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They look ok . Good work. For higher levels "Any mobility cuts on the back do not extend beyond the top of the raised ridge." By the way, Try using a photo host like Imgur to post your photos into the thread without no space limit.

I modeled and 3D printed a lightsaber based on Narsil from Lord of the Rings. The design is based on Jake Bartok’s (IG @jakebartok) artwork, and Tehran Props (IG @tethan_props_) adaptation of it, but I wanted one to use the Savi lightsaber chassis from Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge, so I designed one for myself. All the original features of the Savi lightsaber remain unchanged including interchangeable kyber crystals, sounds, and galaxy’s edge blades. Hope you enjoy it!

Adam's straps are made from lower stretch, non-knit elastic. They were also doubled over & have ABS panels sandwiched in between the straps where the snaps were installed for reinforcement. The snaps are inset toward the neck and slightly forward to keep the bells pulled "up" as far as possible and for natural frontward rotation (as much as is possible anyway with the small AP shoulder bells). This is a great solution for off the shelf, readily available elastic strapping that has some slight pull away from the shoulders.

Note there is tighter/thicker elastic available which reduces the amount the elastic is pulled, some double over the standard elastic for a little more strength. Also if you have your center snaps further towards the front it does help the shoulder bells rotate in towards the front after moving your arms

Very cool mod to your shoulder elastic! Did you actually use velcro, or is it actually just a piece of nylon strapping? Either way, basically it's simply providing structure, correct? But the rest of the white elastic still maintains some flex. When I first started reading I thought you were going to employ something similar to the metal pieces that ROTK and Shoretroopers use in their shoulder connections. Additionally, that's an insane amount of snaps in your bells; definitely a record of some sort. So you have your snaps and I have my thermal detonators. (By the way, did you get your 68mm TD yet?)

Very nice!!!

This fix was prompted by an FISD facebook post. Note my shoulder. The elastic is pulling away a little. It's not bad, but not ideal. I don't mind the gap so much, but I do mind the white elastic peeking out. Trooper A.T. Nguyen posted a fix involving some velcro sewn into the elastic shoulder bridge on the inboard side. So I replicated it. Look at this result!! I could not even dream of this shoulder alignment previously. You can see the elastic, but it's not pulling out. Just epic alignment. This is what I did. Note the new strapping on the inboard edges of the shoulder elastic. It's completely hidden by the ABS bridges, so no black to be seen. Very noobishly sewn in by hand. I also E6000'd the void areas. It's STRONG. The enforcement on this elastic gives enough strength for the shoulder to be up where it's supposed to be all by itself. No armor adjustment needed. It just stays magically in the ideal spot and always looks Centurion-quality. I'm super chuffed about this upgrade. I also upgraded my top shoulder bell straps. Now it's held onto the bells by FOUR snaps each. I made some L shaped straps and redid the snap plates glued to the bells. The new snaps live on the front edge to resist coming free when I reach across my body. Why would I do this? I was pulling the shoulder bell straps off while suiting up. Attaching the right side would make the left come unsnapped due to how I contort my shoulders. With the 4 snaps, nothing moves or unsnaps at all. I'm on 3 troops with this mega-snap setup and have had zero problems kitting up by myself. It's fantastic. Also... I may have more snaps than shoulder bell now.

Bowcaster upper mounts

Sebastian, Having your armor painted professionally is a great option, but there's pros and cons you need to consider. First, Jim's fiberglass is incredibly easy to finish and paint. The pulls do have their flaws, but it's nothing extraordinary and stuff that's common to fiberglass, i.e. pinholes. Honestly, all it takes to prepare an excellent surface is a small tube of glaze and spot putty and a can of sandable primer. Trust me, trimming the armor is way more difficult than painting this kit. Next, if you get the kit painted professionally, they will use a 2k (2 component) paint. This is great because the paint has a hardened finish and isn't prone to damaging the same as 1k rattle can. The paint job always looks superior and holds up incredibly well to the bumping and banging we're all prone to. Think about how durable a car finish is. The problem is repairing the paint when it does get damaged. Think about the touch up kits they sell at Autozone; the paint might be the same color, but it never has the same finish and touch ups stick out. Fixing professional paint jobs typically takes a professional painter. Now, I say this knowing that I am planning on painting my own armor with 2k paint. Several of us have done this and I think most people are pleased with the results. However there's another option that provides you the ease of rattle can painting with the durability of a 2k finish and that's simply using a 2K clear. You can actually paint your armor with Rustoleum, Dupli Color etc. then grab a can of Spray Max or Eastwood 2k clear and give it a phenomenal finish. Here's a great video showing how this is done. This video has some great prep instructions, but if you don't want to watch that, just fast forward to 8:36. Also, you can ignore the part where he tests the Dupli-Color clear, the 2K Clear part starts at 15:42. Justin @TheRascalKing painted his armor similarly using Rustoleum 2X paint and Spray Max 2k clear. The Spray Max clear is incredible and while I try not to "endorse" any specific product, it costs about $10 per can less than the Eastwood and I can't tell the difference. This reminds me of my final point about paint; professional jobs have professional prices. You might be able to talk a small paint shop into doing this for you "on the cheap," but it'll likely still cost you more than doing the work yourself. Yes, they'll typically do a better job than what we can do in our garage, but not always. Professional paint jobs are great and look incredible, but a lot of this is simply the product they're using and those products are now being made available to the general public in rattle can form. If I could, every one of my armor kits would be painted this way, but, I've had to fix armor on the fly way too many times to justify the cost. Ultimately I think you'd be happy either way.

blast shield affixed, I think I’m going to go over the mud with more white since I might’ve added too much mud lol. I might use some grey too, looks a little bit too brown

Oh nice... He recast my belt boxes. Well, that tells us he's on the forum.

Congrats Marek, that's a great looking kit. Go Ducks!

Alright great, thanks everyone, gonna do a test paint on a cardboard clone helmet I made a while back which I coated with resin and spackle and sanded down before I move onto my R1TK helmet so I can get some practice in

Congratulations and welcome to the EI ranks trooper

We have moulds! Ordered Abs to do some pulls this week. Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

Thank you for your kind words

Thanks for the kind words, great to hear the newsletters are well received

Oh, and TROOP!