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Alrighty, I've adjusted the vocoder and it's looking better now - might need to thin the second strip. I attempted to clean up the teeth, but I think the paint needs to cure a little more. I'll work on this again tomorrow, then apply another coat of paint once everything is cleaned up and meets CRL.

That's memorable! Yeeesh careful with props.... and giving them to people I accidentally broke a Final Fantasy cosplayer's giant sword at Fanime once. As an adult looking back, he totally deserved it though. [was my first Fanime Con, and I had lost my friends and family. This guy was hardcore hitting on me (though I had no idea at the time), while I was admiring his cosplay. He gave me the sword and attempted to "show" me how to "swing" it by basically wrapping himself around me, which startled me. Between that and it being super heavy for me, I fell off a step and dropped it. As I'm freaking out and bruised, and the dude looks pissed, my older brother finally spots me and runs over. Big bro scoops me up to calm me down while my dad goes to talk to the cosplayer about paying him back. But then my dad basically like "ok if you need it repaired I'll pay for it, but if it was so expensive then did you give it to a 12 year old?". Dude suddenly realizes that he'd been flirting with a tall child and not a little woman, and basically high tailed it out of there. For context, both my teenage brother and my dad were both over 6'3"]

Hey folks, First post here on FISD and I'm excited to announce this is my first every 501st build! I'm building a TK Stunt with my sights set on Centurion certification. May as well gun for the top from the get-go! I'm from Melbourne, Australia, and looking to join the Nightfall Garrison here. The folks there have already helped me this far, but now I'm inviting the larger community for your opinions and help. I actually ordered my armour in February, but the pandemic has played all sorts of havoc worldwide and I received my trimmed kit from AP only a few weeks back. I may not make the first 1000 (maybe I'll be 1001!), but I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun regardless. This delay also meant I've had a stack of time to research builds and acquire tools and mods to get me to Centurion. Thanks in advance for all your help. Kit details: TK Armour: AP (Mr No Stripes brackets) Helmet: AP S-trim: Trooperbay Visor: Trooperbay HOVI Tips: Ukswrath speakers Helmet VOX: iComm or Arduino (See: Arduino Based Voice Changer thread) Neck seal: Darman's Props Belt: Canvas (AP) Centurion completion kit (Joseph) Gloves: Ansell Heavy Duty Hand guards: Latex (Joesph) Boots: Imperial Boots Undersuit: Extreme Racing E-11 Blaster: Premier Props BBB Day! The trimmed kit I've actually begun the build on small pieces first, to build up my skill and courage to move onto the larger pieces. I'll post progress pics below.

I’ve always been a Star Wars fan ever since that summer in 1977 when I saw ANH in the theater with my family. I was nine years old. I can still vaguely remember talking to my younger brother in the back seat of the car after the movie about how neat the “guys in white” were! I was hooked! 43 years later, I’m still fascinated by the Star Wars universe, the great story and the rich imaginations of the creators of the characters, the ships and their interactions. To me, the series universe goes unrivaled in the science fiction world! I’ve always had an interest in development of a quality set of armor (I know COSTUME isn’t the preferred term) and I’m certainly not getting any younger, so why the heck not? Another strong reason why I want to peruse this endeavor is a personal incentive to loose some weight and become become healthier! I’m 52, just under 6 feet tall and around the beginning of March of this year I weighed about 286 lbs. and am of pretty stocky build. About eight weeks ago, I began a physician assisted weight loss program And have lost about 18 pounds so far! I’m proud of my efforts and am sticking to my program faithfully. My blood pressure is down and my diabetic blood sugar numbers are better than they’ve been in a long time. I certainly feel better. I am committed to becoming an Imperial Stormtrooper one day soon, but REFUSE to be a FAT one! I have more respect for the character than that. I suppose I could just be an X-Wing pilot (Porkins, Ha!) until then. But, I’m committed to get to around 200-210 at least, but I’ll never be a screen actor sized 176 lb stormtrooper! I’m a general dentist from Lubbock, TX and have been in practicing for 19 years. Three of those years was on active duty USAF (dental corps) and also deployment in 2003 for the air campaign of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am proud of my military background and experience with them. I have also been an active radio controlled scale modeler since high school. I build and fly RC Jets and WWII scale planes as my passion for that hobby. With my hand skills and eye for details as both a dentist and long-time modeler, I am very confident in my capabilities in assembling my own armor sets from vacu-formed pulls and fitting parts to my frame. I have already seen many online videos about kit assembly and expected quality for upper level acceptance and approval to 501st and FISD levels. I just need detailed photos and I can “make it look like that.” I am also very interested in 3D printing accessories as well, but am a complete novice at that. Please accept my interest and goals of becoming a proud and active member in time. Looks like I have a lot of work to do! Bryan

Hats off for that and a big welcome to the FISD community.

In all reality it's not hard to do. Having the cover strip more vertical is important in my book, not to mention your/our GML will defiantly see it and possibly say something about it

For me personally, I would cut the rear cover strip off. Trim the inner and outer thigh sides accordingly leaving enough room on the outer side to glue the cover strip back on. Sand the cover strip down so it's not too thick (if necessary) then glue it like a typical OTTK assembly. Afterwards velcro the inner seam to make it functional.

couple of nice hengstler counter ive found................. notice one has the side screw

OP 1 ON THE 4TH AXIS CNC HAAS gets the profile cut ,,, next is the lathe op the part it off.. the stock hook is functional part of my e11 replica and works exactly like the real sterling

Hehe. That’s nice to hear. Yeah - it’s a brilliant tool. I did SO much of my build with it. :-)

I think I bought that Dremel bit because of your DD build thread, Dan @CableGuy - either your's or your fellow UKG'er Themaninthesuitcase's build.

Hi Wayne, first of all, welcome aboard from my side as well! To answer your question: if you want to have a costume approved by the 501st, no weapons are needed. For some costumes, you have higher costume reference levels that require weapons and also some necessary greeblies/attachments on them (e. g. the E-11 blaster for Level 2 and 3 approval of the Stormtrooper). Concerning the blaster themselves - you can 3d print (pretty much all of them with the right files), you can get resin casts of some (DC-17 clone sidearms, E-11), or you can buy a toy blaster, sand them, paint them and add some stuff. It's all up to you, really. I personally liked the idea of having some weight in my hand, so went for a resin E-11 build which looks awesome and is certainly heavier than a 3d print, but after some time trooping, it does wear out your arms quite a bit. So for my next costume, (a clone commander), I decided to just go for 3d prints for all his guns. Look at the builds, look at the files, do some test prints, and most importantly, if you have any questions, HIT US! ;) Best wishes from Germany, Freddy

Ok, will do. Thanks again. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

"This is not how I thought this day was gonna' go" -- Han Solo Learning indeed. It is both a bummer and a relief to pack up the garage workspace I've been working in over the past 4 weeks. Phasma is packed and ready for a Las Vegas getaway. My Mrs has decided she'll make the drive. Sort of a 'ladies night' lol. She gets a few days to herself and I don't have to pay shipping. Deal. I'll be signing off from my work till about late October when I can crack open a shiny box of goodies. Tomorrow will be a test fitting for the cape! I still have the notes coming up, and a WIP of the gel coat and stripe. Still plenty of fun to be had. The last thing I have to do is treat the waste water for disposal. Another hidden side quest of a chemical chrome process. Would I recommend this method to anyone? No. Not at all. Not at this scale and not with the resources I have on hand. We all know that having the right tools to do the job will make or break a project. I've worked on a number of projects in the past and I've learned to get the tools to do the job right and not to cut corners. I felt I knocked out the prep and even took on resizing fiberglass, which was probably the highlight of this build for me. Well, working this kit was an undertaking and I really, really wanted to chrome it myself. Alas, I don't have the right tools to do this job and I'm not going to cut corners. I gave it a shot, encountered problems, found the answers, and drew my conclusions. Cape, await Phasma's return, weather the kit, strap in, and suit up. Huzzah. PS: I'm not sending my blaster rifle to get professionally done. It's a 3D print that I'm not totally crazy about and I don't want to hassle the guy with having to deal with it. SO, I'll use this as an opportunity for a test: I'm going to black gloss the blaster, use what Spaztix I have remaining, and top coat it with Uni-Coat. This will do two things: Answer my question of protecting an aerosol spray chrome finish, and test the durability of a professional job compared to the wear and tear on a painted piece.

We are always learning, it's just a pain when there is a large cost involved, well done with sticking with it

Posting this to make me feel better. I found a glass cup that was going to be thrown out, so I chromed it to ensure that I'm taking the proper steps. I did the process so many times I just slammed through this in like 10 minutes. If my costume were made of glass, this would have been a cake walk.

Thank you! I think I mistakenly looked at a paint guide for the ANH Hero, instead of Stunt. I'll double-check in future. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Welcome!

Nice work

When in doubt always check the gallery section, lots of great references can be found there https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/category/24-anh-tk-reference/

Hello and welcome aboard

Hi Mark, here a couple of reference images that may be helpful. Keep on doing a great work.

You are "real stormtroopers" Just because you aren't on screen doesn't mean any different in my mind. When some of you guys know more than what the film-makers do, that says something. Ability to walk on set and be ready to go says it all in my mind as far as 'reality'. Difference is film-makers do this on a huge budget to make their stormtroopers, you guys do it all yourselves without that budget of millions. I'd say that's real to me. -Wayne.

Hiya, For the ejection port and the area where the spring would be visible, I’d suggest marking the area with a pencil and curing with a Dremel (rotary tool). I found the below some of the most useful tools for my blaster build; Cutting disk; And this one, whatever it’s name is. ;-£

Hey trooper, Neat work so far - well done. [emoji1303] For the vocoder, I’ll like a thread I put together a while back; https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/48252-anh-tk-vocoder-examples/ As per the thread, the vast majority of ANH stunt stormtroopers has the “fuller” vocoder paint. As such, I’d consider extending your 2nd and 6th bars; Approximate example below: For the frown, recent changes to the CRL ask that frown paint does not leave the teeth area. As such, you might consider bringing the paint back a touch in certain areas. Appropriate example below; Keep up the good work. :-) Dan

Appears it's common with AP, here's a Centurion passed set which look the same as you have, you should be good to go

I have a question about my drop boxes: the inner drop boxes do not fit snugly inside the outer drop boxes. Is this something to worry about? Or, can I hit them with the heat gun and massage them out a little to fit more snug?

I've begun slowly building my helmet so I can get each step right before final assembly and painting. So far I've sprayed the interior with Plasti Dip and fixed the helmet suspender clips. I'll then line it with black Neoprene foam and glue in velcro to hold the electronics. It's truly an act of Zen to tape up and spray these pieces. Next I'll clean up the eye holes and teeth, then begin positioning.

The first piece I built was the Thermal Detonator. After digging around the FISD, I found dimensions and details (Billgrams!), then followed Ukswrath's build advice. Here's the tube after taping and spraying. And here's the finished TD.

made some more e11 cap latches for the alum replicas

Outstand work on the BS Mod. Looking forward to the armor build.