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Think I figured it out... it looks correct, anyway. Need some advice on gloves! I really like the Nomex ones I have for my TK, but I ordered them in the smallest size and they're still too big for Shannon. Any tips?

So after stressing over the knees... I think I got them after pouring over everyone else's photos. Thighs as big as a hallway. (really weird photo effect). Legs are DONE. Boots finally arrived from Gio, but they're over a size too big. Sigh - I guess inserts may work. Next up is the shoulder straps. Going to attempt to heat them with a hair dryer and bend them a little flatter. If that doesn't work, I guess the oven is next.

Can I get a little advice & possibly photos on the knee strap placement? I'm hesitant to cut into the thighs...

Looks great Berbs! Great job! Kev... thank YOU for building this for the ladies. I never thought I'd turn my wife to the dark side

Man, I really don't want to get into this... but there's so many inconsistencies and holes here that it's pretty laughable. Assuming that the armor is the same regardless of body type isn't a good assumption. Considering the book description you referred to indicates that armor can change with "alien" body types, why would you think that women would wear the exact same armor as a man, considering very specific anatomical differences? Bottom line, the base requirements for the CRL to be developed are pretty clearly present. Additionally: The character must be represented visually by an officially authorized Star Wars publication. Full body front/back/side reference must be available. Costumes based only on text descriptions cannot be approved. An action figure may be used as supplemental reference, but cannot not be the only reference for the character. And lastly, the costume exists, and quite a few women will be submitting this as the Jes Gistang armor. That in itself is the baseline when reading the requirements documents. Arguing over the minutiae of back plate details is insanity when we still allow FX armor and buckets to be 501st. And hey, for the foreseeable future, at least all the femtroopers armor will look the same. Far more than we can say for our TKs.

Haha, she had a tank top on underneath (sorry!) I guess she didn't want to mess up the do. *shrug* Just got word her DLT is waiting for me at the FedEx store! Woot!

More progress. I'm going to add snaps to the front to keep the chest piece overlapping the ab plate. She's pretty excited about nerding it out. After all these years of her calling me a nerd... one of us... one of us... Screwed up cutting the belt too small (I positioned it incorrectly when marking it) so I've reached out to Kev for a replacement part. Hopefully this is the only part I'll need to do that for...

Appreciate it. Yeah, I had to go back a few pages, need more angles or something, maybe! After watching Michael's video again (creeper alert! annnnnd this thread takes a turn) I decided to straighten the butt plate edge somewhat. I think I got it, but I may still remove the return edge at the corner. Wife wouldn't let me take pics of her butt last night But she's happy with the fit - and getting quite excited that it's starting to come together without tape! -----------

Thanks Michael - so you just left the butt plate as-is without really trimming/reshaping it? I guess I can just take off the return edge where it may be overlapped...

Need a little advice here. Do I reshape the entire edge of the butt to match up at the point where it meets the ab plate?

Slight progress. Fitted and assembled torso. Still waiting on boots before I finish out the shins. The shins are causing me some grief. Since she's so small, I don't want the giant greaves look... but I'm a bit unsure how I should trim the fronts and still keep the nice line for the shim. Any tips?

Annnnd, another question! Velcro on belt to torso? The belt seems to stay in place pretty well with all the wigglin...

Ah, very cool idea, thank you Arnie. Michael - looks outstanding!

Can you detail #1 a little more? I'm not familiar enough with clones to have any idea on that method and have been digging a little too much on this... I figure you probably have a link stashed

Gotcha. So really, the hold up is some folks worried about the back plate details? That kind of nitpicking seems inconsistent, considering we allow FX armor to be approved.

Is it a matter of this being the appropriate place for this CRL? Should it be with the EU folks instead? I know over at SLD, they only really take care of the movie Sith...

Three questions: 1. Chest to Back - I see in Kev's instructions to do Velcro, but would elastic/snaps be a better choice for movement? 2. Belt - attached together via Velcro? Or elastic on one side, Velcro on other? 3. Anyone heard from Gio lately? I've sent him multiple messages...

My first kit, I did all with box cutter and x-acto, and some shears for the really large, thick parts. Dremel for the eyes and X-acto to finish eyes and teeth. My second bucket, I used box cutter to rough in, dremel to finish. Teeth roughed in with X-acto and finished with jeweler's files. Current kit, using box cutter to rough in, dremel to finish the curves. Box cutter and metal ruler to snap the straight lines. 150 grit paper to reduce armor bites.

I've had to go about this a little different than my TK build. For the curves, it's similar to the way I'd cut curves in woodworking. I draw cut lines where I think will give her enough room, then rough cut them with a box cutter. Dremel takes them down where I think it needs to go... then I snap the straight lines for assembly. It's WAY more test-fitting than I ever did on my TK. But in the end, I'm hoping this fits her better than mine originally did (I had to make multiple adjustments to get to EIB). Because my wife is so tiny (the built biceps don't even fit on my hand... and I'm not exactly a big dude) I've had to get creative with measuring. The biggest issue I'm running into right now is the forearms look big... but this is as small as I can go and still have her hand fit through the opening. Here's a progress photo with an exploded stormtrooper on my table.

Just polish.

Shoot a message to Slavefire (Lewis) on this board. Here's a thread with his DLTs: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28470-fs-hyperfirm-dlt-19-4x-in-hand-last-4/

You made another butt plate for them? I'm giving Shannon plenty of armor "kisses"... just about ready to strap the torso together after some sanding and one last test fitting! Did you all glue in the elastics on the torso, or use snaps? My TK is a combo of the original strapping method (wire brackets + elastic) and snapped elastics to help pull other areas tight.

I'm cool with it, either way it is Arnie

Comparing the above to Stacy's submission photo... there seems to be a marked difference. Maybe hands on the hips do that to the elbows? Not sure. I would really like to see some video of these ladies moving around so I can see how this armor moves in comparison to my TK.

------------- Here's the photo I was referencing from DragonCon. The torso looks like it fits well but the limbs look like they were rushed and are a little big. My worry is that the forearms are going to do the same thing on Shannon... is it just a matter of trimming the wrist back and then heat bending a new return? Or just leave them trimmed without a return like a TK?