FN1313

I hate that problem...I to have larger legs and arms from working out and obviously stormtroopers weren’t built lol. I’d assume yes you could heat them carefully with a heat gun, but I’d recommend seeing if some of the other guys have better suggestions. Because that could be risky. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome! Sev is definitely the best! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's really cool! Good work as well in your restoration/creation! Thanks for sharing it with us as well. I love seeing builds come together.

Definitely looking good with basic approval. Which I see you have Congrats! To add to @gmrhodes13's thoughts. Some things I did to help with my armor which is a Jim kit is I've added a strip of velcro to the top of the cod piece and back of the belt in the front so it will hold the belt in place and it doesn't slip down. This has made a hug difference. For the butt plate angle, you could probably run a thin elastic between it and the cod piece that will hold them more inward at the bottom. Most of the remainder of the items look more to be just details when putting on the armor, shin height, thigh height, but just worth consideration. Some things I've found the longer I've had and trooped in my kit that might be helpful going forward just for appearance and management. My shoulder bells tended to get stuck under my biceps, this because the biceps would slip down and the shoulders were floppy and tended to slide toward my back more than front. How I resolved this is I shortened the strap I used for my bells on the front side (I had two straps for each bell, one mid back and one mid front) The front one I shorted by 3/4" which forced the bells to sit more forward. I've also found that the armor will rub against itself and rub paint off many times...however this is minor weekend repaints now and then. Finally if you have cracking issues, I'd highly recommend having some fiberglass cloth/resin around for underside strength and repairs. Also devcon plastic welder to fill cracks will help too. I have a build thread I'm going to detail my repair work on as well. Congrats! you look great. It's a fantastic kit from Jim and you'll be one of the cool guys that people want to see because there's not many FOTKs!

Looking good! Definitely looks solid enough for basic approval, and yeah as others have noted before me a few adjustments for the EIB level, but you're easily on your way. @Neb Sgird is a fantastic help at our garrison too! Feel free to hit him/me up.

I have @ukswrath‘s aluminum supports and will vouch for how good they are. Not to mention the added strength they’ve given in that high stress location of the yoke. But congrats on your armor and welcome to the First Order!

That's fantastic! excellent work! Also, I wish I could sit down lol.

So I guess the biggest question comes into what areas are you needing specific help with fiberglass? My fork armor is fiberglass and I was able to build it mostly similar to abs armor. Now the biggest difference was I used fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth to strengthen or cover areas needing reinforcement, then Bondo, to smooth areas that are needing touch up. Feel free to let me know what questions you have and can help as much as possible.

That much is true. Yeah I need to have them done before Salt Lake FanX so I'd say in the next few weeks. Hoping Utah doesn't do it's normal It's Spring...that means the occasional unexpected blizzard.

As I stated repairs are coming, here’s a gallery of some of the general wear and tear type repairs I will need to make cracking up the back of the valve where I had to expand the armor. I will drill a hole to stop cracking, then fill with some Devcon plastic welder. On the inside I’m going to strengthen with fiberglass. Then smooth outside with bondo and repaint. looks worse than than it is, but that left side is just a ton of paint chipped off. There’s a hairline crack there that I’ve known about for a while, however with the winter and a lot of events demanding me I haven’t been able to dedicate time to it. So I’m doing the same as above here, drill hole to stop crack, fill with Devcon, on the underside I’m going to reinforce with flexible sintra plastic. Then bondo top and repaint. the remaining repairs are just needing to have some repainting done. Due to rubbing against other things.

Still have some from my scout helmet build...saving for repair work if ever needed haha. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pre-trimmed...that means no extra plastic for paste. But still one person has more than anyone else hopefully helmets aren’t too far off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve never used PayPal alone. But I have it setup to utilize a credit card. I have done this for two reasons though. First is PayPal purchase security (should I need to dispute purchases like $800 armor) second is my separate Visa card security. So it gives to failsafes. Honestly never thought I’d need it, but it has happened before when working with vendors.

Hey, @PGHtrooper21, so I have a Jim kit. I'm a little late to the party answering for you, but I can't recommend his work and service enough. Not only is it a great kit, but he's one of the only if not most reliable vendors for FOTK armor. Now to answer you question about breathing in the helmet. It's about the same as any other helmet. Your best action to make things work though would be to add some fans to the front to provide great air flow. Tony, aka @ukswrath who answered above provides some excellent fans for this. Feel free to check out my build thread to see more details on how I achieved this. FN-1313 Build Thread

So as I'm sure happens with all armor there is wear and fixing that will be needed. I'm going to continue detailing this in this build going forward. My hopes are to help others see that it is okay to have to fix armor up regularly, and to give some good detail on what and how. I'm holding off until I finish my scout kit, but it will probably happen soon.

I'm 5'11'' and was 235 lbs when I built my armor. It fit perfectly in all spots but the legs...however I have extremely large legs due to years of marching band and drum corps so my legs are quite sized up and muscley. But even then feel free to check out my build thread for guides on this. FN-1313 Build Thread

I realize this is a really late comment, but from what I've seen with a local garrison member on their 850 FOTK kit, I'd recommend against that vendor...however this is entirely based on the frustration in cheap quality and missing parts followed by poor or no communication from the vendor.

Following up on my post here. As of now I would say avoid 850 like the plague. I had a garrison member purchase from them and first they were not given all the parts. As such a local member is having to help try to build the parts for them. Second the pulls are very thin and cheap in quality, as such there's worry it may not last or may not be approvable. Be warned with this vendor. AFAIK at this time Jim is your most reliable and best bet.

Oh good, I won’t have to empty my wallet to make changes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’d highly recommend this for even added strength. I did both fiberglass and supports for mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've got some Jimmi references and info for this from my own kit and bucket. There is definitely the mesh between the teeth. I think he's had a lot of more accurate adjustments in his latter versions of the kit. Mine I have is the V5 kit/bucket. I can get some images for reference if you are still looking for them. Let me know what angles you'd like.

I know the strip above the eyes is Matte. I did the teeth with a matte finish, but everything else that is black in gloss. I think I have some pictures of how I did the visor. I used some Tee-nuts that I epoxied to the sides of the helmet (Over the ears) then I drilled holes into the visor and used screws to put them in. for added strengthening and protection of the Tee Nuts I used some Apoxie sculpt to just cover them up a bit. This last image is completed so if you zoom in you can kind of see the matte in the teeth and around the brow.

Following

The Jimmi kit is what I wear. The nice thing is the yoke is all one seamless piece. So you don't need to do any gluing/attaching. In fact all his pieces are seamless. So the actual "build" is minimal. It's a fantastic Kit. One thing to note though is if you are like me everything fit, but the legs. I have quite large legs from years of Marching Band, Drum Corps, and soccer. So I had to actually use a dremel to cut them and then shim them bigger. So there might be adjustments to make as with any armor. I can't say much for KB kits as I've not had any experience with them, but if you are willing to spend the bit more in shipping costs for Jim's kit (still reasonably priced) He's proven to be one of the best in the community for production, communication, and turn around. Feel free to check out my build thread for an idea of what it would be like.

Requesting access TK-81313 https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=28928