BallpointZen

Hey'ya troopers! So I for some reason never got around to posting in the new approval register when I got approved last April. So I am now reporting for duty....almost a year late. So far I have trooped just about 10 events in my TK over the last year. There was a little gap between event number 1 and the rest because on my first event I got tripped and had to do some repair work. But, in an effort to look on the bright side it did give me a chance to correct some issues from the initial build. Since then everything has been going well and I am very shortly going to embark on updates to bring the kit up to EIB quality. I look forward to continuing to troop with some of my fellow TKs from North Texas and beyond. Stay shiny!

Hey all! So I am really sorry about going quiet on here. While building the TK I ended up getting in touch with some local TKs who helped me complete it and I just never got back around to posting on here. Thank you to all that added advice, and I apologize for not documenting my journey. So we can probably delete or archive this thread because I was approved in April. Say hello to TK 13160!

TK-13160, reporting for duty. https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=48370

Hello all! Just wanted to drop in and wish all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am still working on my kit and have made a lot of progress, but have not had the time to take photos and upload images. Right now I am working on the fitting of the torso and locating the strap anchors. I am off tomorrow so I plan on making a day of working on the armor. I will try and get some photos if I can and put up a progress post here. So yeah! The holidays and work slowed me down, but progress is still being made. I am shooting to be approved before May 4th 2025 and make that my debut troop. Stay shiny!

Hello again everybody! So, per my last post the fronts of the thighs and shins were trimmed to the correct width and glued with a backing strip to start. I have put a strip of blue tape to visualize where the front cover strip would be in order to assist with aligning the seams. I then had a guildmate, who also owns a TK, help me do the initial fitting to my body. Today I went through and cut off the excess plastic we determined wasn't necessary, but left enough to still do some fine tuning. I then did another fitting to get the right feel, trimmed a little more where there was significant overlap, and then fitted again. I think I now am at a place where there is only about an inch or so overlap on the backside of each piece, which should be perfect to split down the middle for a nice flush joint. However, before I do that I wanted to get some photos of what they are looking like so I can make sure they sit at the right spot on my legs before I pass a point of no return. I would like to get some input, if anyone is willing. My current questions are: Is the shin overlap on the boot acceptable? Does it need to be adjusted up or down at all? Also, can I just get confirmation that I have them on the correct legs? Is the gap between the top of the shin and bottom of the thigh large enough? I feel as though the shin needs to come down a little more because the return edge is hitting right at the joint (about 3/4 down the kneecap). I also worry if I don't leave enough space I will have issue with the sniper knee and ammo belt getting pinched or rubbing when walking. Is the gap between the torso/butt plate and the tops of the thighs acceptable? I think it looks good, but would like more experienced eyes on them. The bottom edge of the thighs hit me at the top of the knee cap. Does that need to be higher? I think once I get the garter belts on them, I can cinch up the straps and they won't be an issue. Right now when I try to walk with the thighs on, while holding them up with my fingers, they are clipping each other in the groin area. No armor biting (thank god) but I can see that being an issue over time. After I glue everything up could I heat the plastic and "flatten" the inner curve a bit to create a little bigger thigh gap? Is my fitting off, and should it be flush with my inner thigh? The blue tape is a stand in for the cover strips. I put on the shins and boots while cooking dinner to see where they would settle out. It looks like they twisted a bit so they don't perfectly match up with the boot seam, but still somehow align with the thigh seam. Should I angle the seams a bit more to try and make it all align, or is what is shown right now acceptable? Shins Front Legs only Back Legs only Left Side Legs Right Side Legs Front with Torso (thighs slid down a bit since I couldn't hold them up) Back with Butt plate (thighs slid down a bit since I could hold them up) Thank you for your time, and stay shiny!

Hey everyone! I have a question. I have found this here on the forums, and I was using it to figure out where the armor should sit on the body. However, it just clicked that this is on a dummy, not a living human. So would this still be a good reference for the right placement of the armor pieces, or is there a better one to reference? I am trying to figure this out right now so I can trim everything to the correct lengths before I start trimming the excess off to actually create the seams to back and glue. P.S. I am still only focused on arms and legs at the moment. I have heard the best way to get the back seam on the shins and thighs is to first get them sized properly for the length of your leg, then wrap them around and have someone follow up a straight line from the seam on the back of the boot. This way when everything is said and done, you have a nice straight line from the foot to the top of the thigh.

Thank you for this link. I have been wanting to also start the trimming on the torso bits, but have been hesitant. This is going to be a really big help. Thanks!

Trimming the fat... So far a lot of what I have been doing is trimming the return edges on the legs and arms. Using the resources mentioned above, I eliminated the return edge on most things. I left some return on the bottoms of the thighs because from what I read, that is a good thing to do to keep the shins from overlapping and getting caught. Thoughts on that? On the legs, there is a definite place where the cover strip will eventually go, so I trimmed those down to the correct 20mm and glued them with a backing strip. I think I still need to trim the tops of the thighs, and bottoms of the calves more. I am going to try them on this weekend with suit and boots to see if I can get photos. I will post those when I can to see if you guys think more trimming in necessary. Once I get them fitted to the correct lengths of my limbs, I will then work on getting them to wrap around properly. As for the arms, I don't think those have as much room to trim, but I might not need to. I did a test and the biceps seem to fit well. I placed the shoulder bell up where it should go and it sits nicely over the top edge of the bicep on both sides. However, once I get the shoulder straps and chest built, I will need to mock it up again to make sure the bells are not too low or sitting too high on the shoulder straps. The big thing right now is trying to figure out the correct size of the biceps and forearms so I can cut the excess. I think right now I need to trim the excess plastic to about an inch or so of where I want it to be. That way I can try fitting them without so much excess, but still have slack to make adjustments with. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to go about fitting the arms, and how should they fit? Also, one forearm interior has a halfmoon cut that gives some good mobility to the elbow. The other side does not. Am I allowed to cut one to match the other or is that a detail that needs to remain? Forearms Outside Forearms Inside Forearms Return Biceps Outside Biceps Inside Biceps Return Shins Front Shins Back Shins Return Thighs Front Thighs Back Thighs Return

WHAT IS ALREADY DONE... Due to me being a first time builder, I just decided to have Dave build the helmet for me since that is such a nuanced piece. The first thing I put together was the thermal detonator using the measurements from AJ Hamler's write up, and the recommended TD clips and screws from Ukswrath. I have also printed, assembled, and painted an E-11. It needs a little more work but I can do that after approval since its not required. (I don't think) Other things I have: boots, fabric belt, black two piece undersuit, balaclava and a ribbed neck seal, strapping kit pre-fitted with snaps, and holster. I think I have everything I need to complete the build, I just need to put in the work now. In order to not overload a single post with information, I am going to break things up a bit. I will get into the in progress stuff next post.

Hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Mark and I am currently in the process of working on an ANH TK kit from Dave's Darkside Depot. This is my first ever "hard" costume build and I am slowly working my way through it. Right now the main goal is just basic approval, but if I find myself trooping more and more in it I may eventually attempt to bring it up to a top tier status. A little background: (long winded, skip to next post if your only interested in build) I originally became a fan of Star Wars through my Dad's VHS set of the Original Trilogy bought back in the late 80's. I watched those tapes to death, but they still maintain a place of honor on my bookshelf. I grew up with X-wings and Tie Fighters hung on strings in my room and every gift wrapping paper tube I could find immediately became a lightsaber. Then one day I was watching the Rose Bowl parade and to my surprise a small sea of white appeared on the screen. Stormtroopers! Lots of them, marching in the parade! And per the commentators, these were not actors but normal people in costumes THEY built. Little kid me thought it was so cool! Well time went by and in focusing on school, then college, then making a living, I just sorta forgot all about it. Fast forward to about 3 years ago. I had been living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for a while and was in that post-pandemic slump everyone seemed to go through. I was in a go nowhere job, didn't really have any friends, and was spending way too much time sitting alone at home. One evening I was playing Battlefront 2 and that parade popped back into my head. I wondered if that group still existed and if there were any of them here in Texas. Google led me to this group called the 501st Legion and not only did they still exist, but they were now a charity organization? So I get to play in white armor, and also put some good back into the world? Sign me up! I contacted the 501st and they redirected me to my local Garrison, who then invited me to come visit the clubs at an expo that weekend. I spent a day talking to Tie Pilots, being chased by Jawas, and rescuing Mandalorians from overly chatty con-goers. Standing around with all these icons of my childhood, I knew I needed to be a part of this! I immediately began the plans to build MY Stormtrooper, but then...I was stolen! Out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of Jedi having a lightsaber fight. Remembering my cardboard tube lightsabers of old, I walked over to see what was going on. I hit it off with some of them and a few months later I am a costume approved member of Saber Guild! I have since then been a mainstay of our kids shows, performed fully choreographed saber fights in front of a stadium of people, and even have built a good deal of the props that decorate our show space. But out of the corner of my eye, I would always see that white armor walking around, and I knew it was only a matter of time. So after two years of swinging glowsticks, I have decided it is time to return to what brought me here in the first place.....a Stormtrooper! So that brings us to today. I am still an active member of Saber Guild, and that will probably remain my main club. I really enjoy performing for a crowd and entertaining kids with our "Padawan training". But I also want the ability to occasionally step out of the "Temple", put on a bucket, and play some "bad cop". Through the build videos put out by Dave, following AJ Hamler's build book, and talking with TKs at troops I have been able to make some progress on things. However, I have gotten to the point now where I think I need help from other builders to make sure I don't get too over my head. I would like to get input on what I have done so far so I can make corrections now versus finding out a borked something up at submission. I will try and upload build details and pictures as much as I can, however, between work, my side job, and Saber Guild troops, time is somewhat limited. The current goal is to have the costume done with basic approval by the end of the year. Before I end, I just want to send a quick shout out to Dave and AJ Hamler. Hamler's build write up is such an excellent resource to learn from and presents a lot of good ideas I would not have thought of as a first timer. And Dave, his kit and communication are excellent! I can't wait to get this built and be able to wear this AM set proudly! So, thank you for coming to my TED talk, and lets get into the build!

Hello all! Sorry for going radio silent for a while but life has been a little hectic. I have been doing some trimming and will be trying to get the legs trimmed to a glueable point this weekend. When I work on that I will take photos and post an update. I do have a question right now though. I need to order my belt, paint for the buttons, and a rigging kit. I know there are Etsy people who sell all these items but I am curious if anyone knows if any of these sellers are also members. I would prefer to get stuff from fellow troopers versus big businesses. Can anyone recommend? Thanks and I will post an update this weekend with photos of my trimming and the bits/bobs I have so far.

Thank you all for the welcomes. And yeah, I just went through this past weekend and laid all the pieces out on the floor. I stood there for a good full minute starring at this pile of while plastic in wonder and fear. Luckily, my local garrison is having an Armor Party in a couple of weeks so I am going to take it over and have experienced eyes help me figure out what is what.

Hey how'rya?! My name is Mark and I am in North Texas. Just got my big brown box about a week ago and will be starting my build very soon. Working on ANH TK with hopes of having approval by Q2 of 2024. Just wanted to drop in and say hello to everyone.

In your helmet interior pics it looks black. Did you plasti-dip it or have Dave do his flex seal treatment?