EmlanThane

Thanks! That's very nice of you, but I already ordered another trim from WTF.

Hey, no worries! It's not a huge deal. It was kind of falling short even before and I WOULD like it longer. I should have looked at more reference photos to notice that detail! My TD clips came in today too. Tomorrow I'll try to to to the store to get the right screws (do they have to be slotted and round head? Any other specifications)? Building is going to get tricky now that I'm back to school...!

Thanks! unfortunately, I already trimmed the brow to make the ends straight, but now it falls too short and looks like the 40-year old helmet. So I'm going to order a new one. I'll do it correctly from the start! <br><br> Thank you though

Also this thread is now "hot" so that's pretty cool! Before I trim the brow, is it a must or would it still pass?

Ahhhhh! Well, thank you for telling me. I can try trimming the ends straight but I think then it will come up too short (although the ones in the bottom reference photos you sent look like how mine may come out after re-trimming so I might be ok). I may need to get a new one! Darn.<br><br><br> I guess I am confused because I have seen other people on here angle the sides and I thought it was acceptable. I guess not! I will fix it ASAP.

First of all, I am selling a few things. ****The gloves from Trooperbay, which were too big on me, the thread for which can be found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38709-fs-trooperbay-black-latex-gloves/ ****And the Mic Tips from Walt's Trooper Factory, the thread for which can be found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38708-fs-wtf-mic-tips/ ANYWAY, today I made some progress. First I installed the mic tips. I got premade ones from Trooperbay (because I'm lazy ) Here's the comparison. I didn't love the one's from Walt because there was some weird excess plastic behind the actual mold. I don't know if it's normal or not, I just didn't like it. After testing which drill bit was the right size on some scrap plastic I drilled two holes in the sockets of the faceplate (there are little indents where the holes should go). I don't remember what exactly the size was, but in my standard drill bit set it was the third smallest, some weird number like 7/50. Hmmm... I slid each mic tip in, backed it with a washer and nut. Here they are installed! Unlike other helmets I have seen, these tips stick out forward. Is that ok? Sometimes the tips point down and out to the sides. They aren't perfectly even with each other either. AHHHHH. The left one, facing the helmet, seems to angle down more. Here they are from another perspective. The frown screen, also from Trooperbay, makes a cameo here. I do the frown screen next. I did decide to hold off on the eye lenses though, because I need the empty eye sockets to put bar clamps through for assembly. I cut the frown screen after outlining it in silver sharpie (so it stand's out). I make my cut lines by holding the screen against the back of the teeth and leaving lots of excess room. I use brush-on near-instant-drying glue around the teeth. I press the cut screen (not the neatest in the world) to the glue, and add more as needed until it sats flat. It's not tight up against each tooth, but it'll be okay right? You can also see the backed mic tips. Did I put the washers where they were supposed to go? I'm a noob about that... Here is the frown mesh from the front. I'm pretty happy with it! As you can see, there are some scratches and pencil marks around the teeth. What's the best way to clean it up, if it needs to be cleaned up at all (I think it does!)? And lastly I trimmed the rubber brow. I angled both sides so that the trim ends right before the black outline on each front trap. Is that ok? Or did I *gasp* overtrim again?! Let me know Right side: Left side: I've use bar clamps and magnets to fix the two sides together. I plan on riveting them together soon, but I am passing it through my Helmet Assembly Mishap thread first. There are lots of updates on my helmet mishap assembly thread: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38145-helmet-assembly-mishap-help/#entry518130 That's it for now! Hopefully, next time assembly! Also, thank you again MoSc0ut for all of your TDet assembly advice! I might try it

Thank you for your feedback. But I think the ear screws may not go through both, or may go through both but eliminate any overlap at that point by going directly between them (does that make sense? Maybe I should draw a picture.) Like hole-puching a piece of paper too close to the edge.

Ok, so I have an update on helmet assembly. I am about ready to rivet everything together, but I would really like a thumbs up before I do so, since I still have a few questions. Because of how I trimmed the faceplate, there is very little overlap between pieces on the sides. Once I rivet, I plan on gluing plastic bridges along the insides to back the cheek tubes. this might prevent tearing and will give me an easier time when screwing in the ears. What do you think? Here is the "problem side." I call it that for two reasons. One, this is what the bottom looks like. I am told that the ear will cover up this oddly-angled junction. I have already brought the faceplate up as much as I would like, so this is what I have. Problem two, even when I push the sides together as hard as I can, there is this gap here. I was also told the ears may cover it up? Or I could use caulk? Here's the better side. Lastly here is the helmet compared to the already-assembled one. The better side: The problem side: YES I KNOW the helmet looked funny because resting naturally I couldn't pull the faceplate out all the way, so this picture isn't completely accurate. If I pull it out more there will be minimal overlap so that is where the plastic bridge comes in handy. So, what do you think? Is this the best I can do?

Update time! Progress on the thermal detonator and finishing up face painting. First... The TD! WTF supplies you with an untrimmed PVC pipe of the proper outer diameter. First, I had to cut it to "approximately 7.5"" according to the CRL. So After marking it up with a pencil I took it outside, clamped it against the stairs (the only solid flat surface I could find) and sawed off both sides with a brand new hack saw blade to the appropriate length. Leaving the outer diameter as is, the end caps won't fit on the PVC pipe at all. So I took a dremel to the ends to sand down the OD. I also shortened the length a little bit more since the end caps made the TD longer than permitted. It didn't matter that it was a little uneven because the end caps hide that, too. By the end of the process I was COATED in dust. I thought I would take a picture of my dust-coated arms. Also a reminder to wear proper PPE- gloves, mask, gloves, etc. You'll see why in a minute I did a first test fitting with the end caps jammed on as hard as I could. I pushed them in a little too much because the TD went under-length. I won't push them in as hard for the final fit, but at least I can get them over the tube. Like my ruler? There is another reason why I should not have pushed them in so hard. It was RIDICULOUSLY DIFFICULT to pry them off! I ended up using a paint can opener to try to wedge them off, but, of course, this was the one moment when I was NOT wearing gloves. The tool slid past the end cap and onto the knuckle of my other ungloved hand. The first bloodshed of the build. I washed and cleaned it, but not before capturing the ceremonious moment with a photo. I used the Humbrol Admiralty Grey #5 and a larger brush to coat the PVC pipe. This was the first coat. The second looks the same. The surface seems so bumpy even though I washed it before painting. I tried sanding the bumps down before the second coat of paint but it still looks the same. Does anyone know how to get rid of weird bubbles/dust bumps? I'll try to get a better picture of what the surface looks like soon. Sneak peak This makes me happy. End caps aren't pushed on all the way yet (it looks longer here because it is) so I don't get a repeat accident. The TD clips are coming in from Etsy (Catch22 Studios) and then I can start assembly. Yay! However, the TD plate seems crooked. It was one of the first things I trimmed, so I am not surprised. If I apply force to it I can straighten it out, but then I am better off using instant-cure glue instead of E6000 and clamps to get the plate to sit straight. What do you think? And now, helmet painting! Doing the stripes on the traps was quite a challenge. I used tape to line the tops and bottoms and hand-painted 12 black stripes, attempting to angle them properly. I spaced them using approximate ruler measurements. Making them perfectly straight was hard, considering my slightly shaky hands. I think they came out ok. In fact, I'm pretty surprised. The left side was a little messier to I cleaned it up (not shown). The tape had peeled up some of the grey paint so I had to repaint that. Only the first coat is on in the above picture. I bet you can tell. I panicked and didn't think to take a picture of that before I painted it Front traps were straightforward. Here's one. The other looks the same (although the base of the trap doesn't spread out as wide, if that makes sense. The black outlines here are thinner than the ones in the back. I'm not sure how important that is). For the tears, I mostly eyeballed it. I used a pencil to space out 7 stripes. You can see the faint dots I made. Following some reference photos, I finished it up. The right side looks the same (not shown). Looking back on it, I'm mad that these outlines aren't perfect. How big a deal is it? Will it pass? Also, the eyes are scratched up. I tried using novus polish to clean it up, but it didn't work. Maybe I will watch some visual tutorials and try again. My Centurion assembly kit, mic tips, remaining paint templates for ab plate buttons and tube stripes and frown screen came in from Trooperbay. I also have a neck seal and holster on their way from Darman's Props! And that's it for now Thanks for reading and potentially answering my questions

Thank you for all of your help! I don't think I would have the guts to use sharpie, lol, but yours came out very well! And whatever those magical paint remover things are, they look way better than Q-tips. Here are the finished teeth and vocoder that I did not include last time. You can see a few scratches and smudges. I am hoping the novus polish can take care of the scratches, but is there anything to remove pencil marks? Erasing isn't cutting it. I did not leave any white gap where the teeth taper towards the end, as I have seen some people do. I hope this is ok. You can see the top of the vocoder, but here's the bottom that is barely visible when you actually where the helmet, but I thought I'd show it anyway. You can also see that it's not completely even. Not even mineral spirits could clear this up, since the leaking during the drying process was very bad. Good thing trooper buckets aren't symmetrical....! Spoilers! The finished back traps are in the background, but here's a picture showing the second coat of gray paint where I thinned out the black outline a tiny bit more. The right trap was the first layer, where the lines were too thick. I think the left trap looks much better. I did the right the same afterward. I also outlined the tears twice and then did the first coat of gray last night, making the black lines thinner right off the bat. How do they look? I am pretty happy with these. I've also outlined the front traps. Pretty unexciting, so here's just one side. It is way easier to do this before I put the brow on. I will add the gray soon. This is very exciting. A few more days of painting and then it's assembly time. Should I install the eye lens before I put the pieces together? I've seen it done so many different ways, how do I know which is best? If I am going for comfort and neatness, and also minimal to no gap between the lens and the plastic, what's my best bet? Screws? Putty? Velcro? Glue? Slots? Two individual lenses? One screen? Too many decisions! More painting updates coming soon!

I'm a first time builder who went with WTF. Awesome armor and helmet. No regrets! I'm short too (shorter than you though) and while I'll still have to do some trimming, the pieces from WTF will eventually fit me and should meet Centurion. Plus their molds are designed to ideally fit people who are around 5'10" so it might be really good for you. The helmet molds have 8 teeth molded out and the ears have 4 bumps, so ANH Stunt would be the way to go with Centurion, but if you are interested in another type you could make it work. If you are interested in the helmet kit alone it comes with some extras, including the rubber trim for the neck and brow, two sets of ears in case you mess up, the lens for the eye, pop rivets and ear screws for assembly, unpainted mic tips and tube stripe decals. Best of luck in finding the armor you are looking for! I hope this helps

Okay, painting update #1! Hand painting is hard considering I have slightly shaky hands, but I'm managing. I'm doing a little bit per day, two coats of everything. First, I finish trimming up the eyes and removing all the uneven excess flashing. I wash both the cap and back and the faceplate in the sink to get rid of all of the dust, since hopefully I won't be sanding too much more on the face! Squeaky clean! Now I bust out the Humbrol and some new brushes. I use thin square and line brushes to go over the teeth. I put the tape there to prevent major slips, but since I wasn't painting up to the tape anyway all it ended up doing was getting in the way. You can see the newly-trimmed eyes, but you can also see where the paint is leaking under the tape, creating helmet disaster #2. Did I mention the paint on the vocoder started dripping too when I propped it up to dry? No? Well it did. Ahhhhhh! I was silly and used tape for the back traps lining after seeing how it ruined the teeth. It messed up the left one big time, and the right one too. I dropped the tape after that. You can see all the smudges. I remember that water doesn't remove oil paint. Darn. Huge thanks to MoSc0ut for telling me to get mineral spirits. I ran to the store to grab some and cleaned it up. (Fixed teeth and vocoder not shone.. but they were fixed!) Day two, I did the second coat on the vocoder, teeth and back trap lining. Like I said, Q-tip cotton strands got stuck in the paint. Now the painted areas have some texture lol. The occasional light paint smudge that the mineral spirits couldn't lift out adds to the "character" of the helmet. The mineral spirits don't remove dry paint for me- or maybe I'm not rubbing it hard enough. Plus once the paint smudge gets to thin it won't lift out at all. So I tell myself that it enhances the look. *Cries on the inside* Day three, I line the tears and fill in the grey for the back traps. You can kind of see the fixed teeth. Are they okay? Notice Smudge Exhibit A on the chin. How bad is it? It won't come off! The back traps already made a cameo in the above picture, but here they are after the first coat. Are the black lines too thick? I think they could be a little thinner. Let's play Find the Smudge. Can you find the smudge below the left back trap? Free air guitar if you can! When people show tutorials, they make things like trimming and painting seem so easy. Lies! Well, at least for me

Day two of painting is done! Finished lining for back traps, all teeth and vocoder. The annoying part is there's a bit of texture to some parts where I went in with Q-tips and mineral spirits and some of the cotton strands stuck. It's not a huge deal though, I don't think. At one point the mineral spirits didn't lift all of the paint out, so there is a little smudge in the back but it's not THAT noticeable. Most helmets are perfectly white anyway...I'm hoping Novus Polish can take out all the scratches from when I was sanding- I'm starting to notice where my hand slipped and made a mark. Again, not super noticeable, but meeehhhhhh. uploading photos take awhile, so no photos today <br><br><br> I gave up on tape, at least for the second coat- it was easier to trace what I had freehand, even if my hands aren't super stable. Maybe tomorrow when I do the next part I can try tape again. I did notice that the humbrol is an unusual consistency, though. Plus, my hands have been covered in black and gray for two days now. Darn oil paint <br> Also, can mineral spirits remove paint that's already dried? When I used it today it seemed to only take off the still-wet coat, and not the one that had dried from yesterday.<br><br><br><br> Painting is slightly more relaxing because you can't OVERTRIM when painting, hehe<br><br> Yes I know this is very long but it makes up for the lack of pictures today. Yay reading lots of text!

Thanks for the tip, but no worries! ! I grabbed mineral spirits and it's working great. The second coat of paint goes on tomorrow thank you for helping me so much!!!!

I am about to go to the hardware store again, lol. Thanks for the very helpful tip!

I am painting, pictures of it later! Important question: If I use rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip, do you think I can remove slight paint smudges without damaging the plastic? Or do I need full on paint thinner. Using masking tape created a tiny disaster with the back traps that I am painting so the black outline looks super yucky....

Today there were some small victories. First, I re-trimmed the cap following some trim lines that I got a thumbs up from on my other thread. The top should be much straighter now, and since the brow is higher, I can bring the faceplate up. Here's the front. I think, facing the cap, the left is sagging a little bit and can be trimmed just a tiny bit higher. From here on out I might not even use scissors- just sandpaper for a more even effect. And here's the sides. I think I am going to paint the pieces separately so that I can paint all of the front traps before the rubber brow goes on. Notice I trimmed the bottom around the back of the cap- there was still some excess there that was throwing off its shape and making it hard to see how everything would fit. Still slightly crooked. Argh. I also re-holepunched the corners to prevent tearing! I heard it was super duper important! Lastly I went and cleaned up the teeth a little more. Now they are a square/twinkie hybrid. I think. The outer teeth also run on the wider side of things. I hope that's okay, too. How do I paint the ends of the frown? I've seen some people taper it right after the 4th tooth on each side. Others extend is past the dimple that could almost be a tiny 5th tooth. Others extend is past the dimple but don't paint the dimple so that there's a tiny white gap. If I'm going for Centurion, which one is the best? Do you know what I'm referring to? If not I can try to find pictures. How much flashing should I leave around the eyes? As you can see they are mostly trimmed but tomorrow I am going to finish up the teeth and eyes and don't want to overtrim. A little progress, but I'm feeling a lot better about the helmet. We shall see...

Actually, I WAS going for Twinkie teeth! I guess that's the name for it. I was using reference photos that indicated that I should round the edges. Nonetheless I think I will still shave some more off the top and bottom of each tooth to make it seem just a little more square.

I think I might go with the brackets, then. Thanks for all the info! The trooperbay kit seems super handy and I can always sell the gloves or belt here if they don't fit right. Brackets seem sturdier. I am surprised to hear they are also more comfortable! I don't really need to take the torso apart if it can all fit in a Husky or other giant bin. I might feel better knowing that I can't take it apart at all. Today I started working on the teeth. Looking back on it I think I can cut them out even more, but I need some other opinions first! I used the sanding attachment on my dremel on the back of the teeth. I outlined each indent with a pencil and then pressed firmly with my dremel. I didn't overdo it (although I probably could have dremeled more) becauseI didn't want to risk shaving plastic off outside of the teeth area- especially on the smaller teeth. Plus this is only the second time I've ever used a dremel, and the first time I created the Helmet Assembly Mishap of 2016. (I updated it again as of today, too). Here's the back right after I dremeled it. I wanted to try to leave some depth to the teeth, unlike the second helmet I have which was cut out to be much straighter and flatter. And here's the front, immediately post-dremel: EWWW it's UGLY. Time to fix it up. I went in with round and flat needle files and a small exacto knife/hobby blade (not shown). This took me about an hour. Yup. 60 minutes of trimming carefully. I followed the other helmet next to be for reference to make sure that all of the asymmetry is okay. I tried leaving some depth- return edge on the teeth gaps for lack of a better word. It's hard to get it smooth, especially because the dremel churns up the plastic behind each tooth but doesn't thin it out or weaken it enough to come right up. Behind each tooth still may look kind of rugged. Here's the back after SOOO much sanding: You can see there's extra shavings that are really hard to pick off. I want them to be smoother without losing the depth of the teeth. And the semi-grand reveal: the front! Tada! I do have to go back and fix the eyes too. My paint is coming today though and I want to get started on that! Is there a way to get rid of all that ruggedness behind each tooth? Is it ok? did I trim enough? So many questions!!

It definitely does. I've drawn some lines where I SHOULD trim, but I don't want to cut until I can get the green light that it's okay. I used a tape measure and some magnets to try to draw a straight line across. Have I trimmed high enough yet? I also thought about cleaning up the bottom. Here's the right side: The left side (which might even be able to be trimmed higher than where I marked! Right?). I added some red lines digitally indicating another place where I could trim up to. I don't know which one though... Here's the front I can raise up. Is it straight? My original cut was not, so I think where the pencil line is now may be better. And here's the bottom. Part of me wants to wait to trim it until assembly, where I can trim the entire bottom- faceplate included- at once to make it even. For now it looks ugly.. Sorry that the pencil line is so faint- I hope you can see it! I am doing this and not cutting yet because I want to be careful. Do you think where I marked is good to cut, or is there another way? Thank you for helping me

I was planning on getting the Trooperbay centurion assembly kit but now I am having second thoughts. What are the advantages and disadvantages of assembling the torso with metal brackets vs elastic and snaps? Iveseen more people do it the latter way. Plus there's no guarantee that the Trooperbay gloves and belt that come with the kit will fit me. Maybe I'm better off getting all of the materials separately on my own and going somewhere else for gloves and a belt that I can find in my size. What do you all think?

I am a first time builder, and I went with WTF (you can follow it here: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38064-emmas-first-anh-stunt-wtf-any-help-is-appreciated/'>http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38064-emmas-first-anh-stunt-wtf-any-help-is-appreciated/</a>).So far I have no complaints. The armor is untrimmed but a lot of the excess plastic is already removed, so it's a little less work. Any questions I have Walt answers within 24 hours, and I only had to wait 6 weeks (that being said I'm sure wait times will go up with increasing popularity). I'm no expert but I love the kit. It doesn't come with strapping but it does come with materials for cover strips, screws and rivets for the helmet, mic tips and tube stripes, rubber trims and the eye lenses, both TD and TK sniper knee plates and a PVC pipe for the Thermal detonator in addition to all 40- something plastic pieces (plus two sets of ears!). I'm not familiar with other armor makers but I highly recommend WTF.

Hello fellow short trooper! Good luck on your RS kit! I will make sure to follow you as well . Do you have a thread for you ATA helmet- I want to check it out and see if it can help me in any way (it probably will!)!

Hello! First of all, I have updates on my helmet assembly mishap, the details of which can be found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38145-helmet-assembly-mishap-help/ I still need help, but I took another tiny step toward fixing it. Yay? Today was thermal detonator day 1. I trimmed the end caps and the faceplate. Cutting straight lines isn't my forte, so if anyone has any recommendations for doing so, please let me know. None of these pieces are perfect, and I'm trying to tell myself that the originals were far from perfect too. I feel like a total noob, so I'm hoping that all of my questions and high quantity of pictures can help future noobs too. Maybe I won't be a noob one day I started by measuring a little over 2 cm down from the edge of each end cap with a ruler, then connecting my marks with a tape measure held with magnets to try to make it as straight as possible. My caps run on the thick side because I do not want to trim more until I can see how all the pieces fit together on the PVC pipe. I did a secondary trim with the lexan scissors. I used a level to help me sand the ends as even as possible. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT WHICH MAKES ME SAD but maybe that's ok? I'm not sure. The thickness isn't constant all the way around but I don't think it's super noticeable. Again, they are thicker than normal until I can see how they all fit together. How do they look? I trimmed out the faceplate. It is 4.5" long and then about 85 cm wide (yay for mixed units) (following the curve, not just cutting straight across.) I've seen TD dimensions vary slightly. Right now the panel is slightly longer (again, waiting to trim until final fit) but it runs shorter on the acceptable width spectrum. I scored and snapped the excess on the sides with pliers. The first side went well, the second side went terribly because I kept making new score tracks instead of sticking to one. I ended up using scissors, so it wasn't straight (to be fair, the scoring wasn't straight either. Maybe I should try doing it against a straight edge?) IT'S. NOT. PERFECT. BLARGH. How noticeable is the unevenness? We shall see once assembly begins. Also I sanded the inner drop boxes more. Do they sit flat enough now? Yay progress. Slow and steady It might seem trivial to spend so much time on the little things, but again, maybe I'll help others in the future. I am determined to do this, even if it means going slowly, asking a billion questions and taking a billion pictures. It means a lot to me that you all are helping me.

OKAY! So, I've been playing around with the fit of the pieces again. I trimmed the brow a little bit more even, but I will have to trim it back on the sides and possibly higher altogether to make this work. I've decided to not trim the bottom until assembly is complete. That way I don't have to worry about lining up the bottom at this stage. As you can see below, I can trim out the bottom of the faceplate once the ears are on to make the s-trim line up nicely. For now it still looks pretty ugly but otherwise the brow would have to sit even lower, which isn't really possible. Here's the other side (the problem side). The helmet looks pretty stubby back-to-front but it's the best I can do with how I trimmed the faceplate sides. The gap between the pieces is very hard to push down, and I'm not even sure if the ears can push the seam flat. I might have to use heat. argh. Above I think I can trim the side so that that bottom corner won't peak out in front of the ear once I put it there. The bottom of the back I can definitely trim to get rid of that straight part running along the bottom and making the bottom angle more than it should be. There is a small gap from the angle I've created, too. If the ear doesn't cover this I can use abs paste. If the ear does cover it, depending on where the bottom screw is I may need to add an extra bit of abs with glue for the screw to go to (or not if it's stable enough). For comparison, here are the sides of my helmet next to another almost-completed WTF helmet that I recently acquired. I think the faceplate is crooked side-to-side, I need to fix that, too. It's hard because there is minimal overlap on the left. Here's an example of where an ear would go on the "trouble side." As you can see, it sits pretty close to the front, and there isn't much room for the stripes. Can anyone help me figure out if this is the best configuration I can get out of this and if I can go ahead and continue on to the next step, or if I should continue playing around with it? I can add the rubber brow and see how it looks. The helmet will definitely be more "smooshed" but it will still fit since the other one it's being compared to could be worn with my giant ponytail.