MintImperial

Thank you, Chris & Andrew. We’re still in great hands. I wish Joseph all the best.

Troop 11, also listed in Fire Team Sousa Troop Log (Hong Kong Garrison) Event: 2024 Chinese New Year Night Parade Location: Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui Date: 10 FEB 2024

Thanks Glen. Let me try those.

Thanks for the advice, Mario. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Gerald. Sadly it’s not E6000. And for a commission build it makes sense to have something more permanent since they’re pros. And, because they’re pros, why would you normally want to adjust it? [emoji846] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t think it looks ridiculous. I’ve seen many troopers with this kind of shape. And I think I could pull off the look with elbow pads beneath my undersuit to round out the look. But I would rather slim it down to fit me better. My current plan is to slice off the rear cover strips and the meat underneath, close up the gaps and reapply the cover strips. While this will result in double-thickness strips, they’re currently the same thickness as the rest of the armour so I think I can get away with it. My WTF strips are thicker – unvacformed and unstretched. And I’m happy with the look of those.

As I posted in the FISD Facebook group this week, I had the amazing good fortune to have a very generous friend who’s donated his brand-new, worn-once, RS full commission Hero build so long as it goes to making sick kids happy. Well, as soon as I can get it approved it’s going to do just that. Here’s the thing: Vertically, it’s perfect. Where it was a tiny bit long for him, it’s spot on for me. But he’s more buff and I'm more skinny. So, horizontally, it’s not ideal! RS Hero armour with Luke-style chest plate. If you look at my elbows you can see how oversized it is. For comparison: (L) Existing WTF Stunt trimmed to be very form-fitting; (R) New RS Hero

Just hit my first milestone. Now in double figures.

Troop 10, also listed in Fire Team Sousa Troop Log (Hong Kong Garrison) Event: 2024 Chinese New Year Night Parade (Dress Rehearsal) Location: Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui Date: 5 FEB 2024 Double-digit troops!

Congratulations Joseph! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Troop 9, also listed in Fire Team Sousa Troop Log (2023 / DEC) Event: ToySoul 2023: HKG Recruitment Booth (DAY 3) Location: Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre Date: 17 DEC 2023

Troop 8, also listed in Fire Team Sousa Troop Log (2023 / DEC) Event: ToySoul 2023: HKG Recruitment Booth (DAY 1) Location: Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre Date: 15 DEC 2023

Welcome to FISD, Abi. Your armour looks nice. Hope you’ll be trooping soon. One question about your cover strips. Not entirely clear from the photos but it looks like the angles haven’t been cut at 45° or rounded off, like here on the RS suit:

@MaskedVengeance

8th of November 2023 Convenience modification Permanently attached thermal detonator I still haven’t quite finished this as I want to redo the brackets. The TD is very simply bolted directly through the canvas portion of the belt. I forgot to take photos of the inside before I glued it shut but it’s no great mystery how a nut & bolt work! I went for just 2 screws as the other two really won’t be visible. Easy to change my mind later if I want to be more accurate. TD bottom with brackets removed Reverse angle showing inside of canvas belt

Wow that is awesome! (Definitely not showing Mini Imp!)[emoji28]

Thanks for all the help on my stunt. Went a long way with this one. I’d be happy to do it all again if she still wants it when she's bigger. Plus I’ve kept the offcuts plus a lot of trimmings to make ABS.

Thank you Andrew.

Stop it. My head won’t fit into my bucket any more! I dare not let Mini Imp know about Sabine. Am not about to make any version of that costume anytime soon.

26th of October 2023 Convenience modification Arms connected from glove to shoulder to glove I forgot to post this. Remember mittens on elastic running all the way up your arms when you were a kid in winter? That inspired me twice on this build: 1. The shoulder bells are connected with one piece of elastic running across the back of the shoulders to minimise painful snaps pressing into Mini Imperial from above. This also means she can easily put the arms on first before getting into the torso. [will add photo when I remember to take it] 2. The gloves have elastic straps glued to them and are snapped into the bottom of the forearms so that they won’t get lost, ride up, slip down or misbehave in any other way. And they’re free to dangle when she needs to take them off.

Thank you, Joseph!

31st of October 2023 Mini Imperial’s birthday & my deadline! Had a minor setback in that the school didn’t let kids dress up on the day. So we went trick or treating in our neighbourhood that evening. Here are a few photos shared by our wonderful local community:

28th of October 2023: first troop with 501st Legion Hong Kong Garrison Took Mini Imperial on her first troop for the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Drive

26th of October 2023 Recap of 90%-finished armour and size comparisons to my WTF kit That’s as far as I got before Halloween rolled around. Mini Imperial’s blaster (below) is a Disney Parks repaint from Tokyo Disneyland

26th of October 2023 Comfort modification Forearm padding in elbow recess While most of my comfort fixes and convenience hacks are designed to be invisible, this one is necessarily visible. Mini Imperial repeatedly complained that the forearms were cutting into her elbows, even after I shortened the forearms by one ‘dimple’ and cut the recess progressively deeper. I realised that I would be forever removing meat from the inside curve that would look more and more strange while not increasing comfort. I had to pad the curve. Using off-cuts from my tried-and-trusted butt EVA foam, I created little crescents and glued them into the recesses, creating padding that, close up, looked awful (especially after being worn once or twice and becoming a bit wrinkled) but, from a distance, was barely noticeable. No more complaints! Problem solved!