Cricket

Oh, and if you have the means, a Dremel can do wonders with cutting/trimming/sanding your armor. I removed all the teeth from my face plate with a Dremel sanding drum- quick and easy.

Hey Jeff! Congrats on beginning your build! I might have missed it, but who made your armor? Also, I can't see any of your pics. Is it just me? Would love to see them! There are many vertically challenged troopers out there (myself included at 5'4" and 110lbs!), and we can all tell you that sizing down a kit to fit well is possible! Nice thing is that we end up with lots of extra material for ABS paste (always good to have on hand, ask me how I know...). Others are correct about how the armor should feel when it's on. Not too loose, not too tight. If you're smaller in the middle, you can add foam to bulk things up (along the back and kidney are common). You'll see as you fit your armor what looks proportional to your body. Study the screen grabs of troopers to get an idea of how it's all supposed to look. This one is one of my favorites: My thighs were the most challenging to fit because they were so large to begin with. I have about 1/2" of room all around on them, and they don't wobble or rattle too much. As always, be sure to wear your undersuit when sizing your armor! Everything fits much differently with the undersuit on. Looking forward to seeing your build!

Hey, cool! Yes, very proud. One tip, please don't attempt to install these until you've fitted your shins perfectly to your legs. Once you've made the cuts for the magnets to fit, that's it- future sizing will be super difficult after that point. Before installation, you'll need your shins to not only fit, but to meet together at the back nicely. It took a hot water bath to do it, but here's how mine looked right before adding the magnets: My goal was to make sure the tops lined up and they closed on their own without any assistance, and I think I achieved that. The awkward cuts were not the fault of the RS armor. That was entirely user error. These cuts could have been made much more straight if I had known what I was doing in the first place. I know now to always clamp a ruler to your shins while cutting if you want straight cuts. Good to hear that the greave trimming is coming along! My greaves did not arrive to me in perfect alignment at the back, either. I had to do a lot of fine tuning to get them just right. I ended up cutting them at an angle, kind of like a pie wedge, so that the ankles were tapered in more than the tops. Here's an example of how my cuts went on my shins (it's a thigh, but the same principals apply): Keep up the good work, Stephen! You're on the right track!

Cutting the cod seems really scary, but it's not! You'll wonder why you feared doing it once it's done. The most difficult part is trying to figure out how much to bring the cod up. Reading other threads, I learned that the cod should be fairly close in to your nether region. I measured the gap between the cod and my bits, and used that measurement as the amount that I needed to move the cod up. Once it's been moved up, you'll find that it's much easier to walk around without all that extra junk out there. At least it was for me. haha... Yep, inner cover strips on everything for me first. It adds strength and is less prone to shifting on the parts while sizing. (Especially when shaping things in hot water baths!) So for the greaves, I cut them all down when fitting, including the inner cover strips. Here's what one of my shins looked like during fitting of my RS kit with just the inner cover strips installed. (Apologies for the lousy vertical cut on this. Ugh!) Then once the whole kit is sized to fit, I add the outer cover strips as a final step. This way, I can ensure that the cover strips I install are the correct size. I wouldn't want to install the outer cover strips first because I like to include the little corner details to the cover strips. Installing the outer cover strips first would mean that those details would get removed if/when I needed to shorten things during final adjustments. If you're a screen-accurate purist, you could always install inner cover strips first, then once you're done with the build, they could all be removed.

That's difficult to say. I'm having a tough time trying to figure this out... So you trimmed the backs to fit? And the result was that the trims ended up slanted like they are now? Or that you haven't trimmed yet and this is how they arrived to you? If you haven't trimmed yet, then it will be an easy fix. If you have, then, er... I guess I wasn't clear on what I was trying to convey. The highest part of the greave should just touch the bottom of your kneecap when your leg is fully extended. Let me know if you need additional parameters on it, and I'll get them to ya. Oh, absolutely that should be more than sufficient! I only use 10 of the 12mm magnets on each greave (5 on each side), and they've held up perfectly during troops. Be sure to read through the original tutorial on this. I printed it out and referred to it a lot. They don't do the magnet-to-magnet closure like I did, but the beginning process is the same. BTW, love the additional pics you include of your adventures when not Star Warsing!

Have you considered contacting Rob over at RS for a replacement shin? I had several pieces replaced due to major cutting mistakes I made... and they didn't charge me for them- not even to ship. Just something to consider because he's so close to you. They've always come through to help me out when I needed it. Looking forward to seeing your work! Remember that hot water baths are friendly to your plastic. I boiled up two HUGE pots of water and dumped them in my kitchen sink in order to reshape my kidney and butt plates (same for bringing in the sides of the chest, and reshaping all the limb pieces, too). The boiling water will stay hot enough to soften your plastic for about 5 minutes or so, and a kitchen sink usually is big enough for the job. I know this question was directed at Frank, but I'll chime in anyhow. So, yes, strapping the torso together first is a very good idea before doing any more cuts/trims. You'll get a good sense about what's not fitting right when it's strapped together. I think I strapped and unstrapped my torso almost a dozen times during my fitting phase. It's a hassle, but well worth it. I had the same kind of question about the greaves. Addertime advised me that, "On my shins, the return edge on the top of the shin sits right at the base of the patella when my knee is locked." And I confirmed with him that the tops of the shins should rest just at the bottom of the knee caps (because I don't do fancy anatomy-speak). Does that help? And about uploading your pics... where do you have them hosted? The new forums allow 'smart' photo link pasting. You paste the link of your hosted image in the post, and it automatically converts it into an image on the page. Sweet!

Okay, time to slice up some cod, shall we? If you're short like me, you will most likely need to do this to your armor if you want it to be comfortable (and look good, too!). It's not as scary as it looks. It helps to: 1. bring the cod closer in to your respective bits and pieces 2. reduce the height of the ab Do not, I repeat do NOT cut your ab before cutting your cod! You may end up cutting off too much of the top of the ab, which will result in your ab constantly popping out from beneath your chest (not a good look at all). Cut your cod first, then check how your ab and chest are doing. You may not even need to remove anything from the top of the ab once your cod has been cut down. First, line up your ruler to the width you want and clamp it. For me, the width of the ruler is perfect. Next, trace your line. Line traced should look something like this. Using your cutting implement of choice, slice that cod! I then cover the inside lower part of the ab and top part of the cod with ABS paste, and stick them back together. I made sure to cover the seam with extra ABS paste for strength. It all gets taped up, clamped, and given some quiet recovery time while it heals from surgery. So you can see how much of a difference the cod cut can make, here's a set of before and after shots. I still may end up taking a little off the top of my ab, but it won't be much. The center box on the ab was too high before, and it's now in the correct position relative to my frame. I still have some cutting to do along the hip area, but that'll happen later on while fitting. As you can see, a quick and easy cut can really make a big difference in how the armor will fit you. So to all of you vertically challenged wannabe troopers out there, don't fear the cod cut!

Hey Frank, so are you ready to build another one? haha.... The WTF kit is definitely smaller than the RS. I don't think I'll be doing as much bending, shaping, and trimming as I did with my RS kit. The shoulder bells on the WTF kit are much smaller than the RS ones- I'm thrilled about that! And the helmet is smaller too. I prefer a smaller lid just because I'm smaller. The WTF plastic is a brighter white than the RS. I actually prefer the off-white color now. Still, the bright white is easier to match with other armor makers for replacement parts than the off-white, so that's nice. Walt has been fantastic with his customer service. He and Rocky are very quick to respond to questions and resolve issues. The fact that WTF is based here in the US gives me peace of mind that if I need a replacement part, I'll easily be able to get it. Now, not to knock the WTF armor, but comparing it to the RS armor, my RS plastic definitely has better quality to it. As I am putting pieces together with the WTF, I'm seeing a lot of "orange peel" pores on the outside of the armor (namely the forearms, biceps, and shins) that I'm not very happy with, but it's not a deal-breaker. You usually see that on the inside of the plastic instead. RS pieces were all consistently smooth on the outside (organic lumps and bumps from the original kit notwithstanding). At the end of the day, if RS had made a Hero kit, I would have picked up the RS kit first. The WTF Hero is a very good kit, though. I can't wait to get more of it assembled!

Chugging right along now... Decided to trim the ammo pack for the thigh. Not totally difficult. Just line up the ruler, clamp it down, then score lightly several times with the exacto knife along the ruler. I cut off just enough to get rid of those bumpy areas on either side of the boxes. Then snap. I like using my clamp to snap off ABS because it's easy to use, and it doesn't leave a mark. One side done. And both sides complete. My ab accessory parts all arrived on one big piece of thick ABS. I used my exacto knife to freehand score around them, and snapped them off. I'll sand down the edges later. Before trimming the drop boxes, this is what they look like. More freehand scoring and snapping, and they were free. Fair enough to say that I have a lot of extra ABS scraps now. I haven't even begun the fitting part of this build yet, but I have plenty to make ABS paste if/when I need it. This is a forearm. Just wanted to remind y'all that the tops of the forearms should match. There is detail at the top that you don't want to cut away when sizing. So when sizing the length of the forearms, match at the tops, cut at the wrists. I'll wait a few days for the e6000 to fully cure on my assembled pieces before getting to the hard work of sizing it all down and rebuilding the returns on the butt plate and bottom of the kidney. But here's the kit as it stands now. For those of you who are eagle-eyed, you may have noticed that I have three forearms in there. That's no mistake. I have an extra left forearm (and extra left shoulder bell) for the Luke version of this kit. I'll wear the right forearm until I earn Centurion on this, but then after, both forearms will be left forearms.

You've got this, Frank! Good luck!

Keep the acetone away from your plastic. Unless you want a bunch of warped melty armor. Maybe some patient sanding with fine grit sandpaper, then polish?

About the glue mess on the bicep, that's e6000, right? If so, just rub it off with your fingers. It comes off with little effort most times. The shins should always be left open in the back. Don't glue them shut or else you won't be able to get your leg in there! You can go with screen-authentic elastics/hooks, velcro, or (my personal fave) magnets. Your choice. None of the closure methods will affect the higher level approvals here.

I'll be getting to those forearms soon. Best course of action on the forearms is to keep the top ridge butt joint total a little over 15mm so you'll have a uniformity for the 15mm cover strips. All the modifications to size down the forearms width-wise should happen on the other (back) side at the butt joint. ***edit*** There is debate about how the sides of the WTF shins go together. It seems like the long pieces and the short pieces actually are supposed to be paired together, not long/short, long/short. ************

Congrats and welcome! Building a TK is fun and challenging, and it seems that you're up for it! I'm also building a WTF kit, and it comes with its own set of quirks. I'm discovering them as I build. Looking forward to seeing your custom leather additions to your kit!

Germain, yep, that's exactly what my son did with the box! Taking a break from making cover strips, I decided that the next easiest thing for this short TK to build would be some shins. Actually, any arm or leg part will do at this point. I don't intend on fitting them to me right now, just assembling them. Make sense? I grabbed all four shin pieces and gave them a good once-over. The WTF shins are different from the RS Props shins, so I had to figure out what part went with what part. In the pic below, you can see how the left half is longer than the right half. In the next pic, you can see how the halves are roughly the same length. They fit together end-to-end nicely, and the other halves do the same. Now that the correct halves have been identified, let's cut! The fronts of all limb pieces should be assembled first because their size is constant no matter what size you are. For the shins, I'll be using a 20mm cover strip to cover the butt joint. I don't want the cover strip to completely cover the side ridges, though. I decided to measure 12mm from the narrowest part of the raised center ridge of the shin. This should leave 2mm on each side of the cover strip at the narrowest part of the front ridge of the shin. Then I clamped a ruler to the shin and made sure that the ruler was straight. I scored a bunch of times along the ruler with an exacto knife to make my straight cut. Then snap! I did this with both halves. Here you can see how straight my cuts turned out. Much better than my very first pair of shins! Since I like to add my inner cover strips first, I taped the butt joint together from the outside. This not only keeps the seam straight and tight together, but it also keeps the e6000 from making a mess on the outside. You can see how well it all fits together in there. Liberal application of e6000 to the inner cover strip (made from scrap ABS) and let it sit out for a few minutes before application. It makes the glue a little more tacky and less prone to oozing around in there. Add lots of magnets to both sides and let it cure. With my last build, I fit each part to my body as I assembled each piece. Not this time. This round, I'll be assembling inner cover strips on the fixed front seams on all the limb parts before diving into the fitting part of the build. The WTF armor is smaller than my RS armor, so it'll be interesting to see how much (or how little!) needs to be removed and reshaped. Oh, and I've already decided that I will be installing magnets on these shins as closures as well. The magnet method I used in my other TK works perfectly, and I've not had any issues whatsoever while trooping with them coming apart or anything. They're more work to install, but, man... totally worth it.

Just finished my MSE-6 Droid build, and I don't feel like sewing on my Jawa today, so I'm hopping back over to getting more plastic sliced and diced. I took all of the pieces out of the box and gave the box to my kids to play in. This kind of clutter pile makes me crazy, so this is my way to get working on this TK regularly now. When it's in a box, I just forget about it. In the middle of the floor, I'll feel compelled to work on it a little every day. Then I remembered that I need cover strips. Ah, thoooose... I remember cutting lots and lots of them from what seems like a very long time ago (just a few months, really). Not a fan of that part of the build. I like to add inner cover strips long before the outside cover strips. It allows for easier sizing (at least it does for me) while shaping the pieces to my small 5'4" frame. I add my outside cover strips once I'm finished with sizing everything down. I had to reference my previous build for cover strip sizes. Nice thing about having a prior build log is that it's easy to refer to things when you need them! Cover Strip Sizes Thighs (front and back)- 20mm Shins- 20mm Calves- 25mm Arms- 15mm I realized that I would need 16 strips total for the outer strips (so double that amount if you're cutting strips for the insides of the armor). The complete amount of ABS I need is 290mm wide, and 15 inches long. This would allow me the exact width of the pieces I need, plus some extra length to adjust for each piece. Walt included a lot of extra cover strip material for this. Here you can see the sheet included was well more than 290mm. And the length is well over 18 inches (the length of the ruler in the pic). I trimmed the length of the piece to 18 inches so I could make easy cuts. After about an hour of measure, mark, clamp, score, snap, repeat (16 times!), I ended up with this. That big piece on the right is the extra from this sheet. Oh, and did I mention this part...? Yeah, that is ALL the extra ABS Walt included with my kit! There's more than enough for my inner cover strips. Which is great, because I had to purchase extra ABS sheets on Amazon for the inner cover strips on my last build. Thank you, WTF!

Congrats, trooper!

Thanks for that vote of confidence, Daniel! I sure hope that I've been able to help others who want to wear the white armor, but thought they were too short to pull it off. Never too short to be a stormtrooper! Oh, hell yeah!!!!! Love it!

Oh, and another notable milestone since I began my TK journey here in the FISD... check out my Active Posts number: Woo!

Following along, Mandy! Very excited to see another petite TK build. Looks good so far, keep it up!

I wouldn't worry too much about the returns at the top of the thighs just yet. The only place where you can see the return is on the outside of the thigh and at the back. For comfort, you'll most likely want to completely remove the return from the front of the thigh (from about the middle of your thigh), all the way around to the inside of the thigh. Remember, none of those areas are visible. Take your time getting the thighs tailored. I advise working on them last. I mucked up my first pair of thighs by trimming the tops to where I thought would be the correct length before everything was done. Once I put them on with my torso, I discovered that they were way too short. On the second pair, I tried them on untrimmed first while wearing my completed torso. Using a pencil, I conservatively marked where the cod was overlapping the thigh and hitting the butt plate. I removed a little at a time (mark, remove thighs, trim, put thighs back on, mark, remove thighs, trim, etc) until the cod wasn't overlapping the thighs anymore. So you can see the difference in how thighs look when not trimmed exactly to the cod. The other troopers here have GREAT armor, I'm just using this so you can see differences side by side and make your own decision about how you want your thighs to look.

Hey Aleksi, Congrats on your RS kit! I'll also be following along as you build. We're all here to help. Hope you're shooting for Centurion! About those brackets, it's helpful to add some ABS reinforcement on the returns where you put the holes. The screw holes take a lot of stress, and reinforcing the returns from the beginning will save you time and effort repairing the cracks that will pop up. Ask me how I know. Looking forward to seeing your kit come together.

I wear 1.5" lifts in my boots while trooping. I'm 5'4", so I need all the height I can get. I ordered my boots one size larger than what I usually wear in order to accommodate the lifts, and they're quite comfortable. After several hours trooping, my feet don't hurt at all (but my lower back does!). I think that I'm almost 5'7" when fully kitted up with helmet now. You can't tell if someone is wearing the lifts from the outside because everything fits inside the boot. I ordered my lifts from Amazon (Kalevel Height Increase Insoles). I'm the first trooper from the right.