[lookin for a Hero helmet]

Search Troopmaster on Facebook and you find his page. He has photos of his work there. Honestly it's so screen accurate it's amazing. He's a true master.

[How long does it take?]

Don't rush it, you'll make mistakes if it's your first build. 40 hours if it all goes smooth. Trouble is first builds have left turns all over the place. You'll get all your snaps and straps in place and try it on and have to redo connections to fit you better. <br><br>

Do you have all the extra parts those can take a while to collect. Neck Seal, boots , belt, gloves, blaster, and holster.

[lookin for a Hero helmet]

Paul from TM (Troopmaster) is making my hero TK helmet and set of armor too. He's great. 

[HOWTO: Keeping TK shins in place]

Awesome, building that this weekend! 

[My shoulder bells.]

Have you tried shortening the strap from the shoulder bell to the strap under your shoulder straps. Seems like they need to be closer into the chest.

[Shoulder bell straps around biceps]

Black straps for around the bicep.<br><br>

The white elastic is the strap between the chest and back plate under the rigged shoulder straps.

[Athentic Props (AP)]

You like the screen accuracy of the AP over your old armor.

[TK-11075 Requesting ANH Stunt Centurion Status [AP] [214]]

Can you share more about the Velcro on the TD, how it attaches to the belt I assume to keep it from being lifted off? I've been wondering how to make it more secure. 

[Original wire strapping system vs. strap/snap plate - Opinion?]

I just ordered a TM ANH Hero TK from Paul and likely going to assemble using the original wire strapping system but I wanted to get others thoughts on this method vs. strapping and snap plate method. 

 

Please let me know what you think the pros and cons are for each from those who've used them. 

 

Christina

[Brattie's AP Build and Journey to The 501st]

I'll send you some pics of what I did for my spring in my blaster on FB. As well a a boot attachment option instead of velcro....

[HOWTO: Modifying Armor for Women]

Awesome reference, I'm tall at 6'2" but thin with a small 29" waist so my ab and kidney plates have a 2" overlap on each side. I'm going to cut the overlap and go with a butt join and add the proper rivets on the left.

[TM Armor finish: 1.5mm gloss ABS vs. 2mm acrylic capped ABS]

I heard back from Paul at TM:<br><br>

The 1.5mm is standard gloss ABS is the same ABS used for the movie suits. It is lightweight, flexible, with a nice gloss finish and a slight ivory white colour.<br><br>

The 2mm has an acrylic capping that makes it extremely glossy. It also makes it a lot more rigid which gives a hard armour feel that some people like. This has a brighter white colour to it.<br><br>

Please note: If you want to build a screen accurate suit with the strapping brackets then you want the 1.5mm gloss ABS. If you want to build a basic suit to look good for the public and like the snap strapping system, go for the 2mm. Snap strapping can also be used in the 1.5mm but I would avoid using the brackets on the 2mm.

[TM Armor finish: 1.5mm gloss ABS vs. 2mm acrylic capped ABS]

Thanks for the information very helpful. I'm leaning towards the 1.5mm as my goal is a screen accurate ANH Hero TK.

[Greetings from Hamilton Ontario]

Welcome...spend lots of time researching lots of build tutorials. Measure 3 times cut once and use e6000 to glue it. Takes 24 hours to dry but it's removable if you need to fix something. It can be pretty intimating to build your first TK. But there is lots of help out there. <br><br>

Christina

[TM Armor finish: 1.5mm gloss ABS vs. 2mm acrylic capped ABS]

I'm ordering a TM stormtrooper kit and wanted to get opinions on the 2 finishes available: 1.5mm gloss ABS vs. 2mm acrylic capped ABS. What is better in: Looks? Durability? Ease to work with? If you have any photos to share it would be appreciated. <br>

Christina

[How much can I realistically expect to pay to finish my Stormtrooper costume?]

There isn't a cheap build. It takes time and money.

[Hello from South-Western Ontario Canada]

Welcome from Burlington. <br><br>

I'd recommend you spend dozens upon dozens of hours on the forum researching builds to avoid making any mistakes. Measure 3 times cut once. <br><br>

Christina

[Cover strips not perfectly straight]

If it's e6000 it's a "easy fix" remove them rub the glue residue off and redo.<br><br>

Sadly by saying easy it's not easy. E6000 is great as with about 20-30 seconds of heat from a heat gun, I used the second temperature setting at 450 degrees. It will soften the glue. I use a 6" drywall spatula. Its really thin and bends so it slides very easy under and corner and into the glue seperating it. Once it's off you can just rub all the glue residue off resand the surfaces a bit and redue it. The not easy part is the heat will have weakened the glue on the inner shim too. I'm not sure if you should strip that one off or not.

[FBJ's ANH Hero Build [TM]]

Amazing...I'm sold on TM as my next build.

[TM's ANH Hero build[*TM]]

Awesome...great reference when I get my TM kit.

[Ukswrath's AM 1.0 build]

Amazing post do much great information here.

[AP Blaster]

I have one and I'm quite happy with it. Being in Canada with the horrible exchange rate and the risk of a blaster being seized at customs having a soultion to buy in Canada sold me on my decision. <br><br>

I'm replacing the counter with a functional replica and adding lenses to the scope. As well I build an inner bolt and spring to add inside. <br><br>

Brett who makes these is very great to answer questions. I highly recommend it.

[Velcro fails on my ANH utility belt]

Lengthen the belt or get a new belt. My belt has almost 7" of overlapping velcro once closed it doesn't move.

[Building from new vs. buying a used armor suit.]

I like the TD look. I know it's a lot of extra effort but in the end it's my dream.

[Building from new vs. buying a used armor suit.]

I went the route of buying a previously owned TK set of armor. I've wanted a set of stormtrooper armor since I was 7 years old seeing Star Wars in the drive in. But I was very intimated by the pictures of unboxed photos of all those unassembled pieces of armor. <br><br><br>

A friend I work with is a member of the 501st and one day chatting I mentioned my interest in one day getting a set of stormtrooper armor. As luck had it he was building a new TK from AP and was looking to sell his current TK from AM. Shortly their after I was the owner of a completed set of TK armor. <br><br><br>

However due to substantial height differences the set would need some modifications. I had to replace the chest piece as it had been cut down and the sholders were cut shorter as well so those were replaced. The big one was the thighs they were 4" too short. So new thighs had to be assembled; not the easiest thing to start out on. In addition to those all the strapping and snap plates needed to be repositioned and replaced. I'm very detail oriented so that made modify the armor etra harder as I wanted to tweak and make it my own so I cleaned up a lot of edges and made my own adjustments they didn't need to be done but for me I needed to do it. <br><br><br>

I'm finally in the final stretch just need to complete the shoulder to biceps to forearms strapping. As well as await a new AP helmet coming to me in mid February as that wasn't included in the purchase. <br><br><br>

There was a lot of extras that needed to be acquired as the purchase was just for the armor. So boots, belt, neckseal, holster, Undersuit, blaster and gloves all needed to be ordered as well. <br><br>

Buying a prebuild TK for me was the right step but the amount of work spent to revise and modify was quite extensive. But I learned so much I'm eager to build abother TK from scratch now after getting my feet wet with my current armor. So this one will eventually become a TD Sandtrooper once I get my new TK Stormtrooper built.