wax to my polished test piece as it was already as good as it gets. I did however tape off the piece before polishing, so I had one side which was 3000 grit sanded, and one side that was polished. I tried adding wax to the sanded side: After buffing it off with a microfibre and removing tape: And that's it Hope you learned something! Any questions feel free to post them here and i'll do my best to answer. After closely inspecting the piece I can see some orange peel left, but that's from when I put my color coat on, which is under the clear coat.. oh well.. Spray cans suck!!

As in my introduction post, I'm looking at building a TK Commander. My brand of kit is the relatively new TKUK kit, which is now the lowest priced clearable suit on th emarket. I'm expecting some mods and some innacuracies, but these have been cleared in the 501st and UK Garrison, so it IS doable. You get what you pay for, after all. Despite the warnings and some naysayers, I've received the kits (you get two for the price of one!) and made some initial observations. I'll post a link to my box opening video and early thoughts in a future post, but here are my initial findings: Neatly packed - comes with all pieces in plastic film. Trimming is neat and well done in general, saving time and trouble for makers. no rough or sharp edges. Accessories include tube stripes, helmet decals, TD pipe, TD clips, velcro, canvas belts, eye lenses, elastics, helmet trims and cover strips. A very large butt plate that will need a lot of trimming at the 'under-gusset' part. Built - in ab buttons Built in Belt rivet covers. Decent sharpness of detail. Forearm indentations look sharp Separate cap for helmet (3 piece helmet) Ears look good 1.5 - 2mm ABS in a bright white with the tiniest blue hue. Face plates aren't bad - BUT: Eye holes have been massively over trimmed. Almost no return edge. They're pretty bad. I'm dissatisfied with these and I'l be returning them and requesting a new set that are untrimmed. So as you can see - so far so good, aside from the badly trimmed eye holes. Pics to follow as soon as I work out how to do it, since the great Photobucket Exodus . - Tel

Hi bros I did this. I hope you like it!! Imperial cheers from Barcelona!!

Trooperbay is my none stop for all my needs. Everything in place. I’m just not sure if he ships internationally ! https://trooperbay.com/ he also sells on eBay if it’s eaiser for you.. good luck and move along move along..

And back to shimming the thighs. I did some fitting. The challenges--- I need more width at the top of the thighs, but actually need to taper it at the bottom. I want the seams to be in the middle as much as possible. So, this is the line I got from the sizing: The red line is the original measurement side. The green lines are splitting the difference of the "taper" portion in order to keep the seam in the midline. A close up of the higher order geometry I had to do to figure out how to make this work: How I felt trying to figure this out: I cut all the angles and made another inner cover strip to fit behind the "new" joint. Tons of blue tape and clamps and prayer later--- Holy smokes, it actually looks decent! Whew!! Now to ABS paste! Oh... And do the other side!

Looking good! I attached the belt with velcro on my first build, but I really didn't like how it ended up looking. Even with low-profile Velcro, it didn't come in close enough for my liking to the ab plate. Velcro just seemed to make the belt stand out more than it should. I ended up ripping it all off and going with ab snaps insted. That said, I have a tiny rectangle of Velcro attached to the ab in the center (with corresponding piece stuck to the canvas belt). It helps to support the belt and keeps it from shifting. I also attached some pieces of Velcro at the belt line on the kidney to keep the belt from shifting around in the back (one piece on each side near the 22mm kidney notch). Oh, and about e6000 on the belt... I've managed to get some on my belt and have never been successful with removing it. It's really stuck on there. I just consider it battle damage for the most part. White canvas belts attract dirt... might as well get used to it!

Belt work! Okay, first I measured out the middle/center of the cloth belt, and lined that up with the armor belt. Then marked my holes. (Can you notice my shameful mistake? Ugh... I'll talk about it later.) Next, I used ye olde soldering iron to create the holes in the canvas belt. It took a punch through and a wiggle in order to make the hole big enough for my chicago screw. Next, I used the paint stick method to mold the belt. I hate that I can't remember who's build I found this on to give credit, but its an excellent way to make sure things bend at the boxes and not just curving the flat part between (that's what happened when I initially water bathed my thigh ammo pack and had to salvage.) Next, attaching with chicago screws. This is when I learned 1) if you measured with flat plastic and try to attach curved plastic, you will freak out when the holes don't line up. Solution-- flatten the plastic to pop the screw in; and 2) 5/32" isn't a large enough hole for chicago screw, I had to expand it. This is also where you can glaringly see my mistake. My armor corners don't line up with my belt. Ugh. I had to walk away from it and my frustration that I did that somehow. I'll fix it though, promise. I closed my drop boxes with two small pieces of velcro, because I wasn't sure if I would want somehow make these "functional" in the future. I would love to have a place to put my trunk key, so I can then keep car keys in my trunk. I also velcroed the elastic for now. It'll let me make changes if needed when I decide to make these functional. Getting close!! I know the "typical" way to attach the belt to the armor is snaps, but has anyone used velcro? I feel like Velcro is the answer when you are being indecisive about something, and that's how I feel about the belt right now. Follow up question, if anyone has ever put E6000 on their canvas belt, when you go to pull it off does it leave any type of "scar" on canvas? Just curious.

Ouch! copy that

I am very interested in seeing this all come together. When I first joined, my initial goal was to become a commander. I am hoping one day that I will be able to tackle this build. Looking forward to it and learning with you. Good Luck Terry!

There are people on here with a LOT more expertise than I have! However, I did get there and I want to just give a tip synopsis of things that are valuable to me. These are tips for those just starting. Much of it can be found on here, but here’s what I wish I knew at the start, with my own personal spin on it, from experience or from a lot of digging in the forums. Of course, some things you’ll still have to figure out for yourself…I wouldn’t take that from you! A million thanks to the FISD community. I owe realizing the dream of proper TK armour to you all! Helmet: Don’t rush it. Everyone’s been looking at this helmet for 40 years, and when it’s not perfect it doesn’t look completely right to people, even though they can't peg quite why. The look and consistency of the original costumes was really quite amazing, overall. Things to hyper focus on … the eye holes and the teeth. Eye holes…I often see people not taking enough out, or crooked lines. Slightly crooked can be cannon I guess, in some examples, as some of those eye holes were a bit messier than others. Sand and look. Sand and look. Teeth…people often make them too long and too square. I initially used a dremel, and then refined with hobby files. Compare them constantly to the movie worn helmets. If you make your teeth right, your helmet will likely stand out as an amazing example! Return Edges: People seem to have a desire to keep return edges. This can create fit, shape, and wearability issues…plus it just doesn’t look “cannon.” Again, look for the screen references. The return edges are often much much smaller than we’d all first think, and often there aren’t any at all. For instance, people often want to have too much return edge on the top of the butt plate, or any at all on the other edges of it. This will give you “trooper dumpy butt” I call it. Again, screen reference and look at the best Centurion submissions. Bending ABS: I know some people use a heat gun. This is outside of my comfort zone. Too many horror stories. I did a lot of bending to get things where I wanted them to be. FYI, I was able to accomplish this by pouring boiling water from a kettle on the parts I needed to bend, and applying a plastic clamp for the weight to apply the bend force. When it was where it needed to be, or just past actually (it goes back slightly), I'd immediately put it under cold running tap water. Sometimes I had to repeat this process. This worked perfectly, on 1.5mm ABS. My Favourite Build Resource: Centurion submissions! The build threads were cool, of course. For me, the single biggest help were the Centurion Submissions. So much detail, and real life scrutiny of what you eventually want to have. Specifically, and this is really important, find submissions of your armour make (RS, ATA, etc.) with someone who is approximately your height and weight. That’s a huge help. Glue: I read a lot about E6000. I was unsure about it, as I heard about how bad it smelled and how long it took to cure. The smell does go away quickly. I couldn’t recommend it more. When you wear your armour, it will flex, and there will be times where it may be called up to really flex. CA glue does not allow for any flex at some points on your armour that have a LOT of tension. E6000 is a way safer route to go. Plus, if you make a mistake you’re not hooped. I can’t imagine using anything else. Also, people talk of 12 hour cure times. On anything that has a bit of tension in it you'll need to go 24 hours. Even then, I put it over a forced air heat register (in cold months). If you push short cure times you'll eventually get some separation. Not fun to go backwards! Cover Strips: I did not use interior strips. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it. It’s all about preference and comfort level. In my experience, if you do your outside cover strips properly, your armour will absolutely be strong enough, and you’ve just saved yourself an incalculable amount of work and curing time, in what is already a long and arduous process. When using E6000, it is VERY important that you glue right to the very edge of the cover strip where it touches your armour. You want some bleeding out. Most of the force is at the edges. When you clean the glue that has pressed out, if you happen to peel even a fraction of a mm from underneath the cover strip, you can expect your cover strip to come away at the edge at some point. For some people that’s not an issue...lots of people with cover strips that aren't consistently flush and in full contact. For me, I need to have my cover strip in complete flush contact. Better to leave a tiny bead of E6000 at the side edges of the strip, than to completely remove it and have separation. Strapping: Tandy snaps are the best. Reading other's horror stories, I'd go as far as to say essential. To keep gaps very minimal, keep the snaps very close to the edge of each piece of armour, and make the strapping tight. It will stretch and it’ll always seem like you’re making the strap to short at first. In fact, even then you’ll likely eventually make them shorter. I tried elastic strapping and I hated it. It flexed better, but the gaps were a mess. So, for back to kidney plate to butt, I changed to nylon/no stretch strapping. Nice and tight with almost no gap! I just used flexible straps from the chest to ab. Even those, make them shorter then you think you need them, or you’ll have issues with your chest plat ending up under your ab plate on troops. They’re expensive, but buy lots of extra snaps. Don’t be afraid to scrap and start again on strapping for bits that aren’t cutting it. Likely will be shortening at some point. Don’t use velcro for anything that has a lot of force, torsion, or will do any pulling away. The only place I have velcro is for my wide white elastic at the shoulder, from my bicep to forearm connection and for my shins. They work great in those applications only. Even then, use the industrial strength velcro and E6000 it to the ABS or to the strap. Don’t rely on the adhesive that’s already on there, especially on the strapping. Armour ABS Thickness: I have 1.5mm ABS. It’s extremely durable. I don’t worry about it cracking or breaking. I’ve felt others' 1mm ABS armour, and I'd be very nervous with it. Cutting your ABS: Score and snap is your friend! Again, it’s comfort level with how close your willing to go to the final line. Take your time (can’t stress this enough). A dremel to clean up a line and shape a little I think is very necessary. Then, I use a 180 grit sand paper to smooth, and finish up with an 800 grit to make the edge shiny and smooth. Boots: You can research and research, and the conclusion that you’ll come to is that Imperial Boots is pretty much it if you want proper high quality boots at the time I’m writing this. The good news is that they are really really good guys and they do an amazing job, and they’re worth the money and wait. On the wait … plan on getting your boots early. You could end up waiting almost a month for an ordering wave, and then another month for processing and shipping. Don’t be sidelined like I was for 2 months because I wasn’t proactive with this. On fitment ... I did the prescribed, order a size bigger. Out of the box they were a tiny bit loose. However, I put in gel insoles, still leaving the original insoles in, and they're absolutely perfect! Wouldn't have them any other way at all. Check out your local fabric store: You’ll be surprised how much of what you’ll need you’ll find there, and for cheap!! Neck Seal: Do not buy one that has rigid metal wire running through it. They’re a nightmare and you won’t even be able to look down while putting your armour on without breaking your neck. Buy a completely soft ribbed one only. Learn from my pain. Literally. On another note, does anyone want to buy a wire ribbed neck seal? Special price! Helmet Cooling: For helmet, like others, I highly recommend dual 5 volt blowers and a usb battery. You can get all of this super cheap on eBay from China. Will last hours on one battery. When the battery is new, charge and discharge it a couple times to make sure it’s not defective. You don’t want a lithium-ion battery lighting on fire when it’s next to your head! Seriously. Audio: Whatever audio solution you choose, it’s imperative that you have sound dampening in your helmet. All plastic surfaces should be covered. I used sticky back 1/4 inch thick x 3/4 inch wide foam. This should almost completely eliminate most feedback for most setups. If you still have issues, put a bit of foam inside your chest plate at the top, to prevent sound from coming up into your helmet (thank you BDWC for this tip!). Lastly, whatever audio solution your pick, it needs to have the static burst after you talk, at a bare minimum. FYI, I use an Aker amp and mic, and the TrooperTalk iPhone app. Blaster: You’ve spent all this time, effort and money on your armour. Amazing! Now don’t fall short on your blaster! The idea of doing your blaster right can be a bit scary, but you can do it. Actually, if you do it right it can be the most fun part of your custume to make! I did DoopyDoos. It’s an amazing resin casting, it’s cheap, the shipping is fast. They have horrible communication but they get it done. The FISD E-11 Blaster Reference thread is amazing and the build threads by Cable Guy and T-Jay were very important to me too. If you do your blaster right, then you really do feel like you’re back on the movie set in ’77…you’ve gone that last mile on your costume! Thermal Detonator Screws: What a freaking pain! Did you know that the planet earth pretty much stopped making slotted screws? And for good reason! If you do find a slotted pan-head screw, it’ll likely be a threaded screw—which means the only way to make it hold in the PVC is to glue it. So, after much much searching, I found a slotted wood/metal screw, but it had a domed head—not CRL Lvl 3 kosher. Again, dremel is your friend! I just dremel’d off the dome and made it into a pan-head. You can do this, or you can order 4 screws from somewhere in the UK and wait a month. Start to build with Centurion as the end goal! If you have Lvl 3 on your mind right from the start, you’ll easily get there. I notice that people who don’t start their builds this way, have a harder journey and seem to be a lot less likely to get there. Furthermore, their armour at the basic approval level can tend to be a little bit of a mess, because they've been lone ranger-ing it, and haven't been using Centurion submission photos as their go to. I'm guessing that those who start this way, most often have far better looking armour right from the start...even if they never progress to EIB or Centurion. Hope that something in here helps someone on their journey!

It’s not bad for a first try. A learning experience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The actual fitting I do indeed do with my undersuit underneath it. Quite a few of the return edges I am leaving bigger than required and trim them down the moment the pieces are glued together. Loving the quality indeed.

Looks great Daniel nice job.

Nice work so far Darrell

Sounds good. You're doing great

Also, I know it's still early in the process, but try to do your fitment tests while wearing your undersuit as much as possible, as it can sometimes influence how things will end up looking/feeling/fitting in the end. On another note, RS suits are awesome - can't wait to see this!

Looking good Rob, another note the vertical Ab button plate should be smaller than the raised Ab section that it's attached to. Refer to the reference photo that Dan posted earlier. It's not a deal breaker nor will it prevent you from any level of accuracy however, it will look more correct if trimmed down a bit. Keep up the great work

Hey Diana looking forward to your build

Taking your time, research, and having fun with it is part of the journey. Don't rush it..... Like I did. I worked on mine every night after work.... At a good pace. I produced something I'm proud of but am a little sad that the journey is over.... For now Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Hi there and grats on your first kit! Take your time and you'll see, everything will end up so great! Just ask any question you might have along the way - we are always happy to help!

She knows me better I have a kegerator, I don’t need bars. Lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

oops first faux pau, do not post on social media an ID until you get the official email stating your ID

Great news. Agree that’s odd but at least they approved you with and then told you to fix it instead of fix it and resubmit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congratulations and welcome to the Legion Trooper That was odd though

That's venting the work room into the downstairs which contains the laundry and the garage. If I open the back door and raise the garage door a foot or so, I get a lovely clean Pacific breeze rushing through there. When we were three hockey players, we'd do that to air out the gear after games.

Folks I'm getting closer to submitting approval photos.. getting closer Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I'm terrible at adding photos but I finally properly mounted the aluminum aerator to the helmet and the lens. I'm not thrilled with the BSP lens, it is not dark enough for my liking. I do not believe the vaderpaintStudios lens will fit the BSP helmet. I am going to probably order the vaderpaintStudios FOTK greeblies, it looks like his castings are far superior to anyone else. What came with mine looks like its a direct cast of a 3d printed part and has a fair amount of bubbles. this weekend ill get the thighs glued up and trimmed and hopefully get started on the cursed forearms and ab boxes. I did notice in the CRL and many build threads here that the shins and thighs either have a curved seam or a straight seam. I attempted to go for a curved seam even though the CRL makes no direct mention of it. Since I am getting the parts professionally painted is it best to assemble the belt after painted?

Standing by

I’m not even done my second (which is a biker scout) and already planning a third. Kids think it’s awesome, wife thinks I may need to slow down a bit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Update… I fixed the back zipper as best as I can by removing the additional black material and the zippers. Sewing in a binding along the seam of the mesh seems to help stabilize the seam. Then I added the additional black breathable fabric and finally the zipper. I should have some pictures of this in the next few days. Sanding, ho hum… Ok I sanded the glazing on the gauntlets and they are done I think. I also 220 grit sanded the chest plate, thermal detonator, back belt, posterior plate and groin plate. These parts will need to be inspected and glazing putty applied if needed then re-sanded. I forget if I mentioned this in a previous post so I will add it here. My sanding process: So once a part is cut and fitted, I prepare it for painting by sanding and filling imperfections. All the sanding I do is wet sanding. I use a square (2.5” wide 4” long and ½” thick) of EVA foam as my sanding block. The foam is stiff enough to hold its shape but will bend and conform around uneven surfaces. I use two types of sand paper. The first type is 3M pro grade ultra flexible sand paper. This stuff comes in rolls and sheets but I get the roll from home depot. I have only seen it in 3 grits; 100, 150, and 220. The other type is 3M silicon carbide wet/dry sandpaper. You can get this in almost any grit so I use 300-2000 grits. You can get this stuff at any auto parts store, home depot, and Lowes but I get mine at Ace Hardware, they seem to have a larger selection of grits. SO my process is as follows: I start with a 4” square piece of 100 grit and soak it in cold water. I keep a bowl of water next to me that I will repeatedly dip the sandpaper in as I sand. I warp the sandpaper around the EVA foam and start working on a part using light pressure and working in a circular motion. This will become more important when I sand the primer before the pain but is a good practice to get into. The goal here is to smooth and feather any imperfections form the surface being sanded “without” leaving any sanding lines in the finish. I constantly re-wet the sand paper and keep the surface wet. I change directions randomly and keep working in a circular motion. It is tempting to go in one direction along seams and squared off features but I try to avoid doing this as it will leave sanding lines. Next, I repeat this exact process with 150, and then 220 grit. For good adhesion of the primer the finest grit I will use will be 320 grit, anything finer and the primer may not stick to the surface and may delaminate later ruining the entire paint job. Once everything has been sanded to at least 220, I wash off the part with mild soap and water and let it dry. Next, I inspect the part. I am looking for any uneven surfaces, pin holes, sanding lines, gaps, etc… Anything I find, I circle with a Sharpie. Next, If I can fix the problem with sanding, I do so. After that, I apply a filler. If the imperfections are small pine holes or very minor issues, I use an automotive grade glazing putty like Evercoat. Most fillers are two part, the filler and a hardener cream. If the issue is larger I may use Bondo. If the issue is on a heavy ware area like an edge that sits on top of the boot and may be exposed to stress, then I would use fiberglass resin, PC-7, or some sort of reinforced filler that will not simply break off with use. If one of these is used, the area will need to be sanded after the reinforcement and filled with bondo or glaze to smooth the surface. Regardless, once all the areas are marked and filled, I let them cure and then wet sand with the last grit I sued on the part, such as 220 grit. I blend/ feather the filler with the surface. Re-wash everything and let it dry. Next, I use a rattle can of automotive primer and apply it to the part. One this is cured, I look for imperfections. Some people use several different layers of primer and alternate primer colors to know how deep to sand. Regardless, the purpose of priming at this stage is to use the primer to bring out the imperfections and now is your last opportunity to fix them. If needed, sand and/or fill the issues then re-sand as needed. Do not be concerned about removing the primer when you do this final cleanup. You will be applying additional coats of primer once you are done with this stage. Re-wash and dry the part and it should now be ready for priming and painting. So that is my sanding process, I hope this helps some people who do not have a lot of experience doing this kind of stuff. I know I have read several posts from people who are intimidated with spending this kind of money on a costume and still have to do all this work. I can only say that building it is half the fun and do not let a lack of experience deter you from building a set of armor. This forum is here to assist you as is your local garrison. Dive in and if you make a mistake, most can be fixed and you will learn more about your armor in the process. Thanks for the interest and I will continue to update this as I progress.

Came out great

Shoulder straps readjusted and I believe that is the torso section complete. I was going to do the shin closures, but will have to wait a little as I have graduation number two this evening. Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

Just bear in mind that clearance and screen accurate are different things. The CRL tries to find a happy medium between screen accurate (suits thrown together quickly for filming, battered by stunt men, damaged during filming etc) and idealised. Personally, even if rounded corners can pass (as per your example) personally I’d still rather follow the reference of the suits we grew up dreaming about. Just my personal view. No offence to anyone with rounded edges.

Hello again folks, another update coming your way. Focus this time on the selector lever and assembling the BlastFX mode button with acorn nut and accompanying washer. I first dremeled to shape the turn knob on the rotary switch. With a square file to follow-up, I'm able to get it pretty clean. I then progressed to shaping the underside of the selector lever as well. I would later pat down the edges of the circle with green stuff to make it extra snug. At a later stage, when I get to painting, I will finally glue this piece tight using CA glue. I then proceeded to carve out resin so to make way for installing the BlastFX mode switch. I figured I could follow along the bottom of the ridge (see picture) to keep my mod inconspicuous. I took out my trusty dremel bit (this is a must have attachment as there's teeth on the top as well to push resin away along with sweeping it from side to side) and was careful to stay under the concave part of that upper grip part, and it worked! On test fitting the mode switch, I decided to drill pretty deep into the circle and the channel ran pretty deep too, so not to have the final button protrude too much and to minimize the curving of electrical wiring - the ideal was to simply plop the electronics in with little resistance. Lastly, I made the acorn washer have a wider inner circle to fit the acorn nut from underneath. Also drilled deeper into the underside of the acorn nut using a 1/8" drill bit - it now sits much deeper overtop the BlastFX mode button. I decided to also dremel away some of the the BlastFX Mode button so the acorn button / washer will sit more recessed in the circle cavity. Will do that soon... Just test fitted for now ... Have to recess the whole thing in cavity, thinking to use hot glue. That's it for now fellow builders - until the next update, have a great day!!!

LOL , I pretty sure when the plasti dip mfg states "apply in a well ventilated area" he's not referring to venting your room into the apartment itself. Nice work though

Thanks for the feedback Dan! I agree, definitely going for Stunt so the white has to be there, just slightly on the shorter side of brow height per my reference pic of the Trooper that stuns Leia (within your pic, I'd say the Trooper on the far right fits my liking). OK, onward with some pics and thoughts on my first cuts. I'm going to dwell here a bit more than I likely will as I progress in the build with thoughts and experiences after making those first cuts but only because this is another resounding topic I've read throughout the forums that I can relate to. Numerous other peeps (noobs like me) have expressed fear and trepidation on what to use and how to cut. Now, I'll qualify this with a little background on myself. As a Systems Engineer by trait, I tend to dwell on topics and details more than most. Some say ad nauseam or with a degree of analysis paralysis. While this approach is sloooower, my success rate in terms of defining requirements, attention to details and solid solutions is high as a result. Personally, I appreciate analytical and methodical and appreciate it even more when I recognize it in others. Ah yes, self validation lol. So, I apologize in advance for the following. Hopefully it's not too much for a topic that ultimately will rely more on individual practice and the experience gained... Trimming Biceps: Preface this by saying, this was all done with Lexan scissors. No score n snap as yet. (I personally think I'll reserve this method for the longer/straight cuts such as cover strips but that's more inexperienced comments since I have not attempted this method yet) Also, these are just rough cuts and not the final lines, for practice sake. One of the larger lessons or take away's that I've learned in these forums is "if you're not sure, take a little off at a time. You can always taker off more later but it's much harder to put it back". 1st Cut I used the curved Lexan scissors for this and while it went well enough, I was far too conservative in getting close enough to my pencil marks. (sorry for the poor quality of this pic as I used my iPhone due to camera being out of charge but you can sorta see on the right, I was well outside my pencil guide marks). Thoughts on this: I was pretty impressed by how easily the Lexan scissors cut through this 1.5mm ABS. I had to press inward (toward line) on the cut to hold my line. If you lose your line, its kinda hard to get back on track (the blade just wants to shave off rather than bite) so try to maintain your line and not drift too much. The curved scissors seemed a bit better at regaining the cut line than the straight ones. Go figure In addition, the more you leave, the more you have to sand/cleanup later right! The curved scissors tend to make curved-wave-like cuts of you use the entire length of the blade. I learned quickly to make shorter 'choppy' cuts just using the center/sweet spot on the blade which resulted in much straighter cuts. I'm guessing I was using about 1/4 the length of the blade in each 'chop, maybe a bit less. 'This approach does have a slight downside in that it leaves a little 'chug chug' pattern (which will be easy sand smooth) as you can see in the 3rd cut - image below. 2nd Cut I learned that a combination of the curved and straight Lexan scissors works well (depending on the length and curve of course) but also when you need to get under the lip of a cut to resume, the curved ones did that nicely with a little less torquing of the plastic. Be mindful of the upper surface of the scissors in relation to your cutting surface. If you angle them like I did to get through the tight curve seen in the picture below, you'll score the surface of your armor (argh, first self inflicted scratch/mistake ). On the angle and torque factor, I was a little concerned at first that bending the plastic with various scissor angles as I cut might result in a crack, especially around the 90 degree return edges. Turns out, while this is still a concern or suspicion for me that I want to be wary of, the plastic is impressively pliable and forgiving. No cracks yet...! 3rd Cut Gained more confidence with the scissors as you can see by a cleaner line. As with anything, practice makes perfect so I feel good about my first experiences here knowing I'll get better. Part of the cutting - success criteria for me is less sanding or cleanup later. Note the gouge in the upper left portion of the curve as it's more easy to see in this pic. That was the outer/upper surface of the scissors making that scratch because I angled them too much to get through that tight corner cut.

Thanks for the comments all! I’ve been out of town on business and am now on vacation so haven’t done any work on my TK in a while. Next week I’ll be back at it. Rainy weather has me wishing I’d brought my helmet and paints along....oh, well... [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would cut it. Take a look at what I did for my RS TK. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41502-crickets-wtf-hero-build-even-more-tk-for-the-vertically-challenged/?do=findComment&comment=566543

So I have finally gotten back to working on my armor after getting some other shenanigans and small projects out of the way. However, I have slightly changed plans. I was originally going to build this a standard TK and then change it to a heavy weapons trooper but it looks like I will be better off to just build it as a HWT instead of having to figure out how to remove the holster holes from the belt. Can I get this thread moved or do I just start over in the HWT section? (Edit: I have started to edit the older posts so if this seems weird to see after I already mentioned this above then that is why. I also have removed my uploaded images and went to sharing IMG links from Imgur as I seem to have trouble resizing images and uploading to this site from my phone.)

He's Gary. From the t.v. show Robot Chicken. It is a Bendai model I got just before I started this whole thing. I thought it would be funny to incorporate it into some of the photos.

In order to get the ears to fit right on the AM you have to just sand them down a little. The dimples are just a guide. I've built several AM kits for people and they inside dimples don't add up to the ear sometimes. Just trim and sand as needed. There is plenty of ear to work with there. Good luck.

I'd never forget spending a months rent on a paint job....