themaninthesuitcase

Nice one Dan, decent amount raised. I wanted to do one but we don't really have the space out the front here.

Welcome to the FISD and the UKG. Hope to see you at a troop once we can get out again!

Account deleted as requested.

Well done Dan. Lets hope we can catch up at the Excel next year, even it that means in October!

As far as I am aware only 2 vendors are selling suits cast from screen used, one ANH stunt and one ROTJ. The above vender is not one of them. The history of most armour available gets murky fast and there are places you can find this out if it interests you. But you don't need to. The best best is generally to have a look at the recommended list, speak to your GML and see what people you will be trooping with have. You'll probably get good recommendations for vendors that serve where you live and those recommendations would be better than me in the UK recommending anything. Just be sure to mention if you wish to got to EIB or Centurion as that can be easier with some armours than others, but for the most part most common armour will have no problems there if you build it with that in mind.

No we still have to do that, but we have costume management built into our forum too.

Darren maybe post in your WIP thread on UKG And ask what’s up. Our GML is normally pretty hot on stuff so clearly something is up. If you have applied on both UKG and the 501 sites it should be sorted by now.

I went back to work mid July so time went away again. I am working at home so I could carry on printing but I ran out of room to store parts. Once I get some time to assemble what I have I'll get back to printing more. It will also give me some time to lose the lockdown weight and check stuff I have done actually fits before making more.

Welcome to the FISD! If your a midlands lad I'll see you in Birmingham once the world reopens enough for conventions to not be a terrible idea. Would have been great to build a suit whilst shielding!

Helmet is progressing well. Before assembly I tested the new modified vocoder hole. It's a good fit but a little fiddly to get in and out due to the shape. I think the fit is good and will work great. I need to back up the hole with some sheet at some point but I'll do that later in the process. The bottom of the helmet was built up in subsections. Essentially halves, working from the front backwards. As I went I welded each seam whilst I had easy access. Before final assembly I sanded these down to remove any sharp points and roughness. Once the two halves were built, then I used the flat join to the top as a reference to tape the rear into position. I wicked in some superglue to fuse the two parts together. Due to compound error in the other seams there was a minor twist to the helmet. Fortunately I was able to force it out slowly gluing the chin section in 3 sections. The bottom first, then the top before finally wicking in some glue in the middle. Again these seams were welded with a soldering iron and some spare filament. I've refined how I do this now. With the iron set to 400ºC I run the tip down the seam. This starts to fuse the parts and also creates a small groove. I then use the iron to press the filament into that groove and smooth it. This gives a good strong seam that also doesn't stand too proud of the part. Attaching the top half was a scary job. As with the lower half, there was a small missalignement due to compound error over dozens of seams. I started by holding the parts together as well as I could and used masking tape inside and out to hold it as best as I could. I started by gluing the out side most seams, one side as a time. I had to pull the parts into place a bit but the end result was good. This done I started in the middle at the back and works outwards wicking in glue and pressing the parts together as best I could. As much as this is an important seam it's not the best one, bit too much glue gap filling rather than joining. The weld will hopefully make up for this. The welding on this seam was a real nightmare. Access was terrible and just trying to get the iron in was a striggle never mind a 2nd hand to feed in filament. I have now started on filling the seams, with P38 and acryl, and sanding the whole helmet. It's messy work as I keep over applying the filer. I have now run out of 120 paper so I need to get some more. The face plate is also printed now. This was a worrying 13 hour print. It's quite thin and I was worried it would be too weak, which fortunately does not seem to be the case. Also the STL had a lot of issues with it and so had been through a lot of repair phases. This has left lots of scaring on the surface as well. Fortunately this will all be hidden under the nose piece (which is also printed). Only about 20% of this will be visible but I want to smooth it out as best as I can. I am also toying with moulding it to make a version in impact resistant resin but I'm not sure this is needed anymore. Just to see how it looks I taped the face plate in. I want to do the finishing work before I glue it in permamently. I also tried it on, because you have to don't you. It's a shade on the large side maybe, but better than too small. I may even be able to wear my glasses. With some pads in I am sure it will look a little less bobble head when sat properly. I also got a lens for the helmet from an Esty seller. At the moment I am not overly impressed. It was €42 and the shape and edge finishing isn't what I was expecting. The optics are okay not great, there is a small amount of ripple when you look around. Size semms okay but hard to tell until things are held in place, so I've wrapped it in cling film for now to protect it and will try it again later. As I mentioned I'm out of sandpaper so I'm working on a few other things as well for now for a change of pace. Next job for the armour will be progressing with the left arm.

I'm not sure if I can share that, I'll take some more photos though when I remember.

Their comms is awful, its a bit like throwing your money down a hole and hoping that something comes up in the bucket. I've yet to hear of a no-show, but I have heard of some very long waits.

Where did you get the E6000? There's a lot of fake stuff about! Snaps I used Prym Camping 15mm. You can get them in small 10 packs or a 100 pack. I got the 100 but used around half of them. I liked having far more than needed as it means you don't start cheaping out or cut corners to save 1 snap. I got them from rebel workshop but have a shop around for them. Also get the proper Prym pliers for them, the best £8 I spent on my build.

It’s all available in the UK. Armour, snaps, single cap rivets the works. Only tricky thing is e6000 glue as it’s not legal here anymore. I believe some are using one of the gorilla glues, not sure which, or you’ll need someone in the US to source some. If your looking to troop the armour as well head over to the UK Garrison as well https://www.ukgarrison.co.uk/join-us.html

My Imperial boots are US13. I wear a UK11 normally which is a US12. If you are in the 11-12US ballpark their 13 will be fine I would expect.