simorph

Yay! Managed to get time and assistance to test fit the torso pieces. Here's the blue tape turnaround...(with a small 1cm piece of helmet padding in the top of the helmet to hopefully sit the helmet about right for the photos) To my understanding, these are the guidelines, please correct me if I'm wrong: Kidney Plate and top of ab plate must line up (I've noticed on the left side there's a discrepancy on the RWA kit of about 3-4mm - decided to line up the top of the kidney here) Butt Plate and Kidney Plate must be as close as possible Back Plate and Kidney Plate must also be as close as possible (I see there's a slight overlap on my left side in the pic - I think that's just movement with the tape, tbh) Chest Plate overlaps Ab Plate, leaving a finger space or thereabouts on the shoulder between the tops of the Chest Plate and Back Plate (Furthest right shot is a repeat of the front, but with a bit of tape under the chest on which I've marked the Chest/Ab overlap) Okay guys, what needs a tweak? Thanks!

Not in a position to start test-fitting everything so I'm picking at peripheral tasks that'll pay off in the end. Cut out and painted the ab panels, and just laid them here on the ab for size. I'd first attempted to size according to the Billgrams thread diagrams, but discovered those sizings don't work for RWA, so I trimmed and trimmed until they looked right in comparison to screen ref and the pics in Dan's thread.

Okay, so I Plasti-Dipped the interior of the helmet (scuff inside with 80 grit, layer of Plast-Dip + cheesecloth, then two more layers of Plasti-Dip), gl;ued in the mouth mesh and installed the mic tips with slightly longer screws than those supplied so that I've got a couple extra mounting points in the front of the helmet should I need them. To create the shape of the mesh for the mouth tips I knocked up a little tool on my 3D printer - a small anvil with a 16mm hole in it, and a small cylinder 15mm dia... If anyone needs one - here's the link to my Thingiverse where you can download the STLs/SKP files: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3518807 I printed it with 100% infill in PLA and it worked well enough for the two uses I needed it for... So here's the helmet turnaround: Time now to start filling in the space between the boots and the helmet! I have the 5 torso pieces trimmed (chest, abs/cod, back, kidney & butt plates) ready to do a test fit. Does anyone have a good pointer to a fitting guide? I'm finding lots of strapping guides, but not so many "these bits should line up/these bits need to follow the line of these bits" type tutorials. So if anyone can send me a few links in that regard, that'd be most helpful. Thanks!

Okay, so I went over the vocoder and made the 'bumps' on the top more pronounced by going past the moulding. And I scratched back the teeth a bit (screwdriver, and gently - I don't have any toothpicks!) I labelled 'em up to make it easier to feed back if it needs more tweaking...

Picture heavy post, guys, here's my adventures in painting the helmet these past few days. Black first... Two coats of grey, leaving a pinstripe... Marking a pencil in from cheek and from lower jaw Getting a straight stencil to wrap around a curve...grr! I think something's symmetrical here... White undercoat first, before the blue... A couple of days later and two coats of blue...strip off the stencils and... Eek! So, with a bit of white spirit, a toothpick and a small brush, I cleaned up the edges, and repainted the missing bits of blue... So...next up - get that brow strip back on, double-check the white countersunk screws, get the interior sanded, bolts cut on the inside and get some Plasti-Dip in there...

Pencil-marked everywhere that needs the first round of painting... (and of course, realised I had to take the brow strip off again to get the brushes in there)

Thanks - that's where I've been looking. Much appreciated.

Thanks. I spent some time as costume advisor on the MMC UK forums with my Mando and am used to following CRLs. The problem always arises in that vague area that is 'common knowledge' but which hasn't been written down.

Yeah, definitely. But is there a CRL gallery apart from this page: http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TK_anh_stunt? Thanks!

Thank goodness! So...many...options... So, this is how it turned out...

Thanks Jordan, much appreciated! It was such a fiddle and a compromise - I'm used to asymmetry in Star Wars helmets but this was quite 'special'

I'd love to do that, but, the shape of the helmet being what it is, I can't twist 'em any further and still fit the helmet, match the curves and cover the seam line. That said, there's nothing in the CRL about ear angle even at L3... OPTIONAL Level three certification (if applicable): Ear bars shall have only one bump painted in black (rank stripes). Neck trim shall be of an s-type profile rather than a u-type profile. Tears/traps shall be hand painted or use decals that emulate hand painted (with correct ANH TK details). Ear screws shall be slotted, flat topped, countersunk and painted white.

Another update - cutting the left ear was a breeze in comparison to the right. I decided to reinforce around the eyes with some Milliput And then, when drilling the holes for the mic tips, I found that the ABS was paper thin in that region (so much so, my drill slipped and carved a double-sized hole) I also reinforced that area too, while drilling my visor to fit - fits nice and snugly against the Milliput, so much so, that I'll likely just drop on another washer and bolt to hold it in place. On the outside, ear screws are now all painted white. Next plan is to line and blackout the interior with some Plasti-Dip & cheesecloth before doing the rest of the exterior paintwork, finishing off the mic tips and backing the teeth cutouts with mesh. Finally feels like I'm making progress!

So I finally attached the right ear, and my kitchen is reasonably free of small ABS fragments... The cutting wasn't the problem (used the flapper disc on a dremel and marked the ear cap with sharpie, every time just trimming away the bit I'd marked) but reconciling it with the depth of that right side was. To make sure my brow looked even, with the same spacing above the right eye and the left this meant that the right side of the back of the helmet was slightly longer than ideal - which meant that the right ear cap had to do a lot of work to reach from just below the brow strip to cover the curve of the right tubes. Am reasonably happy with the gap - checking the spare ear cap and the moulding I literally couldn't have left any more on the ear cap. (Found also, to pull the tubes in tighter on both sides I had to install a second pop rivet just above the tubes, under the ear cap since the back moulding was so flared out.) So...one down...

Thanks Dan, I was metaphorically pooping myself clearing out those eyes and teeth - just checked your video highlights on YouTube - that's a been a real relief - confirmed to me that I'd gone far enough into the corner of the eyes and that the line of the lower eye isn't supposed to be straight! Time to put on that brow strip!

Weekend update... Boots complete! Pop-rivets that were long enough to go through all three thicknesses of leather, so holster complete! And work tentatively begins on the helmet - teeth and eyes filed out... (That was a bit nerve-wracking - knowing when to stop/how far I dare go...) Going to concentrate now on finishing the helmet before I start trying to tailor all the rest of the parts. (And in other news, Doopydoos resin kit arrived, so that's another project now!)

Excellent! Well, thanks to several confirmations the consensus seems to be that that missing measurement on the holster cut out is indeed 1.5" So, I've uploaded a revised version of the template to my imgur so if anyone happens to be Googling for it, they'll be able to find it easier... So, this weekend, I set to and started making the holster. Really easy, just cut out the leather, burnished the edges, saddle-stitched the side and put in the snaps... Just waiting for some veg tan leather for the top strips (the only stuff I have is way too thick) and I intend to pop-rivet the holding strap only once I've got my E11 (Doopydoos kit is ordered and on its way) Boots-wise... I went over them with an entire bottle of Angelus Shoe Prep, left that 24 hours, then went over with acetone, left that 24 hours and then began painting... Decided to go slow-and-steady, one thin coat every twenty four hours... This is 3 coats in... Am now up to 4 coats and things are looking good, have left them > 48 hours and will wear them a bit around the house to see if there are any problems I need to touch up. I intend to go over with a coat of Fibings Resolene to put the final shine on things, but don't want to do that until I'm confident that the paint isn't going to peel/crack.

Got a response back from Ross at RWA - he uses 1 1/2" for this measurement, which is the same as it was on the previous version of the template

Gotcha! Many thanks, kman. Much appreciated!

So, I'm still looking at the big box, as I haven't had time to sit down to properly research and don't want to start cutting any ABS until I'm absolutely 100% sure I'm going to do it right. But I'm working on the boots and have a big piece of leather ready to build my holster. Unfortunately, I'm hitting a wall with every template I find... What is the vertical depth of the cut out section of the holster? Sadly the templates aren't actually drawn to scale, so it's impossible to take a reliable measurement. I get that the left-hand-side is 6" wide, which accounts for the 1 3/4" + 2 1/2" + 1 3/4" horizontal measurements across the holster, the top two parts of the pocket are 1/2" wide.... But there's no indication that I can see of how deep the cut out is supposed to be, unless of course the cut is at a 45 degree angle (which would make it 1 3/4") Thanks guys

Just jumping on this thread to question the template link since I seem to be finding stacks of variants on the Troopermaster template and it’s proving tricky to find out which the ‘definitive one’ is. Is the above link the ‘definitive’/2019 version of the template? If so...I’d like to ask a question... I’m struggling to work out the shape of the cutout on the left hand side of the holster. I get that the top edges are 0.5” each, and the centre of the cutout is 2.5” which is 1.75” in from either edge... (1.75 + 2.5 + 1.75. = 6” the width of the left hand piece) But as far as I can figure the template is missing one essential measurement - the vertical depth of the cut out. I have an alternative version of the same template that says the cutout is 1.5” deep when measured down the line of the fold, but that version of the template has the top edges at 1.25” not 0.5” as the above linked version (which doesn’t show this measurement at all) So, can anyone confirm that the above template is the one we’re supposed to be working with? And how far down the fold must I measure to work out where the bottom of the cut out is supposed to be? I hope I’ve managed to explain myself. I’m ready to launch into some leatherwork but this last little detail is baffling me! Many thanks

Scratches head and fires up YouTube...

Thanks. Actually it turns out they're a little more roomy than I needed. But to make sure there's no pinching I've spent about 3 days wearing them about the house with a bit of shoe stretching spray and they're wearing in nicely. I figure I'll stretch them into shape first, and once the leathers been through its paces, softened up and found its natural crease lines, then do the dyeing. ( I may get a couple of cushioned insoles because I know what it's like to troop for a day straight as a Mando.) And great news, this afternoon, Ross from RWA dropped me a line - I have a Big Brown Box on its way this week! Time to start watching those assembly videos! Have a great week, guys!

So boots arrived - great fit, have Angelus prep solution and white dye, rubber gloves with logos removed (checquered grip on fingertips), undersuit and balaclava from www.extremeracing.co.uk (good fit, no logos, once piece with two-way zip and which I've seen a number of folks' builds here) Hopefully start prepping the boots (wearing them in right now with some shoe stretcher) while I await the big brown box from RWA.

Thanks Dan - I hadn't thought of RS for boots + other accessories. Thanks for that suggestion - it'll probably work out just the same price in the end.