Cricket

More filling and sanding happened this week, and the weather is good today, so that means... Priming!!!! Priming!!! Priming!!! So glad to be at this stage of the build. I like this part very much; all the hard work starts to look like a thing now! I thought I'd share a little shortcut for painting parts. I'm sure some of you already know this tip, but for those who don't, this can help you with spray painting your parts! We all know that some parts are kind of difficult to spray paint. They don't have flat surfaces, or are just oddly shaped. This is a way to get even coverage and eliminate any drips. You'll need some craft foam, hot glue, and coat hanger wires. If you don't have craft foam, styrofoam works nicely, as well as cardboard. You'll want your pieces large/thick enough to put your hanger into. Make sure your coat hanger wire is kind of straightened out. Stress on "kind of" for me because I don't have the patience to straighten out coat hanger wires. Keep the large hook in one end, and put a smaller hook in the other end. Length doesn't matter. Hot glue your foam block right onto the armor. Make sure it's fully cooled before proceeding. Once the hot glue has cooled and your block is secure, put your small hook end firmly into the block. Fishin' for armor! It should look like this when you're ready to move outside to paint. Now hang the larger hook end from a branch, pole, or whatever location where you can spray from all sides. Lucky me, we have a nice tree right outside of our garage with some relatively low branches. The length of the coat hanger puts the part exactly at eye level for me to paint. Before and just a few minutes after, I've got the first coat of primer done. And I love seeing the chest plate finally look like one part instead of a bunch of smaller assembled bits. I have a bunch of these coat wires, but not enough to paint all the armor at once. While these dry, I can easily hang them in my garage. I will leave the foam glued to the armor until I've completely finished the filling/sanding/painting process, so I can quickly hook up my parts again when necessary for paint. Using the foam and coat hanger method to paint parts allows for quick, even, drip-free coats. It also makes for keeping the parts off the ground and clean while they dry. The foam easily can be removed from the armor once everything is all painted. At this stage, I'm also out of filler primer. Boo!!! More will be arriving next Saturday, so the rest of the armor bits will just have to wait for their primer coats. In the meantime, once the primer has cured, I'll be applying spot putty, wet sanding, then applying gloss white. Can't wait!

Enjoying watching you with the full-sized build of these files! Just curious as to why you're not scaling things in Armorsmith? You can make the parts transparent so you can see exactly how the armor fits relative to your frame underneath it without any guess work. And about the back plate, I saw those triangles were missing as well, but that was after I'd printed out the back plate and assembled it. Gah! At any rate, if you send pics and a request to the dude who made the files at CGTrader, he is extremely (and I mean extremely) accommodating to any change requests. He will make it happen however you'd like it to be and do it very quickly as well! No need to struggle with altering the files if you don't want to; he will take care of you if you ask. (also, you might want to mention those hand plate cutouts as well. He'll fix those, too.)

Weather was beautiful for outdoor sanding yesterday, and I really made good use of it. I used the tip that Lou suggested about having a fan nearby while sanding, and it really made a difference! I was still quite dusty by the end of the session, but far less than I typically would have been. And the fan kept me cool, so that was a nice bonus as well! Here is the result of 2.5 hours of sanding, using 120, 220, and 400 grits with my Mouse sander. I don't have the belt or ab boxes in the shot, but I can assure you that they also got the sanding treatment. I will be doing some additional filling in of low areas on the chest and ab plates, namely at the mid-seam areas. I want these to be completely smooth, and I can still see a little dip below the seams. Another layer of Apoxie Paste should take care of things. Oh, and even though I remembered PPE for my lungs (P100 respirator), and my eyes (goggles), I totally forgot PPE for my arms. I haven't been out in the sun in months, and I am paying for it today. My left forearm is now two-tone pink. Gah! Don't be like me; if you're wearing a short sleeved shirt, wear sunblock when working outside!

Hey Tony! Thanks for checking in. Progress has been made of sorts. Not on the armor yet, though. I was battling a massive sinus infection over the past few weeks that had me flat. It messed up my balance so badly that I couldn't leave bed. No fun feeling like I've had one too many, when I've not had anything to drink since early March. :/ At any rate, I finally started feeling better this week (my balance returned, yay!), but it's slow going. Here's what has been making the most progress lately: the scaled down (76%) F-11D! I was able to conquer white ABS, so the entire blaster is ABS printed. I used Germain's amazing files and instruction guide for assembly. I am so impressed by all the details that he put into the PDF assembly guide. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, go give it a look. It makes putting this blaster together completely effortless. I've thanked him privately, but I'll also thank him here, too- because he deserves it! Germain, THANK YOU for such detailed files that print like a dream, and clear, detailed instruction guide for it all. You ROCK! Because the blaster is reduced in size, I am using smaller hex button screws for the build. Fortunately, all I needed to do was go one size down for everything. So if the blaster needs an M3 screw, an M2 fits perfectly on this blaster. And I had to use shorter screws, but that was an easy thing to do since I own a decent assortment of small black hex button screws. Here are the first semi-assembled parts. So fun to see this come together! My son is super excited to help me finish it. Hoping to knock out some sanding/priming of the armor this weekend. Fingers crossed for good weather!

Oh! I very much like this idea!!! We have a large standing fan that is currently not being used for anything, and I can easily bring it to my workspace. There is a massive border of privacy shrubs and trees between our place and the house near where I sand, so nature will be taking the brunt of the dust. Thank you for the tip!

Small progress over the weekend. Spent almost 2 hours with my mouse sander and armor parts to get the seams super smooth. I had hoped to do more, but all I was able to tackle was the back plate, a thigh, and both shoulder bells. In the pic, the box in the front is all of my son's FOTK parts. The box behind it is all of my Shoretrooper parts (progress currently pending completion of this build). You can see some of the completed PPE face shields I've printed out, too (they're the orange curvy things on the left). My printer has been busy! Glad I was wearing an N100 respirator for sanding. Even though I was working outside, I was covered in powder-fine dust when I was done. I would not want that stuff in my lungs!

Hey Emily, You're 5'6" and 120lbs? You're taller than me and a few others that I've helped with their TK builds. The WTF kit is overall pretty small compared to other kits, and you should have not many issues having to size it down much at all. The armor should not fit you in a skin-tight way. It has some "float" all around, but not too much. The thighs, for example. They should not stick to your legs; you will have about an inch or so of space all around for good movement. Your undergarments should be compression-type- meaning the black gear should be very snug. If your garments are as tight as a pair of bike shorts, you're good. That said, it's very important to hold off on sizing your parts until you can try them on with your compression gear on. Things will fit quite differently if you wear anything else. This is good advice, but be cautious on this before trimming! Many people jump right in to trimming the thighs down before they've fully dialed in their torso (that's ab/chest/back/kidney) to proper size. Then when they put the trimmed thighs together with the torso, the thigh tops tend to be too short. If you trim the same amount of thigh all around the tops (let's say 1" all around), the thigh won't look right when you get it on with the rest of the kit. In my experience trimming down thighs, I've had to remove much, much more at the inner thigh than at the outer side parts of the thigh. This results in a nice, long looking thigh, even though some of the length has been removed. Remember, if sizing down armor, for best results on the thighs, you need your torso to fully fit before trimming! Dial in the torso and get it all assembled to fit your body first. Then put on one thigh (you should also have a fully fitted shin and boot on as well). The top curve of the thigh will follow the bottom curve of the cod and the ab. The curves fit into each other nicely like a set of loose fitting puzzle pieces. Take a pencil and trace along the cod onto your thigh. This will give you a rough line of where you need to trim. Trim conservatively and try the thigh on again. Do this until the thigh and cod no longer bump into each other when you move, the black space is minimal, and you can move fairly comfortably. If the top of the thigh pokes into your hip, then trim that as well (following the original curves), but just the part that's pokey, not along the outer thigh. If the butt plate overlaps the thigh at the side and/or back (when you walk, with your thigh extended back), use your pencil to mark the overlap and trim conservatively. The goal is to have a minimal amount of black showing between parts, but still be (somewhat) mobile. haha... Here you can see differences of how thighs are trimmed. I'm the trooper holding the blaster in my right hand, holding the helmet in my left... and the shortest trooper in the pic. And as always, best to refer to screen shots for reference. I overtrimmed my thighs on my first kit (I've built 4 TKs total), and ended up having to completely replace them. Hoping to help you avoid that. Cheers!

Heeey troopers! It's me again, with yet another build. I've had to fast track this one, so it's taking priority over progress on my 3D printed Shoretrooper (that build is going on over at the Pathfinder's Detachment). I finally have enough pieces printed/welded together that I can share some activity now. I'll begin by saying that this is a build for my 10-year-old son, Cameron. A few years ago, I built a Battle Buddy FOTK conversion for him, and he loved it more than anything. He would have slept in it if I allowed it. He was treated like a rock star everywhere he went in it, and he completely embraced the bada$$ FOTK trooper we all know and love from the movies. He was approved in it for Galactic Academy, and has trooped with me many times- always stealing the show! Earlier this year I was approached by our GML who requested some guidance from me about the FOTK Battle Buddy conversion process. The Garrison was looking to build a kid-sized FOTK for a 5-year-old boy named Jimmy (he has chronic heart conditions) whose only wish was to have a stormtrooper helmet. (Most people don't even consider that something like an entire suit of FOTK armor exists in a child's size, so the best Jimmy could hope for was a FOTK helmet.) However, we ALL know that it's possible! Since I am one of just a few troopers in our Garrison who have taken the journey of the FOTK Battle Buddy build, there was hope that I could help with putting one together for Jimmy. I told my son about Jimmy and his conditions and that I *might* be making another one. My son started to cry, and when I asked him why, he said, "I want Jimmy to have my stormtrooper armor. He's had a hard life, and I want him to feel happy." I was very moved by his reaction, but told him to think about it first. I didn't want Cameron to give his armor away simply because he thought it was something that I wanted him to do. He was very attached to his armor, and I didn't understand how he suddenly could offer it up like that. He said he would think about it, and we didn't discuss it any further. A week later, Cameron brought $60 of his saved allowance (which was pretty much all he had), dumped it on our kitchen counter, and said, "I want to donate this to the American Heart Association." What??? It was such an "out-of-the-blue" gesture for him, and it took me by surprise. Then I remembered Jimmy. So I asked Cameron, "So, is this about Jimmy? The armor?" And he yelled at me, "Yes! I want to help Jimmy! I want to give my armor to him. I haven't changed my mind!" Okay then. He wanted to keep the helmet, though. And that's what happened. Somehow I was chosen to be the person who was the "voice" for the surprises during the Bert's Big Adventure presentation . (Watch out- nerd with a mic!) The Georgia Garrison presented Jimmy with a Battle Buddy first. Jimmy was soooo excited about it! I don't think that the family knew that there was moooooore! After that, Lord Vader presented Jimmy with a FOTK helmet (a lovely Rubies Deluxe conversion crafted by our own Sith Lord, Scott Britt). Jimmy was thrilled! Then came the biggie... the Garrison donated a small case on wheels to hold the armor (just like the one I used for Cameron's armor), and the case was wheeled out in front of Jimmy and his family. I don't think they understood what was being presented until I started pulling out the chest and back plates and said, it's his VERY OWN ARMOR. Jimmy cheered, and the parents started to cry. Cameron suddenly became shy and stood off to the side, a little overwhelmed at all the people and the excitement. Could a mom be any prouder? I think not! And if you're still here... As a gesture of thanks to Cameron, I'm rewarding him with a new set of 3D printed FOTK armor. This set will be more screen accurate than the Battle Buddy for sure. I'm trying to build to 501st specs along the way. I don't know a thing about the FOTK armor, so I'm learning as I go. I bought my files here, and the person who made the files has been very, very, very receptive when I've requested changes to the files for improved accuracy and/or model print improvements. Seriously, if I ask for a change, I usually get a new file within an hour. I don't think he ever sleeps. Most change requests were for improved thickness of the parts. Everything prints out really solid. Here are most of the parts I've printed/assembled so far. Using Armorsmith, I've been able to scale everything down to fit Cameron nicely. Still have lots of sanding and gluing of greeblies before priming these parts. The white stuff on the seams is Apoxie Paste, and it sands like buttah. The shins are two halves (another request I made), and they are attached with heavy white elastic on the outside. I'll be securing them closed on the insides with some elastic and velcro. I love the shape of the FOTK back. Another change that was made per my request was that the yoke and back be formed in one piece. It is incredibly solid and very strong, yet has some flex to it as well (yay for ABS printing!). Cameron loves sliding this piece on. He keeps saying that it's like a Halo backpack. And today was the first day of priming parts! The weather was nice enough today to get a few light coats of filler primer on the biceps. One thing I love about filler primer is how it shows you what you need to work on. Like more fine sanding on those printed buckles. A small step on a much longer journey, but I'm excited about the trip!

Hey Caleb! About that mesh, you can find it at Joann's by the yard in the fabric section. It's called "pet screening". I think I bought 1/8 of a yard, and it was ridiculous cheap. They deliver, so that might be an option for you. I would send you some, but I have no idea where my extra mesh ended up going (it was a while ago). Home Depot tends to sell it as well, but you'll have to buy much more than you'll ever need for a helmet! I know Diana (in our garrison) had a ton of it at the armor party last month that she was giving away. Try contacting her on FB. I know she'll send some to you (she is extremely generous and has a huge heart, BTW). And about those shin magnets, I ended up not using/replacing all of the ring magnets on my shins. They didn't like to hold as well. Use the solid ones and save yourself a step. I agree with Tino about wearing something when sanding ABS. Even if all you have is a bandanna. PPE for your eyes is also recommended. You'd be surprised at how much ABS flings itself around when sanding! Oh! And don't forget to soak your holster to stretch it out for your blaster! It makes a world of difference. Your goal is to be able to holster and de-holster your blaster while in kit with your helmet on without any assistance. I spray mine from time to time with holster lubricant for ease of holstering. It's snug in there, so no rebel scum can remove it without me noticing, but it's loose enough to take out on my own. Makes carrying around my blaster at long troops a non-issue.

Do you have any pics of how the chest/back plate meet when you're wearing it? That can make a huge difference.

I've added my name to the printer list. I'll help if they need me!

I'm also confused as to what the GML is asking you to do about those handguards. Cutting them down? That would be... weird? :/ From what I can see in your pics, the latex handguards look like they could be glued down more along the edges, thereby creating a curve that fits the back of your hand. My hands are very small as well, and I troop in rubber gloves with latex handguards. I had to glue the handguards down to the gloves with a curve in them so they didn't flare out. That flare from the flat handguard may be what's causing the proportions to look off. To get the curve, I placed a large bottle of Novus polish inside the glove as a base. Make sure that the handguard doesn't go beyond the knuckles when you make a fist (mark your handguard locations first before gluing!). I then used Loctite plastic bonder to glue the latex guard on. It's a two-step system that works ridiculously well to adhere that handguard to the rubber glove. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y3LHXW After prepping your surfaces with Step 1, apply the glue (Step 2) sparingly and in one small location at a time to ensure adhesion and prevent seepage outside of the handguard. It all goes pretty quick. When you're done, your handguard will remain stuck with a curve on your glove. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38416-crickets-rs-stunt-build-for-the-vertically-challenged/?do=findComment&comment=538665 Oh, and I've found that Trooperbay sells pretty thin latex handguards if you're needing a thinner set. They're full-sized, just thinner than what I see in your pics.

Hey Chris! Good to see you back at things! Wondering why you've chosen to use a metal strip on your shins instead of magnet-to-magnet closures. The RS shin doesn't give you much to work with at the ankle at all, and unless you've got some sort of physical lock in that area, it can be prone to opening. Nice thing about the magnet-to-magnet closure is that there is a degree of "physical locking" when the magnet attached to the cover strip inserts into the corresponding hole in the shin. So the magnet gets pulled and secured into the hole via the other magnet, which keeps it locked from coming apart- and the 'hole strip' keeps the shin from shifting laterally. I hope that makes some sense! I've also never found a magnetic strip that could even come close to the holding strength of a pair of n52 magnets. Those V tabs are awesome- you're gonna love how they make your kit look and fit! The gap at the sniper knee is typical.

Have you tried using Armorsmith to fit the parts before printing? That program has saved me hours of printing and tons of wasted filament! You attach the armor to your perfectly sized avatar, take the measurements, adjust in your slicing program, and voila. For example, I discovered for my shoretrooper shins, my perfect size was 95% scale on the X and Y axis, and 89% on the z axis just by adjusting the fit on the avatar in Armorsmith. So handy!

Hey Jonathan, Just wanted to mention something about the returns on the backplate- namely the ones around the shoulders/arms. This is an area of high stress on the armor. Any returns around the back shoulders- no matter how small! - will eventually crack (*cough- ask me how I know - cough*). You'll end up having to do repairs somewhere down the road if you keep those returns on. As seen in the reference pic below, it's totally accurate to completely remove those returns on the back plate sides, especially around the shoulders. When you remove the returns back there, you allow the armor to flex, which means no cracking. Your build is coming along nicely! Keep up the good work!

Hey, thanks for those kind words, Joseph! I have bugged her about EI... a lot. If she hasn't submitted for EI, it's definitely not for lack of effort on my end.

Thanks for the shoutout, @wook1138! When I first started that particular build, I was sizing it down for my height- which is 5'4". My garrison friend wanted to be a TK and asked me to sell her the kit before I had finished it so I could properly size it to her frame. She is just 4'11", and we did it! Here's a pic of me (taller trooper, ha!), and her on our way to a parade troop in 2018. She totally rocks her kit! You definitely can size down a TK to fit your frame, Isaac! My friend ordered "short" thighs from Walt's Trooper Factory, and they worked out nicely. That said, you can also size down full-sized thighs just as well. The kit I'm wearing in the pic above initially was made for a typical 5'11" trooper, and I was able to make it fit my small frame. As long as you keep your proportions in check, your kit will look amazing! Don't be afraid of the stormtrooper build! We all are here to help if that's the direction you choose to follow.

I found inspiration over at YouTube for making a PVC mannequin. Quick, easy, and cheap! I posted how I made mine here: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41502-crickets-wtf-hero-build-even-more-tk-for-the-vertically-challenged/?do=findComment&comment=604120

I used some leftover cotton broadcloth for these. It's inexpensive; something you could easily get for a few bucks at Joann, Walmart, or any fabric shop (even Amazon!). I think using felt would not necessarily be a good idea because the fabric isn't all that strong. Microfiber might be okay, but it's thin and might wear out sooner rather than later. And yep, I cut out all the squares for the magnets with pinking shears so the material wouldn't fray apart on me. Three years and four TK builds later, and they are still holding up well. "... ensure I don't scratch up the armor." We call that screen accurate weathering, son. You shouldn't be dragging the magnets all hither and yon over your armor anyhow. Your armor should be just fine if you're just using the magnets to clamp pieces together!

Hey Caleb @MaskedVengeance- Somehow I missed your comment. Sorry! I didn't post an image, so that's why you couldn't see anything. Here's a link to how I did it- including pics! https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41502-crickets-wtf-hero-build-even-more-tk-for-the-vertically-challenged/?do=findComment&comment=605846

If I'm not too late to the party here, I'd like to add a suggestion that has worked well for my snaps on the elastic: I sandwich a piece of ABS between the elastic and the snap. I cut the ABS to the same width as the elastic, and make it about 2" long. I make a hole in the middle of the ABS piece so the snap fits in easily. It looks like this: snap-elastic-ABS-elastic-snap It removes all strain on the elastic at the snap, and makes removing your snaps a breeze. They simply pop off with the flick of a (rubber gloved) finger! Super easy and quick. I've never had to replace a snap in elastic that has been reinforced like this.

I don't know if it's related to the current issues the site is having or not, but I haven't received any email from this site since Oct. 24. My settings on this site are for email to be sent when I receive PMs or content is added to threads I follow. I assumed there was no activity here for a week until I logged into the site and saw I had a bunch of notifications pending. I've looked in my gmail account to see if it's being routed to spam/trash, and there's nothing there. I created a filter to autoroute all whitearmor email to my inbox way back in 2016 and haven't had a problem with receiving email from whitearmor before.