maxsteele

Alright, removing the return edge on the inner side of each thigh wasn't as bad as I thought it would be: Now I need to cut back those inner pieces so they are sitting below my cod, and not catching on it. Drawings / suggestions on the best way to do that are appreciated!

Jon, for what it's worth, I think you're wearing the suit well! I got my belt yesterday, so now I'm able to attach the ab plate to my body and then pull up the thighs and hold them up while walking. They are definitely catching on my cod, even when rolling them outward. I trimmed down the cod and they still either catch down on the rounded part, or if I line my thighs up with the finishing strip centered on my knees, the tops will catch where the ab plate curves around the front of my thigh. It seems like I"m going to have to cut my thighs lower in order to be able to pull them up high enough to clear my knees, but not catch on my cod. I really didn't want to do this type of modification, especially once I already had the thighs glued together and sized. I think I'm going to first try to cleanly remove the return edge from the cover strip down along the lower curve of each thigh, and keep the return edge on the outer part of the thigh which is more visible. Once I get that successfully removed, I'm going to keep the same curve of the thigh but cut away 5mm or so of length from the inside of each thigh. That should hopefully keep the shape of the thighs looking alright while giving me clearance to prevent the cod from catching on them. I'm going to try the pencil trick I saw in another build where you attach the pencil at a fixed distance from your finger tip, then you trace the line of the armor which will lay down the pencil line of the measured distance on the armor. I'm pretty sure some of the more screen-accurate proponents of the forum will yell at their monitors when they read this, but I struggle with cosmetic changes. I need to make it as simple as I can so I don't completely screw up my thigh pieces and have to buy new ones that I may or may not screw up again.

Belt construction time. I received my belt from TKittell today (Thanks!) and I have scoured the forums for any kind of tutorial or steps showing how to line up the plastic on the belt and attach it, and came up with nothing. The NE belt plastic has 3 very noticeable indents at the ends and in the middle. I believe that is where I'm drilling holes to attach to the belt. Questions: 1) My belt is 52 inches long. How do I know at what part of the belt I attach the plastic to? 2) I found a belt graphic hidden in a post that gave dimensions on where the end of the plastic should be cut, and what measurements to cut the angles. I measured the ends of my belt plastic to this, and this is what I came up with. This look good for the lines to cut on? 3) Do I attach the belt plastic to the belt at all three points (each end and in the middle)? Or just on each end and have a faux rivet cover in the middle? 4) When lining the belt up vertically, should I make the narrower parts of the ends (after cutting the corners) have an equal distance from the top and bottom edges of the belt? I know NE plastic is a little larger than the 3 inch belt I have, but I have trimmed the extra down to the molded boxes, and it is close to the same size. 5) Should I fit and install the snaps to hold the canvas to my ab before or after I attach the belt plastic to the canvas?

Nick, did you add the return edge back or did you leave it off? I can't tell by the angle of the pics.

You know Jonathan, with the full kit on, that doesn't look like an issue at all. It really looks like your thighs are at the position that my thighs in my first photo are at. I'm good with how yours look.

Hey Jonathan! Thanks for the reply! Yep, I think there are quite a few of us who bought NE armor after several builds were completed, but before the recast realizations were public. I've been chatting with other NE wearers and had a thread in the Build subforum about thigh pieces pinching, and I think I'm going to go with getting it all put together and wearing it, and then doing what I need to make it fit better. I might even do a few troops with the thigh pieces turned outward and see if it really makes a difference to my over-all look. If it doesn't affect anything, I may just keep it that way.

Germain, thanks for the clarification on your statement. I believe myself and others who have this armor are now fully aware of the recast status of it. Calling out the nature of an armor builder on a thread where I'm asking for help to overcome an issue feels like Nelson from the Simpsons pointing and saying "Ha ha!". If I could take it all back and do it over, I'd try to choose something else. That's not going to happen, and I'm working with what I have.

Evan - Yeah, tilting the thigh pieces outward certainly helps, but then I get a misalignment of the thigh cover strips with my knees that I'm trying to avoid. Yes, I'll definitely be taking it out on a troop to find out how it all feels and sits. Hopefully I can help with pinching through some cod piece trimming. I do not trust my craft skills enough to make a top thigh adjustment. Thanks for the suggestions!

Caleb - Thanks for the suggestions! I will certainly try working with the positioning of them and see how I can get them to sit when worn. Yes, I know that the public at large won't notice my misaligned thighs, but I'll definitely be hyper-aware of it and want to get it as close to corrected as I can. Mathias - Yeah, you had mentioned that in a previous thread I had about thigh shape. And you had said to either cut them, which would make them look weird, or wear them lower, which would equally make them look weird. I believe my craft experience will not allow me to nicely cut the tops of my thighs to prevent any sort of issue I'm currently having. I'm trying to see if I can thin up the return edge on the cod piece to assist with the fit and pinching while maintaining the alignment of the front cover strips. I'll find out through adjustments once I start wearing all the pieces. Germain: "Oh! Look at the guy who bought recast armor! Let's all point and laugh at him!" Yep, you really showed me! When I was doing all the research I did back in July and August, I did not find posts from people talking about how NE armor was recast. Most likely it was because I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I didn't find it.. There were plenty of NE build threads, and no one was talking bad about it in them, so that's what I based my decision on. Hell, at least one person got a Centurion award with NE armor. I'm not the enemy here. I didn't recast the armor. But I did buy it, and I'm working as hard as I can to get it put together and look as accurate as I possibly can. I certainly appreciate any constructive criticism I receive from my inquiries, but posting "RECAST!" in this or any other thread, unless asked for that info, does nothing more than confirm a feeling of superiority over someone who tried to have the information needed but wasn't able to find it.

I taped my ab / kidney together again and pulled my thighs up into a position I believe they need to be, and tried walking while holding the thighs up. The thighs seemed to catch underneath the cod with every other step and make a very audible "pop!" sound. Here is what the return edges look like on the cod piece: I'm thinking I should cut away the return edge around the cod area. The cod piece would still be very visible and intact, but the return edges, which are hidden by the thigh pieces, wouldn't be catching on the thighs. Red lines roughly drawn where I'd cut. I tapered back down to the return edge because I believe I want to keep the return edge on the bottom of the ab as it curves over my leg. My other thought is to have a less dramatic transition when it goes back to the bottom return edge across the leg, and trim this much from either side: Thoughts?

I think what happened is I had a fellow trooper come over to help size my thighs for cutting in the back, and while we were discussing the fit of the thighs, he was talking about how the strips weren't supposed to be a straight up-and-down alignment with the knee. This led to fitting them with the outward turn when wrapping the extra around in the back and marking for cutting. I believe that's why they're more comfortable with that outward turn than without. It would be a major setback in this build if I had to tear apart my thighs and attempt to re-size them. I might have taken more off than I am supposed to for having the strips lined up with my knee, which would mean I'd have to get a new set of thigh pieces and start over again. I guess I'm really only going to know once I rig up a system to wear my thigh pieces and see how they look and feel. Thanks for your reply.

I have my thighs (NE) finished, and at first, I was pulling them up to where I thought I should wear them. I started looking at photos, and realized that I had them both turned outward a bit too much. I was beginning to think I somehow constructed the thighs incorrectly. Tonight after I got home from work, I tried my thighs on and positioned them to where I believe they are supposed to be, with the bottom cover strip lined up with my knees. Now, this is certainly not as comfortable as the way I'm wearing them in the first pic. When I have them in this position, the left thigh piece on the inside is a little pinchy in my groin area sometimes. Not fun. 1) Is there an issue with the way I'm wearing them in the first pic? If there is, then I won't wear them that way, but if there isn't, they are much more comfortable to wear that way. 2) If I must wear them like the second pic, are there any tips to prevent the pinching?

Ah excellent! When I saw your shins on Saturday, I didn't think they had too much resistance to prevent closure with the industrial velcro. Glad you were able to find the right velcro!

Looking good Jason!

Thanks Chris! I've ordered my belt from TKittell. My measurement after cutting the sides of my ab was 41 inches, so adding on 10 inches makes it a total length of 51 inches. That sucks about having to replace your forearm. I really struggled with mine as well, but I was able to make it work in the end, fortunately. So far, it doesn't look like I'll have to cut the length of my thighs or shins at all. I'm 5' 10", which I've been told is optimum Stormtrooper height. Get your build thread updated with some pics of your kit! I'd love to see them! I've decided I'm going to go with the Dritz heavy duty snaps I saw at Joanns. I'm going to use their 50% off one regular item coupon and just go in once a day and buy one pack of snaps. There are two JoAnns within 4 miles of each other, so I can get two in the same day. Some days I can get a second person to come in with me and buy a pack also, so I'll be able to get them all in a few days. I should be able to get 10 packs (9 packs of snaps and 1 pack of snaps + setting tool) for $40. That will give me a total of 70 snaps and the hammer setting tool. That should be enough for my build and spares. I was told by Redforce that I need to use elastic, not webbing for the straps. I need to find out how long each elastic strap should be, and what kind of elastic to use. That'll be another JoAnns purchase I'm sure.

I'm looking to order my belt (from TKittell) and I'm trying to decide if I want the white or the off-white color. I was looking at another trooper who got a belt from him, and this is what it looks like with the white color: Would I be better off going with the off-white? I know I can't get a perfect white match with my armor, but I wonder if the off-white would be better than the brightness of this white color. Comparison of the colors of Tkittell's belts:

Alright - both thighs have the front and back top cover strips completed. Next on that front will be to bend the ammo belt around the thigh. Many thanks to RainTrooper for coming over today and helping me to mark where the over-lap was on my ab plate. Here are the results: I'll need to do just a little bit of alignment, and there's a point at the top of the right side that I'll need to cut / sand down, but otherwise the sides join up nicely. Since the ab / kidney was fitting to nicely, I decided to pull up the thighs and take some shots: Now, on to the snaps and strapping! I found some 2 inch polyfiber webbing to use for the snap plates, and some 1 inch polyfiber to use for the straps. Here's a shot of them. Are these acceptable (ruler for scale)? At JoAnns, I found #24 snaps from Dritz. They're $6.99 for 7 sets. I think I could get a better price than this. What do you guys suggest for snaps? Do you know of a bulk snap purchase online I should use instead?

Thanks for the suggestion Derek! I cut the butt plate halfway between my prior cut and the second line I had drawn. How's this? And here I've placed the outer cover strips for the right thigh:

I'll have cake please.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do different with the mic tip area. I had drilled a single hole through each side to put the mic tip screw through, and then fastened the washer and nut on. The plastic the bolts go through is pretty thin, and I have seen people reinforce around that area with glue inside the helmet.

I got a pair of black Amsterdam boots, and I hit them with about 1/2 of a quart container each of acetone. It took me about 45 minutes for each boot, and I was able to completely strip the shine away. I worked in the sun and was able to see shiny bits and scrub away until I didn't see any left. Before: After: After that, I used a bottle of Angelus white leather paint, and got about 6 coats on. I wasn't too happy with the visible brush strokes, but you can only see those if you're laying on the ground staring at my boots.

First - the ears look great! We all want to get this perfectly flush fit with our ears, however - gaze upon the ears of some of the actual screen-time helmets: These aren't distant shots either. These troopers were right up next to the camera. I believe that last shot is even a Hero helmet! As for your teeth, I think you can go wider, but when you get to this point, it becomes how satisfied you are with them. Here's what my teeth looked like when I was finally done fretting over them: Here's a wider shot of my assembled helmet with an initial installation of the mic tips before I painted them: And here's what the teeth look like once I painted them: You can see that the spaces between the teeth look much bigger once they're painted.

Jeff, I'll tell you that I did all the research and reading ahead of time I could, but until I had the armor in front of me and a pair of scissors in my hands, I really didn't know what I was looking at or what to do. I find that as I'm working on a piece, that's when I really can start researching and looking at photos and builds to see how to proceed. Just never be afraid to ask questions. Even if you think the question was probably asked 1000 times before. It doesn't hurt to be sure of what you're doing and get some confirmation that you should or shouldn't do something. At the end of the day, you're the one looking at your armor project sitting in your garage or on your workbench. You have to put it together. And you have to wear it.

I have a set of NE armor. It does have a lot of extra for a larger person, but I look at it as it can be customized to fit. I'm 5' 10" and 175 lbs, and I've been able to cut-to-fit NE armor. There are several other threads around the forums with NE builds that are either complete or in the process of completion. I'm in the process of building mine.

From the CRLs, EIB does not have a butt join requirement. Centurion does.