pandatrooper

The belt armor was riveted through the canvas belt where the square snap covers go, with female snaps (Tandy line 24) on the back side of the canvas. They snap into corresponding male snaps on the ab armor. The little square plastic buttons can be glued on top of the rivets to hide them.

For a TD, you want canvas shoulder straps, the ab button plate, the ab 3 button strip and tge sniper plate. Yes, you could interchange those but you forgot the most important thing - dirt. For a 501st TD, you must have dirt on your armor. It would be very impractical to apply and remove dirt to switch between the two. You could do a HWT trooper, which is similar to a TD (subtle differences, check the CRL).

Rob has excellent customer service. It's not that he's "slow" to respond to e-mails, it's his day job schedule and family that keeps him busy (I believe he's a commercial pilot). He'll get back to you, just be patient - he always makes good. I have dealt with him several times, and he's always happy to help. Keep in mind that the helmets are slightly larger than other armor makes.

I cut down the chest, back, ab (cut the cod and reduced length), kidney, butt, thighs, shoulder bells. The rest was "trim to size" like you normally would. Check my AM build thread for details. -----------------

You should also find out how flexible it is and how thick the coating is. If its not flexible, it could crack when you wear the armor. Also find out what the proper preparation is (primer, basecoat, etc.)

Make sure to pre bend the belt, the AM abs is quite thick so bending it to shape helps. http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=8757 The screen accurate suits had just 2 rivets, one on each side. But on the AM, it doesnt quite sit right so I used 3. Kimu's has 3 as well.

No offense taken. Its a little confusing. The knee plate is glued in the films. I will update the tutorials to reflect levels of accuracy in the new year. You can do it like that or rivet it. Theres nothing in the 501st guidelines or Eib saying it "has to be" one way or the other. The original films assembled the limbs with butt joins and cover strips, not overlaps. But if you glue your overlap properly abd clamp it, you shouldnt need rivets for reinforcement. Overlap with cover strips is not necessary and doesnt really add anything.

Have you already read the tutorials and links on the Imperial Reception Center page for legs? Should cover most of your questions. http://www.whitearmor.net/home/tutorials/armor-tutorials/thighsshins.html

Looking good! Did you trim the return from the bottom edges of the shins to lower the shins? I didn't look during the troop a couple days ago. We'll have to take some updated pics after you dial in the fit and upgrade the suspenders. Then you can apply for EIB!!

My bad. Small screen using airport wifi.

Try paintball goggle lenses, as well as snowboarding goggle lenses. You can also try car window tint on top of clear lens material.

Look in the buy and sell section of this site or contact armor makers here. ------------- Avoid ebay, most sellers can be found on Fisd.

Personally, I would sell or display it on a shelf. Theres accurate Ata seconds that are very affordable on sale right now in the for sale forum.

Trim off some of the return on the lower edge of the bicep. That should give you more room.

FX or recast FX. The eyes and cheek tubes are big, and the vocoder is missing.

If youre buying an AM kit and an updated Fx helmet, they should be the same color plastic as AM is the new FX. If you bought a recast FX helmet from some other source, it likely won't match in terms of color. I think if you're going to the effort of painting a kit, I would upgrade to a more screen accurate helmet and just paint the helmet the same color as the armor.

Its the same face plate as the FX with a rounder dome. Still big in size. Not sure what your question is re: stop that ship TD? Any helmet make can be turned into a replica, just requires unique paint or decals, dirt etc.

You can simply use the extra trimmings from your kit to shim the inside if you want. This is also a great thread for tools / materials required. -------- The Imperial Reception Center is a great place for info on construction, helpful threads / discussion links, and where to buy links ----------

Brandon, as I've previously mentioned to you: - remove the return on the wrist - size the forearm so that the wrist opening allows your hand to squeeze through - use masking tape / clamps to close the gaps and glue them (you shouldn't be "short" material if you sized and cut the inner forearm properly http://www.whitearmor.net/home/tutorials/armor-tutorials/arms.html Also, I see you ordered a pauldron. Are you going HWT or TD? Make sure you build it with the appropriate parts, the AM kit includes all the options.

Just to avoid confusion, the Hyperdyne sound FX system is called the "E-11 blaster upgrade". It's designed for Hasbro blasters, and since the LED array is already soldered, it might be too big to fit inside a real Sterling (the toy blaster is bigger and has more room for the electronics). You can also try "Blaster Core" by Plecter Labs (Erv) ------------

Awesome!!! Congratulations Julie, I knew you could do it!

Angevine, there is an alternate and more recent stickied topic on tools posted here http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=11760&pid=154152&st=0entry154152

The rear cap is slotted. There's a lateral slot on the scope and a lateral channel on the cap. It can't be twisted off, it needs to be pulled straight off. You can also use a hobby knife to split the cap laterally, pull it off and patch it later with bondo / modelling putty.

Hi there Michael. Make sure to start some of you research on the Imperial Reception Center. There are overviews of each piece of armor and acessories, with relevant threads to tutorials and helpful links at the end of each article. -----

That's called LARP or LARPing. Live Action Role Play.