kaptinkaos

Yeah... don't let the price sucker you in dude. It IS cheap, but there are a lot of defects listed and things not right about the suit. You'd end up spending a great deal of time just sourcing the parts and also re-fitting the suit to your frame. I'd say to check out the page Banano mentioned and do a bit of research on what armor is available for your frame and what price ranges the vetted armorers are asking. Ebay armor sales more often than not end in a sour note, There are a number of screen derived makers here and their prices are very reasonable. A bit of patience, some time and some building and you can have a suit you truly love,

Looks awesome man! I can hardly wait to doopy mine up... Wait, I'm STILL WAITING on my doopy kit and my doopy hasbro mod kit...

Fwiw... You don't need to be too familiar with anything about the build as this forum has so many resources and people to help you out that the build is almost the best part of owning and having armor, I'd say reconsider building your own armor and researching the vetted armor makers on here to find out what is best for you. Tall and skinny like myself I would suggest any of the screen derived stuff. ATA, T/MC, etc. AM will fit you, but it's a much more involved build to make it fit slimmer frames. For a general build you really only need glue, scissors, snaps, velco and some elastic,

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=52320&cat=1,43838,52320 I love these clamps... plastic and pressure adjusting,

Yep, N rating is a good way to know how strong they are, so is physical size as most neodymium magnets are standardized pull strengths for width and thickness. 3/4" round one's are usually best though as they don't break as often if you're careful due to not being too strong and being round instead of square. Plus, I find that anything larger pulls so strong that I usually end up with a bunch of blood blisters from getting pinched when they snap together, LOL! Made me look like I was playing with fiddler crabs or something, haha! For the most part your clamps will do the heavy work, tape holds everything still and the magnets just add that pressure in the areas that the clamps can't reach. You can also use the wooden tongue depressor size Popsicle/crafting sticks under the clamp jaws on the inside to spread the pressure out a bit further to the joint. I usually break a couple in half and slide them under before clamping hard. This also helps when clamping because it will raise the jaw out of the depression in the back of the piece where the strip goes. That way you're not worried about deforming the plastic because it's clamping an uneven surface.

I don't recommend neodimium magnets off the bay of e's. Lee Valley is about half that price or less when buying 6 or more (30 magnets total as they come as sets of 5 per). I'm sure there is a hardware store somewhere in the islands that you can get magnets from for WAAAAY cheaper, lol!

Oh, almost forgot... One thing I did that may be a bit excessive is to put a tiny drop of CA glue at each end of the ANH cover strips. I was worried they might catch and start pulling off over time and with heavy use. It's such a tiny amount of CA that I can just pop the end off if I get a small flathead screwdriver under it and then remove/separate the piece as you would under normal E6000 gluing. Ditto for me on how I spread the E6000. Just used a wavy motion with the tip as I squeezed it out on the piece. Also a good thing Kevin mentions is doing one side at a time. I too followed that rule. OH! Use a LOT of tape to secure everything together before walking away and letting it cure, lol! I basically covered my joint with a long strip and then depending on which piece it was (thigh, forearm, etc) I used about 4-6 pieces of tape perpendicular to the joint to ensure none of it would migrate or wander as I clamped it together. Obviously, check after clamping to make sure it hasn't moved and you should be good.

Love the progress! You're just "moving along"! Lol, Spreading E6000... I never really did. I just put a thin smear onto each surface, pressed one piece to another, wiggled them around a bit back and forth to spread the glue and clamped it. Some others may pipe up and tell you the correct way to use a "contact cement" such as the directions say, but I've had to separate my biceps twice and lemme tell you... They were affixed quite firmly, lol! I wish I had 100 3/4" rare earth magnets, but 36-48 would be ideal for a speedy build. If you're only doing say 1 bicep or forearm at a time a dozen is enough.

I ran into the same problem... and ended up trimming mine not twice, but three times. That's probably a headache you'd rather not go through, lol! I say tight, but not so as to make your arms turn blue. Get your bells trimmed and situated on your shoulders where you think they should be and keep them low enough to minimize the gap between forearm and bicep when your arm is straight down. Also, placement so the band does fit over the bicep itself is pretty important in stunt. With my AM biceps I had to do a TON of heat shaping because they were rather bulbous on the "thumb print" part. Another thing that might help is minimizing the return edge on the upper part as that will lend itself to fitting tighter to your form without having that air gap. I'm liking the way "trimmed" looks in your photo and just remember that in that screenie you're looking from the back of the bicep. On the inside of the bicep the strap is pretty well at the top of the bicep itself and is more or less just holding it straight and not actually wrapped around the middle of the bicep piece. If you look really closely at the left-most troopers right arm: it's actually sitting a lot lower than in his armpit... My AM is fan sculpt and until I get my ATA suit I won't be able to be positive about that though. I'm also a LOT lankier than the actors that played stunt troopers and probably a bit skinnier. I still say your trimmed looks best though. *Edit: That red line is showing the outline of the bicep and how low it is from his pit.

I agree, after assembling my "pickly and bumpy" ATA lid I friggin LOVE it compared to the super smoothness of a fan sculpt. It's WAAAAAY tighter than an FX/AM, but it's scale fits me much better. Oh, and green lenses all the way. The S-Trim can be an aftermarket upgrade,

Yep! Sandpaper is a great thing, Try 180-220 grit to get the bulk of the scissor made messes off and then just a quick sand with 300+ to give that silky finish on edges. Fwiw... My dremel is probably the best cordless or corded tool I have... by far. I use it extensively from home and house stuff to motorbikes to... anything really, lol! I didn't use it on my suit build too much aside from helmet trimming, but a small sanding barrel did work wonders at about half revs for the tighter curves and sanding them smooth. I left about the same amount of return edge on my forearms, but in the end I took it completely off except the bit on the raised form. My hands are MUCH wider than my wrists though so the extra bit of room to slide'em in and out made a huge difference to the overall fit. Dude, Big Wave is my fav island beer! I drink gallons of it when I visit Kaua'i, AND I'm stoked that I get to watch your build!!! I just arrived at my rig in the Rockies of Alberta tonight and will be here workin' nights for the next couple of weeks. This will definitely keep me entertained!!! Congrats on starting it!

Thanks! I like it MUCH better too,

I may actually replace the chest/back with ATA... Gonna roll it as is for now though.

A pic of the lid with my AM this past Sunday.

Awesome! That's the part I was worried about, lol! The ears I can fine tune a bit more, but that brow I had to have just right. Not too high, not too low. I don't know yet how I'll try to replicate the "crooked" brow of a Sandy, but I think I'll try... Maybe just a touch of heat.

P.S. - Does the lid strike you as looking "cannon" enough to go with a set of screen derived? (It has 13 tube stripes... lol! My lucky #)

Lol, thanks man! I had an "edge" though... I'm not married and have no kids so devoting 2 straight weeks of days off to this build seemed completely normal to me, LOL!!! Also, as it's a hobby, I didn't set a budget. I just did what I need to. There were a few 4am nights and back at it first thing when I woke up... Also, I can't stress enough that this forum is just an absolute GOLD MINE for everything and anything TK. 501st ROCKS!!!!

Yep! The scale is perfect and the colors match pretty good. It's a heck of a lot tighter in the ATA than the AM, lol! I need to mesh the frown after putting a fan in it though. I'm not so sure I even want another set of armor for TK now... I am way more leaning towards a Sandy. I've gotten the clone fever out of my head after realizing that GL never even made a single set of real armor for the clones in any episode... That or a Boba (or supertrooper). The TK is so iconic though... It gather's as much attention as Darth! (Don't tell him that though... I don't wanna be force-choked!) I'm still on ATA's wait list and I'm in no rush now. I have a suit to troop in and that's the important thing! Now if my silly Doopydoo E-11 kit would arrive... Back to work Wednesday so I'll be out of town for a couple weeks.

Ahhh... This will make a GREAT addition to the suit! I wish it was here on Friday as I had my first official troop yesterday at Calgary, AB's AIDS Walk for Life (which raised $171,000!!!), but it's awesome non the less! Thanks Jim! Some pics from the first troop, It was a BLAST!

WOOT! I saw that this morning too!

Well, now for the fiddly bits, lol! I think I'll just plunk some foam bits in it and make an elastic chin strap... Not too sure. That will be tomorrow's project, I like how it's turned out. It's certainly a better scale to my frame! I somehow don't have ANY white paint ANYWHERE so I'll go and get a little bottle of Testors white tomorrow for the brass screws. Cheers!

Ok, now I have ventured into unknown territory and come out the other side extremely pleased with myself!!!! Tube stripes turned out freakin' FANTASTIC!!! I'll call this lid "Lucky #13", I'm SO happy with the way they look... Perfect color, perfect everything except maybe the width of the blue bar is a tad much. I may modify the template I have to be a tiny bit less wide. Other than that... it's spot on!. Feedback welcome though! If you see ANYTHING out of place shout it out! Got the Hovi's finished, meshed and in too. I'm still debating whether or not to free-hand the cheek vent's and back vents though... As far as I can tell from this photo it looks like the cheeks and vent lines were just hand bombed on with a small round tip brush. That makes cleanup a lot easier for me, lol! However, now that I know how to airbrush (yes, the tube stripes were the very first time I've ever used an airbrush, LOL!) I'm digging the quality. But... should the quality be there? Or should it match the original and be rough?

Lol... No peer pressure... I just like eyeing other peoples builds, I'm doing a Hasbro too soon and am building a mental library.

Thanks! I'm pretty stoked that it's done and I can finally wear it!

One more finishing touch on this suit! Here's my lovely new ANH screen accurate holster! Didn't cost me much, about $14 in materials and an hour or so of my time. Of course I'll post a pic of my finished ATA lid when it's done and hopefully some full pics of the suit as it is now. I've been tweaking,