mfiscus

Thank you everyone for your guidance. I have made most of the suggested modifications and it is fitting better, still need trim the thigh ammo plate to correct my over trimming. Did the side shims, but want to make the seams a little more seamless. Some of the fitting will need to be switched from velcro to snaps line up better and I'm knocking those out a little every day. I will keep practicing the suit up process to get it looking a little closer perfect, but rewatching ANH hope, I feel pretty good about where I'm at. TK 18635 is approved and ready for my first troop this weekend, but I think I will be tweaking this armor more as I wear it.

Please provide access to Great Lakes Garrison for TK 18635 https://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=43810&costumeID=124 https://www.501st.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=26181

Appreciate all the feedback, will be working on this most of the day today. Sunday to do list Swap shoulder bells Decrease gap at shoulders, tighter strapping? Try to have your armor pieces at the same heights (redo strapping) Shoulder strap not central to backplate, adding elastic can help Gap between back plate and kidney, perhaps tighter strapping (redo strapping) Detonator should sit central to the belt, too much clip showing, bender time Clean up vocoder paint You took a little too much material from the bottom corner of your thigh ammo strip, you could trim the end so it's as noticeable Shim the sides (ab and kidney) per tutorial (is this required for initial approval?) Re-glue sniper plate with less angle in Look up more for back photos Redo ammo belt to spec (monday)

INFORMATION: Michael Fiscus Great Lake Garrison Homemade belt Keep Trooping Neck Seal Keep Trooping Boots 6' 185 Lbs ANH Stunt Walt's Trooper Factory Special thank you to @gmrhodes13, @JBar, Michael R and Todd M for all of their help and encouragement throughout this build! and to BlueBantha, since he has a lot of same info as me, I copied, pasted an edited. The primary ammo belt for my kit did not ship with the kit and arriving next week, so there will be some belt tweaking when it gets here. Working extra hard in the gym to close the gap on the midsection, otherwise I shim. Trying to get to it finalized to support a charity event on Sept 22nd, as the requester and to troop at the event.

I did bring it up with Walt and he said it was the nature of the beast, I will directly ask about a replacement from him. I think if I purchase a new piece elsewhere, I could have fitting or color issues. I thought of coating the back side with fiberglass resin (with just the resin), but that won't address the outer surface. Worried about discoloration down the line and how it would look on TV, I do a fair amount of tv news interviews for the foundation I'm involved with. Aside from a few webbing issues I could sand and fill, the kit is pretty nice. For now, I will not put in any internal strips to reinforce and plan to replace this section later. Glad Michael Rose talked me into E6000! On the background issue, I'll have to get back in the driveway or garage for the next round of photos, not many clear walls inside.

Added the bicep hooks to my list. Started adding some inner support strips as well. Once I get all the recommendations completed I will try another fitting. Still a little concerned about one section, the inside left thigh section. It's a bit thin and rough on the surface at the top. The rest of the parts are pretty consistent. Should I reinforce it from the back or try and replace it? It's only about the top 4 inches, but more noticeable to me as I wrap this first kit up. I wouldn't think it would hurt my approval process, but not sure how well it will hold up over time.

In the home stretch, submitting my application to the 501st Great Lakes Garrison. Working on the adjustments pointed out by gmrhodes13, thank you. Should have those done today. I know there will still be a few tweaks (and a new belt), but next up is a voice box. Completed after last suit up. New rivets and painted white Shoulder straps glued in Chest plate inside strapping adjusted, tighter Thigh strapping adjusted down Padding added to knee plate Pad removed from helmet Need to do: Reshape bicep to be more round, better fit under shoulder Trim Shoulders back a little Shims for sides for less gap Waiting on belt piece to finish belt.

Getting closer. Did another dry fit. Still need some side strapping installed. Still waiting on the official ammo pack part of the main belt, have a place holder on there for now. Will get the rivets in when it arrives. hopefully placement is good. Seems to be according to the crl. My wife knocked out a great canvas belt. Need to reshape the shoulder bells a bit, very narrow and they like to push the biceps down. Maybe a heat gun or some boiling water? Missed the smaller holes on the frown, thank you mr. rose for that tip. Hoping to get this wrapped up and approved for a charity event on Sept 22. Is a voice changer critical for a troop, still needing to make a choice there? If any one has upgraded and has an old one to sell, please reach out.

Great feedback, thank you again!

thanks for the tips on the shoulder strapping. Did what I hope is final sizing on the thighs. Blue tap is where the stripes would go, with a cut right through the middle to line up the backs. This fits comfortably on the my legs and with stay in place without strapping until I try to walk. Then the strapping would keep it up where it needs to be with a little room to slide up and down with movement. Trying to decide if I should make it a little more room or chop through with the current fit?

Started in on the helmet, got the cut outs done and a pass at riveting the pieces together. I have a weird fold in the plastic from the pull, I may have to remove the rivet and deal with it of get the ear on properly. Also been trying to keep the look of the return edge on the top thigh parts, but I think they just need to go? You can see how light it is from the inside. I do see some return from the movie photos on the insides. I'm sure there are some options out there. How many people do the strips on the inside as well? Using E6000, a trusted source suggested it will give added strength, which sounds great. I may end up with enough material to add them, even after my initial mistakes with the front trim and needing to replace with slightly longer strips. I did recycle them done to other parts, so not too much wasted. There is a Irish Festival in Pittsburgh coming up that could use a trooper or 2, so I may try and get ready for that on Sept 8.

Thank you for the great references on the helmet, Starting on that a bit today. Got a little farther with the kit and strapping, still waiting on my keep trooping boots. Feeling a little tall with the torso parts, with the cod piece to neck line causing a gap. I did redo the shoulder straps after the photos to added 2 inches to let the back plate float better. I'm sure there is a lot of adjusting to do, just working with industrial velcro for now, lets me tweak as needed. So the back plate will sit a little lower to address the gap in the back. Walt's kit comes with the butt and kidney plates as one piece, he said I can leave it that way or cut it. Would the belt then fill the gap on the back? I pencilled a line on the side of the back plat to trim back, but I have a fair gap on my sides between front to back, can this stay to help fill the gap? Seems like a lot of mistakes can be seen in some of the troopers in the movies, but I really want to get to approval as quickly as I can and find a safe starting place for my first event. Trying to get this completed before a charity event on Sept 22. Any feedback, would be appreciated.

Pulled off the strips on the shins and went back at it. I now feel a lot better about it. Will wait to trim the bottom until my boots get here based on advice. I got a little Velcro strapping in place for now. Black series helmet while I get the courage to go at my kit helmet, along with finalizing some of the final touches.

Pulled apart pretty easy, thought it looked wrong, but 3 of the 4 edges lined up, just not the proper one at the top. Was just so excited to be gluing and rushed a little.

Apreciate the patience and the advice. Hoping to get this all complete and approved by the 501st for a St. Baldrick's charity event next month. Any red flags, please let me know. Was getting nervous on these as I prepare to add the knee plate and size the back for final fitting. On the front strip glued on for now (e6000). I think I need to dial back the returns a little, but does the left shin look passable? Walt suggested small 45 degree cuts on the top pf the strips. Some of the recent WTF TK kits seemed to be trimmed a little shorter and level top and bottom, but I need the full height. 3 of the pieces are the same height, one is nearly an inch taller on top when the line up back and bottom.

Thank you, lots of great stuff in that link.

I think I fixed the images so they are more accessible, sorry for slapping the post together without properly testing. In my defense, wanted to get back to getting the kit to a wearable state. Thank you to Walt for throwing in the sand trooper option! Not sure if I'm feeling over confident after looking through the resources on here.

A little late on the start for this build thread. Got my big brown box from WTF on August 7th! Quickly got it unpacked. Did a lot of reading on here and watched a pile of videos and nervously did some light trimming to get used to the tools. Eventually trimmed a little more to get used to trimming down before final fitting. Hopefully pairing all the right parts. Got a little confused on these pieces, one is clearly a knee plate: After some expert guidance from Michael Rose and a hands on look at his kit, I start final trimming for the front strips to go on. Then I dived into the deep end of the pool and got the E6000 under the front strips and committed to clamps, with the knowledge I could redo them by using the right glue, with a lot of patience for it to dry. Many of the videos I watched, like the RS Props were all about the CA glue. Tonight should mark 24 hours of patiences, then I can move on to figuring out the perfect. Will be a few days of sizing with tape, making sure they fit comfortably on under suits that can accommodate 4 seasons. Still flipping back and 4th on where I can leave returns for added effect, versus comfort and hopes of getting into the 501st. Still way nervous on starting the helmet. I did pick up some Plastic Dip (black) spray to coat the inside, heard it was best to do before assembly. Any feedback is appreciated. Any other locals to Metro-Detroit that want to have mini build parties, let me know. My goal is mid September for the next St. Baldrick's Event.

I think we got kits out of the same batch from Walt. I’m over in Washington Twp and one of the 501st may drop in tomorrow afternoon for some fitting and guidance. If you were interested in joining in, let me know.

Appreciate the warm welcome. Working my way in matching up the rights and lefts with some trimming to get used to the process.

The Great Lake Garrison has been supporting events I host for the St. Baldrick's Foundation for many years, absolutely love them. Their sense of community is respectable and prompted me to sign up after seeing a dedicated lone trooper carrying the weight of an event on his own this year. I'm located about 30 miles north of Detroit (Washington Twp) and happy to see there are a number of members in my area. As I carefully start cutting away, will most likely ask questions (after excessive research) on here and across the web to get this kit built in short order. If anyone wants to do a build party, we do have ample room and a pub in the house. Also picked up a 3d printer for accessories while I waited for my WTF kit to arrive.