sith_241

If you have Locitus on board, you are set. His build was superb

Update Decals on, first coat of paint on ears, vocorder and ears Mic tips done armor ready for final trim and straps

Here we go brother Close up of ear piece Helmet opening with my approximate final trim. Probably will take a bit more out, but will wait until i put the trim in. Slight overlap inside the helmet. Barely had enough to rivet and screw it together. Mine is wonky too. Let me know if you need more.

Good to see another DLT-19 trooper! Have fun on your build.

Probably not in the torso at least. AP is smaller as far as i know.

Yeah, my faceplate is more symmetrically placed, which may have caused the ear issue. My faceplate also sits farther forward because i rotated the faceplate down to achieve the high brow. I removed up to the mold line on the opening. You can always cut a bit more as it will be covered by the neck trim. Pics to come.

Good looking suit, Brother

AP is much whiter than ATA. Not terribly, but you would notice it.

Gaps between the face and the cap piece. Not much, but i had to manhandle it and rivet the thing to get it correctly aligned. Fortunately, the ear piece covers it. Came out ok, but took some work. The AP helmet just slid together and i riveted it in about 5 minutes. I will take some more pictures of the inside tonight of the gap which is kind of visible. Also, be VERY careful about not over-trimming the ear pieces. I over-trimmed one and had to use a spare ear that came with the kit to not have a giant space underneath. See these photos for about how thick my ear pieces are to conform well. Let me know if you want any specific photos and i will take them as soon as im home for you.

My ATA i am building looks almost the same from the top. I can take a photo this evening if you want. Compared to the AP i built before this, the ATA helmet was a struggle to get even-ish...as there were still gaps and i hat to futz with the ears a bunch to get them to conform. It has its own fun character though.

Congrats, soon to be brother. Whatever works for you man! Great job.

I have used both Semi gloss and Satin with good results. I feel Satin looks a bit better though.

As soon as i get some latex hand guards i am going to. I will need to re-do the decals on the helmet, but that should not be a huge deal. Maybe i will just build a new helmet!! Hopefully, the shipper for the latex guards wont lose them again

No, there are normal, unraised TD brows of course...but i was going for the raised brow helmet on purpose. I like the look. Here is some of the armor laid out. Shins are done except for attaching the knee plate and final sanding to clean up openings. I had the rest outside while the E-6000 cured up. The trimming on the torso pieces was a breeze and only took about 45 minutes with a pair of shears and a dremel rough sanding drum. The cat was helping scale the image...i think he needs a big imperial decal or something. Here is how i glue the arms and legs together. My personal method is to glue the inner strip onto 1 side first, let dry. Then i glue the other half of the arm/leg on and clamp/tape and allow to dry. Once dry, i attach the cover strip. I have tried to do it in 1 shot a few times but i find it is more work and often produces inferior results for me. I also sometimes use Platruct plastic weld to tack the joints, but find it often breaks due to the E-6000 expanding while it cures. I have had success using plastic weld after the joint is taped up to help hold tough joints. Ignore the PVC glue, it was used on my TD backpack. I dont use it on the armor as its black and messy. On the long cover strips and joints i like to use STRONG rare earth magnets to hold the strip down all where the clamps wont reach. They are also useful when doing the inner strip as well. I highly recommend using tape as well so the joints dont pull apart as the E-6000 does expand somewhat. Detail of inside of shin showing the inner strip. I generally glue up the piece and then sand/blend the return so it looks good and fits comfortably. another shot. I will take some more pictures tonight as i start to strap the suit up. If anyone has any specific questions about the ABS ATA suit go ahead and ask or PM and i can answer questions or take photos of a particular part for you. Overall, the build is great. The fit of the parts is overall excellent.

Yeah, that is the plan. Just wanted to get the lid ears squared away as they were a bit of a struggle due to how much i trimmed on the lid back.

Im currently working on an ABS ATA TD suit. I figured i would post some in process photos of the helmet build. I am following Pandatrooper's build...the results are excellent so far. Much better than my last helmet build. I went with the raised brow trim, as this will be a TD. Enjoy! More to come.

all over online You can probably find them (or something similar, just google lexan scissors) at a hobby store too.

I use those too! Really, you want to have every tool available to you. You may only use it once, but then your suit will be right!

Maybe you can scrap the high spots in the paint off with an exacto blade or razor? Sanding would be tough in that area unless you masked off the "lips"

Yes, score and snap will probably still be your primary material removal method as Mark mentions ( he should know on this suit!! )

Looking good! I see a pandatrooper build! I have noticed an issue with my helmet that when i assembled the lid and faceplate i did not have enough material over-lapping to allow me to place the bottom rivet. Hopefully, the ear pieces will hold it all together, especially the bottom screw. My guess is a trimmed further back than you did. Worse case, i will jam some E-6000 inside and clamp it up if the edges dont meet well.

I am using this to put together a ABS ATA right now and i must say this tutorial is tops. To my eye i appear to be duplicating Panda's build and its a much better helmet than the last one i built! Panda, your the man!!

Cant beat it. Even buying the 4 different pieces you need it only comes to $20 which is about what you would pay for 15 snaps at a fabric store! If you do want to use a dremel to cut (for instance weird corners) you can use a cutting wheel. However, as was mentioned before you need to be careful. Sometimes, if i am cutting with the dremel on an actual edge i tape it off with painters tape to get a nice smooth line. Works well.

Congrats Brother...will have to check out the suit soon in person.

Sanding never hurts before you glue. Better adhesion