theisaac

This is my overall impression of my first build so far. 1. There is a lot of anxiety about cutting when you are looking at the freshly opened box of pieces. I think its worse if its a brand new kit and it comes pre-trimmed like AM kits do. Because you dont know whats excess plastic and what needs to be on the suit. Once you start those first fittings and you understand the concept of the butt joint then it gets easier. I was a hot mess and didnt touch anything until Mike the Dune Sea TK that has commented on my thread had me come over and he showed me how to do this. Im a visual learner so I have to see pictures and video or see it in person to really get it. He measured and trimmed my forearms and biceps and that gave me a good understanding of fitting. 2. Strapping is fun but getting everything lined up on your own is an exercise in frustration. I cant move really well in the suit so trying to get things lined up and positioned right just doesnt work. Even after I got suited up and the wifey took pictures you see everything you couldnt see while in the suit. So when it comes time for that, make sure you are prepaired for it. You'll think that the whole thing sucks and your suit build is a mess. Its probably not, its just fitted wrong. Im using the pics I took last night to unsnap everything and move it around and get a better position. As far as this build goes, I dont know that the shoulder straps will cover the gap Im going to have with the back and front chest so I might be joining you in the Sandy build lol.

put in the rivets on the left side To adjust for the shoulders I think that they now pull the strap that goes from front chest to back piece that its pulling the webbing out and making the chest float up. You can see in the picture above what Im talking about. Im going to have to let the shoulder out a bit like it was in the other post I think so that it stops the tension as much. I have the back attatched to the top of the inside of the kidney so that it doesnt overlap put this is pulling it down over the kidney plate in the back. You cant really tell in this angle but the shoulder straps are only attatched to the front chest so they float in the back. meet the new bane of my build... the thighs. might have to shim a little in the back to open them up a little so I can get them a little higher up the leg. Not sure yet more thigh

you'll be surprised at how well the butt joint will hold. You'll see that if flixes most at the joints because the forsale sign is so thin but I didnt have one come open at the seams from the heat gun method. You shouldnt have an issue. If it does though, just use it as an excuse to re-shim with a 1/4 or 1/2 inch more forsale sign to give you a little more room. Your outside cover strip should still cover the gap and the outside strip is just cosmetic the stress happens on the inside one anyway. Isaac

thats the beauty of the butt joint. you can start over and put thicker shims if you need to. I would try the heat gun / hairdryer first to VERY CAREFULLY heat and squeeze to reshape the oval. I would heat then squeeze to the right shape then dip them in a bucket of cold water to help shape them up. This made them fit 100% better on me. I was able to flare the oval the other way a bit and I can move in mine now. I was in the same spot as you are now before I did this. I also cut down the sides of the "U" shape to make that bigger since its hidden under the shoulder bell anyway and this made a HUGE difference in the fit. Give it a shot and I think you'll be surprised at how much room you can make in there for your arms. I get it though, just a glance through my build so far and 75% of the build is me pissed off at my bicep pieces.

Thanks Ingrid! I dont want to do it but Im not sure what to do about the sizing. Again its the same issue I've had since the start. Genetics and sports/wrestling has made me as wide as I am tall. Not a great combo for a TK but I have a dream of pulling this off lol

can i trim down the bottom backs of the thighs so i can bend my let better and still get EIB? Think of the dip people cut out on the back of the calves so those can bend farther back. Id like to trim a small part of the back of my thighs so i can bend the leg more without trimming down the top of the thigh if that makes sense. I dont have the tools to replace the return edge so if I can just trim the back bottom of the thigh that would solve my current issue. thanks in advance. Isaac

I had to heat gun mine to get it to open up more naturally. The "oval" opens so its more comfortable the way you have it now and it will want to rotate that way. Its because most people dont have as much of an oval bicep as we do. I've noticed I've had to adapt my armor a lot to fit my body shape rather than follow the contours of the molds. AM is made for bigger / taller frames but even AM struggles to accomodate in some pieces. Until I can diet down enough to get my arms to the 15 inch mark I'll be fighting the biceps of my TK armor.

Your bicep needs to be rotated about another 90 degrees. The U shape will go up into the armpit. When you look at the bicep there is a formed ridge that matches the ridge on the shoulder bell. Those should line up. Think of it like this... the "thumbprint" circle should face your ribcage. .

ya man, you can trim a lot from the wrist part of the forearm. I would cut somewhere along the line I drew here... and then if you are butt joining them then trim the overlap down a little and use the "forsale" sign under it to glue each side to. Then you will glue the cover stip over the seam..

Ya man, my forearm are tapered a lot! I took the two halves and overlapped them the drew a line. There is a half that's smooth with the crescent and the other with the dents/dimple things. Since I was butt jointing the edges I cut about 1/4 inch off the overlap on the bumpy side and did most of the trimming off the smooth crescent half. Then when I covered with the cover strip it looks like a screen suit more. I would trim the overlap down first then tape it up again and double check your measurements before cutting. I also undercut everything by a few milimeters just in case. Then sand down to fit and fix any waves in the trim that might be there so it's flush. I used a for sale sign for my inside shims and the extra abs that comes with the kit for the cover strips. You can go back to page 1 and see how much I trimmed on the forearms. Look at the finished piece and compare to your uncut halves. Make sure to remove the return edge at the wrist opening before you size them too or you'll end up with a bigger wrist opening than you want. Hope this helps bud! Isaac

Thanks Mark. Break out your box buddy! There are some amazing AM build threads here to inspire. Not mine but Pandatrooper's build also Tkrestonva's build. My advice to anyone when it comes to first builds is study and bookmark what others are doing and have done. If you look at my bookmarks right now I think I have about 23 of them just on TK builds and how-to's. Learn from others and follow or better yet improve on their systems. We all benefit from it in the longrun. When you start your build, make a thread and let me know! I want to follow yours too! Isaac

I didnt have the back snapped into the back of the kidney for the pics. I honestly just put it on to test it and my kids were outside so I walked outside the garage to show them and my wife snapped a few pics to post on her facebook about tattoo'd stormtroopers. I am hoping that having the straps connected will force the back up and the chest down where it is supposed to be. Im also going to put some snap plates inside the ab section to connect to the chest to keep it from riding up. Its not cannon but Im not a cannon size so I'll have to adapt a few things to make it work. In the end I want to be EIB though so its a give and take thing for this suit. When I bought it I didnt really understand what EIB was and now I want to be part of the 300 goal. At this pace I might just make 300 lol. Isaac

Adjusted the biceps and shoulder bells higher. Took some pics to see how its fitting so far. Also testing the shins for fitting.

Im doing a test fit of my straps and snaps and seeing how its fitting so far. I'll post some with the ab plate after the glue is cured more on that tonight. Im working on getting the chest fitted correctly right now. The moulded straps on the AM kit were trimmed down a lot to get the chest to sit lower. My neck and traps were pushing it up just under my chin. Im thinking about cutting some more off and making the webbing longer so it sits lower down my chest but im not 100% on it yet. Here are some test fitting pics. Below you can see the damn biceps rotate on me. They make an oval to fit my arms but it twists and forces the bicep to twist and get misaligned with the shoulder bell. I think Im going ot have to spend some more time with a heat gun on them. Seriously the most annoying part of this whole build has been that stupid 3 inch piece of plastic. I just see so much black right now. Not sure if thats just something I'll have to live with being a TK at my size or if its a position / strapping issue. Any thoughts?

Quick clarifying question.. The ammo belt around the thigh... Rivets are ok or just glue it? Im going for EIB so I dont want to blow it on something simple like a rivet. thanks, Isaac

Yup, you'll want to remove the hyman there. Walk around with it for about 3 minutes and you'll see why. Everyone puts a rivet there to connect the elastic to the back of the butt piece too. So consider that before you cut. Take a look at Pandatroopers build and when he shows his strapping system you can see where he cut his.

Slow is the way to roll with it Jason. My thoughts on mine is that I only get to build it once and this is my first. There isnt a race to the finish line. I want to be proud of each and every little part when I look at it in pictures with me wearing it. I dont think that will happen with my obsession but still. No need to rush on it. Enjoy the build buddy! Isaac

I am building the same kit and I used the "for sale" sign on the inside shims of all of the butt joints. Biceps, forearms, shins. I used e6000 to glue the shims butt jointed. I let them cure for a few days and used the extra ABS that comes for the belt since im using a cloth belt for the cover strips. I can open them and get them around my legs without breaking the seam in the front. I have some thick shins too so it will work just fine if that was what your question was. I have put them on and off all weekend test fitting the back and havent had an issue. Good luck man, looking great so far! Isaac

Ya this is just a really rough "hey tape this real quick" picture to show the sides and make sure they were right for the AM kit. Without that post I would have had it all wrong. Funny thing was even after looking at the images.. and marking them, I had them on the wrong legs and it felt aweful. Switched the legs and the fit was night and day. Brian I really appreciate your imput on this build man, When its done Im gonna send you a case of beverage of choice! Isaac

So I went to my first ever armor party this weekend and got my shins done up. I think..... Can someone confirm this is the right sides for the AM kit shins? I also got the chest and back cut a bit but I dont have a way to take that myself so I'll have to wait to post those. -Isaac

Got the frown pained and the lenses put in this weekend. Ordered new Brow trim and decals from Trooperbay. What do you think? any feedback?

Starting to get discouraged on this build. Did you vets of building feel that way when you started? I feel like I've hit a wall and I dont really know where to go next. I want to go EIB so there is the pressure to not make a wrong trim or anything. I know either my bicepts are too long as they are right up in my armpit and I might need to trim that down not sure where though. My forearms are either too long or I need to trim that crescent shape down so I can reach my helmet but Im nervous about trimming that too. Makes me respect that guy from Hawaii who did it 100% on his own without another TK on the island to talk to in person to help size it that much more. Ive modded the helmet so Im proud of that at least. Although I want to buy a new one thats already built to troop in cause now I took out the rivets it doesnt feel very solid. I went from loving this thing to looking at my box of pieces and staring at it like its a nagging ex girlfriend if that makes sense lol. Anyway, back to my next round of questions. Can someone double check my shin sections that I have them marked right? I know the AM shins are different and I dont want to size them and find out they are the wrong sides. also the pencil mark on the back of the shins look like they are where they are "supposed" to be trimmed. Can someone confirm that before I trim that off? I was going to take off most of the return edge on the shins but then saw some AM shins in the EIB posts and they had a lot of theirs still intact so that made me pause. thanks FISD! Isaac

Well after some advice from a Garrison buddy Mike, I drilled out the rivets I had in the helmet and took it apart. I painted the inside black and added foam from inside of a baseball helmet I got for 14 bucks. I also used the plumbers putty idea to build up the eyes and used velcro to seat the lenses better. Now I just have to decide on painting the details on the helmet or using Trooperbay's decals that look hand painted.

I would suggest the AM kit as well. Im in the process of building mine and it sounds like we have the same build. Im 6'0 and 240lbs. I have lifted weights all of my life so I honestly never thought I could be a TK. I looked and researched for a few years and always thought it was out of the question unless I was 160 lbs. I settled on the RT-Mod and the AM kits and did more research from there. It came down to the measurements on both and I ended up going with AM lite kit. I love it. Its easy to put together and comes trimmed up really nice. You dont have to cut off the extra abs from the molds you just have to trim it down to fit you. Even with my odd proportions Im still trimming down to fit me which is something I didnt expect. Here is a pic to give you an idea of how you can make this fit without shims.

Im just trying to trim the return edge off of the shins before i get them sized up. How much of this trim should I take off?