Teach-

What the heck have I done, lol....six things going on at once...no longer have a dining table...but loving it. Trimmed the chest and back, glued the two halves of the detonator, worked on the forearms. The back plates where the cover plate attaches were too high for the plate to fit over so cut about 1/2" out of the middle to make them shorter. Saw the same issue in other 504 AW threads. Also fitted the abdomen, kidneys, and spacer plates. There wasn't enough room for tightening it all so I cut the kidney plates down by 5/8". (Picture is before cutting them down) Learning that this is a slow and steady process.

Thanks for the help! Did some cutting, trimming, and sanding this weekend. Cut the abdomen, kidneys, and back plate. Watched the 850 ab tutorial first. Rough cut and taped and then fine tuned the sizes so had to trim some more...figured it's best to go slow and try to avoid over trimming as long as I can. Pre-sanding Pre-final cuts and before final sanding I cut about 1/2 inch back from the 70 degree line on the kidney armor. That helped get away from some imperfections and still allowed it to fit me. I'll be leaving the gap for the black, recessed rib mentioned in the CRL. I also ordered some nylon suspenders for the ab/kidney. Comes with velcro and snaps. I did some more work on the detonator. No pics yet. Two questions: 1. For cementing the ab and kidneys, many threads and the 850 video suggest something other than E6000 because of how much stress/flexing the ab/kidney get when going on and off. I plan to use JB. Good plan, yes? 2. In the pic below, you'll see that the forearm of the 850 armor has what looks like a pre-made cover strip. I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how those would have the actual cover strip go over them. I've looked at the threads and the 850 tutorial but can't ever see clearly how others have done it. I'll take any advice out there.

BBB day was three years ago and it's finally time to get started. Thanks for the welcome on the new members forum. Here I go... No more BBB, kit was put away and stored in a bin. Started off with the thermal detonator. Figured it'd give me experience trimming, sanding, adhering, using a dremel, and making some mistakes in a place that might not be as critical as other pieces of armor. Made all the cuts using straight cut snips. Sanded the edges on a belt sander and then hand sanded. The oval greeble sat lower than the bottom edge of the control plate so I sanded the bottom off so it will eventually sit smooth on the tube. Ended with a little more hand sanding today (post picture taking) and I still need to cut out the D shape recess. One important lesson learned already: read the CRL more than I think I need too. 850 provides a panel line around the control panel that matches the Level Three Certification ("There is a panel line approximately ¼” 6mm from the edge around the control panel"). I actually cut along that panel line and I wouldn't have if I had read the CRL more closely. Lesson learned, read carefully you fool! Three thermal detonator questions: 1. The CRL says it mounts to the belt with no visible screws or clips. I'm assuming some of you rivet or screw it to the belt and do not use snaps. I've been reading a lot of build threads but have not come across that yet. Any help on good ways to attach the thermal detonator to the belt would be appreciated. 2. I've come across several ways to fill seamss (e.g. bondo). I'll have to do that after I connect the two halves. I'm new to any kind of model work so I'll take whatever advice you have for a newbie's first attempt. 3. The total length will be 8 1/4 inches. The CRL says approximately 8". I'm assuming my 1/4" extra is okay.

Thanks, all. I'll be posting a build thread today.

Thanks for the welcome. I'll get reading.

Hello, everyone. Who I am and what brought me to the FISD: I have a ROTK kit I bought pre-pandemic from 850 Armor Works. My original intent was to hang out and support my FIRST Robotics Team at their events (I’m the Principal of a high school). The team is Red Storm 509 and their mascot is a stormtrooper. Once I had the kit, I started looking here on the FISD and found an entire galaxy of enthusiasts! Meanwhile, being in education during the pandemic was a whole new ballgame and the kit was reboxed and put away. Now that my life is back to normal, I’m going to start the build so I figured I’d better join the FISD.