mjrose927

How would you fold it? I tried using a heat gun to adjust one of my forearms and nearly ruined it because i couldn't get the heat to distribute evenly...... Oh, wait I forgot I borrowed a sealing iron from a friend. I could do that. Or I also had the idea of using scrap ABS and crate a block at top and bottom of inside of drop box and just glue a flat plat across the backside. Anyone else have ideas or opinions?

Ok. Here is next question. My FX kit only comes with the front dropbox. There are no backs. Anyone else there have this issue and what did you do? I might have some ABS to make backs, but would be open to suggestions on how to do it. I would also take any links on this site or youtube to use these. ---------- Thanks, Michael

How much overlap is there usually on TK Belt for securing it? Asking for a friend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't doubt that or he would not have so much product out there and people raving about the belts. I am trying to confirm that he has gotten my order and there is no issue to get my belt. I have tried several means to reach out and have not heard back. I need to know if he has gotten my order or the charge I have is fraudulent. Michael

Ok! Last night I got my amazon order of Tandy snaps 24&20, my chicago screws, and Dickies belt to attach leg pieces. I am also SUPER THRILLED that my local hobby store sold the Humbrel paints and they had all required colors. Super stoked. Did I miss where the ANH frown color gray is specified. Does it use the same gray as the ab buttons? I got my ABS sheet from trooperbay and the color matches my FX kit really well. So, i can get cover strips on thighs and still have plenty for ab to kidney gap. Now I just need a trip to the fabric store to get my 2in webbing. Ill be back in the basement on Sunday going to town!!!..... expect more questions Sunday evening! Lol.

Yes, I did not pay attention to this when i placed the order because I got this as trusted supplier of group. I learned my lesson the hard way.

I ordered a belt from this website in the screenshot below. Shortly after I had 2 large fraudulent purchases on my card. I am not confident that I used the correct site or a cloned site to place my order. Could someone confirm if this is correct website? I am hoping that Imperial Issue/Kittel will see this and confirm. Or someone else can confirm I used correct site and not a cloned site? -------------

I am 5'8" about 185lbs. The FX kit only as a return edge on the breast plate and back plate. All other pieces have no return edges. Al Tong from Great Lakes Garrison was nice enough to spend part of his Sunday afternoon helping me fit things. He is the same height and all of my pieces align with his Anavos kit save the back plate. That is oversized. He recommended at this point to leave everything as is until I get it wearable and see how it fits when assembled on me. Then stated I could get help from some more of the local guys or submit for pre-approval to see if changes will be required. My ab, butt, and kidney plate lined up perfectly with Al's kit. I just don't have the return edges. someone suggested in a post on different thread that when separating the butt from kidney plate on FX armor, should cut 1/4-1/2" below the line in armor. When compared to Anavos kit, the line on mine lines up exactly the same place as the Anavos kit.

OK. New question that I need an answer to: When I had the opportunity to look at a thermal detonator up close this weekend from an Anavos kit it did not look like the one for my FX kit. I want to know if this is going to be an issue for getting approval or not. I don't want to waste time assembling something that will not work. If you look at the pictures below, the button on the pieces has a protruding nipple instead of an inverted one. Is this an issue??? If you scroll up to previous post above of the backside of the armor, you can see the difference.

Ok, I got the thighs figured out with a little help from Al in the Great Lakes Garrison gave up part of his Sunday afternoon to come by to give me hand with sizing torso and thighs. I placed orders amazon order for my line 24 & 20 snaps and buttons for ab plate. Now I am waiting for some ABS from trooperbay to do the last of my cover strips. I am hoping by the end of the month that I will have the body armor at some level of assembly that is wearable.

Ok. I’m back in basement today. Should have shin pieces assembled by end of weekend. I’ll add pics of progress later when log into computer. Posting from phone now. I definitely like the cover strip method over the FX over lap method. Cover strips only FX are Loki g good on my FX kit. I’m glad I took time to go this route. Thanks to trooperbay more abs is showing up By Tuesday so I can get thighs done with cover strips as well. I got a lead on belt I want. I just need to figure out fit for torso. I’m trying to find an extra set of hands and eyes to help.

Last night, I was gluing front cover strips to my shin/calves pieces, and was trying to size my thighs pieces. It is hard to do by oneself. would you recommend getting front glued together first before trying to size each thigh?

I am 5'8" and roughly 185lbs.

I hope it is ok to ask this question here. I am in my basement right now working on my TK build. I ordered some abs sheets some time ago to use as cover strips. Apparently, I ordered the wrong thickness. It looks like I got 2.5mm thick sheets. it is too thick to follow curve of armor. My kit looks like it is 1mm thick and what I have been using up to this point. Does anyone know a place i can order abs for cover strips quickly? Or know if what store or type of store may have it in stormtrooper white? I have an FX kit so I have been using the plastic belt that came with kit, thinking I had enough. Desperate to find solution. I have already cut calves to put together with cover strips instead of overlap method. Maybe I am not using best search method here, but having trouble finding any threads about this. Thanks, Michael

Thanks for this! I have it bookmarked. I am trying to work to EIB guidelines from start. But I will be happy just to meet my goal of wearable armor by May 17th.

I was planning to put return edge on my butt and ab plate after separating them. This may help with the back plate overlap. As you stated I won't worry about overlap at this point, but from the pictures in the links above, it does look like the FX back plate is a little long under the O II. These links were helpful. Thanks. I want to get torso fitted so I can order belt to get that started.

EDITED TO ADD ARMOR INFO: 1. First/last name: Michael R. 2. Future Garrison/Squad/Outpost or local area: Great Lakes Garrison 3. Armor maker: FX w/ TD from Trooperbay, TD clips (bent) from PandaTrooper 4. Helmet maker: AP 5. Cloth belt maker: Kittel 6. Neck seal maker: Geeky Pink's Phantastic Gaskets 7. Boot maker: Caboots 8. Interior strapping (optional): Me 9. Blaster maker (if applicable: N/A 10. Gasket maker (if applicable): N/A 11. Height (optional): 5'8" 12. weight (optional): 185lbs 13. TK type (ANH Stunt/Hero. ESB, ROTJ. TFA etc.): ANH - Stunt 14. Name(s) of any Trooper(s) who significantly helped with your build. - In person, Al Tong on multiple occasions - Facebook: James Anderton, Dave Araujo, David Ashcroft, Vern Beezer, Rebecca Beiderwell, Sha Sha Chu, Rat Ferrell, Jose G. Garcia Jr, Jeff Leone, Nicholas MacNeil, Teresa Nuthall, Dave Tinsley, Mike Souza, Tim Waychoff, - Forum: See below I haven't posted in a while, but since my last build thread I have moved into a new house and have setup a work shop. My new years resolution is to get my kit built before Motor City Comic Con in Detroit at end of May. My current goal is to get everything but bucket wearable. If I can get bucket done too, then all the better. Yes, this is an FX kit I bought back in 2003 and just had life REALLY get in the way. I am considering this my practice build for a better set down the road. I am currently building it with cover strips and as much EIB as I can. However, as stated my goal is wearable by comic con. Here is my latest status: I have forearms and calves done except for rear facing cover strips and they need reshaping with heat gun to align better. Biceps are done except they are oblong the wrong way. If search on same, you can find original post. I wasn't sure whether to do thighs or torso next. So, I picked torso. Here are my current questions for torso: I am ready to get my torso pieces fit and assembled. Here are some pictures of pieces on me. I am looking for the following:1. Is the top of the ab plate supposed to align to top of the kidney plate?2. I have seen some build videos where the back plate ends at the top of the kidney plate. Is this the case? If so, what do I need to do?3. Item 2 kind of plays into next question, that the kidney plate looks tall? Is it sitting at correct height? 4. Where should the top of the butt plate rest with respect to my body? the bottom of my back? where top of typical pair of pants sit? It looks like it slipped down a little during picture taking in a couple shots.5. Do i need to reshape the O II back plate? it seems to curve in at 45 degrees when it wraps around to front of body at bottom?6. I feel like the front breast plate is obtuse or flat. Should I shape it to be more form fitting? Or should I wait to do any shaping until after I have it together.

I am looking for help with my TK armor build. I found an old post from when I first started working, and started adding to it. However, I have not seen any responses. I am wondering if my post isn't seen because it is too old? Do i need to start new post or do I have old one hidden or not public. I want to get my armor wearable by Motor City Comic Con in Detroit at end of May. Thanks, Michael

I am ready to get my torso pieces fit and assembled. Here are some pictures of pieces on me. I am looking for the following: 1. Is the top of the ab plate supposed to align to top of the kidney plate? 2. I have seen some build videos where the back plate ends at the top of the kidney plate. Is this the case? If so, what do I need to do? 3. Item 2 kind of plays into next question, that the kidney plate looks tall? Is it sitting at correct height? 4. Where should the top of the butt plate rest with respect to my body? the bottom of my back? where top of typical pair of pants sit? It looks like it slipped down a little during picture taking in a couple shots. 5. Do i need to reshape the O II back plate? it seems to curve in at 45 degrees when it wraps around to front of body at bottom? 6. I feel like the front breast plate is obtuse or flat. Should I shape it to be more form fitting? Or should I wait to do any shaping until after I have it together.

Ok.... it has been a while. I am determined to have from the neck down completed to wear by Detroit Motor City Comic con May 17-19. I was chatting with a some members on the FISD facebook site, but it occurred to me I should come back to the forums.... So, here I am back again, but this time bound and determined. I know I can't submit with FX bucket, but I would at least like to be able to wear what I have done and get live feedback from the pros. Since my last post, I have started on my calves. I had to trim these down about 1/4in. To maintain the original armor shape at bottom, I used painting tape to make a template and move the whole edge up the leg and trim from there. Here are pics after I completed trimming. This gives me clearance between top of armor and bottom of knee cap. It may need to be trimmed some more, but I want to wear as is before cutting any more. I plan to use a 20mm cover strip on the front and a 25mm on the back. I understand that I do not need to use this method, but I want the practice for future suit upgrade.

It has been some time since I posted. Here are my initial completed biceps. This is what an FX armor kit looks like with butt joints The issue I have to fix at some point with a heat source of some kind is the shape of them. They are oblong in the wrong direction.

Ok. Slowly getting all the front joints glued together. I came to the realization yesterday that I do not have enough ABS sheets to put my armor together. The FX armor came with 4 4inX18in (approximately) sheets of 1/16th inch of ABS. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look or what to use to find same thickness and where at least one side is glossy like my armor? I just started looking online but I am not seeing sheet with the smooth glossy surfaces. I even went as far to try to contact the person that I got my FX from, but the email is dead. Suggestions? Advice? Please! Thanks, Michael

I am doing my best. I have given up on the idea of getting this done by Halloween. I am going to take my time to do it best way I can to make it look as good as I can. Below is picture of one of my becep pieces with the butt joint on the front. Issue I am having with both biceps is the shape. The oval shape is 90 degrees off. The short side of the bicep is front to back of my body instead of inside to outside of arm. I would like to reshape this to fit and look better. Has anyone else had this issue with FX or any other kit? I don't think it was because of any weird assembly I did. Any thoughts? I was trying to find links for heating parts to resahpe them. i am very nervous about this because I don't want to deform them, just reshape. Appreciate any input.

Well, last night I glued the front side of both biceps together. I will say to all newbies doing this for the first time, I highly recommend using E-6000. I had to re-glue them twice. The first time I mislabeled the halves. The second time I accidentally glued the left sides upside down. I will not make those mistakes again, but so highly recommend the E6000. Here are a couple pictures of them drying clamped together: I bought the 1/2" x 1/16" magnets because I got a good deal on 100 of them. I have already cracked 3 of them last night. They are more powerful than their durability. i will be looking at getting the 3/4" x 1/8" ones to use for leg armor.

On Sunday, I was cutting cover strips for my bicep pieces. Yes, I realize that FX is normally an overlap assembly. I want to use cover strips because it will give me about 1/4-1/2 inch more circumference so I can use the normal coverstrip width in the back or minimize how wide it has to be. The second reason is it give me more practice building the armor for the next set when I get more accurate set. My question is: What is best way to cut the coverstrips? I have some large pieces of ABS that came with my kit that were supposed to be used for the belt. For the first pair of coverstrips I cut, I scored the ABS with a carpet knife and then snapped the plastic. This gives me a nice straight edge. The draw back is that there is a slight raised lip where the plastic was scored and snapped on the opposite side. It was a pain but I was able to take some very fine sandpaper and buff off the lip. Is this normal? Is there a better method to cut the coverstrips? I know me if I attempt to use scissors, I don't think I will cut a nice straight line. Am I using the wrong tool to score? Is there a better method or tool to cut with? Thanks in advance.