TheRascalKing

I'm curious how your helmet fits with the pouches there - I mounted mine as low as possible, otherwise I can't turn my head to the left. I also used Line 24 snaps to make it removable instead of rivets. Just some thoughts Weathering looks good! I used @justjoseph63's suggestion and picked up some cheap eye shadow - was amazed at how well it worked too.

Looking super good, man! You got this!

Agreed - or maybe just your handguards up a bit. I use a small hair tie as an additional strap around my wrist to keep them in the right place , they look like they're almost down over your fingers... That should help close the "gap" too. Otherwise, looking good!

+1 more. As others have said, Dave has taken over selling AM Armor. AM has a long history and is extremely high quality - few other makers have as sharp of details or similar bright white, thick ABS. Their tooling is impressive and you get a ton in the box for your money (ie, ANH and ESB harndguards, TK and TD sniper knees, etc.). I have built several and they are one of my main recommended makers, especially for bigger guys. The kit even comes rough trimmed out of the box. Absolutely a quality vendor, just a newer face taking the reins. Buy with confidence.

Thank you to Joseph and congrats to Brien!

I saw a recent FB post from Praetorian that the owner had the flu. That might be why the delay. I'd give it another week!

Personal preference, but I like those better for Sandy hip pouches, and this style (also about $30) for HWT. Just me. That style is usually more expensive for whatever reason though, so give em a shot and see what the quality is like! Will probably look better with some proper fake "magazine" inserts, just like these do...

Orange County already has a Jeff L (Oztrooper) and he's got MORE than enough info in his noggin for everyone hahaha Otherwise I'd definitely consider it. Been trying to be more active on the boards when I can, and I do a good amount of Mentoring for the squad as well... Either way, I appreciate the shout-out

Also, Hyperfirm is no longer around - Praetorian effectively took over for them. If you can find one secondhand, they're still great blasters, but no new orders are being taken. In other news, THANK YOU for posting this - it will be SUPER helpful for new recruits!

No piece of any costume is "approved" by the 501st, let me just get that out of the way. Nit-picking, I know - but there's a big difference between "Approved" and "Approvable". Approval comes down to the actual trooper - each piece must fit you and and be correct to the rest of the costume and so on. Nothing is automatically approved by default. That being said, the rubber chemical/dishwashing gloves are the correct approvable gloves at higher levels. At lower levels, including basic approval, there's a lot more room for interpretation in the CRL. And after approval, even Centurion, no one is really going to stop you from wearing different gloves as long as they don't take away from the overall look of the costume. The rubber gloves are THE WORST and super hot (especially in CA). I've literally seen guys take them off and pour sweat out of them. Nope. The Nomex flight gloves are a good choice, but I don't much like the look or feel of the leather strip present on most of them, and they're still pretty hot. If I'm gonna go off-CRL, I want the most comfortable and utilitarian gloves I can get. I've been wearing these for the last year or so and love them. They're cheap, don't get very hot, I have great dexterity and can use my cell phone if I need to, and I just have elastic straps holding my handguards on. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZZ1J73J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oh, I did make a little progress the other day if anyone's curious. Bought some random 2" suspenders off Amazon and retrofitted them to (mostly) work to hold up the barrel. It was just me working on this, so taking pics and adjusting things was a challenge, but I might as well bring ya'll along for the ride. Random Amazon suspenders: Chopped the ends off to add snaps: My assistant is useless, but means well: Made some tabs to stick in - these are only temporary until I finalize what I'm going to do to reinforce the barrel a bit: Boom, all mocked up! In hindsight, the suspenders are way too long and I had to max em out to get the barrel sitting high enough. I'll either need to cut and shorten them, or mount them lower in the barrel. A couple of crummy test fitting shots: The side connectors are definitely too long and will need to be trimmed down a bit so I didn't attach them in the front yet. I'lll also likely be taking a little off the top of the barrel, and off the top of the cod plate to get everything to fit well. I'm about 6ft and 160lbs, so on the slim side. This kit should fit slightly bigger troopers easier than I originally thought, but I'll need to trim it down, which is intimidating. Anyways, that's it for now!

Or Jim Tripon in the Phillipines, but for his Rogue One style helmets... still might work. Odd that it's a separate piece tho... What make is the helmet?

+1 to Kalani's comment - do strapping and anything else on that side first. Keep the strapping simple, IMO. I did a whole elaborate "backpack-style" strap thing, thinking it would be more comfortable... it was just more complicated and got in the way of the armor. Simple 1" nylon all day. I sewed clips in at the ends tho so I can just clip in and tighten down, then clip out. The O II panel supports most of the weight. I'm gonna be picking up some thin craft foam to line the round hole in the oil pan to give it some padding soon, and recommend it to others. It sits almost perfectly on the panel, but still....

Awesome idea! My small contribution - TK-Talkie is definitely US-based. Brent is in Texas Also, might be useful - the Aker 1506 (and knockoffs) as well as the Pyle Pro are probably the two most popular speakers in use atm. I would also LOVE to see a section with recommended battery packs for running all the electronics!

Hey all, just poppin in for a quick update. Haven't made a ton of progress lately - unfortunately I've been having some health issues and am waiting on some scans to know how worried to be, plus it's been difficult to coordinate with our build group and I've just been busy personally (and SUPER tired all the time). Got my 50th troop with the Legion (37th FTE) in this past Friday though, so that's cool! Been a member for almost 2 years, so I'm right on track for my original goal of 2 events a month. Forums are cool, high five-ing kids is better tho haha I did start doing some test fitting and am so far very pleased with the fit of the suit and how comfortable it is compared to ANH. I also worked out the bicep issue and found the matching one in another trooper from our group order's kit. I'm still researching how to reinforce the kit before paint or final strapping, but I think I'm making this too complicated in my own head and just need to commit! haha Hopefully some progress and pics this weekend! Also, our group order from Imperial Boots is ready, so my T7s should be arriving in the coming weeks. We saved like $30 a person working with Vince! Awesome.

No worries! I like the added security of two snaps, and on 2" elastic, the spacing kinda just makes more sense. Some guys run one, and if you're using good quality snaps and setters, you should be fine, but I prefer two. I based my strapping design largely on the Billhag diagrams, with some slight tweaks. No reason to reinvent the wheel. The integrated elastic I hadn't seen done before, but I think it makes a lot of sense and it works really well. I disconnect my straps at the front and leave the backs connected with the elastic staying at the top of the back panel. The only limiting factor is really the length of the shoulder bridges, I would say. You can run as long of an elastic strap as you need, as long as it looks natural - I'm not aware of any offical standard. When I very first made a strap kit, I based the measurements on the stock Anovos velcro strapping I had laying around, but fine tuned it over time. I usually intend for there to be about 2-3" of visible elastic. My kits are made to be "one-size-fits-most", but where you glue in the male tabs leaves a lot of room for adjustment. I have made custom straps for bigger dudes tho, no big deal. Three bumps is probably the minimum just to get good adhesion when you glue em on and the strap should touch and lay on the back panel - so that's about what you have to work with. You can trim the lengths of the tops of the chest and back armor itself to help fine tune as well. Again, happy to help! There's a ton of stuff that I've picked up over time from trial and error, other troopers, and the forums. Least I can do is share. Post up if you have any other questions and we'll try to help!

And the even crazier thing is that I see Glen active on MULTIPLE forums... I see that dude all over the main Legion boards, the IOC boards, etc......... Glen, THANK YOU for your help and input across all of these forums. Congrats on a big milestone and keep up the good work!

THANK YOU! I sell strapping kits when the mood strikes me and they're not cheappp at $100, but if you really wanna set 60+ snaps by hand and sew in the shoulder snaps by hand, good luck and have fun I tell people! hahaha I do double snaps at any important body connections and single snaps on the arms, but that's just me. I integrated the little Centurion elastic hold down into the back of my elastic shoulder straps and it works great and they never shift or get lost. Only other suggestion would be to move the male snaps in the chest up a bit to the bottom of the "pec" and use a slightly longer set of straps than the rest of your body connections. The reason I do this is it allows the ab to slide up and under the chest more, which gives you more range of motion when bending forward. Food for thought. I like strapping haha

The trap decals can help you figure out the length to cut the brow at, and painter's tape can help with a nice straight line. Definitely trim more out of the corners of the eyes, but you're gettin there! Totally optional, but I also recommend painting the inside of the helmet matte black before assembly - it's much easier before.

Hey Johnathan, I'll be pretty straightforward - odds are that unless you are an experienced prop maker and very proficient with vacuum forming already, you will not be able to "construct everything". The overwhelming majority of us purchased raw, pre-formed "kits" from vetted makers, then trimmed and assembled them custom to ourselves. Quality molds/bucks are few and far between and the people who have them don't just give them out. Often, they have spent dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of hours sculpting them. It's not something you can just make your own of or find for cheap. Please look around in here and check out some of the links to find a maker that's right for you. Your very best bet will be to do a lot of research while you save - like Michael said, $600USD is about the bare minimum for getting into an ANH-S suit, and they go up from there pending quality/options/different costumes. The good news is - you're in the right place. You've found some of the people that will be HAPPY to help guide you along this journey. But let's set some reasonable expectations right out of the gate. Please post any questions you have up in here - we'll all do our best to help. Welcome!

The rivet locations are kind of a suggestion as long as their evenly spaced, so... 1/2" or so thick.

Great insight from Kalani and it's coming along super nice so far! And rats, I forgot to remind you - I usually drill the holes for the left side rivets, then glue the strapping in, then use a soldering iron to poke the holes for the rivets through, then set the rivets through the nylon. You can totally glue over the top, but the other way looks cleaner. New cut line looks good. Putting a little 1/2" spacer block between the sniper knee and cover strip sometimes helps everything align better too. Keep up the great work!

Depends on what you want, what you're gonna use it for, and your budget! I've had a couple, so I can share some thoughts. Rubie's Rebels mod is definitely the cheapest - you can find them for like $15 on eBay and they're plastic so they're pretty indestructible for trooping. They're easy to paint black and weather with some Rub n Buff. For funsies, I went the extra mile and added some power cells off of Shapeways, modded the end cap to have a functioning D-ring, drilled out some of the vent holes on the barrel, flattened the T-tracks out a bit, and added a couple screws here and there. I probably spent $30-40 on it. It's very lightweight so I mostly use it as a secondary blaster - either holstered or on the side of my HWT pack when I carry my DLT-19. Great intro blaster and a fun little project. Resin blasters from most manufacturers are going to be much more accurate looking, still not too heavy, but not super durable. I have one from MadScientist back when the Force Forum was a thing (LOL) and broke the shucks out of it trooping. Pieces would crack or fall off regularly and one time, it got super hot in my garage and the whole thing bent and warped slightly. Other than maybe for a display piece, I won't be buying resin again. The accuracy isn't worth the problems. Rubber blasters are my current favorites. I have an older (but not OLD) Hyperfirm DLT-19 and E-11 and I love them. They're a bit pricey, but hands down the best thing for trooping, in my opinion. They get decently accurate and detailed, hold up to a ton of abuse, and aren't too heavy either. Praetorian isn't the exact same people as Hyperfirm, but the two companies have some kind of ties, yea. Their quality has improved slightly since Hyperfirm went under as well. If you can afford it, Praetorian has my standing recommendation. I've never worried about it bending - even my long DLT. The weight is very reasonable considering how sturdy they are, but not light.

Way easier to paint before assembly. It's a tiny bit more masking work, but when you spray paint into like an almost round object like that, the #1 thing it does is blow paint mist back into your face. I paint all my helmets black inside and use a Rust-O-leum brand truck bedliner. I like the texture and I'd like to think it gives a flimsy helmet like 0.5% more strength haha I use a draw-string garbage bag to mask - pull it tight and tape it in place. Any overspray can be cleaned up with Novus.

Excellent clarification by Kalani - so we're on the same page, I was saying that the POPPER snaps are fine (and I believe more "accurate") to attach the canvas belt to the ab panel. But that's IT. All of the visible snaps are "Line 24" (at the posterior tab and Han snap on the ab). Tandy are good quality, but I actually prefer the cheaper ones that aren't branded on the snap for my visible snaps And as for the canvas belt... depends on the size of your crate and how you store it! My car, and therefor crate, are tiny, so I like to be able to remove the plastic ammo belt from the canvas and roll it up to minimize its footprint. Like Kalani said, do not press sharp folds into it - it can and will crack the plastic insert, which was my concern.