Dark CMF

Good luck, Brenton!!! Looking good!

Congratulations, Jonathan!!!

Okay, these next six pictures... They're about thigh fitting, so you've been warned, I guess. The first three pictures are of the un-trimmed and un-shaped thigh, just taped together, end-to-end and being held in place on my leg. I think that the top is (for the most part) alright. It is the bottom that I think is just too wide. Un-shaped, from the side. Un-shaped, from the back. Now, I've taped them tighter across the bottom of the back, keeping the bottom edges aligned. Taped/shaped thigh, from the front. Taped/shaped thigh, from the side. Taped/shaped thigh, from the back. I'd love some opinions on the appearance of the thigh armor as it appears in these pictures. I think that they're just too big around the knee with no shaping, and I've done the same thing to both of them tonight and am awaiting some opinions on them before making any cuts to shape them as they appear in the second three pictures. This was inspired by a short conversation with/some advice from Steve earlier today. I had a momentary flash of "Wait, I think I know how to shape them!!!" and just had to get the pictures taken and posted so I could get the feedback sooner, rather than later. Thanks, Steve. I know it didn't seem like much of a conversation, but it set my mind in the right spot for the inspiration to hit tonight - even though I planned on being in bed about the time I was having my wife take pictures for me. Thanks for following along, and commenting everyone! EDIT: I think that I may have them pulled just a LITTLE bit too tight now, in looking at them - particularly from the back - at the knee.

Alright... The shins are all but done with glue and ABS assembly. They still need to have their closures made and attached. Let's get right to the pictures: The day's TK related activities began with some shopping for the next level of assembly: Elastic, hooks, snaps, snap tool, paints, etc... The day originally began with cake!! My wife decided that she was going to make me a cake and decided to go and take it to the extreme. Not bad for a first time effort, eh? Anyway, the shins... Here, I taped off the inside edges so that I could glue the rear cover strips on to the outside edges without gluing them closed somehow. Right shin is drying... Left shin is drying - to include that sniper plate still! LoL Getting there!

Thanks, Sean Thank you everyone, for the encouraging words!!

Okay, a little bit more work done last night, so a few more pictures to share: Here they are! The forearms are now just awaiting some strapping (and potentially a little bit of heat iron work, too ) to the biceps, and the arms will be pretty much done! And, this is the best I could do in sizing them. I'm just going to have to give a little to the cause before and after each troop. You can definitely count on me not taking off my right arm's armor before the trooping for the day is completely over. LoL The right shin is now letting the glue dry on it's front cover strip. The left was taped together due to the magnets being on the forearms, if you recall. The shins now need to have the cover strips put on the backs, and a touch-up on the return edge on the right one, and they'll be good to go - outside of the closure material being installed. Again, Feliks approves, but he was skeptical of my decision to use tape on the left shin's cover strip. Okay - reinforcement point/help here: The cover strip on the back of the shin goes on the outside of the leg, correct? That way, the opening is on the inside. I'm 99% sure of this, but wanted to clarify it before I glue them on stupidly tonight or something. Speaking of that left shin a moment ago, here it is with the sniper plate being test fitted on it. I think I fully understand why these things create emo troopers and/or murderers, because I wanted to cut something apart while dealing with it, too. Since it looks pretty good here, it is time to sand/scuff/scratch up the gluing areas and roll the dice on assembling it. Clamps, tape, and magnets working together to bend the sniper plate to my will. A peek at the tension apparatus, from above and behind the sniper plate. This thing has the potential to make people crazy. I get it. Once again, we're watching glue dry. Initially, I had it glued quite high on the top of the knee. I realized this after it had been glued and clamped for pretty close to two hours, and initially I started hyperventilating a bit. Then, I remembered that this was exactly the type of thing that I anticipated doing, which led me to use the E6000 instead of the CA Glue/Zap-a-Gap combination. Rather than panic, I simply adjusted the tensioning system that I had in place, by adjusting the tape and magnets to pull the plate downward until I felt like it was in a good position. To me, this worked really well, as the glue had probably started ever so slightly to gum up, and when I peeked at it this morning, it was still exactly where I had left it. Food for thought, if nothing else, I guess. Feliks is once again providing the strictest of quality assurance inspections that he has become well-known for, as the shins dry and await the attachment of their rear cover strips tonight! Please provide any comments, suggestions, questions, or observations, as always. As always, thanks for following along!

Somehow, I'd managed to completely miss your Centurion submission!!! I knew this would be an easy one for you. Just a matter of time, really. Even though I'm late to the party, Congratulations my friend!!!

Life can get it sometimes my RT brother! You're ready. Just got to get those pics. LoL

Regarding the gloves, the rubber ones are only a requirement for EIB/Centurion certification. You can do your approval and EIB/Centurion applications with them, and troop in any other approvable pair of gloves. Other people have suggested using the nomex gloves as liners for the rubber chemical gloves, which keeps your hands a little less slippery and gives you more control over your fingers/more dexterity.

Indeed... Indeed it does. That and "only" having 99 magnets is what led to the tape as a securing agent for the cover strip on the left shin. Seems to have worked pretty well, honestly.

Congratulations! Looking good!

Shortly after the release of RotJ, I was standing in center field during a little league game, and while looking around, I saw two TKs walking down the street towards the left field foul line. I was completely mesmerized by them, and soon, everyone was just standing there and staring in their direction as they walked towards the field. The game was paused so that we kids could go and look at them for awhile. They were like gods in my 12 year old eyes... Gleaming white armor. I can still see them and how they simply towered over all of us, in my mind. In hindsight, they were probably a little short to be Stormtroopers.

Thanks for checking in, Steve. Naturally, I'm going to keep on plugging along with what I believe I know and understand based on a lot of research and reviews of other build threads, but it is still reassuring to get some experienced opinions here and there. That was exactly what I was looking at - all of that "space" at the elbow end. I think that the length of the forearms is perfect as it is, really. I've got a very scary idea, and some extra ABS. We'll see what happens with that though, as it is just an idea right now. All I can say about it at the moment is, it is inspired by Q (gmrhodes) and Diana's build crew. Perhaps the idea will also assist with that right thumbprint, as well. We'll see. I called it scary for a reason. All I really cut off of the wrist was the return edge. I was very careful to remove the minimal amount of plastic possible to flatten that end some. As it turns out, I'll just sacrifice a bit of my thumb each time I armor up, and I won't take it off unless/until I'm done. LoL Also, since I promised Eddy a picture of the inside of the bucket, here it is: This is how it looked inside, straight out of the box. Rob did the painting as an extra service that I requested.

Eddy. Thank you. It's very exciting, rewarding, and fun to build it. Rob painted the inside of both of my buckets. I'll post a picture of the inside in my next update so you can see it. Did you get put on his wait list yet? I'd make sure I ask him about that. Otherwise, if you wait until then to contact him, you might have to wait until 2016. He stays busy, and in demand, as you've seen. I'm using E6000 to glue the armor together. It creates a very strong bond, and can be undone if you have to re-do something for any reason, but it takes 24 hours to fully cure, so it's a bit slow going.

Two things happened since my last post: 1, I realized that I had pictures missing; and 2, I did a little more work. Here come the pictures: The knee ammo box ends are not quite "round" enough out of the box. Using the TD pipe supplied in the kit, I mark the end with a more rounded curve. Here's a look at the new curve, marked for cutting. Using the curved Lexan scissors, I cut the end to the mark that I made... Now it needs to be sanded. Sanded down smoothly and ready for installation when I get done with the thighs. All of this work was done on the other side, too. The forearm cover strips have been cut to length and all gluing surfaces have been sanded lightly for better adhesion. Applying E6000 to one of the forearms for cover strip application. Both of them, glued, magneted, and clamped - waiting for 24 hours. Since I'd already test-fit the shins, and had no issues with them besides some return edges that need to be reduced, I decided to start gluing one of them. Of course, with the forearm cover strips drying, there are no more magnets available to use. I do still have these two big clamps, and lots of painter's tape, so a gluing we will go! I'm not sure what the night manager thinks about this, but we'll know if it was a worthwhile attempt in less than 24 hours now. So, thanks for following along so far. Tomorrow I hope to get the other shin's front cover strip glued and perhaps start figuring out the thighs...

I'm pretty sure that Rob (RT-Mod) has to be about the exact same size that I am. Why? Because as I mentioned earlier in the thread, the armor just FITS me out of the box with little bits of alteration so far. As I said in my last post, the shin sizing/testing was coming next so that's what you're about to see. Here are some pics: Undersuit pants, boot socks, TKboots, RT-Mod shins, and painter's tape. The two bits of tape on the inside of the top are marking spots where I will be reducing/softening the return edges, as they were rather "bitey" right there. A peek at the sides... From the back - sort of - not sure why my wife told me to pull my shorts up. I guess they were sitting around the knees and blocking the view or something. Kellan thought it was very cool that Daddy had "Stormtrooper Legs" on, so he asked me to wear the Stormtrooper Helmet, too. How can I deny such a request from a two year old that just woke up from a nap and wanted to show off his best dance moves? At this point in time, I asked him "What are you doing?" His response: "I don't know." Works for me, I guess. LoL To me, they look good right now - outside of some return edge adjusting.

Tino, I actually started my armor thread on Tuesday, but failed to put it in the build thread section in my haste to share it. LoL

In addition to the work on the forearms earlier, you may have noticed two small-ish pieces of ABS cut for use as the bicep hooks. They were made using SIMpixels' awesome tutorial, and I only had to make three of them to get the two good ones that you'll see here. Here are the two pieces of ABS that will become the Biceps hooks. Actually this isn't the same two pieces because, as I mentioned, I had to make a third one before getting two of them that were usable. Measurements in mm are marked here for bending into the proper shape. Using my hobby files, I scored the ABS strips for bending/heating, and shaping. My mistake - which led to the untimely demise of hook #1 is seen here in the picture. The "cut" to the far right should have been made on the backside of the ABS, rather than on the front. Final two hooks. If you look at the one on the right, you can see that the bottom bend had been cut on the "front" side. I was able to save this one after cutting the proper line on the back too close to this line on the first one. For the second one (seen here) I moved it slightly further from the cut on the front. At this point in time, I've simply got to verify the spot that they'll be glued to inside of the biceps pieces, and shape/sand them to fit, before gluing them into place. Thanks for following along. At this point in time, I can truly say that I'm seriously enjoying this build, and beginning to rack my brains about the "fabric" based materials and the paint colors that I'll need to pick up for the ab buttons. Next up... Sizing/testing the shins before gluing them together! Moving along, moving along!

So, I've essentially taken the "leap of faith" and started cutting. As I posted above, I did some more extensive reviewing of other RT-Mod builds, and came to the conclusion that I was facing the same situations that they all did so I should probably just address the situations like they all did - with one exception. I realized that even eliminating the return edge would not allow me to slip my hands in and out without removing some skin from my thumb (I'll snap a picture of that later for you all - seems to be the thing to do). As a result of this, like Aaron mentioned above, I realized that I needed to look into what I could do within the auspices of "Screen Accurate" which is to answer the question, "Do I have enough room on my forearms to keep the cover strips at 15mm and provide some space between the parts?" The answer is thankfully, yes. Here's some pictures: I started by using some tape and magnets to see if I could answer those questions mentioned above. Next, I marked the return edge area in pencil so I could :::gulp::: cut the armor. Cutting tools gathered and assembled in a stall tactic, to prevent myself from actually making that dreaded first cut. Choosing the curved lexan scissors, I dove right in and made the commitment to the cut, took a deep breath, and started cutting. One piece of return edge removed, major relief settled in, and a big sigh of relief has been breathed. I guess I can just cut as needed. Outer forearm return edge removed. Almost seems easy now! Since I'm going to be placing 15mm shims inside the forearms, I've got to cut some more of them out of the extra ABS that came with the kit. So, using one of the cover strips supplied by Rob as a template, I started cutting them. Feliks, surveying the cover strips, as night shift managers are wont to do. He approves of all four of them, and the two ABS pieces for the Bicep hooks as well! One inner shim, taped into place for a dry-run/test-fit. Both of the inner shims, taped into place, awaiting some E6000. E6000 applied and waiting for two minutes or so, before pressing the pieces together for magnet application. Both inner shims glued and held in place with magnets. Glue is drying in all four spots - for the next 24 hours or so... Both forearms... I think I like watching glue dry better than I enjoy watching paint dry. A look at the wrist side return edge on one of the forearms. Just like the E-11 thread, open to any questions/comments that you may have to offer up.

Hey there Lee... I know that your thread has been quiet/dormant for a little while now, but I just found it today while searching for RT-Mod EIB/Centurion threads as I've just begun my build this week. I started exactly like you did: "LOOK - I built Biceps!!!!" "OMG - What do I do with my forearms???????" Reading through your thread this afternoon absolutely helped me out, and let me see which way I need to go with my forearms during this build. Thanks!! Great work on your build, and a belated congratulations for EIB and Centurion!!

Thanks, Ron. After reading your post, and further review of a lot of GREAT RT-Mod threads (Darth Aloha/BIDS/swmand4/jmm7375) I feel much better about where I'm at. Lee (jmm7375) did and said nearly the exact same things that I was saying here earlier. LoL I hadn't found his build thread until today actually and I'm SO happy that I did. At this point in time, I think that - just like you said - the return edge is the place to start. I'll cut that down, and tape one back together and see how my arm fits into it. Question, based on what I read in one of the threads, how much do your forearms swell when you are trooping? Someone mentioned that it was very difficult to remove their forearms after trooping even though they fit just fine during the test-fit/build processes. How much "extra" makes sense to try to have in there?

Looking great, Sean!! I'm so thankful for other build threads. As I've just begun following your footsteps on the RT adventure myself, it is interesting to be able to see how the armor has evolved even, in subtle small ways, when Rob ships it out. Hoping that I'll be joining you sooner, rather than later. Did you ever get your TKID?

Looks good Zach!! Nicely done!

Edgar, while I cannot comment on the differences (other than to say what has already been said - TM is Beautiful, but not for those clutch, intimidating anchor of the fire team, bigger type TKs) I can tell you that the RT is a beautiful kit, and comes very ready to assemble. There are a lot of great build threads out there that you can look at too, in order to see what the kits look like, and if you look at the EIB and Centurion submissions, you can see how big the troopers are that are wearing them.

Yeah... I rearranged photobucket because it was being stupid... Sorry. I'll get it fixed a little later this morning. EDIT: Fixed them! In looking more at the screen shots, and my armor (I just love saying that - even though it is pieces right now, and not exactly armor just yet) my concern really is the elbow end of the outside. The "tracks" run up to the end of the elbow on the screen shots and pretty much every build that I look at. I know that I don't want to/shouldn't try to "recreate" that curve and cut the elbow end of the inside. Should I consider cutting off the outside above the tracks, and then trim the bottom of the inside to match the length of the outside? I'm inclined to think that they'd be too small if I did this, and then I'd have a lot of black showing in the arms, which isn't screen accurate. I suppose that answers the question for the most part, but I'd really appreciate some advice, because I feel like I'm stuck between two different screen accurate arguments here. Help me FISD, you're my only hope!!