Leaderboard

Done.

Your work so far has been incredible, Lorelei! I wish everyone would pay as much attention to details as you have. Your ABS belt placement is spot on, and I am blown away with that posterior/kidney connection.... genius! As for the ear placement, (lol), you know my feelings on that. If you can cangle them (I have the feeling you will find a way) I would do it. I haven't seen a knee plate mounted so tightly against a calf like that in a long time. GREAT work! You might want to trim down the top some, though.

One thing is for certain, the more OTTK screen time the better for all of us.

Here's some helmeted troopers.

Thanks to Henry this problem got solved

Hey There! A BBB is enroute to me today from across the pond, arriving tomorrow!!! I'm so excited that I want to share. Ahhhhhh, so flippin' excited. I'm currently working on finishing up my WTF Hero build for a garrison friend, and that build will continue (documented on that thread) until she's got full approval. She's aiming for Centurion, so fingers crossed that I can get her there! In the meantime, I get to do my third TK build. The RS Hero TK! Yay! (This build wouldn't be happening at all without @TheSwede and his input, so... Thank you, Daniel!) In the meantime, since I don't have any BBB pics yet, I will share a few choice pics from last weekend's troop. Wearing my RS Stunt TK, of course. First, the ANH scene we recreated... Next, an official BadA$$ pic... Then when Vader left, we goofed off... See y'all soon!

Who here is excited for The Mandalorian? I know I am! I love Mandalorians, so this show is a dream come true for me! This show just seems to get better and better as they release more info on it. One very exciting thing is the appearance of Stormtroopers and Deathtroopers on set. As expected, the TK's appear to be Rogue One/Solo style. It would be interesting if Disney took into consideration that this show takes place after ROTJ, So the troopers should be styled after ROTJ troopers. They could add trim to the chest, back, ab, and kidney. And use snowtrooper hand guards. White soles on the boots would be cool too. It's hard to tell from the picture whether they did this or not, but I'm not very hopeful. I'm also hoping that they introduce more upgraded Imperials. That would be cool if they redid the Scout trooper, or Snowtrooper. I'm pretty sure they won't though.

This is from Bud Spaklur's build. It looks like he trimmed the elbow end at a sharp angle instead? https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180811/8a6a57d0336197a0f141bb0ed3d7d1c6.jpg&key=1867342ad674a374a8b058f788359dd68719e42ec121f20fe368ebc942efa86a

Hi PatrickM, I will be purchasing a BlastFX module later this year. After short circuiting one last year, need time to gather the funds. I'm trying to fit in time to finish off my power cylinders ... been hard pressed with work and personal life getting busy. Thanks for the encouraging words! Having a great deal of learning with my builds, it's been quite the ride. Sent from my SM-G390W using Tapatalk

This is in the new centurion CR, it’s got to be around 5mm right? oh wait that was brow. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s one way to do it. Just be sure to trim the return edge off of the wrist completely, as that will get the most scrutiny.

I've recommended and seconded AM countless times, and I'll do it again- I love my AM 2.0. I'm 5'11'' and the bigger aspect of it fits women's hips in addition to larger people in general. It will easily do taller people, as well. And if you're thinner/smaller, you can trim it (I trimmed a TON off my forearms). And that stuff is tough! I've knocked pieces off and they've been no worse for the wear. Very good thickness. Customer service was also good.

Go with AM all the way, I have AM armor and am a bigger trooper, it was nice having to trim the kit down, and not wonder how I was going to shim everything. the armor looks amazing, and is tough! its the way to go with a bigger guy

Thank you very much for the kind words, Joseph. And those ears - you know I'll find a way - it's just going to require a good deal of "facial reconstruction" due to the notoriously wonky right seam of the ATA bucket. To have the right ear at any more of an angle means the bottom of the ear is entirely on the cap. The face barely stretches as far as the end of the trap. Did I overtrim it? Frankly, I don't recall trimming it at all and while I somehow have no pictures of my bucket from the side view when I got it, one photo on a slight angle seems to confirm my suspicions that the edges were quite straight already so I didn't bother trimming them. What I figure I'll need to do is shim the face, doing even MORE painstaking smoothing than on my kidney because of how visible it'll be since the ear won't cover the bottom half at all, then trim the cap back, effectively moving the entire seam location. Oh, and rework the ears as necessary. While I'm up for this for the sake of accuracy (of course I am), it's also a ton of work and if it won't keep me from basic approval (do you think it will?) it's something I'd rather keep as an EIB/Centurion upgrade than another hurdle to even submit for basic. Phew, that was words. Before I go paint - the secret to my knee sitting so flush was that I didn't stop at sanding up to the base of the curve of the bottom edge; I actually sanded down the back of the knee until it was perfectly flat from the back, too. The other non-secret is those clamps, which I love and will likely attempt to legally adopt. But anyway the knee may look awful! I don't know yet! I'll see it this afternoon at which time I'll trim down the top, which I was only holding off on to ensure coverage of inner shin.

Nice job on the armor! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree that you should be fine for basic approval. But to give the armor an overall better look, try adjusting your straps to bring your forearms and thighs up a bit. Good luck on your TK approval

New type of TK helmet? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That did cross my mind, especially this bucket completion sprint. I am cherishing this time with Smudge, despite moving quickly. The number of times I've held his face or cap at arm's length and grinned wide... I'm loving this part of the build, and I was dreading it all along. A surprise, to be sure! I guess it's sort of like when you get to IKEA at the same time as a couple people and they stop by the couches but you stop in the kitchens and you end up passing each other a few times and never dream you'll end up at checkout at the same time... but there you are. Completely different trips but somehow similar in length. And it makes sense that Frank would be nice to you, since he's an Attaché and is supposed to interact positively with people from his garrison in particular. OH WAIT. Really? Ugh. I mean, uh, congratulations. Looks like A.J. and I will just have to set new garrison records to sneak in before elections, then! And for the record A.J. is legitimately done with his squeaky clean build, whereas I still have paint residue and untrimmed pieces. So, I've lost track of who, but SOMEbody's losing five bucks. I got less done today than hoped, but still some stuff. I'm going to clean up the tube stripes tomorrow and if I even remotely dislike them I'm wiping them and starting over, possibly with a stencil. The frown needs shaping at the corners, another coat, and edge modification. The traps need stripes. I wiped the ears because the more I stared at Set for Stun the more I realized they were painted too far out; the repaint was done with masked edges. Sketched, masked, painted teeth: Gave traps and tears another coat of grey, then dotted in beginnings of tear stripes: You'll see the completed tears below with the tube stripes, which I masked with model masking tape a pencil's width from the cheek when viewed from the top. I don't know how tall y'all's templates are, but the guideline I saw was 13/16" and when I masked it at that it looked like this: which is practically half of the visual space of the tube and just not how it's supposed to be according to my reference pics, so I thinned it down to 5/8". YMMV. Much better! Go easy on them, they need cleanup like I said... I like this angle: And I didn't get pics of them painted or with the first coat of grey on just the middle, but here's the new ear line: And that took me 'til 11, and boy am I beat. Goodnight, you people with your completed TKs. Oh yes and I didn't see my sniper knee today or I would have photographed it.

I don’t see anything that should hold you up for basic, I would raise up those forearms (a simple strapping adjustment) to even out the gaps between you bicep/forearm/handplates. If you plan on going for EI/Centurion I’d highly suggest: - a new belt (vs. patched) - no dropbox gap (top should be flush with belt bottom) - thigh TLC, coverstrips are quite wide and off-center in the back

New CRL, Poncho Troopers, PK?

Found ya, alright let's do this John

I agree but you have to remember 99.9% of the audience can’t tell the difference.

Going on past pieces of Star Wars being put out there I'll leave judgment until I actually see it on screen. With armor Disney/LFL isn't concerned with following exactly what has been used in the past, yes it would be great for us as fans to have the armor looking as if it followed a time lineage, heaven knows what the makers where thinking with the R1 stormtrooper, it should have resembled those seen in ANH not a completely different design. At least this stormtrooper looks excited to be there, just check out his cod

As per the EI application guidelines you have missed one step, you need to have 501st Stormtrooper access on these forums before applying for EIB, link below Expert Infantry Application Guidelines Creating Application Post Request 501st membership status Good luck with your application

Coming along nicely. Just in regards to the helmet it does appear you have the back plate a little too far back hence the big gap you had between the front and back, this make the ear position a lot further angled than normally seen. If you compare with the image below.

Powering along, nice work

I will just say that if your end goal is lv. 3 build for it from the start. It is easier once you get there if you build it to those specs rather than modifying later. Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

Looking good so far! You'll be Trooping before you know it!

After a few weeks of silence a little update: I had my first troop mid Dec. This weekend I plan to take the pictures for the EIB and Centurion approval.

If you are going to use pliers or channel locks to tighten it, be sure to do that at least an inch or so below the bend at the top. Otherwise that can snap,

Now that all my adulting stuff has finally been taken care of, I can resume working on my TK Hero. Back in October, I thought I was pretty much done. But believe it or not, based on ShaSha's feedback (as well as scrutinizing over the pics of the back of my kit), I ended up tearing the entire kit apart so I could get some better shaping done on the kidney and butt plates. This TK has been in pieces on my floor since October. Gah! Thankfully, I still have my stunt TK in good working order for trooping in the meantime. At Christmas I trooped in the Atlanta Christmas Parade, and I was so proud to represent the Empire in my shiny white (and very wet, extremely cold) armor. And I wasn't the shortest TK in the squad, either! This is the first time our garrison has marched in formation in years. Years I tell you! So excited to have been a part of this. And with that weather, I couldn't resist recreating a scene from one of my favorite movies! Okay, so back to continuing this build... Since I'm simultaneously working on this along with my husband's RS TK, I thought now might be a good place to show some comparisons of sizing/shaping of certain pieces. Here, I'm comparing butts. Butt plates, that is. The only trimming alteration I have made to my butt plate is near the snaps at the crotch. I had to make it more narrow for my size. The rest of the butt plates are identical. Any difference in sizing is due to hot water bath and curving the butt plate to better match the lower curve of the bottom of my kidney. Here, you can see my butt plate inside of my husband's out-of-the-box butt plate. The curve of the kidney on the left side is much more significant on my kit, thus you can see more curve on the left side of the butt plate at the return. And you can see how I curved the area near the snaps inwards to reduce strain on the strapping. From the sides: So even though my butt plate looks smaller, it's not. It's just got more curves to it. On the left is my properly fitted (curved) kidney with the unaltered butt plate. The right photo shows my curved butt plate with the same kidney. My suggestion to other vertically challenged individuals is to refrain from cutting the sides of butt plate at all until you've properly curved and shaped it. Trimming may not be necessary at all, but instead, just some gentle hot water sculpting. After reshaping the butt plate, I noticed that I needed to move a bracket on the right butt plate return. Grrr. So now I wait for ABS paste to cook so I can patch up the screw holes and drill some new ones. So another tip to those who are sizing down their kits: wait to drill your bracket holes until everything is shaped correctly! Once I patch things back up, I'll reassemble the back half of the armor, then reinstall the split rivets on the ab/kidney. From there, it's just fine-tuning the armor for length. I'm still shooting on earning EIB/Centurion on this kit. More progress pics to come!

Just wanted to mention an issue, that surely many users had: When writing a new comment, the soft-buttons for 'Insert other media' and 'Submit Reply' are so close to each other, you can easily hit the wrong one. No big deal if only type text, but really annoying if you want to add photos and suddenly your comment went live. Idea: move the 'Submit Reply' button to the opposite side or add a pop up window 'Are you sure you want to post this now?' (or something like this). Just an idea, as I have no clue about webpages and how difficult this is. I love the FISD so just wanted to suggest something to improve the page a little bit.

A small update, but progress nonetheless. I have spent quite a bit of time (maybe too much) trying to reshape the siphon and make it symmetrical , and I have it to a point I am happy. As mentioned, I shortened the length of the overall siphon by cutting about 2" from the bottom: I then made a new flat bottom from styrene and attached it with CA glue: The areas that were indented and had the metric measurements were sanded down, refilled and reshaped with Milliput. At this point, I felt it was ready to install the "rivet" greeblie details as seen in screenshots from the game. These are 1/8" aluminum inch pop rivets with an 8mm grip: And overall, the siphon looks like this: And in comparison vs the game itself: I think it looks pretty close! As close as I can possibly get it, anyway. So I'm finally moving on to another part. I have some boxes on order from Amazon that I am hoping match my approximations for the "button box" which is the box located on the top left of the backpack: Until then...

Congrats Miguel!

Congratulations trooper.

Felicicades compañero!!! Pronto te veo en el siguiente nivel!! Congratulations trooper!!! See you soon on the next level!!

Congratulations!