Barcoder

This is simply amazing! Excellent work!!!! (Almost makes me want to have kids of my own..... Almost. )

^ What he said. Just be sure to spray glue the shiny material to the foam side and not the side that already has the material attached. You get more defined "ribs" if there is only one layer of fabric, compared to two.

Thanks for the compliment! I used headliner material. (it's a light foam with fabric on one side.) I also used a shiny, polyester-spandex blend fabric.

Done. (ID # 2BX218396K031623W)

It nylon webbing, 1.5 inch thick.

Thanks buddy! Took me 3 tries but it worked out.

Only one I got is this one.

Just did a few events with my new modifications... Very happy indeed! -Removing the clip from the TD has made quite a difference. No more digging into my back & the the TD now sits lower & almost flush with the bottom of the ab section. -The 2 straps on the shoulder bells hold them in place perfectly. No more sexy shoulder action needed! -My new chest decal (Version #3) looks GREAT! So crisp and clean. Almost looks like the real thing!

As I have no plans on doing the chest detail upgrade (I can't bring myself to sand, Bondo & paint that friggin' chest plate again...) but LOVE the look of it, I have been playing around with making my own chest decal... Here what Anovos supplied... It looks weird, rounded and just seems too thin along the bottom edge. From the side, it looks even thinner. As the chest detail is not crisp itself, rounding can happen. However, the Anovos decal is rounded Taking into consideration that the opening on the upgrade detail looks thick/thin, depending on what angle you view it from, I am trying to enlarge the decal to achieve the look. Here is what I have come up with... This definitely looks sharper/crisper, but maybe a tiny bit too thick on the bottom edge. But as I said, the upgrade can look different depending on the viewing angle. I think when all the armour is on & viewed as a whole, the exaggerated thickness will work. I have an event next weekend to test it out.

Excellent build so far! I hope you are enjoying the journey. It's exciting to see more build threads popping up.

Now that I have put many hours in the armour, I think it's time for an update! (Plus, I had to do some adjustments. Thankfully not many.) I have re-done the attachment of the TD. I think the clip/lip that hangs over the ab section has been digging into my back, so I ripped it off. The whole TD now sits a little lower than it originally did. (I also moved the snap up on the inside of the ab section) The gap to the bottom of the ab section is almost nothing now. The whole "one strap" for the shoulder bells just wasn't working.... They had a habit of rolling towards the back, I was constantly having to do a sexy shoulder move to get them back in place. Switched them out for two straps... Much better. I have discovered that the fabric I used to make my cloth gaskets stain the armour/paint... It's an awful combination of the paint being rubbed off due to friction & moisture build-up in the shoulder gaskets causing the colour to run. (Damn sweat!) Here's what it looks like on the edges of the chest and the back/yoke section. It's also happening a tiny bit on the inside edge of the biceps. To be honest, the staining isn't that much of an issue, as you can't really see it often. (Might be a different story if I was raising my arms all the time. lol) At the end of September, we had our local con (Over 50,000 attendees) & I debuted the First Order to the masses. It went VERY well, I literally felt like a rockstar. Star Wars artist, Robert Bailey was very happy to have his picture taken with me! I also ended up lending my helmet, gloves & soft pouches to a garrison mate of mine. He had finished his armour in time for our con...but couldn't wear it as Anovos hasn't shipped his helmet, gloves & soft parts yet. He deserved to feel like a rockstar as well, so we split time in the helmet. (Funny, his name is also Peter. Our friends were very confused at times.)

Congratulations Dino; looks friggin' awesome! It was an honour & pleasure to be involved with your First Order journey.

AWESOME!!!! Let the fun begin!!!

YEEEEESSSSSS! Another TFA thread! Best of luck & enjoy. We shall be watching your progress.

Congrats Jaydon!!! Awesome job. We are proud to have you in the Badlands.

HAHAHA! I hear ya. If given the chance again, I would do some of the modifications for sure. However, it's not the fear of modifying plastic on my current kit so much as the extreme dislike of having to sand down & re-paint things!! I am done with rattle cans.....

Good lord Tony, your thread is kicking some serious FN butt! (...and making my build thread look like the Walmart version. hahaha)

Damn, that is a thing of beauty!!!

Nice work on those spats! I am loving the snaps on mine. Haven't had any issues so far. (Though I am still gentle when unsnapping them.)

My first official troop as an approved First Order Stormtrooper was a success! Our garrison was on hand to help provide smiles at our local Walk for Autism Speaks event. The day was filled with TONS of hugs & hand-holding. (Such a feel-good event!) Many of the fathers present knew exactly what I was...and were VERY excited. After being in the armour for about 3 hours straight, I am impressed that it was actually kinda comfortable. I was most pleased with pretty much being able to walk like normal. I am slowly getting used to the slightly limited mobility in the arms....it's not that bad now. That being said, the forearm boxes are a menace!!!! I still have a bruise from the box digging into my right hand. As much as I would like to move them up more, I'd rather avoid the equivalent of the "flood pants" look on my arms. hahaha The inside of the biceps, and the sides of the chest are already showing scrapes from rubbing together. Thankfully you don't really see that area. Same goes form the top of the left thigh. The belt box can't help but rub against it. May have to look into that... Try as I may, I cannot really look down. As soon as I try, the helmet smacks into the chest piece. Same issue with a regular TK but MUCH worse. As this was mostly a kids event, I did a lot of leaning over to actually see them. Due to the bubble lenses, there is distortion of the vision...but mostly along the edges. I barely notice it now... The little guy looks like he's using the force... Camera caught him mid-high five. A painful pose. At least I looked good.... (Forearm box was digging in real bad here...) With a kiss from our XO, the new guy gets the Seal of Approval!

Awesome job!!!

i haven't actually been asked strange questions during an event......until today. A little boy came up to me as soon as I finished getting into my armour & asked "do you have a dog?" A very odd thing to ask a faceless man covered in white plastic.

...just gonna point out that 2 reference pics for the Thermal Detonator on the CRL shows very noticeable seams. (Which is rather funny since the text indicates there should be no visible seams.) (If needed, I can do edits on the pics. Happy to help.)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!

I had the same wide gaps with my forearms. I am sure it would be fine, once you glue the top section on....but I chose to use a heat gun to reshape the sides a bit & decrease the gap. I found that it helped relieve a bit of stress on the sides & the little tab to sit more parallel. (Heat guns & ABS give me anxiety...it was stressful. Lol)