R5SB

Thank you for this latest newsletter. Always an interesting read but especially when it includes some local faces/buckets.

Looking good. I might have to look away as you weather this perfectly shiny armour. Will you be adding real cracks as well as the white tape, etc?

** UKG deja vu warning! ** So here are some pics of my thigh pieces. I'm currently happy with the fronts (until I'm told otherwise) but I'd really like an opinion on the overall size/shape of the rest of the thighs. Looking at the pics myself I think that the left one could be a little tighter at the knee. Opinions gratefully received. While I wait (patiently) for feedback I'll move onto the shins and other bits and bobs.

Congratulations Gary on your approval, and to all the others that are sure to follow in the not to distant future! There are at least two pics of the McQ Crew in the latest Star Wars Insider (October 2013).

***As always, apologies to the UKG Forumites for your sense of impending deja vu.*** Sorry for the long wait since my last update but, with great time comes.... ...disappointing progress. My personal stumbling block was my inability to cut the simplest of things, the cover strips. "My" method of score & snap was giving me poor results and it wasn't until Simpixels showed me the error of my ways and how simple it actually was that I was able to move on. Enough of the excuses. Here are the pics of the externally glued arm pieces (for comment) followed by some pre-trimmed pics of the thighs for advise re the cut line (more on that later). The purple strip on the front of the thigh pieces is 11mm wide (representing 1/2 of a 22mm* cover strip, naturally). I'd like to know if the position shown represents the best line to cut to (leaving that amount of visible shoulder on the ridge)? *I will be double checking the fit of the thighs and may increase my cover strip width by a millimetre or two before I make my cuts. Thanks in advance for any comments (and to SimPixels for giving me a nudge).

Just like to say that I admire the carefree build style you've adopted. I think I'm one of the one's that Paul has described that is being too fussy with my build (my excuse for my lack of progress). Is it hard "letting go" and stopping yourself from sanding everything smooth? Good luck to you on the rest of your build. Andy

Loved watching this project develop and seeing the final results! The armour is amazing and will surely become a clearable costume in the not too distant future (if it isn't already). Glad to see the build threads starting to appear (Billy's concept blaster) and look forward to many more. Inspirational! And with that it's back to my "old" TK build. P.S. Billy's Arrest photo is my personal favourite

I think the final reveal of this armour will be more exciting than the recent eFX armour news! Hope to see the good stuff soon?

Kevin, as a newbie your hard work on this armour is an education all in itself. Looking forward to seeing it so much! Steve, your Laser Sword looks amazing! Can't wait to see all the parts (armour, weapons, shield and helmet) come together. As a matter of interest will the armour build thread be a continuation of this thread?

You seem to be making excellent progress on the armour, Kevin. I'm not sure if you're aware that Dark Horse comics will be releasing "The Star Wars" in September which is based on one of the early drafts of Star Wars. http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1349/lucasfilm-and-dark-horse-announce-star-wars Some of the art reminds me of McQuarrie's concepts. Just wondering how the Stormtroopers will look...

(Apologies to UKG forum members fo the sense of deja vu). Well after seeing all the pics from Legoland UK and the Hamley's troop in Cardiff, Wales (and getting over a serious bout of envy) I thought I'd better post some pics to help me with the next stage of my build.* Looking at pics of shins it looks like most of the return is removed at the ankle with about 5mm left at the knee. These are my parts quickly marked up by hand (no wheely-compass-thingy this time). The thighs look like they have a similar 5mm return at the knee and a similar amount at the top. Looking at some recent-ish build threads I believe that the cover strips should be approximately 20mm, apart from the calves where they should be 25mm to allow for more overlap (to hide the gap). If you can see me about to make a terrible mistake please let me know as I'd like to maintain the "baby steps" momentum that I've built up over the many months of the build (so far). Cheers Andy * You may have noticed that I haven't posted pics of my finished arm pieces. That's because they're not finished (yet) as I had a few mishaps cutting my cover strips. Should have been simple but they don't look quite right to this imperfect "perfectionist".

Thanks for the extra advice Paul. I leave my length trimming until I have it all strapped up.

Thanks for the comments, I'll probably have to update my checklist to include "Receive positive feedback - carry on building"! Paul, thanks for the size/positioning info for the arm strapping. These parts were all loose during this fitting (I just wanted to start feeling a bit Stormtroopery) but when I get to that stage I'll keep it in mind (better still, I'll write it down). There are a few more questions about the forearms before I finish the trimming and gluing. Does anyone trim the length of the forearms (at the wrist end, obviously)? Mine seem to reach over my hands a bit and I imagine that they might interfere with my hand guards. Would it be better to leave the wrist openings a bit bigger to let the hand guards slide inside in some situations instead? The next question is about the trim line on the sides of the forearms. I've been looking at pictures of these pieces, both from the film and from the archive but I can't quite make out the proportions of each "half". I've marked out one of my pictures with two lines, blue keeps the trim lines more "level" whilst the orange line shares the trimming between both parts. Which of these lines, if either, is the more correct or does it not matter too much?! Many thanks again for your comments.

(Apologies to UKG forum members, this post will look a little bit "familiar") Hi All Well I've been doing a bit more trimming, filing and sanding so I thought I'd share some pics of me wearing the arm pieces. Obviously these parts are still stuck together with tape before I take the plunge and finish the "trimming-to-fit" stage. Here are close up pics of the wrist ends of the forearms. I think my size reduction might be a little excessive (comments please) but I can still get my gloveless hand through the opening and put my glove on. Finally I'd like to share the checklist I've drawn up for the completion of my limb pieces. The armour build process is sometimes very, very daunting so I thought that breaking it down into more easily completed tasks might help me keep up my momentum. This post alone allows me to tick off 4 points, proving that I must be getting somewhere, surely?!

Hello again! Long time, no post. I'd thought I'd best update my WIP so that you know that I've been making some, all be it slow, progress. I've now completed the trimming of the main body parts. I was advised that when using the practical popper method for attaching parts on 2mm acrylic capped ABS large return edges could (should) be avoided in most areas (with some exceptions). This allows the parts more freedom to flex a bit and reduces the chances of snapping. Anyhow, here are the pics. And the "finished" parts before I had to shuffle them to the bottom of the BBB. I've now started to look at trimming the arm parts. After rushing the initial trimming of the body parts (and wasting time having to shape them with files) I want to get closer to the finished shape with my first cut. I've drawn where I think the return edges should be cut to on one of the biceps (see below). I'm especially uncertain about the U shaped area on the inside of the bicep. If anybody thinks I'm okay to cut to these lines or I should leave more return or take more off please let me know as the lexan scissors are getting hungry. Many thanks TTFN Andy

Sorry to hear of your family troubles Karin. Hope you get the resolution you want/need. Take care, Andy

Hi All I've been searching through my SW reference books desperate to find anything that might help this project. I mostly found the same pics that I've already seen but I found this sketch attributed to McQuarrie, hope it helps in some small way. Cheers Andy

Hi Si. Just noticed your new signature and found this. Great work! I look forward to seeing you on a Troop in the not too distant future. Cheers Andy

Hello Troopers I've now had a go at the shoulder bridges. I received advice from Paul and Steve1972 (UKG) but unfortunately I'd already rough trimmed the the parts based on some erroneous images. In their own way they both "suggested" using images of actual armour used in the films/movies rather than other builds for my reference. I hope the bridges are still good enough, even if they're not perfect. I post the pics here for your scrutiny and critique.

Hi Si This looks great! Good luck with your EIB.

Well the celebrations are over for another year and the BBB has been allowed back in the house so time for an update. Here are my pics of the completion of the Thermal Detonator (TD). I've missed out the pics where I put too much E6000 on the panel and then had to peel it off again to try to get the panel to sit closer to the tube. There's still a bit of a gap but I hope this isn't a "fail". I made the large curve on each clip by rolling the strip around the pipe, pressing down onto a firm surface. No pics of this though as I was using both hands. I wasn't sure how to add the little bends so I slid the ruler out of the square and used the slot to give a straight edge. And here are the almost finished clips. The observant amongst you will have noticed that I haven't drilled the holes by this stage. This was a mistake as they should have been drilled after the curves were added but before the 180 degree bends were put in. I decided to use pan head slotted screws (from B&Q) with long threads and large washers (for ease of handling) rather than wood screws or rivets as I knew that I would have to do some adjustments after I put it all together. The washers obviously didn't sit flat in the tube so I decided to bend them with some pliers (not shown) and my trusty, do anything square. Here's it all put together apart from one end and the panel. I roughened the surfaces of the tube and the panel (masking the tube to protect the visible parts) before applying E6000 and tape to hold it on. The small hole in the tube in the middle of the panel area was to reduce air pressure resistance when fitting the second end cap. And here is the finished TD. I was quite happy with my small achievement until I did a test fit and found that I'd scaled it incorrectly to the rest of my armour Thanks for reading and hopefully the next update will be sooner rather than later.

Hi Si, Can't say this on our local forum but IMHO your build is looking great!

Thanks for the encouraging remarks all! Hopefully I'll have more to show in the not too distant future...! @Bulldog44 - Thanks for the compliment regarding my cuts but I cheated to get the smooth finish. I used Tamiya curved scissors to get as close as possible to the line (closer than this picture shows)... ...and then I sanded them down on 80 grit paper. I taped the TD panel to the pipe to keep it rigid enough for me to do the ends. I might treat myself to a new piece of pipe as I've scratched mine a bit too much for my liking. Unfortunately I've only found it locally in 2.5 metre lengths!

Hi FISD! After receiving my TM 2mm ANH Stunt kit in late October I've been trying to pluck up the courage to start my build and the associated WIP thread. As the type of kits I'm most familiar with are small and block like with the word "Lego" printed on them TM's BBB filled with roughly trimmed 2mm ABS fills me with both apprehension and awe (in fact, the plastic cut me twice before I'd even picked up the lexan scissors). With the mantra "measure twice, cut once" embedded in my brain I first of all struggled to make a mark on the plastic just in case it was in the wrong place and then struggled again to make the cut. But after weeks of delaying the inevitable I overcame these obstacles and finally had in front of me... ...some drop boxes and the white TD parts! What I found when looking through many builds was that these small parts just seem to arrive on screen without their own little "how-to" so I thought I'd share my pics of this too, just in case my method proves useful for anyone else. I believe that the drop boxes are 15mm thick and the TD end caps are 20mm deep, if not I might have to order some replacement parts... I tried to get the TD panel as square as possible so I used a 68mm downpipe clip to draw lines onto the pipe to base my other lines on. Anyhow, make a note in your diaries so that we can all celebrate this glorious day next year, by which time I hope to be well onto the thighs!! Thanks Andy

Hi Si. I've only just seen your build thread(s) and now realise that you'll be white and shiny long before me. Please ask lots of "silly" questions so I don't have to! Good tip from Paul about return edge dimensions (5mm). I'll try and work out how to mark this up when I get a round toit. Good luck and carry on!