Chopper857

Everything now glued in place OK, second test fit seems ok will blend out chest to back plate in line with layout on both sides if needs must can add some Velcro to aid positioning

snaps glued in place on chest plate chest and back plate clamped into place using alignment markings from earlier fitting then back plate snaps positioned using straps and clamped and glued in place

two stage layout for the chest and back piece initial fit was to get master line on the chest plate down center of body (trimmed using score and snap) then refitted to layout back plate and add alignment lines for positioning of snaps. this was done for both sides. strap for sides were again made out of 2 inch wide elastic did 4 inch's long then folded back over 1 inch either end giving quite a solid strap to keep everything in line, with just a bit of movement if required side snaps and straps ready for fitment

laid out and secured snap plates to the chest and back plate to achieve a 2 inch gap between the plates with the shoulder snap dead center now sits nice across the shoulders

Ok so now onto the chest and plate, both parts were roughed out to the mould lines then sat down and thought about strapping system and have gone for the same link system as a normal TK 2 inch wide white-ribbed elastic with a central snap in the center for the shoulder bell showing 2 inchs between the chest and back plate initial pics storyboard the straps. last pic includes strap for shoulder bell

Right have now finished off butt plate made four elastic straps with snaps fitted one end. then fitted the other half of the snaps to the base of the kidney plate then re-done test fit for positioning and glued in place

Test fit with kidney and abb plates And checked butt plate for positioning, will E6000 elastics to butt plate but thinking about snaps to the kidney just to aid disassembly of amour and transport ??

To hold the ab and kidney plates together have gone down the elastic and snaps route ( there are multiple tutorials for the creation of these RWA do a good one) will be using 50mm (2") elastics and 15 mm prym snaps . elastics were cut to 6 inches and a inch fold back superglued in place giving 3 inches between snaps positioning of snaps was checked a couple of times and then E6000 in placed ab and kidney plates cleaned up and edges smoothed with snaps in position with elastics in position

Ok whilst i am doing just a bit more (make sure) research on the knee caps have carried on working with the abdomen and kidney plates. as i said earlier we have been trimming down in stages and now know have about a 6- 8 mm return edge on the ab plate and 5mm on the kidney is good to go . the pic shows the layout also to achieve clean lines down the body side the ab plate was trimmed 20 mm from and in line with the raised indent then kitted up again for laying out the kidney plate, we have gone 10 mm inside of marked line from the edge of the ab plate to achieve a solid and clean overlap that gives room for movement as well.

Hi ya, we are just working through this stage at the mo got a few ideas will post up shortly. Your chest plate seems to be sitting high though what gap between the chest and back across the shoulders you working with ? And without being inappropriate nice job on the butt plate

I have roughed out the knees and cover bolsters, will be looking to use a snap fitting within the knee cap itself and bond the elastic strap to the inside of the thigh Right first go at placement and alignment of knee caps and cover bolsters ( all in postion with tape) Seems ok but feel the need to check a few more images to make sure I have a consistent positioning on both legs :|

Both shins now glued together and a 12mm white velcor strip added at the rear as a closure system have know done another test fit of the thighs and shins (boots need to be modified to be crl compliant)

Have decided to completely finish the shins prior to fitting the knee caps to the thighs so we can check positioning first to again ensure good placement (now have the right elastic as well) will finish the shins with 12mm velcro strips for closure system.. whilst all that glue is going off, we rough trimmed the abdomen, chest, kidney and back have mainly stuck to the mold lines first. then got creative with the masking tape to see how things stand from this first test fit i now know i can reduce the return on the lower abdomen to again around 8mm ?? this should than allow the abdomen plate to come in more and the raised bar on the plate should come in more and look more vertical in appearance. again this is all being done in many stages to hopefully avoid the need for any spares

Things have progressed on the shins this weekend, as i said have laid out for a 5 mm return on the top and 3 mm around the base, you can probably just see the pencil lines.. once that was done it was much easier align the two halves together, checking alignment pic below from their it was the standard process of lightly sand all contact areas for the E6000 and glue piece by piece ensuring good contact with clamps, magnets and some tape

i would fit the abdomen to the rear kidney plate first, having the join seam running down the center of your side on body shot (photo). once your happy with this you would have a good marker for trimming your butt plate to suit (use the join seam as a marker for the finish point on the butt plate and lay out new sweep line on butt plate trying to replicate the curve that is there). just check you are not removing anything required on the crl with regards to your abdomen plate

As i am waiting on the elastic and some snaps rough trimmed the shins, have asked the question can i flush through the returns at the base just awaiting feedback but will probably go with 5mm at the top and minimal at the base for now. again did a quick taped up test fit to see how things were for positioning and coverage checked with butt plate

so one set of cleaned up thighs now roughing out the knee caps and covers for attachment to the thighs. need to pick up some 1 inch white elastic as well that was forgot on the shopping trip

So we reduced the returns down to 8mm and re tried on to check for the inner join thankfully we left the extra material on the inside as one thigh was slightly larger than the other. so one thigh uses the original cut lines and the other is increased by 20mm. but this has given really good fitment and placement.

Thanks gents just double checking as this is about my wife’s fem trooper I’m building cheers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is there any issues with removing the returns on the base of the shins (i.e standard TK centurion build ) with regards to 501st approval ??? Thanks

once trimmed did a quick alignment check, then roughed up the gluing surfaces and stuck in place with E6000. following this we will reduce the returns to between 8 and 10 mm as we now know were ok for material then try on again and layout for the butt joint on the inner side..

from there we taped int the thigh strap and did our first test for sizing and found we could use kev's mould line on the outside with no issues but left 20 mm on the inside as a precaution..

with the rear halves having the depressed edge will use these as master and trimmed the sides again to 15mm for butt and join edge

so starting with the thighs first.. with no clear guidance as to required length of return edges and see a majority of builds were they seem quite big have opted to play safe and work back in stages. so initially laid out for between 12 and 15 mm on both front and rear pieces..

OK paid a visit to the local market and came back with all the required elastics (in line with screen accurate for regular TK), webbing plus some snap fit belt buckles and knocked up a quick belt and thigh strapping system. Used super glue on the thigh loops will possibly add stitching later