svache

So you're saying that basically the gaskets are now permanently attached to the armor through the velcro parts? That doesn't sound like a too bad an idea.

Lol no harm done

So anyways, current standing.. I have sanded all parts of the armor, the pieces that were actually good to go included (although that was just a minor sanding with 800 grit). The ones that did not need any special attention are all repainted and are curing as we speak. The pieces that do need some extra TLC (from filling up small gaps/hairlines to fixing a crack in the bondo) are the detonator, ab plate, forearms and shoulder/back part. Considering we have 4 or 5 troops this weekend, I'll be doing this in the coming week. I can tell you, it feels a lot better not to have to rush anything and just taking my time. Sure, I probably spent way too much time on sanding some of the bondo'ed parts (I felt I became a bit anal at some point, trying to make it smoother than glass lol), but oh well, it's all for the best =)

I disagree. After everything is said and done who's to set a price. #1 The time he took to build it #2 materials he had to buy to build it #3 the initial cost of the suit all play a factor. Let's not forget there wasn't build threads or unlimited resources like the OG TK. With an open market and bidding it's up to the consumer to set the price of what they are comfortable paying. Also why would he offer it here for measly profits when he can double or triple it on eBay. Do I condone this no but maybe certain circumstances forced his hand who knows. I just think this was blown way out of proportion for no reason. So what exactly are you disagreeing with? With the fact that I *feel* that it is a bit over the top at that price (which is, after all, my personal opinion)? Or the fact that I say it is up to him in the end (which is pretty much a fact, considering it is his property)? I have the same armor, spend the same money on it (then again, who knows how much the bodyshop asked for the paint, that's a bit of a variable still), I've put a similar amount of hours into it. I think 4,500 is over the top... BUT... that's what *I* think (and really, you hear a lot of horror stories, but all things considered, I doubt more than 2,500 USD in actual costs went into this costume (labor not included, but then again, it's a hobby, not a job and the cost of you sitting in front of a tv or chatting some girl online otherwise shouldn't be translated into money, if you take off to work on your armor and lose money that way, you're doing something wrong imho) But like said in the final line of my post, it is up to the seller what he asks for it.. if he wants 10K for it, it is up to him, not me. Not exactly sure why you felt to disagree when you're saying the same as I do in the end :S

It's basically a latch system from what I understand, but I can see some mods needed to the greeblie before it is good enough to function like that. Btw, isn't it a different weapon hanging on the side than the E11? It kind of looked like he had a side arm in addition to his E11. Looking at it, if there's a blaster hanging the size of an E11, it may be too big and interfere with how you walk.

I think 4500 is a bit over the top for this costume. Even with the 1800 USD that the actual armor cost us, I think it was on the higher side of things, considering how Anovos is selling a completed snowie for that amount. I considered it to be the price to be one of the first, and kept the licensing in my mind as well to the higher cost. But 4500... idk.. look at what else you can buy from that. You can easily get several costumes for that, or even look into more specialized costumes that run more expensive, like a Fett. I'm happy to have this costume, but I don't believe it is worth 4500 USD at all, finished or not. BUT... up to the seller really.. it is his costume, and even if he wants 10K for it, it would be up to him. Like many others, I think he is selling it pretty fast, but again, it's up to him. It's just a bit sad he didn't offer it on the Legion boards first, before going to ebay.

I don't know if it's of any consolation, but we're under the impression they're not that LE after all. We didn't get that certificate or anything else indicating it was part of the first 75, plus Anovos said many times already they will be selling the fiberglass for 700-800 bucks as premium option.

Yeah that would be another possibility, I know at least one person did it from the 75 who got this armor. Skills were not really the issue in my case (would be silly, it's not the first time I spray paint something lol), it was just that it was a rush job, I didn't have the time for it to do it nicely.. I had to paint on Monday before Celebration, I couldn't let the paint cure for 24 hours or more between coats, so I had to do it within the hour. I failed there as I had to leave the house at one point and that caused some parts to have that webbed stuff going on, the time between the two layers was about 1.5 hours, and that's what killed it. I have since resprayed some of those parts, now they're getting enough dry/cure time between the layers, and it all looks very nice now The bondo'ed parts are currently the only issues I'm dealing with. They are mostly sanded down, but some need fixes (small cracks/gaps/hairlines that need to be filled, it needs some extra backing to make it stiffer, and there's an issue with the forearms where the two parts of ABS don't line up due to the glue tab (one side is higher than the other, making it hard to get a smooth glass-feel between the parts).

On the glasses, it depends entirely on the size of the bucket. I'm fairly certain you wouldn't be able to wear glasses in my AP, it is at times tough enough to simply pull it over my head, and my head is just average in size. But then, nobody knows the size of the Anovos bucket just yet.. who knows, they may come with a larger version..

Someone asked me about the paint we used, so I will post it up here as well... we were recommended to get the following as it came closest to the bucket: Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2x Primer (WHITE) - 4 cans recommended Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2x Ultra Cover Paint+Primer (WHITE GLOSS) - 6 cans recommended Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2x Ultra Cover Paint+Primer (BLACK SEMI-GLOSS) - 1 can recommended Turns out, those recommended amounts were a bit too much.. but hey, I guess it's always good to have some extra cans at home in case you need to do some fixes (plus, with all the sanding I've been doing, it's almost as if I am painting the suit twice, so who knows, it may end up to be correct for me lol) Oh, here's what that looks like when you have to buy it for two suits:

Thanks Glen. Clint did give me the advise to place an ABS strip behind it (or actually double them up since it's not super thick what we got from them), but this may be an idea as well. After all, it's the inside, so looks don't really matter there imo

I think you said all the words I felt, and still feel haha!

After we got back from Anaheim, I kind of took a breather for a week and started sanding this past weekend. The paint had enough cure time and I am going over every piece to make sure it ended up ok enough. For now it seems that means mostly re-sanding the webbed parts, repainting here and there, and redoing some of the bondo'ed parts. I will likely try plastic weld for at least some of the bondo'ed parts, and am looking for something else to fill up the small cracks/gaps I have here and there. Piece that need to be redone with bondo or plastic weld (over a wider area, since the left part sits higher (because of the glue tabs) than the right part. Little holes that need to be filled up with some filler... So yeah... waiting for my daughter to get out of school in about 30 minutes, then off to a store and back home to do more sanding and painting w00t! xD

I was lucky enough to be picked as one of the first 75 in the Legion to receive the armor, in the hopes that we would have as much troopers able to come to Anaheim with the new TFA armor for promotion of the new movie (or so we thought, but it was more a promotion of the armor in the end). I don't know the exact thickness but it is, I think, a bit thicker than my AP TK armor, but not as thick as some of the other armors.

So anyways, I talked with a couple of people that night, thought it over some more and decided Tuesday morning to forego on the hope to be part of the hype at Anaheim, which hit me quite badly, I was pretty depressed about it. Instead, I went ahead to fix my regular TK (a bit earlier that week, I had cut off an inch or so on both sides to accompany my weight loss, and I had to add new split rivets and such). It was an easy fix, and at least I was able to troop alongside our Detachment Leader in his famous Aloha style trooping: And, while looking back at it now, it was perhaps for the best that I only had my regular TK with me.. it gave me much more flexibility in movement (as silly as that may sound, and I had a great time trooping with my daughter at Anaheim, something I would likely not have done if I did have the TFA with me).. Here's some more pix of that...

After a huge dip on Sunday, where I really did not think I would make it on time anymore, I had regained my hopes, also with the supportive words from my outpost buddies, and started painting... And sure enough, the bottle says a new layer has to be added within an hour or after 24 hours. Well, after 24 hours was not likely going to happen, as the paint would not have enough cure time, so I tried to do it within the hour... but... you can guess what happened next: I failed... I had to pick up my daughter in between the coats and it took me more time than anticipated. The result was this on various parts of my armor: Looks great, doesn't it? Then add that on some parts, the bondo seams turned out to be cracking... yeah, like said, it was too much of a rush job. My thoughts as I posted them on the TFA forums later that Monday:

Monday April 13th... TK-5897 was mostly done, just doing some minor tweaks but nothing that would prevent him from not being able to go to Anaheim with his new armor.. I can tell you I was (and still am) a bit jealous lol! As for me, sanding the bondo was done (yet it was a rush job as it turns out now), and I just had to paint and see if I could somehow extend the knee gaskets by cutting up the neckseal (the one we got with the TFA armor has a similar shine as the gaskets) and sowing that to the gaskets. I figured I'd paint in the garden, and of course after weeks of nice weather, this is what the morning showed me: That's not optimal to paint in.. sure the temps are still nice, but the humidity is very high, plus I wouldn't be able to paint out in the open.. soooo I went on to Walmart, purchased me a canope, some plastic sheet and other stuffs I needed.. It looked pretty cool... like my personal paint booth.... but yeah, interestingly enough, as soon as I was done setting it up, the skies opened up... suuuurrreeee wasted a couple of hundred bucks right there, as if this suit was not expensive enough lmao

Some pictures I took the Saturday and Sunday before Anaheim: My big help (she was actually part of our build crew lol), to some better known as that girl with the pink TK Commander armor: Hanging the laundry.... well, the gaskets to dry (sadly it did not remove the chocolate smell lol) Ready to receive some bondo.. TK-5897 seems to be filling his armor with air... umm.... right xD

We then had some on and off days of building. Due to my wife's night shift it was, most of the time, just a few hours a day for me unfortunately. Since I'm a bit lazy right now, I will simply quote my post from the TFA build forums that followed next on Sunday April 12th, I guess it shows my thoughts at the time a bit:

Then Tuesday came around, and it started to show time was not on my hand... My wife was doing night shifts, so I had to be at home for my daughter, and my armor was at my build buddy's place. I went to work on my armor for a few hours, but it wasn't really that much. I also started to get the first signs of the famous Con Cough or Con Cold, or whatever you want to call it, and was sniffing quite a bit that day. Then Wednesday, my build buddy got stuck in quite a huge gridlock, which reduced the build time again. My cold also got worse and, well, my nose was in a constant runny phase. We did some sanding that day, which really sucks when your nose is constantly running.. the particles in the air aren't exactly helping lol And then I was out for yet another weekend. The cold turned into a fever, with temps up to almost 102 Fahrenheit, and it was not until Monday April 6 that I could build again.. yes, time was certainly not on my hand Anyways, some pics I shot that Monday: Btw, most of the armor in those pictures, I just realized, is actually that of my build buddy Gits, TK-5897 (rivergr on the boards).

No problem.. I doubt mine is really that much informative, but oh well, I figured better something than nothing

So, later on we found out that in the armor had shrunk in the Hawaiian heat...well, that or the armor was simply pulled too small. Losing 4 inch of my waist was not enough, I needed another inch in order to fit the armor. While I looked for options, we figured to add two thin shims on both sides of the back... What I didn't realize at that time, was that the thermal detonator would cover the line in the middle over the back, and that we could simply cut it there and create some kind of corset. Granted, that is indeed much better.. now I can grow back into my armor w000t!

So Monday March 30 was the first day we would finally cut some armor. Finally, because most of the 75 were already sizing and sanding the bondo bits... I felt like we were way behind. Anyways, as you can see, we figured out the bucket and a bit of chest armor. We didn't have to get it at the Anovos booth, it was secretly included

So anyways, at this time we had our annual con coming up, so I did not have too much time to actually do something with my armor. Plus I was way too scared to do it all by myself, scared to mess it up, and thus I had to wait several days until the weekend was over (and looking back to it, did we not have our annual con that weekend, I would likely have finished in time for SWCA - oh wells). Anyways, while at the con, on Friday March 27, I received an email on my phone from Anovos, saying my second box, the one containing the gaskets, gloves and neckseal, was shipped. Funny enough, I get home a few hours after that email and... That must have been the fastest shipping ever... in mere hours it was shipped from California to Hawaii, amazing o_O I wasn't too happy about the gaskets, it felt heavy and sticky.. the gloves, however, are very comfy Here's the contents laid out:

Confusion with some of the cutlines... what do we go with? 1 or 2? Turned out the part between line 1 and 2 is the glue tab, so line 2 it was