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The Star Wars Dog Bone ???

Great mod on the TD. Like you, I used a can lid to add the extra length. I took things even further by cutting out the strip on the back of the TD to make it more accurate to TLJ. The TFA TDS were solid resin and weighed 1.5kgs. For TLJ they completely redesigned the TD, cut-out the apertures and created a lightweight insert. Thought you might find that interesting! On cutting out pill holes, it’s not something you have to do and it’s not production accurate. The only holes which are cut are the chest pills. Won’t matter if you have cut everything already but a simple heads up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Having seen the movie 10 hours ago, I think J.J. Abrams brought the Skywalker saga to a dignified end.

More pics! Just got my MP40 ammo shoulder pouch from Imperial Boots. All I can say is wow I’m glad I ordered this one. It’s super legit. Thick quality leather and stitching. And I love their fabric patch! Sent from my iPhone using The Force

Here are the small bits: I’m guessing this goes here? I don’t think I’ve seen this separate before. Sent from my iPhone using The Force

Thanks, the little black strip is cut out (sort of) on the TD already and I've now got the decals added - pictures to follow Yes I cut out the calf pills and chest pills but stopped there after finding out they didn't need to be cut out [emoji35] - bit of a pain but not a biggy and I can always fill them again if needed...easy enough. The chest pills were interesting - again I'll post up pictures tomorrow Thanks again for the comments and guidance.. Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

Holster time...... I was toying with the idea of buying one of R2Dan's holster kits (but if the wife saw another delivery in coming i may as well leave home) but instead decided to see if I could finish off the one supplied in the kit with a few additions (ball bearings, screws etc), until at least i can get a new holster ordered without her seeing I started looking around and found the pic below (think it was from here so apologies to whoever created this for using this pic here in my thread and many thanks also, it really was a fantastic reference for me to work with) I spent a couple of hours on line tracking down cheap screws etc on ebay and in a few days had all the parts i needed. My concern was when screwing these into the body of the holster that i was going to split the resin holster in half - be careful! Any how, this is what I started with, the top section was a metal plate that i prepped and then painted and stuck onto the main body of the holster An hour or two later and i ended up with this.... Next on my list was Darrens awesome belt, I will post an update on this tomorrow now as i need to take a few more pics and want to do it justice, needless to say i was a little worried about wrecking the belt as i literally didnt know where to start...turned out i need'nt had been.... Thanks for looking and any questions / pics you want to see that ive missed let me know..obviously still alot more to come.... cheers

Thanks Jayke, i was really happy with how it turned out...much better than the original. Forgot to add a bit on the calf / shin pieces.....so ill drop it in here As well as altering the the shape of the tops of the calfs I obviously had to cut out the pill holes...I found a template from another of my friends and made similar to line this up with the top of where the spat finishes ofn the shin (mark up the top of the spat line when trying on the calf with boots) then cut out the holes with a dremmel and finally fine tuning the shape with small files disclainer - the 2 pics below are my friends as I threw my template out before taking a pic but the same procedure applied to my shins for the pill holes....afterwards i then backed them with black gaffer tape shiny side outwards... more to come............

Wow! The new mesh looks really good! Very sharp!

It’s always impressive to see someone not only take pride and care in what they do, but to also put the same into how they package their items. It’s the presentation of the items as you unbox it that really gives you a sense of the person/company you’re doing business with. The little added touches are such a pleasure to see. And who doesn’t love patches and stickers! Sent from my iPhone using The Force

Gaskets, Ordered a set of gaskets from Theresa, and they are gorgeous.. Come really well packaged with a lovely hand written note from Theresa and a patch.... Also ordered one of her super neck seals The gaskets needed a little taking in as they were just too baggy when i tried them on with the armour, remember you need to leave enough fabric to attach to the armour (if that is how you are doing yours) but at the same time you dont want them to bunch up. The following picture shows how i ended up after the adjustments with the chest / shoulder gasket - the orange line shows you where they originally sat. I also had the knee gaskets and elbow gaskets adjusted to fit me better, luckily my cousin is a dress maker and she loved the challenge of doing something different. nice and snug even before i put my undersuit on... I attached the gaskets to the different pices of armour using velcro - theresa's come with velcro on them so its just a matter of glueing the opposite male / female velcro side into the armour. Ill take some pics of the completed set up and post these later on.....

E-6000 is forgiving for sure, but I suggest posting up pics of all areas to be glued (held together with painter's tape) before actually attaching them. The same goes for potential cuts. I know posting a lot of photos can be a bit of a pain and extend your build time a little, but it's better to make sure it's done right on the first go-round to avoid having to re-do them later if there is an issue. I know you want to get your armor done as soon as possible, (we all did, lol), but patience is the key.

So onto the TD (Thermal detonator) Ill be honest when i first looked at the CRL images I was a little confused then quickly discovered that the main CRL trooper image is wrong (I know both TD's were seen in the film but still...) so I followed the actual image in the detail of the CRL for the TD...just one problem both ends are not quite accurate on this kit This is what the TD looks like as supplied - apologies I dont have a pic of the right hand side detial but this also needed improving I needed to enlarge the LHS detail and build up the RHS leading edge also.......I was going to build up with filler etc the LHS then i had an idea, after checking the size i needed was basically the same as a rattle can lid, so i chopped one downand ended up with this... then onto the RHS, the edge was not large enough / deep enough so again i used a rattle can lid as a template and slowly built up the end piece then i removed the cap and filled in the minor imperfections and sanded down to get a good finish prior to painting

Or perhaps for working out in the gym? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Who doesn’t love new toys to play with [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Great mod on the spats [emoji1305] Well fine on shaping the shins and thighs, not enough owners of this kit take the time to do it. It’s essential in my personal opinion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Other little details..... The biceps now come with the little raised bits on Jims new kit (I think thats correct) but mine being the older version didnt have these...soooooo what to do.....the answer came to me one night whilst eating pringles (I know once you pop you cant stop), the circular top was thin enough so i cut out some small strips from this and glued them in place well if it works..... I then filled in the cut out section on the inner calf pieces as below.. Then the spats were cut open, re enforced as i said earlier with a thin layer of fibreglass on the rear, then I used a small piece of ABS to glue onto the inside with a magnet attached, drilled out the hole and glued the other magnet to the clip greeblie on the spat.....the spat can now be put on without the worry of it snapping and it clicks into place and is very secure All that was left to do was tidy the spats up with some sanding etc, then final filler, primer, then paint them.... I also trimmed the top of the calf pieces as these were digging in when i tried them on and tbh looked too pointy, so i trimmed them to match troopers I could see on the film and also the CRL pic The thighs also needed a trim (they just looked wrong at the top and also the bottoms), so they were cut down to be more accurate and at the same time not restrict movement when walking this one is a little bit of a preview but gives you the idea of the shape i was going for thanks

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone...... Right, lets crack on...... As i was completing the surface prep I should also mention that I was re enforcing some of the 'softer' fibreglass areas and some parts in general that I thought would need it - as I said previously the kit is great and very flexible but can be quite thin in places - I would recommend anyone using a similar kit to do this early on in your build. I purchased a simple fibreglass repair kit from a local car store this had everything needed to complete any repairs or re enforcing (glass sheets, brushes, small mixing cup, resin, gloves etc) and is a good investment if you have the same kit for any trooping repairs you may need! The areas that I glassed for additonal support were: - Chest piece - Yoke - more on this later - Spats - only a thin layer of glass as these need to move when putting them on - Calfs - again thin layer - Cod - see below - Forearms - Some small areas on the Abdomen section Hoping these pictures now show up as I am now usiung Imgur.. Chest piece with additional glass for support Cod piece was going really well, Then a bit of a set back (not the worst set back that was still to come?!), my own fault, as i was sizing up the thighs to see where to trim i bent over slightly and the thigh literally sliced into the cod, luckily other than a damaged cod and my pride there were no other casualties!! Damage to the cod was a split in the fibreglass that i was able to glue and fill then sand bakc down I then glassed the whole rear of the cod and its now solid

The chest vent pull is soft. You can cut it out and replace with the supplied insert. This happened with the original Anovos marketing kits. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The armour was very asymmetrical so left and right were different shapes. Hot water bath would have been the way to go before the halves were glued together. If you have used E6000 then you can pull the cover strips off and wrap the halves around something round and tie up with twine. Immerse in boiling water you have just taken off the heat for around 30 seconds to 1 minute so the plastic slightly softens, then hit it with cold water to reset into a rounder shape.

Also interested. Everyone loves pictures! Seems there’s quite a few FOTK builds going on at the same time right now. Pretty exciting. Sent from my iPhone using The Force

Always interested, good luck with the progress

Yup, that’s the v4 kit. Great to work with. Looking forward to the build and, thank you for the kind words regarding the belt kit [emoji1305] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Interested as well, I’m about to start an FOTK build myself

Of course!

Never stopped playing it :), and have updated to the Celebration version.

Same here.

Here's a list of things to work on to improve the armor. This was, after all, a speed build on a first time build, so there were a few hiccups. 1. Replace the belt it has broken on me several times, and I am actually not too happy with using the solid plastic that way. I recall @Navajo Bro's documented build they also swapped the belt out with a rubber matt they had cut and glued into a long strip. Also just considering buying something since I'm like totally out of energy now. 2. redo some of the strapping So it turns out I had accidentally used some of the straps included in the kit incorrectly. First is the thighs: there were two very long pieces of webbing that I got mixed up with some of the webbing I had, and ended up cutting them for other things. So they're actually meant to attach to the thighs and go on like suspenders. Instead, I had used the elastic straps meant to hold the biceps up as holds for the thighs. This is not working since the elastic is obviously already stretching. I'm not worried about the biceps, because they hold up pretty well, but I might switch it too 3. clean up forearms So I worked on the forearms when I had the flu, so they're pretty jank. Fine for costuming, but the perfectionist in me is twitchy. First is I need to remove the return edges on the wrist, they're where my main armor bite is. Also possibly trim down the whole thing , again armor bites at the elbow. Next is to possibly bondo or caulk the seams where the greeblie is attached to the forearm. I was a little overzealous when sanding it, so there's some slight gaps. Lastly, to clean up joint. I had the idea of using ABS past to join the pieces, not realizing that the abs paste had bubbles in it, and had slightly discolored. I kinda want to learn about bondo, but then I'd have to paint it. 4. Redo seams on the legs My thighs and shins were a lot smaller than the kit, so I ended up trimming a lot from it. The result was that they were a little less curved, and can tell the plastic is pulling hard on the E6000 glue. I might ABS paste this, since as messed up as my forearms look, they're super secure. The bottom of the shin might need some trimming, since I'm pretty short and it knocks into my boots 5. getting a different size shoe so Imperial Surplus had a boot that was sold with the kit, and I was advised to go down about half a size. Well I'm actually in between a 7.5 and a 8, so wearing a size 7 actually is not the most comfortable. Since I've worn it obviously can't return/exchange, so the question is whether to contact them to get the larger size, or to get a different one completely ALSO.. I ORDERED A BLACK FEM7 KIT. SO STAY TUNED FOR ANOTHER BUILD IN THE FUTURE... hopefully better documented and more carefully done ALSO. I DID ORDER THE LEGACY TK KIT. Guess I might actually try to join the 501st... but I'm really scared of all teh snap plates! I got away with velcro'ing everything in this one~!!

You people are just haters, haven't you ever seen a Centurion in training

Forearm differences Clip recesses section also a little bigger on TLJ on helmet, but most wouldn't notice. As said it really comes down to your GML, most know about the TD but some don't, it's not a hard fix and you can actually get away with this if you can add a black cap on the end. TFA TLJ If you want to reach L2 you will also need a different cod