shadan

Cheers for that advice! I haven’t removed much material at all yet so adding the curve in won’t be an issue.

I gotta get these shoulder bells done... Looking at the bells there is a very subtle mark or notch near the top of each one which I suspect is where the original part ends in the mould. The Sharpness of the ridge certainly seems to ‘fade’ behind this point. Assuming this to be correct, I measured from the tip of each bell to this mark. The weren’t both exactly the same distance (not that I expected they would be) so I erred on the side of caution and took the longest distance and marked both. Looking at the way both bells had been pre-trimmed by RS it was clear that one side of one of the bells (can’t remember which one now sorry!) had been cut much shorter. I decided to make this my guide so I measured from the centre of the ridge around to the bottom corner, then marked this same measurement on all sides. Then it was a simple matter of joining the dots to mark my trim lines. In this pic I’ve circled the other ‘notch’ as it’s too faint to photograph. It also shows how the pull becomes softer beyond the notch and finally my trim lines. Lexan scissors are one of my favourite tools. I use them all the time. Not a bad cut if I do say so myself. Just needs a quick sanding to smooth it out now. What you can see there is probably the widest part I removed, so if my assumptions were wrong I really haven’t taken much off and therefore (hopefully) it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Essentially I have just evened out both bells and made the edges straight.

Thanks mate. I’ve really tried to keep this as neat and as tidy as I can. I tried kitting up again but the wife wasn’t here to do up that pesky side snap or do the belt up tight so things still didn’t quite line up. Will have to get someone over soon to help dress me properly. (These are mirror shots again so obviously everything is backwards) The butt plate is still a little out but yes I do have some return edge there (not much but some) to play with if need be. I need to tackle these shoulder bells next. Not exactly sure now much I’ll need to trim them but I would guess not much at all. One thing I’ve realised is that my neck seal is too big on me. I’ve just ordered one from Darman with custom neck measurements.

I’ve been slack in posting updates here over the last few days but figured I’d better do a quick catchup. The internal strapping is now all done. And seems to be holding quite well. The Han Snap is functional and I put a second snap a little further down to even out any tension that may be there when everything is done up. As I did the second one I thought it might be a little high but I didn’t want to interfere with the other connections. Sure enough, I couldn’t get to it myself. But my wife was able to snap it ok so it will be a two person job for now. I may revisit this later and move it lower. With this all done I did a test fit of the legs and torso and was quite happy with the fit. There is a slight alignment issue but I believe once the canvas belt is added and tightened it will even things out. Plus, like in an earlier photo, I’m twisting around to take this shot... (Please excuse the messy ‘junk’ room!) I haven’t put the cod to butt connection in yet so the butt plate isn’t quite sitting correctly. I’m probably going to have adjust some of the other strapping as the sides of the butt plate stick out a little, much like the Anovos kits seem to do. Next up, adding the strap... Pretty straight forward really, elastic, snap and split rivet. A friend suggested covering the inside of that split rivet to avoid any potentially painful snags. Could be the best advice I’ve ever received! Next I trimmed the canvas belt down the required length and re-sewed the Velcro in place. I made sure to sew up the edge in a way that will hopefully stop any major fraying. The last thing I did this evening was to sew on the snaps for the shoulder bell elastics. I took my time with these and tried to sew them in really well as I’ve seen several come undone in the past. I’m sure they will need maintenance some day but that’s a problem for Future Me.

I’m going to be looking at about a 3-4cm gap myself I believe. Will get pics when I can, just waiting on some glues to cure. For some background info, I’m 6’1” with an RS kit. Unsure at this point how this will effect things but it is what it is.

Oh please don’t think I was complaining. I LOVE this kit with all its (accurate) quirks. I didn’t mention it in the post, I really should have, but my plan was definitely to remove all the return edge which will certainly help. Cheers again gents. I’m on my way home from a troop now and will do a bit more work tonight. Hopefully even take some pics. I did mention I’d neglected to take more earlier. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One thing I forgot to mention is that the shoulder bells seem to be really narrow. I can push them over my shoulders, but only just... and I’m honestly not a very muscular guy at all! But to put them over the bicep armour also? It’s tight! I imagine I’m going to have to give them a bit of a hot water bath to be honest. Not much, I don’t want to risk messing up the shape, but just enough to widen them slightly.

Made some good progress today... I just don’t have the imagery to prove it :/ I’ll fix that later. A FISD member came over and helped with some fitting and adjustments. This allowed me to attach the elastic shoulder straps and finish off all the snap connections. While going through my box of random stuff I’ve collected I even found some sew-in snaps, I must have bought them back in the day and completely forgotten I had them! This evening I sat down and painted all the bracket screws. Yes, I’m no longer using the brackets but thought having the white painted screws make it look a little more authentic. Besides I couldn’t just leave the holes as they were. The side split-rivets are now white also. I did go back and make a few adjustments to that left ear on the bucket. It’s sitting a lot better now. Not perfect but definitely better. Also affixed the mesh inside the frown. Next I better work out what is left to do: - Glue on plastic shoulder straps and add the white elastic (we removed them today because they didn’t quite sit right. Easy fix) - Re-attach the ab buttons - Trim white canvas belt to a me-sized length and re-sew in the velcro - Finish and attach the shoulder bells and elastics - Connect biceps and forearms - Give everything a clean and polish - Take approval shots

I’ll give it a shot man, cheers! From memory I was hesitant to remove any more material off the bottom of the ears as there just didn’t seem to be enough of it! Of course I 100% admit to making many mistakes when I first trimmed this. So now (with what I feel is greater knowledge, and dare I say skill) I’m just trying to make things as right as I can

I did a little tinkering with the bucket today. The brow has always bugged me as it was a bit too high for my liking. Pulling the ears off revealed the lovely Swiss cheese impression I made back in the day, and no, I’m not sharing a pic of that. But here is a slowly lower brow... It was a good opportunity to TRY and get the ears positioned a little better. The hardest part was trying to avoid revealing the aforementioned cheese holes! I’m somewhat happy with the improvements. Getting the screws perfectly aligned with the traps was impossible but it’s a bit better. The screw hole markings in the pull (from where they were on the original screen used bucket) aren’t all that perfect. [EDIT: I’m not complaining about this. I love the RS kit!] (I still need to fix that wonkiness at the bottom there) I don’t know, I guess this is better. One thing is for sure, I have a much better understanding of how I should construct my next TK bucket. Mistakes were made!

So last night I went and made a bunch of double snap plates out of webbing material. I figured using the webbing would help the plates align with the curvature of the armour for a better bond. I used this technique in my Shoretrooper and not one has come off yet. I was considering not even using two snaps and just going singular as I’ve never had one pop over accidentally either but seeing as I had them available, why not?! The two snaps could have been closer together it’s true but that’s alright. (this isn’t quite all of them, just a sampling for you fine peoples) Then it was a case of glueing them down and being careful to align them with their counterpart on the other armour plates. They may not looked aligned here but when you take into about the curve of the plates etc they do actually line up. (Almost a bit of an optical illusion here, the snaps are on the inside of the armour plates I assure you!) Not pictured above is the chest piece. I still need to work out exactly where to position that as there will be more of an overlap. Will need the assistance of a fellow FISD member from up the road for that one! While the glue was curing I began work on the connections themselves with the female parts of the snaps. Because I still need to work out the exact distance I need between the plates to fit me, I only cut, sewed and set the snaps on one side leaving plenty of material to complete the other side later. (Yes, my sewing machine skills aren’t the best. These will be functional even if they are not the neatest!) So now I think I’m at the point where I can’t really do much else on my own! I do need to affix the hand plates to the chemical gloves better though as they appear to have come loose over time. Getting close!

It’s actually funny you should point this out. I’ve long suspected I’ve positioned these incorrectly and just tonight I’ve begun replacing these with snaps instead. I’m leaving the screws in place but have removed all the brackets. Lots of snap setting occurred!

Thanks gents. Not the longest build ever but certainly up there! With the bushfire smoke being so bad outside here lately it’s good to have something to work on to keep busy. Really trying not to rush things but aiming to be finished before going back to work!

Only a small update today but it’s something that I’ve been fretting a little about, mainly because of the shimming issue. But I don’t think it’s actually going to be an issue after all. Phew! Split rivets and webbing are installed on the left side of the ab and kidney plates. It may look a little wonky here but I was trying to hold it in place on the other side and take a picture at the same time. There was some weird contortion going on It is tight but not not uncomfortably so. Plus I was wearing normal clothes and not the proper undersuit. I will need to do some minor trimming and tidying up but that was expected and planned for. I don’t plan to paint these or re-attach the ab buttons until everything else is done. On the other side I also installed the Han Snap in the top corner. But that’s a boring picture.

Nothing wrong with a little OCD! Or, as I prefer to call it, CDO... I really did want to trim it down further

It’s still on the GML forums for review mate. Hopefully not too much longer.

I realised my ab button plates were probably a touch too big so I’ve trimmed them back. A little more tidying up and I’ll re-attach them. I also went a took a little more off of the return edges on the ab and kidney plates. I really didn’t need as much as I had. It’s starting to look like I may not need to shim after all. Not sure if it’s the reduced return edges or the running I’ve been doing (when I can; the bushfire smoke is terrible here in Canberra. Need to pick my times carefully. We’re safe here for now for anyone wondering) but I think I’ll get a close enough fit at least for L2 should I go for it. So that’s some good news.

I did make up a test piece of two PVC off cuts glued together with a backing piece of ABS. Then I filled the very small seam with ABS Paste. Once set I had a quick and rough go at sandin it back. It wasn’t a great result but I did learn a few things. I had put two strips of painters tape down on either side of the seam which the thought that it would keep the paste contained to a small area. Less spread of the paste meant less area to sand? Not a great idea as it turns out. I couldn’t peel the tape off as there was overlap of set paste. Sanding with the the tape in place meant that blue was spread over the piece and kind of dyed the seam area leaving a pretty messy blue line! So.... I’d need to keep the area super clean. Don’t use tape. Only use fresh and clean sanding blocks/paper. Need some polish like Novus or similar. But it may be possible? I’ll try again another time.

Thanks for the kind words and the pointers! I must admit at the time of building the bucket I had no idea about the ear screws lining up with the angle of the trap. In fact I only came across this detail a couple of days ago and realised I wasn’t very close. I’m certainly going to try fix mine at some stage but unsure how I will go! As to the Centurion thing... Well I’ve tried to build everything as close as I can to the L3 requirements, because why wouldn’t you try to make things as accurate as possible right? My main concern is the ab to kidney connection however. I’m not a huge guy but those original kits were made for someone slimmer than I! And this being a PVC kit I’m unsure if I can shim to the required quality. It won’t need much shimming but definitely some. Obviously “PVC-paste” is out (or is it? Acetone won’t melt PVC but is there an alternative?) but I have made up some ABS paste ready to go. I‘m not sure if I can use that and make the connection good enough. I REALLY don’t want to paint this kit as the finish is so nice! Anyhow that’s where I’m at with that

Hi Jared, So the Incinerator is based on ROTJ style armour. Regular ANH/ESB armour can often be modified to give the appearance of ROTJ armour I believe so I would suggest checking out this thread to begin with this. But be aware that separate butt and kidney plates are not allowed for this costume. I believe WTF: Walt’s Trooper Factory on Facebook makes his kits with the two plates connected, others could chime in here if I’m incorrect. A good option though would be to go straight for ROTJ armour. This is where CFO (Cast From Original) could be a good match for you. They can be found on FB also. For the boots I would say try Imperial Boots. For all the other bits and pieces there are lots of sales threads here or at places like Trooperbay. I hope this helps!

Thanks buddy

It’s time for the belt boxes. I’m following a Billgram for these of course. I figured I'd try to make these as accurate as I could. And from the front they sit quite nicely. I will still go and add small amounts of glue so the elastic doesn’t move out of place but that’s a later job. That's me up to date as of 30/12/19.

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19. A quick test of the thighs, shins and boots for the first time. It’s a mirror shot so everything is backwards of course. I'll need to tinker with the strapping etc. Wish I wasn't this tall. I'm only 6'1" but these kits were designed for a person of a slightly shorter stature! Looks a bit weird without the rest of the armour, belt, boxes etc on. I just didn't want you all seeing me in my undersuit I think things are on track! For the thighs I used wide black elastic and a waist belt but I think I'll go back and put some kind of adjustable strapping in place instead. I fear the elastic will stretch over time and I'll have wonky thighs.

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19. The other rear shin coverstrip has been glued on and is curing, no need for a pic of that. Time to cut out the ammo belt buttons. But herein lays a small problem. Remember when I said my original plan was to do a Heavy Weapons Trooper? Well, back then in my... let’s call it “wisdom” I had the idea of attaching the hard ammo belt to the canvas belt using snaps. That way I could switch out the canvas belts to suit the armour. A bit untidy but it held firm and seemed to do the trick. Except... I now can’t get the button covers to sit flush. Insert montage of lots of stuffing around removing the snaps without damaging the plastic. And now I'll use rivets and washers as I should have done in the first place. The marks will luckily be covered up. And finally time to glue the covers into place... The canvas belt will need some trimming and re-sewing the velcro but I wanted to get everything set in place so I can get the length exactly right.

Posted on SCG forums on 29/12/19. The sniper knee plate seems to have turned out ok. There’s a bit of a gap underneath but there just didn’t seem to be any other way to align it. For this shin I just need to glue on the rear coverstrip today. The other shin has its rear coverstrip on now. Next is to get the velcro in place and give it a bit of a sand and tidy up around the ankles. From here the only things yet to trim are the shoulder bells (which I won’t do until nearer the end so I get them right) and the three buttons on the belt! Strapping is going to be fun....