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My blaster appears to be stuck in customs. I'm choosing to believe that USPS is being characteristically bad at updating tracking information, instead... I'll worry more about it in another week. I can't wait to get it, though, so I can finalize sizing on - and make - my holster! Today I left work bit early due to having come down with what is no doubt the plague, but I mustered enough energy to sit on the floor and score and snap and score and snap and score and snap for 5 hours or so. Fortunately I had marked my front seam lines and sketched my return edge cut lines when I had more mental clarity so it wasn't too taxing, just tedious. Leaning back and admiring all those smoothed out pieces, I thought, "Wow! I must be almost done with the rough trimming! This isn't so bad after all." ...then I leaned over and looked into my BBB... ...and a moderate wave of disheartenment washed over me. However, Vader came to help me clean up all those little ABS curls, and all was right with the world once more. (Yes, I do find it a bit off that Lord Vader cleaned up after a TK's mess. I figure he's just a real stand-up guy.) Looking forward to getting my strength back so I can forge ahead. Prime weekend crafting days are ahead of me - won't do to waste them! But to end on a high note, and a surprise, I held up my freshly trimmed thigh pieces and they might actually fit me pretty great with minimal trimming. I was blown away. I expected to be able to keep them at standard length (I may be fun-sized, but my legs are stupid long), but definitely expected to have to slim them down. Small [potential] victories! Yay!

Helmet Continued.... Worked on the teeth next. Lots of filing. I started trying to use a dremel with a sanding drum from behind but it freaked me out so I went back to drilling a small hole and expanding it outward using the needle files. Once I had the teeth gaps mostly out THEN I went from behind with the dremel just to smooth and gently enlarge the hole from behind by sanding away at the bulge behind the tooth gap until the spacing looked right. I think I forgot to take a photo of the end result. Then it was onto painting. First coat.... And the rear decals while waiting for the paint to dry. Humbrol takes a LONG time to dry. :-/ Mark

A bit hard to see but looks like there`s a cutline molded in? If so I would start there. Normal You can trim it or leave it - either way is fine

It’s already better than I thought it would be lol, just keep sanding, sanding, sanding Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Me tooooooooo

A bit of an adventure tonight with riveting the ammo belt to the canvas belt. Big thanks to Christine for catching a mistake I made but also for some helpful moral support! Somehow through all of my research I had missed the need to curve the belts together while marking the outside holes for riveting. I had only remembered folks posting it wasn't necessary to give the ammo belt a hot bath to pre-curve it and for whatever reason I didn't even think about curving them. If you don't do this step, the rivets will definitely have some hard diagonal stress when you wear the belt. I could see it as soon as she mentioned it so off came the two outside rivets. I curved the belts, slotted the existing holes in the canvas belt to match the new rivet location and reattached the ammo belt, backing the rivets with finishing washers I had. This provided some extra bite into the canvas and ABS inside the belt and will keep the rivet from sliding in the slot, it doesn't move. And they provide a nice finished look too. So if anyone asks me I would probably recommend giving the ammo belt a hot bath, just in case. lol And here's the belt snapped to the armor: The ammo belt doesn't sit exactly even under the large button plate (even though the canvas belt was even last night), I tried to put some good light on the picture to make that visible. Basically it touches the right corner but there's a 1.5mm gap on the left side. Does this still look ok for Centurion? I went back to Home Depot after work and got the Husky 25 gallon bin, it fits in the trunk just right. First thing I did was clean it up, very dusty. Now I need to get some stickers for it.

My goodness yes, awful, I've even been advised to carry in the left hand all the time so the Hengstler doesn't knock into my armor. Kills me. But if it results in my learning to sight with my left eye, maybe it'll be worth it. Haha I literally *just* got done the preliminary trim of my thighs and held them together for an idea of size and was absolutely shocked that they very well might fit me exactly as is. So yes. They are small. Very small, if you ask me. Or maybe I just have glorious rugby thighs and don't know it.

Hey everyone, Just wanted to sharea fan film I've been working on for almost a year now with my fellow TKs from the Outer Rim Garrison. Hope you enjoy! EDIT: We just released a trailer for a follow-up series that we'll hopefully be able to film later this year!

Old dogs and all ya know. [emoji1] Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

Better to cut too little than too much. Also, I am pretty sure that the shins are normally asymmetrical, but I will leave that to the experts.

Good call in taking a break if it`s not fun, because is should be And if I may, unless you`re just fed up with all things Stormtrooper at the moment, use the "down time" to read up on the many build threads, that will get you ahead of the game for when you get your mojo back

Nice work on those thighs

Looking good Alex.

Ha ha!!!! Not a chance. Decals are your friend. They should make frown and vocoder decals!! Mark

I used the TrooperBay templates and found them pretty easy to use. The one tip I followed that I read on here is to not wait too long before pulling the template off; otherwise the paint will dry too much and pull up when you remove the templates.

Worth noting, his 501st costume is not a set used one Rather a bunch of TDH folks helped put it together... here's a breakdown

Thank you all and thanks to the DO team. I think many of my fitting issues may be because these photos were from a troop and I had just finished up in our booth, not making excuses, just guessing that that may be why. I appreciate the feedback and will be getting on those fixes. The shoulder bell I found had lost some stitching and has been fixed. Hand guards are now silicone and curing. Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

Is there anyone with a spreadsheet or something like it that lists the various similarities and differences between the various classic TK armours?? Like side by side comparisons?? I honestly am unsure of the changes between ANH, ESB, and ROTJ. This may make build choice a bit easier to visualize.

Thigh shims underway(I’m going to notch the bottom of the thighs so ignore the ugly cover strip job) To the right of the cover strip, 1 coat of abs paste and 150 grit sandpaper, long way to go but I think I can pull this off. Blaster waiting paint. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad you were able to get that belt under control. I knew you could do it! I don't see an issue about the belt not being perfectly level, but I'm not a Centurion judge, either. I'd ask Tony or Sly about that one.

For sure

Vader knows it’s all about team work Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do, Jes is fantastic with the help he has given me regarding measurements on various parts of helmets He documents a lot of stuff.

Nobody remembers starwarshelmets.com? Really? http://starwarshelmets.com/original-stormtrooper-comparisons.htm

Have my first troop with my TD this weekend. I tried on my backpack tonight. I’m not too sure about trooping with it since there will be some thick crowds. Of course that means attaching the shoulder pouch to... what? I’ve decided to use a small elastic strap to wrap around my arm and magnets to hold it in place. Drilled 3/4 hole in wood “ammo clip”. Inserted a couple of magnets. Duct tape another magnet to inside of chest. It holds its position without any other support - sort of. Still need the strap around the arm. Two sets of magnets might hold it in place without any other support. Might. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great to see another MTK go for EIB! I have this armor too and I love it! Good luck...I’m sure you don’t need it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Two! Lucky.

From one MTK trooper to another, good luck! You’ve done a great job.

I can't snap it at all without a pair of pliers. That's fine for the scrap edges of the armor that you won't need to keep nice, but of course presents a problem for the outer cover strips. I think I will end up just scoring more heavily on those, then using the edge of a table as recommended.

Coming along nicely, great work on the forearms, they definitely look better modified

It’s a good idea to check the gallery’s, some great screen references can be found there https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/ There are also a lot of helpful build threads for those with shorter legs, some even cutting their tops of thighs and forming new return edges. These may come in handy if you decide to trim them: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/12972-howto-make-a-return-edge-on-armor-using-a-heat-sealing-iron/ http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11836-how-to-make-thigh-tops-anh-style/ http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/13513-anh-thigh-tops-on-am-armor-craziness/

Found out yesterday from Diversity Props that my bucket will come with fans built in. Part of what is included in paying them to finish the armor for me. One less thing I will need to purchase and a nice surprise.

Then it was time to trim the ab button plates. The smaller trimmed down to 70mm x 20mm. The larger has around a 5mm frame surrounding the raised area. Just need a sanding and then they're done Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Congrats mate and welcome see you out there soon

The left bicep and left shin are a bit oddly shaped too so you may need to shape those as well. I would say the thighs aren't the biggest too so be sure to size before you trim.

I have never seen this before...Is it to keep you shoulders tight? curious how actually trooping with this set up works. Only thing I really noticed that wasn't mentioned already is it looks like you have several straps on the back of your shoulder bridges. I believe it should only be 1

BBB DAY HAS ARRIVED! Sent from my MSE-6 droid using Tapatalk

That's a great tip! Some places it is very tricky.. My trooperbay decals were way bigger too. I think i'm just gonna go the masking tape route. Mask up a bigger area, paint the black then let it cure and then mask off and tape the remaining gray Oh yeah I definitely see it. Will get right on it! Or else it's gonna bother me forever

I would agree with RS that the ANH stunt helmets were made from PP rather than what was commonly thought as HDPE. I have formed both materials as RS has and PP has the best results. Having handled the original RS ANH armour it felt very much like Styrene to me. It was very rigid and brittle which is not surprising due to it's age, so it's possible it could have been made from ABS but deteriorated over time. Another possibility which I strongly believe in is that the armour was made from at least two types of plastic, since some were made in-house at Elstree and the majority made by Ainsworth, so it's highly possible that the studio used one plastic and Ainsworth used another. As long as it was white plastic was good enough...right? ESB used reconditioned ANH armour. Completely new costumes were being made for ESB but never came to fruition in time with only one making an appearance on scree. These were made from haircell ABS with the texture on the inside. These costume were ultimately used for promotional purposes after ESB was released and formed the base for new costumes for ROTJ. These were slightly refined versions and made from smooth ABS.