MintImperial

Sorry for a long bump. Thank you so much for this amazing information. I’ve tracked down a picatinny rail that may be almost identical to the screen-used but it appears that the distance between the centre of the two holes is 40mm. By my measurement, the centre of the barrel holes on my S&T Sterling are closer to 35mm apart. Am I missing something? Thanks in advance for any help.

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

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

Congratulations Joseph! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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!

26th of October Comfort modification Padding I wanted to show you some of the ways I’ve padded the costume for comfort. It also gives more space for Mini Imperial to grow. For now it keeps the forearms, thighs, shins, etc. from wiggling and clattering while sitting snug and centred around her limbs. Later, as she grows, I can reduce, then remove padding to fit her better. I removed the codpiece straps as the snaps were pressing into her hips. I plan to eventually glue some elastic straps to replace the ugly-but-effective gaffer tape. Put foam covers on the shoulder elastic snaps to stop them hurting Tiny Trooper’s shoulders. Shoulder bells spaced and padded (also used a loop of elastic in place of the ABS bicep hook to eliminate any discomfort) Foam padding on snaps on the shoulder-bell-to-bicep elastic Biceps spaced on four sides Forearms padded top and spaced on four sides Thighs padded top & bottom and spaced on four sides inside

Adam & Caleb, thank you. You guys are too kind. Will try to get the rest of the thread up soon. And that TD really is so cute!

23rd of October 2023 Front-opening shins Because my Mini Imperial needed to be able to get the armour on and off by herself I had to rethink the tricky rear closure for the shins. So, I deviated from the CRL and went for front-opening/-closing, snapping shut with a magnet at the top and hinged at the back with an EVA foam cover strip. In order not to damage the EVA foam while glueing it to the shin I placed the original ABS cover strip over the top to even the clamping force. Top of left shin front with strong magnet closure Bottom front of shin with velcro strap inside (hooks facing out, loops facing in!) However: Creating a front opening was all well and good for the right shin but the sniper plate on the left shin presented a complication. I needed to make it removable but secure. Magnets were the obvious solution: And, to make sure the plate never got knocked off during trooping, I secured it with a strip of elastic:

4th of October 2023 Not yoghurt raisins! Created some ABS-coated magnets to keep various armour parts together. The poles are at 90° to the surface of the armour to create a much stronger hold. To do this I basically created a ball with the magnets inside with barely any ABS on the surfaces that will cling together and another flat edge at 90° to this that will sit fixed to the armour with a tiny bit more ABS paste. The reason I created the “raisins” separately instead of sticking the wad directly in place is to avoid excessive ABS paste warping the armour. I’m using these on the right side of the ab-kidney join and to hold my Mini Imperial’s shins together at the front. (Yes, you read that right).