silverBoyd

Got the left thigh armor fitted to my leg nicely it seems. I measured and will assemble the fronts the same as I did for my shins. The back is where I made the adjustments to fit my thighs with a better fit at the bottoms. I trimmed the backs the way I had sketched out (check back a few thread posts) until I was able to "bring in" the bottoms closer to my body. Gives the armor a slight tapered look. I'll post some updated pics of the thigh while wearing it. But for now, here is a shot of the thigh so that you can get an idea of it's shape. The AM armor thighs are HUGE...but I'm glad I tried fitting it to a "tapered" look rather than have the swinging bell syndrome. The AM armor is a fan sculpt I believe but I'm trying my best to give it somewhat of a "screen accurate" look as possible (Here is what the AM armor looks like when placed together out of the box....) (Here is what it looks like once fitted to your thighs)

It's a little off topic from an AM armor build...but I wanted to show these off. Today I received my German WWII MP40 Canvas Pouch set from Numrich Gun Parts. They were around $35 for the set after shipping. I believe the color of the set you receive is chosen at random. I received the dark green canvas pouches. They are great quality. I just need to unstitch the tool pouch and re-sew it back on having moved it over an inch or two. I'll weather them, fix the loops on the back of the pouches and either dye them or cover them in a few coats of Plasti-Dip (which I've seen done by another trooper and it looks great). If you're making a Sandtrooper costume like myself and you want to order a pair, I have posted the link below. The set includes a pair of quality reproduction canvas pouches. Features leather strap closures, 2" belt loops, D-rings and a side loading tool pouch. http://www.gunpartsc...pouches&catid=0

Thinking of how to best approach my thighs. I tried them on and found out that I don't want the "bell" look on the bottom. I'd like the bottom of the thighs to be pulled in as tight as possible while still allowing for proper movement and comfort. My theory was to assemble the fronts like normal...butt-joints and all. For the rear of the thighs, I'll use a butt-joint assembly but was thinking this is where I will control the slight taper to the bottom of the thighs. Here's a sketch I did. Any thoughts? I plan on making the cuts straight (in case you thought they were drawn at an angle).

Finally picked up a nice 45 Gallon "Rugged Tote brand" from Lowe's for $35. I don't have my thighs in it yet but I can tell they will fit. Very pleased with it.

Looking good though. Good luck on a T21 build. It's fun but once again...lots of work. I feel the same way though. I'm having fun building the armor but I just want to be done already and start trooping

I think you need to cut 45 degree angled cuts off of the (4) corners of the ammo belt on your waist I think to be more accurate too. Looks good. I've been looking at BluRay screenshots lately and it seems like sometimes the backplate overlaps the kidney and sometimes the backplate looks to butt up to the top of the kidney. I guess either way looks right to me if it's done both ways in the films. Mine goes over the kidney just a bit but I'll also be covered up by a Sandtrooper backpack. Plus my thought is....with all the walking around and movement we'll be doing...I would think that somethings going to overlap at times.

Took off 2 1/2" from the molded shoulder pieces. After test fitting...it feels like the back is ok but i still need to take off lots more from my chest shoulder areas. It still sits up way too high and isn't laying down on my ab armor enough. I'm hoping to get the bottom of the chest piece to fall right above the "center box"on the abs. Since I'm going to be a Sandy...I will attach the canvas straps between the chest & back. Pics of that coming soon...but here are some pics of my test fitting along with some pics of my wearing my backpack and T21 blaster (that I also built from scratch in the past 6 months). Please ignore the "alligator snaps" that can still be seen on my suspenders. Those will be coming off soon. Enjoy... Looks like the backpack helps to push the butt plate in-line with the kidney plate better, rather than having it stick out a bit. One advantage of being a Sandy I guess. ;-) (Still working on thigh armor) For the next picture...my AM kit came with the machine screws (for building a TK) and also has the covers for the ammo belt that attaches to the canvas belt. My question is...the ammo belt only requires (3) of these covers. I know I need 3-4 plain white buttons on my abs for the Sandtrooper but my question is do I paint 3-4 of the TK screws white and use those or do I cut out the larger center circle for the "belt covers" and use those as the Sandtrooper buttons? I'm not sure which to do. I got distracted by my new BluRay player, my Star Wars complete saga on BluRay & some Shock Top. More progress pics to come tomorrow. Just for the record...working on my thighs and I'm about to throw them against the wall. Any tips on thigh assembly? I've read multiple threads and still can't figure out the best approach.

After looking at some BluRay screen captures I decided to trim off 4" or so from the sides of the back piece. Looks much better. About to trim the sides down on the chest piece. Can you see where I have the pencil marks drawn? It looks like I have them marked similarly to the screen shots. I can't tell if it's a diagonal cut or straight cut. I'm thinking straight cuts on the side, right?

Thanks Isaac. I'm going to trim a lot off of the molded shoulder pieces. I know that will definitely help along with trimming the sides a bit and adding snaps to hold them down better. Question about adding the crotch elastic. How tight is it? Or is it mostly a piece long enough to connect the front to the back?

ok.....time for updated pics. I finally got my torso about 85% finished. Still working on the suspenders. You can still see the "alligator clips" on the suspenders. Those will be cut off and snaps will attach to the top-inside of the torso. Enjoy. The side showing the rivets was taken in the mirror....so don't think I put them on the wrong side. Butt plate seems to be sticking out a bit but maybe that'll change once I get the belt finished. Any tips to fix that problem? I have the butt plate separate from the kidney plate and there is only really a 1/4" or so between the 2 pieces. Also, maybe the butt plate will push back in once I have my backpack. With the backpack on, you won't really see my butt plate anyhow. Here's a little pre-trimmed pic of the chest and back piece. They need lots of work. The chest is really high on me. You can tell by looking at the ab plate. Since I'm turning this whole kit into a Sandtrooper, the shoulders will be resting on me via canvas straps. Hopefully that will pull it down some. As well as putting snap plates inside the front to connect the chest to the abs.

Thanks Isaac...unfortunately I've been burning the midnight oil working late nights at my office and I'm here working on a Saturday as well. Tonight I hope to finish up the upper body armor as well as the chest & back and then I'll post a picture. I've been slack in the picture taking department lately. Before I went to bed last night I was finishing up making some more snaps for the right side closure of my Abs and Kidney plates. I still can't decide if I should fasten it all closed using 2 sets of straps on either side ONLY - or - 2 sets of snaps on one side of the opening and velcro on the other side. My thought about the velcro is...it'll make that one side of the armor sit up just a bit and won't be flush with the shim material. Any thoughts?

I'm wondering....for the snaps that you see on the crotch areas...are they just regular sized snaps like the ones used on the inside for strapping? And are they just pierced through the ABS plastic of the armor?

Got my left side torso shim almost completed. I used a little trick when painting the 6 rivets that I used when painting the heads of my helmet ear screws. I used my wife's white nail polish. I like the nail polish because when it dries...it dries with a hard "shell". I read on the CRL that the rivets can be left brass or painted white. I like the rivets painted white personally.

How's the build coming along? Any more progress?

I trimmed that extra piece off of my AM kit as well.

Finally got my left side shim between the ab / kidney plates started. While wearing it I had my wife mark the FOR SALE sign material that I have decided to use. I figured I'd use this material for it's flexibility. I measured out the locations of the (6) side rivets roughly 10mm from the edges. Turned out ok I think. Now to just fasten it all together, paint the rivet heads white and trim a small piece on the bottom of the shim to match the kidney plate bottom. I gave myself 2" or so of extra FOR SALE sign material on the inside. (2" overlapping the inside of the abs and 2" overlapping the inside of the kidney plate). Since the left side is suppose to be "permanently closed", would it be ok if the inside overlaps were held closed via Industrial Velcro? On the right side I plan on using snaps but I may also use Industrial Velcro there too.

Busy weekend...not too much time to work on armor but I did get a chance to make my first few snap plates glued on as well as fasten the butt and kidney together. I plan on adding more but it's a start. Also glued on some shoulder bell snap plates

you told me you used something called Cutlery Rivets or something that you picked up at Ace Hardware. How exactly do they press together? Do you need a special tool or can you press them closed with pliers or something?

So far the return edge removal looks great

Once again...thanks for the reference photos of your torso strapping. The rivets looks great, but one thing...the snaps you have on the inside that look like they are part of the side shims...how do they work exactly? Is one side permanently closed while the other side lets you open up to get it on?

Thanks Isaac. I saw your system of strapping for your torso. I appreciate the reference photos. Today I finally got my Compression Top from WalMart of all places. It said it was $9 but rang up for only $3. Score!! Fits great. I still need to find the pants but at least I can wear the top while sizing my torso armor. Also, The first set of heavy duty snaps I created were from a brand that I was able to fasten together using a small tool and a hammer. Now the other packets of snaps I bought are the brand-name, Dritz. Turns out the tool / hammer way of doing things won't work. So I had to buy this $25 Dritz Heavy Duty Snap Pliers (#24P plier type). If anyone is interested, I'm willing to sell the pliers for $20 once I'm finished.

even though it's not part of my AM armor kit...I thought I'd throw up a few pics of my MTK helmet which I built last year to go along with my AM armor. I'm not 100% on this but when I bought it I was told it was a recast of the CAP helmet which is a recast of the TE helmet which is a recast of the Brian R helmet. Don't hold me to anything. I love this helmet. Enjoy the pics. I painted all of the helmets details by hand (except the blue stripes) with Humbrol paints. Here are some shots of the lenses and frown screen installed I also installed a hard-hat liner into my helmet rather than the "star foam" padding. I like the way it turned out and it fits well and feels very comfortable.

I can give it to anyone who wants it. It's not the most perfect build but I think it's pretty close.

Here are a few pics of the T21 I built starting September 2011 until February 2012. It was a fun build but I'm glad it's finished. I used a combination of Pandatroopers build as well as my own ideas on how to do a few things. Most of the parts I sketched out using AutoCAD myself. I cut out / shaped styrene for some of the greeblies. A couple of dry test fits (pleased w/ the results so far) rounded out and smoothed the stock, cut out more greeblies. My rear sight being fabricated & attached the greeblies to the top of the "top feed" Built the top rear sight from scratch (looks like it's a working sight but I made it stationary) as well as made a few other details using the styrene and FOR SALE sign material. Next, I attached the top feed portion to the blaster. Here are some pics of the "almost finished feeder portion of the T21. also built the rear-most sight that will mount on the rear of the PVC barrel. Constructed out of PVC and a FOR SALE sign A little test fitting of the PVC barrel slid on top of the wooden main body just to see how it all felt. The PVC really gives the blaster some weight I closed off the rear of the main barrel (where the main gun body meets the barrel) using the plastic from a FOR SALE sign I had lying around. I custom fit it around the wood body and trimmed it to match the barrel circumference. Also, finally constructed the "cooling fins" for both sides of the blaster. Thought they would be the bane of my existence but actually i think they turned out nice. From the reference pics I've seen online as well as other blaster builds on other forums...I think I'm spot on. The (10) cooling fins were designed by me using AutoCAD to draw out the shape, 2mm styrene plastic from the local hobby shop and some scrap PVC pipe I had from making the side chambers on the blaster. By using a little E6000 (my favorite gluing adhesive) I was able to set up the cooling fins on top of the PVC bases. I hope to prime the cooling fins tomorrow and get them ready to be painted gold with the black and silver weathering. I finished off the cooling fins with a small bit of hot glue but I did it in the way so that it sort of looks like welds and then I painted the "welds". Also, you can't really tell in some of the pictures but any screw-head that you could see...I filled in solid with wood putty. Once it dried, I sanded smooth to try to give it the appearance that they were not your typical "philips head" screws. Did some Bondo work to a small area on the blaster where the stock & greeblies meet up. I wanted a smooth transition between the two parts. I still need to sand it smooth and "shape" it. More pics on the finished product later. Primed my cooling fins for the blaster w/ Hammered Chrome paint After the Hammered Chrome dried I used some leftover Dupli-Color Sunburst Gold automotive paint I had leftover from my Iron Man helmet build that I made from scratch last year. But that's for another forum. I let the gold set overnight and then gave it a light dusting of black paint to give it a weathered look Did lots of Bondo work and sanding where the 2 different sized barrels comes together so that it's a much smoother transition. I also decided that I'm going to add the little "rear stock oil lube" compartment to my T21 blaster. I picked up a few small 3/4"x1/2" pvc slip bushels. I will use a 3/4" Speedbor to drill a nice hole on both the top and underside of the rear stock. I'll then either use E6000 or Hot Glue to glue inside the stock. I used a small file (along w/ some patience) and created a "knurled" look to the top piece that will be at the top of the stock. I'm going to spray paint the pieces either a "Hammered Silver" or maybe a weathered or dirty brass effect kind of like how I did my blasters cooling fins. Hope it turns out. It's a small detail most people won't notice but I'll know it's there. Here's a dry fit of how I did the stock compartment. Got the holes drilled out in my stock to accommodate the "oil lube compartment tube" and painted the "oil lube compartment" finished the rear barrel sight. Attached it to the rear of the barrel utilizing a few L-bracket for picture framing that I had lying around. They are galvanized brackets so I had a hard time bending / cutting so that I could shape it to the barrel diameter the best I could. I tried screwing the brackets to the PVC barrel but had some problems w/ that and had to scratch it. Decided the "attach" the brackets w/ my buddy E6000. This stuff is so strong and I've used it on so many projects. It seemed to hold to the barrel fine but it took lots of dry-fittings, measuring, etc. of the bracket locations to the inside of my rear barrel sight. Once the bracket glue dried and set...I filled the inside of my rear sight with hot glue and set it on top of the brackets. Once I got a semi-sturdy fit I very carefully added more and more hot glue into the underside of the sight. Almost filling it up with hot glue. Enough with all the rear barrel sight talk...enjoy the pics Now time to prime the blaster with paint. I started to spray one side of the blaster w/ the flat black and already used 1 1/2 cans. I'll spray the other side tomorrow. Spent some time starting to paint the blaster grip I made out of 2mm Styrene Plastic and the stock w/ a nice Burnt Umber color I had. I would have used actual wood staining on the stock but i had written on the wood with a pen when i was constructing the blaster not thinking about what I was doing at the time....I think it's turned out good though. Added the cooling fins, finished painting the blaster handle and added the "oil lube compartment". Now to just add a sling and the (14) ribs on the rear of the barrel. So close to being done. Can't wait to troop with this big sucker... I assembled the new sling and swivel I ordered from www.e-sarcoinc.com, they are amazing quality. Took only a few minutes to do... I have spent the past few nights adding the "14 ribs" to the barrel of my T21 blaster build. While I've seen some people use corrugated downspout drain extensions...I opted to go for what I think looks a little better (in my opinion). I used 1/4" x 14'-0" white vinyl weatherstripping used for doors in your home. I could only find it in white so I used some black Plasti-Dip and sprayed it black. The nice thing about Plasti-Dip is it's flexible. Once it dried, I wrapped the barrel the best I could while gluing it down with E6000. It's very much on there and shouldn't become unraveled. One thing i noticed was while applying the E6000 it made some of the Plasti-Dip rub off. No worries though...I'll paint over it with some black paint and I think i'll be fine. Here are some shots of it before I finish the final paint touch-ups on the "ribs". I'm aware that the ribs are not wrapped up perfectly but I think it adds "realism" to it. I also like the clumps of E6000 you can see between the ribs. It could be mistaken for "grime" that has gotten in the cracks due to patrolling in the Tatooine desert. Here is a shot of the "ribs" after applying a few more coats of Plasti-Dip. I'm happy with the results. I can now say that I'm officially 100% finished with my T21. Started working on it last September. Can't wait to show it off @ future troops If you have any questions...please feel free to ask for tips. It was a fun build but I'm glad I'm finished with it

thanks for all the tips. Especially the inside pic of the torso strapping. I tend to overthink things I'm working on. I don't know why...but I had no problems building a T21 blaster and a TD backkpack from scratch but this armor (although i've been researching and reading forums for a few years) gets me stumped from time to time.