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TKZombie

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Everything posted by TKZombie

  1. It was a long weekend here in Canada so I got through a lot of building finally. The forearms and biceps are finished, the halves have been all glued up. I've added the 2" elastic strap to the forearms its glued and dying I'll connect it to the bicep tomorrow then the arms are fully done along with the whole upper torso from the waist up! The thighs are up next, trimmed and fitted to size and in various stages of gluing. Warm weather meant I can sit on my porch and trim armour! They both don't line up correctly, remember the right thigh has the ammo knee pack that covers the bottom edge so line up the tops of the right thigh when assembling and leave the bottom off. I trim the return edge off the tops of the thighs at the back tops so they sit flush and don't have a sharp edge sticking me in the back on my leg. The shins were up next. The right trimmed to size and left ready to trim The backs... Here is a BIG REMINDER! This armor is not symmetrical left and right pieces are quite different so take extra care trimming don't assume what you trim on the right is the same on the left. I had to trim 3/4" of the right shin and when trimmign the left shin I trimmed generously on the flash edging and then when i sized it it fit perfect. Thankfully I averted needing to order a replacement piece. Both trimmed to size, again these pieces don't line up the left one side sits higher, so line up the bottom as the sniper knee covers the misaligned parts. The backs I took almost all the return edge off the bottom of the shins no need for it there and it will just impact and rub you boots and likely provide a cracking spot so best to remove it. Cover strips being added to the thigh and shins. Here's a tip use the metal spring clips to glue on cover strips to one side, they provide equal pressure across the full length of the strip so you can a perfect sealed strip. Up next was back to the belt to finish it with drop boxes. White elastic strap, rivets, washer and pre-drilled holes in the back drop box. Made one mistake where I attached a strap and riveted the loop to the box but didn't have it looped over the belt, Aaarrrggghhhh!!! Break out the drill and slowly drilled out a rivet, took about 15 minutes but it came free and didn't heat up to damage the plastic drop box while drilling, disaster averted. Washer on the inside of the box. The finished drop boxes lined up, the ends of the boxes to the end of the ammo belt. The back of the belt finished. Notches cut in the elastic for the ab plate snaps. Don't forget to heat up the cut edges so it doesn't fray and run on you later. I see many people glue the elastic straps to the canvas ammo belt so they don't move on you. I sewed the top and bottom of the elastic loop to the edge of the canvas belt. Same job, I think easier than gluing, and I've had enough with gluing and clamping.
  2. Gluing is slow but ongoing, the 24 hour wait time with E6000 stalls everything as well i have only a certain amount of clamps and magnets so I'm limited to what I can glue at a time. The forearms and biceps will be fully finished this weekend and trimming and fitting of the shins and thighs will be done this weekend too then its however long it takes to glue all those pieces together. Another exciting clamping photo!
  3. Here's the torso, almost wrapped up, the ab plate buttons are in painting progress once they've dried I'll glue those on and the torso is done! The forearms and biceps are all trimmed to size and in the various stage of gluing. Here is the right forearm under clamp-ageddon with tape and magnets.
  4. The weekend came so I thought I'd get a jump on more building unfortunately Saturday Night I slipped in the middle of the night going to let my dog out and fell down the stair way, not fun! Nothing broken but lots of sore strained muscles all over. My injuries seem to be piling up this year. Despite that still pushing on with some building. Hopefully I'll be healed enough to wear it one day! So onto drop boxes and the belt... Here are the outer boxes face down and the inner box. I marked and trimmed the outside box down to 15 mm. Once the outside is trimmed I laid them on a sheet of sandpaper and sanded all the edges. Then lay the inner box inside and draw a line around where they line up against the top box. I actually inserted a scrap of my shoulder straps under the inner box which raised it up about 2 mm. So when I trim the inner box line these then fit flush inside the outer box. With the boxes trimmed I set them aside and started on the belt. Trimmed all the flashing and sanded the edges down. The outer corners I trimmed the angle cuts, measured in 10 mm on the bottom or horizontal and 12 mm on the ends or vertical sides. The belt cover squares I cut down to approx 1". I find the placement for the 3 rivet holes on the belt and drilled those (sorry didn't do photos of that step) Once the ammo belt was trimmed and prepped onto attaching it to the fabric belt. I lined up the fabric belt over the armor. I stuff my armor with pillows to make it hold its shape then I can fit the belt to the actual curve of the armor. I lined the belt up and then rub a pencil over the two male snaps on the ab plate this way when you press the belt onto the snap it leaves a mark where to make the snap button hole. Attach one snap at a time, test that it works then repeat for the other side. Then its time to attach the ammo plate, I start on the outside and mark that hole thru the ammo plate drilled hole and put a hole thru the belt for the rivet I do that with the belt snapped onto the armor so i can get the exact position of where the ammo belt goes, only mark one hole at a time then attach it and move on. I attach the ammo belt with a speed rivet (also known as a semi-tubular rivet.) same rivets used on the knee ammo pack. Once the end is secured I put the belt back on the armor snaps and mark the outside hole you need to have the belt on the armor so the ammo plate is secured in its curved position not lying flat or the rivets will be under stress when you do bend the belt. When the belt is off the armor it doesn't lie flat it has a curve from the curve of the ammo pack. The TM armor is very flexible no heating of the armour belt it just bends to the shape of the torso. Lastly I attache the center rivet I know some people start in the middle and work out I find it easier to mark the outside and go opposite I know where I want the end of the ammo plate to be so starting that guarantees its in the right spot and its easier to center on the belt. Do what you are comfortable with but that's my approach. Here is the back and front of the belt with snaps added and riveted in place. I have an extra rivet in the upper left corner of the belt for my commlink. The commlink added. The rivet covers are placed, glued, taped down and clamped. I'll add the elastics to the drop boxes next and attach those once the rivet covers are dried. The E-11 holster will be the very last thing I add as I'm using that on my AM armour. Once this build is done I'll remove the holster and attach it with 4 Chicago screws. The AM is going to be a Sandtrooper so no need for a holster.
  5. I have a Veedox neck seal but the dickie bib style it comes down about inches from the neck in the front and back.
  6. For the Hero application does the hero neck seal need to extend all the way down to the waist with the full bib or is the dickie style neck seal considered acceptable? <br><br> Christina
  7. Great breakdown of the differences thank you!
  8. I tried the sponge technique but it didn't work at all it left a bubbled finish with like 50 micro bubbles. <br><br> I swapped to using a q-tip and that worked great!
  9. I just bought a set of TM armour and love it. I'm a 6'2" woman and weight 170 lbs. The armor fits me perfectly. The Troopmaster armour has slightly lonnger pieces then other makers. Paul the maker also offers XL shins for taller people they are a out 3 inches longer. It's beautiful armour I'd highly recommend it especially since you are in the UK already.
  10. I bought TM. I love it such beautiful armour and Paul is great to deal with. I was considering RS but TM won out in the end. I wanted a ANH screen accurate build and wanted a Hero build. Very few makers offer Hero.
  11. Over the last few days I've been able to tackle the forearms. The right in process of trimming. The left forearm I found a easier way to trim the wrist end of the forearms to remove all the return edge I marked a cut line inside the armor of where to cut and then cut it from the inside this took all the return edge off. Just a few minor trims near the edges t make once I line the 2 pieces up. The left and right trimmed and fitted to my arm size. I really had to trim very little off to fit me about 5 mm of each side was all. I took most of the return edge off the tops of the forearms. When you line up the 2 halves the one side was always wider so I trimmed them to match. The wrist ends of the forearms, a little trimming of the edge on the right forearm and more sanding and they are ready to be glued. The raised armor edges sized for the 15 mm cover strip, I laid the cover strip over top to fit as best it could you'll find some of the ridge is wider and peaks out under the edge of the cover strip at the top but that's okay the armor ridges aren't straight. They warp and curve. Paul explained the proper way to fit the cover strip is to lay it against the armour to fit the best it can along the full length of the ridge, not to measure from the ridge outward to the edge a cut line as the ridges aren't straight. I drew a pencil line on the under side of the covered strip to indicate middle and once I lined up to strip taped it down on the front and flipped the armor over. The cover strips aren't cut down to size yet so they extend a bit over each end I can then see the middle line and I mark the center line against the back of the armour and that is where I cut. You can see below on the bottom forearm how much the top ridges flare out at the top of the forearm.
  12. The chest to back connections are done, glued the strap to the chest on the left and added the connector for the snap on the right side chest strap Shoulder bridges are attached, had to one a day as the clamps overlapped each other to do both at once. I went with 5 ridges glued to the chest this leaves 3 ridges over the back plate when its on. Have some e6000 to clean up around the bridges. The left side glued and clamped
  13. Did some sewing last night for the leg straps, I used 75 mm (3") wide heavy duty black elastic. The regular fabric stores don't carry extra heavy elastic I searched many small family run stores and found one that has industrial grade elastic its well worth the search! I have a thigh garter belt system that I bought off the FISD forum ( http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29991-thigh-garter-system/) for my AM armour that I'm using the belt from with my hand sewn leg straps sew to loop over it. I folded over the belt the elastic and hand sewed a 4 cm or 1 1/2" section together to create the loop to go over the belt.
  14. Did a test fitting with the torso. Taped and clamped in place the shoulder straps to the chest and the right side. Taped closed till I can glue the strap in place The other side This armor fits be perfectly I'm 6'2" and 170 lbs if you are curious... Christina
  15. The torso assembled...right side Close up of the Han snap and the belt snap The left side The side split rivets The back Screws on the back plates. You can see how little scratches there is on the painted screws after installing. I can't image trying to paint these on the armor afterwards such a huge time save to pre-paint these!! The brass split rivet on the cod and 2 male snaps on the butt plate. I modified the connecting on the cod to the butt plate, typically the connecting strap is secured under the split rivet than attached to the butt plate with snaps. I've tried that on my AM armor and really not a fan of having to reach back behind to snap the armor closed. So what I did on that armour which I copied here is added a connection on the cod glued inside. The back still snaps onto the male snaps on the butt plate but the front snaps on, I've used the sew on type of snap used on the shoulder strap here in place of a snap. I find its more secure and snaps don't pull through the elastic material. Again a personal preference and not screen accurate but for me way easier to connect the 2 pieces of armor together. Here is the inside of the full torso, I've sine glued the left strap to the front chest and added the connector glued to the right side those are clamped and drying now, tonight I'll glue the side strap on the right side ab to the kidney plate The chest/abdomen plates The butt plates The kidney plate The back Adding the split rivets and elastic strapping between the ab & kidney plates The split rivets placement
  16. This weekend I got back onto building with the torso assembly and got through almost 90% of it. I've sure you've seen a lot of various armors builds so I'll just try to focus on what I did my own way or where I ran into challenges and how I worked through them. I laid out all the wire strapping brackets and strap and screws, i posted earlier that I pre-painted all the screw heads and split rivets as its a pain to paint them after the fact. Just a few touch-ups are needed once they are in so I find that's a big time saver. One thing I added is an extra plastic shim of ABS between the armor and the wire strapping. Its a personal choice and I know its not screen accurate but I've talked to several people who have RS and TM armour that have had their armor crack around the wire strapping points. I glued in a scrap ABS piece cut off from the excess of the cover strips. Honestly its really a pain to add these as they need to be cut curved to fit the return edge, so you have to modify each one and there is 18 of them. Then using e6000 glued each one and clamped in place. The people that I've talked to that have added this reinforcement haven't had any crack in these areas. I know Paul at TM doesn't encourage this and is a fan of cracks that occur from wear as its considered screen accurate but I want this beautiful armor to last a long time and try to look like it was on day 1 of filming not on day 90 after weeks of abuse. So Paul forgive me for the slight accuracy modification for longevity. I used magnets to hold the wire bracket in place to help mark the drill holes. Here is two sections completed and strapped together.
  17. Overlap the two pieces till they fit you and tape them with painters tape then you can see how much you need to cut off, on my biceps I had to remove a 1" overlap so I took a 1/2" of each end. I generally trim an equal amount of each side vs taking it all off one side only. Here is my bicep before and after trimming. ----------
  18. I like to be able to slip 2-3 finger in under the armor, so its close to tight but has about 1/2"-3/4" gap. I had my forearms with the return edge for a while and recently took it off and it made a big comfort change.
  19. Got back to some building on my TM, still can't do much with my rib injury just need more time for that to real up. But I did get all the cover strips cut to width and rough cut to length. Clamp the cover strip, then score and snap. Based on Paul's directions for cover strip sizes here is what I have: Biceps - 15 mm Forearms - 15 mm Thighs back - 22 mm Thighs front - 22 mm Shins front - 22 mm Shins back - 25 mm I also got the hand plates trimmed and added strapping. I initially left about a 7 mm edge but had to trim down the front and back as they were pressing too much into my hand as well need to curve those ends to conform to the shape of my hand better for comfort, so the edge is close to 5 mm now. Cut line draw Trimmed Straps glued on and clamped to dry, I also did my Sandtrooper cheese grater hand plates at the same time as this. The finished hand plates, for the strap I use a 8" elastic strap, the front strap is glued with a gap of about 3/4" (the width of the raised edge in the middle) this helps with the hand being wider where that strap rests. I prefer to use the abs hand plates for most troops that I slip over top of Nomex gloves as they are much more comfortable then rubber gloves with a cotton liner glove. I do have a pair of screen accurate rubber gloves with glued on rubber hand plates for photos though. Finishing the torso is up next for this weekend. Its already for the wire strapping.
  20. In my AP helmet I have 2 sets of military pads in there; 5 smaller grey pads around the side perimeter, 2 large grey pads on the top with 1 small grey pad and then 2 rows of black pads along either side of the middle. The front side pads are directly over the helmet screws I made holes in the back of those pads to fit over them flush. I have the 2 battery packs on either side of my helmet in between the side pads for my Echo fans. All pads are Velcro-ed in. It worked out pretty good until I tried out my TM helmet...wow what a difference, the TM (Troopmaster) comes with the screen accurate way of padding with the starfish foam that is 3/4" thick and has a chin strap too. I've trooped twice with the TM and it kills for comfort over the military padding. The chin strap holds the helmet firm not wobbling at all, the foam is just set in not attached so easy to take out and clean. Its screen accurate and crazy comfortable. I'd say grab some 3/4" foam and cut it out to the shape and away you go. Inside the AP Helmet: Inside the TM helmet
  21. The number you choose is yours forever. The only thing that changes is the letters before I'm TK 21421 when I finish my Sandtrooper that on will be TD 21421. <br><br> It was good finally meeting you at the toy con on Sunday sorry it wasn't a good day for me. I was suffering from my previously dislocated rib from a few weeks ago that was aggravated from a 4 hour troop the night before and Sundays troop was too much for it.
  22. The CLR has only listed under the HERO builds under optional. SE-14R Blaster For 501st approval: The SE-14R blaster was only seen on promotional pictures. It has a correct scope if carried in lieu of the E-11 for informal events.
  23. Some photos from the Star Wars Symphony I trooped at on Saturday night... This was my first time wearing the Troopmaster Hero helmet out I tried it with my AM armor, the bubble lenses actually didn't bother me Paul must have a secret to how he makes his. The chin strap really helps as it holds the helmet straight on so where you look you stay focused straight and center. You have to turn you head where you want to look not move your eyes or you'll look out the bubble edge and your vision will then be distorted. The only downside is everything had a green tint to it. The helmet with the screen accurate star foam padding is incredibly comfortable, I have a AP Stunt helmet that I added military tactically pads to and by far the foam star in the Hero blow it away. The hero helmet is now my go to helmet. Paul's helmet fits me better too than the AP. I'm on screen left... Me on screen right with the DLT-19 2nd On the right again with the DLT-19, we came out on stage while they played the Imperial March, pretty amazing troop to stand on stage of a full orchestra playing behind us.
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