Cricket

That's a butt joint, not overlap. My pic is cruddy, sorry. New phone.

This S trim is smaller than what ATA and RS have, but it works well. US company, and they ship fast. ----------

Actually, the 20mm magnets aren't too wide at all. I built my tiny forearms using 20mm magnets and had no issues whatsoever. They work just fine inside and out. Here's a pic of them on the 15mm strip: That said, it never hurts to have as many magnets as possible for your build, whether it's 15mm, 20mm, rectangles, or whatever.

You've made a great start! You'll be a trooper before you know it. Keep up the good work!

Hey, The Dude abides. If you're going to trim the thighs at the butt plate, be sure to trim conservatively. I put on the thighs and torso armor and walked around in front of a mirror for this part. I used a pencil to mark where the two pieces would barely hit, and used that as my 'trim line'. Then I tried it all on again and repeated the process until they fit the way I wanted them to (this took a long time for me!). Try to remember to leave a little extra so you can rebuild the return. Depending on how much or how little you need to reduce on the thigh, you might not even need to cut anything. You might instead use the heat sealing iron to reduce the length of the thigh and create a new return at the same time (that's what I ended up doing on parts of the thigh). There's no shame in cutting out the backs of the shins and thighs. Start with the shins and see how that works for you. Add the thighs if you need to. I personally prefer an "as above-so below" symmetry on the backs of the legs. It would seem a little off to me if the shins were cut out, and the thighs weren't. But it's all personal preference, so do what works best for and is aesthetically pleasing to you!

Looks good so far- you're on your way! I can see that you've got some overlap going on in the back while standing. This will only get worse when walking. See how this guy has his thigh fully extended back as he walks? His armor still has a teeny tiny gap between the thigh and butt plate. You've got three options here: 1. trim more at the top back of the thigh where it's overlapping (don't trim any more from the front) 2. trim around the edges of the butt plate where the thigh hits it 3. split the difference between the two and trim a little off of both. Regarding walking, blowing out the backs is a good idea and allows for better mobility. I would try that first. Can you adjust the thighs up any further? It will leave a little more room at the knees and still look good. And yes, a bigger gap at the hips allows for easier mobility on stairs. However (as I've been told by many troopers), if you're going for a screen-accurate look, then you won't necessarily be able to navigate stairs easily. I think it comes down to a personal preference because thigh/cod gap isn't really looked at all too closely for EIB and Centurion. Oh, and happy birthday! That cake is fabulous!

I bought a slew of 20mm x 5mm round n50 magnets over on ebay. You can usually find them priced out at about a dollar or less shipped (depending on how many you buy- and you can never have too many on hand!).

Hey Richard, I'm pretty sure that Jorge has a tabbed shim of sorts there on the right hand side. It's white and blends in. It prevents shifting of the ab plate and kidney. In the pic it kind of looks like a kidney notch, but it's not.

The big part of my first build is over, which has left me to cleaning up things in the office where I work on Star Warsing. Looking around at my now-clean space, I realized that I own two e-11 blasters. One is a Hyperfirm, because... well... ya gotta own one, right? Indestructible. The other is a Hasbro conversion with Hyperdyne labs electronics upgrade, because... well... pewpewpew! I love my blasters, and it seemed like such a shame to keep them laying on my shelves. They deserve to be shown off. The only place I have in my house to show off my Star Wars stuff is in my office, and I don't have much extra room in here to display things out properly. The shelves are full of books and building materials. I have three desks- one is for my computer stuff, the other two are my work stations. I saw that many of you troopers mount your blasters to your walls, and I thought, "Well, it's time." I picked up two sets of J hooks on Amazon last week, and I'm thrilled with them! I've now got "Blaster Art". The hooks aren't so big that they overwhelm the blaster on the wall and are very heavy duty. In the photo above, I have my Hyperfirm displayed between shelves of a tall heavy-duty wire rack system. The Hasbro e-11 will be going up on my office wall as well once I've finished with the scope rail mods on it. I'll most likely pick up another set when I finish my Jawa ion blaster so I can put that on display. (The T-21 I have in the works will probably need bigger hooks, though!)

Congrats! Take pics while you are there!!!

Thanks, Jorge! Can't wait to get it dirty.

Thanks Rebecca!

Thank you so much! Can't wait to see your build.

Congrats, Cameron!

Thank you! I picked up the decals from Trooperbay.

Thanks for all the congrats, troopers! This is so awesome to be able to share it with y'all, because without YOU, my armor would still be in its uncut state in a box on the floor. Oh, and speaking of the state of my armor, my submission for Centurion is here.

TK-10401 Requesting ANH Stunt Centurion Status [RS] Name: Christine Lee 501st ID: TK-10401 FISD Forum Name: Cricket Garrison: Georgia Garrison EIB: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/40906-tk-10401-requesting-anh-stunt-eib-status-rs-700/ Build: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38416-crickets-rs-stunt-build-for-the-vertically-challenged/ 501st Member Page: https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=23755 Height: 5’4” Weight: 108 lbs Armor: RS Prop Masters Helmet: RS Prop Masters E-11 Blaster: Hyperfirm Boots: TK Boots Canvas belt: Kittell Hand Plates: Trooperbay Electronics: Voicebooster, IComm, ixradio throat mic Neck Seal: Darman Holster: Trooperbay All areas needing attention (including the belt, sniper knee, and helmet) in my EIB application have been addressed. New photos showing corrections have been included below the full armor photos. Thank you for your consideration! *Corrected belt corners. Drop boxes lined up in new location to accommodate the smaller belt.* *Detail to show increased painted size of tears and traps.* *Detail to show new ear screw location and increased painted size of tears and traps.* Thank you for your time reviewing my application for Centurion!

I sent some more pics over to ukswrath of my sniper knee, because I didn't understand how it needed to be trimmed. Turns out that the knee is fine, no changes needed on that. All other suggestions for corrections have been finished. Just need to get pics of the fixed items, and Centurion here I come!

Oh, wow! Thank you!!!! Sending PM right now.

Christine Lee 10401 EIB letter Tony Thank you! http://www.whitearmor.net/eib/certificates/10401-eib.png

Wow, hey, I'm EIB #700! Woo hoo! In case anyone is still following along, here are the things that I need to improve on. They shouldn't affect my Centurion application, but I am going to fix them anyhow because, well... why not? I didn't document my helmet build really, so I haven't really had any feedback on it. Above you can see where I need to paint further out in the tears and traps. Easy fix. Next, we have an ear. I never noticed the placement on it before. While this isn't a major thing, you can see how it looks in a screen-accurate helmet. So I'll fix that, too. My sniper knee is recommended to be trimmed a little to line up with the armor (along green line). I'll take care of that one with a quick trim. Aaand the belt. From my EIB review: "Waist belt ammo belt corners should be aligned with the cloth belt edge. In your case we're not sure what can be done without damaging the ammo belt itself. If you can safely remove the mounting covers, move them back a little then re cut the belt this might help with the alignment. The accuracy of your armor is ultimately up to you the builder." Here's the reference photo: Sigh. How did I miss this?! I had read that I should cut in 10-12mm on the 45 degree angle. The only thing that's correct about that is the 45 degree angle thing. Dang it. So while this won't prevent me from achieving Centurion, it will be a little thing that will bug me if I don't fix it. I'll need to pop off the rivet covers and trim the belt in from the edges so that the angle ends at the belt edge. Shouldn't be too difficult, actually. I'm just annoyed that I missed this detail!!! Anyhow, I've now accomplished EIB, so I will celebrate before tackling the recommended improvements! Onward to Centurion!

Yay!!! Wow, I'm #700!!!! Thank you Tony for reviewing my application. I really appreciate the additional tips to improve my armor. I never even noticed the ear screw placement, and I will address that! I will also get to fixing the paint on the tears and traps for the next level. I also didn't know about the belt corners. Just when I thought I was paying attention to detail of the build, I totally missed that one. Gah! (I had read about them needing to be cut 10-12mm in on the 45 degree angle.) That's what I get for following measurements and not sizes specific to my build! I can totally fix this, though- it won't be all that difficult, actually. I'll be sure to take new pics for Centurion. Once again, thank you!!!!!

This happened to me on my RS lid- I installed the screw too close to where the S trim needed to be, and the S trim wouldn't fit. Gah! So, yes, remove the screw and repair the hole with some ABS paste. Don't worry too much about getting the repair perfect because it'll be covered by the S trim anyways. I would test fit the S trim on the helmet before installing a new screw. Tape down the ear at the cheek if you need to secure it, and put the S trim on. Mark the edge of the trim with a pencil and remove the trim. You should now have a good idea of where you should install your screw. Hope this helps!

You'll need solid head rivets for the thigh ammo pack. I used cap head rivets, which look the same inside and out. I'm guessing that you could probably use split rivets. I'm fairly sure I've seen them used in other builds. Maybe someone else could chime in on this. Regarding locations of the rivets, you kind of want it in the upper corner of the ammo pack. It's all approximate and based on how the thigh is fitted. I would take a good look through the Centurion threads to get an idea of where to put it. That's what I ended up doing. Keep up the good work!

Well, look at you free-handing those new returns with a heat sealing iron! Nice work, Frank! Looks great. And for bonus points with an extra challenge, do you plan on rebuilding the overtrimmed notch on the left thigh? Now for the big question: how do they fit with the rest of the armor on? I ask because I trimmed and made the new returns and all... then once I tried on the torso pieces and shins with them, I found that I needed to make even more changes to the thigh shape. Which meant I had spent all that time making new returns only to have to work to make them all over again. Hoping you don't have to do the same!