fuumantroop

The chest has been revised since then, I think they are approved for centurion standards now, but never hurts to mod them.

I was worried to trim the kidney at the top, so i trimmed the bottom because the belt will cover it anyways. I am highly considering splitting my cod too though. And taking off about an inch. Its scary just thinking about it lol

I also took off the pad thats in th middle of the dome on my helmet. The memory foam is so thick, i had to keep pulling my helmet down for a better fit. I have some thin foam I got from work that i will be using in place of the MICH pad.

Thanks Scott! I did make the mistake of naming him Luke...and his sister Leia lol. My plan is to have the armor ready by October 15th. I might go ahead and split the COD from the ab plate as i don't like how close the ab buttons are to the chest plate. That would also help my kidney plate match my ab plate a lot better. I seem to be finding myself in pretty similar boots as Pandatrooper in these regards. Although my cut on the kidney armor was a complete flukey match as he did on his lol. Perhaps its myself subconsiously recalling his thread by memory, who knows. Will also be installing my snap plates so I can get the armor more assembled and see where I am at trim wise.

I have both top and bottom pretty snug, maybe a finger width or two spacing, i may trim down the return edge on the top of the kidney just a hair as well. Its bugging me that the kidney plate and ab do not match perfectly, so I still have to figure that out. I do plan on bringing in the wings a bit, may trim them knward just a bit as well, looks a little big to me still.

Another disclaimer, my forearms, biceps, and thighs are basically free floating, and I have not installed the coverstrips on my arms and the backs of my thighs just yet, in the event that more trimming is required. I am a lot happier now that I can see the armor together and how everything works in relation to eachother on my own body. It is much less frustrating than trying to visualize everything piece by piece. To anyone currently working on a build, or researching, I highly recommend doing this!

Ok ok so i think i am just not seeing the "bigger picture" with my previous posts. Cutting the kidney did help me raise my butt plate in position better, although the following pictures show it temporarily put on. I used lots of painters tape to get the armor semi assembled, and after doing so, I have come to the conclusion that I have been over analyzing myself way too much. I can see the white at the end of the tunnel, and have been fighting off the antsy feeling to get this armor completed. Anyways, heres some pictures. I'd like to go ahead and put it out there that I was COMPLETELY on my own for the semi assembly, and in true TK fashion, my aim was terrible in some of the pics. And the infamous, missed selfie...i blame the rebel cat On a side note, is it JUST me, or does it seem that most builds lately include our furry friends in some of our pictures? Its like Endor all over again!!! Perhaps we should partner up with the SPCA and do a FISD/animal combo calendar LOL!

Thanks Germain! The iron has no heat control but is always set to low heat. This thing fits in my hand easily. Just wanted to make sure I didn't have to get an actual heat sealing hobby iron. Here are the pics I have managed to take. I pressed my chest plate because of the makeshift shoulder straps i was using, just so it sit right on my chest. I am considering to reshape the bottom of the chest plate to be more "accurate." The swoop is pretty defined, making the edges cover more on the sides. I was hoping to avoid splitting the COD from the AB, but since I cut my kidney plate to have my back plate fit better, it seems as if I have no other choice. Ideas? Someone please slap some sense into me if i am simply overthinking this thing.

Has anyone attempted to do a return edge using a mini fashion iron? My wife has one she used to iron on patches and it just got me curious. Heres the link http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/mini-fashion-iron-468629/

Will get on that tonight. May also use the heat gun to barrel the chest just a hair and bring the sides in closer

I may go with the lens from trooperbay. I am going to attempt to install the lenses i bought here off FISD in the on going projects/sales forum. If i can make the to where they are removeable, and create some sort of fixture using another members idea with furniture repair dowels, then i should be good to go. I think I will be able to manage it, we will see! Also have a quick update, but no pictures as I was back and forth between working on armor and tending to my sick 5 year old. I trimmed about 1.25" from both the bottom of the kidney, and the bottom of the back plate to get rid of a 3" overlap of the back plate over the kidney. Now that that is all squared away, and just a very slight overlap, my kidney plate and my ab plate do not align. My question is, to get these two to align again, shall I A.) trim the edges of the COD to get things even once again B.) split the COD from the ab plate completely, trim off the 1.25" difference from the top of JUST the COD(much like what Pandatrooper did in his AM build). THEN shim the ab plate back to the COD internally, therefore virtually recreating a shortened one piece AB/cod.(i just don't like how the COD would move with my groin if i kept it split). I could use ABS paste to fill in any seam NOT covered by the belt, and I do have 2 of the Novus polish kits in hand I am trying my best to avoid buying a heat sealing iron, but if i absolutely have to then i will have to pay the piper.

Looks awesome! My next suit will be sandy hopefully. The more i see them, the more I want to do it lol. Awesome weathering!

Agreed with Ron. Thumb print goes on your left arm. Build looks great so far!

You could use small bits of foam to keep your shins from going up your, umm, COD lol! Shoulder bells , you can make a hook out of ABS on that keeps them on your biceps. I have yet to troop, as i am still building, but thats pretty much what i got out of my research

On another note, I am still trying to figure out how exactly to mount the lenses supplied with my kit. It was too flimsy for trooperbays method, and I am doubling up the film as it was too transparent with just one. Perhaps i will use some double sided tape, or I may even use the lens I purchased on the forums using the furniture repair dowel method(i have PLENTY of those handy) so I can also swap out lenses AND pads between helmets. We will see!

I glued it how it came. May end up trimming a hair after its dry, just wanted to get it on there first before moving forward with it. I used E6k for it so in the event that I do need to alter it I can do so easily. Another member of my squad recommended putting a small bit of foam behind the sniper knee to help it from getting stuck under the bottom of my thigh. I may end up going that route eventually, but wanted to see exactly how the armor would come together before doing that as well. The photo you posted shows a suggested trim line, but i do not think something that small will be the cause to reject basic approval or EIB, as it is a small difference. Correct me if I am wrong FISD, I want to hear any criticism if there is any. Constructive please, if you don't mind

Trimmed the kidney and ab plate to fit. Its as tight as it can go without being uncomfortable. Also gives me just enough room if i were to be a little full

Well, here it is! Picture time!!! Here I have the sides of my sniper knee being glued to my left shin using the oh so wonderful and patient E6000. Got my wife to help me do some more test fitting of my main body components. I have marked where I think I should trim with a black china marker. The measurement on the backplate trim is 3". That basically will take off all the material right up to the O II plate. I am NOW thinking that i should split that 3" into two trims. 1.5" off the bottom of the back plate, and 1.5" off the bottom of the kidney plate, giving me a total of 3" between the two, and thus making my back look more evened out(as opposed to being lopsided by only trimming the back plate). What say you FISD?

Measured up the thigh belt. It is roughly 6-7 MM from the edge to the boxes. Trimming that small of a difference to give it the 3-5 MM, in my eyes, will be tough. I don't think I will, personally, mess with it, as that small of a difference isn't very noticeable. These measurements were taken using my 6" digital calipers, on a side note(its the machinist in me! I can't escape my work routines!). I am holding off on installing my thigh belt for the time being, as I simply want to get the main body components done before doing that. Well that, and it scares the Jedi out of me!

Congrats! Hoping to join the ranks soon as well!

I did not. I will take some measurements with my calipers tonight to see what theyre at out of the box. I did out the radius on the ends, but am now thinking i need to shorten the thigh belt a bit

Life will have its way sometimes thats for sure! I too have been trying to keep up with everyones builds. Its pretty much a FISD armor party at this point lol

Any updates Mike?

They worked awesome! And you can take them apart fairly easily. Took a while to find the "sweet spot" for the pads, I even ended up with one extra pad that won't be needed. I tried to instal it a couple of different ways, just found that my head doesn't like that one lol. Never hurts to have extras of anything though! They are a pretty thick pieces of memory foam, so thats what made it a little tricky as far as placement. I tried messing around with the fitting of the thigh ammo pack, but am again hesitant on trimming it at all. If i do trim it, perhaps ill trim the piece that gets riveted to the inside of the leg. We will see. My hands are fried from work today, and my body is just simply exhausted at this point so that will be it for tonight. I did trim the sides of the shoulder straps, definitely did not help my hands what so ever, but i think I got them where i want them. More pics tomorrow, maybe if I buy my wife something nice she will be more inclined to not have guests over and help me mark my trim lines on my body components I cannot wait to be apart of the 501st family. Everyone I have met within my garrison and right here on FISD have been overwhelmingly helpful and friendly, it really does feel like one big family. Seeing peoples faces light up when confronted with the joy of Star Wars is truly an amazing thing, I hope to help spread that joy however I can. On a side note, Steve, my son just got his Captain Rex costume in today and I have completed painting his clone blaster(as the rex pistols are a hard find locally). Heres his blaster drying 2 days ago. I opted to not add a protective coat yet, that way he can naturally weather it until a couple of weeks before halloween.

Was only able to glue the middle of the sniper plate tonight, got my MICH pads installed in my bucket last night. Might have to trim my thigh ammo belt a little, maybe about an inch or two. Had some unexpected company show up so just wanted to share my helmet pic for now.