Not a Jedi Yet

These are fab, thanks Glen!

Thanks all Just waiting for thigh front cover strips to set, so I decided to trim the face plate of the helmet while I wait - pictures of first pass below: I think I need to take a little more out of the frown gaps, and maybe the eyes - what do you think? Thanks Adam.

Hello there again! The cover strip on the right thigh dried, but once I had removed the magnets and clamps I moved the two pieces slightly and guess what? The cover strip started coming off at the base!! Looks like I'll have to try that again! In other news, I did a first trim of all the torso parts - still need to do some tidying up in parts I think. Starting at the bottom, literally! Kidney: Abdomen - I left as much material as I could on the sides (i.e. all that was available out of the box) as I will need shims (waist is larger than a 1970s stormtrooper!): Back - shoulder strap pieces look a little wonky to me but I guess I'll deal with that later! Chest: Again, I have been following the RS Props tutorial videos, and have tried to err on the side of caution when it comes to the return edges on the tops and bottoms of the adjoining pieces where the hardware will go. Any tips gratefully received. Thanks Adam.

Hi all I decided to follow the RS Props method for the right thigh cover strip, which is to make it pretty much all the way to the top of the taller outer thigh piece. This means no sculpting of either the cover strip itself or the thigh pieces. I have now glued on the right thigh cover strip and am waiting for it to dry: In the meantime I did the first trim of the shin pieces - only one set shown as they're identical in the RS kit - does this look okay? Thanks Adam.

Hi all Good news on the forearm cover strip, I finally managed to get it to hold by using an extra wide internal cover strip as shown - it doesn't look pretty but hopefully won't impact clearance etc: I'm encountering the same issue on the left forearm too (on the non-ridged side) but I'm trying the same methodology on that one too to see if it works. In the meantime I thought I would attach the front cover strips to the thighs. In terms of sculpting the tops of the thighs and the cover strips, is there a preferred look? I have seen a couple of methods in reference materials (including one from the RS Props video tutorial), but I'd ideally like something that looks as neat as possible whilst still being good enough for clearance? Depending on the look I choose, is there a recommended method, i.e. trim tops of thigh pieces first, then trim the cover strip to match before gluing? Right thigh: Left thigh: Thanks Adam.

Hi Dan I went with ever so slightly bigger than the RS sizes as my forearms were a tiny bit bigger than the size suggested in the video. Adam.

Thanks Martyn Yes, superglue at the ends might work - As I have watched the cover strip detach itself a few times now, it tends to start at the ends and then propogates the whole length of the forearm. Thanks Adam.

Hi all Many thanks to @justjoseph63, @Blast 'Em!, @TKSpartan and @gmrhodes13 for the suggestions! Although it's been two weeks since my last update, I have been busy trying to fix the cover strip to my right forearm. Believe it or not I have now tried it 7 times with no joy!! I have a mixture of N52 and N35 magnets, 30 of them in all. So far I have tried: Sanding the pieces lightly before gluing Using tape to try and hold the two forearm parts in the slightly compressed position to make the joint as flat as possible for the cover strip Adding more magnets (I have been doubling them up, so two magnets on either side) - used all 30 magnets at one point! Using more glue Adding an internal cover strip first, but this didn't hold either Using larger, stronger, clamps at either end, and as far towards the middle as possible - also used large clamps combined with smaller clamps! Allowing the glue to dry for longer - 72 hours What do you think is next - is it bath time for the forearm? It's frustrating as I guess I must have done or be doing something wrong, as I certainly haven't seen forearm woes like this on any other RS build thread! Thanks Adam.

Thanks Shane I didn't sand the area before gluing, so I could definitely try that. I think I could potentially be more generous with the E6000 too, though the more I apply the more it seems to find itself on the armour anywhere but under the cover strip it was intended for!

Hi all Just before I glue the front coverstrip onto the thigh, I'd welcome your opinion please on the width of the ridge? The coverstrip is 20mm, and each half of the ridge is slightly more than 10mm, so there is a small amount of overlap, and this increases slightly near the top as the ridge flattens out. Is this acceptable or should I trim a little more off each side? Also, I glued a coverstrip (with E6000) onto one of the forearms and left it for 24 hours. I then took off the magnets and clamps, only to return half an hour or so later to find it had come away - this is the second time now that this has happened with this particular coverstrip (the first time the coverstrip wasn't completely central, so I put it down to bad placement). Is there something I should be doing differently please to prevent this happening? Thanks Adam.

Will do, thanks Dan

Hi all I had a go at trying to repair the pieces and then cover the damage with a cover strip, but it wasn't working out as the cover strip wasn't completely vertical, so didn't look quite right - I also would have needed to deal with the cut lines on the bottom on the ridges, which I didn't fancy too much! So I ordered a new right thigh from RS. I have trimmed the front so that it's just over 10mm on each side, ready to take the 20mm cover strip. I also trimmed the return edges, but I have not yet attempted to trim the rear of the pieces: Before I start trying to fit the pieces, I noticed that there are different amounts of "spare" material at the bottom of each of the two pieces - you can see this by where the ridges are angled, particularly on the right hand piece (see pencil mark in second picture). Where the angle finishes on the right hand side suggests that this is where the cut line needs to be at the bottom - presumably the left hand side needs to be the same length at the bottom too to ensure symmetry?: Do you have any tips for next steps please? Should I fix the front cover strip? I'm obviously super paranoid about messing it up again! Thanks Adam

Picture attached for clarification (hopefully)!

I have now reattached the parts that lost their way, please see pictures below: Doesn't look too bad from the outside - however, on the inside it looks like an ABS disaster area! And when trying to tape the pieces up for a fitting, one of the attached pieces started to come away again: I think trying to hold all the pieces in place and then identify an accurate cut-line will be a nightmare, never mind trying to cut through up to 4 pieces of ABS at the same time. I might look at the "extended seams" method by referred to by Mario (@TKSpartan) above. This would need me to install a seam at the back (and only the back, to preserve the 20mm ridge at the front) of 15mm top to bottom between the two thigh pieces, stuck onto a wider (say 40mm) piece on the inside. The 20mm cover strip would then be placed on the outside, hiding all the cut lines (except at the very bottom ridge I guess). I would then cross my fingers and hope it's big enough. If I look at the ridges at the bottom of the pieces, the inner measures 70mm and the outer measures 60mm. There is also more "spare" material on the outer, with which to make the seam. I could make a 15mm seam from the outer (right hand side) off-cut piece. This would then make the ridge at the bottom of the outer piece measure 75mm, so I guess the other potential issue would then be whether the cover strip would be central and vertical at the back of the thigh? Maybe 5mm difference wouldn't be noticeable anyway? Do you think this sounds like a viable option? Thanks Adam.

Thanks Martyn, that's really helpful. Your story resonates strongly with mine - I did pretty much exactly the same as you, though I even left some extra plastic over and above the screen accurate measurements from the video because I suspected I would need it, but I somehow messed up the measurements when I was taping the pieces! I have a potential last option thanks to Mario's (TKSpartan) post above, more on that in my next post! Thanks again Adam.

Thanks Mario I had a quick look and it looks interesting - may be my next option! Thanks Adam.

Thanks Martyn I saw your build thread over at UKG Thanks Martyn I saw your build thread over at UKG. Like you, my thighs are larger than the originals. Your completed thigh pieces look really good. Are you able to let me know please how you approached the fitting and measuring of the thighs before you made the cuts? I have seen a couple of YouTube videos where the two thigh pieces seem to overlap quite easily when being fitted and measured, but I don't think the kits are RS. I know that I struggle when trying to wrap the two pieces for fitting as the return edges at the top and/or bottom seem to get in the way of each other, making it harder to know when you have a good fit? That said, it could be just me! Thanks Adam

***OPERATION RIGHT THIGH SALVATION*** - UPDATE I've started to reattach the off-cuts to the rear of the right thigh pieces as shown below - one side is complete and the other is glued and drying overnight. If you squint and hold your device far away enough from your face, you'll see that it looks as good as new from the outside, right? No? Okay, I know that Jedi mind tricks don't work on you guys, but hopefully it will be good enough when finished to give me a second chance to resize without any major surgery required - we will see! Other side drying overnight:

Thanks everyone for your kind words, suggestions and encouragement, it's reassuring to say the least!

Thanks Shane I'll keep an eye on your build thread - I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to attack the left thigh until I've fixed the right, I'll have to see!

Thanks guys! Gaining in confidence I then cut out the cover strips and glued the biceps together, learning very quickly how messy E6000 can be and how strong rare earth magnets are! I let them dry for 24 hours but then discovered that one of the strips hadn't taken very well because the adjoining sides of the bicep were at slightly different angles, thus needing more pressure on the strip. I re-glued it tonight and hopefully it will take this time - I think the clamps I have must be the small version, so may invest in some larger ones. Having glued the biceps I then tackled the right thigh, trimming down to size: I tried to cut it down to the right size, and was pleased that I had seemed to get the rear join to be vertical - however........... When I tried it on again it was snug, too snug! Unfortunately there is no room anywhere and I know that the thigh is one place where a little wiggle room is recommended to aid mobility whilst trooping. It seems that I have messed this up rather spectacularly! It's a valuable lesson though and I'm sure it's all part of the experience, I guess I just need to see if it's salvageable or whether I should just order the replacement parts? Before I order anything though, I did keep the off-cut pieces when I cut the pieces down to size. I essentially made one cut on each side, so everything lines up quite nicely when I offer up the off-cuts to the main pieces. I have re-attached them to the main parts as follows (only one side so far), using a piece of scrap on the inner pieces to brace/bond the E6000. Inside view: Once everything dries it will be like nothing happened, right? So my plan now centres around one of four scenarios: 1) Best case - when I remeasure and (hopefully!) get it right this time, the new cut line at the back (along with the original lines) will be able to be hidden by a 20mm cover strip (I think this is the miracle scenario!) 2) Mid ground - as above, but I will need to upgrade to a 25mm cover strip to cover the mess, or 3) Worse case - It's shim/ABS time! 4) Most expensive but better than worse case - buy new parts! I would be grateful of any advice you could offer please - I have seen thigh shims on the forum but I don't think I've seen an optimistic reattachment scenario like the one I'm proposing. Equally if I need to just cut my losses and buy replacement parts then that's life! On reflection I definitely made the error when sizing - I found it really difficult to bend the pieces around my thigh to get a decent fit. The return edges seem to get in the way (top and bottom), and I didn't want to force the armour into position for taping, risking scratches etc on the outside. Additionally, because the curvature of the two pieces is quite different at the point where they join, I found it difficult to get a good fit - an example of this is shown below on the left thigh pieces (don't worry, I haven't cut them down to size yet! Thanks all Adam.

Thanks guys I've done a bit of additional trimming on the biceps and forearms so I thought I would show you the latest pictures: Left bicep: Right bicep: Forearms - I trimmed out the scoops to fit. I had to take more out of the left forearm as it is a different shape to the right. I can now bend both arms without them digging in at the joint. In the photos immediately below I know I still need to take a little more off the return edge at the wrists... Left forearm: Right forearm: I then thought I would try the forearm wrist sanding technique I saw in @CableGuy's YouTube video - it looked much more appealing than the Dremel and seemed like an awesome idea! Results below: How is it all looking - anything I should adjust before moving on? Many thanks Adam.

Hi everyone So I used my Dremel for the first time ever - what a great invention! I should say in all the photos below I still need to do a final sand to smooth off the rougher edges. I decided to take some more return edge off the biceps - it's not pretty work, but at least the tops will be covered by the shoulder bells and hopefully I'll get better with practice! When I wear the biceps over the undersuit, they feel snug when I bend my arms, but nothing digs in as such, so I guess I will leave them for now until final fitting. Next I tackled the forearms, but I'm not sure if something's gone wrong! I tried to follow the RS Propmasters video tutorial for the right forearm as best I could. The following photos show the results: Hopefully not too dramatic so far... For the scoop on the inner I only took it to the natural line of the part, though I have seen threads where it is recommended to remove more material here? I then went to work on the return edges trying to leave some at the top outside edge, but trying to remove everything all around at the bottom. I didn't really notice it at the time, but look how "flat" the piece looks, rather than round - does this look right? I can get my arm in and bend it with no problem - again, it's snug, but feels okay. It's as though the shape is that of a flexed forearm? The view from the bottom is shown below - I tried to get as much of the return edge off as possible with the Dremel. Is this sufficient, or do I need to do a bit more? If so, is there a recommended method to get into the corners of the raised part (needle files)? I have seen a video by Dan (Cable Guy) where he sands the whole wrist profile simultaneously until the return edge disappears, so I may try this method if required. I then moved on to the left forearm - I followed the same approach as for the right, but noticed that the piece seems much rounder, rather than flatter: The "swoop" of the raised cover strip edge seemed wider on the left arm (though it could be the way I cut it) than the right? In the photo it's not quite lying flush, but you get the idea anyway. A comparison of the two forearms below (right on top, left on bottom): And another (left on left, right on the right): And with the undersuit (left forearm not taped very well at the top). I have measured the circumference of both forearms at both the tops and bottoms, and they are similar, I guess I am just worried that the shapes look different, so wondered if this was an issue? I certainly would like to avoid the dreaded hot water bath this early in my armour building career!! Looking forward to your comments. Thanks Adam

Perfect, thanks Joseph!

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful. I will remove some more of the bicep return edges, then look to trim the long connecting edges to fit. Given my power tool phobia I have never used a Dremel, but I plan to use it to remove some more return edge and then to sand those areas. A couple of complete novice questions please if I may (apologies in advance!): 1) what grit on the sanding drum is recommended when you want to remove some return edge, and 2) what grit to smooth it afterwards? Thanks Adam