Doggydoc

This is exactly what you need to do for the AP armour. I tried a few times with CA glue, E6000 and then emailed Mark and he said this is what you need. It is the accelerant that does the trick.

Amazing work.

I have been working on the joint between my ab plate and kidney plate for the past week or so and have finally completed it. This modification locks the 2 pieces together so there is no overlap or shifting when the belt is placed and tightened. Outside views from the left and right Inside views while locked in place. Lots of extra snaps that I likely will remove as they are no longer needed. The left side needs to keep the snap straps clear of the hinge area to allow it to move. I am waiting on new snaps as I went through my package of 100 so the left side ones are repurposed shoulder snaps that are a close but not perfect fit. Right side Left side Right side detail shots I used spare cover strip material and stacked it 3 layers and put the tongue and groove in the middle layer. The bracket is glued with CA glue and the entire system glued to the armour with E6000 Left side hinge mechanism. Again 3 layers of spare cover strip material bonded with CA glue and attached to the armour with E6000.

Congratulations

Redid the cover strip on my thigh. Thanks @gmrhodes13 for the eagle eyes. I think it looks much better. I am noticing that you see small errors much easier on the photos than you do when you look with your eyes.

Thanks for the tips Glen and Adam. I was wondering if the clips may be a problem or even the strap pulled back through the buckle. I will kit up once my thighs are done and see how things sit.

Did some work on the ab buttons and made the belt for the thighs today.

Thanks. I was figuring that I would likely do the ABS paste on it. If I do move the cover strip over, it won’t be centred on the bottom where the seam is. While writing this, I am realizing that I will fill any seam with ABS paste anyway and likely will be cutting most of it out for mobility cuts. Should the cover strip be centred regardless? If so, a bigger one will likely be needed then.

Did some work with my thighs. having larger things, there was a gap at the top in the back once I got them sized. The right thigh actually was wider once I actually had it taped properly to try and close the bottom. I used a piece of trimmed ABS that was about the same thickness and placed it in the gap then marked it with a pencil and trimmed it. ‘’I then placed a fairly thick cover strip over the gap and glued it and the gap insert using E6000. After 24 hours, I placed the outer cover strip on. To try and get the cover strip straight and centred at the bottom, there would have been a very thin edge to glue on the outer side. This allowed more area to glue the outer cover strip down at the top.

Finished the helmet interior and electronics.

I have been working on the helmet interior, the thermal detonator and have started to tackle the thighs. I am having some trouble with the torso. When I do the belt up, it pulls the lower portion of the ab and kidney pieces together and creates a gap at the top portion of the pieces. I am using nylon strapping to attach these. I am thinking I have a few options. 1. Trim the pieces a bit smaller to reduce the pull from the belt but I have lost a bit of weight recently and suspect that I may put it back on, so I would prefer to not do this. 2. Put some foam in the ab piece to make the fit tighter, which can later be removed if I gain weight. 3. Some kind of bracing system on the inside to hold the pieces in place. How does the thermal detonator and the sit of the thighs look? I need to paint the screws on the thermal detonator still.

Belt is done now. Just want to cover up the rivets with some white elastic or soft side of the Velcro to protect the armour.

Hey Dan. I have the hovi tip speakers, so just the acer electronics are in the helmet. Thanks for being concerned. Really appreciated.

So I finally got my lenses installed and did some work on the inside of the helmet. I followed @kamikaze’s helmet interior and have the acer amp, icomm and fan battery pack up top. Still need to fill in some of the gaps up top with neoprene, install the fans and get some cable management going. My head seems quite large for the helmet and I won’t be able to put the switch controls up front in the face area because my face is already in there.

Thanks Joseph. That is the exact guide I used for the rivet holes. should I use nylon or Elastic for the snaps on the abdomen?

Quick question. I will be doing my ab plate rivets today. I have seen a few ways of strapping on the left side; 1. Straps from the rivets only 2. Rivets by themselves and snap plates added around them. 3. Both straps from the rivets and snap plates together. 4. Rivets attaching the strap on one side and snaps on the other with the second set of rivets not holding the straps. Is there a preferred method for this that works better or are they all fairly equal?

Did some test fitting with the torso , arms and helmet today. Had trouble snapping on the shoulder bells because the snaps were very tight and then I couldn’t get them off. LOL. Still felt good to see some semblance of a storm trooper when I looked in the mirror. Then I snuck into my daughters room.

So here’s an update. This did not work. The CA glue pulled off the silicone. I assume the activator is the key to making it stick.

Yes. The locktite is CA glue. I followed Just Joseph’s thread on attaching the hand guards by placing them onto the glove while wearing it and tracing it with a pencil. Then lightly sanded the glove on the area it would be attached. Then you can see exactly where to place it when the glove is off your hand.

I am ready to size my ab / kidney plates but am anxious to make the cut. I will leave a couple of inches in case I gain some weight ( which I tend to do). my question is about the return edges at the top of the pieces. They seem to be different shapes. I know that for centurion, the tops should line up. 1. Do I need to heat and bend the raised return edge on the ab plate to match the kidney plate one? 2. On the one side, the notch on the bottom of the kidney plate doesn’t line up with the ab plate- should I just trim the notch up at the front to meet the ab plate? Assuming that I need to keep the tops level.

You get the TK number when you join the 501st when your costume is complete

I actually did the exact same thing yesterday. I messaged Mark at AP props and this was his reply: ”you need CA glue with promotor that's the only thing that will work.Just apply a very thin strip all around approx 1 cm from inside edges, don't put any in the middle so when the gloves stretch there's less stress on hand plates. I actually tried something a bit different last night by putting CA glue on the underside of the silicone and let it dry then glued it to the glove with the E6000. Will need to wait until tomorrow to see if it worked. The CA glue did stick well to the silicone and didn’t crack off when I flexed it around.

Painting is now completed on the helmet. Please let me know if anyone spots any issues. I cleaned up the gums as suggested earlier. One quick question on the belt snap covers. Are they squared like the one in the image or do I trim back to the edge where it curves? The movie used ones seem to be embedded in the belt.

I bought stencil templates from trooperbay and they worked great.

Congrats