TheRascalKing

Welcome back! With the cheap ABS kits coming out, ROTKs are getting popular and finally getting some additional support behind them! Definitely a cool suit and good choice. Let us know how we can help!

WOOOOOOOOOO! Great job, Ken!

Aight here it is, guys... took some time to lay it all out and triage the good, the bad, and well, the ugly! So if you don't already know, I'm in the final stages of wrapping up my ROTK build (I know, I know, I'll finish that before I begin any work in earnest on this one!) and I really like the way Jim's armor is made and was keeping an eye open for sales or discounts on perhaps picking up a set. I actually had purchased a B-grade set of KB Props armor super cheap, but wasn't too stoked on an ABS build in general and decided to give it up (and a few other things) in a little yard sale to go towards an FO. And wouldn't you know it, a fully painted and assembled suit popped up for sale here on FISD that was only about an hour's drive away to go get! I hit @Dynamic1 up and ended up driving down to swoop up his kit. I got what I felt was a pretty darn good deal, but there is of course a good deal of work to do to bring the kit both up to being in good repair, and further to my generally high standards. I'll go through all the things I'm stoked about, and the stuff that concerns me below (with some pics!) So strap in, here's another Rascal build (rebuild? upgrade?) comin' your way. The GOOD: - The kit is fully assembled, and Brian is about the same height and weight as me (though much more muscular, but FO's are kind of top-heavy anyways, and the biceps fit fine). - The kit was available locally and didn't need to be shipped (Orange County to north San Diego county isn't close, but definitely not far!). - The kit is fully painted!!! And pretty darn well, with almost all the pinholes and imperfections filled, and with a easily available Krylon rattle-can white... but there are some issues (see further below). - It included a set of boots (too small, but I can sell em and recoup some cost since I have a pair from Imperial Boots for my ROTK already), gloves (TrooperBay ones I may replace with EndorFinders), and even a blaster (3D-printed that I may replace as well). The Hengstler counter bit fell off but I have it somewhere, no worries. It has pretty bad print lines and I juuuuuust don't want to sand it, so it will likely be replaced, but is great for now! - It included a metal R2Dan holster already! It wasn't paint-matched very well, but I can respray it. - I stopped by @Oztrooper 's house to drop off some stuff for @equuspolo and he happened to have a fresh Anovos ABS FO helmet up for grabs and offered it to me at a reasonable price, so I grabbed it! Wasn't expecting to purchase it just yet, but it worked out. He had already done some of the mods I'd want to do anyways, including reshaping the duckbill a bit with heat, adding a rubber neckseal trim, and a metal aerator tip from VaderPainter (now no longer made?). Big thanks to him for the convenient hookup. I actually had an Anovos Premier that I got an incredible (eBay) deal on, but it was just too dang heavy. The BAD and the UGLY: - The kit did not come with much in the way of strapping and what's in it, I will likely replace anyways. Step one will probably be stripping the interior and hitting it with a quick coat of flat white touchup. It looks like it was a mix of velcro and snaps, but I've been messing with magnets a lot lately, hmmm.... - Severalll pieces of the kit will need to be sanded and repainted due to scuffs (like this knee that I already started sanding). Some other pieces may clean up with a polish. I would prefer not to have to repaint the whole kit, but I learned a lot from my last rodeo and will see how much it bugs me. - Jim's kit in general does not have a couple features that may hold me up for Centurion if I choose to go there (have you met me before tho? haha) - the forearm wrist boxes are molded in, as are the ab belt boxes. Perhaps I can add a small groove to simulate them being separate pieces? ( @shashachu @justjoseph63 @TKSpartan would that fly?) - All the small accent details are stickers - I will likely paint most them on and replace the chest/shin/bicep bits with the proper cutout/gaff tape combo. - The back yoke is cracked at the shoulders pretty bad, which scares me, but also makes it a prime candidate for @ukswrath 's shoulder bell bracket/reinforcement/support thing. I probably will NOT run the strapping THROUGH the yoke like you're supposed to, but fiberglassing the bracket in may be a good way to both repair and update its accuracy. - The ab boxes have some pretty bad cracks, likely from being flexed up while suiting up/down. These and the shoulders are the worst of it, but there are a few small stress cracks in other places that I MAY address... these I will for SURE. - At least one little greebly fell off, but they'd probably benefit from switching out the velcro with the new Ultra-Thin stuff I came across in my other build thread! - The belt is the proper sandwich of three materials, but needs to be reglued, as it has largely separated. Brian said the belt was a giant pain in the butt, like my RO, so I'm glad it's already pretty much done. I think that's all for now... just wanted to do some triage and get some pics up to show you (and myself) what I'm up against. I may be able to rig up some strapping and try it on in the next couple weeks, but this will likely be 2021's project. I'll post more once I've finished my RO (updates on that coming soon) and work on this begins! Thanks for stopping by and joining in on the madness once again!

Psh, even I didn't necessarily know it was coming! hahaha I told myself I never wanted to mess with gaskets and that I wouldn't, but I was starting to run out of white armor to noodle with and I don't think people want to see an ROTJ as much as they do an FOTK! I came across this great deal when I wasn't even really looking and it was too hard to pass up. Hey, it's white and shiny... but I don't want you guys drawing colored lines on it and I think some of the paint is outside the lines :P

Now that I've finished my 4th OTTK Centurion approval... and my ROTK is nearing completion approved... if only I could find something... maybe a new build... to keep me busy during the holidays/continued lockdown... MORE TO COME SOON!

Okay gotta chime in here real quick - Anovos is an EXCELLENT kit (as long as you are "stormtrooper-sized"... they just have garbage business practices and won't be around much longer), and mine has been to Centurion and back 4 times now. If anything, it is actually a bit TOO NICE a quality of kit - it has been "cleaned up" slightly versus the actual screen used suits and I like to think it's more of how a Stormtrooper was MEANT to look, not exactly how they DID look. The suits in '77 were pretty bad. That being said, RS Props specifically strives to recreate the suits as close to screen-accurate as they can consistently get them... defects and all. If your wife thought the Anovos kit looked bad...? When she sees the lumps and warts on an RS helmet and the quality of their strapping, I'm sure she will be SHOCKED. RS is great for collectors, but far from my number one choice for actual troopers. Build yours with interior cover strips, reinforced shoulder bridges, and quality strapping and you won't have any more issues than any other maker. A commissioned RS suit will absolutely still take plenty of modification to fit your frame properly, to be comfortable for trooping, and even for basic approval much of the time. I'd have her put the money towards build supplies, or sending your Anovos out to be commission built for you instead of pursuing an RS kit, personally. Or have her get you a blaster or some HWT parts, I don't know! I'm not one to look a gift.... wife?... in the mouth, but if you do lots of research, I'm not sure you'll be as happy with a RS kit as you think you will. Building and getting to know your kit and how to rig and repair it is half the fun, and Tony's thread below is as close to a set of instructions that you'll get, maybe even better. /$0.02

@11b30b4 Please add Sheev's Emporium to the soft parts vendor list at your convenience. They have started consistently providing undersuit gaskets and they look excellent! https://www.facebook.com/sheevsemporium

I went looking at one point and I don't think it has... The one Jyn Erso uses has pretty good reference and has been replicated, but I don't believe the stormtrooper one has. When I went looking, I discovered that they were illegal to own in my US state, so I gave up haha

Thank you all so much!

Congrats and looking good, trooper! 23 SPOTS LEFT TO 500!

I ain't playin haha

Yea a couple of minor dressing issues in the photos, but armor itself looks EXCELLENT and I definitely hope you submit for higher levels! Great work!

Yea I'd stay away from hot glue and go E6000 - get the temp setting wrong and you can visibly warp your armor. I use a setup similar to the Billhag diagram above and have two different straps I can swap between for ANH or ESB, with the ESB being a couple inches longer to give that trademark ESB look, but still keeping them attached and less likely to rotate. I also do not use or particularly recommend using biceps hooks, as they are not allowed at L3 and not really necessary if your strapping is dialed in.

Yup, bingo - you're on the right path and that forum should unlock once they grant your well-earned access. Once you see that, this thread should be very helpful: And I actually justtt submitted my ESB suit for Centurion myself, and I'd like to think my formatting and photos are pretty up to standard, so feel free to check my thread and the others out for some inspiration!

Oh awesome! I was gonna link you, but I just noticed your thread over on the Access Requests page, so you're doing all the right things! Armor also looks fantastic! I don't see any major issues from the one photo, so I'm sure we'd love to see you over in Advanced Tactics for Expert Infantry! Congrats on your approval and welcome again!

Hey Lucas, welcome to the FISD and thank you for sharing your story! I'm sure we'd love to see your ESB suit so we can help get you on your way to approval! Have you reached out to your local Garrison as well?

It's grown on me significantly. I like it up there now, good call... don't take it away again

I've seen the cod shots but that twist is WILD. Yea Jim's won't do that hahaha :O I was lucky enough to be one of the background Stormtroopers in my own armor in S01E07 and E08, yes. Glen's thread below has a little more info about it. It was an amazing thing to be a part of, and pretty cool to be one of the few to truly be able to say that I AM a Stormtrooper. In Star Wars. I was just fortunate to receive an invite and showed up with my kit - Ardeshir works in the industry, so the people he knows are the actors hired because they fit in the studio suits (or do stunt work) - I brought my own armor and took it home, but the studio keeps the studio suits haha Jim's mix is "proprietary" and I'm far from an expert in composites, but it seems like a flexible gel coat and a thin hand-layup of fiberglass that he doesn't seal with too much additional resin so it stays flexible. I added an extra coat of resin to the interior of mine to give it some additional strength. It's a cool material, but just like ABS, if you push it too far, it does crack. I'd say you can get away with more drastic mods/repair with painted fiberglass and still make it blend in again, over making slurry or melting, sanding, and polishing ABS! Yup! Jim, and then 850 Armor Works and HeadShot Props in ABS, are the only reputable suppliers of Anthology style armor that I know of, though a few are inching closer to building pretty accurate 3D-printed suits!

Can'tstopwon'tstop. I'm technically immune compromised after cancer treatment this year so being on quarantine has sucked. Working on armor keeps me busy and honestly these silly awards give me an extra little sense of accomplishment. Maybe it'll help motivate some other people too. I mean, if I can do it 4 times with the same base armor... And my ROTK thread is up so not it's not a secret, but hopefully I'll be wrapping that up and you'll be seeing it soon! (#5?! We'll see if @equuspolo finishes his FOTK before me tho hahaha) I also picked up a STEAL on eBay that might also be of interest... Only $$$ but not enthusiasm holding me back from the rest! *spoilers* haha Thanks again Q! I know you love my TD Thanks so much Mario!

I know my TD drives you nuts, Glen We'll see if I can sneak through a couple more times without modifying or replacing it haha The sniper knee is a good catch and I might consider cleaning that up a bit! I appreciate your feedback and keen eye. Thanks! Yeabuddy! Thanks so much! Thank you! Ironically this was the first suit I built and arguably my worst, but it's been through enough iterations and fine tuning that I think it looks good. Shame to retire it, but it's time. Thanks so much Ardeshir! I appreciate your help in making this happen, brother. Ardeshir is a friend and great guy - he's kind of my FISD twin and I'd like to think we push each other to work hard and give back! But yea, I couldn't let him totally show me up ;P Thank you!

A little TK-arate for ya haha Honestly running out of poses