Leaderboard

It's my second troop tonight (Weird Al) and I needed fans installed. I got a 3D printer a few weeks ago, so I made a quick and dirty battery and switch mount. I'll come up with something more permanent later.

We did a little troop down the street to see how it all flows and he loves it! Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Hey all, SL/RC 97424 here from Oregon looking to add a 4th approved costume to my list. I am starting out with a TKUK Kit. I am on a budget and wanted to get started though I know I will need to replace the helmet. Why the hero? One word ... lightsaber. That and I actually like the hero helmet a bit better. New to stormtroopers so any suggestion or resources are much appreciated. As for the something extra, I picked up a first order battle buddy a while back so I am tackling my armor and some for my 4 year old son at the same time.

Will post pics tonight. Let's see if your guess is right!

Um, I hate to tell you, but your ab is upside down. The WTF kit tends to run on the small side. For my WTF kit, I only moved the cod up barely an inch for it to fit properly, and I'm just 5'4". Not much taller than you! Even that small amount, and I thought I might have moved it up too much. To reduce the cod pinch at the thighs, don't be afraid to make your cod narrower in the nether region. You can make it really skinny for comfort and no one will notice. It's fine for all levels of approval. Remember that the top of the ab button box should always be situated somewhere at the bottom of your sternum. All the other pieces should be adjusted to fit as long as you keep your ab button box positioned in the correct location. I would bring the cod down a bit. And the chest could use trimming of the return at the bottom front. You want to keep enough for brackets (if you're using them), or if you don't care about having a return there, you can remove it entirely. IMO, I think the chest looks better with a little return on the bottom of the chest, though (unless you're building a Hero). I like to keep 2-3 fingers width between the top of the ab button box and the bottom of the chest plate. If you can position things here, you will easily see on your chest plate how much to trim from the neck. You'll also want to remove most (or all if you want!) of the returns along the edges of the chest plate so you can have better comfort and improved mobility.

If I get a chance to head into Tokyo soon I will help you with this. Just did my Anovos shins in July and it was a slow careful process of test fit, trim, test fit again, trim a bit more....

Yeah, that is taped up pretty tight with that gap, maybe get it closer to 20mm on right opening up the bottom. Might have to get someone to come by to give me a hand or take them to an armor party. Thinking I will move on with other sections and return to this when I can get another set of eyes and hands.

Congratulations and welcome aboard! Work on that EIB! Maybe go for Centurion, too, while you're at it?

After being asked a gazillion times about how I built my magnetic shin closures, I've finally compiled everything from my TK build and put it all in one post! Let me begin by stating that I followed the tutorial here for the most part when building these magnetic shins. However, I deviated from it in order to make the closures super strong by using a magnet-to-magnet closure rather than the magnet-to-steel method outlined in the tutorial. I have worn the magnetic shins I made for my RS Props TK out on over a dozen troops, and I have never had them come apart on me. I've only had to reglue magnets twice on these shins over a two-year period: a single magnet came off after being handled a lot (opened and closed dozens and dozens of times at an armor party by those who were trying to figure out how they work), and regluing a single magnet after trooping underwater for a few hours (well, not exactly underwater, but it was a parade where it rained for HOURS and I had to walk in the rain the entire time- for hours I tell you! My boots took days to dry out!). The small amount of maintenance I've had to do on these over 2 years of trooping is quite minimal. Once you get this mod on your kit, I swear you'll never go back to anything less than a magnetic closure on your shins. STEP 1: There are many steps necessary to build magnetic shins, so I begin with making a critical component for them: ABS buttons. The buttons are necessary to hold one half of the magnet assembly in place on the inside of the shin. I'm using 12mm x 3mm n50 magnets. You'll need a total of 20 magnets for the shins (10 on each shin). I strongly suggest buying more than 20, though. I've found that they can easily break, and you'll want backups on hand! You can find them in bulk- and cheap!- on eBay. First, I begin by making a template with a hole in it that is slightly larger than the magnets I will be using. I trace the magnet on a sheet of ABS. Here's what it looks like when done. Yeah, I know my hole isn't perfectly round. It's not terribly important for it to be perfect. I used two magnets to make each button. One on top to help me see where my hole template needed to go, and one underneath to form the button shape. Heat up one section of the ABS sheet using a heat gun on LOW until it gets slightly warpy. You can even leave the magnets attached to the ABS while you heat it up. Once the plastic is soft, quickly press it onto a flat surface, pressing the hole template around the exposed magnet. This is what it looks like on the top and underneath when you're done. And here's how it looks from the side so you can see how the magnets attach to the plastic. See how the bottom magnet sits flush in the new ABS button? I spent about forty minutes repeating the process until I ended up with 10 buttons. I will cut down and shape the buttons to fit each shin later. There will be five buttons installed on each shin. Still lots of work to do, but it's a pretty good start! STEP 2: Another step necessary for how I make my magnetic shin closures is to make sure that the backs of the shins meet up as perfectly as possible. This is to avoid any unnecessary strain on the magnets. This was acheived by some gentle shaping via a hot water bath. Before putting the shins in the water, since I don't have any cover strips installed on the outsides, I reinforce the closure with blue tape. The e6000 gets really soft when subjected to boiling water, and I don't want to weaken the join in the front. Blue tape holds up nicely for this application! Here's a before and after of my shins so you can see how the backs line up a bit better. I will be doing some further fine tuning on the lengths at the bottom later as I move along in my fitting. STEP 3: This stage involves making and securing the "holes" part of the closures for the magnets. I begin by cutting out two 3/4" x 12" strips of ABS. You should have this when you're done. Next make a lengthwise mark in the center of each strip to help keep your holes lined up in the middle. Then mark 3/4" in from each end. That will be the center point for the magnets on the end. I like using magnets with holes in the middle for this, so I can easily find the 'crosshairs'. Trace the magnet. I like to use extra magnets underneath to help keep it secure while I trace. Next, find and mark the center of the strip. It should be at the 6" point. From there, measure 2 5/8" from the center mark on either side. Mark and trace your magnets. When you're done, your plastic strips should look something like this: Next, I used my drill press and a step bit to drill out the holes. It went really quickly! When you're done, you should have two strips with holes in them that can easily fit the magnets. The next part is where people tend to get confused, so I took this photo to show what goes where. The "hole" strip will be glued to the inside half of the shin on the inside. It sounds kind of confusing, but it's not all that bad. Remember that the "hole" strip will be hidden! I begin with my left shin. I mark the center of each hole to assist when I line up the edge of the shin. Next, I test fit the strip on the shin to verify placement, clamping on both ends. Then I apply e6000 to the area of the strip that will be in contact with the shin, clamp and add magnets. This is what it looks like when glued together: Here's the right shin after gluing, but before I added the magnets. Here are both shins as the e6000 cures. I'll be allowing a few days for this to cure, which will give me ample time to get my ABS buttons ready for installation. STEP 4: Once the glue had cured on the hole strips inside the shins, I removed the magnets and clamps. With a light behind the shins, you can see how the hole strips are mounted, hidden inside. Using that light as my guide, I traced the approximate location of the holes with a pencil. This helps me to get a good idea of where my holes are going to be drilled. Yep. I'm going to make some Swiss cheese of my shins. Using a small Dremel sanding band, I carefully cut a notch out, just large enough for a magnet to fit through. Here's what it looks like at this stage when the shins are closed. I'm just focusing on drilling out the holes on the inside edge, following the holes of the hole strip that was glued in. I'm not ready to drill the outer half of the shins yet. Next to clean up my buttons that will hold my magnets. I rough trimmed them all to start. Then cleaned up the corners with a Dremel. I don't want anything poking at my legs! *Important!* If you want to make sure your magnets stay stuck on your shins, you must use e6000! CA glue will not keep the magnets stuck to the buttons; they will fail. I have heard this from several troopers when I have been contacted about their magnets not holding up. I repeat, use e6000 for this next step! I applied a liberal amount of e6000 to the inside of each button, then put the magnet inside to get all cozy. Make sure that you've got the polarity of all the magnets in the same orientation before gluing! Wipe away any excess glue from the top. To make sure that the magnets are firmly mounted in the buttons, I use the magnet intended on going on the opposite side of the shin to clamp it. In the pic below, you can see how I've got all the matched magnet buttons and magnets together as they cure. Back to the shins now. I like this ridge (where the pencil is pointing) to line up at the tops. For me, it makes the closure in the back look much cleaner if this is lined up. I tape it off there to make sure that the opposite side doesn't shift while I'm making my marks for completing the holes. I have an OttLite that fits nicely inside the shin to provide a clear light so I can make outlines for where I'm going to drill out the rest of the holes. Holes were already present on the left side in the photo below. I made sure that I drilled out the holes very conservatively as I went. I used an extra magnet to make sure that the hole was just the correct size for it to fit through. Now time to attach the outer cover strip! I use a 25mm cover strip on my shins for this. I taped off the edge of the inside half to keep any glue from transferring over. Then making sure that the cover strip was straight, I clamped the heck out of it. Praying to the TK gods that it doesn't shift!!!! Now time to wait for everything to cure really, really well. I am going to give these 3-4 days to fully cure just to be on the safe side! STEP 5: One shin is complete, with the outer rear 25mm cover strip glued into place. Woo! Here's a look from the inside, before magnets are installed. Be sure to clean up all excess glue from the inside edges in order to have a clean closure when you're done. If there's extra glue in there, it may not close correctly. I've tucked the outside cover strip to the inside so you can see how the magnets on the "cover strip" half are glued on. No magnets yet. I add a dab of e6000 to the magnet (be sure to check the polarization of the magnet before gluing!!!), and set it so that it fits inside the semi circle and on the outer cover strip. Like this: I wiped away the excess glue from the magnets and then positioned the inner "hole strip" over the magnets to ensure everything is lined up correctly as it dries. I tape the tops and bottoms of the shin to ensure it doesn't shift around during this stage. I'm not completely happy with how the inside cover strip is cooperating here. It sits flat on the top and bottom, but it pulls away in the middle a bit off to the right. I will have to heat bend this before installing the magnets onto the "hole strip". :/ Ideally, the inside cover strip should be sitting completely against the outside part of the shin, and it doesn't want to do that right now. This additional stress could cause the magnets to fail. It's annoying, but I'll need to address this before proceeding any further. Gah! Using the magnet buttons I created earlier, I clamp the magnets into place while the glue cures. Once the glue has fully cured, I'll reshape that inner strip to prepare it for the final magnet button installation. STEP 6: Now that the e6000 has had lots and lots of time to cure, it's time to attach the other halves of the magnets. Make sure that the halves are super clean and free of extra dried glue. It will prevent the shins from closing well. You can do this by touch. Rub all of it off where you feel it. Once everything is cleaned off, close the "hole" half over the "magnet" half. Your shin should be closing correctly at this point. The "holes" should lock around the magnets and prevent the shin from opening at all, even without the additional magnets at this point. If the "hole" strip is not fully engaged over the magnets, you won't have a very strong bond between the magnets to keep the shin locked. Easy part next! Apply e6000 around the prepared ABS button. No need to go crazy with the stuff. You don't want it oozing all around in there. And stick it on! This part goes really quickly. For additional strength, I add some extra magnets on top. Check those clean closures! Left shin. Right shin. I will open these up in a few hours just to make sure that there isn't any extra e6000 that has spilled out and might lock those shins closed where I don't want them locked. Now to allow several days to dry, and these shins will be good to go! Here's a short video so you can see them in action. Have you tried this on your own shins? Loved it? Hated it? Made a few mods of your own to improve this method? Comment below and let me know! Cheers- Cricket TK-10401

So we had one of those guys that hits neighborhoods this week come through and try to paint house numbers on the curbs. Ours was looking pretty faded and my wife was interested in having it done. Hold the phone! I am self admitted cheap so I said I’ll do it myself. Now the guy did good work and it was pretty cool. Here’s our neighbors. So not to be outdone I got to thinking.... and found an image on google and a StarWars font and made a template. And ultimately had to represent my fellow TK’s.

Congratulations trooper, Welcome to the Legion.

Adding some foam to the inside of the armor, on the outer of the leg will help bring the thigh a little straighter. Really depends how it fits on your thigh too if you have a lot of room in there they will float so either some foam or even trimming a V section out of the rear could help.

Nice work, good luck with your troop

Since you're in England I'd strongly recommend RWA Creations. I know a number of taller European troopers who love their RWA armor. Ross is located out of the Isle of Wight and has "Big Boy" armor for taller troopers. His kits look fantastic. Since you'd be shipping inside the UK, his prices are fantastic. Great guy. Been very helpful to me in my build and I don't even own his armor. You'll find a number of RWA builds going on in the WIP forums. He's also got a you-tube channel for how-to-build. https://www.facebook.com/groups/rwacreations/ PM me and I can send you a link to his pricing.

Thanks you very much!!!! Love to read no tips this time!

Yes I am in that group. A few weeks ago HSP said they were willing to work with since I have been so polite with them. I'll try and report back on what happens next... I really feel bad for canceling on them, but the order i placed in November 2018 was promised to ship back in April 2019 and now it's extended to at least December 2019. (So much for a summer project, lmao) SIDE NOTE: Do be cautious when paying for pre-orders via paypal. There is a 120-day policy that if you stray beyond, there's no guarantee you'll be protected in case of a naughty trickster. (Though I'm sure Joe/Chad have good intentions, they just struggle with transparency.)

Hip and shoulder mag pouches arrived yesterday! Slowly but surely! Just need to get this pack done now... Leather work by Anthony Bailey [emoji1320][emoji1305] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AM as well, very happy with the quality and customer service (6'1" for me)

Simply amazing! Congratulations on a great build. You have a very lucky son.

Best of luck on your 4th build. Looking forward to seeing you and your little trooper partner in full gear.

Congratulations Michael! You made it ! Wish you many many happy troops ahead!

Congratulations and welcome to The Legion!

Greetings all. Wife just put the kibosh on my Death Trooper build... our daughter’s name is Lyra so we made the judgment call NOT to troop as a DT lol. That being said I’m looking to do a regular OT TK. Do any of you know a good source for 3D files for ANH or a ROTJ TK? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just remember those are only suggestions not requirements I bet I know what you've been working on

Add 1 more for AM the stuff is strong and like it’s been said customer service is amazing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the tips and words of encouragement. I'll work on the points now. I originally had elastic on the sides, but switched it to nylon. As I lose weight that gap has closed a bit. I am at about 1/4" ish on each side depending how I stand. I didn't want to start shimming for that small gap. Wait to you see what I've been working on for about 3 days. …..

You'll find the right forearm of ATA is a lot rounder compared to the left, as I've had practice with a heat gun I heated both top and bottoms then gently applied some pressure form the side so they became more rounded. With skinny arms I also added a few pieces of foam inside to help them sit central. I have seen people use a hot water bath and still be able to adjust, I just prefer a heat gun as it's a lot quicker BUT it does take some practice. Also agree your thighs need to come up a lot, you will need some space between them and your shins when you attach the sniper plate ant thigh ammo strips

Ah, a trooper after my own heart! I've got 12 approved 501st costumes myself, but my TK was first. TK - ESB TK, DZ - Jawa, TI - ANH TIE and Reserve, IC - ROTJ Crewman, ID - Staff, Warrant, Social, Line, Admiral Daala (Olive), IG - Gunner, and TX - Shadow Scout. With Staff and Warrant Officers, you have everything for a Social, plus some generic boots/shoes, which you might already have from something else (but you can also get a pair on amazon for like $25). The adjusting is never ending! So don't worry if that happens- that's normal. It's all part of the process and high level costuming. Just have fun and run with it!

Congratz to you!

Congratulations Michael, Welcome to the Legion and welcome to FISD. Enjoy being a Bad Guy Doing Good as we always Do.

Congratulations and welcome to the ranks trooper

Congratulation TK55559 and welcome to the FISD. Great work on your approval and desire to reach EIB, there are lots of links and fellow troopers here to provide guidance and advice. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Returned from my trip to find new packages waiting for me. These boots look great and require a good hard pull to get on. The length seems long but they are pointed boots and the width is perfect so a smaller size would not have worked. These elastics are sent from JP Garrison member Dan, TK52394. They are doubled up and machine stitched making them perfect for my issues with shoulder bells. Much appreciated and looking forward to trooping with him. My armor has been kept inside and cooler than the patio outside in the Tokyo burning summer where I normally keep it. I'll likely pull it out this weekend and get back to work on it, attempting a tricky shim on the shins to make them fit better.

Hi, Another Blaster option could see Praetorian Blasters. Excellent for trooping.