Rystan

Thank you, Paul, Eric and Mathias (& of course Bill)! Yay for lots more reading material. Your tireless efforts to bestow this information on the masses is greatly appreciated. Mathias, as a "computer guy", I should have thought to backtrack one of the images to the source.

Looking back at the CRL for ANH Stunt it says re: the frown: Frown is painted gray and does not leave the teeth area. Eight total teeth on the frown are cut out. Sounds like the teeth are the removed portion, so 8 holes is the accepted answer?

Dumb question time: Just so I understand, when we're talking "teeth" is that the white ridge part that remains (because, you know, teeth are white) or are we saying the indented part that is cut out/removed is the teeth part to be counted? Cause if the teeth are the ridges (and ignoring the center tooth/ridge), that would mean 10 holes. But if the teeth are the removed parts it would mean 8 holes. Either way, seems to be a pretty common debate (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/12379-4-or-5-teeth-cutout-for-stunt-helmet/)

Thanks Vern. I've spent months researching and thought I was ready to go when the armor arrived. Turns out I still had/have a lot to learn. My build thread is likely going to be a long read filled with detailed questions and lots of photos. I fear being too pedantic and/or giving away too much of the secret sauce, but at the end of the day, I want my armor to turn out to the best of my abilities. Turns out reading and asking questions is in my wheelhouse. Let's just hope cutting ABS is in there somewhere too.

Now that the mystery of the outer forearms is solved. On to the inner forearms. Alignment instructions by gazmosis found here (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/25041-inquiry-on-forearm-bicep-matchup-ne-armor/#entry315007) say to line up the forearm halves at the end closest to the elbow. So basically it's either curvy inside on the left or curvy inside on the right. Curvy inside on the right results in: Right/12 dimple forearm with curvy inner: Which pairs with straight inner on left/11 dimple forearm: Everything lines up at the elbow end and is passably close (granted everything is pre-trimming for circumference) at the wrist end. Curvy inside on the left results in: Left/11 dimple outer: Right/12 dimple outer with straight inner: Neither the left or the right match up at the elbow or near the wrist. Seems to me curvy on the right/12 dimple side is the "better" option. Now the question that remains: Is that a problem? Based on this thread (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/2902-forearms/) discussing pinching at the forearm/elbow and an inability to reach your own head when wearing the arms, troopermaster suggests deepening the curve on the inside halves to alleviate the problem. So it sounds like curved on both sides is allowed/acceptable. Based on these three screen grabs, it seems I'm correct: Am I being too pedantic/perfectionist? (probably but that's ok, says me)

It doesn't help that if you look at the forearms in the FISD "arms tutorial" (http://www.whitearmor.net/fisd/Tutorial-arms) both the left and the right forearms have have 11 dimples in every picture. Now it says those are ROTJ/TE2 arms so maybe they cleared up the 11 vs. 12 issue in ROTJ instead of ANH? Screen grabs from ANH references on FISD: Left Arm = 11 dimples Right arm = 12 dimples Thanks again, Tim

It took me almost 13 years to finally get my black belt, so I understand the need to earn your stripes. But, all over the place, accuracy is the stressed goal for our costumes, and while it has become a cheaper/easier to go from newb to trooper, it's a shame to see people have to risk costly mistakes for the sake of repeating everything those who came before us already dealt with. There are always going to be people who take the easy/cheap way out. Time honored and experienced veterans like the ones who already fill this forum aren't really threatened by the impatient ones. Either way, I'll keep researching and measuring twice before I cut.

Congrats Tim! My younger son's name is Luke too.

Keep in mind I'm as new as you are. So don't take my word for it alone.

In my photo the one on the left is the one with twelve. So either my whole theory is wrong, or I've got the inner forearms identified and the outer pieces are reversed. Thanks for the reminder that I need to constantly refer back to the screen reference photos.

I've seen a bunch of his excellent individual reference guides around the forums here, but is there a repository of them all compiled into one place? Every time I see one of them posted somewhere, it answers all the questions...many I didn't even know I had. I've been looking to find one, but even Google can't help (querying "site:whitearmor.net") And if not a compilation, does Bill have one for the pesky return edge questions? Many thanks!

For posting pictures from photobucket, I've been following the guide posted by dashrazor (Mason) found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/10747-howto-post-images-on-forums-tutorial/ Basically you want to copy the "Direct Link" from the Photobucket page for your image, and then you want to paste that in the dialog that pops up when you click the "image button" in the editor (11th from the left on the bottom row). Found out the hard way though, if you move the image into a folder on the photobucket side it will no longer show in the post where you use it, so make sure that the photo is organized how you want it before copying the direct link. Hope this helps.

Hi Ryan, The way I read the FISD arm tutorial: (http://www.whitearmor.net/fisd/Tutorial-arms), the left arm should be the curvy one and the right should be the straighter one. My assumption is that the curvy/straight is referring to the circled parts below. I have posed the same question/assertion in my build thread just now and am hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself can confirm.

Up next, confirmation of the forearms: Based on arm's tutorial found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/fisd/Tutorial-arms The curvy shaped side is the left and the straight shaped side is the right. My assumption is that the curvy/shaped comments refer to the inner pieces upper "lip". Which would make the left pieces above, the left side, and same on the right. Using this logic to figure out the inner forearm pieces, and matched the outer pieces which seemed to match best to the inner parts, as seen below: Left: Right: The forearms, again according to TG, have been completely redesigned with the new 2.0, and definitely line up better than previous AM and NE molds, as seen here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/25041-inquiry-on-forearm-bicep-matchup-ne-armor/ Have I correctly identified the left/right forearms? (Right has 12 dimples, left has 11, thanks Tim)

Okay, I found what you were talking about Rick, and you're talking on the photobucket side. I was hoping to avoid resizing the original images. I was more curious if there was a way to adjust the display size on FISD without modifying the originals. Still couldn't find that ability. Oh well. On the build front: I'm working on making sure I have identified what all the parts are and where they go. The first area where I'm running into trouble is with the shins. (It's AM armor and that seems to be a common issue in previous build threads.) According to TG (Here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26954-fs-am-armor-master-kits-are-back/) "Calves have been belled out / widened at the ankle to fix an issue with previous AM version". I've found RogueTrooper's guide to AM shins (Here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16608-am-armor-shins-the-proper-way-to-assemble-and-wear/) and according to that, which might now be out of date due to the recent mold changes, there's supposed to be an A and a B shin part. And from the below picture it's pretty easy to tell the two apart. Now the problem I have though, is when I taped them together, my untrained eye can't tell the difference between the two in order to identify which is the left leg and which is the right leg. In fact, especially from the back view, they both look identical. Now, it wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of having two left feet, but it almost looks to me like I got two copies of the same leg shin/calf armor? What am I missing? On the further saga of identifying pieces: I know with the armor you receive many variants for different style armors (knee plates, hand guards, shoulder straps, etc), but I'm having trouble identifying these pieces: Since I've really only been studying the pieces for the ANH Stunt armor, it might just be that it's for another variant. Abdomen buttons? Rivet covers for belts? Anyone? Thanks, - Mike

Thanks Tim. Glad to know my armor wasn't the only one that took a mini-detour. Thanks Rick. I'll give that a try in a couple minutes.

After spending all yesterday and this morning refreshing the UPS website and fuming over the fact that my armor was shipped from CA to Buffalo in NY by way of Syracuse. [since it was shipped UPS ground, this means the brown box drove through Buffalo to get to Syracuse (about 2 hours east of here) only to turn around and get driven back west to be delivered.] Regardless, it was promised to be here today, and indeed it arrived today, so no harm no foul. Obligatory brown box photo: When it arrived, my wife asked: "More nerd stuff?" Yup! And that was that. [i've been keeping the project under tight wraps until this box arrived.] Since many good build projects around here seem to have a furry helper/assistant, I've recruited Gwen the Pembroke Welsh Corgi into service for the Empire. She's agreed to be conscripted in exchange for lots of treats and belly rubs. Step 1: Open box. Poof. Instant Christmas in July. Everything arrived very well packaged and protected during shipping. Excellent job MightyTank (and crew?). As I carefully unwrapped everything, I kept thinking to myself: Holy cow, it's finally here. And also: This stuff is so big! But seeing as I've been staring at small pictures of white armor for 6 months, it's supposed to be bigger in real life and in my hands. At 6'2", I'm definitely on the tall side for a Stormtrooper, but length-wise, everything I held up to one of my limbs seemed to be almost exactly the length I would need it to be. While I'm tall, I'm also on the skinny side with very lean thin limbs, so while the length is perfect, most of the arm and leg pieces will likely need to be trimmed quite a bit for circumference, I think. The ABS is a lot thicker than I was imagining too, I can't fathom the horror stories I've read about the armor being thin enough to see through. Absolutely no way that'll happen. Standard autopsy layout photos: The box contained so much good stuff, I couldn't fit it all in one photo when laid out flat on the guest bed. Not surprisingly, I am slightly overwhelmed with the number of parts all assembled in one place. But as they say: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Non-armor pieces/accessories/assembly tools shot: The fruits of my labor while waiting for the armor to ship/arrive. Now hopefully, instead of having to make 65536 trips to stores (Joann's, Home Depot, Walmart) while building, I'll be able to cut that number down to probably more like 5. Neck seal and holster (not pictured) were made by Darman/his wife. I highly recommend his/her work, the quality is excellent and price is definitely reasonable. I never received a reply to my inquiry to TKBoots so I finally settled on the Bass Amsterdams with Angelus Leather paint. Hopefully I don't screw that up. And yes, that is a sewing machine. I plan to join the ranks of seamstress TK's, and rather than purchase a canvas belt, I'm opting to make my own using a tutorial found on this site. First question and then I'm done for the night: Is there a way to reduce the display size of the photos in posts when coming over from PhotoBucket short of resizing the original images? (apparently not without resizing the originals, thanks Rick) Thanks for reading this far. More to come soon. - Mike out

Looking good, Derrek! Can't wait for mine to arrive. (I can, but you know what I mean.)

Yes I ordered the helmet too. Can always buy a different one if it's as bad as some people claim. I think I'm going to save the helmet until I'm through the scared to cut stage. My thought is to start with the torso sections and work out from there. So much of the fit for the arms and legs seem to rely on their relation to the torso.

Absolutely! It just sometimes helps to know others are in the same boat. Too much knowledge and experience here to ignore it all. I'm sure seeing you guys moving on progress is going to keep me motivated to cross the finish line...in TK armor, of course.

Mine is supposed to arrive on Thursday. I plan on having a build thread too. I like your idea PGHtoolman.

Ohhh....yes, I see what you're saying now. That's exactly what happened. My mistake. And my apologies to Brenton. The black on white on black played tricks on my newbie eyes.

This is mainly for my own curiosity, as I'm no expert and haven't even started my armor yet, but shouldn't the shoulder bell strap around the arm be black instead of white too? It stand out a little from the back shots. Great build though!

Not to hijack the thread, but what about these as options? ------------