NerdBird

Been gone for a bit, I got busy with a summer class that turned out to be harder than I thought. It's over with and now I can start working on the build again. I was stretching my boots while I studied for the class and today I tried the hair dryer, the boots feel perfect now. As for progress on the build, I started working on things that I took notes on a month ago that were bugging me and the bottom half feels great. I am currently working on a button system for the top, not a big fan of the Velcro that I currently have. If that will make it so the armor wont pass let me know. Lets get down to the photos. Need to do a hot water bath for this piece, still over lapping (calf) Need to cut this down, it's pinching me a bit (thigh) I have setup a belt that I will wear for the thighs. Is this okay? Also the gap between the thighs and the calves seems to be too big, is it okay if they are that separated? Also the gap between the pieces that are glued together. I am thinking about using abs paste to fix it, is that okay? This is one of the calves, should I cut it? Here it is with the bottom, currently doing some things to the top so I could not attach it. Are the ammo packs too far out? The butt cover seems to be a little too open, should I fix that? Lastly here are the sides, the right needs to be painted white over the silver caps. The left side is something I have no idea how to fix, the bottom of it will not be flush with the kidney. Anyone have any recommendations to fix this? Thanks to everyone on these forums! You guys have been so much help and I can't say thank you enough. I tried reaching out to the garrison in my area about any upcoming build parties and they did not know of any so these forums have filled the gap of guidance that I have needed.

These are all great suggestions! I will have to try them out next weekend. Been very busy with a summer class that is going on right now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got my boots, gloves, blaster and neck seal in finally. I feel the boots are a little too small because my little toes are smashing against the edge of the boot. My big toe is almost an inch away from the tip, I just have some wide feet. Should I think about getting a bigger size? Kind of stinks if I made this mistake

Very true! Thank you for the heads up on different surfaces, that would have never crossed my mind till it occurred. I will make sure to wait to add major changes till the boots and gloves come in. I am not too sure when I should be getting either of them, should be sometime this month or next. I am really happy to hear that everything is looking great, just have those small changes for comfort and pieces that I need to add.

Got myself all suited up today and boy did it hurt. Lots of work that I did not know existed, very glad I put the armor on today. The right thigh's strap was a little short so the painters tape helped hold it up. The chest piece got caught where the abs and kidney meet, we did not catch that till after the armor was taken off. As you can see in the second photo, the right side is not wanting to line up with the abs so I am going to need to figure something out for that. What do you guys recommend to make the armor more comfortable? Are the biceps too high? How does the belt look? Over all, anything you notice that should be changed? Let me know! Thank you everyone for all the help. All of it has been wonderful.

Thank you for the heads up! It just came in today and I took it to a piece that I have been testing on. It really did bring that shine, I could not believe my eyes. I do need to work on getting better at the sanding because I can see some scratches in the armor after I buffed it. I need to order more of the compound that came with it, there is only a little packet and I don't see it lasting long. Thank you for the tip on the buffing equipment, it is very helpful! Here's the list of things that I still need to do. -Glue sniper knee (The sides came undone during the bath) -Glue back cover strips for shins -Hot water bath back piece -Check belt alignment -Add button on crotch (only have 1 right now) -Paint rivets on kidney and ab (paint came off while putting together the right side) -Sand down and buff left side oops -The helmet is it's own list of things to do -Check to make sure everything looks good. I put the rivets into the right side of the kidney and ab piece today. It seems that they are a little short but, are doing the job. Tonight I should have a photo with myself completely suited up for the first time! Just need to do a hot water bath for the back piece again, currently the back is not touching the kidney piece. There is a good 2-3 inches of space.

Those are really cool, I might have too look into something like those because I am using sheets right now and whatever around the apartment fits the area I am sanding. Okay that's good to know, I tested it earlier and it seems to work a lot better doing that. I used the Novus #2 that I have with a drill and I am surprised it actually was making some noticeable changes I don't have too many tools so I make due with what I got. Now I got to try this out! As you can see from the above images for what I was doing was working but, takes A LOT of work. I will order that kit right now and do some other small things that I need to do while I wait for it to come in. Thank you all for the helpful input and things I should do for buffing. I got a couple small things I will want some input on but, that will come up as I get there.

Wow! That looks amazing! For the polish and scratch remover was it the novus #1 or did you use something like a cutting compound that Gmrhodes13 was talking about?

Is there a tool that you use with the cutting compound? Also for sanding, are you doing it by hand or tool as well? I will try to stop by the store today to get that sandpaper as well as that compound. Once i get to the 600 grit I start using water with the sand paper, should I only use water or do a dry then wet process for each one going up from 600? Thank you for the top on the dish liquid, I will be trying that out today.

Update here I got higher grit sandpaper, 800, 1000, 1500. I tested it on the test piece and it felt even smoother but, still no shiny. Think I need to use a tool to add that shine. If anyone could help me understand what I need to do for that I would appreciate it. I have also put some work into the shins, I did a hot water bath for the left shin and it worked perfectly. Probably the best outcome I have experienced so far this build. I might do it for the right but, I have not decided yet. I have also finally added paint the buttons on the ab piece, they are looking good! -I have trimmed down the cod piece a bit so I should not experience the rubbing anymore on the thighs -I gave the back piece a hot water bath for the straps on the shoulders. It helped but, it did not extend it far enough. I am thinking I need to attempt it again and see if I can achieve a little more length on it. -Doing this should help align the ab piece with the kidney cover. -The last bit of gluing that needs to be done is the back cover strips for the shins. I am so excited that I have made a lot of progress, I know there will be a lot of tweaking that I need to do to achieve a better looking suit.

Alright got a small update. I decided to sheer the cover strips on the shins off and swap the pieces so it would be what others recommend. I think it looks a lot better and they are drying right now. Hoping that will help with the sniper knee. Also I have decided to do some small things that I have not done yet such as the thermal detonator and ammo pack on the leg. I think they both look great and it's coming along nicely. Now I know I will be coming up to the point of buffing out any scratches and fixing those holes that I should not have created. I decided to try a tester for the buffing and I must be missing a step due to the lack of that nice shine. Here is what I got, On the right is the control where I did not touch it, the left I treated as if it got scratched. I used grits 200, 320, 400, 600 wet. Then I used the Novus #1 on the left to see if it would give it that shine but, it just feels super smooth and it's dull. What would you recommend to achieve that shine?

Now that is a nice case!

Alright here is an update. I was busy the past few days so I was not able to do much. Today I have gone and purchased a big black box, I saw this one was recommended and also it has tons of room for extra things I also have started work on the sniper knee.I think something is wrong with mine, I tried as much as I could to attach this piece and be flush with the shin but, nothing worked. I am gluing what I have now and hoping this will not hold my armor from passing EIB certification. I also have figured out how to upload photos using Imgur so now I don't have to deal with what I was worrying about earlier. Found out that my allocated attachments data was all used up. Let me know if I need to figure something out for that gap on the sniper knee, I will peel it off and redo it if need be. If you know of a way to help it be flush with the shin I would love that information. Thank you everyone!

Oh okay perfect! Everytime I have uploaded my photos the number for the size has gone down so that's why I was under the influence that I would need to make a new one. For the last post I was only able to upload up to 30 kilobytes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's a great thing to point out. I will be making sure to cut that return edge off of the cod piece, currently I have only sanded it down so I will make sure to work on that tonight. Thank you for the heads up on everything so far everyone! On a side note I will have to make a new forum I guess due to how many photos have been uploaded to this forum.

Awesome! I am very happy to hear that. I am 6'2" and nothing ever fits me right so I think I will have to play with it a little. I plan to do the hot water bath on the back shoulder straps to bend them so it will fit my back more I let everything dry over night and this is where I am at. The Front of the shins The back of the shins The back on the right is overlapping a lot so I was thinking that a hot water bath would help. What do you think?

You're all good! I really appreciate you taking some time to look at this for me. Let me take a photo of them right now. Also for the body, what's a good way to align everything? How low should the ab piece be? I feel my chest and ab are too separated and if I raise the ab piece it will not fit. Any ideas?

Hey Ukswrath! I love your build and the final photos look amazing. I am right now working on my build and I have been having some difficulties with a couple parts. I have a thread for my build here If you ever get the chance to look it over, mostly my last 3 post I would really appreciate some feedback and help. If you need me to be more specific versus going to my thread I do not mind at all. Thank you!

Alright here's an update for the body. I was able to put it together today and it's very uncomfortable where it's at right now. I know my buttons are off for the belt, I used the Anovos guide and it put me off a bit. Left is sitting at less than 20mm from front edge and 25mm from bottom edge. Right is 50mm away from front edge and 15mm from bottom edge. Now for the front I know it's low but, even at this height it's against my unmentionables and rubbing my inner thighs. The sides are off by a bit and I think this is due to the back being too short. The back is high up on my body. I am not sure if I have everything put together correctly but, the butt piece is about to become a waist piece. The shoulder straps are stabbing my collar bone so it's difficult to keep this suit on for more than a minute. I also have an odd bend that occurred on the lower right of the kidney edge. Is it bad? Any ideas on how to fix some of my issues? Maybe I am not putting the pieces together correctly or maybe a piece needs a hot water bath. Let me know, thank you everyone!

Thank you for the heads up! Man they look so similar, after reading the first reply I actually went ahead with the gluing. I am glad to hear it's not critical to approval so I feel relaxed about it if it's not right. I do appreciate the info on it, if it doesn't look right all together I plan to redo it. When I was doing the fitting, if I swapped the pieces it did not look like it was going to work. By the way I am dealing with an issue when it comes to abs paste. How do I hide something that has been repaired? If you sand too far it will show a phantom of they damage. What's a good way to approach it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Working on the shins/calves and it's not looking bad after cutting them down to the 20mm. I am curious if I have them on the correct legs and if they look good. Besides that bicep that I am going to need to form, this part has been something I have been worried about. Let me know if it looks like I have the correct pieces together and on the correct legs. Thanks for the help guys!

Alright so this is the front that I was going to use but, it has that massive crack from where I attached it

This is some fantastic information and great sources! I haven't checked if DoopyDoo's was in stock but, I will be doing that after this post. For the gloves, I will have to measure my hands to see what they are so I will get back to you on that one. Appreciate the offer! I have come across something after using that abs paste on the cover strip I don't think it will show well in these photos but, on one side there is a visible line from where the pieces were put together and on the other a lot of excess was smoothed on that side. What I am getting at is that you can see that it was attached on both sides. Would more abs fix this issue? How about the Novus polish kit fix it? I am going to wait to work on it till I get some feed back. Maybe I will get my girlfriends good camera and use that for a better photo right now to show what i am dealing with.

Thank you for the heads up about the gaps on the top and bottom of the strips. First time using that abs paste last night and man that stuff is incredible. I used it to reattach a small portion to the forearm back strip and it looks great. I will probably do this method to fix the rest of the ones that have a gap if they are too big of a deal. Great to know that I should not worry about that gap on the thigh piece, it does not look bad and it doesn't seen to be peeling away so I am going to leave it alone for now. Like you said, if they become loose in the future then I will do it then. Is it common for troopers to fix/modify their suits once they have been accepted by the 501st? Also what are some good sources for these things that I am still missing. -E11 blaster, I know of DoopyDoo's blaster -Gloves, Trooperbay? -Neckseal, I was thinking of imperial boots but it doesn't look great Last what is a god material to put into a helmet for the support? Any places to get that? The image for the helmet on https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41016-billgrams-the-one-stop-shop/ says "foam" and I am not sure what foam it's talking about.

First, thank you everyone that has posted some helpful ideas, tips, links, and much more. Just from what I have received it has helped me out a lot and feel comfortable on how I am doing. I have made sure I am slowing down because I will have this build done one day and that day does not have to be tomorrow. So today I have done a lot of work on improvements and getting some things ready. I stopped by the store to get some acetone to create the abs slurry, have that in the works right now. I stopped by a Michael's to pick up some Testers: glossy white, I had 2 different kinds of whites that I got from Hobby Lobby, one being "white" and the other "glossy classic white" just due to the fact I could not find "glossy white". When I was at the Hobby Lobby they had 2 white colors but, they were labeled "white" so there was no difference besides on the bottle saying gl. and fl. Turns out that stands for Glossy and Flat, wish I knew that because I had actually bought the glossy white and never knew that's what I had till I got the one from Michael's. I am happy that I have extra glossy white now so there is nothing wrong with it. I used the glossy white and the glossy classic white on a test piece, I must be color blind because the glossy classic white looks like the white on the Anovos armor. Went back to the forearms and shaved off the strips, cleaned off the E6000, and trimmed them to hide the return edge. They are now drying with the strips on the front sides. Hope these look a lot better and able to pass for centurion when I go for it I have also trimmed up both places on the thighs where those nasty tips were, looks A LOT better now. One of the thigh's cover strips slipped while drying so I had to spend some time fixing that. I also have noticed a gap on the thigh pieces, I figured all I would need to do is use the abs paste to fill those up, sand, and buff it out. Would this look bad? Is there another way I should approach it? When I went to put together the forearms I accidentally mixed up the strips and cut the longest one so I am right now repairing it so it will look better. I am very worried on how my armor will appear once I get close to the finishing line one day. I noticed that I was not trimming the cover strips to the correct length today so I am worried they may look silly. I have all the strips parts that have been cut off so I can do a fix if need be but, I want to know if this is a major issue. I have slowed down my pace and made sure I am triple checking things, which still surprises myself that I made that mistake with the strip, but it happens. I am loving this whole process and the opportunity to learn some neat little tricks. Right now I am stuck on how to approach the legs. Looking them over I can't tell which ones go together. On Ukswrath's build, he talks about how some customers say pieces 24/27 and 25/28 go together. It's weird but, they look the same to me. What I am going to do right now is trim them down to where all have 10mm for the cover strip on each piece to have a total on 20mm, so far I have 1 done. I have another one trimmed a bit but, I had to take a break so it's not completely cut. I will post an update on those pieces tomorrow because I should be able to make more progress to where I can have them taped together for a fitting. Maybe someone can help me figure out how to shape them if need be. Let me know if you see anything that I should change or make sure to keep in mind. I was not able to piece together the body today, it was so lovely outside I got distracted with other things. Thank you so much everyone for the help!