Chills

I just finished my TM build a couple of weeks ago. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31099-chills-build-anh-stunt-tm-armor/ I totally know the trepidation you are feeling. First things first, did you mark all the places you want to cut excess plastic with a pencil? Do that first, don't worry about messing up the marks, the pencil rubs right off. I marked ALL of the parts (except the helmet) and then started cutting the excess off with the popular curved lexan scissors. This armor is REALLY well made; its easy to cut and bends well. I suggest you make your cuts a couple of MM away from your marks, then use a sander to take down the rest. It's easy to see on most parts where you should trim the excess plastic, but if you have any questions post a picture and ask here.

It is cool to see that. The bayonet is almost as big as the Sterling! lol

Great, thanks John. Beautiful build, BTW.

Yep, that makes total sense. I think the biggest issue with this set up in a TK is where you'd dissipate the heat. Our IIO box is pretty small. This set up would probably work much better with a TB or TS, like you've mentioned. Which ever suit you work on post some pictures. I'd really like to see how this all fits together.

Hi John. Excellent thread. I've bookmarked this for my own build. Tino is sending his v1.9 kit next week, so I can get started. The E-11 is the only thing I have left to do before applying for EIB and Centurion. QQ: what bit(s), for your Dremel, did you use to bore out the sections like the folding stock and the bolt?

That's an interesting idea, Brian, but would it work? The key to what you're showing in your picture is that the excess heat will be radiated from the coolant tubes out and away from the body, but where will it go? Those tubes will be completely covered in the black under suit which, in turn, is covered by plastic. To do an effective job of removing heat from the body you'd have to figure out a way to get the heat outside the plastic. The other main obstacle is moisture. The system shown above won't do anything to remove the moisture that builds up under the plastic. Unless you get a nice breeze, there aren't many places for the sweat to escape and evaporate. Like gaz stated above, the best way to stay cool is stay well hydrated. I hope I don't sound like a wet-blanket; it would suck to drop a chunk of $$ on a system that is ineffectual.

I wouldn't worry about identifying yourself in a TK line up. Once you finish building your armor you'll know each piece of plastic inside and out, and you can see the subtle differences which will let you identify yourself in a crowd. I did my first troop last weekend and there were about 150 troopers there of ALL costumes; and I was surprised at how easy it was to pick me out in the crowd.

And just so you know this armor restricts range of motion for most anyone. I'm 5'8" and I sometimes feel like c-3po when walking and moving my arms around. It's normal to not be able to move around perfectly.

Yeah, that would make using screws a lot more difficult. Hurry up and finish that armor, Karin.

Looking good so far. Regarding your teeth, the helmet isn't symmetrical, so the teeth won't be, either. Where you made your pencil marks looks good to me. Also, make sure you use pencil to outline where you'll paint the tears, traps, and vocoder. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Richard! Yep, it's a vinyl sticker. I'll post pics of the whole room in the NCO Club forum. I think the FISD group will appreciate it.

I also asked my wife to take a couple of shots of me in my Death Star room.

So I finished on May 29th, took the pictures, and sent in my application for the 501st. On Wednesday I got the email: I have been accepted as TK 51114! I am still feeling elated. Next, finish my E-11 and submit my EIB and Centurion applications.

So after I glued the the shims in place I started making the ABS paste. I used the scrap pieces from when I trimmed the armor and cut it into tiny bits. I then put them in a small glass jar and added acetone (from the local hardware store, not the nail polish remover). By the next morning I had a good paste. Now, working with ABS paste was really tough for me. First, I had the consistency like pudding. But when I applied it the stuff dried within seconds, so it clumped up. I was also using a paint stick to smooth it on, with mixed results. (see first picture below) I then added more acetone and thinned it out, so it was more like runny yogurt. I also got some cheap brushes from Hobby Lobby and used these to apply. MUCH better results. I then went through a process: Apply with brush Let dry Sand with 60, then 150, then 200, then 300, then 400 sand paper. There were little divots, so I applied again and repeated. Eventually it came out looking like picture number 2. The right side is the finished side, the left will be under a cover strip (for comparison). I just need to go over it a couple more times with finer sandpaper, then wet sand and polish. But I'm pretty pleased with the results. And it is STRONG! Lastly, I made a garter belt and attached the thighs with two strips of elastic each. Finally, the suit is done!

TK 51114 requesting 501st access. http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=18911

While painting the helmet I also painted the ab buttons. I originally did them WAY too big, having the paint extend down to the edge, but after some research I found they should only be about 11mm wide, so out came the thinner and toothpick. The bottom blue ones still look a bit large, so I'll work on them. I also got the male snaps on for the belt. I originally cut the hole too close to the center, then (after research) found that the rivet needs to be close to the edge. The covers are just a tiny bit away from the edge. So I had a couple of holes in there. None are visible after assembly. Next is the TD. TM provides a perfect tube, the aluminum strips, and the plastic. But the caps fit on tight. I accidentally cracked one. BUT I fixed it with ABS paste. I'm getting good at using that stuff (more on that later). Finally, the thighs! The shims on each side are about 1.5" on the top tapering down to about .5" on the bottom. I heated the plastic to give a return edge on the top and a corner on the bottom. I made strips for the back, then started gluing it all together. Next will be the ABS paste.... (insert scary music here) More on that later.

Next came the cheese cloth/plasti-dip combo. I did two coats of the dip, which gives a great feel and look to the inside. It wasn't too tough, either. For head support I used the interior of an Arai motorcycle helmet. I crashed in the helmet (great story that goes with it) so I didn't need the harness. And it fit great in the TK helmet. The lenses are green welders lenses (another tip from the TK master). The bottom trim is S-trim, provided by TM. So I'm ready for Centurion! And the finished product!!

Next came the stripes. These took the longest, but I started with a template and using dots from a Sharpie to mark where they would go. Then I used the blue tape to mark top and bottom. After that I did the teeth and vocoder, which were not as tough as I thought. Just takes a steady hand. Finally, the assembly. I have to also give credit to Gaz for the brow; he got the edges to match up the traps perfectly. Finally, the tube stripes. I went over these so many times with paint, then used thinner and a toothpick to scrape off the excess, then paint, then thinner. It took me about 4 days to get them to where I was happy.

I was going to do the thighs next, but I ran into a problem. Too many years of mountaineering and backpacking has caused my thigh muscles to grow to unusual size. So the armor wouldn't close, and my only option was to shim them. I shot TM a message and he sent over some extra plastic right away. While waiting for that plastic to arrive Gaz came over and we did the helmet. His help with trimming the ears was invaluable. He admitted that the TM ears were the trickiest he's had to cut. He worked the left and I worked the right, and in one evening we got them done. It would have taken me days to get these little guys perfect. Gaz also showed me a cool trick to attach the lenses. We built blocks with screw holes inside using 3 layers of ABS. We then glued them to the corners of the eye-holes. (you can see one in the pic below) We also trimmed the rest of the helmet and fitted the halves together, and drilled out the rivet holes. Before assembly I painted. First was the black edge for the cheeks and traps. Then the field of gray. My first attempt was ok, but I was too cautious with the edge, and the black strip was too thick. With some patience and a few passes of the brush I thinned out that edge.

Well, it's been a month since my last post. I've neglected my build thread, but not my armor. I finished the chest and back. Gaz came by to help with the latter. Since I'm short, the shoulder pieces on the back stuck up too far, so we heated them in boiling water and bent them down over my shoulders. Ended up looking pretty sweet. Sorry, no pics. The shoulder bridges don't have a lot to grip onto the chest, so I added some plastic (upon advice from Gaz). Then came the glue. Next I tackled the greaves. First was to glue the under-strips on the joints. Next was the actual cover strip. After doing the arms this part went pretty smoothly. After this pic was taken I trimmed the bottom so the edges lined up. Now it's time for the sniper plate. I marked where I would trim and lined it all up. Finally came the glue. I have to say TM does a great job with this piece, it fits really well.

I'm just finished working on a TM (2.0mm) suit and saved my thighs for last, too. I would say the armor should follow the natural contours of your legs as close as possible. You'd likely have it taper from a wider top to a narrower bottom. The best way to do this is tape the armor together and fit it close to your leg, then find the common line, like you did with the other sections. You might want another pair of hands to do this. You'll likely end up cutting more off the bottom than the top. But as long as the seam is vertical, you'll be ok (and cover it with a cover strip). The thighs should come up fairly close to the codpiece. There are lots of reference pictures out there, but it will also depend on your height. I'm a bit on the short side (5'8") so my armor pieces generally are closer together. Post some pics as you are working and we can get a better idea of how it's looking. EDIT: I have large thighs, too (mountaineering and cycling) so I had to actually add almost 1.5" of shim to my thigh armor.

This is good info. Being less-than-ideal TK height I've been having a bit of trouble walking. I think I may cut a bit of a V-notch in my greaves.

I decided to do plasti-dip with cheesecloth in my interior (after a long discussion with Gazmosis). I finished the first coat last night and I'm really happy with the result. The interior looks like black kevlar and the helmet now has this nice weight to it. Plus the black looks pretty awesome. Once I get the second coat on I'll try to post a pic. I'm not going to do any fans or electronics in there, just a harness to hold the piece steady on my head.

Sportbike track days, mountaineering, Porsche track days, rock climbing, collecting SW LEGO. Trooping is just the latest in the line of stuff that destroys my bank account.

The price went up, I didn't pay $28, I paid like $13 for it in January. I got the pants and shirt for under $30.