Zinfer

Silly brackets. There has to be a superior way other than risking your armor. I mean Glen suggested doubling up with snaps & bracketing. But honestly it would seem that snaps alone would be preferable with glued on cloth/elastics inner snaps. As long as you were cautious with glues that wouldn't eat at the armor.

I've always been interested in injection molding and vacuuforming, recently emphasis on the latter. But both fascinate me as, if there were home/workshop versions creativity is endless. My costume is PVC but I'd be very wary of heating it up as that could (as in the case with hot tub bending) it can also affect the mold itself but yea it becomes softer and less prone to cracks or stress fractures. But as you wear the costume, bend and the like I think that's when it's crucial there is a good joint. But you know more about plastic properties than I, which reminds me I do need to pick up some metric drill bits as I have absolutely none. Not sure if Menards or Lowes carries them as I've never had a need for metric other than wrenches or sockets.

Ok, so here's the reworked back plate. Thoughts?

Oh no you guys are great. Keeping me straight. I was being facetiously pouty. Sorry if I came across a different way. Typing words far easier to misinterpret than speech. Thank you all

Ok, so nobody likes my back plates' trimmed thickness. I'll bring it back to the bench and see if I can shave just a little more off the edges. As for the belt, I am really scared of further having to mod it. I am very near having to replace it entirely and start over. Had I not trimmed a good 1/2" off both sides the drop boxes would be even further away from the ends. I'll take another look at it. So I think your issue was with the left box. Maybe the strap for the beltbox had just moved inward a bit when I flipped it over to take a shot. I will examine it. Back to the back plate, I feel there is supposed to be a difference in thickness of the bottom of the back plate from the top. Probably not as pronounced as I'd initially trimmed it. I'll get on this today as well as trimming some off the bottom edge.

Yup. I was just going by what Rob had said in that if you don't leave enough material there, the simple act of drilling the holes can lead to a crack. You can always remove more material afterward. Now, I've never done it before so I was just taking his word at it. I have yet to see any kit base for the snap configuration of the elastic straps and still leaving my options open for the original method. I can only imagine a nightmare of any one of 12 glued elastic strap loops not holding with these loops. So at this point leaving all options on the table. Yea I agree there's still alot of meat there and last I saw another trooper create those straps by hand, strap by strap, snap by snap. In either case I'll have to revisit the kidney trimming.

Now for the dreaded final large piece of body armor. I'm going to have to seriously do alot of exercise and workouts to fit inside this thing with no gap in between the kidney plate. The Codpiece. Not going to be trimming much off the sides of this. Wish me luck in EVER fitting into this.

Finished trimming the back plate. Actually turned out pretty good. Still may take some a little more off the lower back. May need a hair more trimming on the right side. I see a line I may have missed.

Wow that's Really tight. Wonder how they even had brackets on there? Watchin your C3PO at the moment on Youtube.

So last night I finished trimming and sanding the kidney plate. Tried to preserve enough return edge for any brackets. I'm still thinkin about the old RS strapping versus just going with button snaps. My next project is the Back plate. Man now THIS is hard tracing the pencil lines as there was very little I could see of any old flashing. I sat for an hour probablly watching Rob at RS draw those lines, how thick, where, how wide...took a bit to figure out and put pencil to plastic. Hope I got it right. Going to trim it out later tonight. Alot of meat at the bottom. If I do go with brackets, plenty here to work with. I'm thinking the further up I go to the shoulder the return edge gets to near nothing. Erring to caution on the initial cut. Better to have more meat than nothing at all to work with. For now I'm thinking this is too thick. Really not sure here, but I think this is supposed to be a squareish round circle back. I've nociced from Rob's video tut that this section is very thin. More thin than my rubbish rough drawn lines. THIS is why I tend to use the dremel sanding bit rather than a cutting tool. I make adjustments on the fly.

Yea that's the CA I was using before I just ran out. The Loctite brand gel. I like the gel because yea I hate RUNS and liquid. A water type glue is really hard to work with as it always figures out a way to screw you up. My first time last night using zip kicker. I do have some Zap a Gap coming. Never used that either but the containers are SO SMALL. I think so far I've only used it on the back of the drop boxes and the cloth to secure them. And just that ran me out of it. :). Stupid little half ounce bottles at $7. Oh and I used some (a couple dabs) on the ammo belt rivet plastic cover x3.

Thank you Harder. That's a wonderful compliment. Yea I built me an arcade a few years back, 40x60 2400 square ft. About 60 + classic 80s cabinets and no chance of keeping up with repairs. I've never seen the sense in half efforts. Experiment and go slow at first, but once you got the hang of it, then dive in with both feet. Yea I do alot of electronics repair being I collect those old cabinets in barns for years. I saw someone once use the Pace desoldering station and I was instantly hooked after a while of using a solder sucker. Using the oscilloscope is a bit more complex to use. I typically will use my PAT9000 to test out a board initially. Mame and other emulators are fine and a blessing sometimes when ROM chips fail. You can just reburn the image onto a new Eprom and plop it back in the socket. I've had to replace ALOT of sockets. Just did recently with the Amiga 2000, 68000 processor. Battery acid damage. THIS, I've never done before so it is a new experience for me. Thankfully I have the tools onhand to compensate for my inexperience. With the 501st and FISD as well as the Garrison, this is an enormous wealth of information and sometimes instant answers to hard questions. I don't know if I'll ever get to Troop but I can say right now it looks like alot of fun and compassion. I think the real challenge for me will be getting to around 170 or under and LOOK the part. Thanks again Harder. P.S.: That carpet is actually UV reactive. Under black light it illuminates the entire room without any additional light necessary. But you probably want to wear a fresh washed pair of pants before entering as there are 6 sets of fluorescent black lights mounted on the ceiling.

Oh you're absolutely correct justjoseph. I am ok with simple parts/flat surfaces for CA. As for the dropboxes, there's a little wiggle room there I think. Only other thing I can do is order another Beltplate, some wihite plastic dots and dropbox cloth, rivets and try it over again. What screwed me up there was not realizing it had to meet the belt in a particular location with those 45's . So I was left with a predicament of having to shave each side back, which left me with just a little room for the placement of the drop boxes, but like I say, I think I can adjust that further outward with just a tug. As for the E-6000, your right I haven't used it any at all. I'm still waiting on RS to ship me that PVC material so that I can start in on the limbs. When I begin fitting and coverstrip and glueing, that's when all the E-6000 is going to be pouring out. I was absolutely surprised with the belt boxes and my first application of Zip Kicker. WOW - instant and no second chances with that combo. Solid in a second.

Thinkin the back plate next. Notice I'm avoiding the codpiece and kidney. I am so diet conscious. I hope the heck I can do a StormTrooper figure justice.

And finally the Butt Plate. I took notice of how wonky this piece is. The left butt Cheek doesn't have the same symetry and the Right. It was missing an entire point. I believe the right cheek has 5 points, where the left either had 4 or was a bad pull. But I tried to make it work. Also notice the legs left an right were a little assymetric. Maybe too many beers but the right appears higher than the left. Notice the 5 points on the right butt cheek. However the left was almost missing an entire point. I tried to work with this to get it a little more correct? Was this a mistake on my part to try and correct this?

Finished sanding the Chest Plate. Those little nodules on the bottom I'm not sure if those stay or go.

Ok, so 3 things done today. Finished off the belt (other than the holster) with adding the beltboxes (Yep my Zip Kicker arrived today). I somehow ran through that tiny bottle of super CA glue. Be nice if I could find a larger amount of it. Anyone have a good site for their CA glue?

l have to admit, this is the second time I've watched your suiting up vid and you look absolutely authentic. I'd seen this video before. Very impressive.

Oh wait. Do you mean to say that the 'Webbing' as described in that video is not Elastic? I mean I can't see how elastic back tabs on the calves can make a difference other than your calf size changing, which is unlikely, but on the snap strapping - that's not elastic? You've been doing this longer than me and Centurion level so I'm just a padawan trying to learn and understand. Flexibility in the calf, I guess if you had larger calves, I can see the need or more likely, flexibility at where the calf meets the ankle/boot. I can understand an abrasion from that concept.

I, to this day do not understand why Lucas went with Hook and hole x8 for the shins rather than hook and loop velcro. I can't imagine fidgeting in all that armor with those each time I get suited up. I mean there is the 'original' thing, but there's also superior methods. At least IMHO. But to each their own I suppose my friend. I'm sure there are many dissenting opinions. I think those two things would be the only 2 things I'd modify on this armor with whitch to still maintaining the CRL and Centurion build. I think I'm still on track for that with those mods? Plenty of time to consider.

So, I'm about to order some TK boots, as I'll eventually get around to the calves build. I was gonna order from IB, however--my foot size is 10.5". Now I have been informed that from this company it's best to order 1 size larger. So great! I'll just order 11.5". Well - long story short they go from 10.5 to 11 12 and 12.5. So they skipped right over 11.5. So which to do? 11 or 12? Why do asian feet have to be so small? I'd sure hate to order a toe smashing boot, but then I wouldn't want something sloppy fitting either. I am thinking 11? But I could be very wrong. Opinions on IB boots? *Update: Went with size 11.

Yea Cableguy that's the idea, nuts and bolts just for the look. What made you go from snaps back to the brackets? That small lip and the pressure on it just seems really like a point of failure after alot of work. I mean the kit from RS COMES with everything, it'd be alot more additional work to make all the snaps and material, then measurements for lengths. I'm unfamiliar if there actually does exist a premade kit. But if there is I think I'd be all over it. I don't like the idea of drilling through anything, much rather glue a snap on cloth to the inside than drill any additional holes. I think, during the tutorial on the brackets/elastics he did promise to show alternatives, but I don't believe he followed through with that. I've religiously watched and rewatched all their tuts. Right now I'm just trimming all the parts out and plenty of time to think about elastics system. However, I believe the use of 4 snaps, basically double snapping each contact point is a little overkill.

I am liking this 'Standard System' at least for the clamshell. When I begin getting into the Elastics, this is what I would like to go with. I'll have to do some research on this Standard Strapping System.

Well, my Zip-Kicker didn't arrive from Fedex, so tackling another project. I was going to finish off the belt boxes on the belt tonight. But that's apparently not to be. So I moved on to some of the larger armor tonight. the Chest Plate. So from completely untrimmed to trimmed using the dremel. Haven't hand sanded yet but will later on tonight. There is more trimming to do at the bottom of the return edge of the chest plate. Untrimmed start. Initial trim finished. Unsanded I further need to watch the tutorial again to find what the edge should be, thinking around 5 mill for those junky wires on the interior. I'd so love to just do SNAPS all around. That's something for the CRL too. But, this is what I'm looking at on a final trim and sanding the whole thing out. BTW, I'm unsure why in some of this post my text has a white background.

When I start in on something I'm like I have no doubt because I followed the tutorials religiously, It's when you guys point out that something is not right, that surprises me. SO basically my mistakes are I'm not considering the CRL and I need to check that too before I make the moves.