Punkers

TD assembly is done and bondo'd ! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

End of week 3 and all of week 4 progress ... This week it was time to really focus on assembly and... wait for it... bondo & sanding. I completed the bondo & sanding on the back & yoke, both forearms, the left calf, both biceps, and AB plate. I also began assembling the TD today and got the end caps installed, just time to glue the "BCD assembly" to the TD back plate and then begin applying bondo. I feel like I got a lot done this week, but I still have so much more to do! lol

Week 3 so far.... Today I put together the yoke & back assembly, AB & kidney plate, shoulder bells w/ inserts, thighs & calves (glued on the greeblie sides only), biceps (glued on one side only), and pieced the tops & sides together with glue tabs on the forearms. I feel like we got a lot done in just one day, but could have accomplished so much more, so I am hoping to spend a good part of tomorrow continuing the process Tomorrow I hope to finish sizing the biceps, thighs, and then remove the inside pieces of the sides of the forearms to attach the proper tops, and attach the "railroad track" & boxes.

Well, after dodging two rain storms and the heat of the morning sun, I finally finished all trimming today ! Feels good to be one step closer to finishing the build !

Week two progress so far.... I completed trimming up to the buck lines on these parts and have them ready to be assembled, sanded, and painted with the other parts I completed trimming on last week. And here is ALL that remains to be trimmed. The AB, Chest, end caps for the TD, and these boxes....

Hi all, I am excited to say that last week I received my TFA (First Order Stormtrooper) kit, and this weekend I began trimming pieces and getting things moving along (pun intended ). Over two days this weekend, I rough trimmed everything except for the ammo boxes, pouch covers, etc. because my hand simply couldn't stand another minute of trimming with shears after an all day effort Friday. Saturday I went back and completed trimming with a barrel sander on my shiny new dremel on the yoke pieces, back plate, kidney plate, shoulder bells, biceps, thighs, and calves. So that leaves me with just a few more of the main pieces and all of the little stuff left to trim up. I should be able to complete that stuff throughout the week nights or the weekend after the holiday. In going through everything, I found that the AB plate, chest plate, and some of the calf or thigh pieces had an "orange peel" on them from the pull which I wasn't too thrilled about since they will have to be sanded or filled with bondo and sanded to repair, but it's likely I would have to do that on everything anyway since I plan to have an auto body shop do the paint job on my kit for me to match the bucket. More to come soon!

Although it sounds as though those that used ABS paste / slurry had better luck, the point of this thread is actually to harvest the information from multiple members of the Alpha 75 so that we can determine whether there is an inherent flaw in the design of the armor that needs to be repaired in the subsequent waves of armor being sold (and for public release). If we could keep this thread on target and await replies from the Alpha 75 specific to the question in the first post, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the info Krista! Keep these coming for anyone else who had issues please. The more detailed info we can get, the better off everyone will be.

Hey all, I have a question to pose to all of you Alpha 75 who had their kits built for celebration and since.... Have you had problems with the yolk / shoulders cracking under stress from the design of the pieces that are bondo'd or slurried together ? A few troopers supposedly had problems with this because of the design of these pieces, but I have yet to be able to identify more than two of these individuals. The reason I'm asking this is to work with Dean and ANOVOS to hopefully resolve these concerns for future kits and hopefully in time for wave 2 / 3. Thanks in advance for your input.

I followed the mold lines pretty closely, but with everything on ABS armor, always take off a little at a time or you'll regret it later when it doesn't look or fit right.

The biceps come in one molded piece that must be separated, and then you take the two halves and put them together using the 15mm cover strips. If you look closely you will see the shape matching what I have posted early in this thread.

The cover strips on forearms and biceps are 15mm while the leg pieces are 20mm. You should have received some 1 1/2 - 1 3/4" strips from Mark and those have to be cut to fit. The best method is to use a pencil on the non glossy size and then score it slowly with a razor blade and then fold and snap them apart. Good luck and hope that helps.

Thanks for the comments all. I haven't noticed the "crooked" leg syndrome, but I appreciate this tip! I will have to double check some more recent photos and add foam if it is there.

The plan is EIB.

I don't use FB but you're welcome to message me here.

TK-67000 reporting for duty! Requesting 501st access. http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=16137

501st Legion approval granted! Joining the ranks of the FISD officially. Hoping to have my EIB stuff done following our comic con this week

Round two. I made a few changes today and hopefully things are looking a little better I riveted the holster to the belt, raised the chest and lowered the AB, and then put some strapping and elastic with a mild curve on the butt plate to get things sitting a little nicer. These including the previous have all been submitted for approval:

No worries, I didn't mean to sound like I didn't appreciate the comment. Just referencing the CRL appears those things aren't required for basic at least. I'm going for EIB eventually, but right now is just emergency mode to get 501st approved in time for our Comic Con next week.

This is for centurion only per the CRL. There is no requirement for shoulder strapping color or material per the basic or EIB parts of the CRL to my knowledge. As for ear markings, I found this pattern per the whitearmor forums for a "Captain" rank.

Ahh I see. I would suggest you put it on and have someone look at how much material shows in the front vs the back. The way I did it was putting three ribs plus the big rib in front because I am shorter and sort of skinny and not much material looked good in front. It's better to have more in the back and I believe most people have between 5 - 7 ribs showing going towards the back plate.

Thanks for the comment. I am glad to hear my thread is even remotely helpful to other troopers haha. The snap placement at the top of the AB isn't super critical as it won't matter if it's 1" or 8" in from the top, the strap that connects to it for your suspension system would just need to be longer if you put it in farther. See my previous post about sizing the bicep to shoulder bell strap etc. As for sizing the thighs, I honestly put them on and pulled them up to where I wanted them to sit and then checked the height at the knee to see how much it was showing or overhanging the knee. If the knee is covered you need to take approximately that amount off of the top of the thigh. It should stop just above the knee. So then once you know how much it overhangs you just take a tape measure or fabric tape and then mark that distance across the curvature of the top of the thigh and trim it down keeping that nice curved shape at the top of the thigh pieces. Think of a connect the dots thing and just mark the distance it overhung down from the top of the thigh and be conscious of the curvature as you're marking your cut line.

I actually am short lol. I'm only 5'7". I believe that the problem with the thigh - AB gap is simply that the cod is too high and the whole AB plate needs to come down. Working on trying to figure out how to do so without throwing off the whole look. The biceps and forearms are not connected as I wanted mobility and I feel that connecting them will put yet another hinderance that would make flexing my arms more difficult. I could perhaps drop the bicep strap down a half inch to create less of a gap, but the way I sized it was to put the bicep on, slide the forearm into place, and then bend my arm at a 45° angle. I then marked the bicep location and put straps with snaps to make sure that it held that location. By letting the forearm free float I gain mobility and as far as I know the forearm to bicep strap is not required for basic or EIB.

Ok all, here is my first submission and wanted to get any input. If you notice anything please feel free to let me know so that I can consider any changes. Thanks again to everyone's help who has chipped in their advice or help!