theisaac

AM is great for bigger body's. You can take a look at my build and see how it fits my 230lb frame. You can also learn a lot from the mistakes I made in my build http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18965&st=80 Side note to bigger troopers is that Troopermaster kits will fit a larger body as well. I didnt know that when I got my kit. If you want the most accurate for a big body then look up TM. Its expensive because its from the UK but it looks a lot better than the AM. RT-Mod is great as well. That being said... I am happy with my AM kit and its great for a 1st build because its easy to assemble and your local garrison and everyone here will be with you every step of the way! Isaac PS - Brian's build http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=11333&hl=*am&st=0 is a great build thread as well. He's top notch

I have the same lid. What I did for padding was go down to a sports store and got a cheap batting helmet and pulled out the soft foam inside and used velcro to hold it inside the lid. It already has holes for ears cut into the foam so you can wear it and still get some air flow. If you need pics I can post some but its pretty basic and works great. I think the batting helmet I got was 12 bucks. I got the Jr size since I just needed the foam from it. Isaac

VERY nice weathering! Im seriously thinking about doing a TD now. I weathered a helmet and LOVED it.

I was so frustrated by the thighs that I ended up buying some old thighs, calves, and biceps from a buddy. Pulled them apart and Im gonna try to get those to fit better.

Thats fantastic! Take your time and ask a ton of questions. You'll get lots of help from the people here. Take more pictures than you think you'll need and from all kinds of angles and post them with your questions. You have a whole community backing you through your build! Isaac

Good save on those thighs buddy! For my belt I went to lowes and they had some snaps that were male and had a screw in the middle. I glued an extra piece of ABS on the inside for support and screwed it in. Then I used a rivet to hold the female snap through the squares on the belt through the canvas. This has been holding pretty well so far. Havent got a holster yet so I dont know what its gonna do when its load bearing though.

I see both sides of this debate. Im a fan of the zero gap ears as well. But as a newbie there are a few people who are vocal on the boards and I expect to see perfection with their gear. Especially with someone like yourself who puts painstaking detail into those blasters. I thought you would have just sanded down the ears so the cutlines are not visable and painted them. That way you keep the shape you want but remove the bevel that everyone is commenting on. Then again I think Im still under 50 posts so I dont count

If I redo the straps and its still popping out and floating then im gonna try that shim idea. Makes sense in theory.

Anyone know a good way to cover that UnderArmor logo on my shirt? I could use a sharpie or something to color it but Im looking for something a little less ghetto.

Im down to the final stages at this point. I'll track down a holster and some boots and Im just about done. TKBoots.com is out right now... has been out for months. I'll check out the vendors for a good holster from a dealer with a good attitude and call it a day.

thanks Jonathan Good luck with your build! post a link to it and I'll check it out! Isaac

You can check out my AM thread to see how I made the chest sit lower. I had to trim the tops of the shoulder and back. This allows the chest to sit lower on your upper body. When you turn sideways you'll notice with the flaps attatched it makes the chest float out and ride high. Its because the mould AM uses makes those flaps stick straight back instead of up and at an angle like it should sit. To keep it sitting low I used webbing with snaps attatched to the pecks of the chest and connected to the inside of the ab piece. This stops the chest from trying to ride up too high like it wants to because of the way it was moulded. Isaac

I used webbing to attatch the biceps to the shoulders and then used the elastic that came with the kit to hold the forearms on so they will have some flex with bending my arms but still keep them from riding too far down towards my writsts. I also trimmed off the return edges on the tops of the biceps to give me more room. Since you cant see it anyway it was a small sacrafice to get them to come up a little higher. I also trimmed the part that starts to dip down towards that thumb print area. since it was squashing my bicep at the top of bending my arms up towards my helmet. Removing the return edge from the biceps was pretty clutch to help them fit better.

Hey man, Looking really good my friend! My shoulders are as close to the webbing that goes from the front to the back of the chest and back as I could get them. You have a wide torso like mine and that helped eliminate the black areas. If you look at page 5 on my build thread you'll see how close mine are attatched. There isnt much you can do about the top / upper pec muscle pushing the chest plate out so having the shoulder bells high covers as much of the black undersuit as possible. That was my experience. Try it out with tape wearing your black undersuit rather than a tshirt and see how it looks. Start high and work your way down until you get the best coverage. Its a little different for bigger troopers so Ive learned there is, "the normal way" and "what I have to do to achieve the look of the normal way". Check out Brian Tkrestonva's build as well as hes got a buffed up bodybuilder upper body as well. As far as biceps go, Im looking at other options for biceps as Im having the same issues as you are with mine. The AM biceps are moulded in almost a squared off shape.at the bottom (you can see it in your test pics above) so we have room on the sides but ZERO room where the bicep actually gets bigger when you curl your arm up. I dont want to frankensuit my kit with other parts but If I cant move my arms I dont really have a choice..

My advice is the same as Ingrid's for the most part. Use E6000 as it will hold everything together and still come apart without destroying the plastic. I used PVC glue for a few parts and they are basically melted together. You can always tear apart the parts and shim up or trim down to fit as your body changes. Now thats my 2 cents and Im not an expert at building... but Im getting very comfortable with sizing TK's for bigger body types as mine has been nothing easy so far getting it to fit. As for lifting, Ive done that for 20 years now. I can offer some things to think about and you can see what you think. Your body will adjust based on what you put it through during your workouts in relation to your genetics. I know for myself, my arms will grow from watering a plant but my shoulders take extra work. I also know that from wrestling and doing squats and takedowns over and over that my thighs and butt will get bigger and react to weights faster than other muscles. Thats just a mix of my genetics and what Ive trained my body to do. So I knew I'd need extra room in my thighs and biceps when I started my build. So as you workout, you'll notice what body parts respond to training faster than other muscle groups and guage from there for your fittings. Being 6'1 your muscles are probably longer so its more difficult to get that body builder look than say someone thats 5'6 so I wouldnt worry about getting too bulky. Best of luck and congrats on the workouts and results you are seeing! Isaac

Welcome to the AM build club! You'll need to have your photographer take pics of the thighs a little closer to the ground to see how open they are at the bottom by the knee. They look pretty good from a standing position but you'll know when you walk in them if they are narrow enough. You want to avoid the "bell ringing" motion when you walk. I have thick thighs and I ended up leaving about 1/2 inch gap at the top and then cutting about 3 inches from the bottom so they taper. I had to butt joint everything to make it fit me better. I also had to trim the tops of the thighs around the back side of them to pull them up higher as my butt cheeks prevented them from coming up any more. Have a spotter / fitter with you when you size them and it will help you a ton. They can eyeball where things are sitting and where you need to trim while the pieces are on your body. I think I spent about 4 hours trimming the tops off my thighs. Trim.... test fit... trim more.. test fit. The kidney is upside down in your pics. The curve goes at the bottom to fit the "small of your back". Hope that makes sense. Good luck and ask a ton of questions and post a ton of pictures and people will be here to help along the way. Isaac

NICE! I was in Nor Cal all day and just landed back in Phx tonight. I hated missing this! Isaac

Im no expert but i had the same issue with mine. What I did to fix it was bring the top of the bells closer to the shoulder straps. Less material (strap in this case) between the shoulder and bell tops means less room for them to move back. You can test it by folding the material over itself to give less room and use a bobbypin like girls use in their hair or a safety pin. See if having the shorter material yeilds you the result you want. If not then you know before you redo the sewing to test it. If it does, you can experiment with different lengths to fine tune it. Hope that helps man, Isaac

Thanks man ya I trimmed the belt and redid the drop boxes yesterday. Messed with the thighs and strapping. Tried a belt with suspenders and then attaching the thigh to the ab plate with an elastic stap... Both suck. My thighs just don't pull up higher than they are now. I'm at another plateau with the build lol. I hate it right now and just want to be done with it. Still waiting for tkboots.com to restock my size... And a neck seal... And I'll just make a holster. Probably gonna try and build a t-21 to keep me busy till then. That looks fun

Looking forward to seeing more of this buld. And +1 for the Rev. Horton Heat sticker for the win Isaac

Im honestly thinking about trimming about an inch off of the top of the butt plate. I think this is part of the kit where its made for taller troopers. As far as EIB goes so far... does the fit match what EIB should look like? I know the "requirements" and Im more about the idea behind what EIB means rather than connect the dots. I can do a checklist and meet the requirements but I want to be one of the proud 300 this year. How does it look so far in regards to that? On a side note, Brian are you still using the suspender system you used in your initial build thread? How did you find it worked? Right now I have a single snap glued to the inside of the front of my thighs and Im thinking its going to pop one of these days as its a lot of stress for one harness point.

Ok, here are the latest test fittings. Please let me know what works and what doesnt. Please also suggest ways to fix anything you see needs to be adjusted. thanks guys! I wouldnt have gotten this far without all of the help here from the FISD. Isaac

I think this is one of the few times being tattoo'd from neck to knuckles has its advantages. I tell people, "I tried visiting sick kids at the hospital dressed in street clothes and I noticed they smile a lot more when Im wearing my stormtrooper suit". Im also a hypocrite because a friend at work told me he wants to make a Halo Suit and in my head I thought , "jeez, what a nerd".

You have the floating chest piece like I had. Once I snapped the top so it doesnt ride up it takes care of that. I also had to trim the plastic "shoulder straps" because that was part of the issue with the chest wanting to ride up. Aim to have the bottom of the chest ride about at the top of the button box. The bottom of the back should stay flush with the top of the kidney plate. For mine I have straps to help this but I may need to trim one or the other. Im not 100% sure on which one I want to trim quite yet. I also trimmed off the flaps on the sides of the back plate. They are almost square in the back. Looking good buddy!

I have three straps going from shim thats glued to the kidnet that snap into the ab plate. They are spaced about an inch or so apart. They keep the shim lined up on the cod just fine. I think it depends on your body shape in the midsection though.I leave mine closed all the time and just step into it and pull it up like a pair of pants. Works really well for me so far. Also understand that Im lazy and dont like to fuss with snaps when I want to do a test fit either. So pulling it on and off is just faster. I think I posted pics of what it looks like in my thread but if I didnt I can post some for you to see how I did it. Or maybe a video and post that if it will help you visualize it better. Isaac