PhilBobTheFish

The good thing is, you don't need to be too artistic to make a stormtrooper. Just perseverance and patience, and asking any questions you have so that you are sure of what you're going to do. 1. (A) The cover strip shouldn't go past the edge of the armor on any pieces. For the biceps and forearms, the cover strip just goes from edge to edge. For the Thighs, the cover strip goes from the top edge to above the raised area at the bottom of the thigh. The shins cover strips go from top to bottom on the front, and from under the raised area to the bottom on the back (only the outer half of the shin, so that it can still open). (B) It's not really expected that the cover strips will sit perfectly flush to the armor after glueing, and from most angles the tiny gaps will be unnoticeable. So unless you are really peeved by these gaps, or they are abnormally large, then you should be fine to leave them be. 2. The inside part of the armor is known as the return edge, and it's where the armor cuts in in the moulding process. Some people leave a bit of return edge on their armor for a sense of thickness, but others take it off for comfort. In the case of the biceps and forearms, you can take out the return edge at the top of the biceps and elbow, and this is perfectly fine. 3. Same thing for return edge on the thighs. You can partially or completely remove it if you need to. Also, for the back of the knee, do you mean cutting into the raised area of the armor? This was done on certain screen used armor, to allow for more mobility, and it's allowed here. As long as the cuts don't extend past the raised area of the armor. Check references for this, and measure twice before you cut, because it's always harder to put back plastic. 4. Yessir. 5. This depends on how your armor is assembled, and what strapping method you use. The main factor is how tall you are. If you're a bit shorter, you don't want the chest plate choking you out, so it'll be lower over the ab. If you're taller, it'll be stretched out a bit to accommodate the height. And if you use the original strapping method, it'll be fairly standard for how much it overlaps, but you can still change it from there. 6. For this, you can check the Sandtrooper CRL to see what they require for approval, or ask over on the MEPD forums. But yes, I'm pretty sure that for anything past basic approval as a Sandtrooper, you can't have the hard plastic shoulder bridges. 7. Velcro is good, but some people may not prefer it for rigorous movement. As for elastic and Velcro, this is about the only way to strap up armor using Velcro. Without elastic, nothing will stretch and flex and you move, so you will be fine will standing still, but will not be able to move and probably disconnect velcro. So elastic is the best thing to strap, as it supports the armor, and gives you the lenience to move easier. People have also used a combination of snaps and velcro sewed on to elastic for their armor, just for extra security. 8. The main thing with the side of the ab and kidney plates is not having a gap. So if you're a bit smaller and overlap a bit, this is better than having a small gap. So unless I'm wrong, avoid a gap, or ask your gml.

I stand corrected.

I mean, if he hasn't sent it to you yet, I would definitely try to get a refund.

It definitely looks like an RS recast. Are you able to cancel your order and get your money back?

Nice

It's an easy fix, removing the paint and all. That's the only thing that stood out to me about your build, and everything looks great. If you check centurion and eib applications, you'll see the snap unpainted. For example, this request: Great build though! Can't wait to see you approved.

To me it looks like you've painted your Han Snap on the ab plate white. If you did, you could easily remove that paint, so you don't get knocked for it. All in all, good job, and good luck.

Go ahead and just cut out the entire bottom of the knee plate, so that you can fit it to the shin. This is about the only way to get it fitted, and will give it flex to shape to the calf.

For mobility cuts, they must not extend past the raised area of the ridges. So, that might be below the edge of your current shim. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that the chest and ab plates have to sit perfectly flush with each other, just as long as they overlap.

I believe it's just 1" black elastic (you can just use the same width as your current loops) and you can just buy a certain length of it. Then, you cut it so it's a longer loop, and if you don't want to sew it, you can glue the ends of it with super glue

I've got water bathed parts that were already glued, and have never seen the glue melt in them. Sometimes it would separate because of how much I was shaping the plastic, and the glue just didn't hold. So it shouldn't melt, but if it does separate just reglue. Also, if you want your chest plate to overlap the ab plate more while using bracket, make the strap loops in the front longer. This will allow the chest to hang lower over the ab, and if you really need to shorten the strap then you can. On my armor, the ab isn't really supported by the chest, so the chest just hangs and is actually held up by the bracket loop. So, making the loop longer will give more overlap.

That part of the ear will probably be covered by the s trim, so it should be fine.

Maybe tall for a female, but actually a good height for a stormtrooper! You should fit fine height wise into most all screen derived suits. Although, to narrow it down further, you'd have to weigh your other needs (fit, cost, accuracy, etc.). Good luck with this, and you're doing great already, asking questions and using the forums (nice!) so you will definitely be steered in the right direction here!

I'm sure it's just V shaped because of the maker. I'm not really show you you could've changed the actual shape of the ridge, so just assume that's how it is.

You can contact them through their site, and they'll email you what you need to know.

This is exactly what I did!

That's just how the RS forearms are. The originals were flatter, and their suit had two right arms, so they had to sculpt the left arm from scratch. That's why the left forearm is slightly different, and rounder. It's not a big deal, as long as it fits you and all looks good. On my armor, I did a hot water bath to get the edges to line up better on my forearms, and slightly flattened my left forearm, so that's always a way you could go. But, if you don't want to bathe them, that's fine too, and the arms will be good. Tldr: that's just how the forearms be

I got a larger pair of the same gloves to use with my build. I got more than one pair, and used one of them for hot water baths and they worked well. So yours should work for hot water baths as well, and as Cricket said, only a bit of heat comes through after extended exposure (but it's not hot). I've never tried them with a heat gun, so I don't know how they would work, but they do provide at least some protection to hot water. Good luck!

Here are some size small rubber gloves: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Marigold-Industrial-Rubber-Insulating-Black-Glove-Size-Small-30-mil-flock/322167592127?hash=item4b02af54bf:g:1jIAAMXQlgtS1IsV The grip on these looks fairly accurate, and have the fingertip texture too.

According to the description, the armor is from DA props, and there are Stormtroopers approved all the way to centurion with DA armor. So, in that regard, you should be fine for approval, but I would still check out Spec Ops for guidance on ways to improve it. Good luck

You have the link to the original listing? Also, as long as the armor meets the requirements and fits you well, it should be approvable. I would recommend checking out the Spec Ops detachment forums, as shadow troopers are their domain, so they would be able to help you more. http://specops501st.com/forum/

What that means is that the handle of the blaster and T-tracks on the front shouldn't be weathered. This is because on the original blasters both those parts were not metal. The handle was plastic, I believe, and the t tracks rubber or plastic. All in all, nice build!

If you did a 40 mm cover strip on the front, it would match the armor, and then you could use a 40mm cover strip in the back, and leave some space in the armor of you need it.

This image shows some beat up helmets from the show, so they could either be for troopers or pikes. But either way, that don't look like black series (although I could be wrong, as I haven't extensively studying those). So, definitely Rogue One style helmets used. They would definitely have used the RO style armor because that's what they've got on hand. My guess would be that for the ANH helmets, they got them from Anovos, because the details are so sharp, and also because Disney has deals with Anovos already.

It's weird, because the helmets on Pike's in the town were all rogue one helmets. So I guess the troopers all traded out for a better model