andylah

yeah that is the plan... and a girdle, suck gut in, push this out, and then also give me (in theory) a fixed point to strap thighs too....

So progress is progressing: Shins, forearms and TD are glued and good to go: (other shin is some where else) just work on fitting the forearms properly and making them a tad shorter possibly still... And the Echo Fan setup I ordered arrived and is in place now.. still need to attach slightly more permanently.. I opted for the custom name and numbers which I think adds to the badass level and makes it feel like mine! Now the helmet feels really small; have to pay attention putting it on and pulling off with fans; but I haven't tried with the balaclava on.... (that will solve the beard getting sucked into the fan problem at least) Weekend is looking at thighs and running away, hopefully painting the ab buttons, and I think looking at the belt to try and get that progressing although I have missed buying a holster.... whats a good holster???? -------------- epic troop on Saturday helping out and I managed to get another good look at some TK kits and progress was had.. First go round at painting dots - the cd label stickers I had weren't quite right so I free handed them, i did them again and they look better Second go: Armbourboy big an impolite person storage box arrived Then on to the belt: Some rivet goodness - 1/8" from bunnings Then some push buttons. Feeling more confident with these now, ready to start strapping soon too i think both done, woot. and almost done - still have to stick the cover buttons on, and work out if the flappy bits at the ends are too long. Left it warmed up around a bike tyre to get some good curve happening Next step is connecting the drop boxes and looping with elastic over belt, and attach the still hasnt been purchased holster.... New found motivation tonight I want to hit the sniper plate, and the should straps I think; and hopefully look at the beginning of strapping to try and get some of the body fitted up.

fairly productive day thanks to Chris788 and hansdc in Melbourne for answering countless silly questions! made the first cuts with the assistance of Clone Wars, some epic strong coffee and Tamiya lexcan scissors... (these things rule) Chopped off the ends of the forearms and got them ready for gluing.... ( they need some cleaning up and sanding) broke out the e6000 and did some gluing of the forearms and shins and got the TD good to go So half the forearms are setting now, will look how they are going tomorrow. Both shins are now glued with velcro in the back so that is a bonus... TD needed its clips shortened so also did that. Tomorrow I hope to finish the TD. Look at the thighs some more and see whats needed there. look at the chest bits, kidney, ab plates etc etc to see whats next... good day overall, actually feels like I achieved something...

That's sort of what I had excepted to hear.... And that's good. Will go check that out! Cheers

today concluded with my basically giving up after managing to somehow glue the outside to the inside, not the inside to the outside... with zapagap. as shown there, I managed to rip it apart but have ugly glue residue left on the outside of my right shin... so options: 1. use tge zapagap debonder stuff as best I can and then buff the hell out of it with the dremel and a polishing head and hope it comes good... (on initial trials the debonder stuff seemed to get rid of the bulk of the residue but left it looking matte.) 2. just stick a covering strip over the top of the face that shows... (one side of the join will have two edges, the overlap and the cover joint) 3. abandon overlap method and go with butt joints and strips for all... (can the overlap'd armoue be converted to butt strips relatively easily) Now each has its merits and negatives..... nobody to blame but myself... yay me.

Sunday has begun and leads to more questions... left end cap isnt on properly atm, right one is stuck on (not by glue) ive taped on the bits to see if the spacing looks okay?? but where does that other bit go??? underneath I assume? I've taped it all up and put on properly and it might be too long? Crl says approx. 7.5" ATM it's 8" as the one end that's on I can't get off, not sure if I'm meant to over lap it or what? Not sure that's an actual issue or not?

So I took a heap of photos at Nova and spoke with lots of people and today was the day I finally got down and dirty and some work.... well I thought I got stuff done, but I really think i just opened new questions... anyway, progress is progress.... 1. painted TD pipe grey. woot... means I shoould just be able to do this tomorrow and have something crossed off the list 2. reset and looked at shins Left looks okay I think; just glue it and velcro in the rear - shave some off the bottom and even it up? (who thinks they are too long) and Right leg is again my issue.... how do I ttach them, after this was taken i realised it might be okay just to velcro in the rear if i space out some more in the front - but i presume i want symeterical? Given RT-Mod uses the overlap method im confused to what I should do really 3. I half glued both biceps after trimming the inside return edge which makes them fit a whole heap better... yay for magnets 4. Thighs.... again problem area; although this time I think they need cutting more so to fit more snugly - but can't tell as they arent attached yet so might not be such an issue Left, I think I need to cut at inch plus off the top to make them shorter, which will skew the rest of the fit i think? and right with similar issue - for these I had my sister tape up the back nice and tight and think I need to again cut some off - this might sort itself out if i lose some length at the top? 5. forearms... I need to cut at least a 1/2" inch off the wrist to get to just the raised bit, and as such probably similar at the other end... looking at other kits at Nova, everyone seemed different and all of them seemed long? not sure if I want to do 1/4" inch off each and reasses / ask the masses to be sure.. 6. finally I installed the evil boy fan kit in my bucket which has made a world of difference... so that was my Saturday... Sunday I hope for some strapping, some more snap making, first proper cutting.... also will put on shins/thighs and crotch together and see what happens......

thanks for the advise Tim! so after poor planning on my part I missed the Canberra armour party which was silly. It would have given me th confidence and access to people in the know to have some idea what i am doing... And yes this was taken after the Dubs lost today damned Dellavedova locked Curry up.... anyway; finally got to take it out of the box again and started on the arms... first issue encuntered - i keep cutting my hose putting the bucket on.... so step one of armour building, bleed is done... right arm: that felt okay until i did the left arm... Left arm: the left bicep goes up a lot higher than the right both shoulders attached to the biceps, and the left is definitely horter, which leaves the gap between the forearm better Once again, hopeless photographer father takes a bunch of shots and this is the only usable one... I think the left is good? the right needs some work, will start with getting rid of the return edge as its not so scary, but it might need some off the top as well... again: and the forearms might be a tad too long but im really scared of cutting them? both are similar to this...

thanks for kind words people! Hans, i might need a trip to Melbourne Q, i might need a holster anyway, progress... So after two days of reading and weeing myself i decided to unpack the box damn. im scared even more now... which turned into quick lets put stuff on.... after putting everything on as best as I could reason / work out/ willing to try it fits alright RT Mod is made for bigger person, me thinking sideways didnt think of tall so im still not sure how tall it all is in reality to me but am sure some trimming will be necessary Right calf wont close as is, no surprise there so that will need shimming as will the kidney to ab plate, that will need a chunk of shimming i think, on both sides so that will be fun too.... everything else seemed okay, but when you are trying to hold it together and explain what you mean to blank looking father i am still unsure... Once I rewrapped everything back up in plastic wrap I moved on to tab making... again without any real plan i just made back tabs which will at least get me some idea what im doing... game plan I think is start with the arms... forearms up I think... looked at those bits and thoight okay, i think i know what goes where, and was thinking this looks all very symetrical??? so in conclusion, slow progress but any progress is progress....

Big Brown Box arrived yesterday which was madly torn open and this happened and thats as far as I got... It then went home and sat resealed back up to make sure I didn't start anything before I was reading. I've just spent hours reading your whole thread @Dark CMF and am in awe and hope mine turns out to be even 1/4 that good... I have another 5-6 build threads to read up before I start playing i think... im still scared though....

The time has come for a TK! After the awesome advice from everyone on SCG to get a soft costume and decide whether trooping is for me before getting Armour I’ve decided Trooping is for me and its time for Armour… Lots of research via FSID and SCG and i decided RT-Mod was best suited for the bigger guy, thinking wider, not taller so this may still be hit and miss…. build thread pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andylah/sets/72157653274859390 here goes with list of stuff: TK Suit - RT Mod - obligatory big brown box photo will go here once it arrives... Under suit/Balaclava - Stromtrooper under suit but arrived in Extreme Racing satchel. Boots - Dublin Elevation Jodhpur Boots - painting supplies Gloves - Ansell Black ones from Woolies handplates - TrooperBay E-11 - Trooper Bay / Doopy Doos - here is finished photo… this was a whole lot of fun to build Holster - still need to source? hardware - still need to get. - buttons, elastic, webbing etc - this was fun.... walking into Lincraft with no idea what i was doing nor what I needed and just grabbing a shucks ton of stuff Neck Seal - Trooper Bay belt - Trooper Bay TD Clips - Evilboy Bucket Fans - Evilboy Mounting belt thingie - stealing Drew's idea I grabbed one of the belts https://flic.kr/p/tNSjvN from bunnings that should also act like a girdle a bit i hope. So I started "operation lose a shucks ton of weight" back when I ordered the Armour, and that worked for a bit but didn’t really happen to well which is the suck (my fault) So would like to be able to size it down as needed hopefully :S eeeek i'm scared. My confused look at having no idea what i was doing in Lincraft! Day 1 Progress: plus equals I promptly put the hammer down and grabbed a keyboard and spent all night reading. Still scared shucksless.... suit remains in the box.

Boom. Looks good Hans!

Using TK armour as motivation to lose weight this year... I'm currently ~250 pounds (~115kg) so a fair bit of work to go so I don't hear "aren't you a little fat for storm trooper" It's taken years to finally find something that will hopefully motivate me properly