MaskedVengeance

Fantastic print work! I need one of those TDs...

You know, I don't currently own a refillable lighter... To save you guys .02 seconds on google, here's the direct link to the mini-saber. https://hacksmith.store/en-us/products/hacksmith-mini-saber

Man I love seeing blue tape and Lexan scissors! I don’t see anything alarming with your lines. My only suggestion would be to related to photographing for feedback. It’d be easier for observers to have a full body (or upper torso) shot of both arms featuring the biceps and forearms to look at. This would give a true context to each piece, and help with proportional estimations. =)

Yeah buddy! EI on the horizon!

Another platform on which to discuss shiny white plastic!!

Already mentioned it on fb, but congrats on here is also in order! Welcome to the ranks! Now on to your higher level submissions!

And don’t forget to use black ABS or paint the inside of the v-tabs black, so they blend in with your undersuit!

Excellent! Rock on.

Looking good, Terry! And to address the comment about the paint gap near the two ends of your frown/teeth, yes, there were actually gaps on the screen-used suits. I can't quite tell, but it looks like you may have painted over the grey paint with white (which might be acceptable), whereas most builders would just leave a gap in the paint between the two grey areas. Here are the full images that Mario previously shared crops of, from the FISD Gallery.

I need to move to a more densely populated area so I can get in on this armorer action. Keep up the great work, Arthur!!

You're doing great, Jonathan! +1 on Gerald's advice on the forearm rotation. Basically the cover strips (though out your entire body) should be in alignment. Biceps with forearms, thighs with shins. When you do make your cuts, you can either use lexan scissors or the score-and-snap method with a hobby knife. I'm a perfectionist, so I scored-and-snapped, but in reality the straightness of the trim lines isn't important since they will be hidden by the exterior cover strip. Joseph makes a good point about the order of gluing cover strips, and there are actually two schools of thought on the matter. Gluing inner strips first PRO: Slightly easier clamping access if gluing the strip to only once side of armor first PRO: Provides a good base of already-attached armor pieces for placement of the outer coverstrip. Essentially the inner cover strip provides the functional structure, and the outer coverstrip can be installed solely as cosmetic piece and with aesthetic in mind. CON: Related to the point above, this also somewhat sets to plane/curvature of the armor to the flatness of the inner coverstrip, which in reality you want the armor to bend to seat properly to the outer coverstrip. Gluing outer strips first PRO: (see CON above). A perfect (as much as can reasonably be achieved) mating of the armor pieces and the coverstrip can be achieved since the form of the armor isn't influenced by already being glued to the inner cover strip. CON: Can be more difficult to achieve perfect placement of the outer coverstrip since it needs to serve as both the functional attachment piece, but you're also wanting to get it positioned properly for aesthetic purposes. I personally combatted this by taping my limb pieces together on the inside while gluing the outer coverstrips first. Thus the tape held the armor together and I achieved optimal outer coverstrip placement and an excellent seal between it and the armor. To answer your question about where to trim, I suppose that depends on how confident you feel about your lines. If you want to play it safe, don't quite trim to the lines, and then do another test fit to ensure you're happy. You can always trim again, but adding plastic back can be quite difficult. Note that if you do find you've trimmed to much, you can sometimes hide it with a gap between the butt-joint pieces under your coverstrip. This is easiest on your leg pieces that have 20-25mm coverstrips, whereas your arms have less coverage at 15mm. That being said, you can also use wider cover strips on the backward-facing armor pieces (back of biceps, back of thighs, calves) to gain extra extra circumference.

Excellent decision. Cut myself several times, one of which likely should have warranted an emergency room visit. And I literally had my gloves sitting next to me but thought, "these are just a couple small cuts to make." And instead I made a massive cut through my knuckle.

Haha, just pulled down two of my plug-in ceiling shop lights and clamped one end to the rafters. It's really dark in our storage closet right now; I should put the light back. lol.

First meme of the week on here. Base image by Luca. Soon you will all know the madness.

By @revlimiter Here by popular demand is MaskedVengeance's ever-illusive "Troop Log" 24 September 2022: Not-A-Troop Kit-Up in a Basement/Garage, ANH-S 15 January 2023: Not-A-Troop Kit-Up in a Basement/Garage Photoshoot, ANH-S Total: 2 Breakdown ANH-S: 2 01: Kit-Up in a Basement/Garage The Lead-Up: On the night of September 23rd through 24th, 2022, I attended an overnight armor party in the dining room to continue armor assembly in preparation for my first Not-A-Troop Kit-Up the next morning. The night started off with some cover-strip bonding and every individual [armor] piece in attendance was excited to participate. The whole crew stuck together like glue. Clampers eventually got locked in with their duties and my ABS definitely got a workout. Participation waned a little as the hours stretched on, but strong energy from several dedicated members continued into the early morning. Until the incident. A little after 5:00am a knife got pulled and all Mustafar was let loose. Blood was spilt. It looked like all hope was lost and that the Assembly of Armor would have to disband. But I, the fearless recruit, persevered, shedding all calls for medical attention. The weight of magnets were shed and I belted out/up. The Kit-Up: At approximately noon, after moving to a friend's garage, my 501st buddy helped me suit up for the very first time, blood still dripping as evidenced on the floor beneath me. Shoulder bridges and drop boxes were absent. Arm strapping called in sick. Achilles Thigh Ammo pack was neither raised nor lowered. Belt dangled, snapless, by elastic bands. ANH holster required ESB mods. Rotation and spacing issues were prevalent in the formation. A substitute bucket was called up, sporting a minor league lazy brow, and an orange pauldron crashed the party(foul). But I had done it. I Not-A-Troop semi-Kitted-Up for the first time. (If it could even be called Kitting-Up with so many assembly atrocities). Mission accomplished, for the glory of the Empire. Hopefully I'd be able to Kit-Up again sometime in the future. 02: Kit-Up in a Basement/Garage Photoshoot On January 15, 2023, fours months after my first Not-A-Troop Kit-Up event, and after three years of anticipated participation, I finally FULLY Kitted Up for the first time ever. During my previous Basement/Garage Kit-Up several components of were absent, but this time every piece was in attendance. After all, this Not-A-Troop Kit-Up was a photoshoot for the upcoming Basic, L2, and L3 productions. It was time to look my best. @paradoxb3 was in attendance once more to provide dressing and image capture support, and after several hours of setup and shooting, we were all set. Fun ensued. Great conversation was had. Everybody in attendance loved the program. And thus my second ever Not-A-Troop Kit-Up came to an end. My next planned Kit-Up is scheduled for the week of April Fools... By @Morgi Yo @jsilvius

For truly lineage kits, both the inner and outer forearm pieces are unique. However, some armor makers (such as AP) standardize and make all the arm pieces identical. Here is an image that I clipped from Panda’s build on MEPD which shows TE-derived armor pieces. Dave’s AM armor may not be identical, but there certainly may be some similarities.

To answer your question about white paint for the rivet heads, I ended up using a white spray paint in a rattle can. I too had noticed that both humbrol and testors enamel white appeared to actually dry to an off-white color. I actually sprayed my rivets with the white then an enamel clear coat prior to installation on my armor, and decided on the specific white type through trial and error with several cans. Looking great thus far! I'm especially impressed by the placement of your main belt relative to the bottom ab button!

Very exciting, Luciana! Welcome to the FISD forum... the one true home of all things stormtrooper-related! Below are several resources that you may find helpful during your build. Tony's thread below is considered to be an Anovos bible of sorts. And here we have a link to a brand new section on our forum for all our identifying female members. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/254-vaders-valkyries/ One last thing. It appears that your boots are not quite standard issue due to the tread pattern on the soles, though it's a bit hard to dell due to the image stylization. Below is a link to one of the most common boots that Legion TKs use. "Keeptrooping" was formally known and branded as "Imperial Boots." https://keeptrooping.com/product/421-classic-white/ I'm sure I speak for others in saying that we look forward to seeing you post a build thread, and follow along on your journey!

Oh yeah honestly you can never have too many magnets. A dozen is probably the very are minimum. As for your teeth, they look pretty good, and you definitely don’t really need to expand them (wider) any more. You may just consider sanding a tiny bit more in some of the corners of the teeth gaps to eliminate the rounded corners and make them a bit more angular.

Congrats on your BBB Day, Jonathan! It’s great to see some of your photos! As for the fitment and return edge drumming on your biceps, there are a couple things to keep in mind. The tops of your bicep pieces will never be visible since they’ll be hidden beneath your shoulder bells. This means that, for your comfort, you can remove those too return edges completely—that is, unless you have skinnier arms and need the depth of the return edges to help keep the armor centered on your arm. The same is mostly true about the bottom bicep return edge, but since they are sometimes visible from certain angles, I personally kept a small amount of return edge to give the armor a thicker look. I might recommend that you also rough trim/fit your forearm pieces at the same time as the biceps, then tape them up and take photos of you wearing them together. Post the images on here and then we can help give you feedback on the proportions of those two sections together. A reminder, too, that when trimming the two halves of the biceps (or really any piece), you want the seam to be evenly spaced between the raised ridges. One of my favorite resource builds is actually A.J.’s, which I’ve linked to below. His is also an AM kit, so I think you’ll find it quite helpful! https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/40831-ajs-of-am-20-build/

I like your thinking, Justin. Spreadsheets FTW. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Meme Batting Averages Part 2: The Wolfpack @revlimiter you need a baseball jersey to go with your hockey jersey. Also your meme batting average has risen significantly since last time! @TIEKnitter

Welcome, Fabian! Lots of good links have already been shared by others. Know that we're all here to help you on your stormtrooper journey!

First FISD post is a meme. Runs in the family.

The boards will certainly be a brighter place with your daily 4:00am contributions! =) I hope all is well; please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you!