Thalizar

Hello everyone, Been a busy August so far, I recently got married to a beautiful and wonderful woman. Not only is she awesome but is totally involved in the 501st. she has an approved officer and now is working on her Imperial Knight build and my daughter is also in the Galactic Academy as a Sith Acolyte and Jawa. It was a great day for a wedding, the weather was perfect. We did not want the wedding to be formal and had everyone come in costume or whatever they felt comfortable wearing, shorts, flipflops, and costumes. We wanted it to be more of a party then a stuffy event. I wore my Lord Adrass build and lent my TKCommander to a friend to wear for the wedding. It was a Fairytale meets Empire wedding.

Looking good so far.

Glad I was able to help.

I used Testors Blue Angels Blue on my TKC.

Sorry for the typos, stupid touch screens. Lol

Bondservnt, there is a link above for (Great Lakes Skipper) it's a marine supply store. It's been awhile since I ordered any edging from them for my TKC. But I believe the item I used was "Bayliner 1733532 white 3/16 boat U molding." The stocking number is 1016902 and runs .75 per foot. You can go to the sight and put in (edge molding) and it will brung up several types, I know I used Bayliner. I would have sent links but on my phone.

Hello all, been busy getting my Sith together, it's done and ready for approval. Some pics with Commander Blitz, who is our very own TK Soldermaster with his new build. Now ready to finish my Galactic Marine build which is almost done then onto an Animated Commander Wolfee.

Congrats brother!

I'll post some pics on what I did to extend my Ab and kidney plate tomorrow when I have some better light.

The best resource is getting in contact with your local garrison. I'm sure there are TKs there that woulg be more then happy to get you started. Don't get frustrated we all have been where you are now. A year ago I had no idea how to even start, I was afraid to get a Xacto even near my armor. Waiting for my armor I did alot of research and reading, and also contacted my local garrison. The Wisconsin Garrison TK expert Soldermaster was the first to talk to me, and was great enough to invite me to his home a day after Christmas. So I drove at the time 5 hours to get to him. He helped me start my helmet and a thigh. Now with the new found knowledge I went home and built and painted my armor in a month, nothing could stop me. Now I'm in the middle of building a Galactic Marine and a Sith Acolyte. Funny thing that summer my job took me to his town and now live next door to him.

When it came to weathering my TKC I used several techniques. For the general dirty look I watered down black acrylic paint to about the consistancy of milk, same as you would for using in an airbrush for those of you that use airbrushes you would know the consistancey. I then used an apply and wipe tecnique. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I used some sand paper and roughed up areas on the armor that I wanted scatches to be more prevailent, these scatches will realy show when you apply the watered down paint. I would also lightly hit my blue areas the same way. But what I did mostly with the blue painted areas was use a Xacto knife and add the nicks and scratches. For dents I just lightly heated up the intended area I wanted to add the dent with a heat gun, then used an object with a rounded end and gently pushed the end into the heated area to make the indent. I used a screw driver that had handle with a nice rounded end that worked great. After the dent was applied I then drybrushed the dent and surrounding area to simulate a blaster hit. Now back to the apply and wipe tecnique, I used a sponge to apply the watered down paint and then wiped the paint back up with a cloth, being sure to not wipe all of the paint up. very important when doing this make it look natural, don't wipe all in one direction but use a dabbing motion or circular motion. If you wipe in one direction it will just make your armor look streaky. I would suggest practicing on some spare ABS or the inside of your armor to get the look your going for. Acrylic paints are a water based paint, so it's easy to work with and no fumes so you can do it inside. When the paint dries it will stay on, even when my armor got wet or I'm cleaning it I've never had a problem with my weathering rubbing off. Hope this helps, Dan

Thank you.

Looking good so far brother, keep it up! can't wait to see your future progress pics! Love my TKC!

That is the correct trim, I used the same trim on my TKC.

Thank you, I love my TKC in a sea of white it stands out, and people really love it. Sometimes you get mistaken for a clone... How I did the dents in my shoulder bells is very easy, all I did was use a heat gun and gently warm the area that I wanted to put the dent in and then used the end of a screwdriver that I had that had a nice rounded end on the handle and gently pushed it into the heated area to make the indent. You can use any item that has a rounded end, I just happen to have a screwdriver that I used. After painting and weathering the shoulder bell I then drybrused the dent and surrounding area a bit darker to represent the blast mark.

I have an ATA kit as well. A little work to build but for the price and looks you can't beat it. I jut finished helping a garrison mate build his ATA kit and about to start another ATA kit for another member. I would say the fit is better for someone in the under six foot range without modification. I'm 6'2" 180lbs. and the suit I just built was for a member that is also 6'2" the only thing will be working with the gap between the backplate and kidney plate. The new suit being built is for a member that is 5'4". Overall I'm very pleased with the ATA kit. Great customer service. Hope this helps.

Been away from the boards for awhile. Lots of things I want to accomplish for 2013. 1. Recently found out I have cancer in November, so I have not been as active trooping from pain in my hip. Been doing Chemo and that has taken the pain away so I have a troop coming up soon. So I plan on kicking cancer In the behind! I have to much to live for, my beautiful wife, and children. Builds will have to be on hold for awhile... Bills are coming in.. Been trying to find things to work on to keep my mind off of things. 2. Finish my Sith Acolyte build. Have the helmet, neckseal, and robes being made by a tailor. Now to decide on the armor. 3. Finish my Galactic Marine build. Have most of the armor just need to finish getting the rest and to start building. Lots of waiting lists for items. My Sith Acolyte so far,( Lord Ardass). The cloak is just an old cloak from a Halloween costume I just put on for the picture. My GM bucket. DC-15 Long rifle.

Looking good, looks like people already pointed out things I would have said. I also have an ATA kit and being on the taller side 6'2" I had the same issue you have with the chest plate wanting to pop up over my AB plate. What I did was play around with how high my chest plate was. I found that I had room to lengthen the strap that connected to the back plate which allowed the chest to sit lower and solved the problem. Play around with the strap length to see if that helps.

That is the exact molding I used.

Greg, I used Testors Blue Angels Blue for my markings. It's a nice deep blue, and a very close match. Check my build thread or my centurion request to see some pics. Dan

Have you had the chance to look at the CRL for the TKC? When in doubt go with the CRL.

TKC drop boxes should be gray.

Happy Halloween! --------------

No ATA does not produce ROTJ armor, ATA is ANH if you want ROTJ CFO crafts ROTJ armor. Keep in mind you still need ANH helmet.

Bob, as a rule of thumb stay away from E-Bay, unless you know the seller. I seen that you had recently introduced yourself on the Wisconsin Garrison forums, again welcome to the Garrison. As stated above go with one of the vetted crafters and you will not go wrong. Don't throw your money away on E-Bay armor to find out that it's not 501st. quality and will either have to spend money again on a new suit of armor or spend money and a lot of time trying to mod that armor up to standards. When the snow starts to fly here in Wisconsin our troops slow down but our armor parties shouled be picking up all of us will be more then happy to get you into that armor.