Cricket

Stirrups. Velcro stirrups. Make some. Easy, and your boots will thank you. The belt. Industrial velcro works great to keep the belt up in the front. I have just a small bit of velcro on the front of the ab, and also one piece on each side of the kidney in the back. It helps to keep the belt from sliding around in the back, too. The cod. Yep, it was looking a little long to me (ah... well, that was awkward...), so you may want to consider cutting it to bring things up. Go conservative on it just to be on the safe side. Measure how much space you have between the inside edge of the cod and your family jewels to get a better idea of how much to cut. There shouldn't be too much of a gap in there- maybe just an inch or so. Don't trim/adjust any more off the tops of the thighs until you get the cod fitting correctly. Thanks for the kind words about our Halloween setup! This year's display is bigger and more elaborate than years before. Took this pic last night. Blurry because it's a cell pic, and my camera freaked out because of all the differences in colors and light. Can't get everything in one shot because we have too much stuff!

Should be an easy journey for you!

You're looking great, Stephen! Sorry I haven't been able to comment lately. Up to my eyeballs in Halloween right now and rarely on the computer. Just a few things I see that might need adjustment (although you may already be aware of these): Your greaves are riding up and over your boots. If they're doing this just during your photo session, they will absolutely give you issues while trooping. Have you made stirrups yet? (I might have missed that post if you have) Your belt is sitting too low in the front. While I know you don't have your ab buttons installed just yet, the belt should just touch the bottom of the blue button or box. Your right thigh is missing the ammo pack (I'm sure you know this). It's also rotated outwards, with the center seam not lining up with the seam on the front of the shin. Do you have any foam in there to reduce this? So glad to see all your progress! Almost there!!!

Great job, Daniel!!!! Looks outstanding. Congrats!

It's awesome that you're getting this together so quickly, and doing such a great job while at it. WTG!

Wow, great progress! So the torso fits you without trimming? So lucky!!!

Great job with those magnetic shins, Stephen! They look like they turned out quite nicely. I've talked to a few other TKs who have tried to convert their shins to magnetic closures, but ultimately give up because they just can't make it work after a few attempts. It takes a lot of time, patience, and perserverance to succeed with this little mod. Way to go!!!

The armor is great, but I'm checking out your workshop and I'm totally green with envy. So much space and so clean!!! My workshop looks like Scarif right now, just less sand and less water. Pieces of Halloween stuff everywhere (yep, body parts, too.).

While reading though a build thread may be helpful to most, I thought it might be equally helpful to share a little illustration I made showing approximately where I cut my kit to fit my 5'4", 110lb. frame. The red lines are roughly where I made the trims. These lines show reductions in the kit size for height, not necessarily width (I made many cuts for width as well, but those cuts were typical for fitting a TK of any height). Cutting in these areas will still keep your TK within Centurion guidelines. Remember to always trim less than you think you'll need to, and try the pieces on frequently as you go to ensure a good fit.

Congrats! Can't wait to see you get it all together! Woo!

A short video (no pun intended) from a children's hospital troop from a few weeks ago to show you other things that short troopers can do... we still can't hit anything with any degree of accuracy, just like the bigger troopers! But we can bounce Death Star-like balls, so at least we've got that going for us, which is nice. (click on the image to get to the video)

Thanks for passing that info along, Sean. Troopers helping troopers!

Would also know how to fix the Unit Affiliation in the 501st Database. It shows me as Retired in the FISD, and I'm not even close to that.

Okay, so I was able to get out of there by opening the Developer Tools on Chrome and taking a look at the footer in the code. I found a workable link in there and got my themes back on track. Still, the style sheet is clearly broken on it. Just a heads up for now. I'm sure you guys will get it fixed sooner or later! And for me, I'm not messing around with themes anymore.

Hey Tech Team of the FISD, I was playing around switching themes, and now I'm having a problem. I switched to the IPS Theme, and didn't like it at all. Links all show up as white against a white background, so I tried to change it. Unfortunately, even though I can see the link to change it, the link doesn't work. Pic below shows what I see: I have to "Select All" in order to read what the topics are. The biggest problem is when I click on Theme (with the drop down arrow), nothing happens. None of these are links now. So I can't change out of it. Before I got stuck in this theme, it was easy to change the themes around. It's like I'm in some no man's land of IPS Theme Abyss now. I've cleared my cache and cookies, but all that does is sign me out. When I sign back in, it uses this horrible IPS Theme. I think IPS is short for "Is Piece of Sh!t". Can you guys fix this so I can change back to a usable theme? Thanks!

Being all of 5'7" in armor, I've heard the "short for a trooper" line many times now. My comebacks depend on the troop, really. I've done the following in response to the line: staring silently until they walk away "Shhhh! (then taking them aside, whispering loudly) I'm with the Rebellion, and you're gonna blow my cover!" (said very, very seriously) "The Empire is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against height." "I was crushed in the trash compactor last week and am still recovering." "But I make Lord Vader look tall. He appreciates that." I'm sure that I'll come up with others the more I troop. I didn't think I'd enjoy being on the short side for trooping, but I've really had fun with it!

Alas, nothing lately. I was a passenger in a 3 car accident recently (hit by some idiot driving while on their phone!) and ended up with a nasty concussion on my forehead. I had planned on getting work done last week, but I couldn't focus very well on anything requiring concentration on details. It'll be at least a few more weeks while my brain recovers.

I am grateful and proud. Because without everyone’s help here, my Centurion level TK would still be in pieces in a box.

Thanks for that, Jim! I actually prefer trooping with the rubber gloves over the Nomex gloves, regardless of accuracy. I wear silk liners with them, and they are incredibly comfortable. I've trooped in 90+ degree temps with 80% humidity for 2+ hours at a time (life in the South, gotta love it...), and I've never had issues with them. So for me, ditching the rubber gloves isn't an option I'd like to consider at this point.

I had a major test of my holster last weekend while at a Night at the Museum troop. Hundreds of kids at the event, and I had to sign autographs. This wouldn't be a problem for those sans blaster, but as some of you who've followed me know, I love to carry my blaster while trooping. And since I don't have a third arm, I knew that the troop might be a challenge. Turns out, everything went perfectly! I was able to holster and unholster my blaster quickly, easily, and frequently during the troop. I'm left handed, and I hold my blaster in my left hand, so being able to pose for pics with the blaster, then quickly put away the blaster for an autograph was awesome. A product that has also helped me with this is a spray holster lubricant. It really makes a difference with ease of blaster holstering/removal! Oh, and the 8oz leather holster is a huge improvement over the 4oz leather holster. For those of you who are on the fence about which type of holster to choose, spend the few extra bucks and get the 8oz holster. I've got a handguard question! I have rubber gloves with the flexible handguards that are painted white. After 6 troops now, I'm noticing that the handguards are peeling quite a bit near the wrists due to the forearm armor rubbing against it (which was expected). I want to repair the handguard paint, but the paint I use (Speedball screen printing ink) requires that I put things into the oven to bake the paint for several minutes. Does anyone know if the rubber gloves can withstand a 275 degree oven for 8 minutes? Or should I spot cure the paint with a heat gun? Or should I just remove the handguards entirely, bake 'em, and put them on a new pair of rubber gloves?

Nice job on those ears, Frank! Maybe it's the angle of the pics, but the faceplate looks positioned a little 'flat' to me. Like it's too smushed in there. Here's a comparison pic so you can see what I'm talking about: If you're able to bring the faceplate out a bit, it will allow for some extra room in there for your kiddo's noggin. Just a suggestion, of course!

In general, helmets are assembled all in the same manner. Here are some reference pics for ya! Shows where the rivets are installed. Holes are where the screws for the ears go. My RS helmet has some extra holes under my ears because I made adjustments after initial assembly. As long as they are covered by the ear caps, extra holes don't really matter much. I don't use the chin strap, and I haven't met anyone who does. My helmet padding is snug enough on my head that it's not necessary. That said, I'm sure that some use it and swear by it. Maybe they can chime in?

Good job! I bought mine last year from Blue Snaggletooth.

Here's mine!

Blue tape. Make sure you buy more than you think you'll need, then double that. Good to wait until you've got your all of your properly-fitting under garments and boots first. It's a waste of time to get the edges all nice, smooth, and properly fitting together only to discover that you need to cut it all down anyways. Ask me how I know.