Kredal

Yay, another Hero build! Don't see too many of those. (: If you take anywhere near as much time and detail-orientedness (?) with your armor as you are with the soft parts, you'll have Centurion no problem! Following this thread! Oh, and contact ATA for Hero ears if you haven't already. Here's a direct copy of the email I sent: It ended up costing me $26 for two sets plus shipping.

The real definition of Winter is the 3 months between Winter Solstice (Dec 21) and the Spring Equinox (Mar 21). So by that definition, it's only been winter for 4 days now. (:

I think it's more a matter of "how important is it to get something for the 3-600 dollars you threw at a company" which has a VERY different answer.

Move the drop boxes out so the outside edges line up with the outside edges of the plastic belt... and yeah, you might want to drop them down just a little bit, so they're actually below the belt vertically, and not stacked on top of them like that picture shows. Great start, though!

Ha! I remember when I posted this about the shoulder snaps that attach the arm straps to the white shoulder elastic. Turns out, there's a reason the snap is supposed to be sewed on by looping around the outside. If you don't do that, ~10 troops is enough to get the snap to CUT THE THREADS holding it on! I found that out shortly before starting to march in a 3 mile parade yesterday. Luckily, I was able to re-snap the snap around my neck seal, and keep my shoulder on for the parade, so even though it looked kind of funky, my shoulder bell wasn't flopping around. So I get to re-sew that on tonight.

Yeah yeah, kits are made... once they start being delivered, I can start trolling ebay, looking for people who ordered cheap and didn't realize how much work it would take to actually put it together. I've got plans for one or two kits if I can get my hands on them for ~$400. And then my Shadowtrooper kit might see the light of day sometime next year once they're done manufacturing all of the shiny white ones.

Here's the sign for Vader.

Someone upthread linked to the Sith Lord detachment where they have tons of pictures of the Vader costume, including a clear shot of the price tag sign. That sign is very clear that it's an ANOVOS kit in all of the text under the (crazy) price. On their website, it's $2700, at Disney it's $4000!

Yeah, I should have at least gone to 600 there in the middle, but I didn't have any at the time. (: Just meant I got to spend a LOT more time with 1200!

300 (or 320) to get the dried ABS paste down to the rest of the helmet, then 1200 to smooth it out before using the Novus.

Darn it, Tim. If I had been smart, I would have messaged you ahead of time and had you come out to troop with us. Would have been awesome!

Replace the fun tack with Sugru. You can get it in white, and it'll be way more permanent. Also, as you build, keep in mind that even though AM2 is pre-trimmed, it's not necessarily pre-trimmed RIGHT. That was a lesson it took me a while to learn, don't trust where stuff is cut (especially on the back, butt, and sniper knee plate.) Look at other approved builds to see what it should look like after final trimming. Oh, and don't forget to paint the screws in the ears white. (: If you can countersink them, even better!

So I just made a couple more fixes to my armor. No pictures, because I'm a slacker. I'll get pictures later and post them. - Added velcro to the front of my boots and the inside edge of the calf plates. That'll keep the left knee plate from riding up and pinching my knee cap. I have a 3 mile parade coming this Saturday, and I REALLY want to be able to walk the whole thing without having to keep my left leg permanently bent. - Added straps from the bib-style neck seal to the duty belt that holds up my thigh armor. Because it's a long bib, it has a tendency to ride up and end up sticking out all over outside of my chest and back plates. These two straps on the front and back should prevent that, and keep it down flat around my torso. Building is never done!

Congrats!

Seeing how the ab portion joins in the back, is the entire seam covered by the TD assembly? If so, it might actually be possible to shim that in the back to account for some, um, larger troopers. What do you think? Is it possible for someone with a ~40 inch abdominal circumference (around the belly button) to wear a First Order kit? If so, one of the two determining factors has been answered. (The other factor is the semi-insane cost, but that might change as time passes.)

And his first troop! His legs are still too short for the shin plates, as expected. Arms are nearly too short as well, but he'll grow into both. After this outing, I sealed up the thigh plates (like a normal TK) since I wasn't sure ahead of time if the openings at the bottom would be wide enough to go over his feet, so I left them open, and just Velcro'd shut on the inside. Turns out, they're plenty big enough. I also put a strip of Velcro on the outside of the ab/kidney set, and inside of the chest/back set, so it'll stay up better. No pictures of that though, sorry! We bought his little brother an original TK mask, so they'd each have one to wear, but he HAD to have one that looked like Uncle Josh's when he was dressed up. Really can't blame him. (: We left the blasters at home, and I got told by an 8 year old that I wasn't a real Stormtrooper because I didn't have a gun. Yup, he got me, that's the only thing that makes a real stormtrooper! Surprisingly, there was not a SINGLE "too short for a stormtrooper" joke leveled at my nephew.

First fitting over street clothes... He was begging to try it on. (: Don't think there's enough room for the calf plates, but I'm not sure.

Think of it this way: If there's no cover strip, there's no final gluing. Everything from this point is being held on by straps. You know how many times I recreated straps to get the fit right? A TON! Snaps are (relatively) cheap, nylon and elastic straps are uber-cheap... Make a set, try it on. If it hangs too low, cut off one end and put another snap on it. Too tight? Make a new one, longer! Keep iterating until you get it right. (:

Oh, you might as well cut off the bottom corners on the kidney plate while you're here. 22x22mm square. It's just one step of getting closer to Centurion!

I'm still reading, and you're at the point now that I started running into the final fit and look problems. They were all addressed when I submitted for EIB and Centurion, so I can help. (: First, on the fitting all of the back pieces together: You want a minimal gap between everything. Just enough so that you can still bend and move at least a little bit. Shouldn't be a problem if you're doing straps inside... You may want to bring down the return edges just a little bit (leave some so your armor looks more solid than a sheet of plastic). Next, cut off the corners on the sides of the butt plate, at about a 45 degree angle, that matches your thigh armor's slope. For the back plate, cut off that entire spur under your armpit. Here's Gazmosis' lines showing where I was supposed to cut: And here's where I actually cut: Don't cut down the joining edge of the kidney plate.. center up the butt plate as well as you can on it, and strap it together there. You can see in the picture above that my butt plate is in about a quarter inch from the kidney plate. No problem! Taper the return edges of the shoulder parts of the back and chest plate down to no return edge (or a minimal one if you want)... It'll keep the edges from digging into your shoulders. (: You shouldn't need to reshape the shoulders at all, since you'll have an elastic strap under them, and a plastic strap over them, nobody will be able to see the curve on them. Upper back to kidney plate: minimal gap, but no overlap (My pictures have a tiny overlap because I'm leaning back with my arms out for the pictures. When I'm just standing there, no overlap.) Hope that helps. You're on the final stretch! You can do it! (:

They are requesting that "until further notice" don't bring blasters or other gun-like weapons to any troops, even if the event holder says it's ok. Which would be fine, if it were limited to theater appearances, but they're saying blasters are off-limits at any troops. There are several news articles out there now saying "banned" but that's not really the case. Yet. http://furiousfanboys.com/2015/11/lucasfilm-temporarily-disarms-the-501st-legion/ http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/11/24/report-lucasfilm-bans-blasters-for-stormtrooper-cosplayer-clubs-attending-star-wars-the-force-awakens-screenings I'll throw out the email that was sent to the 501st Legion Event Coordinator: The powers-that-be at the 501s Legion level are talking to the powers-that-be at the Disney/LFL level, hoping something will get worked out... more details, firm dates, etc. Don't panic, but take your time building your blaster. (:

Given LFL/Disney's latest "request" for troopers in the 501st, you'll have plenty of time to build your E-11. Take your time, do it right.

Alright, I'm "done" with my build, until I see what has to change when my nephew tries it on... There will probably be modifications, so I'll be bringing a lot of extra Velcro with me when I visit! Until then, pictures! The inside of the battery box. I carved down the inside edges and just glued the box cover in place (since the place that it screws in is missing) The right arm gave me fits. I really dislike that they made it a two piece mold just so you can turn the elbow... Anyways, I used some little strips of ABS left over from my kit, and E-6000 to hold the sides together. Also used industrial strength Velcro where I knew I would need it to attach to other body parts. Here are the Velcro tabs I talked about for the lower torso section, both detached and attached: And the final kit, along with a $10 mask from Walmart... *Child not included, please see store for details.

My set is split just chest/back and kidney+butt/ab+cod, so a total of four core sections. The top two are held together with internal velcro, the bottom two will have tabs of velcro on the outside for easy release by the small person inside. The right arm that is screwed together (why??) has been stuck back together with internal strips of ABS and E-6000. The legs are all held together with internal Velcro, and a strip of velcro around the knee plates (we'll see if they even get used... I doubt it.) I'll have pictures of all of the pieces up in the next day. I don't plan on repainting anything, bare white plastic is fine for my purposes. Now to find a 5 year old that matches my nephew's size for fitting (which people on the street frown on for some reason)... or I just travel with the kit and lots of spare Velcro when I present it to him. (:

Yeah, only crazy people make Hero kits and walk around with DLT-19s.