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A little more forward progress today. Thighs are done with inner cover strips on both sides. I added a cover strip to the inside of the shin today. Last piece to glue is the rear cover strips tomorrow and that should be it. All that’s left is rigging for the thighs, connectors for the shins, rigging for arms, chest to back plate and the inner lining of the helmet. Almost there... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, the magnets didn’t hold as well as I hoped. I will have to double up. I did troop a few days in the TD and discovered a few places that needed trimming and a few that need padding. I picked up an iComm system for my TD and it has been great. I also need to adjust the padding/weight distribution in my helmet - it keeps tilting one way thanks to my USB power source. Here are a few pics from the troop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think I have some leeway there I can work on without getting a new knee ammo strap. I also found a belt face in the stash, I think it was a spare from TM I ordered. I believe that is the original parts for ROTJ kit that came from Paul. He made me a spare one for my ANH Hero, I think I mixed the two up when I went through the kit parts around the time I am starting the build. The ROTJ one is actually 3/4 inch longer on both end. I will replace the whole belt too to make the cover button a little closer to the edges. Added 2 5-16 snaps on both side of the Ab plate already as Randy suggested earlier. I will start a modification thread inside the Stromtrooper Commmander build section to document these modifications as I work.

@TheSwede has a newer KB kit and a great build thread: He made some interesting mods to the 2-part forearms so it should be a good reference.

Ok, I will admit it...I am more of a Star Wars prop guy than an armor builder. And I am very passionate about accuracy. In the quest for the perfect R1 E-11, I have sourced most of what I believe to be screen accurate — Airsoft Sterling, Flashlight, DoopyDoo's M38 Scope, Power Cylinders...all but two things the Hengstler counter and the t-tracks. I am up in the air on the counter (real or resin?) and most the t-track out there does not have the right profile or is made from rubber...but, I think I have stumbled upon a t-track option that is VERY close to screen accurate. A t-track that has the wide and tall center spine as seen on the R1 blaster. Now there is one issue. The supplier is in the UK and, though I am still waiting to hear back from them, it looks like they may not ship to the US. Would there be — A: Enough interest from you all to order a quantity of this. B: Someone in the UK willing to be the middle man... I 3D printed a sample based on the dimensions supplied by the manufacturer, mockup attached. ------------

Hey ya'll, I've always loved Star Wars since I was little. Didn't care much for the Jedi or the Sith, my eyes have always been on the troopers of the Star Wars universe. Having recently gone to Disney and seeing the new Star Wars area being constructed in Hollywood Studios and all of the awesome characters walking around I just couldn't take it anymore. When I got back to my hotel I did a few hours of research and ended up placing an order for a set of RSPM armor that night. BBB day has come and gone and after opening everything up and making sure I wasn't missing any parts (more work than you'd think seeing as nothing came labeled...) I came to the conclusion that this project was going to be far too messy to take on in my office. I decided to move everything over to my shop/car washing bay. After a trip to Micheal's and Lowe's I assembeled just about everything I needed for this build. I had to order some Humbrol paint and a few other miscellaneous items from Amazon. Here is the armor, in all of its bumpy glory. I feel like puking looking at all of this armor just sitting here. This is my first time ever attempting anything close to this so wish my luck. Thankfully I'm around the same dimensions as the actors whom this armor was made for at 6'0" 165lbs so hopefully that means less trimming. I figured it was best to start working from the bottom and do the helmet last so that the most important piece is done with the most experience. I've already trimmed up the shins, only question I have is how snug should they be? Right now they are very loose when taped up and they rest on my shoes. Are they supposed to hold themselves up or just kind of flop around? I look forward to joining the Empire! Here we gooo!!

I finally got it by clamping down one half of the arm without glue and also clamping down half of the cover strip at a time. This was after half an hour of scraping off the E-6000 left by my previous attempts with my nonexistent fingernails. I have the left forearm and bicep clamped for the night. Since I'm out of clamps I'm going to start working on the pieces that don't require any gluing like the clam shell.

Alright! Inner cover strips dry and outer rear cover strips glued on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh yes. And then there is this... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah - it's funny what you don't notice when taking a pic, but spend an agonizing amount of time gluing and making sure those drop boxes are aligned. Hopefully it's nothing gravity won't fix when it's upright and not on the floor !

The homestretch... Finally getting around to finishing my build. Discovered a vendor on etsy that makes some really nice parts for e-11. 100% cast from original and the plastic is very sturdy and feels solid. I've purchased new parts to replace the ones I had previously 3d printed from a fisd member and will add to this build. The first step was to insert the new sight dovetail block...

Boil the water, then take it off the heat and place your item in. Keep checking every 15 - 20 seconds how soft or flexible the parts are becoming. It will depend on the thickness of the ABS on the parts you are reshaping as to how long they need to be in the hot water, but once your happy run them under cold tap water to reset the plastic.

Thank you all! We've looked the guides/building thread and will start with the assembly of the back/yoke and chest plate! Also, will ask to ImperialGaskets for the gaskets Hope to post more progress in the next days!

Many of us short troopers cut the first notch (wrist side) off of the forearms. Totally approveable. And I believe you should cut at the other trim line on the inner forearm unless that makes them too small.

Not entirely sure, but I think its one of the older Jimmi kits. His newer ones are supposed to be quite a bit lighter in weight...

Agreed! For that price use a vetted maker and it’ll be worth it. Without seeing this in person you’ll never know what it’s like. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I couldn’t get the link to work, but regardless I highly recommend not buying from eBay. Find a vetted seller in the welcome section.

Thanks allot Tino - it does feel good to make progress in other areas of the blaster now Following up with sanding is a great suggestion and easy to do, I'll see how much I need to do. When I carved out the end cap retainer, I did so unevenly so that's why you see unevenness when I install it back on the receiver tube. I think between the blade and horizontal wobbliness when I went about the cut made this happen. Indeed, I may very well have taken out 2mm. Appreciate the heads-up so I keep to my build goal of getting it close to the SMG as possible and ensuring for functionality. I will need to add green stuff here to get the ~ 2mm and level it out. Surprising! Their money grab plot didn't pan out after all. Hope pictures stay available for all FISD posts that relied on photobucket

I worked on the helmet for about 2 hours yesterday and have almost finished shaping the right ear to fit. Left ear will be worked on today. Teeth are still fully intact, but those will be easy to remove. I still need to fill in the extra teeth with ABS paste and sand smooth in order to properly convert this Stunt helmet to Hero. I haven't begun the painting process yet, but that's the easiest part of the build for me. And now... feels like I'm hitting burnout today. It took me about three hours of trying the torso on with one leg at a time in order to trim the thighs down to fit me. It's lots of try-on-take-off, trim, repeat, repeat, repeat.... The thighs are finally at a point where I can permanently glue the 3" elastics to them and have them ready for the garter belt. There are still some minor trims to do, but they're mostly in the back and inner areas of the thighs. My hubby was up in the kitchen for a quick snack, so I had him take a few pics of me before he went back to work. Which is why I only have photos while wearing one leg. I'm happy with the front. The right thigh looks like the top part is cut off, but it's just some black gaffer's tape that was keeping it stuck to the garter while fitting. I don't really ever see the back, so I was disappointed when I saw the back view pic. It's not entirely awful (the butt plate was shifting because I'm standing on my tiptoes with my left leg), but I immediately saw that I need to make some adjustments back there. It's not all that visible in the photo, but I needed to shorten the elastic connection between the right side back plate and kidney. So off it went and is currently being reglued. The other thing I noticed is that my cover strip on my shins was not lining up with the thigh. I asked my husband to adjust it, and he said, "I can't. That's just how it is." I took it off and gave it a closer look. Turns out that it had shifted when I glued it on. I never noticed it before gluing the magnets in there. GAH!!! Sensing my frustration, my husband was nice enough and said, "Well, it's not all that apparent, really." To which I exclaimed, "But it's not straight!!!" Next thing I know, I'm ripping the cover strip off the shin. I know it can be easily fixed, but I thought I was almost done. Grrrr... I will need to do some reattachment of the magnets inside of that shin now as well. So annoying. At least the left shin's cover strip is straight, so I don't have to worry about that one. Time to get back to work.

Good job on that armor ! Goodluck with your eib application !

Good Job trooper!!

Nice work trooper, just watch how some things are sitting after you have moved, the top photo shows your drop boxes on an angle and not sitting straight. You could just extend the corners of your teeth a little bit more, at the moment it looks a little Heroish May not get picked on but your tube stripes at the front angle away from the cheeks, should really have a pencils width gap consistently along the side. Good luck.

At last, finished off the "clean" version of Rey's blaster, and made a little display stand for it. Happy with the results! Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

It's been a while since the last update, but the the first one is finally done! Biggest setback was the metallic paint. I used gloss aluminium, which has a lovely shine to it like in the previous photos, but has 2 issues: first, it rubs off easily and dulls. Second, protecting it with clear coat dulls it too (gloss clear or even aryclic gloss clear). I've sampled the aluminium gloss enamel spray, however, while it doesn't rub off, it seems to be quite dull anyway, and I'm yet to test that with the clear coat. Interestingly, metallic brushed nickel doesn't rub off, and doesn't dull under a clear coat (only issue being the slight gold hue to it). Currently waiting for a metallic silver to test. All these are Plasti-Kote paints by the way In the end I stuck with the gloss alu and the clear coat as it was going to be weathered anyway. For weathering I've used a Tamiya weathering set for the scorched muzzle, and a mix of brown and black oil paint for the grubby oil effect Onto the next one! Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Nice work! Thanks for sharing. I was wondering how I was going to attach those small ammo pouches.

To CiscoKid, You seem to think that being ripped off is funny? Strange, I thought that the idea of forum threads like this is to promote awareness of the pitfalls and educate people regarding their choice of armour. I am not the only one to have been caught by Jedi Robe and others but hopefully due to threads like this there will be far fewer unfortunates like me! It was already too late for me to return my armour as I had already begun modifying it. Being only 5ft 4in I incorrectly assumed that it was my stature that was responsible for the very poor fit (despite the reduced size claims). It was only when I became aware of the 501st website that I realised that this vendor was known for selling poor quality armour at vastly inflated prices! Had I known I would never have bought this armour in the first place. As previously mentioned I have spent a great deal of money, time and effort just to get the armour to a reasonable standard. Think yourself lucky that you are fortunate enough to have the correct information and advice to not only get a decent armour kit but also at a reasonable price. I am disappointed that you find it so amusing that people get taken in by such vendors. However, I am sure that most people would agree that helping people avoid this is much more important that making fun of those who have! Ian