boomshakra

I also recommend RT-Mod. I'm 6'3" and if anything my shins/thighs are just a little bit long. I feel like they fit just fine, but it was pointed out to my by my GML when he was looking at my submission pictures - he thought the thighs were long. If anything, the top of my shins dig into the top of my foot a bit, but it's not a big deal - the more I troop the more I will adjust if I feel it is necessary. I think most of us RT-Mod TKs have pictures of our build/final fittings in our build thread, so maybe those might be helpful to look at for visual reference.

Aside from shortening the strap from the bell to the strap holding your chest/back, here's what I was advised to do: mount the bell strap slightly forward on the chest/back strap, not in the middle. If you're using snaps to attach the bell strap to the chest/back strap, put another one in front of the one that is there now. It works better if you can make a new strap, which is what I eventually did. Hope it helps!

There are templates out there for a pvc/wood dlt-19. I have a build thread over on the DLT-19 page - not the best looking one ever made, but it was a fun project. From a distance it looks accurate enough . I will probably only use it for outdoor troops/parades as it is a bit cumbersome/easy to whack someone with due to the limited field of vision of the helmet (at least in my experience). A couple of people in my Squad have also been ripped off by Cushman, for what it's worth...

Ok, kind of went a happy medium between everyone's advice, but it did have its consequences, which can be easily corrected. I used a 3/32" punch to push out the head of the rivet - a couple of gentle taps with a hammer & they came through. Here's where I made a mistake: I used snips to cut off the flared in...which pinched the rivet where I cut. So, it was still firmly in place. I tried pushing the punch through again, but it wasn't working. I should have just gotten out the drill at this point, but I managed to get a bit of purchase on the rivet on the outside using needle-nose pliers. Slowly, I managed to twist it out...at the cost of gouging out my helmet a bit: But, it's nothing a bit of ABS filler, sanding and a touch of paint can't fix. I was hoping that my s-trim would cover some of the damage, but it doesn't. Speaking of s-trim, I will need to glue it in place - the inside nut is pushing it out from the ears making it come loose. Again, no big deal. So, once I do the cosmetic repairs, my helmet is some hand-painted decals away from Centurion grade

I'm guessing that a couple of clamps on either side would do the trick to keep it in place. Thanks everyone on the advice - I'll be giving it a go once I get the screws & nuts...might wait until after saturday's troop, just in case

Sorry for the crappy phone pic... I don't want to drill out the hole too much (using a larger bit) since I will be needing to put a screw there to replace the rivet.

What is the best way to drill out the rivets at the bottom of the helmet that connect the ears to the tubes? I'm planning ahead for when I go for Centurion and am deathly afraid of doing it wrong and damaging my lid. I picked up here & there from other threads that you just use a 1/8" bit and drill out the center, which sounds easy enough. One problem with doing that is one of the rivets didn't 'snap' properly, so part of the rivet is sticking out (an 'outie' not an 'innie'). It doesn't stick out very far, I can file it down, no problem. Thanks for any & all advice!

I took my first neighborhood stroll last night - got a few double takes, and one driver asking me where Princess Leia was...tried to answer, but I don't have an iComm yet, so I doubt she heard my reply. Now the fun part of the fitting begins - shoulder bells still rotating back and dialing in the thigh armor. I glued in some padding, and that helped with the 'bell thighs' but also facilitated the thighs sliding down. Will work on better padding placement - right now i have one vertical strip running down the front seam and two in back about 2 inches on both sides of the back seam. One problem is that I didn't have the garters quite lined up vertically with the connecting snap plate in the thigh - an oversight by me when getting armored up. I am also going to tighten up the white elastic at the shoulders to see if that helps keep the upper body sitting higher. If that doesn't work, I'll try a suspender system. I'll also bring the shoulder bells up more to see if they will behave that way. Oh, and the left shin rotated outwards - nothing a little velcro won't fix. I haven't installed my fans yet but that will also be done this week - was surprisingly comfortable with out them last night - no fogging and the temperature has cooled off a bit in the evenings after our 100* days last week. My s-trim slipped out when I took my helmet off, so that will need to be glued in. I am guessing E6000 will be acceptable for that? I kept my E-11 in my holster the whole time...I'm pretty sure all of my neighbors are all familiar with Star Wars, but no reason to get anyone concerned about "armored robot with weapon - has 2 female hostages - please send the SWAT team!"

http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=14610 I think that's the right one

Requesting 501st status. TK 4796 http://www.501st.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=7886 Let me know if that's not the right link to send you... thanks!

TK-4796 - sweet! I chose this TKID because it spells "ISWM"...or as I refer it it "I Swim" - my wife is regional director for a swim school here in Austin, and we also do a lot of volunteering for a local non-profit whose mission is to raise water safety/accidental drowning awareness. Be on the look out for "SwimTrooper" pictures in the near future!

I guess I was lucky that Rob's armor pretty much fit me out of the box - I didn't have to trim much at all. That said, I'm sure I'll be doing more trimming as I troop to dial it in even better. The rest I owe to everyone on these boards - It has been almost 3 months to the day that I started reading about how to build armor & the knowledge gained from everyone else was invaluable in my build. My first official troop is next saturday @ RTX in Austin - looking forward to it!

APPROVED! So stoked! Just waiting for my TKID# now!

So...it is that one damn snap strap between my ab/cod that is keeping me away from 501st approval. I didn't catch it when I was having the photos taken - it was hard enough to see the pictures on the viewscreen of my photographer's digital camera, and I was looking at my shoulder bells & thighs anyways. So, suiting up again to night to take some 'fixed' pictures for my GML. I was thinking about going for a walk around the neighborhood afterwards, just for grins, but the 100* temperatures might not be fun to walk around in. My GML did have some other feedback: he thought my thighs are too long, my helmet sits forward/high, and my belt seemed a bit high. In the pics above I had my head tilted forward - still getting used to the limited frame of vision while wearing it. But, I could stand to take a bit of the padding out of the top to get it to sit lower. With the belt, it could come down a smidge - which would mean adjusting the snaps I have installed. Not the worst thing in the world, but it might almost be easier to just buy a new belt instead of ripping out/reinstalling new snaps. Hopefully my next post here will be good news & 4 digits!

Thanks, Keith. Sent my pictures below to my GML tonight... Of course after I sent my email, I saw little things that should have been corrected: a small gap in the middle of my cod below the belt, my shoulder straps not being straight on the back view picture, and my lovely right shoulder bell not behaving...which I found out was that the velcro I had put there to adjust it had separated from the webbing. But, I am only seeing minor armor adjustments...nothing structural - if anyone else sees something I need to correct, please let me know! I'll be paddiing the inside of my thighs a bit so that they don't move around, fix the shoulder & codpiece, and trimming the backs of the thighs a bit for comfort. I'm sure more little things will come up, but I feel cautiously optimisic that a TK# is in my future. I couldn't have done any of this without all the people who have assembled their TKs before me and shared their experience & knowledge that made mine go so well - Thank you everyone! edit: I have no idea why my pictures are sideways...they are in the correct orientation in photobucket!

I used snaps so I could separate the back/chest from each other to work on them and also because my fat melon won't fit through the opening if they were glued together. YMMV

RT-Mod - great kit, it has been a fun (and challenging) build. A few tweaks, a few photos and a-trooping I will go!

Thank you for the clarification. I respect your personal opinion and I am building my armor to the best of my ability; overlap construction is what I am comfortable with. It also leaves the option of rebuilding using butt-join/coverstrips to better fit me in the future (i.e. should I stop exercising and/or gain weight).

Ok, I am confused. I have done overlap on all parts of my armor - and definitely 'did my homework' reading build threads. What did I miss that I am supposed to "know to use cover strip assembly where applicable"? I will be submitting my photos this week for 501st approval and did my build with EIB/Centurion in mind - currently, I think the only Centurion requirement I have not done to my armor is the hand-painted decals (which I have and will apply soon) and the 3rd screw at the base of the helmet. Am I understanding correctly from the comments above that if I want to go for Centurion I will have to completely disassemble my armor and re-build with cover strips? If not completely disassemble, where is it 'applicable'? As noted above, there is nothing in the CRL about requiring armor to be butt-joined/coverstrips. I'm not trying to argue a point or be difficult, I just need clarification - it has taken a lot of work to get my armor ready...and would be disappointing if I have to rebuild.

I could only find 1.5", so that is what I went with. I'm thinking about 'doubling-over' the ends where I attach the snaps - they're starting to tear as I don/remove my armor for test fittings. It also helps give more material for the snap to settle on when hammering it down.

Test fitting round one: Thighs not even - still a little big and I just stuffed some padding down in them - need to strategically place it next time. But, and improvement over 'bell thighs'! My TD is a bit askew - my wife didn't want to scratch my armor, even after I told her "It's going to happen a LOT". Thighs hitting my butt a bit - goes with the above note that adjustment is still needed. I am thinking about darkening the inside of my helmet - maybe just a layer of black duct tape on the face and tubes - I had no idea so much white is visible from the back. Maybe thin out the padding at the top to drop it down a bit as well. Belt is too tight, that's why there is a split at the top of the ab/kidney. I'm going to have to go with a suspender system for the upper body - was hoping to avoid that, but it will be necessary, I think. I just noticed how high my chest is as well...yup, suspenders are going to be necessary... One other thought is that the elastic between my chest/ab is kind of slack - would tightening that help pull it down? I have NOTHING on Kim Kardashian (sp?)...no gluteus maximus...more like minimus. Not going to spring for cosmetic surgery...maybe I can stuff a pillow (or two!) down the back of my compression pants. I could let out the strap between my cod/butt a little - it's not too tight now, but it could help the buttplate move back a bit. Requisite 'action' pic. My thighs are all over the place! I tried walking upstairs and found out a couple of things - my shins dig down into the top of my foot, one of my ab/groin snap straps needs to be replaced/looked at - it came loose, and I might need to cut a bit off the backs of the thighs to let my legs bend more naturally. Also, while you can't really see it in the pics above, my right shoulder bell needs to come up more - it was moving out of position a lot. I took Brian's advice and moved them up & forward - the left one is sitting just fine, the right one needs some tweaking. Oh, and I obviously wasn't wearing my neck seal - I have the 'stunt' one and will either need the 'hero' version or wear a balacava (sp?)...which won't be comfortable since we're hitting triple digits in Austin already. Let me know what kind of additional thoughts ya'll might have. I'll be doing the tweaking, but how do you think it looks as far as possibly submitting my 501st application photos? I'd like to get my TK # soon!

I got mine from Trooperbay - they worked for me (pix of them installed in my build thread)

Thanks for the feedback about the shoulder bells - I'll give that a try (moving the point of contact forward). The bicep re-positioning is also no problem. I'm looking forward to getting the thighs adjusted and DONE! Yes, thank goodness for E6000 and its forgiveness when things go wrong.