CloseTheBlastDoor

Checking in... I probably spent about two hours working on the right ear. I am close, but there are still gaps. These photos are with the top two screws in, but not the lower one, where I'm holding that section down with my fingers. I'm not crazy about the gap in the front where the tube meets the face, but I don't know that I can do much more on it. Thoughts?

Got it, thank you! Lots of work ahead of me!

Of course I left the most intimidating part to nearly the end! Overall, I do want the upgrades like fans and voice modulation, and maybe the hearing assist, but I don’t want to spend a terrible amount of money doing that. I’ll save that for later. As an aside, I found this cool vid that many of you might have seen already: The man himself! Amazing! This post points to three references that are all helpful, and that I am going to use here: One of the references also references StarWarsHelmets.com. Here is the most relevant one: http://www.starwarshelmets.com/original-ANH-Stunt-Stormtrooper-armor-helmets.htm Days, and even weeks of hesitation hide behind this post! Let’s get going! I started with a rough trim of the ears: They are not at all the same! I then wanted to do a rough fit of the two helmet sections, but the front piece had quite a pronounced “pucker” from vacuum-forming, present on both sides: This would keep me from getting the pieces together in any meaningful way. I asked Walt from WTF about this, and he said to just cut them off. I am hoping that what is left does not show. On the two WTF helmet parts, there are several indentations present: Walt said that the second set of holes from the top are for the initial rivet, then you can set the front-to-back tilt angle between the two parts to your preference. I trimmed the puckers off, and I even got started on the eyes and teeth a bit. Noting here that on the Hero version, there are three tooth gaps to cut out on either side of the frown, while in the Stunt version, there are four. Did that with the drum bit of my Dremel, followed by some diamond files to refine the shape. But overall I needed to focus on the general helmet shape, which I didn’t find trivial. The two halves are rough-trimmed, but not evenly by any means, so I needed to look at some more references, and as has been true in nearly every aspect of building this suit, use my “precision eyeballing” skills to get the job done! Trimming the top of the face plate and the brow area on the back piece seemed like where I needed to start. I was a bit worried about the left temple where it was rough trimmed. There is a cut into the area that I think I would want to keep, and I hope that further tearing does not occur. I drilled a hole into the corner and trimmed things back a bit (whoops, no “after” photo). Using zip ties inserted in the WTF-recommended spots, I fitted the helmet together so I could start to see how I needed to trim the pieces. But the fit looked pretty off. There was a large gap between the two pieces on the sides, and it didn’t look like there was good continuity along the side tubes from front to back: Dave’s Darkside recommended adding another rivet to pin those down, but I felt like they were still just too high. So after trimming the top of the faceplate some more so I could allow some more vertical adjustment, and drilling different holes on the faceplate, I got to something a little better (also roughly marked where the ears would go): This seemed good enough. Trimming at the tape line, then adding the brow and refitting until I got it right were the next steps. I also needed to even out the back, because it looked very crooked, and there was quite a bit to remove so I could actually get my head in the thing! Even doing the 90 degree turn was not possible yet. Better, but I still went shy of my original marks, to stay on the conservative side. And further work on the teeth and eyes, how do they look? It’s been suggested in places that they should not be too deeply set, is this OK? They’re maybe 17mm in. I'm happy with the brow height, but is it OK? Also, I think I trimmed the brow a tad too short, so I’m ordering another one. And the S-trim that came with the kit was way too short, so I have that coming in the mail as well.

Thanks, guys!

Thanks, will do! Is there a particular detail I'm shooting for with the extra trimming?

Tiny post: Trimmed the small button panel: When I align it to the raised area, it looks kinda crooked (not perpendicular to belt). But if I look at the reference photos, they look that way too. I just never noticed.

Oh, whew! Yes, for sure, I'll make that my next thing

Thanks again to everyone for catching this issue and providing me tremendously helpful feedback! Drilling out the pop-riveted snaps was a simple matter with a drill press. I did some measuring, and about 12mm higher seemed good. Also, to get some slack on the belt so it would sit in front of the button plates, I eyeballed that I needed about 6-7mm on each side. Then I remeasured and punched: Now, it looks like I’m at a better height, but there is some sag in front, as you can see by my thumb needing to hold everything up in this photo: The back has the belt only on the kidney plate now: Hoping this is OK now, perhaps with some more Velcro in strategic positions.

Hi Sha Sha, Your advice is GOLD! I totally agree with you. I recall reading through your build thread in this particular section at the beginning of my journey, but had no context then. And I'm glad I saw your photo of how to attach the Velcro for the drop boxes, too. I have the patient on the table now, and hopefully I'll get it right this time!

Thank you, Tony, that's good to know. I will do that.

Oh, that's a good tip, thank you!

I absolutely want to apply for higher levels, but I humbly don't want to get ahead of myself. Just hoping mostly to become part of this community!

Thanks, Glen, I guess I didn't get before that there should be slack in the belt so that it can overlap the button panel, argh. I don't know what I was thinking, there's no other way to achieve that. And right now the belt overlaps the butt section a bit, so two reasons to raise it up. Sounds like relocating snaps on the belt once more!

PART IV OK, I think I have everything squared away. I was worried about getting the belt properly aligned to the ab, but I think I did OK. Marked a spot on the canvas that was midpoint of the height on both sides, and punched: Did a test fit, and transferred the hole mark where I thought it would be OK. This turned out to be in a bad spot, so I moved the mark up about 2cm: Sorry, had a photo of the wrong side, but you get the idea. After repunching and transferring marks, I bravely drilled holes in the ab section and set the snaps (long, and somewhat difficult process with the ab and kidney already permanently attached to each other, no photos). And voila! Hoping this is good! For some reason it seems to make more sense to have the snaps above mid-height of the canvas belt. Maybe because it’s ‘hanging’ more than it’s holding on? Now come the most feared parts: helmet and painting!

Oh good, I'll leave it as-is then. Thank you for the advice on the paint, as well! I am going to ask a friend with a laser cutter to make me some templates.

PART III OK, punched holes in the canvas for the holster. Getting the holes cleanly punched with a punch tool and mallet was simply not working for me. The punch was barely making progress, and I had to assist a bit with a drill because there is some plastic material inside this quality belt. I found out that I’d been doing it kinda wrong. I was trying to pound the punch with only a piece of wood backing the belt, and this was just not supporting it enough. I didn’t have one of those pads made for the job, so I switched to the ceramic tile on my floor, and the holes came out very clean. And the tiles survived, too. I think. Male Line 24 snap head facing in on canvas, using pop rivet. Female Line 24 snap head facing out on holster, using standard snap head. I chose not to use the pop rivet on this side because I felt like the two rivets would collide when the snaps were assembled. Complementary female snaps installed on holster, and attachment: Belt with E-11 blaster attached: I then glued the caps, and glued the elastic to hold the drop boxes in place. Now to add snaps for the belt-to-ab connection. In trying to get some alignment, another question: I lined up the belt so it’s just below the button plate. The button plate, I followed the Billgram for measurement, which leaves me with the ridge all around. Just wanting to make sure that I keep that, and I don’t cut it down like I did the buttons on the belt. Cut it here, or leave it?

OK, thanks! Looks like when I'm 2cm away, the far strap overlaps the Velcro just a tad. But since it's the underside, doesn't seem like an issue at all. Never mind the crooked belt cap, it's not glued on yet!

PART II Canvas-to-ab snaps (2 sets): Per drawing, carefully mark locations of male Line 24 snaps on ab plate (forgot photos here). Assemble plastic belt to canvas belt. Position as recommended across ab plate. Transfer ab plate snap locations to canvas. Punch holes in canvas for female Line 24 snaps. Drop box elastic and attachment: Used ⅛” diameter by ¼” length pop rivets on the backs of the drop boxes. The first one really puckered the inside of the inner box, so I added a washer on the other one. Again, forgot to take photos. This will be a day long not remembered. Also trimmed back the ends of the plastic belt to get it to align with the canvas. Here is what I have, with the elastic taped on the back just so I can get the drop boxes in alignment. I will need to figure out how to secure the elastic this way. Seems like just the back portion of the elastic can be secured, and the elastic that is in between the plastic and canvas will just comply. I recall that ukswrath used E6000 for this, so maybe I'll just do that. Holster attachment: I like the method of being able to detach the holster, so am following the recommended method. Some preliminary test fitting brings up some questions, though: The holster is not the specified 4-½” between straps, it’s more like 4”. Is that OK? It’s from Imperial Issue, so there shouldn’t be a problem. I am ¾” away from the plastic belt, because if I move the holster over another inch, it is in the Velcro zone. My belt is meant for 37” around the armor, so it’s on the short side of what is available. Is keeping the holster at ¾” away OK?

Whew, thanks, Glen!

OK, here goes the belt! Some of this stuff I did a while ago, but wanted to keep this thread organized. PART I TL;DR: Three questions here: My drop box widths seem smaller than reference photos. I need to figure out what is the correct alignment. Did I blow it for future Centurion approval by trimming too much off the corners of the plastic belt? Needing confirmation of where to trim the three plastic belt buttons. Drop box trimming: Trimming drop boxes using as a guide a block of wood that I thinned to 12mm for the insides, and another block 15mm thick for the outsides (only 12mm shown): Much more trimming and fitting to get to this: Cut the plastic belt ends: Unfortunately I did this before I received the canvas belt. At the specified ½”, I think I cut too much off the corners, as they don’t meet the canvas belt edges dead on: I have a little bit more play to trim the ends, since they are a bit proud of the 1.5”: But I don’t know if this will be enough, and it looks like it could dash my hopes of Centurion if I ever get there. Sigh. Drop box alignment: It seems like these drop boxes are not as wide as what I see in the reference photos, if they are indeed needing to be aligned to the ends of the plastic belt: Ukswrath reference: Mine. Align here? Or maybe here? Canvas-to-plastic belt snaps (3 sets): Canvas side: Using male Line 24 snaps. Punch hole size ideally is 4.5mm, but my largest punch is 4mm. Made it work. Used a pop rivet. Male snaps are on the front side of the belt. To ensure alignment, I’m doing only this middle male snap at first, then I will drill all three holes on the plastic, put in the middle female snap, connect that, bend the assembly around the ab plate, and transfer the left and right plastic holes to pencil marks on the canvas. Since there is a bend, the arc of the plastic will be slightly longer than that of the canvas. Probably washes out in the end, though, since I can only be so accurate. BTW I’m really loving the pop rivet method. It’s so much easier than fighting the snap posts, so many of which I’ve bent and driven in crooked! But since on the plastic side there’s not a lot of meat on the rivet cap (pop or split-type), and the rivet is too short, I had to put the female snaps in using the traditional method. Plastic side: Using female Line 24 snaps. Snap caps face out. Assembled! Buttons: Shall I trim to this line? Then just a blob of E6000?

OMG I am indeed overloaded! I will have more questions! Thank you!

I might start working on the belt next. Wondering what is the most comprehensive post on doing that from start to finish, as I've been confused by a few of them. I have all the pieces, and some are trimmed. Not even sure if I got the right snaps. I have seen all of the Billgrams. Speaking of Billgrams, it looks like there is a discrepancy between horizontally how close the holster sits to the plastic part of the belt. One gram says 1-3/4", and the other says 3/4".

Another punch list update: 1. TD angle adjusted by unrolling the clips a bit, but I’m hoping that now the tops of the clips don’t stick out too much. This is as head-on of a shot as I could get. The “O” detail is seen, but not by a lot. I hope it’s enough. I suspect that the original measurements for the clip holes and bend locations are not right for the diameter of PVC tubing that I had. 4. Thigh suspension DONE, although some vertical adjustment will be necessary: 6. Han snap DONE. 9. Rivet painting: I’m going to defer all painting until towards the end.

Yes, I do hope that they stay in place. The CA glue seems pretty strong. E6000 would have been nice in case I had to adjust them. I think the left and right plates are pretty even, although the left glove itself is "rolled" to the right a bit more. Looks even when they're on, though, so hopefully it's all good.

OK, a little self-contained post about the gloves. I could not really figure out how to reasonably add the ABS hand guards that came with the WTF kit to the gloves, so I decided to get a set of latex-like ones. I got a nice well-made set from one of the various vendors. But a word of advice, following the instructions on the envelope didn’t work for me: The guards peeled right off! I then contacted the vendor, and he advised that I use gel CA glue instead. This is what I used, and it worked like a charm: I aligned the hand guards using a few reference photos I had seen, and glued them at one end first to make sure positioning was right, then the rest later after that had set. All done!