starsaber25

Hey Isaac. You're weight is a little high compared to your height and I do not know how ATA fits. I am very similar in size to you. I am 5'8", I am 195lbs and have a 38 inch waist. Take a look at my build thread here to see how well this armor fits me. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27630-starsaber25s-mtk-anh-stunt-build/ I have MTK armor and I did not have to do any modifications to it whatsoever. I am very happy with the fit of this armor. It is geared toward the bigger trooper but is a TE2 derived armor, so it still looks very accurate. However, like Derrek said don't get rid of your spot in that waiting list. You would still get the ATA and I'm sure someone will certainly take if off of your hands if you choose to do so. I couldn't imagine waiting 6-8 months for my armor to arrive. The suspense would have killed me.

Hey thanks everyone for the comments. It just awesome that the work has paid off so far. Yeah Eric I'm hoping to accomplish the 4th milestone. Thats what I'm going to work for very soon. I have to first do my DVH E-11 build. Anyway you want to see my photos huh? Well here ya go. So there they are. From looking at the pictures I certainly need to do some type of velcro on the boots and shins. When I first put them on after making adjustments to the thighs I thought everything looked good. But if you move one inch then your suit moves as well and my shins started to ride up. The one thing I need to know from you experienced trooping troopers. When I move from one side of my kitchen to the other my armor gets all out of whack. When you guys go trooping for any period of time, how do you keep your armor looking neat? I feel like if and when I ever troop my armor is going to look like a total disaster. My shin will be up in my crotch! My shoulder bell will be up in my helmet. My helmet will be under my chest plate. I guess its just part of being out there and you can't expect to look great the whole time. So anyway that is pretty much it for my build. Yes I am aiming to take it to EIB and I know of a few adjustments that need to be made but does anyone have any critiques that will help me get to that milestone? The next big part I'm going to tackle is my blaster. Then I will start to wrap up my build thread and I will expose my cost of this journey to any aspiring troopers out there. Again thanks for all of the comments.

I just used Novus #2 on my armor and it looks great

Hey Ryan. I don't know if anyone answered it for you but for the most part I used a 1/8" return edge on all parts that needed it. The only other thing with your biceps is make sure you flex it when you are doing your fitting to make sure you have enough room. I'm sorry I haven't kept up on your posts I keep forgetting to check the regular ANH section and always skip right to the build section. Are you sure you don't want to move your thread to the build section?

Oh and one more thing. I GOT MY APPROVAL this morning!!! TK-10466 reporting for duty! I'm excited because its another milestone down in this journey! First was actually researching, picking out an armor, and receiving an armor. Second was building the armor to the point I'm at now. Then third is getting your first approval! Its awesome! Well its time to keep on truckin.

Hey Derrek Thanks. Yeah this is kind of what I'm worried about. It keeps catching on the bottom lip of the thigh and I'm worried it will break. So I'll have to figure something out. And Germain that is something I haven't thought of yet. Maybe I will look into that. I'm going to do some more work on that tonight.

Requesting 501st Access! TK-10466 Empire City Garrison http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=17565 Thanks!!!

Ok so I ended up getting rid of the return edge on the thigh and you guys were right, its not as bad as it was. Now there is a follow up question that came up with all of this. What is the best way to keep the sniper plate from getting stuck under the thigh? I know its been asked before but I cannot find an answer to this one. My first thought is to glue a bunch of pieces of ABS scrap together and then glue it to the shin. Then reglue the sniper plate on. This would keep the sniper plate out and away from the shin. Thoughts?

I also got the 10w and I think its perfect. It fits well in the chest too.

Hey Sean welcome back and everything is looking good. What type of paints are you using?

You are off to a good start Ryan. Yeah as I was looking through the first thing I noticed was the return edge on the elbow side of the forearm and like Germain said you can cut that off. Maybe you and Ron and answer this for me but what version is NE up to now? It seems like every time someone builds a NE suit it is always different. Also I thought NE wasn't available anymore because they went to a new version of AM. Did your kit not come with extra ABS for coverstrips? The only thing I can tell you about using the excess trims for coverstrips is that I felt it wasn't as thick as the extra ABS that is normally provided. I tried to do what you mentioned on my build and I ended up not liking the way it looked and used the extra ABS. My MTK kit came with plenty extra ABS strips so I didn't come close to running out. Anyway, it is just a suggestion.

Thanks Derrek and Ron for the help. My goal since the beginning was that this suit will eventually be put on a mannequin and put on display in my basement. So I was originally aiming for it to be as screen accurate as I can get it. However, along the way the goal has been modified a little. Of course I want it to look great and be accurate. But I have realized that since I have built it to fit my non screen actor stormtrooper body then it may never look completely screen accurate. I am roughly an inch shorter and about 25-30 pounds heavier then those guys unfortunately. Anyway, I made up my thigh garter today. It isn't complete because there is no question that I need to trim the tops of my thighs to bring them up a little. That task is scaring me to death because this will be the biggest modification I have done to the armor and of course I don't want to screw anything up. I'm am so close and I don't need that. But here is my garter: Basically my plan is to glue those elastic double snaps inside of my thigh and then put the two female snaps on the thigh straps and snap in. It sounds great in theory so I hope it works out. So after I was done with that and the kids got in bed, I decided to take out a pencil and draw up on one thigh and this is where I'm at right now. I have two questions. 1. How does this look? and 2. Do I HAVE to put back on a return edge? If I don't will I not be able to get any approvals for EIB or Centurion? The reason why I didn't go all of the way around the back is because I feel that the back of the thighs fit fine. Its just the front that I can't get pulled up high enough. So here we are. When I can finally get these thighs done I should be pretty much done with my armor. I did finally change out the shoulder elastic and that certainly solved the trick for keeping the chest plate down and to keep in from choking me. I'll leave you guys with a picture of my and my youngest son who just saw me like this for the first time tonight. Don't pay of no mind to my iComm wire which I forgot to put in my undersuit and my thighs which are just floating free.

Ian everything looks great with your armor. I can't believe you weren't approved because of your thighs. I can see you really got the biceps to look proportional and they look great. Did you redo the kidney plate notch to 22x22? Or did you leave it at the original listed size? It's funny I must have missed the picture of the thigh garter you did. I did mine today and it looks almost identical to yours. I'm going to try and post pictures of mine later Anyway keep us posted regarding your approval

Man that is awesome! Good luck with your approval.

Hey Jaren I just got caught up on your build. I am very sorry for your loss and I hope that everything has been going as well as it can for you during this tough time. I looks like you are starting to move along again I see. I wish I could help you with your ear measurement. Good luck in your continuation and I can atleast maybe help out with your armor.

Yes Derrek! Not a moment too soon. I was just looking at your kit today and said to myself, man I hope Derrek starts working on this again because I have no idea what the hell I am doing. I will be watching and following every detail!

Sorry to hijack your thread here Adam but you are spot on. Adam is right here Anthony. ATA and MTK are very similar armors and even though MTK is slightly more the wait time is way better for MTK. I wasn't as fortunate as Ian as I had to wait like 2 weeks to get mine. As Adam and Ian can attest, I have had a blast building my MTK and it is everything I could have imagined. It was tons of fun to build and I felt that it went together fairly well and simple. The only thing that I would say needs the extra work is the left bicep. I followed Adam's idea in his thread and put it in a bucket of boiling water. At this point I would highly recommend MTK.

Hey guys again thanks for the input. Yeah I know about the shin elastic. When I was building it I only had black elastic and of course I was thinking, "whats the worst that can happen?" Well now you can see what happened. I will eventually change it. As far as the coverstrips are concerned Ron. The thigh coverstrips are an inch in the front and the back. The shins are the more accurate 7/8 of an inch. If you feel that the thigh coverstrips are different, they are not. One inch in the back and front. Unfortunately I could not do 7/8 inch on the thighs because they are the biggest part of my body. I finally submitted pictures to my local GML to get my 501st approval. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and I will get my number soon. I am currently working on making some of the adjustments that have been brought up in the previous posts. Once I do, I will post more pictures of the armor. Again I just want to thank all of the guys that have contributed to my build thread. It is amazing how much just a small suggestion can help you through your build. Your head is going around in circles and its so hard to think of everything and your advice has made that much easier.

This worked like a charm! I had no issue getting on my whole set of armor using this method. Thanks Dennis. Did this work for you Christian?

Hey Derrek thanks for the help. I actually think you are 100% right about the shoulder elastic and I'm going to get on that. Meanwhile I want to show a couple of photos of where i'm at with my boots and shins. I don't think its as horrible as I thought they would be but I'll see what some of you think about them. I know they aren't the best pictures right now but the black is just a little bit of the elastic showing which I have seen on other builds before. Thanks for looking!

Yeah Ron you are right. So here is one picture that I have to show you where I'm at. I already received a new package of shoulder elastic because i know I have to make them longer. I know there isn't a rush to finish it but man there is just that urge you know?

Hey Guys thanks for the replies. Yeah I'm starting to think that I will slit the boots somewhere. I just don't have any more money to spend on this project right now. If I drop another $100 for boots I think someone who lives in my throne room will hit me with force lightning. Hopefully I will figure something out. I finally did an initial test fitting lastnight and I have a lot of areas that need attention. I really don't want to show the pictures I took on here because I feel that it really doesn't live up to everyone elses build right now Hey Darrell thanks for the compliments. I was hoping to help any future troopers out and my main goal was to post as many pictures as I can. I'm a very visual person. As far as the helmet goes, I will eventually get to it but I don't know at what point. I'm thinking of taking a break after I finish the armor and then revisit the helmet sometime this November or December. I have a TM already and I think that it matches up pretty well colorwise so I will just use that for the time being. Ok well the final absolute thing that I need to do is make the thigh garter. When I did my test fitting I just put the thighs on and kind of let them float free. I'm also thinking that I may need to cut the tops of them because there is not much space between the bottom of my thighs and the top of the shins. I just want it to be over with so I can get my initial 501st approval!

Wow Adam your armor came out awesome! Congratulations and I hope to follow you to these ranks soon

Thanks Mike. I will certainly take off that return edge. I went with the Bass Amsterdams because that seemed to be a popular choice. Is there anyone else out there that has this trouble with the ankles being too high? If you have then what have you done about it? I'm of course hoping that I find some way to figure this out instead of shelling out another $100 for boots. Yeah Derrek. When I got the box I was a little scared at first. But everything looks good inside. Now hurry up and get that armor finished so you can build the E-11!!!

Ha Christian, we are pretty much at the same spot here in our journey. I finally did my first test run with all of my armor pieces and let me say that my wife was just sitting there laughing at me! She wanted to know how I'm ever going to keep on doing this. So unfortunately I had to do my test run without my boots . So I'm glad I ran into this thread this morning because I think Dennis brought up a great idea and I'll have to try that. Man this whole journey is not easy for sure. I didn't think that one of the hardest parts was actually just putting the armor on!