Ximenia

Thanks! And feel free to borrow the idea, I honestly didn't come up with it myself, my tattoo artist did, he's the best.

Just got my TK tattoo today!

So Anime Boston was my first con as a TK, and also the first time I wore the armor outside the house. I trooped in it for 4 hours on Friday and 4 hours on Sunday. Had to take a break on Saturday because I had a nasty armor bite on my left leg behind the knee. Luckily I was able to fix it and not be in pain on Sunday ^^. I've noticed that in almost every picture I've found of me my kidney/cod rides up a bit and none of my buttons show I might have to do the Luke cut that I'm dreading.

I'd have to take off more than just the return edge though, probably at least an inch off the top of the butt plate.

Patrick mentioned that I should try lowering the torso, and after staring at pictures of myself and on screen troopers I'm definitely in agreement, my cod piece seems too high up. My issue with lowering the torso however is I'd have to move the kidney plate with it in order to keep it lined up and not completely redo my strapping system, and therefore the butt plate also will move lower, and if it moves any lower it will look really off and also dig into the back of my thighs when I walk. The best solution I've thought up is cutting the top of the butt plate a bit, it would keep everything in line and allow me to lower the torso, but since the belt isn't supposed to cover the seam, it will be cutting off some of the feature and I'm not sure if that's ok. Any thoughts?

If you can't find anyone to trade you some boots might I suggest trying a shoe insert of some sort. My TK boots are also a size too big and I was able to make them fit with a shoe insert and a little bit of foam tucked in the back behind my ankle.

I used the webbing snap plate system like TK-5492 and I love it, it's very easy to put on/reliable and if you ever need to make adjustments all you need to do is make a new strap. I've had no problems yet with my snaps coming undone, I use the dritz heavy duty snaps found on trooperbay and they work great. Though I must say from my experience, the tandy leather snaps are awful, they take so much effort to get them to actually snap together and snap pliers don't seem to work with them. So if you do go snaps, get the drtiz snaps, they are great.

I finally got my ID number so I can add to this. I chose 81337 and it stands for "B Leet" I grew up with hacker culture, and it has really helped shape who I've become as an adult. I'm now a moderately successful programmer, and hobbyist game designer, and I always strive to be 1337 in everything I do. Some people may think it's silly. But it suits me.

Is it ok to cut the back of the thigh to allow for better movement? I've seen some troopers with it cut, but is it acceptable for my eventual attempt at centurion? As it stands right now I can just barely walk in my armor, more of a waddle.. I don't want to be known as "TK Penguin"

TK-81337 Requesting 501st access http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=15736

Thanks Paul, I think I'm going to try steps 1 & 2 first. I really don't want to do the luke style cut unless I have to. Hopefully I can get these last steps done without injuring myself. ( I took a snap to the eye when suiting up the first time)

That's what I get for putting the hand plates on last

And it's done.. kind of.. I need to tweak some things to make it more comfortable to troop in. And paint the rivets white.. and I forgot to put white elastics over the shoulder straps.. remembered that step after my bucket was on. >< If anyone has any suggestions for making the chest piece not so low on me that would be great. Now, I really need to go clean my living room.

Thanks for the advice Paul. I will start working on the strapping system now and get it all together before making any final adjustments. I'm sure I'll end up getting a new chest piece from you down the road, but this will have to do for now. (have a con in 3 weeks)

Here's some pictures that I promised. Thermal Det And chest/back/ab in it's current situation. The way it is right now I can't fit my head through the opening, so I'll probably have to cut the neck hole bigger. Here's the sides: The right side being the one that got warped.. if anyone has any suggestions on fixing it I'd love to hear it, if not I'll just deal with it.