LEGOeatPokemon

Baby steps... Planning of making the wrap to covering strips, won't work with the belt until the cloth belt has arrived. So now the next thing I guess is pulling off the poppers that exists on nearly all pieces

Thanks! Appreciate it!

Sooo, update. First real one, I guess. I have started with pulling of all the velcro that came with the armor, it was a lot! My thumbs really got a beating Anyway, I think I need something to remove the glue residue, will look into that. I think the next thing to do will be looking into removing the plastic wrap around from the belt Does anyone have a good idea for taking of the screws that is holding it together?

Hmmmm... I may have forgotten to buy chicagoscrews... Curse my memory!

Update, my package from Trooperbay has arrived! With it includes: -3 tubes of E6000 glue -Humbrol paint -Frownscreen -Snap fastener (with snaps) -20 magnets -4 clamps -Black nylon strapping -White elastic band -Flexible hand guards -D-ring for blaster -Helmet masking templates -A helmet bag Unfortunally they were out of brushes, oh well. I can buy those somewhere else. I am still waiting for -Brackets from MrNoStripes -Cloth belt from ImperialIssue Planning on starting tomorrow with what I have, wish me luck!

Yeah, I think I just need to wait for everything now.

It is done... I have now ordered from trooperbay, imperialissue (belt) and Mrnostripes (brackets) My poor wallet...

Now I have

Here is my cart at Trooperbay: Looks good? Have I missed something?

Thank for helping me through this, I think I will order soon!

So here we go, I am finally going (try) to build (rebuild?) my SDS armor that I got half a year ago to centurion level. Background: I don't think the stormtroopers were the first Star Wars character I saw, nor were they the first of my favorites. That would go to a certain Solo... However, that didn't stop them to be my favorites the first time I saw of them, and seeing that you could acquire of their armors in real life gave me a bit of a dream. Then found out about the 501st and the dream got a bit bigger, walking around in that pure armor together with other likeminded people, sign me up! So after being aware of the minimal age to enter, I waited till I was 18 (last spring) and got myself an armor. The problem is that I maybe was a bit too quick to decide where to buy from, I didn't research enough through my rashness and and bought an armor I thought looked good. And so the day comes and I receive the box and are were happy with the contents. Me, the day of arrival. And as such I knew I would have to add some things to make it better, so I turned to the internet for help and came opon this forum. Then I discovered the problems with SDS... I felt pretty bummed, I could have had a better and cheaper suit had I not been in such a hurry. So this got me wanting for another suit, such as a snowtrooper or scout, I felt like I really couldn't do anything about this armor yet in my life other than wear it around at home or have it sitting on my mannequin. But recently I decided to make an account here after half a year of having it just standing around and I thought an introduction would benefit me as I am training to be better socially. And I got some replies telling me to fix up my armor before buying a new one, then got in contact with Helotech (Dave) who has been a really nice guy and have had the same problem as me. He has been nothing but great and generous to me and has given me a bunch of tips and info on how he did it. So today I am making the start of a build thread and while Dave gave me much needed info, I would like to hear from others too about what to buy (preferably around Sweden) and needs. So with that out of the way I can list what I need to do (what Dave did, I go mostly after his example): HELMET Spray paint the inside of the helmet black Added Velcro in various spots so I can add padding and attach electronics. Changed the SDS ears for ATA Hero ears. Not much money and a much better upgrade. Add fans Added mesh inside the mouth area to block people seeing me. Remove all the stickers, and purchased stencils. Hand painted new details. Change out ear screws Add additional rivets under the ears. This helps the two pieces of the helmet fit more flush under the ears. BODY PIECES Remove all sticky Velcro attached to armour Remove all the snaps and little white plates they are attached to Glue ribbed shoulder straps to the chest piece Add wide elastic white shoulder straps and snaps Add thin white elastic to hold shoulder straps down Add snaps and white velcro to Ab armour to hold belt Add snaps and rivets to right and left ab Add snaps to cod piece Add Velcro in chest for electronics Add Mr. No stripes bracket and strap system Work on the Ab blue / grey button plates. The SDS plates have separate metal buttons. BELT / HOLSTER Replace ABS wrap around belt with fabric one from Trooperbay. Keep this long piece of ABS for your cover strips Purchase tan leather to replace the black loop of the holster Add 4 screws to attach holster to belt Add snaps to fabric belt to attach to ab armour Change out the white Velcro of drop down boxes for white elastic. Attach elastic with rivets. ARMS Trimm all return edges Add snaps system for bells to bicep, and bells to shoulder attachment Glue straps for bicep to forearm Remove Velcro overlap closures from bicep and forearm armor. Reshape the bells for better fit. GLOVES Purchase rubber hand armour to replace the plastic SDS ones. BLASTER Purchase a metal loop for the back of the blaster LEGS Trimm existing cover strips on thighs and lower legs above the raised areas. Add cover strips to back of thighs Add wide black elastic to top of thighs that got to my inner black belt Change overlap on lower legs to cover strips with velcro Add velcro to my boots and the bottom of lower legs so the shins don't ride up. This prevents boots coming untcuked Remove screw and nut from sniper knee plate. Attache with rivet and glue. Replace the right thigh ammo pouch. Cleane up the rough seams from the left and right armour pieces. THERMAL DETONATOR Replace the aluminum strips Replace hardware. Cut apart the TD to make it the proper length. Anything else I should be thinking about? Also today I bought some tools to help: Sandpaper, clamps an files I've heard Trooperbay.com was a good site to find supplies so i've made a list on what I am planning to buy from there: 1. Three tubes E6000 2. Brushes and paint (might need more help with this one) 3. Chicago screws (Don't know how many) 4. Rivets (How many?) 5. Magnets 6. Helmet frown screen 7. Snap fastener kit (How many?) 8. Nylon strapping? Elastic strapping? 9. Flexible handguards? 10. Helmet bag? 11. Velcro? 12. Blaster ring 13. Helmet masking templates Is there something that needs change/missing? I don't really know what sort of internal strapping I should use, ideas? I plan on buying the cloth belt from imperialissue.com Dave also mentioned ATA from FB for buying replacements for: 1. New ears 2. Thigh ammo belt 3. Sheets of plastic for making more cover strips And I think that's it, have I missed anything? Whew! That took some time to write. I will hopefully be able to start working soon.