Cricket

haha! Yes, I will for now. I've emailed RS and asked to order another kidney. (wait, that sounds odd!) I figure that if it's taking me too much time to repair, then I will have the clean one as backup. My big mistake on altering the kidney was cutting both the top and bottom of it. Gah! I have no idea why I didn't just remove what I needed from the bottom. Most of the bottom is covered by the belt, and the top edge would have been fine. So a word of caution for those of you Vertically Challenged following this: be sure to remove from the bottom of the kidney only! Okay, here are the cringe-worthy pics. This is before I smoothed things with the heat sealing iron. And then once I smoothed some of it out with the iron this morning.... I taped the back together on my dressform (which is sized to my measurements): Closer view of the kidney. I don't want to take anything off the back piece, so that's safe. And I'm fine with the butt piece as it is because it won't be all that visible at the seam, and it's not too bad overall. It's just the kidney that's making my stomach turn.

It would be nice if I could swing dance in my TK when completed. Goals, right? Hey troopers, I'm needing some serious reassurance regarding recreating return edges. I've had to cut down my kidney and butt plate for size, and I recreated the edges, but.... everything looks so scary right now. I'm only 1/6 of the way to getting the butt and back plates to look nice, which is progress. (When I started, nothing looked right at all, and I was a complete wreck.) The curved edges are not easy to work with at all. Most of the returns look like they were subjected to some serious ion blasting. I used a heat gun on the low setting and covered areas that I didn't want to be affected by the heat. It's not that I overheated the plastic. The plastic would cool quickly as I was shaping it, and I couldn't get anything evened up before it solidified. I would post pics, but I can't seem to capture the full effect of how wonky the returns look now. Careful reheating with the heat sealing iron last night seemed to even one area out, which is why I didn't jump off the roof yesterday. The bottom center of the kidney now meets flat and flush with the center part of the butt plate, but the sides do not. That correction of the ABS took me almost an hour to do (again, progress!). I actually woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about different solutions to fix this. It took me almost two hours before I could go back to sleep. I think I'll be able to get more of the warpy areas tamed down today. If I can't, I think I can always bulk up dips with ABS paste, sand everything down smooth, and polish. If anything, my kit looks super screen authentic right now... some of the screen used kits I've seen have scary returns, too. haha.... Before I started this whole thing, I reviewed the return edge tutorial here, and looked at Pandatrooper's return edge videos here, but I've yet to find a good tutorial about how to get this nicely done on the big curvy parts. Any additional tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Looks great, Sarah! The only thing that may need to be looked into is the butt plate. It looks like it's tucked into your thigh in the back. Could be the angle of the shot, though. Good luck, trooper!

If you're still needing suggestions about what to use for edge cleanup, a fine paintbrush dipped in mineral spirits is my go-to tool. Keep an old towel handy to 'clean' the stuff you've removed off the brush. You can even use a fine eyeliner brush if you've got an old one laying around. I've heard that you can wash the neck seals in the gentle cycle in a small mesh bag. I haven't worn mine trooping around yet, but I'll most likely end up hand washing it in the sink and hanging it to dry.

Look what you've gotten me into... I've already been driving around town this morning looking for those stainless steel strips, and I can't find them anywhere locally. Or at least within 5 minutes drive of my house. (haha...) Found the strips and magnets (with holes as recommended) over at the Auction Site That Shall Not Be Named. I will keep you posted on the magnetic shin closures once I've got my supplies in hand. I may do a test run of this on the extra pair of shins that I removed too much of the top return on. Thanks! I plan on creating elastic stirrups for my shins that will fit into the boots. I think that'll keep everything in place fairly well.

Haha, Rich, while dancing would be fun in these, I wear 'em just because I like' em. They're Vans. I've got over a dozen pair in different colors. They're comfy!

OMG- this!!!! Jorge, you totally know me. I first saw your post on my phone, and looking at it on a tiny screen, I thought, "Ah... this looks a little scary." And now looking at it on my main computer, this looks awesome! I could totally do this. Thank you so much for that link!!!!

You've made amazing progress in such a short amount of time! I wish I could work as quickly as you have. Everything looks great so far. I'm finding that the build itself is an amazing journey, so don't forget to enjoy it! Great work!

Hey, you just reminded me of an idea I read about over at Diana's build thread... lookie here... You'll find it near the bottom of the post. She's got something rigged as exactly what you're talking about. I think this'll work for me. Maybe you as well?

Hey Emma, Your neck seal looks great! I have one of Darman's neck seals, too, and it's quite comfy. As for what you should work on next, I'd get to working on the shins. You'll eventually get to a place where you'll be waiting for glue to dry on the shins, and that's when you can trim your shoulder bells. That said, there's something very satisfying about working on the shoulder bells, because there's not much to do on them to make them look great.

Haha, I wish I could have! It wouldn't fit into the wrist of my armor, alas. Hey Frank, sorry I didn't make this clearer for you! I removed about 5mm of length first, then adjusted the width using blue tape. (Be sure the shins are sitting firmly onto the boots, and that you're wearing your undergear when fitting.) Mark your overlapping areas with a pencil while you still have them on- this is easier to do if you have an assistant who is sympathetic to the goals of the Empire. Every time you remove anything from the bottom, you'll need to pay attention to how the shin is tapered at the ankle and resize it. If you don't do this, you'll end up with a rather boxy looking shin. You'll want the seam on the calves to be somewhat symmetrical and lined up with the front seam of the shin. So even if you think you've got a good fit with it taped up, check how everything all lines up when it's off your leg. Mine were terribly lopsided at the seam on the calves when I first measured them to fit. I removed a bit of plastic from each side, not just the overlapping part. And that's how I proceeded. Remove 5mm from the bottom. Resize width with tape. Mark overlap. Remove shin. Reevaluate seam and adjust. Cut conservatively. Repeat. It's a tedious process, but I think if you're taking your time with it, you'll be very happy with the result. And speaking of results, I've got some new progress to share... Here's a shin comparison. Left shin is before any alterations in the length or width were done. Right shin is now Fun Sized to my 5'4" frame. And so you can see the width differences. Unaltered is on the left, Fun Size on the right. Once these fit me correctly, I found myself at the crossroads of Closures. Should I use velcro or go screen-authentic with bra hooks? Then I remembered something someone here in the FISD said about closing shins. That the bra hooks should secure the shin closed, but they shouldn't do it in a way that forces them to close. The pieces should fit together on their own. As I looked at my shins, I saw that there was a large gap between the halves, and that the pieces were nowhere near meeting without any force. In my case, these needed some serious Spa Time in order to look right. I put these through two spa soaks of boiling/hot water. I forgot to take a pic of these before the baths. But here is what they looked like after two soaks: See the tops of the shins? They're better than before, but I knew I could do better than that. It makes me crazy to see uneven shin tops in the back, I don't know why. I want them to meet perfectly lined up. So while I knew I could use velcro and get by with closing these to make it even at the top, I want the option to do the bra hook closure method, too. Which means I've got to get everything meeting up on its own. I boiled a large pot of water, threw on my chemical gloves, and reshaped these by hand. Here's the result! There is minimal strain on the shins around the ankles when I put them on over my boots. So if I choose to use bra hooks, I'm fairly certain that the cover strip will hide any gaps caused by forward movement and lifting of my heel. So now it's just to decide which closure method I should use. Pros Screen Authentic: flexible and comfortable, it's screen authentic, dammit Pros Velcro: snug, tight fit, less of a visual gap when seen from the opposite side, fairly easy to install Cons Screen Authentic: may unhook while trooping, holes may weaken and crack over time, bit of a visual gap when seen from opposite side, more work to install Cons Velcro: can pop open while trooping (I've seen this myself!) due to its lack of flexibility, it's not screen authentic Any troopers out there care to chime in about the pro/cons of these methods?

I plan on making some stirrups, so it's good to know that it's working well for you! You've got me nervous about sizing the thighs now. They are HUGE on me. I figured the biggest challenge would be with cutting the length down. I just planned on cutting off around the top and re-creating the returns... is there something more sinister about sizing the thighs? Any words of warning would be most appreciated. Thanks! Yeah, the backs are overlapping. Good eyes! I haven't cut the width down entirely yet. I needed to make sure that I had the length pretty much where I wanted it to be before tackling the rest of the width. I'm finding that it's a bit of a challenge to size the width because I keep having to contort myself to mark back there. Then once I remove it all and check my marks, I need to verify that it looks symmetrical to the front and that the seam is straight. It would be much easier if I had someone here to assist. My GML lives about 30 minutes away. I may end up taking some beer and Chik-Fil-A over to him to see if I can bribe some assistance if I'm getting nowhere on things. Good tips! So you think that a snug ankle with stirrups wouldn't necessarily be a good option? Or should it be tapered in, just not TOO tapered in? Thanks everyone for your feedback!!! Okay, so we were just talking about the rubber gloves recently, right? I made my way to Home Depot this morning because on their site it indicated that they had rubber gloves available in sizes Small/Medium. There were 25 in stock at my store. Yay! Well, not exactly. I spent thirty minutes looking for them. Even with assistance from two clerks at the store, no one could locate these gloves. Gah! So off to Walmart I went. I found these in the cleaning aisle. They are black, rubber, and they FIT, but have this really fabulous cuff that isn’t exactly Empire-approved. I figured that since they were only $2.49, I had nothing to lose. When I scanned them at checkout, they rang up as $0.50. Score! Once home, I removed the leopard cuff, and whaddya know…. they’re perfect with my TK! And they are more black than the neoprene ones sold at HD. The HD gloves are on the left with the handguards. The white part around the cuff is sewn on over the top of the rubber, and I will be removing it once I find my seam ripper. So glad to have an approvable pair of gloves that actually fit now. There were three more on the rack at Walmart, and I'm seriously considering going back to get them now.

Thanks for the arm/glove feedback! I've glued the shins on the front with a cover strip on the inside for now. I've trimmed a little more and taped it to fit. Feedback on the fit would be massively appreciated! The pics below show where the shin rests now. Is the space near the knee and shin okay? Or should I make it larger... or smaller? And this is how far I can bend my leg right now. If I make the area around the ankle a little looser, the shin sits naturally further down. I really like the tapered ankle look, though. I don't know if I should make the shin any shorter at this point. The shin is fairly comfortable to walk in, but will need to have the back cut out in order to make it up and down stairs without killing myself. Thanks for any feedback, y'all!

And like the squirrel with ADD I go... working on arms instead of shins. It's all progress, right? Does this arm look okay? I had the elastic on my shoulder attached on my back with painter's tape, which is why I'm holding my arm in a not-entirely-relaxed position. The shoulder bell kept wanting to slide off! When the shoulder bell was secure, the armor actually felt quite comfortable. No biting of any kind going on as I moved my arm around. My biggest grumble is with the latex gloves feeling a bit too big for me, but I'll live. I do believe that some TK wear aqua blue shoes when off-duty. This one does, at least.

Were you the other Death Trooper at Dragon Con with Charles?

Hahaha! Somehow, I think that the conversations about the boots would be much more interesting in a man's office rather than a woman's. Yeah, I was having some issues with them moving up as I was taking pics. I can now see why some people like to use the elastic stirrup method to keep the shins grounded! I will be moving along with these today by trimming about about 5mm, trying them on again, repeat trimming, etc... and see where that takes me. Something that other Vertically Challenged individuals may want to remember: as you trim the length, you also have to adjust the width each time you re-fit. And I have to trim off a lot. I wish it was as simple as just cutting off the ends and calling it a day. This adds an entirely unique challenge to those of us in closer proximity to the ground. Another lesson learned yesterday... I understand the need to wear my leggings when fitting now. My legs look like I was attacked by a rabid acklay.

That photo is beautiful! I hope my armor turns out just as nice as yours. Yes, I have my boots- complete with lifts inside. With my boots and helmet on, I grow from 5'4" to 5'7". I will probably be able to fit another 1/2" of lifts inside my boots once I've worn the boots for a bit. They're more comfortable than I expected them to be. So here's a pic of how the untrimmed shins currently fit me. They look more like GoGo boots at this point, which is not the look I'm aiming for. The tops of the shins completely cover my knees. Walking is a joke! So from what you're saying, the tops of the shins should rest just at the bottom of the knee caps, right?

Good advice, Michael! I haven't started on any of the body yet, so I'll hold off until then. For this build, I feel like a squirrel with ADD. Jumping from working on one part of the armor to another without much idea why. But progress is being made, just in little bits here and there. I'm sure that one day I'll look around and go, "I'm done. When did that happen?" I had actually completed assembling my right arm, but I didn't like how it looked when hanging straight down. I decided to rip out the glued in elastics at the bicep/forearm and try repositioning things so all the parts fall in better alignment. No pics for that, sorry. I've glued in some inner cover strips for my shins, and I'm happy with them so far. I'm waiting to install the exterior cover strips because I still need to alter the fit. I won't have much problem reducing the width of the shins, but I'm not entirely sure about trimming the length. I know I need to trim from the bottom. But my question is: "How much from the bottom?" I suppose I need to know where the top of the shin should be in relation to the knee when the leg is extended. I can't tell much of anything from the screen shots because the undersuits hide the knees a bit. I'm guessing 20mm-25mm below the knee? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!

Hey Marc, Yep, it does! Thank you! I also just found this one. When it rains, it pours...

Thanks for the encouragement, troopers! I really needed that because I spent two- yes TWO- hours yesterday searching the FISD trying to find the measurements for the corner angles for the belt. I thought I'd bookmarked or noted this info somewhere several months ago, but nooooo.... or it's there and I can't find it. I feel like Gretel in the forest with my trail of breadcrumbs sometimes. I finally found it buried in a thread, though- as a graphic posted by Gazmosis (thank you!). And I'm reposting it here because I know I'll lose it again somehow. Working on joining and gluing the fronts of the thighs and trimming down the belt today. Trying not to get too excited about watching the DragonCon parade tomorrow. Wishing I could participate... next year, though! So true!! Thanks for that reminder.

Good advice, troopers! Thank you for the support! I contacted Rob over at RS about my dilemma, and I'm pretty certain that he took pity on me. He's sending me out a new forearm, and including guide lines to cut for my small size. Such amazing customer service from RS Props! They're really going above and beyond. So, what else to do today? Oh, well I can't mess up cover strips too much, can I? These are all for my legs since the cover strips for the arms are done. I've got enough to do the insides and outsides. Since I was scoring and snapping, I thought I would make some bicep hooks from the other ABS I picked up from Amazon. I used the method as outlined in Ukswrath's tutorial for these. I think I need a new pair of gloves... They're not as pretty as his, but they'll do the job.

Yeah, I agree with ya, Jorge. (sigh) I should easily be able to make a 'mirror' of the right forearm. Glad to have some ABS paste on the ready! (clearing the table, rolling up sleeves, and opening a window...)

I was limited on how to trim the forearm, unfortunately. The pieces on top have a ridge for the cover strip, so those couldn't be altered. I suppose I could have done it, but I really didn't want to deal with recreating those ridges! All I was left with were the opposite edges, and I had to make a choice: 1. keep the outer forearm piece (the piece with all the divots) symmetrical and even as viewed when in a neutral position or 2. keep the inside forearm piece symmetrical and even If I had trimmed the inner forearm to align more straight at the elbow, then the divoted outer piece would have ended up misaligned with the bicep/bell ridges. As it is right now, on the outer forearm piece there is approximately 1.5 inches at the top on each side between the edge of the cover strip and the edge of the raised outer detail. Does that make sense? And you're right, Luc, this kind of thing will probably bug me, and continue to bug me, even if no one else really notices. I'm not sure if I have the energy to rebuild it right now, but it may end up as my only option.

Yep, the RS arms are different. Very different, actually! I know that there should be some "swoop" (haha, I'll always think of my swooping forearms when I wear my TK now, thanks..."Swoop! Swoop!"), but the difference on the left seems so jarring between pieces. I wish that there was more of a gradual transition between them, rather than it looking like a piece was sliced out by Kylo Ren. But if it doesn't matter, then I'll live with it. I worry that something like this might affect EIB or Centurion.

Ugh. Hit a bump on my left forearm. Need some feedback on my options here... The top of the forearm has ridges that can't be altered due to my 15mm cover strips. Nothing was cut there. In fitting to my skinny arm, I was able to only adjust the pieces on the bottom of the forearm. Regarding length of the forearm, I only trimmed one notch at the wrist, and there is still more that needs to be removed. I'm waiting to trim all of it until later. The only part of the top of the forearm that was removed was the flashing. (I did not overtrim any of it.) I could have avoided this problem by trimming from the top. But I didn't want to lose any of the detail at the top of the forearm, so top trimming for me was not an option. Upon making the cuts and fitting the forearm, I have discovered that there is a big difference between the forearm pieces where they meet at the butt joint. This only occurs on my left arm, not my right. I could abs paste a piece of scrap to the arm (imagine a piece of ABS filling in on the arm to the dotted line), clean it up and refinish the edge. The repaired area wouldn't even be visible, and the arm would look more even. What do you think? Here is a comparison between my left (on the left) forearm and the right. Please ignore the glue catastrophe (I've since cleaned it up, I swear!). This is as viewed from the bottom of the forearms at the butt joint. Or should I leave this joint as-is since it's not completely visible when wearing it? Or should I make more of an angled cut at the joint? Or is this something that I really messed up on and start over? Gah. The pitfalls of being small in a big trooper world. Help!