maxsteele

Yeah, that's a good idea. So if I'm seeing this correctly from my photo, I want the two pieces in back to meet up vertically with where the two pieces in front meet up? That way it makes the butt joins line up together? I think that's right. And if I follow the idea of trimming less than marked, going by my second photo, if where I marked became the actual cut lines, I would cut to the left of the number 1 line, and the same distance to the right of the number 2 line? I think that would leave both pieces longer. Also, I don't think I'm going to have an equal amount taken throughout the whole forearm pieces. Would it work if I found the cut line on the wrist side, the cut line on the elbow side, and then drew a connector line straight between those two down the length of the forearm, making that my full cut line? Does that make sense at all?

All of it makes sense. After looking at 20 different threads, I had figured out about trimming the excess off at the wrist. The sizing-to-fit is my next nail-biter set of cuts. I trimmed my right forearm on the front part last night. Next step for the forearms is the dreaded trim-to-fit step and deciding what to do with the outside return edge at the elbow. I may trim down the outside elbow return edge, or I may just trim it all off. In order to trim it down, I'll have to do it free-hand, which I'm not so good at. Removing it all simply requires following the inside groove that the return edge makes with an xacto knife. That's simple.

The best way to line up your forearm parts is first, knowing which dimple piece goes to which arm. The piece with 11 dimples is the left arm, and the piece with 12 dimples is the right arm. Once you determine that, when you look at the dimpled left arm piece, you'll notice a raised molded edge on one side, and no raised molded edge on the other. That raised molded edge gets matched up with a raised molded edge on an inner forearm piece. Each inner piece will have a molded edge - so how do you tell which one gets matched up? The main way I used, is you can see on that outer piece there is a clear "elbow end" and "wrist end". The piece just tapers narrower down to the wrist side. With the inner pieces, one side of the piece has a rounded opening, which is the elbow side, and the other side has a more straight-across side, which is the wrist end. when you match up an outer piece with the left inner piece, and get the molded edges lined up, that rounded opening on the inner piece should be matched up with the wider side of the outer piece. If it isn't, then that's the wrong inner piece.

I am a little concerned with the reaction on seeing the return edge I have on the elbow side. Those parts are lined up at the elbow right now. I lined up ends to match up if the return edge was still present at the inside elbow piece, since that's how it would be lined up if the return edge was still there. I'm not sure what it would mean to "even up that return edge" when I'm done with construction. What would that entail? Would I be making the return edge thinner? I'm now thinking I should just cut it off and have no return edges anywhere on my forearms.

I did remove the return edge from the inner piece, as much research suggested. I can easily take that outer return edge off as well, I had just read that it's suggested to leave the outer edge.

I made my first big boy cuts tonight. I followed gazmosis' advice on making a common line closest to the molded finishing edge, then I marked off 7mm from that line. I used magnets to hold the ruler in place to make my cut with an xacto blade. Here's how much I removed, and the nice clean line left: Here are the two pieces cut and joined together with a little tape underneath. Pretty decent match-up I laid down a finishing strip and held it in place with magnets to test out some fitting. Now, this is a big question I have had. Now that I have test-fitted the piece to my body and wrapped around the extra, I have wondered - where exactly should I cut off the excess? Here are two examples. Should I cut all of the extra from the inside forearm piece like so: Or should I share the cutting on the inside (1.) and the outside (2.) pieces? Here is what the forearm looks like on my arm. I know I'm not wearing my under shirt. This was just a test to see how I would size it. I'm not sure I like that abrupt transition from the return edge on the outside piece to no return edge on the inside. Is that just a matter of trimming down that outer return edge, or should I just remove it completely? Or is it perfectly fine and I should just leave it alone and go with that? Sorry - I have my selfie camera resolution set pretty high, so this next pic is huge! This size on the wrist end is just enough for me to fit my hand through. I have pencil-thin wrists. Is this a decent-enough fit?

I did a little research. A friend of mine contacted the seller with some questions about the armor. The email that he received a reply from? [email protected]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/clt/4095354659.html I'm not looking to buy this, but thought I'd post it here in case someone comes across it and would like opinions from here.

Here's the kidney and butt plate trimmed Kidney Plate Butt Plate

Ah ha! My research is paying off. The built-in side shims with NE armor is on the ab plate. I've noticed when holding up the kidney and ab plates there's quite a bit of material bend that the pieces have to do in order to come in on my sides. Did you notice this also? I don't think there's much that can be done about that. I'm certainly not using a heat gun to bend those pieces inward. That's a whole other level of armor building that I'm just not ready for. I just hope it's not putting too much of a strain on the rest of the pieces and causing possible stress bends / cracks in the future.

Alright, here are my ab, kidney, and butt plates: Kidney plate Butt plate Ab plate Now, I know there's a good deal to trim on these pieces because these molds were made to fit larger people. I don't believe I am considered a "larger" person. I am 5' 10", 195 lbs. I have a 36" waist. I'm wondering if I should pre-cut these to how I've seen others cut them, or if I should wait until I'm doing actual fitting before cutting them. For example, looking at the kidney piece and comparing to other builds, my first instinct is to cut each side like this: And then I look at the kidney, and comparing other builds, I think that I should cut it like this: My concern is that I make these cuts, and then when I try to fit the ab and kidney together, they won't touch and there will be a gap. I'm not sure how to proceed on those cuts.... Thinking more on it, I think the kidney should always be cut how I have it, and any extra that's needed to close the gap should be on the ab side. Thoughts? With the butt, I think regardless of how the ab and kidney fit together, I need to cut the butt plate like this: Any and all feedback is appreciated before I put these pieces under the knife / scissors!

I have an ATA helmet. I'm going to use decals for the tube stripes, tear drops, and vents. I'll be hand-painting the vocoder, frown, ears, and the ab buttons. Why am I using decals? Because I'm not an artist. Why am I painting the vocoder, frown, and ears? Because I can't get decals for those. I figure I can easily mask off the buttons and paint them to look nice.

I hate to disappoint, but I did not go with the NE helmet for my build. I got an ATA helmet. If you are still interested in following that build, you can find it here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24746-my-ata-helmet-build/ I have cut out the eyes and teeth, and I need to drill the holes to connect the back and front together, and start shaping those horrible, horrible ears.

Here's the lower part of the chest now after I cut that extra away: Much better.

The search bar hasn't been working all day for me. Any word I put up there it simply comes back with: "No results found". And I'm using search words that I know have returned results in the past. I found that I can use Google and do the following syntax: finishing strips site:whitearmor.net This syntax will do a Google search for the words "finishing strips" only on the whitearmor.net website. Once I figured this out, finding what I'm searching for on this site became much easier. I will say though, that I do a ton of research on here, and then I post questions about the research I find to get people's personal opinions on it. Most results I find are from 2011-2012, and there could certainly have been changes of opinion on technique. I like to verify what I've researched in my own thread to make sure it is still valid.

Alright, here are my un-modified back and chest pieces. As I mentioned earlier, you can see that flashing at the bottom corner of the chest piece. There's one of those on each side of the chest. I know that needs to be cut off and have a return that matches the return that goes up the side. I'm cutting that off tonight. From what I've seen, the rest of the return edge around the chest piece is the correct width, and I don't believe I need to trim any more of it. The back piece I have a concern with. Once the return edge passes the deepest part of the curve, it gets quite wide. I think I need to trim it to match the narrowest return edge that exists on the upper part of the back. I have some curved scissors that I think can do the trick, and then sand it up to be relatively even. The easiest is to completely remove the return edge, but I'm not sure how that would be.

I can give you what I know: 15mm strips for the forearms and biceps 20mm strips for the front of the thighs/shins 25mm strips for the back of the thighs/shins If you're doing butt join, you can glue down half of the cover strip on one edge of the armor, wait for it to cure, then glue down the other half of the cover strip to the other edge.

I'll post some pics of my chest and back plate when I get home tonight. I think the return edges are already at the right thickness on both of them. There's just that flare I need to cut off at the bottom sides of the chest, which you'll be able to see in the pics. Once I'm satisfied with how those are, I'll move on to looking at return edges for the ab / kidney / butt plates.

Thanks for following up on that. I know I am being super paranoid and double / triple verifying with people on the cuts I'm making. That's just the way I am with projects. I need to know I'm doing it right and require validation from multiple sources before I make any cuts. Everyone that's been helping out have been very patient with me, and I appreciate every piece of information I've been given. I'm hoping to move on from the forearms and biceps tonight / tomorrow when I start trimming my chest and back plates. From research today, most people seem to keep all of the return edges on the chest. There's just that one piece that sticks out on either side of the chest at the bottom which I know needs to be trimmed off. I need to research the back plate more, but I don't think there's anything for me to cut on there.

Yep, I did! This pic showed me: The two left-most pieces go together, and the two right-most pieces go together. For the left-most pieces, you'll notice that from this vantage point, the raised part curves out to the right at the top. That piece matches up with the left "thumb print" piece. And then the wider parts for the outside pieces are at the top, the thinner parts are at the bottom.

While I'm debating with myself on how much return edge I should take off on the curved top parts of my biceps and the outside elbow of my forearms, I'm moving on to other pieces! Chest piece - From what I've looked at, most people take off the return edge around the neck. I've also seen a build or two where all of the return edge is taken off completely with the exception of the horizontal bottom return edge. Any opinions on return edge removal on the chest?

I took a ruler to the return edges on the outside elbow end of my forearms, and they are right at 1/4 inch. I know it's harder to remove the return edge after the armor is assembled, which is why I'm second / third guessing everything right now.

I would say because we can't walk into the local Stormtrooper armor shop and buy a new pair of forearms off the rack. If that were possible, I wouldn't be building my armor right now.

Thanks Derek! That's the kind of responses I was hoping to see. I know there's a 'best practices', but I'd like to hear what other people did directly with their return edges.

It seems to me that the return edge on my forearm pieces are already pretty trim. Screenshots like the one Nick just posted are difficult to tell from a distance just how thick it actually is. What I"m wrestling with is - are these too thick? I already took the return edge off on the two pieces to the right in this photo. It seems to me like there's already a "small" return edge on these outer forearm pieces. As for my bicep, I do think I could trim it down: