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I have no plans to make a R1TK but I love this build thread. The very definition of "well that escalated..." :)

Greetings troopers, We inch forward! We have now raised just over 57% of our years funding. If you have found this forum useful and can spare even $1 it would help move us closer to our funding goal!

In my efforts to hit arbitrary deadlines and a burnout from school work I decided to spend a couple hours on the TK. Helmet is nearing its final tweaks and hopefully can show it off soon but wanted to show where armour is at. Its missing a few details but all the main forms are complete. Let me know what you think!

All donations are welcome, if you feel we've helped you and would like to help out then please go ahead!

Thank you! For the modeling side of things, I’m absolutely using Centurion/Level 3 as the benchmark. If I’m going to spend the time modeling parts, I figure I might as well aim for the highest level of accuracy I can reasonably achieve. In the meantime, I’m still utilizing a good amount of Mr. Paul’s files for areas I haven’t tackled myself yet, and given the quality of those pieces, I don’t think Centurion is an unrealistic goal at all. Originally, my personal sights were set on basic approval, followed by Expert Infantry down the road. But the deeper I’ve gotten into the references, and with the help of several phenomenal members of the community providing reference photos and feedback, I honestly don’t see a reason not to aim for Centurion from the start. I’ve already ordered all of my soft parts from KeepTrooping (flight suit, boots, gloves, and neck seal), and my E-11 is fully printed and just waiting for assembly and paint, so a lot of the major boxes are already "checked". Similar to what Paul accomplished with the Shoretrooper, my goal is to hopefully create the most accurate 3D-printed Non-Saga/Rogue One TK that I can. Those are some incredibly big shoes to fill, but I think it’s a worthwhile goal—and even if I fall short, the armor will be significantly better than where I started five months ago. At a bare minimum, I feel very confident about reaching Expert Infantry. Centurion is the real target, though, and if all goes according to plan, I’d love to be one of the relatively small number of members who have achieved it with this particular armor variant. Schedule permitting, I’m hoping to submit for Legion approval as late as mid September. We’ll see how many side quests I create for myself between now and then...

That’s looking great, keep it up. I understand the balance between work, life, and modeling, but I think you’re making great progress. I know you mentioned basic approval on there, but are you planning on making this armor reach level 2 or level 3 accuracy? Keep it up.

Good question! From my last update, I actually ended up completely scrapping the original chest bridges/side wings and remodeling them from the ground up. I’m much happier with where these landed in the long run: As for what’s next, my primary focus right now is the thighs. That’s the biggest piece standing between me and getting my own armor to a point where I can pursue basic approval, so it’s been getting the majority of my attention over the last week and a half. I haven’t modeled the rear cover strip yet, but I wrapped up the front strip last night. Once the rear is finished, I’ll move on to determining exactly how the parts should be split and assembled. The goal is for the front cover strip to function as the overlap piece for the lap joint. While not entirely screen accurate, I also plan to incorporate slots for magnets to aid with alignment during assembly and wear. The rear will follow a similar approach to what we see on screen, with the excess material wrapping behind the rear cover strip and securing with Velcro or a similar fastening method. There’s also strong evidence to suggest the lower trim strip was originally manufactured as a separate component, but very little evidence that it was intended to be removable. For my own sanity—and because I eventually have to wear this thing—I plan to attach that section with magnets as well to simplify alignment and dressing. Current roadmap looks something like this: Finish thigh assembly and rear cover strip Design lower right thigh ammo boxes (and mounting system) Cod armor Posterior armor Shoulder straps 90% complete, but need to tweak them for mounting options Potentially revisit the belt/ammo boxes BigJasoni has some awesome free files available, but I want to address some of the assembly of them Long-term, I also want to revisit the arms, abdomen, and shins. I already have files that work extremely well for those areas, but I have some ideas for improving printability and wearability that will likely become their own separate project down the road. Overall, I feel like things are progressing pretty well. The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit hectic between work and life, so my modeling time is about to take a hit, but I think I’m finally at the point where I can see the finish line—at least for this first round of armor!

What part are you going to be working on next? Just wondering if you have a plan or agenda on what's next. I have zero modeling skills but if there's any way I can help out I'd love to, I think this a great project and I can't wait to see the progress.

I started printing in PETG and the prints are coming out okay, I'm planning on printing the details and small parts in PLA to keep some of the detail, but since I'm sanding over them and filling them it might look the same regardless. I might make a YouTube video on the whole process but for now I'm just focusing on finishing the printing section. Thankfully my printer is just big enough to print everything without struggle and I'm done with all my current orders.