wook1138

Hi Brian and welcome to the FISD. As mentioned, The MEPD are our dirty brothers and they are the experts in sandtroopers. However, the builds are very similar and there is a ton of info here for general stormtrooper building. Plus, many of us have built both. As for the backpack, you don't need it for basic approval. You will however need one if you go for upper level approval. As far as just having one for the fun of it... well... that is up to you. The guys at MEPD will probably disown me for saying this, but I find the pack to be too much of a hassle to take on troops, so I have never worn it on a troop.

Ha ha, It takes a while for that feeling to go away - but it is amazing what kind of mistakes you can fix if you need to. Yeah, based on what material I have left on my bucket - you have room to trim. And I agree that trying to move the screws around can get tricky - best to avoid if possible. I had to move the lower hole a bit (down a touch) to eliminate the "ear gap". Wasn't really necessary since the ear gap is totally screen accurate. For bucket inspiration, check this site out: http://starwarshelmets.com/original-stormtrooper-helmets-sub-submenu.htm

Lol. This sounds familiar. I measured mine with the S-trim in place: Front to back - 17cm Ear to ear - 22cm Yeah, I trimmed those screws back a touch and sanded them down. I put my bucket on at 90 degrees (I face towards the right ear - it won't go on the other way - weird, right?) and it is a tight fit. I have to wobble it a bit to get past those screws when I finally get my head in enough to turn the helmet the right way. I know I could trim more off of my opening if I had to, but I seem to make it work. During my first troop... At one point we were allowed to take our helmets off for a bit - well, I couldn't get my bucket back on. It took me about 3 minutes (it felt like much longer) to get it back on. Wearing a balaclava didn't help either.

Hi Thomas. As mentioned above, once you tighten a belt around your armor, you may not need to reshape anything - and adding foam can work very well too. From what I can see in the pictures, your alignment of parts looks fairly typical. That said, I had to reshape my kidney piece. I used a hot water bath (in a very large pot and did one side at a time). The issue with doing this is the return edge that runs along the top and/or bottom - it will want to buckle if you bend the plastic too much. I had to go in with a heat gun on the buckled return edge - carefully head it up and flattened it between two pieced of wood. I wish I had pictures in my build for you - but I checked and I just have one picture that doesn't show much. And remember - wearing your shirt versus wearing your undersuit will make a difference with the fit. Keep up the good work!

You can do it. In some cases it is the best bet, but in others you will want to use a hot water bath. Larger or more gentle re-shaping is tough to do with the heat gun as it is very easy to overheat one spot on the armour (and then you will have trouble). For most reshaping I recommend putting the plastic in boiling hot water for a minute or so, taking it out and bend into shape, and then run the plastic under cold water.

Welcome to the FISD! You certainly want to be here too! We are here to help with any questions you might have.

Like what Daniel said - but the strip can/should be 15mm (20mm for the front of your leg pieces). Also, for sizing it is a good idea to wear your undersuit as well. Good luck with the build!

Like Glen mentioned, there are a few tweaks you could do to it to improve the overall look, but I would say you are probably good to go for basic approval.

Hi Daniel. Welcome to the FISD! As mentioned above, post a picture of your helmet here and we should be able to help you out in short order. The RS armor is a very good choice. Congrats on starting your 501st journey! There is much awesomeness ahead of you.

Welcome to the FISD. Everybody needs more TK in their lives. Congrats on your TIE pilot!

Looks good for basic. I'm not sure what the problem was with the S-trim - that is an upper level requirement anyways. If you can't move your thigh pieces up, you could always try a bit of padding to keep the sniper knee from getting under the thigh. A little padding at the back of the thigh and a little padding at the front of the shin in the knee area might help. Good luck!

Yep, no need to replace anything out of Mark's kit if you don't want to. Well, the only thing I would recommend changing out is the green visor Mark supplies. Although it is more screen accurate, it does not do a very good job of hiding your face when people are up close and personal or taking pictures with flashes. I ended up getting a green visor from TrooperBay - it was much darker and does a great job of hiding your face.

Before I built my TK I didn't even know what ABS plastic was (aside from the plumbing in my house). With the money you've saved up, you should be in good shape. I highly recommend going for an untrimmed kit - not only is this a more economical option, it also gives you a bit more latitude to make pieces fit you properly. There are many "how to" threads on this forum too. And yes, Youtube has some gems as well. A dremmel is good to have. Some lexan scissors and various sandpapers are good too. Depending on your body shape and the level of accuracy you are going for, you may not even need to shim. But if you do, it is not as daunting as it seems... and we are here to help.

Welcome to the FISD! As mentioned, check out the vetted vendors list. There are a few options when it comes to sizing up the armor - AM is an option, I believe WTF (Walt's Trooper factory) makes some oversized parts, and RT-MOD was handed over to PandaProps the last I heard - I'm not entirely sure the current status of those kits. I'm sure there are other options that I'm just not thinking of. I have AP armor which has larger ab and kidney parts to help accommodate those of us with less than active lifestyles.

Welcome to the FISD! By finding Cricket's builds you are certainly off to a great start. Start a build thread anytime. Finding particular info on this site can be challenging sometimes (there is so much) so don't be afraid to ask questions. We are here to help. Good luck!

Lol. You don't have to start working on it as soon as it arrives... just kidding. That's crazy talk.

Hi there. Welcome to the FISD! here is a list of vetted sellers. 850 ArmorWorks is fairly well known but is not on the vetted list at this time. If you are set on a Rogue One TK (what 850 is selling in the post) then you don't have many choices out there (KB props and Jimmiroquai are two that come to mind). If you are looking for a Original Trilogy stormtrooper kit, there are a number of other options out there. If you want more info on working with the 850 kits, check out our build section. There are some 850 builds in progress. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/196-rogue-one-build-threads/ To be honest, in most cases you get what you pay for. A lot of different kits can be 501st "approvable" - but the amount of blood, sweat, and tears involved will vary greatly. Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!

Welcome to the FISD! Looks like most of your questions have been answered. One thing about the Rogue One TK and the original trilogy TK (I'm not sure if this was mentioned above) - they are different costumes. The Black Series stormtrooper bucket is Rogue One. As far as picking a build - the original trilogy TK is very well established and there are many good vendors out there for it. First Order and Rogue One kits are obviously newer and there are fewer vendors and resources available for them. Also, although I don't have experience with the FO TKs, my understanding is that they are more difficult to size down to a slimmer build - someone with experience can correct me - but it might be something to look into. Whatever you decide, congrats on making one of the best decisions of your life. Trooping is awesome!

Congrats on the purchase! I have a couple of AP kits (a stormtrooper and a sandtrooper) - they look great and hold up very well.

Regardless of costume, there are ways to make it fit. I speak to the particulars of building a scout, but for a TK here is a good example of reducing a typical stormtrooper kit down in size. I believe the builder is 5'2". Might give you some ideas when sizing armour. She has a few builds on this forum. happy building trooper!

I had the same problem. I wouldn't mess with the screw holes too much - you don't want the bottom of your face plate to stick out - the helmet won't have the right profile and the tubes along the cheeks will not line up nicely with the tube shape that runs around the back of the helmet. I trimmed the opening a bit. You could easily trim some off of the front part and probably a bit off the back. One word of caution - take very little off at a time. It doesn't take much to make that opening larger and you don't want to overdo it. Also, keep in mind that you will have rubber trim installed along the opening. You will need room (edge) to get it on under the ears. Plus, it will decrease the size of the opening slightly (as I found out the hard way). I struggle a bit every time I put my helmet on - it was so tight that I had to practice getting it on.

Welcome back! Change is good, right?

Congrats and welcome to the FISD!

Hi and congrats on the armour! AP is great stuff. For pictures I was using Tapatalk - you can upload images directly from your phone. However, I was having some issues with it on other forums to I haven't been using it much lately. As far as I know, it still works well with FISD. Good luck with your build!

Hello fellow Badlander! Check out the build section for FOTKs - there are separate threads for each movie. Also, check out the Centurion and EIB applications (https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/72-request-centurion-status/) and scoll through for FOTK applications. These are great for seeing high quality builds. And of course, if you haven't been to the Badlands forum yet, be sure to check in there (badlands.ca). We have a few FOTKs and you may be able to meet up with members at an armour party. There is also a Facebook group if you are on FB. Good luck with your build!