SCTrooper

Save the 100 bucks and buy an amp for your ATA helmet or tk boots Just a thought.

Hi guys, The match is fairly close. I troop with NE armor and ATA helmet and sometimes a CAP helmet that is painted gloss white and have no problems. You are better off with the ATA helmet, even if not a perfect match, its more accurate than NE helmet. The money you save on a lite kit can be spent on another helmet.

That combo will work really well, the helmet does not have to match perfectly.

Hi David, try making the crotch strap longer, this should keep the butt piece in the right position. Looks like there is too much tension on the strap.

This armor should fit you and rt-mod would to, as he can make custom parts to fit your body. As far as a knock off, I guess you mean the helmet.

Awesome! I really like the position of the brow, not to low not to high. Sweet!

My current armor to was small for my frame, I have a thin build but my shoulders wide and the NE armor fits me pretty well. I had to trim it down to fit me, This armor is good for people that are to large for screen size armor. I would go with a lite kit (no helmet) , you can buy a helmet that is better from armor suppliers here. The armor comes fully trimmed and is glossy white, can't really beat the price. Whats your height and weight? .

I found this maybe give it a shot. http://manganlabs.com/easily-remove-dried-hot-glue-aka-hot-melt/452/

Yes

Try moving the shoulder bell connection forward where it connects to the shoulder strap, it looks like you have the bells sitting to far back.

The joints glued with e6000 come apart quite easily, by gently prying with a smooth tool or a butter knife. Start at the end of the strip, once you get going it will come right off, and since your a TD any marks made will hidden by a nice weathering.

What vern said, plus stored in a cool dark place like a storage bin. I am concerned more with the armor yellowing than cracking. Some where on here a guy had an old fx suit that sat in a box for years in kit form, the amor was still shiny and white, but outdated.

I would resize the biceps a bit smaller so they fit your arms better. The shoulder bell connection to the back and chest connection can be moved forward and that would make the bells sit better. Most people use snap plates of some sort and elastic to hold the torso amor together. The pic's look like the amor is not held together very well, if you strap everything together that would solve the chest sitting to high and the butt plate and back plate overlapping the kidney piece. This would improve the overall look of the armor for your submission photo's.

Congrat's on your armor, I use a filbert brush for the larger details and the round tip brush for fine details. You can pick up a value pack assortment a most craft stores, like michaels if your in the US. The filbert makes painting much easier even if your hands are not to steady. Pull up some reference pic's while you paint and maybe study some before you start, and have fun. Hand painted helmet looks really good, because the details are not perfect, as you can see in the reference section. I only used masking tape on the tube stripes. Trooperbay sells painting templets for them or you can make your own.

Take your time and have fun.

I use a thin nylon one, like the second one and it works great.

The first rivet is in the correct place on the bottom of the thigh detail. the second rivet he installs to high, both rivets should be on the lower detail of the thigh and I think its ok if the knee pack is tilted a bit. Look in the reference section you will see the knee pack isn't perfectly level.

Trim all the return off the inside of the elbow, comfy and screen accurate and trim the rest of the return at the wrist too. this is accurate plus makes putting on the gloves much easier.

Looking good Derek, when did you move to Apple Valley. People paying money for a pic with a guy in rubies armor... amazing

Micro-Mesh sanding pads work great and will really make it shine. They can be found on the bay, 1500 course to 12000 fine, the kit has 9 pads and they are inexpensive.

Congrat's on your kit. Looks like your getting there. The biceps could be made smaller to fit you better, and that will help the shoulder bells sit better. Just make them big enough to flex your arm, like when you take off your helmet. This is the first NE helmet I have seen put together. As far as the ears go the top of the ear usually almost touches the ridge line on the helmet, but I am not too sure since this helmet is so new. You may have to trim more off the foot of the ear piece, I wouldn't trim any more off the curved part of the ear, that looks fine. Look at some screen shots of helmets before trimming any more and use that as your guide. That scratch on the ear can be polished out.

The left ear sits a tad lower than the right. If your not happy with it just lower the ear some. The new screw holes will be hidden under the ear piece.

Hi Dan, who is the maker of the armor you are building?

Nice job! I always look at starwarshelmets.com when painting, lots of good closeup shots.