hon143

No, the original bucket was tiny. I purchased the Rubies 2 piece kids helmet and modded/repainted it.

It's pretty much done. Here are some pictures.....

I'm in the process of priming and painting all the parts. For the shins, they are fairly small in diameter. Hence, I'm going to add semi-cover strips in the back to increase the overall circumference of the shins. I just needed to trim the bottom front of the shin halves to allow for the larger opening so the halves will still line up correctly with the larger circumference. Also, I purchased a Rubie's TFA two piece helmet to go with this costume. It's in two pieces. So, I'm going to attach them together with some nuts/screws and use the white bathroom sealant that I used on my TK bucket to cover up the seams.

If it is true that Anovos is using a Chinese manufacturer to fabricate the armor for them, then it'll be inevitable that there will be an influx of knock offs on eBay and other online websites. Sooner or later, someone over there will copy the molds and start making their own armor kits to sell Hence, you'll find so many knockoffs in China and Vietnam being sold on the streets and trickling in online. Because, for example, those designer bag companies are buying supplies and/or having some of the manufacturing done in those countries. And, their employees are stealing them (without the proper labels) or just manufacturing the bags themselves since they have the know-how.

Sweet!!!!! I'm trying to locate the Rubies' TFA helmet too. No one has it anymore! I hear it's going to be available again early next year. By the way, I ordered a pair of "martin" white boots with black soles on eBay that looks pretty close to TK boots. It was my only option since it's VERY hard to find white chelsea boots for kids.

I'm considering cutting the butt and crotch piece to allow my son to possibly sit down with the armor on. I plan on just using velcro for the chest/back and kidney/ab pieces too. For the thigh pieces, I may do it like our tk with E6000 and a cover strip on the inside. I'm still considering it.....or, I may go the easy route and just use velcro for every piece. I wasn't planning on painting it. However, after seeing all the screen shots of the TFA stormtroopers and how shiny the armor is, I will spray a coat of primer and high gloss white on it. I can't wait to see your pics!

I've been working on it for the past couple weeks too. The internal support inside the armor is a pain...it is what makes this build time-consuming. If it wasn't for the support structure, this could be completed in a day or two if you weren't repainting it. Do you plan on cutting off the crotch and butt pieces too? I'm trying to decide which route is better....keeping it together or separating it like our tk armor.

I just shortened the lengths of the screws inside the bucket. Then, I covered them up with black electrical tape.

I think they're ok for basic approval only. Honestly, I recommend spending a little bit more and get a pair of TK boots from one of the vendors here. Will look much better and will be better quality ( leather vs vinyl ).

I know that many here will be up in arms about this.....but, when I was building my bucket, I used a heat gun to carefully, gently, and slowly mold the bucket pieces to line up correctly. I had a microfiber cloth in hand. Then, I would heat up an area for only about 5 seconds in a circular motion. I would NOT heat up an area with the heat gun in one location and stationary. When the area was semi-softened, I would use the cloth to smooth over that section to align the side tube bumps better. Note, the ears will cover much of the misaligned portions.

Check out ATA or MTK. Both offer "affordable", quality kits.

I was in the same boat as well before I started my build. I really wanted to find a way to have it where the bucket was pre-assembled and I would only have to do the armor myself. I decided against it since everyone I spoke to here convinced me to just do it myself. Once I got started (I got the bucket kit first since the armor kit has a wait list), I found it both gratifying and not difficult at all. Sure, the ears are difficult. But, it was more an issue of patience when doing the ears and slowly trimming it to fit perfectly.

I used a little bit of double-sided 3M tape.

Hence, I stated to be careful. You can use a heat gun as mentioned on other threads when it comes to manipulating the armor. But, you have to be be very careful. It only takes a few second under the heat gun for the ABS to soften up. I used a heat gun on several pieces, including the ears, with my TK build. And, I didn't destroy any pieces. I didn't have experience with TK builds prior either.

If you really want a perfect fit with minimal gap, you can also carefully heat up the ear with a heat gun and bend it slightly downward. Then, you can trim the bottom portion of the ears more to close the gap. <br><br> Also, you can use kitchen/bathroom sealant to fill the gaps too.

thanks guys!

Are there any tutorials on how to cut the cod piece and diagrams on where to put the snaps?

I think most ppl here would rather store their armor in a hard storage case or luggage. Considering how much time and money goes into it, it might be a better idea. But, to each their own.....putting it all in a soft rucksack makes it easily portable though.

yeah....it just comes down to trimming as much as possible to avoid pinching. when i was working on my armor, i thought i trimmed as much as possible according to the tutorials here. however, once it was all done and i actually put everything on, i realized that i had to do A LOT of trimming to make it more comfortable, allow for more movement, and avoid pinching when walking or moving the arms.

I have an ATA bucket and it's pretty small, which is fine for me since I'm only about 5'8". I've heard that AP buckets are bigger and that ATA is generally smaller. For me, that's fine because it fits my size better when I have all the gear on. The only downside with a smaller bucket is that there's not much room inside for padding and electronics.

I think it really depends on how you cut, trimmed, and assembled the forearms. And, it depends on how you attached the hand guard pieces to the glove. For me, I used one of the tutorials here that utilizes straps which are attached to the forearm pieces via velcro, which then slips on around the gloves. So, I can attach the straps onto the forearms beforehand. Then, I put on the gloves (if i want to) and slip on the forearms afterwards. However, I've found that if you put on the gloves near the beginning, it's hard to put on everything else. So, I usually put on the gloves last and just slip them into the forearms.

Sorry....but, I think the bucket looks horrible. Just doesn't look right. As others have mentioned, have you considered the ATA or Anovos buckets?

Man.......the TK pics on the front page of that website look horrible. Maybe I'm just going by 501st standards and not the typical person in the public, but even before discovering the 501st, I would think that anyone looking at the TK's on that website would think something was off! The construction of the buckets look absolutely horrendous!