Chills

Congratulations on your first troop. If it weren't for the ball on the grass I would say you are doing the "pee pee dance" LOL

I'm pretty sure Steve will be back at the end of the weekend; then give him some time to go through his emails. The wait is the hardest part, isn't it??

Yep, looks good. The bottom of the back is right at the edge of the top of the kidney; and the chest is overlapping the ab.

Hola, Jordi! Pretty nice set of armor you have, there. A few things stood out when looking through your pics. Your coverstrips are a bit long, looks like you could trim them down on pretty much all of your pieces so they don't extend beyond the actual piece. Most notably on your thighs, biceps, and forearms. The other thing I see is the gap between your belt and the drop boxes. There should be little to no gap; and it looks like you could bring them up some. Bueno suerte!!

That stuff is great, isn't it? The chest plate is going to be up by your throat. I made the same mistake when I first made my straps, and it was too low.

Basic 501st acceptance allows for overlap construction. I have to ask, why is there a year gap between two of your posts? Just curious.

The ammo boxes should be at the edges, but that's a requirement for Centurion and not EIB. I think his belt height is ok, too. He's a taller trooper, 6'2", and the belt lines up with the bottom of the button plates. The one thing I see that hasn't been mentioned is the right side of the belt: the canvas belt isn't centered on the plastic belt, there's more gap on the bottom than the top. The left side looks spot on. Overall, a very nice build. Best of luck to you!

Also, you might want to recheck the ab buttons. They look a bit large. Good luck!

Bridges look good, Stein.

Cool, dude. Looks like you have the technique that works for you. ABS paste isn't fun, lots of layers and sanding and layers and sanding. I think I did 7 layers before I was happy with my thighs. But it'll look great in the end.

LOL, don't be nervous; just trim a little bit at a time. I recommend marking it with a pencil so you have a guide.

Looks great, trooper. I think a red ribbon is in your future. Good luck!

Stein, you'll want to cut those shoulder bridges down to be really close to the ridges. Here's how far I did mine.

Looks like some good progress on those parts. You'll have your EIB in no time.

My clips are far enough down that they are never seen when wearing the armor. I chose this method for a couple of reasons. First, easy to transport having the top and bottom sections completely separate. Second, I didn't want any more stress on my shoulder connections than just the back and chest pieces. Even my shoulder bells don't connect to those pieces. It's also really easy to suit up and down. Finally, I wanted to be able to rotate my upper torso if necessary. I can also bend at my waist better since the chest/back section is completely separate from the ab/kidney.

Sounds like you're on your way to EIB, Josh. When it comes to the ABS paste, getting the right consistency is tricky. I shimmed my thighs and experimented with different thickness of paste. I found the thicker it was the quicker it dried and hardened... like in seconds. Having it thinned out, like a yogurt, made it easier... vs like mayonnaise. I also suggest using a paintbrush to apply it. I tried different tools, and paintbrushes worked great. Plus, easy to clean with acetone. Good luck, and have fun trooping tomorrow!

Overall, a good looking set of armor, Phil. Things that I noticed (caveat: I'm a newer Centurion so I'm working on training my eye to help out other TKs): The biceps. The tops look like they tilt in towards your body and the bottoms out; give them an angled-look where they should be more snug against your arm and upright. Also, your TD looks a little wide; but that might just be that you're a skinny TK. Your sniper plate appears to be tilted when looking at it from the front. Lastly, the 45deg angles on the plastic belt look a bit large; they extend into the fabric part a bit more than they should. Your helmet and strapping look great. Really nice work, here, Phil. Good luck!

I use suspenders to hold up my ab/kidney combo. It was easy to attach them, I just cut 4 pieces of webbing, then glued three sides of each piece to the armor; the 4th side (the top) is where I attach the suspenders. I put the webbing a few inches below the top edge of the armor.

This is just a small delay, Brandon. You'll be finished with your build before you know it.

LOL, well those are a lot of questions. I know that AP and ATA armor can be made to look fantastic, there are plenty of Centurions with that armor. I was actually looking to get AP when I first started. I went with TM on the suggestion of gazmosis, from this board. I'm VERY happy with the armor. First off, Paul is quite responsive to PMs. The wait wasn't that long, either. I think it was just over 2.5 months from when I first contacted him to when I received my big brown box. It might be a little longer, now, since TFA is coming out in a few months. Somewhere on the board there's mention that he only does a run every so often, but that's outdated info. Paul is constantly making his armor. He has a 1.5mm and a 2.0mm version. I bought the latter because it is GLEAMING white. The build went quite smoothly, the ABS is easy to cut with lexan scissors and it's easy to sand the edges. The ABS has a decent flex to it, so it has some give and won't break under pressure. Paul did a fantastic job sculpting the pieces, and they are highly screen-accurate. The pieces line up well, and I never ran into major issues. I did have to shim the thighs, but that is due to my big legs (mountaineering and backpacking are to blame). I asked Paul for some extra ABS and he sent it over immediately. He also includes the proper S-trim and Hovi mike tips for the helmet. The kidney has the notches in it, and the ammo drop boxes have backs. He also includes extra "ears" for the helmet in case you mess up the first pair. ATA and AP are also great armors, and I may be biased, but I think TM is the way to go.

I know you are asking about AP vs ATA but have you considered troopermaster? This set is within your budget. It is a fantastic set of armor, and can be made centurion right out of the box. It has all the correct helmet pieces and armor details needed. It is beautifully sculpted and has a brilliant gloss finish. I have a set and am close to your dimensions. You can build it to fit with no problem. Check out my build thread or my Death Star room thread to see an example.

Ahhh, knowing your age makes things more clear, Liam. Your limited budget makes more sense. I have troopermaster armor. It is a fantastic set, and I couldn't be happier with it. However, being 11 I'm guessing you're also a bit smaller than the rest of us. There is a gentleman who sells armor for younger stormtroopers; his name is Walt. He makes it in a way that it will still fit as the young one grows. You can find his for sale thread on the forum. Also, here's a link to a for sale thread from someone who has a set and is looking to sell it. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32387-wtf-tk-kids-armor-for-sale/ I hope this helps out. Feel free to ask more questions.

No one is trying to discourage you from making your own armor. The folks on this board are all about helping out new stormtroopers. I watched the video posted, and that's definitely a way to make cheap armor. You can go that route, but it depends on how you want to look. If the armor this guy made, which is creative, is up to your standards, then by all means go with his method. If you want armor where you look like an actual stormtrooper, then you might want to look around a bit more.

I've been trooping with my DD for the past couple of months and it's held up well. Only a couple of kids, and one adult, asked to hold it, and I apologized and said it was against Imperial regulations for a stormtrooper to hand over their weapon. Maybe later I'll get a b-grade hyper firm for trooping, and I will let the little ones hold it. But for now this seems to be working just fine.

So you don't see yourself wearing TK armor at any other events? No troops or parties, anything in your area?