theisaac

Ok, Here are the latest "throw them on and see how they fit" pics from tonight. Wore the underarmor to show how it will look. Understand these are just slid up my arms and not strapped or anything. I think the forearms need to be either cut shorter or opened up more via the curve on the bend of my forearm as I cant bend enough to touch my head. This could be because the bicep is falling down a bit. I just dont know. Feel free to add your opinions as its all I really got at this point..

Here are some pictures of how the biceps look after Mike got them sized up on me. Waiting for the glue to set on the forearms and i'll post a picture of them together.

Got some really good advice and hands on help from my buddy Mike TK1636 from the Dune Sea Garrison and started over on the forearms and started on the biceps. He showed me how to butt joint them together. Im using the previously suggested "for sale" sign for the inside strips that nobody will see and will use the extra belt ABS material to make the visable strips on the outside. Got the biceps done today. Didnt have to shim them after all and even cut down some of the material and they fit pretty well.

Used the other set of ears and took what I learned from the first go of it and the ears matched up a lot better. Also got the first pass of paint on the frown.

Im at a standstill on my armor until I can meet up with my buddy from the Dune Sea Garrison to make sure I dont cut anything wonky so I assembled my ATA helmet today. The ears suck but I guess thats why the good folks at ATA send two pairs. Its fun and I had a great time doing it but I would much rather have one someone built so it looks the best it can. Im drooling over those new RT-Mod prototypes I saw posted here with the fans built in.

Brian, Thanks for checking on my build and giving me feedback like you have! I really appreciate it. Makes sense on the shim, I have seen that site before and just never thought to put a cover strip on the outside to hide it. Even if I have to have larger than normal cover strips and it might look a little wonky I'll take it. So before I cut... Remove the part I marked red below and then shim inside with "forsale sign" then use the good ABS and coverstrip over the gap? My next question is with the forearms. Can I trim the cutout down a little more to make it so I can bend my arms up higher to reach my head? I have it dotted to show what I mean visually. I can bend a little bit right now but as you can see in the pics, as soon as I move my arms up the forarms are pushed down and dig into my wrists. Not sure if that was "normal". thanks for the feedback! Isaac

Couldnt find shim threads here unless im calling it something different that what people usually use for it. I found some for the seams in calves and i'll cross that bridge when I get there. I did think about doing a shim where I can still hide it by using an overlap and clamping everything down. Take a look at this pic of what Im trying to explain and if anyone or anyone you know has tried it, did it hold up? I know its a small piece of ABS but Im just using it for reference to try to illustrate what I mean. I would probably do this on both sides so its centered and not lop sided when I wear it. think that will work? Or better ideas that are proven to work to make this bigger? Thanks for looking and your comments. You all really help a lot and give me confidence that I can pull this off. I appreciate it! -Isaac

Here are the pics sir. The flexed arm one is cold didnt workout today at all. In fact, havent been to the gym in 3 weeks once I decided I wanted to do this. Im a little hesitant to post them as I dont want to hear Im too big to be a trooper. I can drop down to 225 or so but that will take about 6 months and I know there is a lot of charity things here in PHX over the summer and I'd like to be able to be a part of them. The above picture is with the bicep taped at the overlay on the outside and this is where it meets if I pull it down without any room for moving my arm up to touch my ear or anything. This piture above is when I give myself the room to move my arm up and touch my ear. I just need enough room to be able to take my helmet off without breaking a seam. Remember the opposite side is taped down using all of the overlap so If I need to shim or even some type of butt joint to give more room I can do that. I know I wont get to EIB until my body adjusts to not working out and I diet back down to my normal 220-225. Right now Im at about 245 or so. Even at 225 my arms are still about 18 flexed.

Going to have to shim the biceps. Does anyone have a picture of how they shimmed theirs? Thanks guys!

I spent the day cutting the return edge off of the biceps on all 4 halves. Cut the forearms and glued one edge of 1 of them. Then I cut the return edge off of the bottom of my shins. I have seen people use velcro for the opposite side of the forearm and I have seen what looks like the glue both sides and slide your arm in method. Any opinions? Isaac

Is it ok to trim the return edges off of the bicep parts as well? I've got the return edges trimmed off the wrist openings now as well. The biceps are pretty snug if I leave them on is why I ask

Jason, I was in the same boat. I read posts and watched youtube videos... I have a bookmarks folder thats literally got 43 bookmarked posts and sites and folders on my desktop with hundreds of saved pics. Then you order and its a whirlwind! I emailed TupperwareTK on Monday, and Thursday the box came. I thought I would just tear in and start cutting and trimming because my confidence level was pretty high... until it got here. Then the butterflies kicked in. I sat in the garage placing parts in order and taped a few parts thinking I would just follow the plan I had in my head. Then I ran inside and jumped back in the forums and didnt want to touch anything lol. Everyone has been super helpful and once you feel that support from the FISD community (and you will) your confidence comes back. The best way to describe it is its like being a freshman in highschool and your first day of school you are nervous about everything until you get to there and all the Seniors are your friends and they are showing you around. In the end and at the root of it all we are Star Wars fans. When I was a kid growing up that was the basis for being friends with someone. You could meet a new kid anywhere and the first question, the icebreaker was "hey do you like StarWars..."? If they said yes, you had a friend for life. Its the same thing here.

Thanks for the info Brian, Just to make sure I know what you mean. Cut out the area I have circled here? I know its not completely even but trying to draw with a mouse isnt easy lol.

Thanks for the input. I guess the next question is should I trim and start fitting the the two pieces together before I trim out the slot where my bicep and forarm meet? Or should I shave off that part first then do another test fit before i cut?

Hi all, Thanks to your insight I went and ordered an AM Lite kit and it arrived today. Its my first build ever so I will have a ton of newbie questions. I've tried to read as many build posts as possible and will try to just ask questions that are unique to my situation but please be patient if I ask something thats probably obvious to everyone else First I got the box and my twin boys were as excited as I was to get it. They saw their first "real life stormtroopers" at the recent 3D re-release here in Arizona and they were in awe of seeing them. This sealed the deal for me. The box came and they were as excited as I was.. ------ My forarms are an odd shape so trying to fit them right. Im posting some pics of a really rough fitting as well as some pencil marks I made to show where I was considering trimming to make the forarms fit better so I can touch my ears as other posts have suggested. I also wanted to make sure I was doing the test fitting correctly. Can you let me know if Im on the right track here?