chiefbonan

Hello all! Very exciting times! Dad and I have moved on to do some strapping. We have finished doing the most of the armour except the legs. We thought it would be better to size them once a majority of the torso is done so they don't look to big or too little in comparison to the torso. Nothing worse than it looking out of proportion! Here are photos of the ab and kidney plate joined. I put my under belt on to better simulate what it'd be like once the over belt is on it. We have yet to paint the rivets white, and yes there is a third one under the belt. It could use some touch ups, but looks very good imo!!

I think I have one of those, I feel some of them need to be a bit bigger like @TKSpartan 's photos

Have started to paint the ab buttons. Gonna give them a second coat. You can see a few of them need touch ups which ill go through with a toothpick. Do they look like a decent size? I know you can paint them a bit too much as it isn't all on the white button. My Dad wanted to show you guys him using a scribe to measure the cut lines for the cover strips, and wanted to know if any of you use the same technique!

Hello, are these mic tips from Trooperbay acceptable for Cert 3? https://trooperbay.com/mike-tips

Hello, yeah my dad is very excited to get his own kit. I think I’ll trim the one with 12 down to 11 so they are both equal, but I’ll do that once all of the other pieces are finished! Thanks for the advice!

sure, will do, cheers mate

Awesome thanks, any advice for my forearms?

Hey everyone! Samll update. We have pretty much everything we need for cert 3! Our local hobbyshop happened to have the correct Humbrol paints too. And we also got lots of canvas for the belt. In even bigger news my dad is now also getting his own armour, which we will be ordering soon! Looks like 2 new troopers will be joining the ranks instead of one. He will also be going for cert 3! Is it possible to make the hand plates out of EVA Foam?

Hello all! Thank you for you pictures and diagrams, will look at doing some trimming shortly. I have a few questions about my forearms. Here are some pictures: (Right forearm is on the right side, left is one the left) As you can see from the first picture the right forearm is longer than the left. The right arm seems to have 12 ridges while the left has 11. Is this correct? It shows it in the CLR here: The left feels a bit more comfy on my arm, I'll show why soon. I think they both look great so far. I was thinking of cutting the top ridge off of the right arm so it fits better/ looks more symmetrical. I know the original armours weren't perfect, but if the option to make it look a bit better is there I think I should go for it. Like me previous post I said the forearms need shortening as well as some altercations to the shoulder bells and the chest plate. Here are some photos of me wearing the right (bigger) forearm: The top of the forearm is just reaching the inner elbow where my arm bends, as you can see my skin creases if that's what they're called. You can probably tell that it is sitting a little low on my arm here, as it is not strapped and what not. it could probably go up around 2-3cm or so. Again it is juuuust reaching my inner-elbow-arm-creases. Here is me bending my arm. You can see how it is jabbing into my bicep. Is this normal? Can troopers never reach for their coffees? It does this on my left arm too, yet is less jabby as it is like 3 cm smaller. I would think you are meant to move freely, but I want to ask before I take too much off of it. So some questions I would like to ask is: Does my right arm need trimming to make it in line with my left arm, so the top ridge be cut off, leaving both with 11 ridges? Could I use some trimming off of the front of both arms? Is it normal for them to sit so far up the inner elbow? Does it normally jab in like that, and that troopers can't lift their arms up a certain point? Please ask if you need more photos!

ahhh I see, I'm guessing this is still approveable up to cert 3? I was also thinking of taking the returns of the bells, and also on the sides of the chest plate. But i need to do more fittings, thank you mate

Hello! So I'm to understand when you mean trim the shoulder bell so like this? (sorry just a rough sketch, just in this sort of fashion):

Shame to hear what happened with the opening night. One day I hope to do an opening night, depending on what the next film is they are cooking .It has been really good so far making the kit. My dad and I don't really have share hobbies apart from model making, and that was like half a decade ago now. Not we are working on the same thing he's been very hands on. I've been staying up super late pouring over these forums for new ideas, tips, everything really. What dad and I have been doing is going over peoples TK Pre Approvals and seeing what others have been doing, mainly with their strapping, like you said, many different ways to do it. This recent fitting, the one just above, was a big milestone since we got actually see some of it all together, and nearly fitting me (as you can see the chest, forarms and maybe the shoulder needs trimming)! I've been cosplaying for 4-5 years now, as Daft Punk (see here: https://imgur.com/a/uI4cYyQ), so I already know how great the cosplaying community is already. From bad to amazing cosplays, everyone is appreciated. Even more so here, everyone is super helpful and everything is SUPER in depth and everyone is friendly too. Now my dad also wants his own Kit, but the person I bought this kit off of is known as not a good person in this community, in fact he is banned from all 501st related things, and was known for not delivering kits at all sometimes. I only found out AFTER I got my armour and it arrived. So I don't think I'll get my dad's kit from him, perhaps someone else, but I don't know where yet, haven't looked again. Thank you for the advice!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, like you said there are plenty of ways to do the strapping. Do you not like snaps since you can't really adjust the size after the fit? Me and my Dad are being careful with the CA Glue, and we do know the downsides. Not to toot my own horn or sound up myself, but me and him do have a lot of modeling experience (like tanks, airplanes you name it) so we are confident in ourselves in not making a mistake. That being said if we do make a mistake it will be harder to reverse. We may be building a second set of armour after this first one, so we may use E-6000 then

SMALL UPDATE Since me and my dad have decided to go for Cert 3, we need to do another shopping run! Thin White Elastic (for the shoulder straps) White webbing 38 mm (for the shoudler straps) Black Elastic 38mm (to hold up the thigh plates) Paracute buckles (to construct the under belt) Various foam (for inside padding) Tube pipe 65mm (for the thermal detanator) Split rivets 8mm (for the side rivets) and then the paint for my bucket!

Hello! So is it okay if the return edge of the front piece where it overlaps the ab plate can go? To my eyes it just seems big on the sides, perhaps I might trim down the sides. Since it looks okay from top (at the neck) to the bottom (on the ab plate), but that's to my newbie eyes. Like I said before it does feel bulky in that area. Apart from the it looks decent, perhaps the but plate could use a little trimming like you showed. You've been really helpful. My dad won't need to go for this much trimming for sure!

Hello! After lots of trimming, sanding and cutting we have made some more sizeing progress! Here are some shots of the ab, kidney and butt plate on me (DISCLAIMER my Dad took photos looking a bit downwards, not straight on/accross,): Now I think it is sitting alot better than before. Do you think the butt plate needs to go up a fraction? it seems to sit low. Now here are some photos of the full torso: I think it is sitting really well, again the butt piece looks like it's sitting low, especially from the sides, but i'd like your guys opinion. Do you think the chest here looks too big? I am pretty much the correct height for a trooper, just not the right build obviously. And finally we have some shots with the full upper half: So the shoulder bells seem to clip on the sides of the chest piece when I move my arms, might need to trim them down. The forearms seemed to be a bit too long, So I will probably have to trim them down. Is it okay if the return edges are gone from the upper opening on the forearms? Again the chest seems a tiny bit big, especially on the left side in the first photo, maybe strapping it down should fix it. I am skinny guy much to my dismay, but it seems to fit well, just feels big around the shoulders, doesn't feel too comfy in that area. One last thing, is my brown strap too short? It does this on both sides, it just falls short of the edge of the forehead decal should end. Thanks for the help, my dad is starting to ask me where I can get another kit for him!

Thanks!

awesome, your diagrams really help, once I move onto the helmet i will for sure do this

Sure thing man, I'll do you one better, here is a library with multiple angles all over the helmet: https://imgur.com/a/iPv54mt

Could I also bother you to ask about this section on my helmet?

When it is lined up, for some reason it looks crazy over the line, must have knocked it, but when it is lined up on both sides i have like an inch-ish gap of space from my back to the inside of the kidney plate. I'll get some more pics tomorrow, as it is hard to do it solo since my dad asleep now, but thank you for your guidance so far

Wow awesome! that really helps! Yeah I think I could left up the lower half to meet the back plate, as it was already sitting a bit low on my body. Do you think padding in the kidney plate will help push it out a bit? Do you think it looks too slender on the side view? Thanks

That being said I have some test photos of me with the armour sized up a bit, what are your guys suggestions, as you can see I am a stick man. I have front, back and side views here: https://imgur.com/a/ZTdK7Ly The armour sat a tiny bit low on my body, I could lift the ab/kidney/butt plate up about an inch or two. I think it would help to put padding up my back so it sticks out a bit more, to not look too skinny. I did try the shoulder bells and they cam out quite a bit, I could shave them about 2 cm ish on the inner sides to bring them in a bit more. You can see that the armour has a near inch gap between the kidney plate and the back plate, which i've learnt it a no-no for Centurion, which I'm now going for, but I can see it being easily reduced. Any other suggestions would be great, since it doesn't really fit that well right now. Thanks! Another thing, as I am now going for Centurion, the bottom of the ear piece doesn't sit flush with the helmet opening marked below. will this be an issue? EDIT: Also if you need more photos just ask! I can't seem to upload high quality in here, it says my max total attachment size is 0.02 MB

Hello! We have decided into looking at getting some E-6000. I've been going over the CLR with my Dad, and have decided that we will go for the Level 3 Centurion, not the Basic. As my dad would like to get it accurate, as he loves the movies. We know it can be a bit more expensive, but we are up for the challenge are already having alot of fun making it already!

Hello, just have a few questions: With my back piece the corners kind of jut downward, pushing the back plate up when it's resting on the kidney peice, should they be cut down flat? And another, when I bend my kidney piece, to fit my body as if it is strapped/ being held down by a belt, it gets a bend, how to I remove that? Can I just cut that return edge off? thank you.