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denied basic approval.... time to go back and have another go

^ +1. Great ideas! Sorry, Joseph, I do not see a like button so this'll have to suffice for right now

I'm sorry to hear this, but it doesn't surprise me :(. I was looking at Anovos when I first was getting ready to order my armor. I called and talked to several representatives of Anovos and they said that (at the time) if I placed my order THAT week, it'd be shipped within that current quarter (which was RIGHT under the summer quarter deadline). HOWEVER I talked to a third person from there and they told me that they were running behind on their shipments and it might take a little while to get to me. Now this person must have had a REAL bad day, or was on their last day of work because after looking into it I noticed that almost anything shipped from them gets back ordered?!?!?!?!?! Now that being said, I do hope y'all get yours soon! *fingers crossed* and what the hay... *attempts to cross toes*

Ok so I've submitted my basic approval photos and I'm waiting for the "OK" to be deployed... it's a nail biting experience and I can't wait to hear the words that I'm good to go lol. *fingers crossed*

Glad to see another AP thread!!!! I'm currently awaiting approval... it's taking WAY TOO LONG for me... about 4 days now, but I know it'll be worth it in the end. As for the build, way to go! Have you come across the sniper knee prob yet? (I have not read this entire thread). What I did with my drop boxes is just centered them, placed them upside down and poured in the E6000 along the edges. Good luck!

I'm gonna have to make myself something like this lol. I'm 5'8" and I KNOW I'll be having this short comment being thrown at me lol. This is a great idea!

That is true, I can. However, this time I will bow out so they can help someone else who's still in their process of making/completing their TK . Besides, my next costume may not require some of these items (Shoretrooper)

Thanks!!! I'm eagerly awaiting the next few hours so I can hit the road running home to suit up, take my photos and submit away! Good luck on your studies as well!

Ok so after a LOOOOOONG while and... not many photos.... I have FINALLY come to a stopping point. I have reached the "end" of the building phase and fitting phase! I have one more piece to check on when I get home, the shoulder straps. I glued them on last night, but before I did I took well appreciated advice from @wingnut65 and layered the inside of the shoulder straps. I used a little ABS scrap plastic to glue to the inside, but that melted and did not look good so I thought I was going to have to clean the bantha stalls because of all the "colorful" words I was going to say. HOWEVER luckily before I said anything... I was hit with a great idea. Literally, the idea hit me in the head from the cabinet from above. A item fell out that I will NEVER be without: "JB Waterweld". If you haven't tried this stuff... do. It's mainly used for boats and other marine stuff so it's waterproof, but at the same time it fills the gaps in the shoulder straps and keeps everything from HOPEFULLY cracking as fast. It adheres to the plastic and does not melt it (I tried it on a scrap piece just in case lol). It's a epoxy putty in a tube, but be sure to get a little water on your fingers as you knead it. I have also been able to get the sniper knee plate FLAT on the shin and it's doing a great job of staying out of my knee, but I'll add a little foam to push it out further. I WILL BE uploading photos soon... at the moment I have been preoccupied with family matters and such, but now that things are settling down (knocks on wood) I can do them . I might have to do them in series, but I can and will get to them I hate being "shorter" though lol, gotta love family heritage!!!!

Nice job! A great snapshot of the long journey through great troops! I, myself, am about to submit my basic approval photos! 3 long months and I'm almost out of the building tunnel lol. I glued on my last pieces LATE last night and will remove them once I get home, suit up, take photos and then submit for approval This is a great idea for ANY trooper.... I'll probably be doing something similar as well

There's a whole lot of "Chibi" troopers out there!!!! My little cousins come over every now and then, but they haven't seen my helmet yet so I cannot take pictures of them lol. I could take some pics of a few pups with helmets on......?

This helps greatly! I don't want to come off as being confrontational haha. I forgot that there was a basic approval and was told this just the other day. I'm getting ready to submit for basic approval so this was something that was on my mind. I will not have the problem of a shim, but a friend of mine will so that's part of the reason I'm asking. Thank you again, brother

Thank you for the clarification!

I am in no way trying to correct here, but I'm rather confused? I noticed in the CRL it states: "For level two certification (if applicable): Any gap between the abdomen and kidney armor is no more than 1/2" (12.5mm) wide. Any shims used to achieve this effect are of a similar material and color as the abdomen and kidney armor. Shims fit flush and seams are allowed." So that being said are we allowed to have a seam or not? I just would like clarification for myself so I know what to go by. Is it because it's not sitting flush? I'm sorry for the confusion on this matter.

Congrats and welcome, Steph!!! I too am on the shorter side so I've heard my coworkers say the same when they found out I'm going to be a stormtrooper as well. But hey, it's still fun good luck on your build, looking forward to seeing this!!!

Since I already have bought these things from you, Joseph, I will do this, but I'm not in it to win. I've been wanting to build my armor for years, since I first saw my first 501st stormtrooper on a vacation and how many smiles they brought to people's faces! The state I used to live in had a order that did charity work, but it was all behind the scenes. You heard about the order I was part of, but you never saw the faces of those involved. I want to bring smiles to people's faces and make children's days better, and this is MY reason . To the ones that made my day, now I pass that feeling along! Good luck to those entering!!!!!! *Yes I realize that this exceeds the 50 word count*

Looks nice, what about the inside?

Yep.... I've just ran into this exact same problem! I had to get rid of the entire return edge on the bottom and even sand away at the corners (slightly) to get it to sit "flush". Held down with about 8 clamps and gorilla duct tape... now it looks great! I'm currently building my armor as well and it's AP. Mark was very thorough with his order and mine arrived earlier than expected. I've just finished the strapping and I'm making the belt and Thermal Detonator... once this is finished it's submission time! I intend to go full centurion as well!!!! I will also say this... if you get stuck with a piece set it down and work on something else and come back to it at a later time. Take your time and do not rush things My siggy below has the link to mine and I'm going to be updating it shortly (possibly this weekend). I've got about 20 or so photos that i'm having to sort through and fix to prep for adding to my thread. I will also say this, I have experienced a slight problem with only a few of the stickers Mark sent, obviously, on the bucket cheek traps. Slight wrinkle, but it's nice for right now. Once it comes off I'll paint it on. NOW the only other sticker I had a problem with is the blue ab button. That sticker does not want to stay and has come off so I am painting that one on. As others have said, soft goods I do not think there was an option for. I DO REMEMBER however, there was an option for pieces already cut or not cut. The price was a LOT more for the already "trimmed" pieces so I opted to trim/form them myself... and glad I did lol. Of course I did get a kit, which included a untrimmed helmet. Was fairly simple to put together, but it was nerve wrecking lol (did not want to ruin anything) No complaints on mine, it's been great to work on and I just love how it's turning out! Good luck out there

MUCH better! Nicely done, my friend!

This is what I have done on all of mine. I did a test fitting of my recent snaps and nylon strapping and I noticed that this helps me out a LOT more than the elastic did. I'll be updating my thread soon so it might help!

I believe what he's referring to is the gap and the lining of the rivets on the left side? I could be wrong, but the gap still needs to be half an inch or less while also having the rivets on the left side equal distance from each other and lined up correctly... refer to this thread where he lists a great example for the rivets and placement: Good job on your armor! Keep it up!

Just a quick update: I have started creating the snaps, snap plates and snap bridges. I have the kidney and posterior joined along with the chest and ab. Next is to combine the two while also adding the snaps to the cod and posterior.... I have the print out of the CRL and what needs to be where haha. I'm excited because I'm nearly at the end!!!!!!! Also.... I have finished the helmet except for the frown and painting that. The only things I need to finish are the TD, Belt and Thigh Ammo Pack, and shoulder straps! (besides the strapping together of limbs, I'm nearly there!) Still need to add photos lol Thank you for the pep talks! They're greatly appreciated and the humor keeps me laughing from almost pulling out my hair from the confusion! I'm looking into this. I tried it on and it sits flush against my knee so I'll look at moving the top half forwards, while still keeping the trim lined up. I've already begun to do just this!

I'm looking forward to seeing this as well!

Okey dokey!!!!! I'm back with yet ANOTHER big update, so I'll do these in sections and more condensed: Thighs: This is what I had before: I was a little proud of them AT FIRST, but then after talking to a few people I was told that what I had was COMPLETELY wrong... and it was... VERY wrong!!! Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the cover strips before... but they weren't the prettiest thing out there... that AND one of the ridge lines was flaring outwards towards the bottom. So I had to pry the cover strip off (using a box cutter and slowly going along the inside edge and lifting up on the cover strip) and thin that down to reapply. I then did the same thing to take off one of the edges... I was expecting it to be SO MUCH worse than what it actually was (This is an example): E6000... GREAT stuff! Here is the second.. or was it the third time I had to deal with this thigh? Either way, when I had everything clamped down I don't know what happened, but the darn thing slipped AGAIN (cover strip on here is just to show how warped it is...)!!!! So I had to shave the cover strip down to a inch AND readjust the left thigh SEVERAL TIMES (I will not post pictures of that process... I LITERALLY wanted to throw my hands up saying "that's it... I can't take this anymore!", but with a little pep talk from Jeff... I was back in the game. He did tell me that there would be a few tough times... I didn't know it'd be like this!?!?!?! LOL Anywho, upwards and onwards... or would this progress be from head to toe making it the opposite direction.....? *shrugs* Onwards it is! So after adjusting and READJUSTING multiple times I was FINALLY able to get the thighs I liked, used Gorilla Duct Tape (heavy duty kind) and then clamped down the cover strip as well and I checked in on it every few hours to make sure it was setting properly. This left thigh was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NEEDY I felt like I should have probably given it a name! And so after readjustment I had nice lines and was left with something that I thought looked nice! Have I given a shout out to @wingnut65 Jeff, yet? Haha he's been a HUGE help with this process! I will admit that I have SLIGHTLY bigger thighs than average people so this was a little stressful on me not having them "close to perfect". I also still think it deals with the "nothing on a stormtrooper is symmetrical and there ARE imperfections (I draw... A LOT and I like having things balanced out so I was told to overcome my "OCD" when building a stormtrooper). And boy was he right haha! So after a week of working on this SAME THIGH and the shins I was FINALLY able to get the "OK" for what I had... of course there was STILL a problem, but this one was a easy fix. The cover strip stops at the knee: The bottom band on the knee, the cover strip does NOT extend all the way down the thigh, it stops RIGHT above that molded band! These have been fixed/remedied and I've gotten a "OK"! Now onto the shins! Shins: These were a little tougher for me as well... since I have thicker calves (which I do not call calves, but instead "COWS". I do a lot of bike riding and lived in a hilly area so they were built up a little more than usual) again I had questions and LOADS of concerns... thanks again for the pep talk Jeff! So after this I did a dry test fit and tapped everything together with blue painters tape. *NOTE for this and the THIGHS I would SERIOUSLY recommend having a family member or a VERY CLOSE friend help fit...* If not... you'll have to do refitting over and over again. Luckily I had a family member that was able to come and at least TELL me if everything looked "right". Of course after I got the shins off I was able to see exactly what they were looking at and made adjustments from there. (And yes... I got my TK Boots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I glued the inside backing strip on and then tied the two halves together, making sure I had PLENTY of weight on the halves (which I placed upside down) to make sure both sides had weight to them to make full contact on the backing strip (did same thing with the cover strip), but this is the backing strip glued and cured: I then proceeded on the back cover strip: This was where I bought TWO different kinds of velcro and wondered which to use. I bought clear 10 pound plastic wet or dry velcro (from Lowes) as well as 3 pound white old fashioned (teeth and fuzzy side) velcro. I tried both out separately and found that once I got the 10 pound on and snapped in place...... I could not get it off lol. I ALMOST called the fire department to bring the jaws of life to cut it off, but settled for pulling the shin piece off and having a family member (thank goodness for these people) literally use a small, flat, hard object (in this case a imperial knife) and literally but the two halves of the Velcro apart. *I WOULD SERIOUSLY RECOMMEND AGAINST USING THE 10 POUND VELCRO!!!!!!!* However I keep hearing everyone say "heavy duty Velcro" so I assumed that's what everyone meant lol. With everything finished, and cover strip trimmed/sanded: Now with the "fun" part..... sniper knee I have heard a lot of people talk about AP and the sniper knee nightmare. And it is real!!! I took my heat gun and applied SMALL BURSTS of heat to help "form" this and get it as close as possible to the shape of the shin. Sides did match up, but the only thing I had a problem with was the front not wanting to stay down... no thanks to my cows of legs, but I was able to get things in place: Again it was bugging me that this was SLIGHTLY tilted to the side, but after looking at NUMEROUS reference photos, and reading a lot of threads, this is a common issue and normal?!?! So I glued everything down and let it sit over night! I might even let this site for a FULL day in a half because I hated it so much. So next thing I'm working on is the bucket. This shouldn't give me a head ache... SHOULDN'T right?! haha

Now I have a under armor and I LOVE it, but what I'm going to be using as well is this: ----------- I Scuba Dive so this was already handy and I've used this to do test fitting (since I'm still currently building my suit, but this material is thin enough to breath while still leaving as few seams as possible. Now this is a single piece whereas the others are two pieces so this'll be a LITTLE harder to change. I use this as a "under shirt": ------------ Seems to work! I tested this out in my garage in extreme heat and sweat my stormtrooper behind off, but it felt a little better! I'm going to be trying this out on my first troop to see how it works Hope this helps!