Lord_Potato

Thank you and thanks for your help.

Put everything on. I think it looks okay. Getting ready to submit for pre approval. I genuinely appreciate all the support from all of you.

Had to adjust my side strapping system since the new rivets are where my old snaps used to be. Once the glue to my snaps and my painted rivets dry I can take some pictures all suited up and if all looks decent I will prepare to submit for pre approval. Fingers crossed this is the last thing before I'm good for pre approval and basic. Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Well.....I did my best to repair the holes..... Using this reference: I have made measurements and marked with pencil on the AB plate side where I intend to make the new holes: Would like so confirmation of this looks alright. I have a habit of jumping the gun. And since this is the last thing I need to do before I submit for basic I am anxious ha ha.

I wish I could tell you with 100 percent certainty if this was the best route for you. It's a big investment and for the most part.....my experience is the most negative review that I know of and my negative review isnt even that bad. I don't regret it one bit. It did suck since I paid a lot of money for it to be build only for me to spend a lot of money on supplies to tear part of it apart and adjust. The cool thing about RS is that you can always buy parts incase you damage something if you did have to modify. And thank you! Things are going okay in the US. It's been interesting here to say the least. Ha ha. If you do end up getting the fully built TK and absolutely decide you need to adjust, I'd be more than happy to send you pictures and steps i did to achieve a better fitting kit. I gotchu ***Added*** Also if you decided after getting the built RS and in the future you wanted to build your own......you have a professionally built kit to use a very accurate reference.

I ended up trimming an inch from each side of the ab plate and kidney plate and increased the curve of both pieces with hot water/heat gun. That being said, I have seen people pull an RS commission kit out of the box and have it fit them very well. I guess it's all going to depend on your body size. Unless you have have a small body frame like me, theres a good chance the kit will fit you very well. Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Hello, RS is awesome. When I was first trying to join the 501st, I was not aware of this site and had no idea how to build a TK so I went with a commission build. It was easy to send the info for sizing, they send you an image of where exactly they want the measurements made. they only really size the limbs to your measurements even thought they ask for measurements pertaining to the torso.....which is probably for what size undershirt they need to send you. They do not mess around/size the torso area. I was not aware of this. My interpretation of what the RS website was that it was custom made to your measurements (which I assumed involved one of the largest areas of your body, the torso) When I received my kit, I was swimming in the torso, the thighs fit, but they were a little wide and long. The shins and arms were perfect. I emailed them asking them I believe there was an error as the chest and torso armor seemed way too big. RS responded that they didn't alter those parts and that I could try wearing a sweater underneath. RS kit right out of the box: I still got approved for basic but after a few troops I really wanted/needed it to fit me better. So I stripped down the strapping system and adjusted and reshaped as best as I could. After awhile I adjusted what I could and put it back together: Do I love my RS kit? YES Was it easy to send the required info and order? YES Did it fit me? Partially Would I recommend? If your torso is similar to the size the armor was meant for.....then 100% yes all day everyday.

Split rivet repair has begun. All holes are filled with abs paste and focusing on the bottom kidney hole first. Looks like I'll need to apply another latter or two of paste to eventually fill up the little air holes in the dried paste. Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Heat gun is possible but I find using hot water and a small iron be more controlling. Here is an example of a WTF left bicep before hot water reshaping and after hot water reshaping: Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

I trimmed the edges of the plastic ammo pack to make it meet L3 and I installed the E-11 holster: So everything but one thing is done for basic approval. Armor is assembled, fitted, strapped, and painted. The only thing I have left to do is fill the six holes when I removed my improperly spaced split rivets on the left side of my torso armor. Then reinstall new rivets. For higher approvals I also need a blaster. I have been trying to buy an E11. Been looking for one of those rubber ones that can meet L3 requirements. I have messaged Shear Tech, HellHound Props and Praetorian Blasters. I havent received any responses. Trying to decide what to do. I would like to get one thats fully assembled but I might have to settle for whatever I can get.

Again, thank you so much. So it looks like I will go ahead and cut where you suggested I cut the plastic ends of the belt. I already have the pencil markings drawn that will make the corners meet with the edge of the cloth belt. Looks like according to your informative belt post, I have a little bit of wiggle room for placement of the holster.

Followed Glen's advice and cut down some of my helmet screws. Thanks for the tip! Easier to put on my bucket. I think Glen's advice on correcting my over trimming the corners of my belt is my best course of action to try and get level 3. To slim down the edges of the belt to make sure the corner meets with the edge of the belt. I have marked with a pencil the intended cuts but would like a little bit of confirmation before I go through with it. I'm actually almost done with my build so I don't wanna make anymore mistakes. Left side: Right side: another reason why this might be a nice course of action is because my torso is pretty well tailored to my rather small torso......making for a belt of shorter length. When I place my holster connection straps on the belt it's right at the edge of the plastic belt on the forward leather tab and pretty much touching the velco/overlap side on the aft leather tab: CRL states nothing on position of holster....other than being on the left side. I am assuming it would be preferred if the holster was attached a little after the plastic belt as in this reference: He's come a long way

Yea....I cut the belt months ago and I could have sworn I followed the CRL. I guess I missed that part. Damn! I might have to trim like you said. I actually think it might help out when I put my holster. This belt is small and when I was eyeballing on where the holster would go, the aft leather tab was pretty close to the belt overlap at the back. I don't know if I explained that well. I'll post a picture once I get the leather puncher and have everything lined up.

Repainted the ab buttons on the small vertical plate on the right side and installed rivets and rivet covers on the belt and installed drop boxes. Just waiting on a leather hole punch.

Yea, I'm going to buy a puncher since I have to buy rivets anyways. And I will make the buttons on the smaller plate a little smaller!

Thought I bought button stencils when I bought my helmet stencils....I guess I didn't. Decided to try and hand paint it with my shaky hands and see how it goes. Everything should be painted now. Just did the thigh ammo pack and did research and saw the snaps in the bottom of the cod/butt plates are left silver. Need to buy Medium sized rivets. These "short" length ones are too short for attaching the canvas belt to the plastic portion. Im doing some research on if its possible to make the leather holster holes via soldering iron or do I need a leather hole puncher.

Thanks! Yes, nearing the end....finally.

Yes I think your right. I just took out my RS kit and realized it did the same thing. Never noticed it until now. I still might do what you did and put a small piece of velcro to ensure everything stays put. And thank you! The little trooper always has to come up when I'm just trying to finish my build XD

Thanks for the compliment and advice. Means alot.

Okay so weird issue with the belt: So I made the snaps on the ab plate: I aligned the fabric belt with the holes I drilled on the ab plate and with a pencil I poked it through the hole on the ab plate so the tip marked the canvas belt....thats how I know my marking accurate for belt alignment. Problem is or was that when I put the snaps on the belt it seemed loose! I was frustrated because I took the time to make sure the holes on the canvas belt were the same distance apart as the holes on the ab plate! I think part of the issue lies on the fact that there are several details are designs in the front of the cod area (where the front of the belt rests) that lifts the belt and makes the belt want to pivot up or down I decided to non permanently attach the plastic portion to the canvas belt to see how it will all fit together: First I installed screws to help keep the belt together before I use rivets: The added dimensions of the plastic ammo belt seemed to help make the belt "fit" better The belt will still want to "pivot" up and down but its far less than what it was. Overall the belt holds and seems to be in a decent position: Would like some input before I replace the screws on the belt with rivets. I was also considering putting a little piece of the soft side of velcro in the front were the front of the belt rests.....maybe having a little extra thickness will help ensure the belt stays in place and does not pitch or pivot.

So my original shoulder bells are now trimmed down and strapped. ***I used the same method as the spare shoulder bells but these ended up coming out 3mm wider. So if they still look like they need to be trimmed I can go forward and shave off 3mm. But as of now, I think it looks nice.*** I think this fixed the linebacker look.

So I followed crickets advice and reshaped my shoulder bells. Since I usually do not do something well first time I used my spare off colored shoulder bells as a test. Here it is trimmed and strapped! Here is a side by side of how the untrimmed (right side) ones looked vs the trimmed (left) I'll wait a bit for responses before I trim the original shoulder bells the same way.

Will definitely cut those down! Thank you

Okay, helmet is done.....Im going to add mesh behind the frown....but other than that it is fully assembled, padded, and painted. Used some reference photos and some info from Cable Guy. Honestly, I know it could have come out a bit more screen accurate but I struggled with painting even with the aid of masking tape. I know this will be good for basic...I made sure to ensure the frown did not reach past the teeth. My Walt's helmet is the helmet in the photos comparing it with the RS helmet: I used crickets advice and reshaped the shoulder bells to better match the chest. I used my extra off colored shoulder bells first to do this. It looked good but now I am gluing elastic so I can see how it looks with the intended strapping system. In my opinion taping something on can give you a good idea of how its going to hang or attach but doing this will ensure how its going to look.

As usual not a lot of progress. I am nearing completion of painting the helmet. Here are some images of the paint progress. My little youngling is going through a teething phase so its been kinda hard to to get my wife alone to help me with the shoulder bell sizing.....it will happen soon. If you cant tell, I suck at time management ha ha.