TK-8224

Scrape it off with a blade.

My husband has a vortex with pitch control on his Vader, and when he lowers the pitch it sounds awful! You can still hear his voice through the helmet, so it sounds like two people speaking in two different pitches. I can only guess that it'll be worse through an abs helmet, his Vader is padded fibreglass. Be a woman and be proud of it!

Keep the size and use cotton gloves under.

Glue the front with strips and everything. Then line up the back and use dusktape to get it straigt. Then pour boiling water on it. The water will make the plastic melt just enough to make it line up. If you are careful and do not pour everything on the same spot, this will not warp yoor armour. PS. Don't use magnets for this, they will be extremely warm and warp the plastic.

A few months isn't bad for armour! People have to understand that this isn't professional stores, this is people making props at their spare time. Try to see your self in that situation. How many hours do you have after work to spend on armour making every day? Enough to make and ship an entire armour within days and still have time for family and other obligations? Probably not. Have some patience. In this hobby it does take time to get your orders. As long as the dealer has a reputation like AP, there is nothing to worry about.

I'm 5'5" and my AP armour hurts! Ok, I didn't trim it, if I did I would loose all the cool return edges and it would look a bit off. I made myself a bikerscout for using at events where I need to walk a lot, and I must say I am much more happy with it. A biker is so much more fun for me because I can move in it! Trooping has a new dimention now: FUN! I would not recommend a TK to anyone my size, unless they really know what they are going to. You can't move, you get tons of comments, everyone else in the same costume is a lot higher than you etc. When I did my biker, I found that most of the people with that costume were my height, and I felt a lot more "home" in parades, pictures etc. Being 5 inches lower than me, well, I wouldn't have chosen a TK.

The gaps are screen accurate, so I just kept mine. ----

I'm in! My TK fits really well now, but my tummy and thighs give me away when wearing my TB. I'd love to loose a few kilos to get a little less girly curves! Not all curves are pretty, haha. Planning to loose about ten kilos, and then see what my body looks like. If I'm happy then, I'm done, but if I can loose more without being too thin, my BMI says that I should probably loose another five or ten. I'll be exercising on my rowing machine, and I'll also try to eat healthier food and cut down on coke and chocolate. Oh dear. Wish me luck!

It's not an issue for me, and I haven't heard of anyone else having a problem.

TM is here on the boards. Try send him a PM.

I would go for ABS, it can take a lot more beating than HIPS. It is also better for transportation. I have had my AP kit in a suitcase as checked in baggage on flights, and I had no cracks or anything. I know from some of my garrison mates that HIPS can easily crack during travelling, and the one thing you don't want is broken armour when you're just about to troop. With your size, I would go for an ABS TM kit.

Novus 2 is also a light scratch remover, so no point in using that unless you have scratches. Novus 1 should be enough if you just want gloss on a smooth surface. In stead of novus 3, I use sandpaper instead. Much easier to control.

Save your strength and polish after you are finished. No point in doing it now. No point at doing it at all if your armour isn't damaged or dirty. The AP kit have all the gloss you need, so save the polishing for later, when you have trooped a few troops and gotten some scratches. If you want to be clean, that is. I like a little scratch here and there, it's screen accurate.

So no luck on the silicone. Well, then I have no clue. I thought the fabric on them would make it easier to glue, but the fabric stuck to my glove when the handplate loosened after glueing with E6000.

The latex handguards isn't a problem, it is the non-latex (rubber) that is hard to glue.

Haved you tried bathroom silicone? I haven't tried it myself yet, but it was the advice I got when glue wouldn't stick to mine. Have been busy with my TB lately, so I never got time to try it.

I'll be there, sporting a TB if approved in time. The TK is too big to leave any room for clothes and other needed stuff when travelling.

I have built an AP and also helped build both AM an FX. I don't think the AM is easy at all, because you have to cut everything off because it's made to fit big people. There is also return edges, so the good old overlapping tecnique from FX isn't as easy. I would say you should use the strips tecnique when building an AM, and when you have to cut everything smaller there isn't much better than building an AP. In fact, I think an AP is easier, because there you have the lines to work with when cutting. I thought FX was a good alternative for those who wasn't too experienced, but I think they lost that advantage with AM. Just my thoughts.

Thanks! It's nice to hear that our efforts are appreciated! I am an English teacher in primary school, but sometimes when I meet people with English as their mother tongue I get embarassed to tell them what I do for a living because I think I'm not good enough. So this was nice to hear! The problem for me when I talk to English/American/etc. people, is that I try to speak as fast as they do. And that's when my tongue starts twisting. Blah. It's so much easier to talk to the kids at work, they need it slow.

I am 5'4" and am sporting a pretty much untrimmed AP. I trimmed the cod a bit just because it was uncomfortable, but the rest is trimmed after the drawn lines. Fits me very good! Not that much black to see, but I like that. This is what it looks like on me:

I'm 5'4" and wear an untrimmed AP. I have removed a little bit of the cod, but that's not because of my height. I have also tried on an FX, but then I have the problem with the chest plate covering the ab buttons. I am going to trim a little bit to the shins to make them more comfy, but with your height you should have a little longer legs than me.

I saw that post too, but I think the price is insane. Is there anything better with his helmet than the AP helmet that justifies a double price?

Should have said "most people in Europe", I guess. Testors are rare in Europe, so we use Humbrol. I haven't seen them together, so I have no clue what the difference is. You could just go with the one your garrison mates use, that way you will at least match them. Either way, you can't really go wrong.

Most people use Humbrol #5.

Thanks for that picture, it's just what I needed to know! I have an AP kit myself, and now I know for sure that I can't have a bigger kit. I can see now that I can never fit a TM. Sad, but true. Well, I guess I'll just reshape the thighs a bit instead. Thanks a lot for clearing that up!