theisaac

I seriously cant want to see what you do with your kit after watching all these blaster builds. wow.

Those are GREAT pictures! You did a fantastic job on the build.

Make sure you add your 501st ID to your profile too. I went a few weeks before remembering to do that

At least your drop boxes stayed on. My first suit up I had one fall off. Looks like you have all the tweaks mentioned. Great look for first time!

YA buddy! Congrats and wecome to the 501st!. Looking forward to your TK build too.

ya buddddddy! Im excited to follow your thread!

Ya, the seams still join in the same place that they would if you overlapped. You are just cutting off the overlap and replacing it with an accurate cover strip. Most people will trim down past the overlap anyway as AM armor is so large. With my AM kit, I only had to shim the bicep, thighs, and kidney / ab plate. Just about everything else got trimmed way down. If you use the butt-joint method, your armor will fit you better anyway. You can tailor it to your body rather than the generic mould it came out of. The best thing is to tape up a test fitting starting with the forearms and post pics before you trim. We can help you make sure you have the right idea before you start. We are glad to help! Isaac

Don't believe what you see on TV. They were not tricked, that's just rebel propaganda.

I remember when you started your build thread. Good luck trooper! I wear AM so I always have a little more excitement when I see them go for EIB. You will want to get the blaster pics posted as well as knee ammo belt pics. You already trimmed the back wings off, good work! Good luck

I have since upgraded from the AM chest and back to RT-Mods chest and back. Here are some photo's of the differences. And a picture from a recent troop with the upgraded chest and back.

Without seeing a picture we can only guess and try to help. I was a wrestler most of my youth and into college. I have a barrel chest and big shoulders. The trap muscles in my neck and shoulders lift the shoulder bridges and chest up a bit. This makes the bottom of my helmet hit my chest when I try and look down. This could be what you are experiencing. Im also guessing since you have RT armor that this could be the case as well since its made for bigger troopers like myself. Post up some pics and we would be happy to suggest some fixes for you though. good look buddy Isaac

Its the clenched fist in the honda pic that sells it.

Good question. I can share what I did with mine. I made the ab and kidney plate flush on 1 side and then measured the gap on the other to find out exactly how much shim I needed. Take that gap and divide by two. For your example you would have an 8 inch gap on one side so you know you have exactly 4 inches on each side. I glued the shims to the kidney plate. Its ugly but it works for those of us who are not 160 lbs. You can then add the split rivets so you are good to go for EIB and Centurion. (Make sure they are the correct split rivets per the new Centurion req's). Hope that helps answer your question. Usually I would point to a screen reference to help you but as far as I know, none of the screen used suits had them. good luck, Isaac

Thanks Mathias. I appreciate the clarification.

I wanted for 3 months for my boots and checked with them every two weeks. They are worth it though. I know it sucks waiting but they WILL get re-stocked and you WILL be happy with them. Hang in there buddy. Almost there.

Remove the word ideally completely from existing wording. So side shims between ab and kidney will DQ an applicant?

Hey man, You did a good job on your build. You are almost there! Do not let the rude remarks discourage you. We want you to have the best possible suit and thats the spirit of the suggestions. I like your attitude and look forward to seeing more photos once you have made a few adjustments. Again, take the principles of what they are saying to heart for the adjustments. Disregard the way they said it. You can do it, dont give up! If you need help, feel free to ask questions. Isaac

Good luck on the build sir! Dont hesitate to ask any questions you have and post a ton of pictures! Isaac

where is the foam in the shins? If you put the foam in the back, it will push the shins forward and might give you some room to avoid that pinch.

Post pics of the first post and send me a PM so I can check em out! Have fun buddy!

As promised, Got the upgraded Rt-Mod chest, back, and shoulder straps. Wanted to post an updated pic from a troop last week.

Well, this is a mute point now but here are the pics of my new RT-Mod chest vs the AM chest that I started with.

In my limited experience trying on helmets, they all tend to fit a little differently depending on how they were built. My ATA fits smaller than a buddy's ATA because of how much brow and faceplate tilt. That being said, AP helmets feel smaller (I have only tried on two of them). You could ask around your garrison and see if someone has an AP and throw some extra padding on the top to lift it up and give you more clearance for your eyes and so it doesnt sit on your shoulders. I have seen a few people do that.good luck!

You can get a sheet of foam padding at upholstery stores. I went and was going to buy some and told them what it was for. They gave me some scrap they had in the back for free. Then just take your time and use the template Karin posted above. boom. accurate padding.

I grabbed some from the local Lowe's for about 5 bucks. They are the size of a Quarter. Worked great. That being said, I have seen some really good rare earth magnets that would have been much stronger if I had wanted to wait for them to arrive. I was just impatient.