Cali_Nole

I'll add my 2 cents, from a fellow newbie perspective who's also currently working on an ATA helmet. For pretty much all my initial guidelines, I sketched them following the mold lines and as you're planning to do, my initial cuts were 2-3mm short of the lines and then trimmed little by little towards the lines until it was to my liking. As far as the cap sides, I believe what Justin mentions above is what I did (visual below). I did this because since I had no idea where my screw/rivet would go, I wanted more surface available. I ended up trimming these corners down a bit later, but it helped with initial mock up of face to cap/back. I trimmed all the way to the mold lines on my neck from the get go, but it couldn't hurt to follow your line and then trim back as needed. I personally cut to the mold lines due to having a fairly thick neck, and even now, without the s-trim the neck sits on my Adam's apple and is a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps when I get padding inside, it'll correct that issue for me. As for eyes, I did what you did and traced the mold lines. And I also used a Dremel cut off wheel for the initial cuts (again 3 or so mm short of the lines, and then little by little sanded toward the lines with the barrel sanders. This worked well for me, just took my time. My final eyes are again, pretty darn in line with the mold lines. And again as Justin mentioned above, I still had to take the inside/nose side corners down a bit more to get rid of the return edges. Just used a smaller diameter Dremel barrel sander and a round file for that. Working on ears as of now...they're NOT fun.

Nicely done, Shawn! Congrats on finishing both sets of armor. Two good looking Troopers!

Thanks Glen! And since I'll be working on the other ear this weekend, I'm sure I'll be doing this followed by this and repeat...and repeat...and repeat as needed, LOL!

All right, got back to work this week after a lengthy layoff and continued on my bucket. After feedback from @gmrhodes13, @TKSpartan, and @ABS80, the following progress was made (as always, feedback is welcome and appreciated): 1. Additional teeth filing. Tried not to go overboard, but I'm fairly satisfied with where they are now. 2. Additional work on the inside corners of the eyes, just to get rid of more return edge. Didn't need to remove much, but I think they look much better now. 3. And YES.....we have an EAR sighting in the second photo (more photos below)! Yeah, that was just as fun as advertised. Many instances of walking away and coming back to it later. But all in all, I think it turned out pretty ok-ish. I'm not thrilled with the gap in the back, and I see where I can slightly trim to possibly close it, but I'm pretty happy with the front and I'm afraid if I keep messing with the back, it'll throw off the front. So unless there are objections, I'm going to leave it be. Hoping to at least finish the other ear this weekend...it's the easier one, right? Haha, I'm sure it's not and it'll bring me back down to earth! Oh, and I mostly referred to Gazmosis' Helmet Ear Tutorial, very helpful. And noticeably, I didn't countersink the ear screw holes yet. I'm going to wait until final assembly to do that....promise I won't forget!

I sincerely appreciate all the kind, supportive words, troopers. Been a rough time, for sure. But on a positive note, I do think it's time to push forward again with the build this week. I guess now I have someone to dedicate my build to...onward and upward!

Negative...actually not even close, lol. I'm in no hurry to finish, just chipping away when I can. I do have a build thread in case you're interested, although I haven't made much progress over the last month. Been dealing with a personal loss. But I'm aiming to post some updates soon. The IB patch was free swag that came with my boots.

I appreciate you calling out something not looking right, Mario, as I am striving for as much accuracy as possible. The reference photo you attached is indeed the main photo I referenced when building my TD. Since all measurements are approximate, I tried to get as close as possible, measuring twice or more. I did re-check my measurements (photo below) and I'm hoping I'm within acceptable range. Caps are 20mm wide. Total length of TD is about 188mm and gap between caps and panel are about 11-12mm. I also did a dry fit check of my Ukswrath TD clips and they appear to align pretty well? As Glen suggested above, I believe the dimensions look "off" due to the ATA kit requiring a smaller diameter pipe. Again, thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow path though. On another note, any comments/tips/suggestions regarding the eyes and teeth on the faceplate? I'm thinking I might be able to file more out of the inside corners of the eyes? And I might also be able to file the tops and bottoms of the teeth closer to the gum lines? Or am I good to go? Thanks Troopers!

Ok, time for an update. Minimal time over the last couple weeks to build, but I've been chipping away a little at a time. Safety first!! TD is mostly completed. As a review, ATA caps are pretty tight fitting on 2" pipe, so I had to slightly taper the ends of the pipe to fit them. I added tape about 20mm from the ends to mark where I need to sand down to. Used a 60g sanding barrel to knock down the outside edges and then followed up with 80g and 180g sanding sponges until I could slide the caps on and off. They're still tight, but not nearly as much as before. When I masked for painting, I made sure the masked areas were a smaller footprint than the TD panel and cap widths. Oh and I lightly sanded the whole pipe with 220g for better paint and glue adhesion. I was going go with Glen's suggestion of using gray primer (already had some in the garage) with gloss clear over it. When I picked up the gloss clear, I went ahead and grabbed the can of paint pictured below as well, just in case. Tested both on the scrap PVC I had leftover, and the primer I had seemed too dark with a slight greenish tint, so I went with the other one. I think the color turned out good, but please let me know if it doesn't look right. I probably should have waited for affirmation on the gray I used, but I kinda jumped the gun and glued things up. Still have to add the clips, but the TD is done aside from those. Now I can't remember the exact measurement, but I believe the total length of the TD is about 7 3/8". So next up, I started to work on my bucket. First up, cutting out the eyes and teeth. No photo, but the ATA face has small grooves on the inside of the eyes where the cuts should be made, so I penciled in those lines to see them better. I then used a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut to about 3-4mm of the lines, then used sanding barrels to grind away to the lines. I found the Dremel flex shaft attachment very useful for this. For the teeth, I used the sanding barrels to start my holes and then used needle files from there. Below is what I have as of now. I think I'm close, but please let me know what you think. I'm thinking I might be able to cut more out of the inside corners of the eyes? And I might be able to cut the tops and bottoms of the teeth closer to the gum lines possibly?

Hi Kaleb and welcome. I'm still a newbie here myself, just received my ATA armor a couple weeks ago, so my build is still in it's infancy. Check out all the pinned threads in the "Getting Started" section, but I found the following particularly valuable when I started my research. Acronyms are widely used here on FISD and this thread is super useful for understanding them: As far as armor makers, the following thread is a must read. You really can't go wrong if you stick to the vendors on this list. And yes, I did read all 57 pages! As mentioned above, research is key. Good luck!

Thank you Glen. I was definitely trying to be "rough" with the cut lines. I'm trying to always remember to cut conservatively at first, fine tuning later. And thanks for the reminder regarding the ears, I was holding them up to the sides when marking my lines, kind of visualizing how they'll cover the seems, but I do still need to do a rough trimming of them to get a better idea. I was hoping to just give myself a good jumping off point.

Ok, so feedback time. Still have to get back to my TD this weekend, but I am going to build my bucket after the TD, so I did some preliminary marking up of the back and cap and a little pre-planning. If you see anything "off", please feel free to call it out. I knew from my research that the lids are definitely not perfectly round, perfectly smooth, or perfectly lined up. But until I pulled out the pieces and really started handling them and planning things out, I didn't have a true appreciation for the wonderful wonkiness of these helmets. Many, many quirks to them for sure. Anyways, I will be referring quite a bit to pandatrooper's ATA helmet how-to. I've marked some things out for feedback before I start cutting. Front of cap was not close to being straight, as seen below, but still did have slight "mold/pull lines", so I clamped a metal ruler aligned as best I could with the cut lines and marked my line with a china marker. Below shows the ends of the above marked line terminating under the traps. In the photo on the left, I will probably cut just above the marked line, to more align with the front of the cap, but it was difficult to get the line marked with not much surface there. I then followed the the mold/pull lines down for the vertical S lines, leaving more rough material than I think I will need, keeping in mind I can always take more off, can't put it back on. Oh, and I will be sure to drill out a hole at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines, as I have read it can create a stress point or tear cutting sharp angles here. Marked line for rear/bottom of cap and back: And finally the face. I haven't marked any lines here yet but I will be cutting along the well defined mold/pull lines along the neckline. Also as you can see in the first photo, the left side of the face extends further back than the right, so I'll even that side up a bit, using the mold/pull lines shown in the second photo, again leaving more than I think I will need. Again, if any of my thoughts / plans / lines here seem out of whack, please let me know...thanks!

Hahaha! I swear, I looked at my screen when I took it and for a split second thought I had my phone in "selfie" mode!

I was hoping someone would get a little chuckle out of that.

Affirmative sir! If there were a top 10 of most common missed details on approvals, that would have to be near the top. Along with fully painting ATA ab buttons to the edges. I KNOW I'll miss my share of details, but hoping to avoid some of the common ones for sure.

Only had a little bit of time to work on the kit this evening, so instead of TD work, I figured I'd do a little bit more slicing and dicing. Decided to do the rough cuts of the ABS belt, thigh ammo belt, belt rivet covers and ab button plates. It's not much, but at least it was another small step in the right direction. So again, ATA kits come entirely untrimmed: Since these were all straight line cuts, I used score and snap for all. On the underside / inside of all the pieces, the corners are really nice and sharp (tried to capture that in the photo below). These provided perfect grooves to guide the blades for scoring. Scored and snapped below. Again these are just the initial rough trimmings to get rid of the extra pull material. I will size and clean them up at a later time. And yes, I will be sure not to round the corners on the ab button plates.

It definitely helps knowing what to expect before getting started. Even then, the unexpected is sure to pop up every so often. I couldn't even imaging trying to do this without research. Thanks so much, Glen. It was both nerve-wracking AND exciting finally putting scissors and blades to plastic!

Thermal Detonator #1 As always, please feel free to chime in with comments or concerns. Ok, managed to find a little time today to work on the TD caps and control panel. I realized as I was working, I was forgetting to take photos. I'll try to take more as I continue on. Most of you know, but I'll mention anyway, ATA caps and control panel come untrimmed and are made to fit a 2" diameter pipe (from what I understand, a little smaller than other kits). I was able to pick up some white 2" PVC pipe, but work on that will be next weekend. I used the reference below as a measurement guide. I also borrowed some tricks from Caleb's (MaskedVengeance) build thread. Caps were first. No photos, but I marked a line at 20mm with a pencil and used lexan scissors to trim away excess, a few mm short of my line. I then added tape from the guideline to the top of the cap, leaving the few mm's I needed to trim exposed. First I used a Dremel, with 60 grit sanding barrel to knock down the excess to 1mm or less from the edge of the tape. I then used a 180 grit sanding sponge, followed by 220 grit paper to finish off. Control Panel came next. First was removing the side "bulbs" (my made up name for them). For the left side in the photo below, I cut as far as I could to the left while still clearing the raised bulb, so that the entire length of control panel is flat. I eyeball centered the piece between lines on my cutting mat and used a piece of tape aligned with vertical lines on the mat to create a somewhat straight, perpendicular line as a cut line. Not sure if this is the best/easiest method, but it came to me and I went with it. I then added a few more layers of tape so my cut line had a raised edge. Used the x-acto knife to lightly score first, two or three passes, then used the utility knife for a couple more passes and snapped away. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the taping process, just the end result below. For the other side (right side), I measured about 124mm from the left edge, marked about 4 points along the arc with pencil and then added tape to connect the dots and create the cut line. The reference photo above shows 122mm, but I went a couple additional mm's for when I clean up the edges. Used the same x-acto, utility knife and snap method. For the top and bottom cuts, I used a tailor's tape around the arc. At one end, I started the tape measure as far as I could go to where the curve reverses to the flat trim (hope that makes sense) and made a pencil mark, stretched the tape around arc to the top and made another mark. Repeated for the other end. I then clamped a metal ruler (again, no photos, sorry) connecting the marks on the right and left to use as a cut line and again, used the score and snap method. The photo reference above lists 95mm from top to bottom of the arc, however with the ATA control panel, there was only 90mm, I'm assuming due to these being made for 2" diameter pipe. I'm also assuming this will be ok for approval since it should still be proportional and the reference photo measurements are approximate. Today's end results. The edges of the control panel are still very rough, I didn't have time for sanding and cleaning them up. That will happen next time. I didn't set it up with this in mind, but when I was taking the below photo, it looked like a face. So...I added eyeballs. Probably matches the look on my face working with ABS today for the first time.

Thank you for all the detail you've put into this, Caleb. I'll be starting my build this weekend, and tackling the TD first. As I also have an ATA kit, this will be a very helpful resource for me.

Thanks Glen! Since I already have some rust-oleum gray self etching primer, if I'm not able to source the gray pipe, I'll probably go this route. I have read the return edges 101, along with most of the 101s to be honest. All great info. I've pretty much decided on removing most of the return edges, except where they are required to remain. But I will most definitely re-read it prior to trimming. And I'll be sure do "rough" trimming first and throw photos up here for comments before getting carried away!

Well, today was finally BBB day!!!! And USPS was kind enough to deliver my holster and neck seal from DarmansProps along with the BBBs, so it was Christmas in September! Things just got VERY real, lol. I know it's a common initial reaction, but I'll still say it...I opened things up and thought "OH MY LORD VADER, what have I gotten myself into?" Feeling pretty intimidated right now, but I know the fantastic resources and guidance from the awesome troopers of the FISD will help me see things through. I have a somewhat busy weekend, but I WILL find some time to dive in...and I can't wait to get things started! All comments and advice are welcome! So I've babbled enough, on with the photos! I kind of underestimated the amount of space I would need to lay out all the pieces, lol. I know it's a Big Brown Box and all, but it seemed bottomless as I unpacked it. I didn't try to match up rights and lefts just yet. I'll do that when I start working on them. The shins were marked R and L, so at least I won't have to figure those out. Just wanted to make sure everything was present and accounted for. Looks like it's all there, but please let me know if it looks like anything's missing. Thanks Troopers! As I said above, hopeful to get started on actual building this weekend. I plan on starting with the TD. Seems like fairly simple cuts to get used to working with ABS and also some glueing to get used to working with the E6000. One question in regards to the TD: If I'm not able to source gray pipe, is there a specific shade of gray paint required? Gloss or matte? I think I remember reading where someone just used gray primer? Thank you!

No BBB just yet, but USPS has an ETA of this Friday for the big day! So this is a less exciting update. Round two of snap plates last weekend went much better, made 20 double snap plates in the time it took to make 4 in my initial attempt. Biggest key was having a steel bench block with soft plastic base (circular unit with orange on bottom in photo below) to provide a solid platform, which allowed for the weight of the hammer to do all the work (thanks again for the tip on this, Shawn @Firedog). About 4 light hammer strikes per snap and...done! Using a soldering iron also made quick, easy work of hole punching and edge sealing. Oh, and also thanks again to JR (@TheDecisiveRaindrop) for linking AJ's build thread. Wow. So many great nuggets to take away and possibly incorporate into my build.

Congrats Shawn! A job well done!

Thanks for the advice JR. I've already been reading up on build threads (mostly ATA builds), but I had not checked out AJ's yet. I will definitely do so, much appreciated. I've also already made a habit of viewing approval/pre-approval requests, trying to see if I can spot potential issues before seeing what the experts have to say. Still an amateur, but definitely learning a lot from it. Thanks again JR! I can totally relate to the OCD, Joseph! But I can see where that can potentially help with this hobby. I take all the advice I can get to heart, so questions and photos will be plentiful for sure. Yeah, I was pounding away pretty violently with the hammer. I was also using a 4x4 block of wood under the anvil, so with a combination of too much force and soft wood underneath, the anvil was sinking into the wood and not staying level. I've since picked up a steel bench block to place under my anvil and will be mindful of not "jackhammering". Much appreciated Shawn.

Ok, Troopers. I decided a couple weeks ago on a kit from ATA and BBB day should be in the next week or two (fingers crossed). So, I have started a build thread....GAAAHHHH!! Excitement, terror, joy, anticipation, dread, more excitement...mixed emotions which from what I've gathered is very common starting a first build...let's do this!!

Hello Troopers, First off, thanks to anyone checking out my build thread. I'll preface this by saying this will be a marathon, not a sprint. I'm not gonna give myself a timeframe, I'd rather take my time and see how it goes, but I do plan to build towards Centurion from the start. As it's my first build, I'll be sure to ask plenty of questions here when I get stuck, which I'm pretty sure will be often. I feel no matter how much research you do, it's still going to be an eye opener once you get your hands on the shiny, white armor for the first time! Here's a link to my new member intro in case anyone wants to take a look: So after a few weeks of research and due diligence, I decided to go with an ATA helmet + armor kit. Was added to the waiting list on 8/16 and got an email yesterday (coincidentally, my bday!) that my kit was next and would be finished in a few days time. Needless to say, I was PUMPED! So BBB day should be coming in the next week or two, I'll be sure to update when that day arrives. Since I don't have my kit quite yet, I spent August pouring over build threads, tutorials, etc. and stocking up on tools & supplies and some soft goods. I have already ordered an E-11 Blaster from Quest Design Canada on Etsy (thanks to @Firedog for feedback regarding his blaster) but that's still about 6 weeks out. I've also purchased my holster and neck seal from DarmansProps, still waiting on those as well. I believe a build thread can't have too many pictures, so below are a few I have so far. Imperial Boots 421's, received in early August: TD clips and Hovi Mix tips from @ukswrath's Etsy shop (thanks Tony! these are fantastic!) I'm unsure if I'm going to fully handpaint my helmet or use "handpainted" look decals, so I ordered a full set of Humbrol paints AND a set of Dave M helmet decals from Trooperbay. I figure I'll see how the helmet build goes and then decide when I get there, but both options will be available to me when the time comes. Of course if I use the decals, I'll need the paints for frown, ears, vocoder, ab buttons, screw tops and rivet tops anyway. Here's some miscellaneous tools/supplies (line 24 snaps, snap setter/anvil, some blind pop rivets that came with my hand riveter, lexan scissors, utility knife, etc.): And last weekend, decided to get my feet wet with snaps, since snap setting is entirely new to me. I referenced @justjoseph63 Snaps 101 thread (many thanks already to Joseph for all the SUPER helpful newbie threads and also a shout out to @MaskedVengeancefor his Index of Resources), but I also tried a method mentioned by @gmrhodes13 of using a phillips head screwdriver prior to the snap setter to kind of score the post. In the pic below, on the male snap plates you might be able to see I tried each method on a couple of the plates. Not sure which I prefer yet after only a few snaps, but where scoring the post first made a HUGE difference was the female snap post. I only attempted two, the first one without scoring the post is on the left and I completely butchered that one, post flattened out sideways. Used the screwdriver scoring on the the one on the right and it worked almost perfectly. I'll play around with more snaps this weekend and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it more with additional practice: And lastly, for this update, since I had to drag a barstool from the kitchen into the garage for snaps practice, I realized the "need" for a garage stool. And since I realized this "need" in the early stages of TK armor building, well then, why would I not get this one: Stay tuned for Episode II....BBB day, coming soon!!!