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Oh no you guys are great. Keeping me straight. I was being facetiously pouty. Sorry if I came across a different way. Typing words far easier to misinterpret than speech. Thank you all

You got it Daniel! @SyntaxerrorRichard - please be aware that your build thread is now in the ANH Build section.

Hi all! So, I have ordered my TK kit and am now patiently waiting, (sort of), for the BBB day. Lots of pictures will indeed be posted. I have ultimately gone with 2mm ABS capped for my first kit. There were so many good vendor recommendations from here, the Irish forum as well as here as well as individuals I reached out to,, but ultimately went with Ross @ RWA. Absolutely first class when it came to answering stupid questions from a new recruit . I have also gone with a commission from another 501st colleague based on recommendation. I would not have confidence in myself, well, not screwing it up! There are some pieces I aim to either mod/build myself to polish off the kit once its here, but first and formost, I think I should start gathering the soft pieces. In terms of under suit, I assume that any copression wear would suffice, provided no logos or coloured stitching are on show? Thouhgts on either? Under Suit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07F63KF41/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A9S56BTL94S55&psc=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/LANBAOSI-Running-Leggings-Compression-Underwear/dp/B07W932KR6/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=mens%2Bcompression%2Bsuit%2Btop%2Bblack%2Blong%2Bsleeve&qid=1607257187&sr=8-7&th=1&psc=1

Many don't heat the armor before drilling, if you go slow and not too much pressure you should be fine drilling the holes, having a support piece of plastic glued behind can help stop cracking. Many of us use E6000 so we don't have issues with the armor, although a I recall a few people have had issues with nickel plated snaps and E6000, I myself have never had any distortion using E6000 and any brand of snap I have purchased With anything it's always best to trial first, glues or heat you need to have a little experience before attacking the armor straight on

Silly brackets. There has to be a superior way other than risking your armor. I mean Glen suggested doubling up with snaps & bracketing. But honestly it would seem that snaps alone would be preferable with glued on cloth/elastics inner snaps. As long as you were cautious with glues that wouldn't eat at the armor.

I've always been interested in injection molding and vacuuforming, recently emphasis on the latter. But both fascinate me as, if there were home/workshop versions creativity is endless. My costume is PVC but I'd be very wary of heating it up as that could (as in the case with hot tub bending) it can also affect the mold itself but yea it becomes softer and less prone to cracks or stress fractures. But as you wear the costume, bend and the like I think that's when it's crucial there is a good joint. But you know more about plastic properties than I, which reminds me I do need to pick up some metric drill bits as I have absolutely none. Not sure if Menards or Lowes carries them as I've never had a need for metric other than wrenches or sockets.

So in pulling my ammo knee both sides I marked where hole would be. Making sure both sides are even with each other.

Yea I did double it over its nice and thick and sturdy.

Hehe. No worries. Glad to hear we’re coming across as helpful. [emoji1303][emoji1303][emoji23]

I have two either end of the shoulder bell to shoulder strap elastic, also two on the front and rear of the shoulder straps chest/backplate. Although these are not a requirement they do take a lot of strain, one snap each end is perfectly fine for approval though. If you also double over the elastic it will give you a nice strong strap which shouldn't pull sideways much

I would advise double snaps on the shoulder straps and to shoulder bells, I've lost a couple over the years and having a spare there has saved me from missing out on a troop

Double up for strength. Shoulder bell strap in the making.

Great choice going with RWA and for starting a build thread I´ll get a Staff member to move it to the right section @starsaber25 Steve, could you do the honors?

Thanks everyone!

Your 45 degree angles are spot-on and it looks like you are in fine shape.. You may want to think about removing the drop-box elastic and starting over... not as difficult as you may think. Since the elastic is not seen in the back you can get creative, and they don't have to be on a loop around the canvas belt. On my second build I had this issue and I just glued (E-6000) a strip of elastic to the back of the box and then directly to the canvas belt in the proper position. Done deal. A few more suggestions: I would take at least this much off. Leaving this much on may cause the bottom of the chest to stick out. A few reference images As I mentioned, some troopers like the thicker look of partially removed return edges, no biggie, but some more trimming would be in order in my humble opinion.

That’s for the sides (against your picture of the side of your back plate). ;-) Here’s the bottom edge of the back plate on the original RS Suit; If ever in doubt, check out the gallery - there are two excellent folders with pictures of nearly every part of the RS suit. :-) https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/category/24-anh-tk-reference/

Hi Richard. Welcome aboard brother.

I get a MILLION pings every Monday asking if I have seen the latest episode yet. Sometimes even on Friday I'll get pings. I literally have to leave my status as "Mandalorian on Monday's, please don't ask or spoil me" *** it's traditional for me to watch it with my older brother, and he works weekends. I'm really getting annoyed with people who can't seem to wait a weekend before posting spoilers... my brother can easily avoid it because, well, he's a nurse so after work he just basically drops dead after his shift.

I did watch the latest episode and the same thought entered my mind lol! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Richard, welcome aboard.

I see you asked back in Feb about a Paldron with this costume! have you watched the latest episode of the Mandalorion? your wish may soon be granted lol.

Another small update: Got the uppers sorted out. The shoulders are on nylon strips velcroed to the shoulder bell and yoke. The chest is wrapped around my neck and clipped at the rear. I explored other ideas for attaching this, but didn't want to commit to any one way. The cape and helmet will easily cover this attachment method. I'll likely add velcro/nylon tabs to the sides where the back and front align. The abdomen corset is giving me a hard time on the way the chest sits. The upper armor overlaps the corset, but causes additional strain to how it sits, so I might need to revisit a way to secure the shape. I've found the chest tends to raise up if it doesn't sit right. Been procrastinating on the shins, but they're up next.

Hey there and welcome to the FISD! Enjoy your time here and have fun!

Hello and welcome aboard, here is a great thread you may find useful. Good luck and hope to see a build thread from you soono

Welcome to FISD Looking forward seeing your build

Due to changing time commitments, our former detachment executive officer @justjoseph63 has asked to step down from his position. He has graciously offered to continue helping the Deployment Officer team with the Expert Infantry / Centurion programs. Please accompany me in extending the deepest FISD thanks for all of his amazing efforts throughout the year as executive officer. Without his help many of our programs, updates, and merchandise would not have been able to launch! Joseph, you're an absolute gem to work with and FISD is lucky to have you. You're the embodiment of troopers helping troopers I am pleased to announce that the vacancy position will be filled by our very own Brien, aka @Harbinger. Brien has been doing a knock out job as our Merchandise and Branding Officer and has shown quite the knack for organizational skills. Please join me in giving him a big FISD welcome as our new detachment executive officer

BEAutiful!

To tighten up the top portion of the right bicep I pivoted pieces together leaving the bottom edges with no overlap. I think i have a good fit now but I'll wait until i have the torso pieces on before doing the final cuts. I'll trim down the left bicep so it's a bit larger than the right so it will be easier to tape together. Right now its really unwieldy with all of that extra ABS. I added blue tape to mark the center of the inner pieces to help on alignment. This is both sides of the right. And the ends of the right.

Here's Tony's build for comparison

Hi Mark, and thank you for your EIB application! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required photos have been submitted, and on behalf of the entire D.O. staff we are pleased to welcome you to the rank of Expert Infantry. Congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly; In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armour. Note that we consider both text (CRL) and pictures (screen caps/reference images) when reviewing submissions. *************************************************** I followed your Building Thread till your pre approval submission and let me say you did an awesome work with your build . Let's start with the Helmet. We are suggesting to clean up a bit your vocoder to reflect the more accuracy the the screen used helmet. This is an easy fix ! Reference Images *************************************************** Centurion Requirements; In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here and additional photos may be required. We try to point out all that we can from what we see, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. This could be just a dressing issue or a hot bath need, but your left shoulder bridge seems is not quite centered to the backplate, also there is a little "curl" of elastic showing, just something to consider every time you suit up. . Reference Images CRL L3: Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor. Abdominal and Kidney Plate align horizontally at top Looking closely to your ab to kidney connection, we noticed that the kidney plate protrudes a bit from the ab plate and causes a noticeable gap on the left side, this could be just a simple strapping adjustment. Reference Images CRl L3: The top of the ABS ammo belt should sit at or just above the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. It would be necessary to raise your AB belt a bit to achieve the L3 requirement , in your case it seems that you already have a Velcro piece on the abdominal plate so it is easy to adjust. Reference Images Finally , your E11 Blaster. Your your cocking lever is silver color and these are normally black , a little silver (weathering) is ok, as you can see in the reference images. Just a simple detail and easy to fix in a quick painting session. Reference Images Congratulations again and looking forward for your Centurion submission soon. Well done Trooper !!! ***************************************************

Quick update: Everything, including the helmet, blaster rifle, and cape, live comfortably in the Husky bin, with individual pieces wrapped in cotton bags. Huzzah. To get started, I filled in the black bits on various parts with a matte black enamel. Same stuff I've been using on the helmet. Its a nice flat black that pools and settles cleanly without much for brush strokes. Here's a before and after of the primary helmet: Everything got its Elmer's glue and paint makeover, which is a bit of black paint in a puddle of glue, mixed to the darkness of preference. The glue mixture can be applied in blotches with more paint for a darker application, or dabbed/dry brushed for a foggy effect. I feel much more confident handling this newly dirtied set of armor. It's a relief actually. I was always looking at any irregularity, smudge, or fresh scratch, as minor as they were with intense scrutiny. But now I like it. It will come off with a wet wipe or a damp cloth. A photo shoot in the rain would be awesome, but also awful. The main goal was consistency across the costume, while having pockets of clean chrome for pizzazz. It's dirty enough to be seen from like 6 feet, but at 10 feet it nicely subdues the bright chrome. The beacon of light it could have been would have been fun, but I like the peace of mind heh. We kind of forced a test fitting to get some cape measurements. Also decided how to strap the chest plate down. Still need to set up the shin and boot rig. The cape is weird. It felt heavier, or at least bulkier before I added the gloss coat gel. Now its wispier and not as flowy. It might need some massaging to jog its memory of how to be a cape. Now I'm lazy because it's so close and conveniently packed into a kit box. Still got that TFA anniversary target, so I have that going for me.

Not much here, but I got the gloves and gauntlets sorted out: I was going to glue these to the gloves, but it wasn't going as planned, so I went with velcro tabs in the fingers and knuckles. It works; when I curl my hands it pushes on the velcro. Speaking of velcro, I ran velcro tabs along the gauntlets and they can slip on and off. A downside to this set up is the abs gauntlet is thin and feels like it could tear if yanking at the velcro a lot. Once sized, it should cling to the gasket at my elbow. Test fits felt good! Next up is the shoulder gasket and shoulder rig.

Screwed down the cod plate nylon to the rubber belt to the front belt boxes. Kablam. The right hip boxes are screwed down similarly and the cloth pouches move freely to hide the buckle that closes on the left hip. Posterior is velcroed to the belt for placement. Next up is to attach the drop strap to the thighs. Finished up the cape gel coat and put a few layers of red paint. 3 parts gel to 1 part black paint, mixed and applied with a brush. You can see the before and after on the fabric. Splattered a bit of the gloppy goop for effect. Took a swipe at the red stripe. May do another layer. Pockets and straps are coated! I think all the pieces can come together soon.