kiyotei

First off, your armor looks great. Excellent job. I can't see your belt very well, is it canvas? You definitely want to cut the butt piece. I got rid of the snap on my ap shoulder bells. I use velcro. The advantage is that I can more easily adjust the position of the shoulder bell without having to move the snap or change the length of my strap. I know a lot of guys warn against using velcro but on pieces like the shoulder bells it works fine. I've found that the industrial velcro works great everywhere. It allows you more flexibility in tweaking your fit which is key early on. I don't use the wrap around strap on the shoulder bells either. I found it made it more difficult to put on and with AP you don't really need it. Of course for total movie accuracy leave it on. I would also recommend shortening your shin pieces by trimming them at the bottom. This will give you a little more room around the knees which is key for comfort and mobility. It looks like your shins and thighs are hitting each other. I am 5'7" and also have AP. I trimmed about an 1/2 inch from my shins and I am thinking of taking a bit more off. You don't want a lot of black showing at the knees but you do need some, and lets face it, if you can't step up on a curb with out looking like you have a serious leg injury then you can't be very comfortable. Just my two cents for what its worth. I'm elite so you can check my photos to see how my armor fits.

looking good. Is that armor on a maniquin or are you wearing it?

On the history channel here that featured that raid on one of their WWII shows. It was pretty neat.

Looks great. Kinda funny that the armor is all nice and dirty but your paldron is super clean and shiney

You have a very twisted sense of humor. I think I just had a heart attack after reading your post. Of course if I were to hand carry it to HI to turn over to you well that could be well worth it.

I came home today and found a box at my door... In case the creator wonders where I got this, I bought it off a guy who could not keep it. I hope to give it a fine home along with my AP armor. Now to either get the nerve to build it or perhaps TK4105 will start building helmets again (please please please).

I found white rubber sheets at a hardware in Seattle. I added velcro to it and use that for my side gaps. Its great because it is so flexible. I originally used some vinyl but that quickly cracked and broke.

Truely impressive and its your first armor project. way to go. nice touch with the magnets. I did my thighs alternating between abs glue and super glue. I would put down an inch or so of abs glue and then a half inch of super glue. I would hold it in place until the super glue set which was a matter of seconds. Then i would wait a bit and glue another inch or so with abs glue and then a bit more super glue, let it sit and so on. The super glue would act like clamps for me while the slower abs glue set.

Very sorry to hear this. I will keep you both in my prayers.

As Daetrin says, any armor can be made to fit you. That said. AP was designed for people around 5' 11", 150lbs (original actors were all about this size). AP is the easiest to fit for small guys like us. I'm 5'7". don't let it scare you if no one in your garrison has built an AP. Most of the suits are ABS or hips (another form of abs but softer), so plastic is plastic. If they've cut an FX suit they can cut an AP suit. the only additional work in building an AP kit is trimming. Use a dremel and it goes fast. Get some troopers to help and it goes even faster. IMO the AP helmet is easier to build than FX. Its a two piece helmet vs three piece for FX.

I have AP and I use a mix of snaps and velcro. I've found that the industrial velcro holds really well and allows easier adjusting for fit. To make my straps I take the elastic straps and add fabric glue. Then I place the industrial velcro (with sticky backing) onto the glue and let dry. You can sew it but I don't know how to sow. Fabric glue dries real fast as well. I have some of my snaps pull off or break and I've replaced them with velcro. But to each his own.

Paint you can remove using various chemicals...try goo be gone or a paint thinner. I personally use paint thinner to remove paint drops. I then clean the area with Novus abs polish. For shoe marks, I use the heavy duty Novus abs polish. It takes a bit of elbow grease but it eventually comes off.

what armor did you buy? Instructions depend on the brand. They are not all the same design.

I have AP and reduced a number of the RE's to make it fit better and more comfortable. I found the other big edge to reduce is the chest plate where it overlaps the ab plate. I reduced the upper shin edges as well. Most people will never notice the RE so its a big deal. Only other 501st folks will look and not even most of them will notice it (excluding Daetrin who might pull out a pair of calipers and measure them LOL).

Its not theory its fact! Right after they escape from the Death Star they cut to Vader and Tarkin having a conversation. Tarkin tells Vader he hopes his plan of LETTING them escape will work and they will be able to track them back to the rebel base. Now what's really odd is that Fischer tells Han Solo that they are most likely being tracked cause there is no way they could have escaped that easily. So why do they fly right to the rebel base??? I think George was running out of budget and time and needed to bring it to an end.

1. When you start to walk after being surrounded by children, shuffle your feet slowly forward. This will make sure you don't knock a kid over. Its real easy for the little ones to get near you feet where you cannot see them. 2. Be prepared for lens fogging. Use an anti fog solution on your lens before each troop. 3. I like to bring sports drinks to replenish my electrolites. 4. Bannanas make a good snack and replenish your potassium which you will sweat out. 5. High Five the little kids. It helps reduce their fear of you. Many little kids find troopers scary at first. We are the bad guys in the movies. 6. Never admit anything is fake. The Death Star does exist, etc. You have a fake blaster for safety reasons but your real blaster is back on the death star. 7. Learn to use hand gesture to communicate with kids cause it can be hard to understand a trooper when he talks. I like to use the "I've got my eye on you" gesture. Its where you point two fingers at your eyes and then point at the person letting them know that I do indeed see them and that I'm keeping an eye on them. Parents always find it really funny when you do that to their kids. I do this when I'm away from people to enable myself to interact with them.

I bought a throat mic from Fire Fox. Its designed to use with radios for paint ball warriors and motorcycles and bicyclists so they can chat with out wind noise or having to talk very loud. You can whisper if you want (paint ball warriors need to be very quiet). It comes with a push to talk switch that goes on your finger tip. I have not gotten it to work yet with my radio shack amp. It requires power which the amp will not provide enough of (even with mods). I've tested it with my PC and it works well. I'm hoping that once I sort out the power issue I will get rid of all feedback since it does not pick up sound from the air like other mics but uses your throat vibrations. I mention all this cause it comes with a push to talk switch.

that is damn funny.

Looks good. The one thing I notice is that the chest plate covers the buttons a bit. If you can you might try and either raise the chest plate up a touch or lower the ab plate some. I'm only 5'7" and had to work a bit at it to make sure the buttons on my AP were showing.

hmmm not sure which one I'll go with... AMD-8151™ HyperTransport™ AGP3.0 Graphics Tunnel or ISO 8151:1987 Dried milk -- Determination of nitrate content -- Method by cadmium reduction and spectrometry (Screening method)

my face generates a lot of sweat so I have major fog problems. I found that I need a combo of stuff: 1. Anti fog paste (I use cat crap, no joke that's the name). Apply before each trooping. 2. Fan. the fan really helps me a lot, I've had the batteries die and I fogged up even with the anti fogging stuff. 3. I installed some foam and neoprene around the top of the mouth area to help channel my hot steamy breath out the mouth holes and prevent it from floating up and fogging the lens. 4. yep watch your breathing, try to blow breath downward.

RETCH!!!!! GAG GAG....I just made the mistake of clicking the link to look at the Rubies helmet. Someone please remove the link to save others from a similar fate as mine.

PPal sent for 100.

I bought one just for collecting purposes. i have no plans to mod it. I wear AP so why wear a helmet of lesser quality???

Yes I know, I said I would post pics as soon as a I finish installing it all. The wiring done now I just have to rig a harness to hold the battery pack.