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ONLY 5, 4, 3 2 1 SPOT LEFT, TROOPERS, SO TIME TO STEP-UP! 1000 Expert Infantry reached! Now that many of us are unfortunately stuck at home and boredom is beginning to take it's toll, it's time to wipe the dust off of that armor bin and become a part of FISD history! Instead of binge-watching re-runs, we are suggesting that you put the D.O. Staff to the test and spend some time on that white armor you miss wearing so much by applying for your Expert Infantry badge! As you may be aware, we are aiming to have #1000 approved by the end of the year. We only have 2 to go, so in order to reach that goal we are asking that you read over the CRLs for your particular armor, (this thread will help) make any necessary adjustments and post up your submission! Photo Checklist- Link here Apply Here Questions: 1. Not sure if I have what it takes to get my EI badge- You don't know until you try, and you have not only the D.O. staff but an entire Detachment to help! 2. I need some repairs/fixes first- This is why we are here! We honestly want you to succeed and are here to help in any way we can. 3. I am happy with the way my armor looks, so why bother?- It not only makes you look more screen accurate, it instills a sense of pride and "esprit de corps"! 4. What if I don't make it? No worries, we will provide detailed suggestions on how to reach your goal! Benefits: 1 Bragging rights for being one of the "Original 1000" 2. You get a cool badge under your name here on the FISD. (Street cred). 3. Access to EI rocker badges (coming soon) to go above your FISD patch (also coming soon)! 4. Access to coin runs for EI awardees only. 5. Certificate for your accomplishment. 6. You will have a more screen accurate looking set of armor, and be one step closer to Centurion!! 7. We are planning a VERY special piece of one-time-only FISD Exclusive merch to honor hitting this milestone! Know that the entire Staff and those who have reached Levels 2 (and 3) are here to help in any way we can, and that you are more than welcome (and encouraged) to ask any and all questions you may have here on this thread, or contact myself or Sha Sha. You can do it, Troopers. Let's turn this "anno horribilis" into a banner year for the FISD!

Aiming to be one of those 37 as I blitz through my build!

ABDOMEN PART 2 Sewed 4 webbing onto the slots on the top of my abdomen. This will be the straps that will hold everything up. The abdomen is going to hold the weight of the belt, cod, posterior, 2 thighs, and 2 knee rubber gaskets. Next up, to tackle how my abdomen will close behind. I wanted it to be a super snug fit so it can help to hold everything up. I drew 4 lines which I will cut into slots for webbing to pass through. And here they are cut. Next, I fashioned 2 webbing straps with velcro sewed at the ends. I glued one end on the left side of the back, slot it through the slot, glued the back on the inside, and come back out the slot on the right. This is how it looks when my back is closed. Neat! And this is to show that once the TD is installed, the straps are all hidden. So, with the Ab, TD, Belt, Cod and Posterior done, I wanted to do an interim test fit to make sure that everything looks tight and good. I installed the boxes onto the Ab, except for box 1 which is still at the painter's. Here's how it is looking, and I am happy with the overall fit and look.

Welcome to the FISD, Mark. You're in good hands with Dan - your tube stripes will be flawless and your brow will be suitably located. Seriously though, with Dan's guidance you'll have no problem reaching Centurion.

Hello, Im Ian Vance, I’m 16 and I’m from Florida. I plan to start my FOTK build to join the 501st when I’m 18. It’s really nice to meet you all. Thanks, Ian Vance

I would love to be in the first 1000, unfortunately I’m only 16, and the 501st age restriction is 18 Oh well, I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to even have stormtrooper armor

BTW this build thread has a lot of great information and detail. Worthy of being pinned in my opinion.

Awesome Job, coming along nicely and looks great. Thanks for the update . I know you're well ahead of the game but to let you know the FISD has started a FOTK supply list. If there's anything you need or want to add to it you can see it here https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49132-supply-vendors-list-for-your-fotk-build/

Great job Jasper fantastic work. Love the strapping

Fingers crossed that Dave’s Darkside Depot ships my armor in near Centurion status if I can just wear it right! (if I gotta cut, paste, fold, or spindle it - “mutilate” will be the operative word. I got no skills)

I will try to apply next week... Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk

Can the speaker fit in the magazine (face down)?

Thanks for the feedback TKSpartan! If anyone else has feedback on their sanding procedure or their blaster for trooping, I'd love to hear it! Last night I found a spare hour and finished the shins. I used snap and score, making only one pass with medium pressure with my hobby knife on the long sections of the shins. Super easy! Then lexan scissors for tops and bottoms. Super hard! Man those top corners are difficult, even when coming from both sides with curved lexan scissors. My fingers were starting to hurt haha. Getting close to test fitting everything!

Exciting times

They did Goldie! Thanks Tom! Thanks to everybody who sent cards. Due to all the Corona lock downs the kids have been having their classes on computer at home and supplementing their instruction by having zoom meetings a couple times a day. They shared their post cards yesterday during one of their meeting and had quite the discussion. I even had to jump in and explain the 501st.

Do it or do it, there is no try ... Regards...

One of my goals has been to be one of the first 1,000 EIB and 500 Centurion, so I really need to get working. Baby care has occupied more time than binge-watching during this pandemic. Perhaps I need to start pulling some overnight armor working sessions. Haha. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey great information. Can we get the names and contacts of the steel and blaster vendors so we can add them to our FOTK supply list thread. Thanks for your help

And excellent beginning

This is a great build and thank you for the documentation of all the steps. This will help me when I get my armor. Question on the belt boxes, I could not find a link to Empire3D? Closest thing was a site but no mention of the boxes. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Empire3Dau

Great to see you are strapping it similar to the screen used armour. Have you made any reinforcing behind where the slits are to ensure it won’t eventually crack? It probably won’t but just a thought. Keep up the fantastic work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome to FISD Higgy, Dan is very good, you are lucky to have his assistance. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amazing, !

Very nice looking forward to seeing these put together

No it doesn't, most of the legion web department are working on forum upgrades so I doubt you'll see a shift to Discord any time soon.

Congratulations trooper.

Welcome to the TRUE home of shiny white armor, Mark! You are indeed fortunate to be under the guidance of Dan, who is a legend here! Knowing that, I am expecting great things from you, sir, and I look forward to seeing your progress as you head for Centurion level (hint hint).

Hey Tony! Thanks for checking in. Progress has been made of sorts. Not on the armor yet, though. I was battling a massive sinus infection over the past few weeks that had me flat. It messed up my balance so badly that I couldn't leave bed. No fun feeling like I've had one too many, when I've not had anything to drink since early March. :/ At any rate, I finally started feeling better this week (my balance returned, yay!), but it's slow going. Here's what has been making the most progress lately: the scaled down (76%) F-11D! I was able to conquer white ABS, so the entire blaster is ABS printed. I used Germain's amazing files and instruction guide for assembly. I am so impressed by all the details that he put into the PDF assembly guide. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, go give it a look. It makes putting this blaster together completely effortless. I've thanked him privately, but I'll also thank him here, too- because he deserves it! Germain, THANK YOU for such detailed files that print like a dream, and clear, detailed instruction guide for it all. You ROCK! Because the blaster is reduced in size, I am using smaller hex button screws for the build. Fortunately, all I needed to do was go one size down for everything. So if the blaster needs an M3 screw, an M2 fits perfectly on this blaster. And I had to use shorter screws, but that was an easy thing to do since I own a decent assortment of small black hex button screws. Here are the first semi-assembled parts. So fun to see this come together! My son is super excited to help me finish it. Hoping to knock out some sanding/priming of the armor this weekend. Fingers crossed for good weather!

BELT ASSEMBLY So after preparing the boxes and pouches, it is time to put everything together. Darren's (JAFO) Belts of the First Order kit is what I used, and it is an awesome high quality kit. No doubt about that! First, I test fitted the belt with my Abdomen, Cod and Posterior pieces on to determine the length of belt that I need. Do not just use your waist size as the ABS add a significant amount of length. I also took the fitting to determine the 2 snaps positions. Then, I sewed the female clip and attached the 2 snaps. Next, I measured the lengths and glued the middle foam and outer rubber layers together. I glued them in an oval shape to conform to the shape of my torso. You will also notice that by doing that, you will need more material for the foam layer, and even more for the rubber layer as they "travel" a longer distance around the oval. If you glued them flat, you will later realise that you cannot bend them around your waist without stressing and possibly creasing the foam and webbing layer. Finally, all 3 layers are glued together. Next, I proceeded to determine the front centre of the belt and punched holes through all 3 layers so I can fix the 2 horizontal boxes. This is where Empire3D's resin boxes and especially their curved backing really comes into play and rests on the belt perfectly. I also secured the end of the belt with 2 chicago screws through all 3 layers. This is how it looks from the inside. Next, I measured where the 2 drop boxes will be, threaded the rubber cord through their holes and corresponding to the belt, and knotted it up. I used the cords method for these 2 boxes as it will allow more play if I raise my thighs or bend my body, so the boxes will flex and not stress against the belt. Remember that the top of the 2 drop boxes sit lower than the 2 horizontal boxes. Finally, the belt is complete, and everything sits perfectly, even though this photo doesn't seem it. You'll see it later on when I take photos suited up.

You really shoulden’t have any foam. Idealy you would just be able to squezze your hand through the wrist opening. The maker if the armor (for the movie) had envisoned it to look as it had grown onto the body, keeping it form-fitting is the way to go for that iconic Stormtrooper-look

If you can build armour to the level you have been , you will smash this out easily. Looking forward to seeing the progress on these blasters Chris, you got this.

After waiting since the end of October.. my little brown box finally arrived! I got these from 3D-Props: *DIY Standard F-11D (TLJ Version) + LED + BlastFX *M300 Scout Light *DIY SE-44C Blaster Pistol The print quality is pretty decent from what I can tell. Definitely not paint ready like one company I have seen, but the parts themselves are pretty thick and sturdy. A huge step above my shield parts I had to work with. The SE-44C seems pretty straightforward. Just a few little parts to complete the assembly. The F-11D has quite a few small parts. But again, good prints with tight fitting pieces and nice tolerances. Just a bit of sanding and some cleanup to do. I didn’t receive any instructions and there aren’t any build groups or threads that I’ve found yet. A little unsure where everything goes, especially having all of the electronics to install, but as the armor has taught me.. finding out is part of the fun! Should make some progress on these by the weekend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congratulations Daniel welcome to the ranks

Congrats man! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congratulations Welcome to the Legion

Excellent news Daniel, congratulations and welcome to the legion.

Congratulations on your approval! Welcome to our ranks

Wow. That's outstanding! What a wonderful little man you have there. I can't wait to see the photos of him with his new armour.

Great story! Loving the build too Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

***Update, not what I used.....*** Allow me to answer in the form of a photo haha Rust-oleum Satin black for the underarm connectors and barrel side stripes, Gloss Brilliant Blue for the ab buttons and tube vents, Gloss Smoke Grey for the ab buttons, frown and traps, and PlastiDip matte rubbery black for the vocoder, brow trim, and neck seal trim. I also have a fine tipped black paint pen for the trap and tear vent vertical lines and outlines - I don't plan on cutting them out. I plan to paint the whole helmet gloss white after primer, then mask and spray the grey and black, then hit the whole thing with 2K clear, then finally the Plastidip last. Unsure quite how I'm gonna do the tube vents, but I'll probably just spray a thin piece of plastic blue, then tape it in from underneath. Are those colors "correct"? I don't know! But that's what I'm using, so I hope that helps! Get ready for lots of sanding haha Hit me up with any questions!

Added some metallic paint to the tips and the shield is now complete. Happy with how it turned out considering what I had to work with and it being my first time working on something like this. And just in time, my blasters will be here Wednesday! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Alright, time for another update. It's been pretty rainy here in Southern California for the last couple weeks, and being immuno-compromised with all this COVID stuff, I've been stuck at home almost 100% of the time. So wanting to work on armor, but weather not permitting and not having some supplies has made for a frustrating few weeks! Nonetheless, I have made a bit of progress. The barrel has finally been sanded and moved to its second coat of primer (it has more ridged details than any other panel so I've admittedly been avoiding it...) Got the helmet on its second coat as well - it wasn't rough enough to need filler primer, so I did a coat of 2x flat white primer first, then gray Sandable, then it'll get flat white again. With Covid lockdown, I can't have my paint guy do it after all, so it's on me. It'll be a challenge! More on this in my next post. The helmet is really a beautiful casting and didn't need tootoo much cleanup. I'm glad I added resin to it tho - it is light, but I worried about its strength. I also lowered the brow trim with a file a bit, if you notice. Debating doing more... Speaking of which... if you haven't caught on to my perfectionist yet rattle-can paint technique yet, I'll explain it a bit more below. Work left-to-right, as needed, for each panel: Step 1: Every panel gets a rub down on both sides with some wet/dry 100grit just to literally clean them up and remove any mold release/wax/residue/loose glass strands whatever. Step 2: Rough panels get a coat of light grey filler primer - this stuff sprays pretty chunky but does a great job of filling any pinholes and is pretty high-build to give an idea of any larger low/high areas on the panels (ie, the inside of the thighs were real bad, same as Jeff's), but sucks to sand. Step 3: Sand with like a 200grit block. Step 4: Mark with a pencil any pinholes/chips/whatever and fill with body filler, then sand with a 400block. Step 5: Spray with dark grey Filler primer - it also will fill any leftover pinholes. The alternating light/dark primer colors reallyreally helps you see when you've sanded through one layer and into the next, as well as makes any small imperfections "pop" and be much more visible, and easier to fix. Step 6: Sand with like 4-600grit. Step 7: Spray with medium grey primer - most panels only needed two colored primer coats before white, but I used a 3rd on any rough ones. More body filler as needed after it dries. Step 8: Sand with 4-600grit. Step 9: Spray entire panel, front and back, with flat white primer - by now, any pinholes or imperfections should be filled - if not, you'll really see them with the contrast of the white and can fix them. Step 10: Wet sand Step 11: Mask flat backsides of panels and spray with Gloss White. Step 12: Wet sand to level any orange peel. Be careful not to actually remove any of the white, exposing darker bottom layers, just level it. Step 13: Spray with 2K Gloss Clear (as many coats as you can afford haha) Step 14: Wet sand/polish as needed. Yea it's not fun. My arm hurts from sanding, but damn is it gonna look good (I hope!) haha As for the helmet, I always like spraying my interiors black, so I did - using Rust-oleum truck bedliner. It has a nice texture and I'd like to think it gives the helmet like 0.01% extra impact strength. The helmet also received two additional layers of resin, so it's MUCH stronger than previously, especially in the dome, and I feel a thousand times better about it. It was pretty thin in a few spots before... I masked the eyes with tape and neck trim area with a garbage bag and sprayed a coat of sandable primer just for good measure after scuffing the interior resin with 100grit. I then put a bit of Bondo on a few low spots and sanded the filler once with 200 to even it out a bit and help the bed liner stick. The interior doesn't need to be anywhere near smooth, but I figured it couldn't hurt and would level some of the glaring imperfections. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it looks great with the black interior. I'll paint in around the eyes after I cut the tube stripe vents out, which I also started. Holy heck is this gonna be a pain with just a drill and jeweler's files, unless I find a better bit that fits for my Dremel... Not doing the cheek or rear traps forsure. As for the rest of the armor, it all finally got a coat of resin on the backside, so it's ready for more painting and sanding. I made decent progress on the thighs, biceps, and accessories (which are now in flat white primer), but the forearms and shins are still on their first coat of filler and are the furthest behind. I'll be working on them this week, weather permitting. The remainder of the armor is near the end though - I began masking the backsides of any of the panels that were ready for final gloss and clear. I'd like to keep the backside of the panels flat white. My goal is to get EVERYTHING done in white gloss, wet sanded, and masked before I spray the clear all at once. 2K is excellent and will hopefully give me a strong, durable, automotive-quality finish, but being 2-part in nature, I will have 48 hours MAX to use an entire activated can. And at about $20USD a can, I don't want to waste any. I've been working in stages on most of this stuff, but it will all get clear at once! I'll probably try to do all the armor with my first can, then the helmet and an additional coat on everything else with the second can. From there, strapping and fitting should come together pretty quick, I hope - I have most of it together already. I'll be using Velcro on most of the suit to allow it to be easily adjustable, then I'll likely switch to snaps down the line (it's a specialty of mine haha), once I know I have the suit fitting well. On the health front, I had great PET scan results come back and my cancer is no longer showing as "active" on the scans. I got cleared to do 4 weeks of radiation treatment starting next week, and then should be done with this cancer nonsense by summer if all goes well. Fatigue is the major side-effect of radiation, as opposed to the nausea of chemo, so we'll see how it plays out and affects my progress on the armor. Priorities tho. That's it for now! Thanks for reading.

Very inspiring Christine, thanks for sharing

That is simply awesome, you must be very proud.. outstanding gesture, can't wait to see your little trooper in his new armour...[emoji106] Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

Outstanding! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very inspiring and generous, well done

Wow... In these uncertain times uplifting stories like this are just what we need, Cricket. Your son's generosity and spirit are quite simply amazing to say the least, and I think I can speak for us all when I say that we are as proud of him as you are. Kudos to you for raising such a noble young man, and my very best to you, your son and Jimmy. Thank you for sharing this with us! Smiles like this are what we are all about.

Wow! Your son truly embodies Troopers helping Troopers. Please give him my best

6. Torso shaping (using a heat gun) The Torso really is the scariest part of the build for me, as I know I need to make quite a bit of size and shape adjustments to the torso. I taped together the torso as it came out of the box on me… well nothing fits. Everything was too wide. After reading on this forum as well as asking around, generally people shaped their armour using either a hot water bath or using a heatgun. The idea of a heat gun scared me as I have seen horror stories of warped armour and the anovos it is already quite a bit thinner than many other kits. So I’ve decided to start by try using the hot water technique first on some spare abs from the trimming process. Personally, I found the hot water method only works when it is right after boiling, any cooler and the abs wouldn’t budge. While it worked with smaller pieces, I realized that I couldn’t boil enough water to get it hot enough to us on large pieces such as the chest and abs… so on to heat gun I go. Heat gunning my armour: The best method I’ve found with using the heat gun without warping armour can be summed in two words…GO SLOW! I would put the heat gun on low, and move it in sweeping motions around the area that I want shape with one hand, while bending the armour to the desired shape with my other hand, usually with the help of my legs holding the armour in place. As soon as I felt the armour that I am bending is loosing a little bit of “spring” I immediately remove the heat. Then I use both hands on the heated area to keep the plastic at the desired shape as it cools. The plastic should never be too hot to touch, as that I find is too hot. The plastic may not bend enough the first time, but go slow and repeat. The key I find is to never hold to heat gun in one place, as well as to remove the heat as soon as the plastic starts to give. According to abs expert Pandatrooper, abs only have a few second in the workable range, between not bending to being too hot and warping. Think twice heat once! After practicing on the few spare abs pieces, I found the technique quite easy, as was able to get all my torso shaping done in around a hour. Here’s what I did. Chest: -Slightly bring down the shoulder tabs to shorten top of the chest piece. -bring in the “wing” on the side to reduce width Back: -Slightly straighten the shoulder tabs. ^I found that the back armour is the only piece that I had to LENGTHEN. For whatever reason, the Anovos kit comes with the back shoulder tabs pretty much at a 90 degree angle. This would leave around a half of inch of gap between my back and kidney armour. I slightly straightened my shoulder tabs to around 60 degree angle. Kidney: -bring in the sides Ab+cod: -bring in the sides Posterior (butt J): -bring in the sides -bring up the bottom ^brining up the bottom helped me to shorten the length of the butt armour, as well as to help shape it to my more “rounded” shaped butt. To be continued.