MoSc0ut

If you haven't got around to them here's how I did mine. They turned out pretty great (I think so any way!)In the first pic you can see the decals that came with my kit from Walt. First I cut some strips of my painters tape all narrow like. Then I taped the decal where I would have applied them. Then I made some dots on the painters tape either side where the stripes were. Removed the decal. Then I free handed a little curve with my liner brush all the way down. I let it dry for 45-60 min then pulled away the tape. I used Humbrol French Blue. Humbrol has a kind of rubber like consistency when it's setting up and not fully dry. If you pull it away too soon it gets all stringy and causes a bit of a mess. I had very minimal clean up and only in the spots where I tried to lightly score the paint with my xacto before pulling the tape(only did that on the side that's pictured here, the other side needed no clean up at all.

I agree whole heartily. Albin Johnson started the 501st not only because he was an enthusiast but because he knows there is more we can do for our communities and the costume is the vehicle that is used to connect with people. I totally get wanting to be accurate and that everyone has their preference. I for example drive a tiny Fiat 500 and people laugh and joke about it, I did too before I drove one, then I loved it. I personally like ANH troopers but I'm not going to bash anyone because they like any other type. As I said before I also like the Rebels TK and they refuse to make a CRL for it. Once I finish my ANH Stunt I'm building one! Why? Because I'll be able to connect with kids who's first exposure to SW may have been Rebels. I'm a Wish Granter for Make-A-Wish and the parent of a Wish Hero. After 23 years in the Army and 4 deployments I have seen enough ugliness in the world. It doesn't belong here. Please remember why this club was started. Respect and appreciate everyone's opinions and take the enthusiasm you have for SW and share it in a positive way. "Bad guys doing good!"

And here is the "Jim M." Helmet all together. Bonus! My boots from Imperial Boots showed up today too!! Jim

The next part might get me into trouble. [emoji15] As I mentioned before I have this pep bucket I am working on for my son's Star Wars themed room. As I am trying save $ on that I made a cast of the Hovi tips that Walt sent me. With some extra silicone casting material I had from my E-11 pipe build. (more to come on that!) Sorry Walt! I don't think I'll ever end up with a real set to cast and I will not be selling these, please don't ask. Here is how they turned out after paint and screen bits installed. (Walt's tip's on the right) Here they are installed. Jim

Next it was onto the lenses. I decided I wanted to be able to take them out easily if the they get scratched up. So here is what I did. I found these little guys at Lowe's, a big box hardware store kinda like Home Depot but less warehouse like, for those that don't have these near you. I think these cost$.14 each so much cheaper than the hockey helmet screws I almost bought. Then I made up some little "brackets" out of ABS scrap so the threaded end pokes up through it the thickness of the lens material. I made another bracket that I could slide the top of the lens under, by stacking 7 layers of my scrap ABS together and CA gluing them together. Glued them in their respective places. Then drilled holes in the tabs on the lenses and fitted and screwed them into place. Lenses done. Edit: Made the lenses by making a template out of card stock then traced them onto the strip of lens material provided with Walt's kit. Managed to fit 4 so I have some backups. Jim

Next I finished up my stripes on the cheeks and traps. Free hand of course. Almost forgot to add the ear pics. (I forgot to take pictures as I was going last night, so these were after I got it together today. Those pics below.) Jim

Here is what I was up to until way too late last night. I really appreciate that Walt includes everything to assemble your ANH helmet including tube stripe decals. I however want the full experience and wanted to paint my own. So I placed the decals between two pieces of blue tape, mind you, it is still on the backing paper and held in place with some tiny strips of painters tape. I then made a dot either side of the stripe, removed the decal, and played connect the dots with my liner brush and some Humbrol French Blue (with a little curve action going on). I'd call that a result! Jim

Thanks! It was sand a bit, test, sand a bit, test......1 1/2 hours later.... I'm loving the fact that it isn't perfect or symmetrical. It really feels like I own a set of screen used armor. Now getting it to that point....

Something I will keep in mind once I actually attach everything. Parts are still being fitted.....I like the idea of elastic vs. nylon straps as it will have more give and put less stress on the brackets where they are mounted to the ABS. That's a potential weak point. As this is my first build only experience with similar materials on other projects tells me this! I really like the sharing going on here, it's like a slow motion, world wide, armor party! [emoji51]

This is what I mean by the brackets. The elastic is supposed to all be the same length. On the front (right side of this image) if the tall and short brackets are installed backwards it will push your chest up as the elastic will be under tension. The tall brackets should be on the chest piece and the short ones should be on the ab/cod. That way when they over lap, as they should, the elastic isn't under tension, unless you bend/turn as it's designed to do. *Photo is not mine. I believe it's from the MR Nostripes installation directions online. (So I assume you already have this.)

Hard to tell from the pictures. Are you using the traditional strapping? If so do you have the long ones and short ones mixed up possibly? This could push that chest plate up by as much as 2". Sorry if I'm repeating any info. I'm in the process of getting mine situated and when I laid it all out and set stuff where it was going to go I had them flipped at first. It didn't look right so I went back to the Trooper Bay video on you tube and sure enough I had them backwards! Thankfully I hadn't tightened anything.

Couldn't he also shorten the ab plate by removing from the top, create a new return edge and attach the brackets, thus lowering the chest? TK1636 mentioned doing this for shorter people to make it fit correctly. The screen used suits fit an average height of 5'9" - 5'10" if the ANOVOS set is sized similar and he is shorter than that it may explain the problem. Jim

Screws and rivets ready to go, outlines, & some prep with a pencil for the stripes......then Fear the Walking Dead came on and progress stopped! More tonight while the ladies are catching up on their shows. [emoji51] Jim

Time for paint. I found a local supplier for Humbrol paints, totally by accident. I was heading there to pick up the Testors equivalent, because online the Humbrol prices were outrageous, and right next to the Testors rack was a HUGE rack of Humbrol paints, yay! Only $3.10 each and they had all the right colors! For those that are interested, PM me and I'll run down and buy some for you and ship it, just PayPal me the $. I found it easier to hold onto the individual pieces vs trying to maneuver an entire bucket while painting. I started with a lite pencil outline of the areas to be painted. On this cap/back the details are a little soft and I wanted to get it right. To make it a "stay within the lines" thing made it much easier. I got the base colors down and most of the black edges and vocoder painted, but forgot to talk picture. I also painted all the screws and rivet heads while I had the paint out and dirty brushes. I'll finish the edges, details and tube stripes tonight and post some more pictures. I am loving this so far and I can't wait to get back from work and do more! Jim

Thoughts so far?? Don't think I'm going to need that second set! But I may need to move that right ear forward just a bit for a cleaner look with the trimming of the cap. However the Dave M helmet has this same thing going on but on the other side. I think I may keep it and refer to this as the "Jim M" helmet......as that is my name....after all.....[emoji12] (Yep, that's my dogs butt in the background!) Jim

Now for the "fun" part. The ears. Luckily Walt supplies you with two sets! Hopefully I won't need the second one on this and I can put the second set on the pep helmet I am making for my son's Star Wars themed room. Rough trimming. Sanding/fitting Keep in mind this is just the test fitting some minor hand sanding and clean up to come and the screws will be counter sunk a bit more. I used the Dave M helmet on Star Wars helmets as a reference when fitting these as those are some pretty good shots of an original screen used ANH Stunt helmet. fixed formatting 5/22/16 Jim

The bucket was calling to me. Time to put some work into that! Using TK 1636's and the Trooper Bay videos (along with UKswrath and Russell2D2's awesome build threads!) I started trimming. *Fixed the formatting 5/22/16 Jim

Next I trimmed the forearms. I'm shooting for Centurion Approval, why not, right? I have acquired all the parts for that anyway as I don't want to have to redo anything when going for it. <fingers crossed> [emoji6] Made my first goof already, didn't leave any return edge on the back of the forearms. Luckily that will be an easy fix with a little help from the iron once I get to the assembly and fitting. Jim

Now it's time to figure out what goes where. I had to spend some time doing research as the WTF kit is a bit of a mix of armor. From what I understand there is possibly Gino & CFO as well as some pieces he/his team has made as bucks have worn out. Nothing is labeled so this part took me a bit but I finally got it all labeled with some tape and put it back in the box for now. Jim

Firsts things first. Inventory. I think it's all here...... The things not included with Walt's armor kits are Boots, undersuit, belt, holster and all the fasteners to hold it together. You'll need to find your split rivets, double cap rivets, brackets or straps, Velcro, webbing, snaps, and elastic elsewhere. Here is who I used for the rivet set and will soon order my latex hand guards from too: Rivets: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/34902-centurion-level-rivet-sets-for-sale/ Hand Guards: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35702-latex-hand-guards-for-centurion-level-anh/ Link to "Supply List": http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31404-supply-list-for-your-tk-build/ Everything is included for the helmet, even "handpainted" ANH tube stripes, but sorry no trap or cheek decals. The screws that are included will get work for basic approval but you'll need to replace them if you're wanting to shoot for EIB or Centurion. Jim

It's here! My BBB showed up at last! 4 weeks to the day, Walt and Crew have this down to a science. *individual results may vary Jim

Could be. Just got excited that with all these "veteran troopers" commenting and pointing out all the differences that a relatively new guy, like me, may have caught something they might have missed. [emoji12] I for one am not at all complaining or picking anything apart. As mentioned everything we see in R1 (or RO, whichever) is now canon and screen accurate. If you don't like it, don't make one. But if someone prefers the look of it, then let them have their opinion and help them make it as accurate as possible. Just like the Rebels trooper, yes it's WAY different than the screen troopers, but it is officially part of the Star Wars story now. I personally think it's kind of cool and once I have my ANH stunt together, and approved, l may think of putting one together. As a Wish Granter for Make-A-Wish, I think a lot of kids would get a kick out of it! After all we have other "cartoon troopers" with their own CRL's why not the Rebels TK (oh yes I did!) and the R1/RO TK? I like that this is a place where we can all discuss our opinions, from around the WORLD!! Some of us have a great Eye for detail and amazing sculpting, electronics and vacuum-forming skills but no one persons opinion matters more than another, it's all subjective. We are all brothers and sisters with a common interest and a passion for helping each other and our communities. Let's remember that and keep these conversations lite and fun! <end of rant> [emoji6]

I can't believe that, even though the TD was mentioned, no one said anything about the sniper knee being a TK sniper knee! Of course that assumes the ones with pauldrons are TD's. ----------- Jim M.

How many sets of armor did they use is ESB? What did those suits look like on day 1 of filming vs. 7 months later when it wrapped? Also most films aren't shot chronologically so what part of the movie that your doing screen grabs could have been filmed at any point during filming. Basically all of March 1979 they filmed in Norway, so no TK's there but April through September at Elstree unless you have copies of the dailies you won't know what's going on here. I understand wanting to be completely accurate but the production would have thought of the TK's as barely above a "featured extra" while filming and therefore there armor would have barely received any more attention other than "are all the pieces there?" And so while filming the first scene they may have been all sewn but by the time it wrapped I'm sure they were pretty tatty. At this point it's splitting hairs. I'm not trying to upset anyone but two pages of hand plate discussion seems a bit much. The point of the 501st is to strive to be accurate to the films, but more importantly it doing good in our communities. Only you will care if there are 3 1/2 out of 5 sewn and I can truly appreciate that. But that kids who sees you walk into the cancer ward or birthday party just sees the most amazing thing they have ever seen and it's not the stitches on your hand plates. Sorry for the rant as I see it your kit is amazing and I only hope that mine is 1/2 as good once it's done. Cheers! Jim

My TK set should be here any time. Customer service was excellent!! This is the post over on the Nordic garrison that convinced me to go this route. <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nordicgarrison.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147348&sid=552a43fbcf5ec94684b7548b48a9bbbe'>http://www.nordicgarrison.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147348&sid=552a43fbcf5ec94684b7548b48a9bbbe</a><br><br> AND several other post on FISD. (The 4-6 week order to delivery time was also a huge tipping point!)