shashachu

Sometime in 2019 I also acquired an 850 Armor Works kit during a super sale, hoping it would be smaller. Unfortunately 1) it wasn't that much smaller and 2) the quality of the pulls was really not great. The plastic was extremely thin, and had a bunch of orange peeling and weird deformation. You can see the back is significantly smaller than KB: But still quite oversized on me:

The thighs were fairly standard as well. Just cut to size, and glue. I cut the overlap in a curve to try to match references. You can see by how much material I cut off how much I had to size them down.

In early 2019 I was feeling pretty discouraged by the huge size of the chest and back, so I decided to do some work on the rest of the armor. I started with the ab. It's a pretty standard construction, where I cut the front and back pieces down to size, added an inner cover strip, and glued them together. I'm actually small enough that I can slip it on and off without splitting the back at all. I think I will eventually split it and just add some elastic between the halves to make it slightly easier to get on and off. Like other folks, I used a small triangle of ABS to fill the ab squares on the edge.

Ahem. tap tap tap... Is this thing on? Ummm... well it's 2025 now and I still haven't finished this costume, but I have had fits and bursts of activity on it as I go through the rollercoaster of highs of "I can do this!" and lows of "THIS COSTUME CANNOT BE MADE TO FIT SMALL PEOPLE." Most recently, I got re-inspired by @zediyeti's incredible 3D printed build. I acquired a Bambu X1C last year and actually did already start working on 3D printing some of the parts to fit me, so it was really inspiring to see Zediyeti's completely 3D printed and incredible-looking build. I'm going to go ahead and try to recap my periods of progress over the past almost-7 years.

still not showing for me :(

The image is missing (for me at least.)

Good luck, Hanson!!!

You're a madman! Incredible work as always. :)

In addition to what Glen suggested, probably adding Velcro onto the under suit will keep things in place.

Great work! thanks for sharing your files with others as well.

Same size as I am :) Is everything printed in PETG? I have been trying to avoid printing the helmet but it may end up looking like a bobble head (I have the old Anovos one.) Very inspirational build!

Looking great. Good luck, Hanson!

Wow. I'll never stopped being surprised at the skills of Legion members. Looking forward to updates.

Wow, incredible work. Can't tell at all it's printed. Out of curiosity, exactly how tall are you? I have been slowly slowly working on a FOTK for years, and have now been swapping some parts out for 3D printed.

can't wait to see the final product in person

I'm not a DO anymore but I'd say your mesh is too fine. Here's mine: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9wLRpv5C1NskZcFp8

Welcome, Matt! (I'm from the GGG and am the one who suggested you start this thread.) Looks like you're making good progress! If you haven't noticed already, you're very limited in the size and number of photos you can upload directly to the forum, so we suggest you host your photos elsewhere (eg imgur or similar) and embed links instead. And if you haven't already, definitely peruse the other build threads here to get guidance and inspiration from folks who have already completed their builds or are farther along. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

I remember feeling really hot in my armor in the beginning but now I feel super comfortable. I do think I felt nervous, and also I wasn't as good at getting dressed so I would get hot wrestling my armor. Helmet fans will help a little, and I only used the rubber gloves for my Centurion photos (otherwise I use Gorilla Grip gloves from Home Depot.) You could go with something like a cooling vest but I have heard those don't actually stay cool long, and I assume it'll add some weird bulk. Instead I think as you get more comfortable in your armor you'll feel cooler, and it's more about being smart while trooping and not pushing yourself. Stay in the shade/cooler areas, take breaks, and stay hydrated. Our handlers are great and will also check on you. In the end it's hard to avoid being uncomfortable some of the time, but the fun of trooping outweighs it.

Congratulations!! Looking forward to trooping with you.

When I build I tend to lean very heavily into the idea of making things modifiable and replaceable which is why I use the screws, but I probably could have just glued the green plastic in and been fine.

I use Chicago screws embedded in milliput (epoxy putty) for the lenses and electrical tape for the frown screen. Both have held up for 7 years. But tbh nobody will ever see the inside of your helmet so there's probably lots of different methods.

I'm no longer a DO but I would not approve that at L2/L3 as-is. Completely fine for basic, though.

thanks! I am planning on printing part of my armor (back and chest) because the one that came with my KB kit it took big for me. Mostly I'm worried about warping in heat, so trying to decide between PLA+ and PETG.

hi @funkster! Question (which I might have missed in the thread) - what filament did you use for your armor? And how is it holding up 2 years on?

thank you so much!