Kredal

I have some. That's the blue glove in the picture up there. The blood is from a sharp corner of the bicep. (:

I cut off the return edges of the left forearm, and suddenly it's not as long as I thought it was. Funny how that works. (: So, now I'm up to cutting it to width to fit. I taped the two halves together, and I can JUST get my arm in and out of the sleeve that's made. I made pencil marks at the top and bottom end about haflway between the overlap. Before I cut them down, I want to ask you: Is this where I want to cut? I'll join the two ends of the line with a straight edge and then score and snap. The other pencil line here is for the inside of my wrist, so I can get a little bit more mobility. So, cut along that line, or leave a little bit more room for joining?

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16079-forearms/ Yay, ways to handle the forearms!

I'm at this same point on my build (of course)... The AM arms are really long, and when test-fit with gloves, they ride up right on the hand plates, so they NEED to be cut down. So, cut the wrist edge back a notch, then fold down the extra plastic left from the bump? (I know there's no return edge, but there would be a big gap on the top/back of the wrist otherwise.) I think the right arm is the one with the really pronounced curve at the elbow, and the left arm is more straight-cut. That seems to make sense for holding a blaster. Any advice for us would be appreciated, though!

So last time they came in stock, I got an email that was sent STRAIGHT to Spam, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Turns out they send an email with zero text in it... not even a subject. Just... So I added that email address to my whitelist, and as soon as I got something from them, regardless of readability, I knew what it was, and I snapped one up. And then I told all you cool people here. (:

The very first thing I read about making a Stormtrooper costume was Studio Creations's site on making a body cast, sculpting bucks, vacuum forming molds, all that stuff... and my first thought was "what the heck am I thinking???" and then I found FISD, and read that people had already done the hard work, and now I can just throw money at a kit, and I was much happier. (: So now I've got a kit that I get to put together, and I don't have to stand around waiting for plaster to cure on me. Yay! (but I will be making a duct tape cast/mold for a mannequin. At some point.

http://www.doopydoos.com//stormtrooper-e-11-complete-anh-e-11-blaster-kit-offer-2685-p.asp Go get some! I just got the email from them about ten minutes ago, and put in my order. (: *Edited* sold out in less than an hour. Stormtroopers may not be able to hit targets, but they sure can hit "Buy" pretty darn quickly!

On the plus side, even if they open the box, everything is so well packed in foam, that unless they start also unwrapping plastic, you've got nothing to worry about. The only thing that MIGHT get you into trouble is the little jar of ABS glue that he sends with the kit. (that you probably won't even use... I know I won't!)

Start here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/ Also, go over to the new user forum and introduce yourself! (:

First inside shims are glued, tomorrow I'll fit the two sides together, and glue the outside strips. The magnet sachets work really well too! Also got my ATA hero ears, so I'm ready on that front! But what's this, I actually have to trim the waste plastic? AM has spoiled me!

If the paint is peeling off, there's probably still wax or polish on the boots underneath. You'll need to strip off the paint and then strip off the wax before repainting. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27114-dyeing-black-boots-white/

Horray for my AM brother! I've put out a couple feelers with my local garrison to get an up close view of the armor, now that I know more or less what I'm looking for. I'll be following your build thread just like you're following mine!

First cut made! I'm wearing an armor glove on my left hand to keep from going through the hand with the knife. Seems like a reasonable precaution at this stage. And yet, my armor has already taken first blood! I guess I need a cut-proof body suit! Also, I need lexan scissors, since cutting away return edges with an itty bitty diagonal cutter isn't.... cutting it.

Oh boy. I'm still sort of in shock. You see pictures from other people, with armor strewn over their floor, but there's no real sense of scale or "solidness" to what you see. Until you get your very own big brown box. And then you open it up, and see all the pieces individually wrapped in foam padding... and you tear all the foam padding off... And you wonder what you've gotten yourself into. I say again: Oh boy. It's obvious just from the weight of the box, and then the weight of each part, that this is no simple Halloween costume. There's a thickness to the ABS that you will NEVER find at the local store. There's a loving amount of effort and time put into each vacuum pull. These aren't just pressed in a factory in China or something... there was care taken with each part. Now it's my turn to care for the armor, to fit it to my own body, to make precise cuts where plastic doesn't belong... and make it mine. Oh boy. This... this is a project. I seriously had no idea I would feel like this. Anyway, down to brass tacks: I'm going for a Hero build with AM2 parts, I've got ears with 3 bumps on order from ATA, I've got extra Chicago screws from Darman for my holster, and I've got a bib neck seal on the way too. All those things, plus the alignment of the forehead ridge should be the only differences between Stunt and Hero, as far as I can tell. (I know, 6 teeth, bubble lenses, only one of the three ear bumps painted. Anything I'm missing here?) I'll be starting with the biceps this evening. Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it. Oh, wish me perseverance too. That might be important. (:

My box arrived today too, but I was already at work when it did, so I don't get to touch it until tomorrow morning. I'll start my build thread then. I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle your build. I'll be starting with the biceps, and moving down from there... arms, legs, then back up from cod and butt to abs and kidney, then chest and back, then strapping everything together, and THEN doing the helmet. Also, I have to wait on the helmet since I'm doing a Hero build, and have ATA ears on the way. But man, this is gonna be fun!

That's perfect! Wire it up like that, let it run (outside a helmet) to see how long it lasts... I'm betting hours with normal AA batteries, slightly less hours with rechargeable batteries. (:

You want to wire them in parallel... So the two red wires on the fans are connected to the same place, and the two black wires on the fans are connected to the same place. Quick and dirty drawing: battery+----switch-------fan--------battery \------fan-------/ You'll get the full 5v across both fans, so they'll run great. They probably don't use much current, so it'll take a long time to run down the batteries. Without knowing exactly what fans you have, I can't tell how long that will take, but it's easy enough to test. Hook it all up, and run it until the fans stop pushing air.

I've been keeping track of all of my purchases, including tools I bought JUST for this. I have almost everything I need now except for nylon straps for holding together the arms and front-to-back connection, and a DoopyDoo E-11 kit, and I'm at $1,652.

Also, if your fans are expecting 5v and you're feeding them 9v, they're going to burn out pretty quickly. There are things called buck converters that will take 9v in, and push out 5v. That probably wouldn't be a bad thing to buy (or switch to 4 rechargeable AA batteries which would give you 4.8v, and your fans would be much happier. http://www.amazon.com/KEEDOX%C2%AE-Converter-Power-Supply-Module/dp/B00A71CMDU/ref=pd_sim_23_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=199G20BD730R3T8WPD5E That takes in anywhere from 8 to 23 volts, and spits out 5v. (It's meant for car use, so it says it's for 12v, but I use one with a 9v source and it works fine)

When you turn the switch on, you're connecting the red wires directly to the black wires... which is shorting out your battery! The way to connect it is: Battery - red wire - switch pin 1 switch pin 2 - red wire - fan fan - black wire - battery

So really, whoever is in charge of saying "Yup, you're a centurion" should say "Scrape off the vinyl, take more pictures for posterity, we give you the stamp of approval, then decorate however you want. Then newbies like me won't be confused by differing standards.

Alright, I've got a weird question for you guys. (: I'm going ANH Hero, with the full bib neck seal. I'm also planning on using a throat mic (tested with iComm, and it works pretty well, I think... we'll see when I get my bucket. It's hard to tell what I'm actually hearing, and I need an audience.) Regardless, any non-wireless mic solution is going to have this problem. Aaaaaanyway, the throat mic has a wire that goes to the iComm that's going to be mounted in the chest plate. I can either wrap the wire around the side of the bib part of the neck seal, or I was thinking of putting a grommet top-center in it, and running the microphone cord through that when I suit up. Has anyone else dealt with this issue, and if so, how? I'm thinking the grommet, painted black, over a black body suit, should be pretty much invisible, but before I go punching holes in something I just spent a pretty penny on, I wanted to check for feedback. (: Thanks!

And that's kind of why I posted the topic... I saw his Centurion thread, and was a little confused. But I wasn't about to call him out on it here, because hey, if it's allowed, it's allowed. I'm the new guy. (:

Found a use for the belt drop-boxes! (:

Congrats! I'll hopefully have my Big Brown AM 2.0 box on Monday, and I'll be posting a build thread then. We can keep each other entertained. (: