LeMaxim

Great and inspiring work Troopers! Thank you for putting this out there. Good examples, like this, are rare in a world where media seems more interested in keeping people scared than inspired to do great things.

Cheers! If it helps anyone I'll be a happy trooper. It will, no doubt, help me when I get confused along the way. Thanks! Don't sell yourself short. You have some great pictures and have asked many questions I would have asked myself. I'll be sure to add you to my source list as soon as I figure out how to make my initial post shorter. Apparently there's a maximum length on posts. So keep up the good work yourself.

Great to see troopers helping troopers and troopers inspiring troopers. Keep up the great work!

Great work Trooper! Keep it up.

Does this count?

After roughly trimming the shins, thighs, and lower arms I wanted to continue with the torso. Having looked at many reference pictures and read more I circled back to the legs. The logic to the circling back was: The chest piece should be trimmed to look good on top of the ab-cod piece. And somewhere in my reading I read that it's best not to cut the groin area until you have the thighs fitted. Oh, ok. Makes some sense... and the thighs need to look good with the shins... and the shins need to look good with the boots... Since the boots were already finished I figured I'd start from the bottom. As I sat down to start trim-fitting the shins I started to get nervous. My procrastination reflex started to kick in... Then I remembered two things I recently read on FISD. The first was: "Cut first and throw up after" (sorry. Cannot find source of this quote now.). So maybe I should just dive in... The second was iconoclasta_88's and Troopermaster's discussion about how the original suits where put together (un-ceremonial and quick) in iconoclasta_88's build. Having studied the many pieces and reading that they do not align perfectly I figured that there is no such thing as "perfect" and to get started on my build I should remember that it's more about fun than exact science. From my previous session I still had much to trim before I got into the fine-fitting state. Reading that the shin-cover-strip should be around 20 mm I decided on cutting them out as a guide when trimming the front. I used my trusted masking tape and hobby knife to score and snap myself some cover strips. (it was really helpful to have tape of various width to use as cover strip guides) After much trimming and fussing (all that went by without a thought about taking pictures) I finally had myself a right-side shin to try out. The back still needed some trimming before I felt it would be time to move forward. After pouring over threads about how to place the shin hooks I found Rick330's thread about shin closure. From that I figured that I could leave some overlap on the back and simply wait with final trim until the hooks had been fitted and tried out. At this point I felt quite pleased with the result. This, however, was quickly followed by the realisation that it didn't matter how nice it felt to have the shin taped together. To really know if it is good I had to start gluing... The next part was a mess. I'm happy that E-6000 is forgiving, but I would want some quicker response in it too. Not having more than two hands at, ... well..., hand everything turned out quite messy. I decided I wanted an internal coverstrip. I imagined that would make things easier. Not so much. And as I finally had gotten that installed and trying to fit the external coverstrip I realised I forgot to trim it down. *oh sigh* It would have made some nice pictures, but my hand were covered with E-6000 and I didn't want it on my phone. Anyways. Here's my first piece. Right side Shin with front cover strip. Now I just need to wait until it cures so I can see if I dare to continue with the next one or if I need to redo it. What I've learnt today. I need more magnets. I love and hate E-6000 at the same time. All in all I feel great about having gotten started for real.

A few days later I decided that I should get started for real. From messing around with the armour I knew I had to do a lot of trimming on most parts to get a nice fit. This was especially true for the shins and thighs so I decided to tackle them first. As a first step I simply taped the pieces, as cut-guide, to cut of most of the superfluous material while still leaving enough for later fine trimming. Next I prettified the return edges I followed the same method with both shins, thighs, and lower arms. This gave me some confident with the tools and materials and made it possible to test-fit more properly now that the most roughness was cut away. There was still much to do, especially with the return edges, but all in all I felt good.

After having documented all the pieces I went on to test my tools and skills. Since I haven't done anything like this for as long as I can remember I didn't know what to expect. First I started with a stain test of my holster. I've seen that the holsters sometimes rubs of at the armour and I wanted to make sure if this would be the case for me or if I would be safe. I tested by simply rubbing a piece of the kit that I know wouldn't be used (ear superfluous material). Turns out I have to figure out a way to not get the holster staining my armour. Thinking about putting some discrete textile on the back, felt or something, but I'll put this on ice for the time being. Next I tested all the tools. I punched a hole, scored and snapped, and cut with lexan scissors This wasn't as bad as I imagined. Empowered by the experiment I decided to do some rough cutting... Very rough... Next I tried to drill a hole with a drill bit between my fingers That also went like a charm. At this point I decided to try to trim something for real. The drop boxes seemed like a good start. Straight lines and mostly hidden. As others have noticed the drop boxes are a bit wonky. I've read that the drop boxes should be between 10 to 15 mm in thickness so I decided to go for 15, as a start... Not perfect but at this point I was tired and needed to sleep. I put the drop boxes away for later. Maybe I'll eventually go for 10 mm thickness to give it nice edges.

Lower arms (4 pieces): Hand guards (2 pieces): Thighs (4 pieces): Thigh amo pack (1 piece): Shins (4 pieces): Sniper plate (1 piece): Cover strip and snap plate material (10 strips of ca. 8 x 50 cm): Fully Loaded Extras: Rubber / Latex Glove (2 pieces): Canvas Belt (1 piece): Strappings kit (multiple pieces): Extras: Things just got picture heavy... Hope this will be of interest for someone.

... the continuation. Armour Kit: Chest (1 piece): Shoulder straps (2 pieces): Abs and Cod (1 piece): Abs Buttons (2 pieces): Belt hard parts (2 pieces (4 if you count the button covers individually): Drop boxes (4 pieces): Back plate (1 piece): Kidney plate (1 piece): Thermal Detonator (multiple pieces): Butt plate (1 piece): Shoulder Bells (2 pieces): Biceps (4 pieces): ... To be continued...

Time for some update. I have been trying to get started and have done a bit of work. To get you up to speed I will make a few posts on my progress. As I imagine most of us first time builders suffer from I too got quite overwhelmed by all the pieces. Not knowing where to start I decided to document and get familiar with all the included pieces. So for anyone interested in a RS PVC Fully Loaded Kit. Here's the included pieces. Sorry for the picture quality. I shot them with my iPhone. The pictures were meant to document, nothing else. Please Note: Some pieces were missing from the initial shipment and will be added as soon as I get them (shipped as of now). The kit came rough cut. From other RS kits I've seen here at FISD it seems they vary from kit to kit in regards to how the trimming is done. My kit came with a few pre drilled holes (cod and ab-side) and pre attached snaps for belt. I don't know if this is a normal "Fully Loaded" service or if I just got lucky, depending how you look at it. All pictures below are from before I started messing around with them. Pictures are of all pieces in different angles to show as much details as possible. Generally this means Above-top-side-side-bottom-inside. Here goes! Oh. And also. The reason for this catalogue is in part for myself as a reminder of how everything looked before I started, and part for anyone wondering about what pieces are involved and how they look. I felt it would have been helpful for me when I was looking into getting a kit. Finally. Since RS do not supply a "In this box you should find..."-list I thought this might serve as a comparison for others. Included Paperwork: Helmet Kit: Face Plate (1 piece): Cap and back (1 piece): Ears (2 pieces): Helmet Internals and extras (multiple pieces): Continues in next post due to maximum amount of pictures per post limitation...

Cheers! I've actually started trimming now. Slowly. Just haven't had time to update my thread properly. Will do on Monday. In the meantime: Consider yourself stalked. Keep up the good work!

Keeping an eye on this one. (Just started my own RS build)

Wow. Cool and ambitious project.

Congratulations!

About a week ago I received my RS PVC kit and after the initial unboxing and gawking I cleaned all the pieces from any residue release powder. After fooling-around-fitting I reboxed the pieces and headed of to celebrate midsummer with the family. Since then I have been itching to get started and have continued doing research on different pieces. I figured i good start would be the pieces that doesn't require much fitting or which are self-contained (so to speak). My list as I imagine it right now is. Drop Boxes Thermal Detonator abs buttons From what I've found the drop boxes should be between 10-15 mm thick and that the TD end caps should be about 20 mm thick and should more or less reach the metal clips. Anyway. I'll continue my research and will hopefully start building this weekend. In the meantime I'd like to share to mandatory pictures of the big brown boxes, the unpacking and some goofing about. It all started with two big brown boxes that was delivered at my door. The first and the smallest one opened up and, unsurprisingly, contained my helmet kit. The second contained the rest He, he, he... The unboxing began... Nice Spread... ... but where to begin? Goofing around? TK or not TK...? What have I gotten myself into? Hope you enjoyed this little preview of what's to come. On a side-note: Yes. The Boss was watching. (No. I do not mean my girlfriend. She took all the pictures and giggled.) Yes. I thought I'd break in my TKboots while unboxing. Yes. I was listening to The Imperial March the entire time. Yes. It'll be interesting to build this in our studio flat. Yes. I really feel my inner geek growing and my 5-year old self cannot believe his eyes. Next up I plan to do a study of all the pieces in the kit as they were delivered to me.

Since my last update I have received my RS PVC and started a build thread for that. Still haven't worked up the courage to start cutting and fitting yet, but I'm getting the itch. Anyway. Did some more work on my blaster and got back in track with that. Having gotten the base of the receiver body done I wanted to get the T-tracks fitted. Before starting to work with the T-tracks I really didn't know what to expect. For some reason they felt fragile. Very wrong assumption it seems. Since my receiver body is metal I figured I could fit them directly on the body without having to heat-bend-cool-fit. I started by filing the end of the tracks to arrows to facilitate in getting them into the vent holes. Once I positioned a track into the vent hole I simply trained my heat gun on the "joint" and slowly tried to get the heat evenly distributed around the base. When the track started to soften I put the heat gun away, pushed the track slightly further into the body to get a nice joint, and simply folded the track onto its desired position flush against the receiver body. It was during this step I noticed that the t-track actually turns very rubbery and can easily be shaped. I realise now that I should have expected that from plastic. Live and learn. It takes a while for the track to cool down and set, so while arrowing the next track I let my calliper do some work. I repeated this with all 6 tracks until I had them all fitted in their forward vent hole. Here's where I realised that the back fitting would not be as simple. I wiggled them out to compose myself and to think of another strategy. T-Tracks in waiting While figuring out the next step I started on filing down the flattened surface for the bayonet. I didn't get very far but I got it started. I wanted to have, at least, a hint of flatness. It's not very worked yet and I'll surely return to it at a later stage. From what I've read on other builds it seems the bayonet flat is an overlooked detail and I wanted to have it. Next I refitted the t-tracks. They went into the receiver body quite a bit and I didn't like it so I decided to saw the excess away (one by one). This, I hoped, would make the fitting of the other side much easier. It did help. Slightly. But as it turned out I had to redo a few as I sawed and fitted the other end of the T-track into the body. It was a tad tedious. Et voila! six t-tracks fitted in my IKEA-leg-receiver-body. Here you can see that now all holes are created equal or straight, but instead of lamenting it I decided that it adds character. It also proves that there are vent holes under the tracks and after all the sweat of getting the holes there I prefer if they play a part. Lesson learned: I should have fitted the T-tracks from the back. Fold them forward and simply saw of the excess in front of the muzzle. It would probably saved me time in fitting the "other end" and made the result prettier. Live and learn. "Next time Gadget, next time." On to the next thing: After having the tracks fitted I wanted to get some resin parts ready. I started with the exhaust shields. The resin pieces are moulded from shields still on an original receiver body and come with a lot of extras. (Original pieces displayed and up for sale here) Before and after, sort of. Testing the fit on the exhaust port. Not perfect, but a start and the glue/putty to hold it will play its part too. I also trimmed excess of the front sight. No detailed picture of the "finished" piece but I'm including the below picture as a reference for many of the pieces where you have parts of the original receiver body in the mould. Nice and gives you a good line to follow when trimming. Next I wanted to get the coking handle and bolt fitted into the receiver body. I started out with the ambition of leaving the cocking handle intact and simply drill open the bolt to fit it. This was a challenge as I only had a Dremel and no drill to take a bigger drill bit. After going as deep as I could with the Dremel I continued by hand carving the rest with the drill bit in hand. My fingers hurt and I lost some skin. I deemed the hole good enough for its purpose and simply shaped the cocking handle to fit into the hole. When I got the cocking handle fitted it was time to slide. It did slide. I did some polishing on the back sight and a few other pieces too and after a session in the ventilation box I was left with this mess and these pieces. Getting closer. Seeing the pictures now, without goggles, sweat, and dust covering my eyes I see that many of the vent holes are visible... *sigh*... So troopers... should I putty them, toss it out an airlock, or should I continue to write it down as "giving it character"? Eventually I want this "character" to survive the discerning eyes of the Centurion tribunal. Thoughts?

I'm not a fan of dubbing movies but this is just cool.

Cheers Troopers! A few more angles to consider. From what you've said I'm leaning towards. - Assembly - trying it out - possible internal paint job in later mod-session Maybe it's wiser to start doing mods after everything is fitted and trooped out at least once. Thanks again for the input.

[Q] Open question: As I'm gearing up towards a build I'm researching the paint for the helmet. The Humbrol / Testors options for the outside are quite well covered. Paint for the inside of the lid, however, is still shrouded in a bit of mystery. [?] What paint should be used for the inside of the lid and what are the common/large pitfalls in applying paint to the inside? I know it wasn't done in the on screen lids, but I like the way it looks and hope to find the sweet spot between centurion, comfort and cool. Any input is greatly appreciated.

LMAO! THIS. SECRET. WAS. NOT. MEANT. TO. EVER. LEAVE. THE. COUNTRY. In the undying words of 3PO: "We're doomed.".

While it's awesome I have all parts I need to get this rolling I'm afraid I will not be able to do much work on it this week. My fingers are itching. The upcoming weekend is midsummer here in Sweden. For all you non Swedes (descendants or neighbours) I have to say that midsummer in Sweden is a big thing. Comparing to other known holidays worldwide I'd say its a bit like the carnival in Rio, 4th of July, and cinco de mayo. Not all together at once. More like an echo of one of them. On valium. With grandmothers, schnapps, herring and dancing frogs (don't ask. You'll never understand). This is one of Sweden's three major holidays (the other two being Christmas and Easter) where we celebrate one of the things Sweden is currently known for (apart from IKEA and ABBA), namely the Smorgasboard (Smörgåsbord). At any rate. Between the dancing frogs (again. don't ask.) and work I'm afraid I will not get much done until next week.

After much research, both on TK and other armours, I finally made it to a full circle and ended up deciding on a TK suit. From what I've seen and figured there's always need for another TK. Been a Star Wars fan all my life and, as I mentioned in my introduction, had my first OMG-I-could-make-my-own-armour-experience as a young teen when I first saw a vacuform machine in use. At the time the machine where making model boats out of white PVC and all I could see was shoulder bells. Now, with a few vacuform pieces at home, the excitement is back. This is a WIP thread and I'm eager to get this TK built and approved (and myself a member of 501st). I will, however, try to respect the material and my limited experience with this. Everyone's a newbie at some point. This is mine. (*Note* As I was writing this post I got two deliveries. My neck seal, and my armour. The game's afoot. ) I will keep this first post updated as I move forward with the build to give myself and any followers or casual readers an easy overview of the progress and the things involved. Please feel free to send me pointers or comments on my progress or any omissions. I am aiming for centurion and hope to build towards that from the start. I will try to document everything as I hope to learn a lot and to contribute in some way. =====General Information=========================================================== Base: RS PVC ANH stunt Status: Kit delivered and all mandatory parts at hand Build Started: not yet. Build Finished: not yet. ================================================================================ Information resources and Inspirational sources: General FISD General TK resources thread Parts specific Builds Echo's RS PVC ANH Stunt Build Kurtzmann's RS PVC ANH Stunt Build Locitus (with friend) RS PVC ANH Stunt Build EIB references Echo's EIB application Kurtzmann's EIB application Centurion references Echo's Centurion application Kurtzmann's Centurion application Materials [ ][ ][ ] = Individual part or group of parts identified and currently being researched / sourced. [x][ ][ ] = Part sourced and ordered [x][x][ ] = Part received and being worked on [x][x][x] = Part finished (possibly pending mounting / attachment) = Sub-part of above group. Followed by part/group name - Source/brand - [Material, if applicable and relevant] OR current status of sourcing-thoughts if it isn't already sourced and ordered. (for tools and other material I only use two [ ][ ] levels to mark research [ ][ ], ordered [x][ ] and received [x][x]) Parts sourcing Mandatory parts Hard Parts [x][x][ ] Helmet - RS PVC - RS Prop Masters [x][x][ ] Armour - RS PVC - RS Prop Masters [x][x][ ] Thermal Detonator - RS PVC - RR Prop Masters Soft/other Parts [x][x][x] Undersuit - Extreme Racing via RS Prop Masters (Link) (a.k.a. Stormtrooperundersuit (link)) [x][x][x] Neckseal - Darman (FISD sales thread) [x][x][x] Boots - TKBoots (Link) [x][x][x] Holster - Dday (FISD sales thread) [x][x][x] Armour strapping - RS Prop Masters [x][x][x] Canvas Belt - Clothears via RS Prop Masters Optional parts [x][x][ ] E11 Blaster - DVH (My build thread) [x][x][x] Helmet Speaker system - iComm + Aker 1506 - TK6294 (FISD sales thread) [x][x][x] Helmet fan system - Evilboy (FISD sales thread) Other Material [x][x] Glue - E6000 (2 x 110 ml) [x][x] Paints ... [x][x] Humbrol #5 - Dark Admiral Grey, Gloss - Abs buttons and helmet details [x][x] Humbrol #21 - Black, Gloss - Helmet details [x][x] Humbrol #14 - French Blue, Gloss - Abs buttons [x][x] Humbrol #130 - White, Satin - For rivet heads, screws and other cover ups. [x][x] Humbrol #85 - Coal Black, Satin - For vocoder and Hovis [x][x] Masking tape ... Tools [x][x] Clamps [x][x] Magnets [x][x] Rivet gun [x][x] Lexan scissor [x][x] Hole puncher pliers [x][x] Paint brushes [x][x] Exacto knife and blades [ ][ ] Sand paper ... * a shout out to Nicky, a.k.a. TK-54321 for lending me much of his builders tools. Progress-o-meter 2013-06-18 - Build thread started (this) 2013-06-18 - Armour kit arrived. All mandatory pieces at hand (save for some build tools and materials) 2013-06-24 - Additional tools and paints purchased. 2013-06-26 - Received Fan-kit.

Good to see you back. Great work on the lid. Very inspirational. Keep up the good work!

Nice build and entertaining read. Look forward to follow your work.