hazamel

I won the fight over the thighs... or just gave up and decided that this is close enough to perfect for me. I get used to screen accurate inaccuracy... But I saved the best for last: The shins! This one looks a little weird because I turned my leg in a very unnatural way to take this picture. Maybe I should have asked my wife but she was too busy laughing about the squeaky noises I made walking around. First question: Return edge! On all pictures of shins there's a pretty broad return edge. I went for 10mm as usual then tried it on and... well to much sport. There's no "must have" for the return edge in the CRL but it seems like good manners to have so. Can I reduce them by half to give my calf little more air to breath. Also I would like to get rid of that pokey spike in the back.... This will also solve issue no. 2: I didn't trim anything at the calf and it barely touches. I read that the shin should close alone by the pressure of the shin coverstrip. Those bra-hooks are just for alignment. And with great shins comes great sniperplate: Roughtrimmed it and marked the line where, judging from other builds, the cutline should be. Tried to get a feeling where to attach the sniperplate on my shin but no way because of big legs and rough cut sniperplate.

Thanks @ukswrath I don't know where I got the 25mm from. I've now a lot of 20mm coverstrips to finish the project. Today I had a confidence boost, a military grade haircut and I needed to do something sensible after my dayjob. I returned to my old enemy: Thighs! Right one wasn't a problem. Left one on the front was also pretty easy. Again looks like there's no right or wrong when it comes to the upper part of the rigde on the left thigh. Saw RS with the ridge running out sideways at the top and saw with a straight ridge. For me it seems like you can do what you want and it depends on how you cut your thigh there. Back was more of a problem. Really struggled to get the raised area on the lower end in one line. Also was afraid that I had cut too much. However I twisted and turned the thigh I didn't get a really straight line. This is the closest I could get there. Also have to remove the return edge at the upper end and some of the return edge on the lower end. Any suggestions so far? Or "Looks good, put glue on it" Moving in these things is pretty funny so far. Not sure if I made them to small or if it's just because they aren't attached anywhere so far. Like when I was working on these things before: My real thighs are in the way of my plastic thighs and I'm a little stuck in the middle

Did some research on the coverstrips (or it is this "screen accurate" thing): Left thigh coverstrip: ~22mm Right shin front: 21.5 mm Left shin front (looks like the sniperplate came off): 25mm Back of the shins: 25mm So I guess I'm fine with using 25mm all around. Or even more screen accurate by mixing the front coverstrips from 22 to 25mm What's the screen accurate drink for achieving this result?

Before I start glueing my thighs: RS uses 25mm coverstrips in their Video-Tutorial for the thighs. is that the same size I have to use for the shins as well to get a uniform look?

Glue dried, finished the straps and hobbit-trooper appeared in our living room searching for his third breakfast.. Status of the shoulderbell issue: I'm more or less happy with my shoulderbells. I like the current look and I'm afraid that they'll be too small when taking any more material off. Also depends on movement. I tried velcor on the inside of the bell and the strap but after loosing my biceps several times while adjusting I got back to my original plan and used snaps. Any suggestions by the experts before I move on to the legs? Can't wait to have white legs...

A little frustrated and annoyed by my arms, I tried to get an easy success: Finishing the belt! I bulid the second box like I described a little while ago and secured them with snaps. To keep them in place I used little strips of velcro on the inside of the belt. So... Tada! Really rewarding sideeffect: That plastic clanking sound of the belt boxes. Finally I sound like a moving TK and not just squeaky stealth mode. Also my right thigh is still lying around taped for further fitting. Well, I said goodbye to the idea of putting my mobile into the inside of my thigh... And I have to stop doing sports where I get bigger thighs (Looks at his rollerblades...) And I need to remove the pokey end at the back. And for more freedom of movement I'll cut out the lower back. All in all it slowly comes together. Will continue with the arms tomorrow when the glue dried. Using velcro for the shoulder-biceps-strapping was a failure.

Back from business trip and a day at the Comic Con at Stuttgart... That's my face after I carefully sanded of my shoulderbells to get closer to the chest line and shortening the straps. I feel like it's better but still not great.

That’s fine too hot here. I can feel his confusion because I‘ve been there recently. You get this pile of plastic and you‘ve no idea where to start. At least for me some measurements would be awesome to have an orientation for less guided kits. Guess it’s part of the journey to learn that building a TK is no exact science like we‘re used to nowadays but more eyeballin, improvising and less caring. from all parts I build so far I learned that there’s always a referencepoint to start from. But you‘ve to find it.

That’s the problem it seems like there are only two kinds of shoulderbells: those with cutlines and those without that use the RS ones. At least that‘s what I found while looking for a place to start

Basic shape I used is as follows: from bottom to top on the ridge: 33cm / 12 Inches. For the depth it’s about 13cm / 5 Inches from the edge of the ridge to the edge that is towards your body. Getting the curved shape is really eyeballin. Put mine on the assembled torso and marked it with a pencil and slowly started sanding it down. Will post a picture on Friday because I‘m separated from my armor this week

The one with the straight ridge on the right the other one with the nose on the left. Already marked out the contours but didn’t cut before the arm issue is not resolved

New day, new try... I glued parts of the strapping because even though I've trusty magnets it was too wonky. So glued the shoulder strap and the biceps-forearme connection to the biceps. I can adjust the length size of the gap by moving the magnet at the forearm. Also glued a snap to the forearm and fixed an elastic at the biceps. Wouldn't belive it but such a huge difference (Thanks @troopermaster for insisting on that...). From my point of view this the best I've seen the last days. I noticed that arms are always in motion so the gaps are varying. It looks okay one moment and two steps later it's stuck on a wrinkel of the undersuit or the gloves and looks total crap. What I didn't do so far was cutting the shoulderbells like @TheSwede recommended. I paid close attention to the behavior of my shoulderbells and they don't pinch me in the side or get distracting entangled with my chest or back. It bothers me more that they are pushed outwards on top. Shouldn't they tilt more inward? Are the bells too narrow? Elastic too weak? Any suggestions on how to improve that issue?

Was kind of a well kept secret I didn’t find an answer here. A lot of people mentioned the curved bell but didn’t find an explanation how to get there. And if there’s one thing I learned while building: uncomfortable is normal, pokey is to avoid

As far as I understood all the stuff I read about the curved bells it's removing the right angle at the lower end and make it follow the curve of the chestplate. Like this. Same on the back and the other side: And, I guess, there's the problem for showing too much hand. Although I just removed the return edges the inner length of my forearms is about 20 cm from wrist to swoop. So my real biceps has to push down the armor with the elastic trying to pull them up again for half way into the bell? If that's the case my biceps-armor is to wide or I've to take a break from building and go to the gym. It's like you said: When I unboxed my shoulderbells I was wondering if they were dented or warped I get the feeling I should have put together every piece in advance with the real stuff without really using glue. Can I go back to the moment when I thought the legs were complicated to adjust?

What do you mean by on top of the arms? Any hint on where and how to find the right reference point for the curve? Guess one of the issues is also that the snap on the shoulder is more on the back than to the front. It’s pulling the shoulderbells slightly to the back

Quoting myself: I'll play around with it tomorrow. Sure... "tomorrow"... I left about 1 cm / 0.4" between biceps and forearm and tried it again. This time both sides. While the left side looks okay from my point of view... ... I feel like I show a little to much glove on the right side. Don't know why my glove looks so strange like I'm wearing a watch... Judging from these pictures I would move down the forearm right just a liiiiittle down and it'll be fine. Also: I really need a strap in my shoulder to connect to the biceps one more snap-noise from the biceps slipping out of my shoulder bell and something inside me would snap Hence my facial expression... I also learned that I can opperate my mobile with my nose... Don't ask. There's also a success today: Magent-closed Dropbox was a success!!! A friend send me a picture of his magentic dropboxes and I did something very similar. Had some dice-shaped magents lying around, so I did this thing. Came out pretty nice. It's closed shut but not to strong. I'm pretty happy with it and at least I've a safe place to store my key or tradingcards. And kids out there: Zap-a-Gap is a serious glue! No toy. Heard that someone almost glued his fingers to a pair of magents. They are now connected forever by the laws of physics... and Zap-A-Gap.

Oh boy... didn't want to start an argument. I looked at Sven's Build an EIB application where this was a topic. He's a little over 6' like me so this was the reason I asked and used im That's why I was a little frustrated and confused. Any way I tried it looked weird in a certain way. Having a huge gap between handplate and forearm looks strange, having my biceps hanging somewhere very low feels weird (not phsyically but mentally... it's called biceps and not "upper ellbow armor" ) having it hanging around like the guy in the second row nowhere near the shoulder Looks like Sven altered his armor from EIB to Centurion by moving down his biceps a little. Or he cut his arms. I'll play around with it tomorrow. There aren't so many variables I can change. Just have to hit the sweetspot. I'm well aware that there's no CRL requirement for gaps but I want my arms to look nice. Attaching the comfort-connection between biceps and shoulder will be the last thing I'll do. No glueing before I'm not happy with the outcome. So now shake your hands and get a beer I appreciate both of your work and helpfull inputs and insights.

Thank you for the Feedback, Paul. Wouldn't have thought about the spacing of the gloves if I hadn't seen it on Sven's application. Will give it a new go tomorrow.

So I went with the snaps and the first feedback I got on Instagram was "These didn't hold the biceps on my armor". Let's see... Meanwhile I started assembling my left arm with lot's of magents. And lots of fun magnets getting attracted to the wrong ones... First try... Too much glove I guess. Second try... More gap between biceps and and forearm, less glove. Downside: Biceps is not anywhere near biceps but sitting "on top" of my elbow. Third try... Biceps up a little, somehow: less glove! Fourth one! Biceps up, forearm down. More ellbowgap, less glove! I looked up @HSM76s EIB application because same height and same armor. Judging from the feedback he got for his gloves, I would go with my first try and lower my biceps down to just above ellbow? Or did I already hit the sweetspot with one of the other trys? Also: Didn't notice that my torso was totally sideways.

So... while I'm waiting for the E6000 to dry on serveral items, I browsed through different build threads, Centurion applications and reference pictures to find out how the biceps is connected to the shoulderbell. I saw a lot of biceps hooks and stumbled across the billgrams for the snaps. Asking for the "right" solution feels wrong, but how did they do it in the movies? Read something about a very sophisticated single elastic for the shouldersnap glued to the shulderbell and down to the biceps. Or is it one of the things nobody cares as long as the biceps stays in place and for the sake of transport use snaps. Also heating up ABS and bending it is not on the top of my list of things I want to learn So any input is welcome

Can do that. Measuring these 3mm is always tricky because of the round foot of the ammoboxes. Had the same issue with the pack on the thigh

While trimming and sanding my shoulder bells and doing a little research about the curved shoulderbells, I came across @Crickets build thread again. I highly recommend it for any trooper. Browsing through her Centurion fixes I noticed an issue I've also on my belt... Reading requirements is an art. Didn't I blame a guy at work to read the manual? Well, my belt is slightly wrong I guess cutting along the line will fix this issue. There's only a demand for 45 degrees in CRL and not in how long the plastic part has to be. (Reads again... doesn't find anything about that). Well, I also feel a little stupid right now Also thanks to crickets build thread I know that my buttplate is all screen-accurate with sticking out and not following the lines of the kidney. Did I mention that the buildthread is a great ressource?

Shoulderbell-Tuesday! This was a pretty quick one. Trimmed both down to size Only thing that is left is a little return edge at the bottom that needs some Dremel-action. My Lexan-Scissors didn't work there. Is it normal that the one with the straight ridge is narrower than the other one (It's the left one on the upper image)? It's 11cm wide at the bottom vs. almost 13 cm with the other one. Finally I used my magents to fix the elastic for a first fitting Considering that I'm on the upper limit for wearing the RS Suit this looks okay for me. Any suggetions for improvements at that stage?

Is there a recommended depth for the dropboxes? In the Billgrams they're about 15mm and on other builds I saw 10 to 13mm. (Bonus-Question: I read that some people use velrco to close their boxes. Any examples?) Cutting Shoulderbells: I knew I saw someone meassuring the Shoulderbells here, but can't find it anymore. Search doesn't give me the right hits... Is it 30,5cm/12 inches from bottom to top and 13cm/5 inches on the underside from ridge to edge?

Update-Time! I finished the strapping of the torso and pretrimmed the button panels. And because I'm really clever, I ordered 14ml of Humbrol 86 instead of Humbrol 14 so painting has to wait a few days. For my untrained eye it really looks good so far and I'm happy to get something visibly done. Next up is the belt. I had a "happy litte accident" while trying to prevent my canvas belt from pulling strings. Let's say: The blaster misfired and hit the belt. Because I didn't find any meassurements for the covers on the belt: Mine are about 25mm length. I tried to make them rectangular but stayed true to the origins of the armor and so they are a bit off Next on my list: Beltboxes Painting Buttons (as soon as my paint arrives) Painting screws and rivets Shoulderbells