pandatrooper

Very true. I've got a smaller noggin, so on my other lid I trimmed the cap brow a little higher, so that the face sits up slightly more, so that the chin doesn't hit my chest as much. This makes it "smaller". I can see that if you did the higher brow look, and angled it out slightly, it would look and fit slightly bigger too.

They're very close for sizing. they are slightly narrower in fit / shape, so if you have wide feet it will be snug, or you may want to go a size up.

I believe Doopys makes them. You can contact them, they could probably sell you some separately from the pipe kit. They're pretty easy to scratch build in a pinch, you just need round tube styrene stock from a hobby store, a larger diameter to go over those or use plastic end caps from a hardware store, then bend a sheet of 2mm styrene for the bracket. Run some wires off the ends. There's some pretty good reference on the web. I think they were old vacuum tubes or fuses, the same ones on the mouse droid.

Stephen, I think you've actually got it pretty close. As Stuka said, there's not much need to cut more. The screws should pull it together with minimal gap.

The mismatch in contour between the front and back isn't a huge deal since the ears cover the transition. When you're cutting out the ears, do NOT follow the lines. 2mm is not enough room to leave for adjustments IMO. if done properly, you shouldn't need to heat gun anything. Here's what I did on mine (I have built 2 lids so far with the same process with good results): - take an ear piece and draw a circular pencil line around the round upper ear section. What I did was I drew the line around the “flat” part of the round, past the radius edge so that you have extra material. Yes, this will make the round part more thick / stick out more, but you’re leaving this as a safety margin. Cut along this guide line, you can slim it down later. - cut a section out where the cheek tubes are, but leave tons of room. Again, 2mm is not enough. - place the ear on the side of the lid, of course it’s not going to fit. But right away, you’ll know where to trim next. This is usually the transition from the ear stem to the “stork” section as you call it. Trim this a little at a time. - the next section is the end or bottom of the ear piece (near the opening of the helmet). Trim this down. - Now it’s closer to fitting, but still sticks out. This is when I start taking a pencil and begin marking sections that I need to trim off. At this point, I can trim the round section a bit more. I also make a “notch” in the round section, so that the edge of the back fits into the notch. - keep making marks, keep trimming. I use a combination of curved RC car body trimming scissors and a Dremel with a round sanding drum - keep trimming (this usually takes me a good hour to hour and a half per side. I prefer to leave no gaps if possible. - once it fits really good, I sand the edges to take out any rough marks left by scissors or the Dremel. - drill the holes in the ears first, then line up the ear piece on the lid. Then I drill the first (upper) hole in the lid. Using the ear piece and the hole you just made as a guide, drill through the helmet. - insert the top screw / bolt (this keeps the ear in place), then proceed to drilling the other holes on the lid. I try to press down on the ear so that it lines up where I want to when the screws are holding it together. This will minimize the gaps even further. Hope that helps. Maybe one day I’ll make a tutorial for this.

Here's some armor tips I wrote a while back, these might help in making your decision. ==================== Selecting armor: If I have any advice for people wanting to build a TK, I would really research what YOU want to DO with your TK based on a checklist, and evaluate which armorers supply what you need. *if this is helpful, maybe this can even be a checklist stickied somewhere? Eg: How screen accurate do you want your TK to be? How sharp do the details need to be? (100% screen accurate / EIB status, needs to look good, or needs to be recognizable as a “Stormtrooper”, needs to be acceptable in the 501st?) Do you plan to troop heavily in your TK? This may help you decide on what plastic would be suitable (constant use, mild trooping, display only) Do you intend on painting your TK? Are you prepared to sand, clean, prep, mask, primer, paint, etc.? Have you considered the cost of materials / having the right facility to paint your TK? (cost of paint, sandpaper, masking, respirator / fabric mask) Does the TK come trimmed? Will this save you time or cost you headaches? Is this worth the cost to you? Are you ready to do more detailed work like heating and bending plastic that doesn’t fit? (using a heat gun, heat sealing iron, Dremel, sanding, polishing?) Will you need to add shims to make the TK fit your body type? (you need extra plastic, and will need to cut, Dremel, heat, sand, etc..) Does the “Body” armor come with everything you need? (few come with everything you need – things like elastic, webbing, buckles, rivets, Velcro, glue, etc..) Does the helmet come with everything you need? (lenses, mic tips, stickers, rubber trim, etc..) What tools will you need? I found that having most of the tools already saved me a lot of headache. (Dremel, rivet gun, heat gun, heat sealing iron, glue, tape, clamps, etc..)

Nice work, clean lid!

You might want to compare the AP size specs to the holster template that's on FISD (you can search for it, I just bumped it a while ago). I think that one is more screen accurate in terms of size. Ideally, you want the side magazine to rest on the outside "edge" of the holster, and the barrel should extend to the bottom, but you shouldn't be able to see like several inches of the barrel sticking out.

I believe unstitched is more accurate. A Hasbro will fit just fine.

If you're comfortable wearing a balaclava, then I say rock the lid with no mesh. Looks like the movies and keeps the illusion up. I personally just think it looks odd if you look into the teeth holes and see "white" inside the helmet at certain angles, but if you're wearing a balaclava it should work. Plus I don't think there's any 501st CRL or EIB requirements regarding mesh.

You may get slightly more flow without mesh, (very minor, I didn't notice a difference as mine is removable) but that balaclava is going to reduce the airflow even more compared to mesh / no balaclava because its covering your mouth or mouth and nose. Personally, I find that wearing balaclavas inside helmets and costumes is more uncomfortable than without. I find there's more fogging which could be an issue with lenses.

Hope that helps

A super easy way to fix this (for your speedy application) is: - get the plastic you need. - cut it to the right size (say 5" wider than the gap you want to cover) - apply 2.5" of industrial hook velcro on the outside facing ends of the shim - apply loop velcro on the inside of your ab / kidney - press the pieces together and you're done This setup is still "troopable" in that it's sturdy enough and removable if necessary. The velcro allows for size adjustments easily. Take the pictures and apply for your EIB. When you have some more time, heat up the ab sections of velcro on the left side and remove, add on the rivets if you want that look. Or if you want something permanent, glue the shim onto the kidney and leave the velcro in the front for easy on / off. Sturdy and ready to rock!

Personally, I painted mine silver on the Hasbro. I know the Hasbro isn't screen accurate (far from it), but the silver port gets it a little closer to looking like a Sterling, and less like a squirt gun.

Ah, now I get it. Thanks for the replies guys. I might try and do this at some point. Thanks for clarifying!

Looks much better! Nice work there Will!

The problem is that the frame that holds the plastic for most vacform machines is much bigger than a welders visor. I have a trick for this that I might do, basically involves a custom plastic holding frame that would allow the use of welders visors for 'that perfect shade of green". Either that, or getting a bigger sheet of plastic that's close to the right shade as possible, and making multiple bucks for the lenses, so that sets of 20 can be pulled in 1 shot.

I was watching a few ANH clips, and in the "let's go in the control room disguised as troopers" scene - I noticed that both Luke and Han have tighter fitting shoulder bells. They aren't just covering the biceps, they're quite tight, almost to the point of wrapping around the underside. I know there's the black elastic to keep the bell in place, but in the original movie did they heat up the bell and wrap it more tightly for a better fit? I notice this more on the Heroes than the Stunt TK's. Does anyone know if they heated the bells up and bent them to shape, or how / why was this done? Just curious, and I may consider this - just because.

IMHO = "In my honest opinion" I think the suggestion is to use a stiffer material (eg: white plastic) that more closely mimics the properties of the armor, as opposed to white fabric.

Good point Paul. I agree, I think that's fair that the side shims be made of plastic. There's plenty of options not limited to: - using scrap plastic from the armor - using white Rubbermaid type bins / plastic - using sign plastic - using any color plastic, then painting to match I don't think there's that many current EIB's that have fabric shims (correct me if I'm wrong) and to replace it with plastic wouldn't take more than an hour or two.

I would be very careful about testing the ears and how they fit before you cut the back that much. Just draw a pencil line of where you think the cut would be, and trim some of the ears down and test fit them, before you cut the back. Once you cut, you can't go back. You might also find that the cheek tubes on the back are very shallow (they don't have a lot of undercut) and the neck trim might not cover the gap left by the shallowness. Hard to describe, I'll see if I can find a picture. I think when these lids are made, the cheek tubes on the back are cut a little too high. Just test fit as much as you can before cutting. Measure twice, cut once!

I've done quite a bit of sculpting and casting, and you're right. Proper casting silicone pretty much doesn't stick to anything besides silicone. I've made things before and had to spot some bondo on top to fill bubbles / imperfections, and then did an impression coat on top with silicone, and it released just fine.

Most of the time, the aerator / mic tips have a solid flat base, and there's a bot sticking out the back with a nut on it. You just drill a hole in the helmet (approx. center of the "bump") and place the aerator bolt through the hole, place a washer in the back, and snug it up. Sometimes, the aerator bolt is not cast straight / centered, and or the hole you drilled is off, so some people will enlarge the hole slightly. Thats why you can use a bigger washer inside the helmet, to prevent the nut from pulling through the hole. It's not an exact science, the film used helmets were rushed through production, so they're not "perfect" and neither are most builds, but you can usually fudge the alignment to look pretty good.

Yes, I have. I was thinking of making green and smoke lenses Hero style, but with the right properties: - a curved, not flat domed shape (most I have seen are somewhat flat around the perimeter, and makes them hard to mount - bubbled lens, but flatter near the inside corners, to make it easier to see - I have a pair, but it's waaaay too thick to see through, so I'd use a smoke lens that's dark enough to cover the eyes, but not so dark to make it difficult to see I know not a lot of people want bubble lenses, but no one currently offers a good solution. It probably won't happen for a while, but it's something I've wanted to make for a while. If I can't find something I want that meets my needs, I'll tend to make it.

Glad I could help Dennis. Looks awesome, turned out really nice! As mentioned, you maybe just need a slight tweak to the shoulder bells but that's pretty minor. Nice work, congratulations!! I'm sure you'll get your TK number, no problem!