68Brick

Welcome & you're off to a good start on your build. For your forearms, you can join them either way and trim off the excess. I'd encourage you to check out an AP Centurion application(s) for great photos of forearms. When you take your forearms off your arm (when you are wearing them), you should be able to stand the forearms up on their ends (on the wrist end) on a table... so that cut line should be roughly straight. The joint at the elbow can be (an most likely will be) on an angle. So... Lining up the wrist end means cutting at the elbow end with a little iron work to recreate the small return edge or Lining up the elbow end means cutting the wrist opening to be roughly straight I hope my descriptions make sense

Welcome. Piece by piece it will all come together!

Congrats Jon!

You’ve got some work ahead of you trooper. I’m going to say you’re 65% there. Sizing the ABS to your body and making the strapping fit your body are very important, and it looks like you may have missed those steps in a few areas. I’ll list a few areas of improvement. Please don’t take this as negative. It’s actually positive, as my comments, and those of others, are signs that we want you to look your best and represent the 501st as best as you can. You can and will get there. When in doubt, post a question with a pic if possible. And feel free to check out the reference gallery and Centurion Builds/Applications, as they will direct you to the best looking TK’s in the world. Now for the observations… Your biceps look to be oversized. Remove the coverstrip(s) and remove some circumference, and re-apply coverstrip. Your forearms look to be oversized. Remove the coverstrip(s) and remove some circumference, and re-apply coverstrip. Are your shoulder bells and your biceps strapped together? The bicep should rest under the shoulder bell. How are your shoulder bells attached to your shoulder straps? They shouldn’t be sitting that high. Your belt looks to be riding a little high; I’m guessing you don’t have snaps to your ab plate yet? The drop box elastics are a little too long. The drop boxes should align with the end of the ABS part of the belt, yours are a little too far towards center. Do you have any snaps/Velcro securing your kidney plate and ab plates? You need some more strapping between your kidney plate and butt plate. That will prevent the butt from popping out at the sides. A pic of your strapping system might help us diagnose some of the fitment issues. The rivets on your thigh ammo belt are too high, they should be on the “square” part of the thigh at the bottom. Check the length and straightness of all of your cover strips. Some extend too far, some are applied askew. A TK needs some room in the calf for muscle flex, but do you have too much? Also, the openings to the calfs should face inwards. Your right leg is correct, you left leg needs to have its coverstrip flipper to the other side of your calf. Deep Breath! Take your time. Have a look at a few builds and pics, and then address one thing at a time. We are all here for support.

Looking Good Trooper. Your belt needs to come up a little bit in the front. It should touch/overlap the button box slightly. And yes, check the reference material and Centurion Applications. Great pics available for reference & comparison.

Good Idea. You pick up great tips and meet great people at armor parties!

Keep the pics and questions coming! Great Progress Trooper!

Looking Good Cameron. The TD Clips are correct the way you have them (over both thickness of material & against your kidney plate)

That's a good looking test fit. Nice job on your bucket! Your shoulder bells can come in towards your shoulder straps (Centurion) a little bit. Let's see your next test fit pics.

Looks great Bill. Nice Painting! Do Both! If you've got the funds, order your electronics in. You can play with them and mount them in your completed bucket while your armor pieces are setting up when glued.

Looks like a good solution Christine. You are a return edge master!

BBB Day! Keep the posts coming Ben!

Looks Good Niccolo. A few things I see are... yes, lower your thighs a little bit (1cm). Also, lower your biceps a little too. Remove the return edge on your forearms at the wrist. And, replace the TD screws with pan heads and paint the screw heads black. Easy Stuff!

Nice Progress David. Check the thickness of your black outlines on the vents and tears ... they look to be on the heavy side.

Good to see you back at it! Keep the pics coming! Let's get you in some armor!

Good Start!

Looking Good. I wouldn't trim that bottom opening on your bucket just yet. The black s-trim will clean the edge up, but for the size of the opening, you want to keep it as small as possible. When the opening gets oversized, the general public, and especially kids, can see right up into your bucket when you are wearing it. Not good. Sure, a smaller opening means it might be harder to get your bucket on and off quickly, but it will preserve the look of the Stormtrooper, and make it less Halloween mask, if you get what I'm saying.

Looking Good Justin. Your TK fits you well. A few things I saw are: . your elastic shoulder straps are being pulled out, exposing them. Try to restrain them with your abs shoulder straps or a thin metal insert glued to the elastic. . the tube stripes on the right side of your helmet are out of alignment. They should be a consistent pencils width away from the side of your bucket . move those shins down . your drop boxes have drifted too far to the outsides of your belt . your back plate is overlapping your kidney plate. It might just be the way you are standing, but check your strapping.

Looking good Solomon, a few things I see (not all required for EIB) are... - tighten your chest to ab strapping, as they look to almost be overlapping in a few pics. They might actually overlap during trooping movements, so you'd want to prevent this. - tube stripes on helmet - they should be a pencil width away from the side of the helmet; you're look a little farther away? - lower your thighs and raise your shins. this will reduce the knee gap, but also give you a little more mobility at the hips and reduce the look of " your shins have fallen down" - TD clips - move them out towards the end caps - TD screws - replace with pan head common screws, and paint the screws black - cod to butt snaps - remove white paint - forearms - remove return edges at wrists - E11 blaster - check the control as your blaster is missing some details (counter, power cylinders, notches in rear sight, etc) - I see you've already turned your forearms, so that's good - And yes, a balaclava and painting the inside of your bucket will help with "trooper exposure" All easy stuff.

Your TK & Jawa are top notch Angie.

Looking Good Trooper. Paul's tip is a good one.

Looking Good John. Please check the control, as it looks like you've over painted the vocoder.

Congratulations!

Welcome Amber!

Maybe the pipe you are attempting to use is oversized? The caps should be a tight fit, but not same size tight. Regardless, you'll probably have to sand and bevel the ends of your pipe to make the caps slide on easier. You can probably save that end cap with a not-too-deep hot water bath.