Doggydoc

I heard back from my GML today. They have accepted my application to the 501st and I am just waiting for the official email now. Thank you to everyone at the FISD for their help with my build. You are all an amazing bunch and I can not wait to call myself one of you.

Thank you Glen. I have tried shortening the elastics but then it pulls the back piece higher and my butt cheeks stick out of the butt plate, not to mention the wedgie from the crotch strap. Is there a way to fix this?

Hello, I would really appreciate some input on my costume before submitting to the 501st for approval. Name: Gerald Gyorffy Canadian Garrison Armour maker: Authentic Props Height 5’10” Weight 220 pounds

Ok. I have everything corrected to reapply. I will be posting a pre approval page but here are the corrections. 1. Redid the forearm coverstrips and corrected the positioning with a slight reduction in size. 2. Fixed the elastics pulling out from under the shoulder bridges. 3. Corrected the positioning of the sniper knee plate and left lower thigh to prevent the sniper plate from moving under the thigh. Did this with foam padding. 4. Adjusted the suspenders that hold the thigh pieces up to better hide under the armour 5. Refitted the helmet padding to have it sit lower on my head. Still to do. 1. Reinstall the fan electronics with a smaller battery pack to fit the reworked helmet interior. 2. Trim the bigger tabs down on the back of the shoulder bridges.

While waiting for the glue to dry on the forearms, I started to work on the shoulder elastics. They were pulling out where the shoulders attach as seen below. I had the ends of the elastics triple folded over to hold the snaps but the mid section was just 1 layer. I tried redoing them with a 3 layer front to back elastic but it still pulled out and the reduced stretch gave me a trooper wedgie. Next I put some Velcro on the underside of the shoulder bridge and on the corresponding elastic portion and this seems to be working well.

Congrats.

Finally able to find some time to get back to my build. ‘’I took my forearms apart today to trim them down slightly. They will fit quite snug but as you can see in the photos below from before I took them apart, I was way off on the cover strip and the raised edges. Guess that shows how much you learn as you go along. Not sure what I was thinking but these were some of my first pieces.

Congrats and well deserved

I also have an AP kit. The one thigh did not line up evenly on the bottom of mine either just as you showed in the photo. After mobility cuts were put in and with a little bit of heat manipulation, it is barely noticeable.

I have an AP kit as well and have fairly large thighs. I bought the untrimmed kit and was able to do the thighs with minimal shimming. The only issue you may run into is the cover strip width will be different between the thighs and the shins. May need to redo the shin cover strips, so likely would want some cover strip material as well.

Amazing rebuild.

I heard back from my garrison GML. There are a few fixes that I need to make before getting approval. As much as I completely understand, I am so disappointed and really am uncertain how to fix some of the issues. 1.They would like the shoulder elastic fixed as we discussed above already. 2. Adjust the helmet fit, so it doesn’t tilt forward. These are relatively simple fixes and I am comfortable with them. 3. “There seems to be a few proportion issues with the forearms and thighs. I think you have been a bit cautious with the kit and left too much space. The cover edge can be seen on both pieces with the cover strips appearing quite large. As a guideline we tend to go for 20 mm in width for cover strips. Some troopers push that to 30 mm if their body requires it, often in the legs. The images show that you still have a fair amount of space in the thighs so it would be good to bring them in a bit. This will greatly reduce the likelihood of the sniper plate being caught under it as seen in your first front facing shot. While you are working on the thighs you may want to trim some of the upper front curve so that the thighs can pull up a touch without losing the black gap from the torso. This should provide even more movement in the legs, however, this is not strictly speaking necessary, the gap you have right now is fine. The same sizing issue is true of the forearms, the action shots show quite a bit of room. The right forearm in particular is showing lots of material that should be covered by the strip. Bring them in a touch and the comfort level should also improve. “ These fixes are where my dilemma is. Since I have fairly large upper thighs and forearms compared to my knee and wrist area, these parts are skin tight at the top of the piece. ‘With the forearm, I feel that I can likely trim the raised area back and bring the cover strip over, then shim the other side for room. The AP forearm has only one side raised , as seen below, so this should be achievable. My thighs are where the stress comes. I have already put a shim in the back upper area to get them around my leg. If I bring the bottom part in, it will cause some narrowing in the upper portion and I likely won’t be able to get into them properly. I have already taken the left thigh apart and tried to narrow the bottom to get the cover strips to line up with the shin cover strips but could not figure out how to reduce the bottom without having to do some massive shim work on the top part. I ended up just putting it back together and placed padding on the outside portion to pull it over and line up the cover strips. I suppose, I could also put some padding in the back to pull back the front part and better clear the sniper knee? If anyone has any ideas, please help. Thanks.

I noticed this as well. Any ideas how to keep them tucked in. I had to go fairly long with the shoulder elastics to get the butt plate to sit low enough (TK wedgies aren’t very fun ). That is also why I left the large tabs on the shoulder bridges. I have been thinking of trying a shorter elastic. Do you think that would stop it from pulling out, or is there another trick? I think that the forward tip of the drop box makes it look out of position. Will the E6000 hold it flatter as well? This photo shows the position a bit better.

I was so sad last night. ‘I finished my armour and tried to post pics but I couldn’t access the site. So I applied to the 501st before doing my pre approval. so better times today and here are my pics sorry about the crooked TD. Wife was in charge of that. LOL

Did my mobility cuts and sealed the seams on the bottom of the thigh pieces with ABS paste. Just need the E6000 on the shoulder bell snaps to dry and I will be suiting up for approval photos. So exciting.

Glued the last piece on yesterday. Just need to do strapping for the arms, mobility cuts on the legs and abs paste gaps on the thighs. So close.

Seriously, I bought a welders shield and used that for the lenses and still have some left over, so I won’t use the piece that came with the kit. And I have painted everything, so I wont need the decals.

Let me know if you need a replacement for your lens. I did not use mine and would be happy to mail it to you. Same for the tube stripes and trap decals if you need another set.

The photo of your nylon looks fairly thin. I have nylon strapping and it is very strong when pulling the snaps.

Hello. Looking forward to your build thread.

I did a suit up today to see where things need to be adjusted. Family got excited (the dog as well) and snapped some shots. Excuse the under armour logo on the hip. The undersuit is not my good one. This is one of my old base layers from snowboarding just in case a sharp edge catches and pulls the fabric. I must admit, it felt pretty good to put it on but ouch from the armour bite on the inner elbows and backs of the knees.

Cool. Me too 1 hour from Toronto. Hope to troop with you sometime.

Is it suggested to put a drop of E6000 or Velcro on the thigh ammo pack to keep it attached to the thigh?

Well yesterday was EBBB day (Empty Big Brown Box Day). I now have everything out of the box and am in the final stages of the build. So excited. I have been working on my shins, thigh ammo belt and sniper knee plate (that was fun. Sheesh). I have started doing the reinforcement strips for the shoulder bridges as well. Left to do: Finish Shoulder bridges Rear cover strips on lower leg armour Thigh garter system (the clips are too low - will likely do Velcro or may make suspenders) mobility cutouts on legs ABS paste gaps in thigh armour. Elastics from biceps to forearms shoulder to biceps strapping Please let me see if you see any issues.

Good to see you back posting. I had the same issue with my Tandy snaps with the post bending. I found that you need to be fairly gentle with the hammer strikes when you begin and rotate the snap tool slightly as you hit it to flare out the post on the snap. Once you have it flared somewhat, then give it 2 or 3 good hits with the hammer but make sure that the post is perpendicular to the surface you are working on before hitting it.