MightyAtom

No rest for the wicked. Moving on to alignment and fitting, trimming and glueing. I've been pouring over a few AP build threads and now feel like a cloned Palpatine who has inherited the wisdom of their forefathers. However, I want to check first; when taping pieces together for fitting the general approach is: Align at the bottom: bicep, forearm and thigh Align at the top: shin/calf

I made a bucket! I'm pretty chuffed with the result. I've embraced the idea that screen used armour was less than perfect and love the flaws I can see. I still need to tidy up a few rough tube stripes, but over all, STOKED. Of course, if there is anything glaringly obvious I have screwed up, all feedback welcome. Gonna move onto electronics now and see if I can fit those PLUS my head inside the thing. (The left ear appears to have swung a little backwards at the bottom. Don't know what that's about, but I may have to adjust it later down the line. The right one, though, *Italian kissy fingers*)

Ok, good to know. I think I'll do a fitting and see how it goes, and post some photos. Sent from my Imperial Communicator

Thank you, will do. Sent from my Imperial Communicator

A little advice requested: the chest plate and ab plate are not sitting together well. If you look at the ab plate from the top, it is rounded on the left, but more squared on the right, and the front of the plate is almost flat with little curve. In the view from the front, the left side of the armour is more rounded at the side, and so wider, but the right side (left side of the image here) is more square. The shape of the chest plate seems ok, but when placed on top of the ab plate, there's a large gap between them. To my eye, the chest plate seems to have the ideal curve. I have a heat gun, so I can (*gulp*) try and reshape the ab / chest plate. Thoughts?

Ok, thanks. Pros and cons. I'll think on it. Sent from my Imperial Communicator

Hooray for Express Post! Helmet is now assembled and glue is drying on the s-trim. Ear screws have also been painted. Speaking of ears... EARS! I must've spent about two hours shaping each ear. Holy moly. I'm also planning strapping. Regarding the shoulder elastics that sit underneath the plastic straps, I've seen these can be connected between the chest plate and back plate with two snaps on either end, and snap plates glued to either side; but what are thoughts on using snaps on the front, then putting velcro on the rear of the elastic and inside back plate so they can be easily adjusted? Is this building in a fail point? Or will those two pieces never need adjusting?

It's time to begin fitting and trimming armour pieces. I realised last night that the only item I had not bought was pop rivets to assemble the helmet and holster, so as Vader says: I've been looking over other build threads each day and building the courage to assemble my first piece. I think I'll first tackle the forearms, then biceps. I've been using break time while I wait for paint or glue to dry (glueing foam and velcro into my helmet) to make cover strips (still need to make inner strips) and plan snaps and strapping - I plan to use ABS to reinforce elastic ends and snap mounts. I also have brackets to install, so all this will make time fly while I wait for pop rivets to arrive in the mail. But first, sanding and shaping of armour pieces before fitting.

The tube stripes and vents worked well; much less cleaning up required than I expected. I may even leave the tube stripes a little haggard to give them a more authentic look. There was a little paint bleed here and there, so I'll clean them a little once all the paint has cured fully. Very happy with the results!

Haha, yeah, that is on my mind. I'll shorten the screws AND put some rubber caps on the them. Sent from my Imperial Communicator

Assembly! I've painted the tear ducts/vents (?) and feel they've come up well. All feedback welcome. After a little persuasion from the heat gun, the Ukswrath HOVI mix tips sunk in nicely into the cavity. I put some Sugru on the thread, so they won't be moving any time soon. I also used Surge to install the frown mesh. I gotta say, those HOVI mix tips look awesome! Thanks again to @ukswrathfor his sterling work.

More progress today! I've gone with a mount system for my lenses. I want to maximise interior space as much as I can, so keeping the lens size down will help. Mounts made with ABS and ear screws. Lenses shaped, drilled and ready to install. Fitted lenses with a few washers made from ABS The final look! Theres a little gap above each eye for air flow as well.

Thanks! I stole it from Joseph's painting tute

Thank you! Yes, I researched a lot to make sure I didn't create more work for myself. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Painting! I decided that I'm going to hand paint everything, although I cheated a little with the tube stripes and made a vinyl template from an old sticker. I penciled the stripes onto the back of the sticker using some decals (Trooperbay?) as a guide, cut out the template then stuck them on and painted (white, then the French Blue). I'm waiting for the paint to cure before removing the templates. I'll post a pic with the result. I expect there will be a little cleaning up to do. I then masked off the rear trap vents with painters tape and followed a similar process. Again, I expect some cleanup here once the tape is removed. Now, onto the tears, which will be all freehand. This is certainly an exercise in Zen Master patience!

I've just started working on an AP kit as well, so I'm posting here to follow. Looking great so far! Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Busy day. Here are the ears. Two coats of paint plus clean-ups. Phew - time for a Bespin Fizz!

Spent some time today cleaning up the ab plate buttons. They look MUCH better and even have an imperfection, just like the OT TK suits! I might just scuff them up a bit once the suit is put together. Thanks to everyone for their feedback. Now on to the ears!

Phew! Thanks! Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I clearly need more sleep... Thank you for your patience! Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Yeah, feeling a little embarrassed here! Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Ah, many thanks. I hadn't seen this reference yet. I can easily reduce the size of them all. Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Moving onto the ab plate buttons. Here's my (potentially) final coat of paint and clean-up. I've noticed the strip of four buttons looks a little short, but I trimmed this according to the space on the actual ab plate and that was what it came in as. Will that button close to the edge be an issue? I could always reduce the size of that button or even add a little ABS to the end and sand down. Pedantic much???

I've done some tidying up to the vocoder and given it a second coat of paint. How does this look to folks?

Alrighty, I've adjusted the vocoder and it's looking better now - might need to thin the second strip. I attempted to clean up the teeth, but I think the paint needs to cure a little more. I'll work on this again tomorrow, then apply another coat of paint once everything is cleaned up and meets CRL.