hon143

looks good. the only thing i noticed and maybe the others here can chime in too about it if I'm correct. but the space between the teeth seem too square/angular to me.

And honestly, building yourself will be the most fun and most rewarding/ satisfying thing you've done. I had zero experience but was able to do it cuz of all the tutorials and help here. Plus if you do it yourself, you will gain the know-how to make any adjustments or repairs yourself.

Regarding the biceps, I had originally sized the bicep pieces based on arms nearly fully flexed and fully-bent. I found that it was unnecessary since I couldn't fully bend my arms with everything on. So you don't have to size the bicep pieces for maximum diameter when fully flexed.

For that price, you should just get a nice armor set from one of the approved vendors here and just get someone here to build it for you if you don't want to do it yourself.

What's your suit size? I have a weightlifter/gymnast physique too....just a bit shorter than you. I'm about 5'8" and weigh about 165-170. Waist 31" and suit size is 41/42. I was able to fit in ATA/MTK armor without any issues. I just had to make the bicep pieces bigger than the typical size.I'm thinking AM armor might be too big for you.

For those who can reach the fan switch, where did you guys place the switch in the bucket?

With my bucket on, I can't reach into my bucket to turn on my helmet fan. I placed the switch in front between the hovi tips. The only way is to turn on the fan before I put on the bucket. Because, I can't bend my arms that far to be able to reach into my bucket while wearing it. Is that the same for everyone else here?

Lol....pretty funny stories! I guess I may do the orange ear plug thing

I was just curious....has anyone here gotten any issues from police or other officials when carrying one of the SW replica guns for looking too real? My wife is a bit paranoid because she thinks my Hasbro DoopyDoos build looks too much like a real gun. Of course, I can't imagine that to be the case since we'll be in costume! Hence, ppl will know it's part of the whole setup.

When I was building my armor, I would use a heat gun to align the edges of the arm or leg pieces where the cover strips would go over. I would do it a section at a time. Heat a section for about 7-10 seconds and then use a straight piece of extra abs to push down on the edge. Then, when I put the two half pieces together, I could see that they would line up straight and still allow the opposite side to line up together. Basically, if the edge made an obtuse angle to the adjacent side, it would make the opposite side to bow out when you attach the cover strip. It was more time-consuming. But I didn't have to worry about the other side not aligning after I glued one side first.

That's the Rubie's E-11. If you're near Disneyland or World, you can always get a Hasbro blaster and mod it. It's pretty easy to mod with the DoopyDoos kit.

Believe me, I had ZERO experience with building anything close to this. But, after doing the research here and watching the video tutorials, it wasn't all that hard. Just A LOT of steps and A LOT of patience. Once you've done a few pieces, you'll get a feel on how to work with the material. Trimming the armor to fit your size is not hard at all. And honestly, even if you mess up, there are ways you can fix it.....it can be repaired or you can always purchase that specific piece again from the vendor for relatively cheap.

I'm about 5'8" as well. I didn't have any issues with building my mtk armor. I didn't have to trim more than usual.

Yeah....it looks fine to me. Just need to remove the last stripe under the ear piece(s).

I think glue, Velcro, or elastic straps are fine.

And the right thigh looks "off".

You can look that up on the side tabs on the site's front page under film canon CRL.

The plastidip doesn't affect the color on the outside...at least on ATA, AM, AP, MTK armor. Also, it doesn't affect the adhesiveness of the interior if you need to apply velcro and such. However, if you want to remove a velcro strip already on the plastidip coating, you'll have to remove it carefully because it will peel off with the velcro adhesive. But, you can always repaint that section if it does come off. I've had to remove velcro strips inside my bucket and some of the plastidip came off with the adhesive. I just put another coat of plastidip where it peeled off....no biggie.

Check out other threads about coating the interior with black plastidip. It looks pretty good and is easy to apply/ remove.

The widths will vary based on your size. Check out the trooper bay videos/ tutorial. They're very helpful. In general though, they're about 5/8 inches in width. But will often be bigger for the leg pieces.

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to build it all by hand...probably the hardest and most labor-intensive thing I've ever done from scratch. Definitely worth doing it yourself versus buying a kit pre cut, assembled, and ready to wear.

LOL....I wasn't able to attach the pics. Here it is below.......

Here's a picture (with the kids) of my nearly-completed MTK kit with ATA bucket. I just haven't done the rivets yet on the kidney and ab pieces. And, I'm waiting for the bucket fans. Now, I can't wait until I have an occasion to actually wear it!

You will also need the tools to build everything....lexan scissors ( curved and straight ), sand paper, dremel tool, rivet gun, vario pliers for attaching snaps, glue (a few to choose from and based on what you're comfortable with), snaps, rivets, etc. If you look in the tutorials sections or the trooperbay website, it'll have all the info you need. I started looking into this in the middle of last year and took the plunge in November. I got the helmet kit first while on the wait list for the rest of the armor kit. While I was waiting for the bucket to be sent to me, I started ordering all the parts I needed. The bucket took about 2-3 wks to complete. I then did a Hasbro E-11 build which took about a week only. I finally got my armor kit last month and completed it in about a month. You can either purchase the kits partially completed/trimmed or untrimmed. Honestly, I recommend getting it untrimmed. It's fairly easy to trim. And, you'll likely have to trim the pieces to fit your body size anyways. You'll probably have to spend an extra $300-400 on extra parts, tools, and supplies in addition to the cost of the TK kit.