Tilheyra

The adage "one step at a time" applies here. Looking over a full kit can be overwhelming, especially if it is your first kit. Thinking about a kit in terms of its sections is helpful in giving you something smaller and seemingly more manageable to focus on. Conveniently, the Costume Reference Library (CRL; the document you will need to refer to when building to make sure you meet the 501st Legion's costuming requirements) for each stormtrooper is broken down into the different sections of each armor. As you bring more and more pieces to completion, you can then be a bit more confident when thinking how everything will come together. Have you reached out to your local garrison? In addition to the forum here, the folks in your local garrison can be super helpful in-person, and you may be able to join an armor party (a gathering to work on armor)! Southern California is split among two garrisons. The Imperial Sands Garrison covers San Diego County and Imperial County, while the Southern California Garrison covers the Los Angeles area and much of the rest of SoCal. Here are their websites: Imperial Sands Garrison: https://imperialsandsgarrison.com/our-garrison/ Southern California Garrison: https://southerncaliforniagarrison.com/home/

That's fantastic! Great work with the painting and weathering as it looks like metal! Awesome armor as well!

I'll echo what the others have said and note Walt's Trooper Factory is indeed a vendor for Rebels TK kits (I'm not familiar with other vendors for this specific kit).

As my phone is an Android, all of my photos are saved to Google Photos. I open Google Photos on my desktop, download and save the relevant photos to a file of my different cosplays, and then upload to Imgur from that file.

Awesome!!!! Hope to see a troop log soon!

Congratulations!!!!!!

I'm only familiar with the desktop version, but it seems they made some sort of change where I can't get the embed link immediately after I upload an image. I have to go back to the page with all my photos, click on the photo I just uploaded, and then I can get the embed link. Only takes a few more seconds than what I was used to, so I guess it isn't that big of a deal, but I don't like change...

@Nairy

Still messing with the forearms. The wide cover strips have cured to one side of the joint, but additional shaping will be needed to be able to effectively and properly glue the cover strip to the other side of the joint. I haven't had much time to do that shaping yet. I have had the time to start working on the snaps! As I learned during my shock trooper build, using nylon for the snap bases works out really well, and allows the snap bases to curve with the curves of the armor! For those reading a build thread for the first time, here's the process for the snaps: I am using nylon from a long tie-down strap, cutting the nylon into smaller pieces, and then using a lighter to melt the ends of these nylon pieces to prevent fraying. I then punch a hole approximately in the center of each nylon piece and attach the snaps accordingly. I am using heavy duty snaps I purchesed from my local Michael's craft store and used special pliers to contect the two halves of the male snaps to the nylon. E6000 is then applied to the bottom of each nylon piece (avoiding glue coming into contact with the metal of the snaps) and applied to the appropriate place on the interior of the armor. The place on the interior side of the armor where the nylon snap base is glued was scratched with sand paper to allow a better surface for the glue to adhere. Upon gluing, rare earth magnets or clamps were applied to hold the nylon snap bases in place while the glue dries/cures for 24 hours. Here's the abdominal piece: The kidney piece is next in line for this treatment.

Welcome! I highly recommend making a troop log to show off the awesome troops you will be taking part in! Here's more information on troop logs:

I can't say I know anything about 3D printing, but I am amazed at the fine level of detail with your print! It looks great!!!

The excess material has been removed from the inner joint of the forearm (the joint that faces my sides when my arms are down). The excess material was left at 8mm, which was the most I could leave it and the material still be smooth, but that was not enough. Turns out I need roughly 10mm to 11mm on each side of the joint, so I have bumped this up to 12mm on each side for wiggle room. This means I need to fill in a 24mm gap beyond the original design on this inner side of my forearm armor to allow for my hands to fit through the armor pieces when putting on and taking off the forearm armor. I decided the option providing the best strength was one wide cover strip spanning the full gap, which would then be followed by 2 strips 12mm in width laid in the gap and pasted to show only 1 seam in the middle. As such, the interior cover strip fills the full 24mm gap to provide the material to glue the 2 out strips to. I allowed a 1cm overlap on each side beyond this 24mm gap, so the interior cover strip is 44mm wide. The cover strip is also 20cm long. As I didn't want to use the extra sheet of ABS that came with my armor (and is a color match to the ABS used in my armor) for interior cover strips, I purchased extra ABS sheets from Amazon. These sheets from Amazon will be used for interior cover strips and any other material needed for places out of sight, and the extra ABS sheet that came with the kit will be used for any visible material. Given the tension involved in gluing this cover strip to fill the gap needed in the forearm armor, I am gluing one side at a time and allowing 48 hours of drying/curing time. Here's one of the forearms just after gluing on the cover strip. My pencil lines can clearly be seen to help me know where to glue the opposing side when the time comes:

The biceps and forearms are taking shape! Continuing the theme, I needed to make...modifications...(I could probably stop emphasizing that at this point)... The biceps are glued together and now I will turn to trimming the return edges. The bottom of the bicep armor will definitely benefit from return edges being just about fully cut down, because that will allow my biceps to go through the armor much easier. The top return edges will be reduced to the extent needed to reduce armor bite, but some return edge will remain for appearance (although, part of me says that doesn't matter too much as that will not be that visible when wearing the armor). The image below shows the interior joint on the bicep armor. I kept 1.4cm of excess material (7mm on each side of the joint) in place to increase the circumference and accommodate my biceps. The molded-in cut lines will be covered over with ABS paste to smooth out the appearance, with the only seam remaining being that of the joint itself. I ended up leaving the excess in place (rather than putting shims in here) because the structural strength would be stronger, and because this saved me the additional time it would take to cut the excess off, add shims and interior cover strips, and then close eveything up. The benefit of having the excess material in this location is that this joint will be facing my sides most of the time and, thus, any view of this joint will usually be obscured. The joint on the exterior side of the bicep armor was constructed as per the design. The forearms will require additional work. I have glued the overlapping joint for each forearm piece, but the interior joint (the one that will face my sides when my arms are down) will require additional finessing to make sure the pieces join up properly. I will need to do some heat treating with boiling water to allow both sides of the joint to line up properly prior to gluing. As can be seen, excess material was retained here as well. I left on as much as I could (about 8mm of excess for each side of the joint), but I am questioning if that is enough. I'll have to see after I shape the pieces to be able to properly line up the sides of the joint, as well as determine how much return edge needs to be removed from the wrist area (probably most of it). The return edges in the vambrace area will be trimmed down as well, but much of it will be retained as the vambrace is a highly visible area.

Ultimately, the deciding factor will be what your GML says. It's certainly doable and many have had to modify thigh armor to make it fit properly. Here's a good post with different points about shims and cover strips to increase the circumference of the thigh armor:

You'll want to reach out to the GML of you local unit and ask as that person will be in charge of basic level approval. I'm not sure if you have mentioned your local garrison or outpost, but if you are not sure, here's a map of all the 501st Legion units across the world: https://www.501st.com/maps/ L2 and L3 approval will be up to DO team here on FISD.

Questions are part of the process! Better to ask questions and clarify procedures before making any cuts or gluing anything, because doing things right the first time is much easier than having to fix something. I'm working on my third kit and I sometimes think I have too many questions, but that is only because I am being critical of myself. No one has ever told me I ask too many questions!

That gap will be reduced as you do further fitting for the biceps. Ideally, those raised portions will be cut down to just wide enough to fit under the cover strip (any extra amount beyond that depends on the size of your bicep), so the ridges on those raised portions should be slightly beyond the edge of your cover strips. I had to go a couple of milimeters beyond due to the size of my biceps. You should end up with something like this immediately after gluing (I cut my cover strips longer than needed, so I trimmed off the excess once I was happy with how it all came together): Yes, as parallel as you can keep them.

I'm definitely guily of having pencil marks all over my scrap pieces! Looks like washing the scrap pieces will be incorporated into my process before adding the acetone. I appreciate all the advice! I need it!

The right thigh piece has turned out great! The material on the seam for the back part of the thigh piece (that is used for the overlap) was wide enough to glue on the front half, despite the 1cm channel being accommodated. The 1cm channel is clearly seen in both photos, and as discussed earlier in the thread, that will be filled in with an ABS shim on each side and accompanying ABS paste to cover over the rear seam created by the shim. The fit is great too! I have a little bit of wiggle room, but the thigh armor does not appear to be unrealistically large for me! I especially like the built-in relief in the back of the thigh piece, as I feel I can move my leg more freely than when wearing my shock trooper, even with the relief cuts on my shock trooper (but I'll reserve full judgement until my full Legacy is complete). The left thigh piece is currently gluing, and that will be cured in a little less than 24 hours! This certainly boosts my confidence in my build from where I was earlier today! I should remember than builds can feel like a roller coaster at times.

As I continue what I am now dubbing the How Many Ways Can You Modify a Stormtrooper Kit build, I move on to the chest, abdomen, back, and kidney pieces. The thighs are coming along nicely, and I should get through the gradual gluing process in the next day or so. The return edges for the codpiece portion of the abdominal armor have been cut down to 5mm, which makes fitting much easier as I don’t have a bunch of excess material in the way. I’ve been working on getting the positioning right for all pieces around my torso (this is where I have to admit a corset is absolutely essential when I wear this armor, so I really hope that does not threaten approval - the CRL is silent on corsets as my situation was not forseen when the CRL was written), and it looks like I may need to cheat a bit when it comes to positioning the top of my chest and back pieces. I wasn’t able to take photos this most recent round of fitting, but I do have photos from a much earlier fitting (before I cut away excess material) to demonstrate what I may be contending with (and what I am referring to when I say cheat): As can be seen, the chest piece does not sit as high as preferred to allow what will be adequate clearance for the plastic shoulder straps to clear my shoulders. Additionally, I estimate the center of the neck opening is about 2 to 2.5 cm below my sternal notch (not that anyone says that is required, but looking at photos of approved Legacies it appears the sternal notch is the general area where the center of the neck opening lands). I don’t think I can move the chest piece any further up as it already is as high as it can go while also honoring the overlap with the abdominal piece mentioned in the CRL. As such, I think the best solution is to retain some of the excess material on the top straps of the chest and back pieces (I left this excess material on intentionally until I figured this out) and bend them up at an angle to allow for proper positioning of the plastic shoulder straps. This means the chest and back pieces may sit a little further outward from my body than usual (in addition to a little lower from my shoulders than usual), but I think it will allow for the proper proportionality to use some of this excess material to my advantage. I'm happy to engage with other ideas here as this is a challenging build, and right now I am certainly feeling that challenge more than I anticipated.

I noticed that in multiple areas on my kit. Much of it was in areas that ended up being cut away as excess material. I can't tell exactly from the really close-up photo, but the one below it (showing the scratches) shows lumpiness in the excess that will be cut away if you remove all of the return edge.

It was a general warning to be careful and check the bottle, as you noted you will do.

Be absolutely sure there is no acetone! Acetone will eat away at ("melt") the plastic! Avoid acetone! When in doubt, don't use the chemical!

The thigh armor is coming along well! I have decided to keep the return edges at 5mm on the top edge of the thigh armor, as well as 5mm around much of the bottom edge, with the exception of a little bit extra for the area behind the knee armor (about 1cm in line with the front ridge on the thigh armor). This looked best aesthetically, but I have the benefit that I can cut this area down to 5mm if need be. After measuring and fitting a number of times, I determined the circumference of the thigh armor pieces should be increased by 2cm (this was rounded up by a few milimeters to give me some wiggle room). As such, there will be 1cm shims on each side of the thigh armor. As this creates 2 seams on each side, one seam on each side will be covered with ABS paste and sanded smooth. All edges I have cut will be sanded smooth once the pieces are glued together This increase in circumference is enough to allow my knees to fit through the bottom of the thigh armor, especially given the 5mm return edges at the bottom of the thigh pieces. My fitting also showed me that I can move my legs freely when wearing the thighs, so I have not concerns right now about my ability to walk in the armor! To make sure each side is aligned properly, I am gluing one seam of each thigh piece at any time, so this will take a few days before everything is glued. I'm happily chugging along here. It is nice to be building at a more relaxed pace than my previous builds!

Troop #3 This troop was an appearance at a birthday party (for the child of a member's friend), and this was a quick appearance of about 20 minutes given the short attention span of children. We were a hit with both the children and the adults present, with ample photos taken among all! I made sure to snag a selfie of us just after we returned to the changing room (it seems I have a trampoline as a halo...): The trooper on my right was the only one of us with a voice amp, which really came in handy for interacting with the group! Looks like I need to prioritize getting my own voice amp as that will certainly help with interacting with others when I am wearing my bucket!