gazmosis

Awesome!!!! Just placed my bid!

If you ever make a mistake on the edge, dip your paint brush into thinner and dab it on a rag so it is moist but not dripping. Then gently massage your paint mistake until it comes off. You can clean up many edges with this method.

Those clips a darn nice!!!! Well done!

Make sure you drill an air relief hole under the control panel. It makes it easier to put the caps on the sides. They fit so well, when you put the one side on, it pushes the other side off. Caps on first, then control panel

Good looking build, Doc! Very nice!!

Thank you! I actually get yelled at if I DON'T wear them to troops.

Looks like that would be OK to me.

Very Nice!!!!

I cut out the ammo pack with the razor knife, then shaped it with the Dremmel. The ammo pack is very thin. And although it bends easily, it looks best on the thigh if it conforms to the different angles created by the ridge at the bottom of the thigh. Time to bust out the heat but first I needed to clamp it in place to mark exactly where I wanted the bends to happen.I needed the pack to bend along specific locations. If you are not using the edge of a heating iron that only heats the line that it touches, you need to force the plastic to bend at a predetermined point. To accomplish this, I clamp strips of wood along the line of my bend location.I GENTLY heat the back.I have the torch on the lowest flame possible so I can focus the heat as close to the bend line as I can get. I wave the flame at this point. NEVER STOP MOVING THE HEAT SOURCE!!!!!! After doing this in all my locations, we have a form fitting knee pack. looks and fits nice. Now to attach it.I will use the cap or speed rivets provided by RS. I place the head of the rivet in the desired location and mark it. I drilled out my marks and transferred that mark to the thigh on ONE SIDE ONLY!!!I will install one side at a time, similar to the cloth belt on the ab plate, so I can pull it over and ensure a snug fit. You should have a setting tool for these cap rivets. The tool's end is concaved so to fit the rounded head of the rivet.The rivet itself is two pieces; an head and a stem. When hammered together, the stem mushrooms within the head holding it, and whatever you are riveting, together. When hammered properly, the base should be flat and flush and head should be unmarked and rounded. With the one rivet installed, I pulled the pack around tight and marked the other side. I drilled out the location and set the rivet. It looks nice.It was, however, the tiniest bit loose. I heated the one side of the seam at the bottom of the thigh until it touched the knee pack. I glued it and clamped it. It should be secured. I could now go back to the belt. Why elastic was the material chosen to hang the drop boxes with I will never know. Must have been what was at hand at the time. I would personally use white nylon. I didn't have any and the elastic was supplied with the armor so I used it. I am using pop rivets to attach this. I need to mark the holes in the elastic then transfer those marks to plastic and drill it out.I made sure the box lines up with the belt end and set the rivets.Same procedure with the other box.I glued and taped the drop boxes to keep the halves together until the glue cures. With the drop boxes done I was able to finally install the rivet covers on the belt front.snap plates installed on the chest and back.I believe I am in a position to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I need to get the leather to make the holster(S) next.

Good thing you didn't use a plasti-weld type adhesive

More pics........................ There have been as many ways to hold up the thighs as there are species of bugs in the world. The garter system seems to be the most reliable for avoiding any mid-troop wardrobe malfunctions. The originals used WIDE elastic glued to the inside of the thigh fronts and formed a loop that the garter was passed through. I am going to avoid the loop, and sew the elastic directly to the garter. The garter was made from soft nylon web and adjustable straps and a main clip.The thighs will be measured and glued on after the final fitting. I still had the sewing machine out so I sewed up the crotch snap. This is something that is going to be pulled and tugged on. The cut ends of elastic fray easily which is why I fold it over and secure it. I took this down in the dungeon and gave it a couple snaps. Elastic just doesn't melt like regular nylon web so I hammer a nail through it to make the hole.Snaps installed and placed in the armor.I should call this my ADD build because I jump all over the place so often , anyway, I thought I would tackle the inner and outer drop boxes. They are formed without much depth so measuring accurately all the way around was critical.I used the hobby scissors to cut off the vac table flare at the bottom, then placed it on the belt sander to even things out.I made sure to sand down the inner box to sit close to even with the outer box.I will attach them to the belt after building it. I jumped around again and decided to glue the bicep straps on the shoulder bells. I marked their location as a guide. Then I set them in place and set aside to dry. I will glue the strap the the attachment button will be sewed onto later.The armor's owner came by again. We began our progress by addressing the ammo belt. First, he drilled out the rivet locations in the ammo belt itself.The center of the fabric belt was located that belt was placed on this center mark to mark the rivet locationsBefore we rivet this in place, we need to install the snaps that hold the belt to the ab plate. RS forms the belt snap locations in the ab so finding the snap locations is.....well......a snap! These locations were drilled out and the snaps installed.An important tip with RS, TM, and now NE armor is to make sure the belt is centered over the vertical line on the cod not the button plate!!! This line is slightly off center. It is centered on TE, ATA, AP, and AM. Noting this, we marked and installed the first snap. This allowed us the stretch the belt over and mark the second snap location.We pulled it tight so that would eliminate any sag on the belt in the future. The the ab attachment snaps installed, we could now rivet the ammo belt to the cloth belt. Washers were used to ensure nothing would come loose later.With our time short, it was now time to send the owner to get on his undersuit lowers so we could measure out his thighs and grieves. Up to this point, I knew the owner was thin but I had never seen him without pants. He has big legs. This was going to present a challenge. RS was not designed for legs as big as his. First, We taped up the front to keep that in place.He turned around and we squeezed to halves together to mark a common center on the overlapping parts. I always like to leave a little "growing" room so that as he ages and may gain a few pounds, he will still be comfortable. Although there was plenty of overlap at the knee, the thigh top was another story. It barely overlapped. It is supposed to overlap by at least 2 inches on both sides. Just made it. The same procedure was done with the grieves which came just as close!! With everything marked, the owner needed to leave. This left me with ability to continue. I already had the fronts of the thighs and shins trimmed up. I could now glue them together. First the inside connecting strip.First a quick alcohol wipe down, Then the same procedure as before; clamp the strip in place, mark the center to avoid glue sqeezeout, and apply the glue. Connecting strip in place. The same was done with the other shin and the halves were joined. The cover strips were measured out and cut. I agled the corners slightly with the dremmel.Then glued it in place after a quick wipe of alcohol.I like finish off the return edges to look nice and clean. NOW THE DREADED SNIPER PLATE! UGH! These never fit right. At least not in my experience. Mark it and trim it first. Part of the problem is that there is more gluing surface on one side than the other. It always seems that the sniper plate never just "fits". It seems it needs to be held and clamped and forced to fit. Well, this one was no different. IN FACT...it fit SO poorly, it actually began pulling the E6000 away even after the 24 hour cure time.. This inevitably would pop off and something had to be done about it. As you look at the shin, the sniper was well adhered to the left side that had the most contact surface. I pulled the right side away, removed all the glue, and came up with a solution. If the sniper won't fit to the shin, I will make the shin fit to the sniper. I grabbed the heat iron and slowly heated the inside of the shin and pushed it out.This allowed me to custom fit the inside of the shin to the sniper plate providing me with all sorts of gluing surface.I glued her up and now all is well.Breathing a sigh of relief now that the sniper issue is solved, I moved onto the main body clamshell. Installing the split rivets was the first thing. I melted holes for the rivets. I chose not to go with elastic on the sides. I installed the straps on the kidney first. Then I placed the kidney and ab together at the seam and was able to press into the hole on the ab for the final rivet location.I don't have a split rivet setting tool so I use a large screwdriver to separate the "legs" of the rivet and hammer each side flat. I joined the ab with the same method and I am half way there.I then installed the straps on the right side that allow the trooper to get into and out of the armor. The main body is almost done. Some button paint and a finished belt, and we are golden. OH! I did sew a nifty cross strap between the suspender straps to keep them from falling off the shoulders. This will also serve as a place to hang his speaker off of. SQUIRREL!!!!! SOMETHING SHINY!!!! I jusmped around again and did the final trimming on the shoulder bridges.With the glue dry on the bicep strap on the shoulders, I was able to glue in the straps that will attach them to the strap that connects the back and chest. Now this may make some of you cringe....but the owner did not want the biceps to float freely. He wanted them attached so I will be gluing a strap to the inside of the shoulder that will hold the bicep in place with a snap to the bicep.I need the owner here to determine a comfortable height before I can glue them onto the shoulders. Now I moved back to the legs. I need to get the shins finished with the rear strips glued into place. With that done, I moved back to the thighs which are now secured both front and back.OMG!!!! YOU DIDN'T EVEN UP THE BOTTOM OF THE RIGHT THIGH!!!! Um...powerpack. I trimmed the sides down and marked the rounded corners with the thermal detonator. That's as far as I have progressed. More as I get farther.

Something was added to the backside. It looks extended.

The Stormtrooper armor sets endorsed here are made from positive molds. The molds(forms) themselves come very close to the exact shape of the final product. The plastic sheet is heated to a stretchy state and laid over the forms and sucked down with a vacuum. What you are describing would need a NEGATIVE mold for the material to be poured into.

Just trim it back until comfy

There is little eye bump. AP helmets are very prominent. It could possibly be TM, too???????

So.......with the caps glued on, how are you going to secure the belt clips??

Thank you Germain!!

It was time to bust out the sewing machine. We are not using the screen used metal bracket harness system. Instead we are making a suspender harness and using snap plates and nylon webbing to hold certain parts together. We will be using the all the correct rivets in their locations seeing as we will be going for Centurion.Nylon webbing is easy to heat seal the ends to prevent fraying, but elastic needs to be folded over and sewn at the ends....something I just like to do. Here is the completed suspender system with adjustable straps. Snaps will be applied to the bottom then attached to the inside of the Ab plate. Once the armor's owner gets here, we will be measuring for a cross strap that will be sewn between the straps to prevent any slipping off the shoulder problems. A small snap will be added for easy on/off. the strap is also a good place to hang the Aker from. Anyway, smaller pieces of nylon were cut for installation of snaps to then be applied to connect the butt and kidney sections.I made these straps small to keep the kidney from wandering away from the butt plate similar to what the metal brackets would do.With the sewing machine out and being finished with the black pieces for now, I figured it would be a good time to change to white thread and make a belt!!! With my daughter's help, I took a measurement around the ab/kidney combination. I gave a few inches for overlap and planned my attack. I am still not 100% sure of the outside material of the belts. I had read/heard that it was twill. I went to the fabric store to buy this and although it did have the telltale diagonal pattern in the fabric, it wasn't prominent enough. I resorted back to white denim. the pattern here was much bolder. The inside 3 layers will be standard canvas/duckcloth, and the outer layers will be denim. You can see the denim on the left and the duckcloth on the right.The total length of the belt was 44 inches. Using a straight edge, I measured and cut 5 pieces of material. This process cannot be rushed. Unless a spray adhesive of some sort is used, the material will just not stay together well enough to sew too many layers at once. I first pinned/sewed two inner layers. Then I pinned/sewed the third layer of duckcloth together. The only thing left was to sew the demin on the outside and inside. This too needed to be pinned. Once that was done, I added some Velcro to keep everything together.Later on prior to mounting the ammo belt, I will need to trim the stragglers and seal the fabric from further fraying. I will post pics of that as it happens. I will move back down in my dungeon to continue with the armor parts. I installed the functional crotch snap with the split rivet. Previously, I had trimmed the forearm and remaining bicep as best as I could until these parts needed to be fit to the owner. He arrived, put on the forearms and we squeezed them until they were comfy AND he could get his hand out without too much effort. We then marked the common line where the parts overlapped to trim equal parts off both halves. Once again, I used a straight edge to connect these marks and cut off the extra from the biceps and forearms.I set the forearms aside to deal with the bicep. With the excess trimmed off, the edges fit together ok, it was the top and bottom edges that needed help. ENTER.....THE HEATING IRON!!!!! I massaged the bottom edge till the halves matched up.Now to do something with that top half.With a little love....one side done. The other side had its issues as well including a fold over.BLECH!!! What a mess. Some time and patience later and it was acceptable.I realize that's a lot of return edge up there. That will be reduced upon completion of the bicep. I needed to switch gears. I decided to glue some snap plates on the ab for the suspenders to attach to.With the ab drying, It was time to install the snaps on the suspender straps. I never just punch or cut a hole in the nylon. It can become weak and fray. A simple solution is to heat up a nail and melt the hole sealing it all around.Once that is done, I can go ahead and install the snap.The finished suspender harness.Now it's time to build some forearms!!! With the excess trimmed, I needed to break out the heat iron to even up the edges.Grab my pile of 15MM strips that were cut a while ago.Once I had my inner connecting strips cut to size, the edges need to be eased down. When using a razor knife as I do to score the plastic, it creates a small raised edge along the cut line that can mess up your gluing surface by not allowing the surfaces to completely touch. Using the edge of the razor blade, I steadily draw the blade across this edge shaving off the raised lip.You can actually see the tiny, thin plastic "hairs" that come off. Once I am ready to glue up, I wipe down all surfaces with rubbing alcohol to remove any oils and dirt. These may seem like a lot of steps with standard E6000.......if I was using E6000.Yes this will be my adhesive. With this, you get ONE SHOT to get it right. First, I clamp my connecting strip in place and mark the center line.This mark will remind me #1, which side to apply the glue, and #2, to keep the glue away from the center line. You want MINIMAL IF NO squeeze out when using CA glue. Deep breath, glue applied and strip in place. I will leave the clamps in place while I set the other strip on the other half. Once connecting strips are on both halves, I can join one half at a time. The same procedure was used with the outer cover strips. A finished Forearm YAY!!!!!!Just as an extra measure of strength, I will apply E600 to the inner strips.The same procedure was done for the left forearm...and we have a pair now!!!More later.

What maker of armor is this???? Nice looking helmet. You will need to get hold of some "S" trim if you are shooting for higher than EIB. AAAAAAAANNNNNND................boy those tube stripes look dark. Maybe it's just the flash or poor lighting. Isn't the title of the thread ANH HERO??? You have 4 teeth cut out.

You could hit up other armor makers, the only thing you risk is a slight difference in the color of the abs.

good tip, Glen!!

The adjustment needs to be done at your shoulders. Reposition the white straps that connect your back and chest. If you attach it closer to the shoulder bridges, it will allow the chest to fall a bit lower. Then I would replace the elastic you have connecting the chest and ab with shorter pieces of nylon webbing (strap). this will not allow movement of the chest upward.

Seeing is over rated.....I use my blaster as a walking stick.

Did you buy the set off EBAY Derek!!?? Those are actually not bad. You just need to paint them like Carl said.