Gwithian

Oh forgot to mention.... take a look at fragarocks aka Franks build thread..... that's really helpful too

Your build is looking great P-O regarding the butt plate, I applied a little heat to mine to get it to contour my butt a bit better..... the thing is you can easily mess things up with a heat gun..... my armour is ABS.... I don't know if heat works on PVC? the progress you are making..... you will be a TK well beforehand me ... oh and I also had to buy some more glue the other day nice work

Thank you Sir Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have made a little bit more progress .... I have fitted the front cover strip and sniper knee plate to the left greave I'm quite chuffed with the result.. I have also continued to work on the the re-enforcing the return edges where the brackets will be fitted I'm also wanting to strap the ab and kidney pieces together. The rivets need to be placed 10mm in I think, as per the line on the picture below, but I'm not sure how far apart they should go? I'm guessing one is in the middle, but how far apart should the top one and bottom one be from the middle one? Thanks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well I've messed up the outer cover strip on the left greave It's about as straight as a dogs hind leg... doh ... so off it came and the greaves were split and re-trimmed.... the raised bit at the front was a few mm too wide Stuck it all back together again.... Now the right greave.... I'm still fettling the sniper knee plate.... I think I'm almost there? I think I need to trim it to the line shown below? And the other side seems fine I've also trimmed the ab buttons, do these look ok? But the small button plate seems too big.... but I'm not to sure what, if, or where to trim anything else off ? Any advice? I think I have the drop boxes sorted? If they are ok do I glue them now or fit the back piece to the belt first and then glue on the front? Oh and before I cut out the rivet covers out for the ammo belt.... what size should they be? Next job is to trim down the thigh ammo belt thing and start to strap the torso together... then I can see how it all fits together and assess what I need to do with the thighs and if the torso needs shortening..... I'm getting there Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well I've trimmed the sniper knee plate, I'm still not too sure if it's ok or if I've messed it up.... what do you think? Made the cover strips for the greaves Stuck one on.... managed to break 5 magnets.... doh Hopefully I have enough left to hold it? Then sanded the an button plate, the small one Does that look ok now? Oh and sanded the external drop box, only one of them There is still a slight lip still there.... i guess it needs to be removed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Christine, leather does stretch about 30% over time, this can be accelerated by wetting the leather as previously said and letting it dry with the blaster and some padding holstered. Also you can treat the leather with those wipes you can get for leather car upholstery, this will keep it nice and supple without it going hard. I use this method on my motorcycle leathers when new to get them to fit me better.... Glad you got to holster the blaster The above diagram is helpful.... thanks [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Christine, I'm still working, rather slowly on my armour , been back and too to hospital with Charlie, so it's just a hour here and there, oh plus I went to the MotoGP at Silverstone, got this pic of my hero Rossi, he led the race until three laps from the end, but he came in third so a good result And me.... well you have to get into the spirit of things Now back to imperial duties..... Progress is slow, I've lost one of my torso brackets so tried to make one myself My vice is little like me. Lol I've started to install strips onto the return edge of the torso to help strengthen the brackets I've been trying to adjust the shape of the butt piece to fit me better, I'm getting better with the heat gun, however the return edge is a mess..... So I made some ABS paste and started to fill it in.... I will sand and refill / polish later I've tried the greaves on, I think the left leg is a bit wide at the bottom It may need adjusting? What do you think? Now I think I've messed up my sniper knee plate, I've trimmed a 10mm return edge around it only to realise today that it should taper from 10mm at the top to 15mm down the side to nothing where it touches the top of the greave.... I guess I will have to get another one.... doh... I believe it should be like this Ok few more questions.... Is this ok for the ab buttons? Or does it need to be trimmed more? And finally the drop boxes.... I've started to sand them square and they are currently 15mm thick but still have a slight return edge, I didn't want to take that off and mess these up also.... any ideas? Progress is slow but like good old British Rail..... I'm getting there Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great build Matt... love the Dalek and K9 and the storm trooper

Frank, what an amazing build, your son is going to have by far the best costume come Halloween ..... I'm struggling with my build at the moment.... actually I was looking for your build thread (for some more tips) and found this.... one word.... awesome

I would agree look at Crickets aka Christine, and fragarock aka Frank, their build threads are on FISD and worth a good read. I'm short too and I have trimmed the neck as well fragarock also did that. Do your research and as you know just cut a bit at a time. Armour can be made to look really good on us shorter troopers..... thankfully the Empire is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate against height.... or lack of it [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks [emoji3]... it took a lot of attempts but it was worth it in the end. One thing for sure... they ain't coming undone [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know I've not been busy lately but I've managed to finish my magnetic closure system for the greaves.... it's been a long journey and I've taken them apart more times than I've had hot dinners .... but I've got there in the end..... I think These are the internal magnets on the greaves.... I think I may have used too many magnets as they stick together better than a sticky thing that gets stuck .... and I really have to pull them apart .... And stuck together..... Side on .... It seems to have taken ages... but I'm chuffed with the results ... So I'm on the home straight now.... we'll almost..... Just the thighs to complete, strap the torso and arms together,paint and fit the buttons, fit sniper knee plate and thigh ... I've forgot what it's called.... oh thigh ammo belt... I think.... oh and the main ammo belt I have that to do as well.... so I'm getting there..... Slowly slowly catch the monkey .... as they say..... Hopefully I will get there by Christmas..... which year ...... who knows ..... lol..... I originally thought I would be a TK by summer . ........delusional or what ..... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I realise it's an age since I've been in here, sorry, but life just seems to be getting in the way of Empire business...... I've been going too and frow with the greaves....... I've been struggling with the left greave only to find it fits the right keg better..... so the rear cover strips were taken off and re glued the opposite way around..... then I noticed it wasn't quite vertical.... doh .... so it came apart again...., The the magnets were showing..... yep.... apart again....... it seems ongoing around in circles..... Anyway not getting much time, just grabbing an hour here and there, hence slow progress. In between helping my Neice out with her son and looking after mum we have been out and about on the few nice days we have had over here that we can call summer... We went walking in Castleton That's the old Norman keep, then walked up Mam Tor, Black Tor and Lose Hill, also known as Loose Hill. Apparently in 623, the king of Northumbria fought a battle with the King of Wessex, the king of Wessex was on Win hill.... so I guess you know who won MamTor is on the left near the trees, black tor is in the middle and loose hill is next to that, win hill is the tiny pyramid shape hill on the horizon to the right Mam tor is known as the moving mountain.... back in silver jubilee year (1977) the mountain moved and destroyed the main road into the village, its never been repaired since We have been back to the lakes walking around Keswick and got soaked to the skin.... well it is summer It went from this to this in 10 minutes Anyway our skin is weatherproof Yesterday I managed to get out in the bike, the first time in two months Ok enough of this, back to imperial duties.... As I said I've had trouble with the greaves..... left has now become right and well I just seem to be going around in circles....... This is how it was looking as a left greave..... perfect until I put it on and it looked all twisted at the front..... sorry no pic So I took it apart and started afresh ....... Re positioning the inner magnets This is where they will go .... I need to recut the abs for their new location. For some reason my right shin / calf is smaller than my left so I could trim the old holes I had made out.... so it was a complete new start I marked where I wanted to make the cuts with the modelling knife which I scribed around the magnets I then cut the greave with the dremel Until all done I then glued the internal magnet strip onto the left side of the greave It's not fitting totally square as I need the greave to be a tad wider at the bottom Next it was onto trimming the right hand side of the greave to hold the external magnets l Once completed I taped the two parts together from the inside ..... I had placed the external magnets on top of the internal Ines so I could match both sides up. I covered the internal magnets with tape so the glue would not stick them both together And glued down the external cover strip..... sorry no picture.... doh And the finished product..... sadly..... not very good..... You can still see the magnets And a very poor job of gluing the cover strip on So it all came apart I cleaned it all up and made some spacers out of scrap abs, they don't look very good but they will be hidden inside the greave.... I'm hoping this will bring the magnets closer together and prevent them from being seen..... we will see .... if not it's back to the drawing board.... Internal cover strip stuck back on I know I'm going around in circles with this, but jeans to get it right, I want it to look good when I've finished. It's like the medieval cathedrals you see..... you think how did they do that..... the fact is you only see the finished product..... you don't see the mistakes they made during construction and the bits they tore down because they weren't right.... I know I'm going on again.... but hopefully , by sharing my mistakes...... it may help someone not to make the same mistakes as me in the future..... Will keep you posted on progress Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I messed up this post so tried to delete it... doh

Hi Steph, good luck with the build, us vertically challenged troopers will soon be outnumbering the taller troopers and lets face it, we can get into those small places occupied by the Ewok.... unlike our taller comrades. I have found Christine's, aka Cricket's build thread an inspiration together with Frank's aka Fragarock's build thread. My advice is trim a bit at a time, you can always cut more off later, it's hard to add it back if you trim too much..... E6000 glue is a godsend , I've glued and unglued my greaves more times than I can remember and they still are not quite right..... patience is a virtue...... Oh.... regarding the heat gun.... practice on scrap abs ..... I've almost messed up a few bits..... doh Good luck Stephen [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Started to fit the magnetic fastenings to the rear of the left shin, whilst the pieces match up at the top I've left a gap at the bottom to make the greave fit over the boot better, this gap will be hidden with the external cover strip. I realise it's not screen accurate but it's the only way I could sort this without buying another greave, anyway we will see what it's like when finished, if I have to start again it's not the end of the world Internal magnetic strip Taped on the inside of the greave The magnets that will be fitted to the outer cover strip have been placed on top of the inner strip so I can trace their outline Recess marked Used the dremel to cut the recesses for the outer magnets, did top and bottom first then the rest in between All done, Repeat for the following side, these will be the recess hidden under the outer cover strip Glued the inner cover strip with the magnets on to the inside Decided to practice making a return edge with my heat sealing iron, I still need more practice but hay it's easier than using a normal iron Trimmed the drop nosed, sniper knee plate and ab buttons. I just scored the side of the drop boxes with the modelling knife and broke the excess off.... the thing is doing this when I first started this build, terrified me, now it's really easy..... I suppose I shouldn't get over confident I guess the lip showing in the next pic needs to be removed And finally my rough trimming bits Oh and I connected the right thigh together at the front Another step in the right direction I hope

Well a lot can happen in a week, but no progress has been made to my build until today. My Neice's son, Charlie, who is four, has been diagnosed with leukaemia, so we have been back and too to the hospital until today, our grandson has caught chicken pox so we are not allowed anywhere near him.... So today I thought I would try and take my mind off stuff and do a bit more to the build..... I haven't got very far and I have more questions...... Ok firstly I finished trimming the front of the right thigh and fitted the internal cover strip to one side, I did the usual stuff, marked the cut line out, scored it and snapped it off, sanded the inside and glued a 15mm internal strip.... Oh last week I popped to my bike dealers and they gave me this for my lid I'm well chuffed , it's nice and soft on the inside so it will prevent scratches when it's stored Next I worked on my magnetic shin closure, I duck taped the magnetic strips I made the other week to the inside of the shin Taped the magnets that will fasten to these on the outer cover strip Taped the outer cover strip to the outside of the shin Once I have sorted the final place for these, I will dremel out the abs on the shins to allow a snug closure This is what they look like fitted I still think it needs to be a bit lower, but that's as low as they will go on the boot. Now for my questions, I want to start trimming the other bits n bobs Sniper knee plate.... Do I cut where I've drawn the pencil line at the bottom.... I'm guessing there is no return edge as this part is glued to the shin? Top return edge? 3 to 4 mm? I will cross the angle that it fits to the shin when I've trimmed it Ab buttons..... Trim as I have outlined with the pencil ? Shoulder bridge..... do I leave 2 to 3 mm all around? Also does the wide rib go to the front or back? Finally drop boxes what thickness should they be? I realise it's a lot of questions, but I thought I can be sorting all this stuff out in between other things Thanks

Thanks Christine and Paul, I now see what I need to do, align kidney and ab at the top Christine, I will try and get the greaves down lower and will try the stirrup I very much appreciate both of your help , I would be totally lost without it.

The armoured on the UKG advised me to realign my butt and kidney and I'm thinking it should look like this, this also helps slighthe right side of the butt with the kidney notch, some pics further down .., Christine pointed out that my kidney and ab weren't aligned correctly They were like this She gave me this diagram from FISD And I think they should look like this, so I guess I need to trim the kidney. the thing is I've looked at this alignment loads of time and I have been so engrossed with getting the butt and kidney notch to align that I totally missed the alignment of kidney and ab.... it's complicated meaning a TK The butt and cod are better aligned now at the bottom , and the right hand side lines up with the kidney notch perfectly as shown above, but the left side leaves a lot to be desired Now the measurement from the central raised bit of the butt to the side is 6.75 inches on the right and 7.25 inches on the left .... so I'm thinking the left may need trimming..... I need to measure the kidney first, not done that yet..... doh.... what is it they say "measure twice, cut once" I've ordered a heat sealing iron as I'm going to have to make a new return edge on the kidney and the normal household iron I've been using really isn't up for the job...,. Anyway other stuff I've been up to.... I was not best pleased with the internal cover strip I installed on the left thigh, I mean it was really not a good job, I would have said a monkey could have done it better, but I don't want to offend any monkeys.... lol So this is it, I guess it's just as important to post what's gone wrong so as to help new troopers who may read this in the future..... sorry I'm rabbiting in again.,.. So I split it with the knife and spent an hour removing the glue...... that will teach me ... doh I find that a small off cut of ABS helps and then some medium sand paper Then I fitted the internal cover strip to one side, I will do the other tomorrow I also tried on the left greave, I still think it's s bit high in relation to the knee.... or does it need to sit lower on the boot, or is it a bit of both ? Apologies for not wearing the undersuit Next I started to trim the right thigh, took the excess off the top and bottom leaving enough to allow a 3mm return edge, which will be refined with the dremel when they are stuck together I trimmed the raised ridge at the front to take the 20mm outer cover strip, marked where I wanted to cut Scored it with the stanly knife, 4 times, it looked like this Bent it back and forth and off it comes This is what it looks like Now I know from Christine's and Frank's build threads that the right RS thigh doesn't align properly You would think it would be like this.... but it's out at the top So when you align the top, it's out at the bottom (a good half a thumb fir a small person) However no worries as it will be coveted by the thigh ammo belt ..... Anyway that's me done for the moment ..... I think

Thanks for the comments and advice, Christine, Frank and Paul. paul.... I will do as you recommend to the shoulder bells Christine.... I've looked at that diagram you posted a thousand times, and it's only today that I see where my kidney is not aligned correctly with the ab..... ive been concentrating too much in the butt........thanks for pointing that out Frank.... your suggestion to strap the chest and back together makes sense..... what should the gap be between the shoulder bridges of the chest and back piece...... I see I have a ton of work to do, your expert help doesn't give me confidence, heck when I started out I was going to buy a full commission from RS, but then I saw Christine's thread and thought yeah have a go...... and I'm so glad I did...... now i I just hope I can make you all proud and join you in the ranks of Centurian...... once again, many many thanks, if we ever meet up the beers are on me

Congratulations Frank, great build, beautiful armour, well deserved...... I'm really chuffed (pleased) for you

Well this morning I treated the greaves to a pot of boiling water to help mould them into shape ..... they are a lot better now Then I tried the armour on, I can hardly see out of the lid, just what's in front of me, I can't see down at all other than what can be seen through the teeth..... the problems of being a small trooper seem never ending lol Oh and the shoulder bells are a tad too big, the cod can't go any higher without my voice changing pitch lol I think it's time I shortened the right greave and start work on the right thigh . Not too sure if the left greave needs to be shorter?

It's been a lovely day here today so I decided to clean the car and the bike What's this got to do with my armour.... well I was thinking, yes I know that's dangerous, but still I was mulling a few stormtrooper things over.... you see my gloves have gone a sort of grey white And I was thinking how could I get them back to black..... then bingo.... I was spraying the bikes frame with silicone spray And I thought that might do the trick..... what do you think.... the difference is obvious Ok I know you may know this but I'm well chuffed So I started pootling ...... I took the magnets and clamps off the greaves , removed the tape and gave them a polish, it's amazing how sturdy they are with the inner cover strips..... sorry I didn't take a photo I glued an inner cover strip to the left thigh And decided to stick the torso together again with duct tape for a trial fitting tomorrow.....?the thing is the butt piece doesn't like up with the kidney on the left hand side, the right is bob on The middle lines up too But the left..... It can have a hot water bath tomorrow to see if it makes it any better, the thing is from the raised bit in the middle to the right side edge is 6.75 inches, the same measurement in the left hand side is 7.25 inches, half an inch more.... so do I trim it? Anyway some pics of the torso taped together, tomorrow is decision day regarding do I "slice the fish?" Aka "cut the cod" ..... I really don't want to do that but hay it may be a lot easier than growing a couple of inches... lol So this is what it looks like It's been another good day

Well today I've sort of tidied up the magnetic greave closures, these are the pieces that will go on the inside of each greave, I still have the outside closures to do Anyway glue dried Trimmed the excess glue from the edges and around the magnets Got all the excess glue off and sanded the edges This is how they will be fitted to the greaves, the parts where the magnets are covered by the greave will be dremeled out Cut and sanded the inner cover strips to both greaves Sanded the inside of the greaves 20mm inner cover strips glued and fitted They will be treated to a hot water bath on Monday to get the rear to align properly .... I'm well chuffed with today's progress