Addertime

This idea opens up possibilities. Last weekend, I helped a friend in building a tie pilot helmet based on a real helicopter pilot helmet with working visors fitted to a shadow trooper faceplate and included plenty of fittings and steel braided lines. It's a pretty cool thing. And, as he said, "It's not Star Wars but it's Star Wars-ish."

There was less attention to continuity in those days. People generally only saw a film once and VCRs were in their infancy so the odds of anyone noticing a glitch was slim to none. A lot of the nitpicking we do is kind of "revisionist history" because we have the luxury of seeing things that no one could see at the time.

A lot of people build their belt flat like this but there's a better way in my opinion. The belt is best built curved. Set the center rivet and put the belt on your body over the ab and kidney plates. Then mark the location of the outer holes. Remember covering your schoolbooks? If you covered them while flat, they wouldn't close. Building the belt flat is the number one reason people blow out rivets or crack the plastic on the belt packs.

I think the backing material is the key element in this kind of repair. It takes stress off the cracked area. As an aside, when using cyanoacrylate (superglue)with ABS, add a little baking soda. It not only adds a little viscosity but will improve adhesion. <--Old biker trick.

Looks really good! Best of luck on your application!

Looks really good, Brittany! The only possible deal breaker I see is that the butt plate overlaps the kidney plate. These should butt together but it looks like you may have remove all the return edge along that seam which will make it difficult. Two more small points: The thighs sit a smidge high. They'll look better if they're moved down 3/4" or so. If you plan on going for Centurion, and you should your kit looks really good, I'd suggest swapping the screws on the TD. Those are oval head wood screws, note the conical area for countersinking. They should be pan head screws, either machine or tapping. Best of luck on you application trooper!

To that one, I reply that ANH was a Rebel propaganda film.

I have all manner of stuff velcroed in my bucket and chest plate but the best storage facility I've found is a wife in an Imperial Officer uniform with belt boxes.

DoopyDoos stuff takes a lot of work. Fortunately, when someone is willing to put a lot of work into it, the finished product is often exceptional. Your persistence is paying off and this project looks great! Keep up the great work.

You're an asset to the community, Tino. Your support helped steer my own blaster build during my similar situation. We're glad to have you aboard.

Hey John! Congrats on the BBB! Forearms are the best place to start. Be sure you use butt joints and cover strips. No overlapping bits. And as you fit your kit, make sure you can insert at least two fingers between your arms/legs and the plastic. As for the helmet, there's a lot of trial and error involved. Mistakes happen but they are usually fixable. We always advise taking off small amounts of plastic when trimming because it comes off easily but it far less easy to add. It's hard to tell from the angles you posted but it looks pretty good. The ears cover the crazy seams so don't sweat it. Use screws to hold the helmet gother as you work on the ears and don't rivet it until the end or you'll be drilling them out, I promise you.

Imgur.. hmm... gotta give that a go. Oh and to the OP... yeah, watch the scene from detention block AA23 in ANH. Luke grabs the front of his helmet and rotates it about 45 degrees to remove it. It's necessary for most people.

OCD and fandom are a perfect match. It may not matter in the approval process but if it matters to you, spend the time to make it as perfect as you need it to be.

Additionally, I just tried: Mild Bleach/water solution - No effect, although I didn't let it soak for very long. Oxyclean spray - A flash of inspiration sent me to the laundry cupboard. This worked the best of the things I've tried thus far but it didn't entirely remove the stain. In the end, the acrylic capped front of the plastic is about 30% better than it was but the the dye obviously leached into the plastic along the cut edges and I don't see that it will ever come out. Fortunately, my issue is more minor and less visible than the OP.

They are not trimmed too much, in fact, they are not trimmed nearly enough. As Joseph remarked above, the "screen accurate" helmets were all over the map. But, with regard to the ear gap but the the ear disk is usually trimmed tighter... an 1/8" or just a little more. That change would make your ears fit much better. Try trimming just a tiny bit and see what you think. It takes a while to get it perfect. I put a lot of hours into mine before I was happy, about 30 on the helmet and the ears took three or four sessions at about 4 hours each. They got trimmed, bolted and re-bolted at least twenty times and even punched a few more holes to make them fit better. Paul (Troopermaster) gave me the tip he uses which is to trim the disk to a consistent height of about an 1/8" or so against a flat surface and then work the rest of it to make it fit. Mine got completely reshaped from my original cuts before I ended up with something I was happy about. I still feel they're too thick on the lower part and I'll probably go back in one day and reshape them again now that's I've done it a few times and am less nervous about it.

I've encountered this problem recently as well when my new under suit bled into all of the contact edges of the plastic. I've tried the following: Novus #2 - Only takes off the tiniest amount of discoloration. Fine sandpaper and Novus #2 - Same result as just the polish alone Mineral Spirits - No effect whatsoever Household cleaners (Windex, 409 and Cif) - Virtually no effect My next step is to try a diluted bleach solution but my hopes are not high. I'll report back later today.

Ha! that's awesome. Best demotion you'll ever get. Welcome brother!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/TMProps/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2078666942351160

Hmm... yes, I agree with Locitus. Thicker leather. Can we see the attachment side?

How is it attached to your belt? Can you show us a pic?

Paul (TrooperMaster) is creating a tutorial on Facebook which may be of help. I have a TM as well. You should definitely leave enough room to slip a couple of fingers into each armor piece. If the pieces are too tight, they will constrain your movement and be uncomfortable. Truth be told, even when fitted correctly, they will constrain your movement... but at least you'll be more or less comfortable. Make the front vertical ridge the same or a little wider than the 20mm cover strip. If the thighs are too tight, you may need to add a little plastic to the back but I recommend resisting the urge to use an excessively wide cover strip because the overall look of the armor is great affected by doing this. Also, keep in mind that the ammo pack will cover the right knee ridge but the left knee ridge will be visible when walking. You will most certainly trim an arc at the bottom edge of the rear ridge to making walking easier... or possible. So be sure to line up the tops of he rear horizontal ridges on both. I can add photos later if that doesn't make sense. The top can be trimmed a bit to remove the sharp corners.

That's one of my favorites. It's best when it has to marinade for several seconds as they process what they heard... and then the lights go on. As for the, "Aren't you a little short.." comment, I say, "I don't know, I'm taller than Mark Hamill."

Good catch!

Hey Mike! Glad to hear that you're nearing the end. The build is an adventure and all the things you learned and experienced will be good conversation pieces later. Have you contacted the UK Garrison yet? It's likely that there are troopers near you wherever you are and you'll need to go through you local garrison for 501st approval so reach out to them: http://www.ukgarrison.co.uk/ As for the, "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper," thing, there's a thread around here on this topic with tons of great standard lines and suggestions.