Red_2

Hey! Finally got a set of fine sandpaper to continue the trim work on the tops of the inner thighs. Here's the pics of the initial cut after marking, next is to heat iron modify a la Pandatrooper. Sloooooowwww going.

Thanks Tusken! I noticed that when I was first brain storming it. I'll do the same as you guys have done. And thanks for the reminder Germain, I sometimes feel guilty seeing the suit sit there idle for lengths of time, but you're right, steady as she goes! Thanks, Gaz!

Still here! Slow going due to the holidays and being sick. Did get to adjust the belt, and make the cuts on the legs but stopped there. Pics up tomorrow. Peace!

Thanks Germain! Actually just saw Ron's post a page back mentioning the same thing. Duh!

Cooool! Interesting how the concept armor looks very similar to Ep. VII's new troopers.

So Germain mentioned trimming more of the return edge on the knee plate. Like this?

Thanks for kind words, Germain! Adjusting the belt shouldn't be an issue. I'll make sure to do that. Return edge on the knee plate?! I need to check that out. Also it's only temporarily secured so when I re-secure it I can trim it as necessary. Appreciate the feedback! It's super helpful.

So on to trimming the inner tops of the thighs. Just where they rub against the cod. As they sit now the cod is forcing the thighs to rotate outwards so not only will it help the rubbing but also the overall fit. Here's a test shot from the Halloween week. Sorry for the dark pic. Camera phone in no light. But you get the idea of where I need to adjust. Here's the initial trim line. I'll go little by little as always. Recreating the return edge is still something I'm iffy on but practice on some scrap has been going okay.

Riveted the knee armor in tonight. Marked and drilled the rivet hole on each side. Split rivet through (got these from Trooperbay) and I use several pieces of masking tape to pad the rivet. Minimizes scratches when you're hammering. Here's the knee armor and rivet set and the washer in place on one side. Since the thigh opening at the knee is small, I had to hit the rivet at an angle. Basically I was able to spread the rivet far enough to hold the rivet, I'll need to get a little creative to get the flare to sit fully against the washer. But for now it'll hold fine. After a few whacks ... Final look after setting both sides. Just need to paint. Aah. Missing the behind pic. I'll upload tomorrow. Sorry. (edit: here you go!) Tools used. Next up is reshaping the thighs. I'm needing to trim down a bit at the top where they touch the cod. That should be fun.

Took a little mini break from the suit the past couple weeks. But now that Halloween is long gone I can go at a slower pace. Trimmed the knee ammo and filled in the previous rivet holes. Still have to smooth it out a bit, looks like there's still some bubbling here. Actually had to do this a couple times because the first time I filled it the ABS paste was darkened by the pencil mark I had used to place the rivets the first time. TIP: make sure pencil marks are cleaned off before adding ABS paste. You're welcome. Just got this in the mail yesterday! More stuff to make. Thanks, Dday! Mine and the little guy's. Need to finish up some details on the little one.

No raised ridges on this version, Gaz, we covered that earlier. So we went on the ovalish and rounder shapes to differentiate. I'm wearing the rounder one on the left arm currently.

Sanding here, adjusting there. Back to getting it Centurion ready. Here's my plan on the knee ammo. Drill out pop rivets, fill in holes with abs paste. Trim back knee ammo to pencil line. Then re-install with cap rivets at the corners. Any objections? Speak now. Finally got my clips in Evilboy. Is this how we're setting it up? Looked weird to me. Didn't realize it was facing upwards so much. But from what I see people are doing that looks like the norm. Looks like I need to shorten this thing a tad.

Hmmmm ... I think I may have plenty of room to back the ends in a bit. Thanks, for the feedback Germain. I'll put it on the backburner for now. I'm going back and starting the sanding and re-trim process for the parts that were definitely noticeable on my first outing. Started with the return edges on the top of the right shin. Gonna go to the thighs after the shins.

Great job so far. Looking great!

Oh! Here's some shots of mine, Germain. The back of my thigh is angled more due to all the material cut away. Any suggestions on how to correct it? I was going to shorten the ends and leave the current mounting points as is.

Thanks, Germain! Yeah, because I should have trimmed it down. They extend way too far back as they sit now. Once I shorten the ends the rivet spot should be normal. I can almost wrap the whole knee belt around my knee.

Thanks Carl! Was exciting to finally get it on a walk about with it.

Happy Halloween! Literally, was putting it together minutes before walking out the door. Lots of stuff to obviously go back and work on, but was able to get it 92% done to walk out the door. And it was a great test fit. - holster missing - detonator clips didn't make it in time so I just heat bent some abs to clip it on temporarily - need to trim the return edge a bit on the shins at the knee, some pinching there. - knee ammo need to be shortened a bit. It hits the top of the shin. - I think the inner tops of the thighs need to be trimmed a tad, 1/4" to 3/8" may be enough. - need to trim return edge on the butt a bit. - need to angle the corners on the belt. Also may need to trim a tad bit more off the top and bottom edges. - reinforce the knee plate. - the boots pop out if I angle my foot too far. Was fine during normal walking but a high curb or if I flinched at a pinch it pops out. I actually made stirrups but they ended up being too loose. I'll try tightening them. And on and on ... but. it felt awesome to walk around in. The neighbors loved it. And they loved my mini-trooper walking with me.

Thanks Ron! That helps. Once again my skinny-ness makes the shin thinner than the knee plate so I suspect that's why mine doesn't fit as well. My plan is to get it on there securely and flush along the bottom edge and then trim if necessary from the top. I'm just getting her sorted enough to wear around on Friday, then I can go back to the small details for approval once Halloween is over.

Little help. the knee plate looks like it only meets up flush at the center where it touches the cover strip and along the right side. It barely touches on the left. Do I just glue where it will be most secure, or is there a way to get it to sit more flush. By the looks of some of the other NE builds it doesn't necessarily have to. I'm gonna just glue the strong points and tape that ish down tight along the spikes/studs.

Things left to do ... - install helmet liner and chin strap - pad forearms a little - glue hand guards to gloves, need to be trimmed to size - curve belt, attach and install drop boxes and holster - trim and attach battery pack/knee ammo - attach clips to detonator - trim rear thighs, attach rear cover strips - 90% done - attach thighs to waist harness - add closure elastic and hooks to shins - 50% done - glue knee plate - paint boots Three nights left to get to Halloween ready ... I'm taking pics but may forego posting progress till the weekend when I've got it done, due to time constraints.

I'll take a pic of the return edge. I'm undecided, but leaning towards doing it.

Oh yeah, Germain, it's all webbing except for the cod strap (Mr. No Stripes kit). There's only a 2.5 inch gap there and I will bend it forward a bit on the butt. I don't mind the screws showing so It would show similar to that on the back plate. My kidney has plenty of return edge. Actually, it would be slightly angled outwards. Think I should go for it?

Some progress made ... Velcro at the shoulders on the chest, and on the inside of the shoulder bells for now. Once I get the positioning right, I'll permanently glue them down. But thankfully I don't need tape anymore. I'll do the left side rivets tonight, and try the thighs on again. No strapping brackets on the back plate cause I cut the return edge down to small by accident. Yay.

I think my solution to the right side alignment will be a wide inner shim with velcro to secure it closed. The left side lines up almost perfect, so I'll seal up that side with the split rivets and strapping. Front looks good so far. 2mm overlap in this pic due to misalignment I was talking about.