TK Keith

I also used white duct tape on my black mesh.

I love these tape measures-- super easy to use. With a tape measure like this, having a friend help you should be just fine. Just make sure to measure everything twice!

Thanks guys! I used E6000 previously, so I am going to try gently detaching the back side from the current cover strip, trimming it, then re-gluing it. I am also going to look at tapering the biceps. I think I need to leave the lower opening the current size so it will fit around my elbow when I put it on, but I might be able to trim some from the top to tighten the whole thing up a bit.

Congrats on getting your armor. I just completed my build a few days ago and am now a proud EIB recipient. Best of luck with your build!

I'm excited to be approved! Thanks. I have a question about the trimming: The ATA forearms have flat ridges on both the front and back pieces. Are you suggesting that I trim more (or even all) of the ridge off the back piece to help it fit better? I was trying to avoid trimming all the ridges away in order to have a flat area to glue my cover strip to. Will the cover strip glue to the curved surface ok? I seem to recall that the biceps are a tight fit around my elbow joint when I put them on, so I don't know if I'll be able to trim them any further. I'll look into that. Thanks again for everyone's feedback!

LOL- thanks Nick... although it does make for a lot of trimming!!!

I appreciate the feedback. I am a pretty skinny guy so the forearms especially ended up being larger than I'd prefer. With all my trimming I tried to leave at least a little bit of the original raised lip in order to have a nice flat surface to glue my cover strips to. I'll take a look at the return edges, and I see what you mean about the left bicep coverstrip. I can cut that a bit closer. For the ammo belt, I will see how it looks if I let it tilt down a little bit. That might help it look more natural, especially on the outer edge. Thanks again!

Thanks Sven! Hopefully I'll join you in the Centurion ranks soon.

Thanks Keith! Great name, btw. ...Just waiting for our TK brothers in Europe to wake up.

I agree. Vern did a tremendous job.

Thanks Tyler. I am a teacher so I am used to getting feedback and making adjustments. It's really nice though when the feedback is given in a positive way. That's something I really like about the Legion-- for the most part people just try to help each other out and stay positive.

Looks good... and you're on the right path to Centurian. Cool!

Thanks for the feedback! Here's the other side of my blaster...

I totally agree. I'll do it tomorrow!

Thanks Joey! Joey is a great example of troopers helping troopers. He gave me a ton of advice during this build, which was extremely helpful.

Name: Keith Waechtler ID: 5376 Forum Name: TK 5376 Garrison: Golden Gate Armor= ATA Helmet= ATA assembled by TK-4510 (Mike) with Dave M decals Blaster= pipe-build by TK Bondservnt 2392 (Vern) Height = 6’0 Weight = 145 Boots = TK Boots Canvas belt = Trooperbay Hand Plates = ATA Electronics= Holster = TK Bondervnt 2392

Excellent point Vern. And then since I am nervous about everything that has to do with my armor, I check again to make sure it really is lined up correctly and hope I'm not missing some glaring mistake. I think I ended up gluing 3 ribs plus the large tab of my ATA armor. If I glued more than that I would have had to severely crease the tab over the ridge/bend in the armor. Are you expecting your back and kidney to line up perfectly with no gap? Based on the pics I've seen of other troopers, plus the reference pics I've checked from the movie, there is probably going to be a little black showing between those two pieces. The CRL says they should be flush, but I don't think they are expecting perfection.

There was a thread a few weeks ago where we talked about skinny guys having problems with the ab. Here's the link: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=20357&hl=&fromsearch=1 I personally ended up trimming a little from the sides of the ab, which I read about in the Ab tutorial: ----------- I waited to trim until after my back, kidney and butt were all connected, as well as the chest and ab, so that I could see exactly where everything was lining up. I trimmed a little at a time to make sure I didn't go too far. I had someone helping me by drawing the cut lines while I wore the armor to make sure that the lines were in the correct spot. As you can see in the thread, other people suggested using padding in order to avoid messing up the way the armor looks. You may want to start with this step, since it's not as permanent as cutting.

Great point! My next door neighbor is an 8th grade boy and he really got a kick out of seeing me in my armor. A few drivers definitely slowed down to look and see what was going on.

Great looking set of armor!

15.5"

I have a question about the placement of the bicep hook- in the pic of Han with his feet proppsed up the bicep hook appears to be on the outside of the armor while you glued yours to the inside. Is it simply a matter of preference, or do must people pick one spot more than the other?

No turning back? Excellent! You won't regret it.

I realized the Line 24 are long enough... yay!

Paul is certainly more of an expert-- thanks for the correction Paul. I didn't mean to offer bad advice. My mistake.