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Last night's progress! It doesn't look like a whole lot, but it was. That was a good three hours worth of work. E6000 is famous for oozing, but man, it was just being awful last night. I ended up scraping a lot off the table and using it rather than squeezing the tube because there was so much there. I glued Velcro to: The top and bottom inside of the biceps, for gasket connections The top of the forearms, for gasket connections The bottom of the thighs, for gasket connections The top of the shins, for gasket connections The shins for closure seam The ankle spats for closure seam I also cut out little pieces of ABS (from scraps) to act as a sandwich for the elastic connections- underside of armor piece, elastic end, ABS scrap. The elastic will stay in place better is stress areas (constant on/off of hand guards, wrist guards, etc.). Pictures of that when I glue the elastics in I ran of out of time, ran out of glue, ran out of clamps, and ran out of energy. I am confident I used every drop possible out of that tube of E6000. My elevator shoes should arrive today! Got lucky- the company is based in Arcadia, which is only about 3.5 hours away from me, and they shipped same day. Tonight I will glue in all the elastic connections- Hand guards Wrist guards Knees? (Debating between elastic wrap around or Chicago screwing them into the gaskets for semi-permanent attachment) Boot spats (toe) Heel spats Fingers to each other to base of glove And glue in the magnets into the finger tips Later: Top boot spat (not yet back from painters) I also will make various snap plates, I can't make all the connections yet, but I can at least get some of the base plates gluing and assembled ready to go. Snaps on shoulder bells to yoke (yoke not back) Snaps on cod and butt for cod strap (all in hand) I'm thinking Velcro attachments for the thighs- so cut some more Velcro and glue to the inside of the thighs and sew to the strap on the harness. My TK is snaps, and it works, but I don't see why Velcro wouldn't also work. I can always rip off the Velcro and add snaps at a later date if needed. Belt boxes to belt- Chicago screws through the back box and through the belt. I have enough pieces and still have Izzy's FOTK in my garage for sizing and placement over the missing ab/kidney. I'm a little concerned about the belt to the ab- mine doesn't have a good lip to Velcro or otherwise attach the belt. Worst case scenario I get it as tight as I can and hope it does't slip (no holster to weigh it down at least) for now. Later I think I'll cut off the tiny, not flat lip from the ab, and add a new, flat backing piece to which I'll add Velcro or snaps to attach the belt. I'm going to glue the head of the Chicago screw into the inside of the inner belt box, then glue the inner box into the outer box- they're not going to be functional anyway. I ordered gloves, they've shipped already so they should be here soon. In the meantime I'm taking back my Phasma turned TK turned Phasma again gloves and using those. I can still wear them with the TK with magnets in the fingers if needed in the meantime (for the premiere I plan to wear as many of my costumes as I can, as many times as I can- it's tradition, and I have four whole days to do it). I also ordered more magnets- One of the dang finger magnets broke from connecting with another. I also am using the ones I had planned to use for the ab/kidney closure for clamp magnet purposes, and don't feel like prying off the blue tape I have on them. And then some more rounds just in case the rectangle ones don't work for the closure. Plus, you can never have too many magnets. Thank you, Amazon Prime- they will be here tomorrow. I'd like to say I could then also airbrush the blasters but I know the above will take up all the time I have after work tonight, so that will have to be Thursday's job. Gonna be down to the wire but I think I can make it!

ANH armour would typically be finished like this.

Well, look at that… The lighting in my living room is terrible, so it's really not showing it off well. There is a fuzzy but noticeable reflection when outside in sunlight and in better, more direct light. It's much more impressive looking in person than here. I think it's perfect for TFA! They were still working on the back/yoke, ab/kidney, one of the boot spat sets, and the helmet, but I picked up the finished pieces! I had a marathon weekend of trooping and setting up (six troops in three days, two on Friday, three on Saturday, and one on Sunday; plus setting up for the parade that was the third troop on Saturday, and setting up at our local theater for ROS). I have neither the energy nor the time to even think about this, but yet, I must press forward. The weather is awful for painting, but all I have left is the Alclad. I mixed up some custom champagne from silver and gold, and I’m happy with it. I just now have to get up my neve to hang the blasters up somewhere and get to town with the airbrush machine. (I’ll add a photo here later or in the next post, whichever I remember to do). I cut out a bunch of Velcro and elastic pieces for the connections. Elastic for the hand guards, wrist guards, boot spats, internal strap for the fingers (to attach to the palm of the glove, so if they come off, they’ll just dangle), and cod/butt connection. Velcro for the shin closures, ankle spat closures, some for the chest to yoke (hopefully it will have enough edge to attach to, we’ll see), and inside the biceps (upper and lower), forearms (upper), thighs (lower) and shins (upper) for the gasket attachments. I’m going to use the gasket harness to hold up the thighs (I believe this is what its’ designed for- it’s the right length and the right position, so I’m going with it). I’m going to get some suspenders to hold up the ab/kidney. I wanted to get some fun special ones, but right now, I’m just getting whatever I can find for now, then I’ll go on Etsy and find some cute personalized ones (I’m thinking either Ravenclaw or Doctor Who) when I have more time. I just want to finish right now. Upgrades and mods will be inevitable anyway, so might as well do them later. I just about tore myself apart going over how to work on my lifts…. I added some material to the bottom so it wasn’t as steep of a drop, I was looking into expanding foam like Wookiee feet to add a backing for the slant in the back… I even bought a can of expanding foam. And then when I was just so frustrated I didn’t know which way was up, I found some elevator shoes with internal lifts on clearance and just bought them. 4.4’’ of lift, between internal and heel. Should have just done this in the first place, but I was trying to keep the cost down (only spent $40 total on the lifts, so not a huge loss, I can use the boots for something else). Another learn from my mistakes- if you want serious lift, just get shoes made for that purpose. They also make these in much less extreme lift (I think about 1.5’’), though for that little I’d do the inserts and use a cheaper shoe. The lifted shoes are kind of expensive, but not bad as far as good and specialty shoes go. Also like such things, they have a big price range- anywhere from $100 - $400. These are Calto (I've heard that brand thrown around before, appear to be well-thought of). At our last build party of the year (November), I did manage to mod and ¾ paint my blasters: There were a few subtle modifications needed to convert the F-11D to the F-11D Phasma carries- remove part of the trigger guard (she’d never get her finger in there with the finger armor with it, and honestly, even without it’s close), and remove the second part of the grip (again, she can’t bend her fingers well, so the smaller grip the easier she could grab it). I used a dremel with a cutting wheel to cut off both pieces, then filled in the open space with epoxy putty (I’m using Gorilla brand). It’s quite subtle, but after you do it it’s install like “That’s Phasma’s blaster!” v. “That’s an FOTK blaster.” At least for nerds like us. I mean I got called “Superman” at a recent troop (as a TK… specifically Reindeer TK, so I had my blinking red noise and antlers), so there’s that. Instead of acetone knocking down the 3D print lines, I used filler primer, per a suggestion from a Squad-mate. Worked great. There were just a couple of steps in the order I did them that I should have done differently, but it’s too late and not worth it for me now. What I did: Used liquid latex to mask off all areas that were going to stay black Paint entire thing with filler primer Paint entire thing with glossy black. Paint entire thing with Alclad (next step, not yet completed as of now) Remove latex (will be done after Alclad) What I should have done, and what I recommend doing: Paint entire thing with filler primer Paint entire thing glossy black Use liquid latex to mask off areas that remain black Paint entire thing with Alclad Remove latex My original thought process was the black parts that are staying black are already black, save myself the step of re-painting them black. Except I could have just masked them off AFTER and I still would have done the masking only once, gotten the fillable primer on there to knock down their 3D print lines and probably a slightly nicer black gloss (though they basically disappear with the rest, because your eye tricks you, and they were quite subtle to begin with. Plus, there’s not a lot of black on the blaster, so you don’t really notice). But, like I said, not worth taking off the latex, painting it black again, letting it dry in this cold weather, re-applying latex, and then airbrushing it. If I weren’t on a deadline, maybe. Still a maybe. And FYI, you burn through this stuff pretty quick- so buy more than one can. There was an emergency Home Depot run in the middle of the build party. Ignore the weird textures- that's where the latex is. What’s left to do: Glue in all Velcro and elastics Install lens in helmet (once received) Install helmet liner (once received) Make and install helmet fans (can make fans now) Get suspenders, and install once ab/kidney received Glue belt boxes together and attach to belt Make magnet closure for ab/kidney (armor isn’t back, but I can make the structure and glue it in once the armor’s back) Add corresponding Velcro to yoke (once received) Glue magnets into armor fingertips Sew magnets into glove fingertips Tailor in gloves? I seem to recall them being a bit big in the fingers (I have long, thin hands), but I couldn’t find them last night because I lost my TK gloves and they’re the same (Nomex) so I yanked Phasma’s and totally forgot until right now. Would you like a metaphor for how my week has been going? There you go. Order Nomex gloves ASAP (trying to remember my size- man my eBay purchase history is WEIRD) Airbrush blasters Make various snap plates for connections, and what connections I can make now with the parts I have ??? Probably something I’m forgetting but that’s most of it! Why does it seem like less when written out like that?

I guess you're right, all in due time tough.

If you find that it causes an excessive amount of cracking you could still keep the brackets without elastic and then add some inner snaps and elastic, would look accurate but keep it from cracking

So now I have started on the bracket system. I have made the holes, altough I don't particually like that there was almost no return edge to drill on. I also made the holes for the side rivets! I could only glue a couple of the reinforcement strips as I don't have that many clamps. I have more time tomorrow, should I continue glueing the strips or just screw them on with the brackets? (Just trying to hurry to EP9 premiere!)

You know you're in the end stages of a build (or project) when you start going to the hardware store daily. Or maybe also the beginning, too. Well, I always did say it's not a real project until you have to make at least two trips to the hardware store. Bonus points if they're in the same day. I got nearly everything done I wanted to get done last night, and since my goal was a bit ambitious, I'm calling that a win. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to glue the elastic connections into both the finger armor and tip armor, because of the magnets also gluing into the finger tips, and I was right. I will be able to glue the finger tips onto the elastic tonight, since the glue has set enough the magnets won't shift anymore. I also didn't get to sewing in the other magnets into the gloves. But I also hate hand sewing and avoid it at all costs, so I'm not that upset about it. Otherwise, last night's work: A whole lot of gluing, some sewing, some planning, and thank god for sewing clips (the little colorful clips). Corresponding Velcro glued or sewn in (belt box covers, chest plate, thigh holders), snap plates made and glued in (cod/butt connection and shoulder bells), elastic straps (wrist guards, hand guards, toe boot spats, heel boot spats, knees). My shoes arrived! They're actually pretty comfortable, and I will be able to stand in them at length which is obviously very important. They fit! For reference, I used Calto's size chart and measured my foot- I normally wear a Men's 10 (Women's 12), and I was spot on to their Men's 10, per measurement and now fit. So I'd say they run true to size, and/or at the very least true to their size chart (what a concept, I wish more vendors were like that). I wish I had some more ankle support, so I'd recommend, if you can find it, a boot version, though if you can't these are a valid option. Because they're men's shoes and while my foot is long, it's narrow and not particularly high, when I walk the shoe doesn't come with my foot when I lift up- the heel slides off. So I made a quick elastic loop to slip around the base of the boot and around my ankle. Problem solved. (I feel like I learned this from a motorcycle trick, but what application that would have on a motorcycle I have no idea- maybe I was just inspired by the strap on gear shift toe guards or stirrups on pants to keep them down). I got the belt done! The other two soft pouches with covers are not on there, but I have them, have sewn the needed Velcro to one, and the corresponding Velcro is gluing to the plastic covers. They just slide onto the belt so they can be added at any time. I used Chicago screws to attach them- punched holes in the back box and belt with my soldering iron, put glue on the inside around the holes so the inside part of the screw would stay in place, and screwed in the second half from the back of the belt into them. I also glued the inner boxes into the outer boxes, since they're not going to be functional anyway. This finger armor mess just looks hilarious: To make the finger connection contraption, I took a piece of Velcro, sewed five strips of elastic to the back of it, and then glued each of those elastic strips into the base of the fingers. I will do the same with the base of the finger tips tonight. This creates a stretchy connection between each of the parts, so that I can pull them on and off, but they will stay in place when on. And, if one does manage to get bumped or otherwise come off, it will dangle as the Velcro will be stuck to its corresponding piece on the palm of the glove. I can also take them off to wash the gloves (which I do every now and again, because those can get gross, especially after summer troops). I stole the idea from @LadyInWhite- it's been a couple years so I have no idea what connection material she used, but the concept is the same. Due to the placement of the corresponding Velcro, I'm going to have to hand-sew it into the palm. Lots of hand sewing in my future tonight. I decided on trying out suspenders to hold up the ab/kidney- I snagged a pair at a local Boot Barn. They seem sturdy, hopefully they'll hold up. I think I'll skip the neat ones as they're probably more decorative than heavy-duty and I want service over look. I want to avoid putting extra stress on the armor itself as much as possible, so I plan to get some sort of bracketing and glue it into the ab/kidney, and then clip the suspenders onto that. This is the custom champagne color I plan to use to airbrush the blasters- it's made with a mix of Alclad Chrome and Gold, with more chrome than gold. What's kind of interesting is when it settles, they split into their respective colors. But they mix easily and well, and the separation in the bottle when sitting is normal, so I'm thinking it won't be an issue once painted. I probably should have noted how much of each I used, so I could replicate it, or at least help out a future Shiny Sister, but I made this randomly at a build party in November, and I didn't write it down. Roughly it was 3:1 silver to gold. I used pipettes to transfer from the original bottles to this one. So about three pipettes of silver and one of gold, then just tweak it until you're happy. To to (tonight): Sew magnets into glove finger tips (inside so they don't shatter each other) Sew Velcro onto glove palms Glue elastic connection into finger tip armor Airbrush blasters Yoke snap plates for shoulder bell connections (so they can be ready to glue in once back/yoke is received) Make helmet fans Velcro to top of cod for attachment to belt, most likely Velcro to top of butt plate for attachment- CRL says to kidney (well ab, but it's the kidney back part of the kidney/ab, so technically kidney), but I'm thinking placement might be belt. I'll hold it up and see, either way. it's getting Velcro Corresponding Velcro to belt for cod Possibly corresponding Velcro to belt for butt, or maybe it will go on the kidney and we'll hold off 'cause I don't have that part back yet When I get the rest of the parts: Cut and glue in elastic connection into final boot spat Glue in helmet liner Install fans (I will tape them in if needed, that's my current "temp" fix on one of my TK ones) Install lens Corresponding Velcro to yoke for chest connection (already glued into chest) ...is that really it? I think it is. Wow. I'm really at the point where I don't care if y'all have to duct tape me into her- she's getting worn and debuted at this premiere! They sell silver duct tape, right? It worked for Izzy at TFA with his FOTK! (Half a roll of white duct tape every time he wore it, no joke. Good times. Actually it was a great adventure, I got pretty good at it by the third time, too.)

KB is good, you wouldn't be disappointed. BSP has some sharper details, but it has more inaccuracies that still need to be fixed, and communication can be difficult.

Thanks guys. I will likely end up hollowing out some of the scope, but probably not the entire length since I suspect the foam and rubber would lose structure and strength, at least to a greater degree than resin. The solution I have in mind to deal with the transparency or translucency of the lenses it to cut out a circle in a white (or maybe orange/red) index card and then place a piece of semi-reflective material like silver/mirror cellophane on top of it. This would then be installed behind the lens—likely at the back of the hollowed out scope section, not touching the lens. I intend to use E6000 for this, and everything on my armor build, since I'm expecting to make some mistakes with this being my first build.

I'm going to use abs from justjoseph63, I was telling him I've been searching for abs, I dont have things to use at my house and usually car parts are made of ABS, but everything is stamped in German since I'm at VW dealer, so I cant tell 100% if its ABS, but I should be good now I'll just go buy some MEK. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

If you don't have any scrap ABS I can send you some no charge. PM me if interested,

Thats what I was thinking as well that they won't be shipping them out in the next year or two so why bother waiting. And I've seen Jimi's kits and they look great but I was kinda trying to get a vacuum formed kit instead. Anyone know if KB is more accurate than backstage props or vice versa? The only build I've seen of BSP looks a little big in places, which I know can be fixed, but I'm a little smaller and KB I've read is a little less defined in terms of details. Also I started working on a '66 batmobile with my dad when pre-orders started and now were almost about to paint it and its drivable lol, god I hate anovos soo much.

Great to see you got stuck back into this build Mike, and its looking very good indeed. Make sure to take any sharp corners off your cover strips with a bit of sand paper, also do the same with all your return edges and anywhere you think you may get two pieces come together and pinch you while wearing your kit. Armour bite is a fact of life with trooping but you can reduce the damage it can cause to you and your under suit by rounding off corners just a touch. I'm sure you will find a few areas that can cause issue once you get your first troop or so down. Keep up the stellar work

You are most welcome Craig, it's what we love to do.

Yes, just cut the cover strip end.

Congratulations Trooper !! Great Build

Hi Mike, great work with your build. About fitting your calf , what I did was: 1- overlap the calf posterior section till I felt confortable and they looks good in the mirror and fix then with painters tape. 2- with a white board maker I draw a line in the center of both pieces. 3- Cut straight from top to botton. 4- I glued the cover strip and finally glued the velcro. I made an example at may office using a piece of paper. hope i'm doing clear. 1 2 3 4 And placed the cover strips and velcro. Hope this can help you. and note that the calves rest on you boot and you can add some velco in the inner front to avoid them to twist. cheers

Ya casi Mario excelente ! como se dice en colombia cuando una persona se llama igual que uno, en Costa Rica se le dice "Tocayo" almost there Mario ! How do you say in colombia when someone name is the same as yours? in costa Rica we say "Tocayo" Cheers

I am finding myself preferring the white version.... still not a massive fan of that bucket though ;/

Great work, almost there, a few tweaks

Some glue will definitely help give you a little extra strength

Pleasure! Any time [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

TK20187 approved, report to the battlefront and await your orders trooper. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

I remember u saying that.... Take lots of pix and post them on ur build thread.... Get your lexans out and start small so you can gain confidence.... start on the belt is my suggestion... Keep us posted. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk