Sayless

Thank you for the insight—I’m always happy to hear pointers, tips, or corrections if you have the time! My current thought process is to only use the 2K clear on the helmet. For the remainder of the armor I’m leaning toward a simple 1K automotive clear, mostly for cost reasons but also to avoid going too glossy (like you stated). I do agree that the screen-used armor doesn’t have that "high-gloss sheen", so I’m still trying to figure out the best balance between protecting the finish and replicating the look. One idea I had was doing a mid-grit wet sand and light buff, rather than the full 1000 → 1500 → 2000 progression that would produce a mirror finish. That way the coverage is even but the final result stays closer to the screen-used appearance, while hopefully helping prevent the paint from yellowing over time. Good point as well about potential cracking. I’ve already had a couple issues with my abdomen armor developing cracks due to poor reinforcement, and even just redoing the primer on those areas has been… interesting. Looking forward to seeing future updates on your own ROTK thread as well—it’s been an awesome resource to follow. I actually borrowed a couple of your Rustoleum color choices along the way.

A small mid-week progress report after a few hiccups on Sunday. For starters, the helmet is "essentially finished." The white paint portion is completely done, and the plan is to apply SprayMax 2K Glamour Clearcoat this Friday. In the spirit of full transparency, after fixing the run on the chin piece (which I sanded and repainted flawlessly, I might add), I promptly dropped it in the yard. So after waiting another 48 hours for the paint to cure enough to sand, I repainted it yesterday and now—finally—it’s done. No notes. That means all of the white paint on the helmet is officially complete, which is honestly a beautiful thing to see. Switching from the enamel-based paints to acrylic lacquer has been a night-and-day difference, and the finish has been far more forgiving to work with. Once the armor portion of the build is finished, I plan to go back and update my original post with a breakdown of all the products I used—including what worked well and what I’d recommend others avoid based on my own experience. While enamel paints clearly weren’t the right choice for larger pieces like the overall helmet, I still found them useful for smaller details like the brow trim and helmet greebles (we'll circle back to this soon). The downside is that enamel simply doesn’t dry fast enough, and I ran into curing issues again. The top layer would appear dry, but underneath the lower coats were still soft and almost gummy. I managed to capture a photo of it below, which shows exactly what I mean—the surface looked fine (minus the wrinkling), but even before I could get to sanding you can see the lower layers still haven't fully cured (hence the finger nail indents and fingerprints). Because of that, I ended up just reprinting the brow trim, which is now back in the familiar cycle of spot putty (current) → primer → spot putty again. Fortunately, the brow is such a small piece that it wasn’t much of a setback. The file only uses about 30g of filament and takes roughly an hour to print at 0.12 layer height, so it honestly made more sense to just reprint it rather than keep fighting the paint. This will inevitably get sanded down and primed tonight, since that stuff tends to dry pretty quick. The rest of the armor is now in its final spot putty stages, which means it should be ready for primer by Friday. The plan is to attempt to coat all of the current parts with primer, which means tonight and tomorrow will involve copious amounts of sanding. At this point I’ve gone through eight tubes of spot putty, and I’m personally ready to move on from this stage unless it's for minor fixes. My back porch has basically become a tripping hazard at this point, but it shows progress is happening. I’ve also started permanently attaching (with CA glue) some of the smaller components, like the chest and back trapezoids for the shoulder straps, as well as the "O II" design and it’s finally starting to resemble actual armor. This of course meant more putty. There were still a few areas I wasn’t completely satisfied with—probably more than a few—so those received yet another round of putty. At this point I *believe* I’ve filled just about every minor crack and pinhole I can find, and with my stock of spot putty running dangerously low, I’m comfortable calling it good (I think). The rest of the larger armor components have received the same treatment and should be ready for primer (or a second coat in some instances) alongside the other pieces. Compared to my earlier prints of Akira’s models, I still stand by the statement that Paul’s parts are simply just… better. I’ve admittedly had a hard time justifying the $200 USD price tag, especially since I currently have no plans to build a Shoretrooper, but the difference in quality has been noticeable. These parts have required minimal post-processing, and the overall fit and finish has been phenomenal. (Pre-spot putty touch-ups to my printing seams) That new-found attention to detail has also made me realize something I had overlooked earlier… After sharing my thermal detonator in my last update, I realized I had accidentally printed the wrong length version. The file included both a short and long option, with the longer version being closer to the CRL requirement of roughly 8 inches. So naturally, I reprinted it. And promptly ran out of black filament midway through the print—hence the white section near the top. Fortunately I caught it in time and was able to finish the piece. There isn’t much more progress to report beyond continuing to power through the finishing stages. I’ll be out of town next week, so updates will likely pause for about two weeks aside from any small progress notes. The helmet should (again, weather permitting) receive its 2K clear coat this Friday, and then I plan to give it ample time to properly cure before touching it again. With any luck, I’ll be able to begin final helmet assembly when I return next weekend. In the meantime, a few other things are already in motion: Waiting for HIPS material so I can form and build the belt Parts from Mr. Paul, including shin cover strips and metal shoulder bell supports Planning the internal strapping and harness system The metal shoulder supports should give me a solid mounting point for snaps, which I plan to use with nylon webbing (and possibly some elastic) to connect the shoulders and biceps to the torso. I’ve been intensely studying several other builds—particularly @11b30b4's build thread, @BigJasoni's build, and @TheRascalKing's—for ideas. With there have been some newer discoveries around certain interchangeable parts between ST and TK armor from MPSB (arms, calves, abdomen), it’s now possible to rig things much closer to how the suits appear to have been built on screen. That said, I still want the final setup to be comfortable and practical for trooping, so I’ll likely incorporate a few personal tweaks. One area I’d really like to document clearly in this thread is my take on the strapping system, since there are still a few grey areas—especially around how the cod and posterior armor should be secured. So, where does that leave me? Right now the helmet is ready for clear coat, and the rest of the armor is entering its final primer stage this week (provided there aren’t any major touch-ups required). Once primer is finished, the next big milestone will be dialing in the strapping and fitment before moving on to base coat and clear coat for the armor itself. This is an area I expect will prompt the most questions, as frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel like this is the right approach instead of attempting strapping on fresh paint. My logic here is that if I mess something up... it's just primer, right? Despite a few setbacks, I’m still comfortably on track to have the suit completed before my office Halloween party, which means there’s a decent chance I might even make it to a local con or two before then—assuming everything goes according to plan.

Strap in, this is a loooong update! For starters, thank you Chuck! Excited for the possibility to join the Tampa Bay Squad here soon, fingers crossed this next bit goes well. Also, Glen, this is super helpful! I did find that with brake cleaner (and some elbow grease) I can scrape off *most* of the enamel paint but funny enough (maybe not funny?) it doesn't seem to have any visible adverse affects on the primer coat... I suppose I'll find out later down the line if that holds true, but I do believe I'll try my hand at a weather bucket with my spare helmet for some garage decor. Now, while waiting for spot putty and primer to dry, I’ve been doing what many others here have done—spending some time studying the gallery to make sure I haven’t missed anything. That exercise quickly reminded me just how much I still haven’t completed… and the list is longer than I’d like to admit. I’ve also taken a bit of creative liberty with parts of my armor and made a few retroactive changes that I think will benefit me when it comes to troopings and conventions. From reading through other build threads, it seems the Empire strongly discourages pockets, so I found a Rogue One/Non-Saga thermal detonator file on Thingiverse that was modified to allow for some concealed, “in-universe” storage. Granted, this does mean there’s now a non-zero chance my keys & credit card might detonate… but I’m willing to take that risk. Unfortunately, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the original belt mount I printed for it, so I went ahead and reprinted that as well—this time changing the orientation and printing at 0.16mm layer height instead of 0.20mm. For a piece that will never actually be seen, I think it turned out pretty good (old=white; new=black). Of course, that’s a pretty small task compared to the rest of the parts I had completely forgotten about, which brings us right back to everyone’s favorite stage: Bondo spot putty. Again. At the moment, my back porch has become what I’d describe as organized chaos. I currently know where everything is… but it definitely looks like I’ve created a disaster zone. Normally I’d be doing this stage in the comfort of my garage, but I’ve gotten into the bad habit of forgetting that sanding in there means coating my car in plastic dust. So for now, the hot, humid porch it is. That said, a couple of good things have happened and we’re finally taking a big step in the right direction, because the new helmet is well underway. Actually, it’s probably easier to just show you. If I could stop right here at the primer stage, I’d probably be much happier in life—but apparently I’m a glutton for punishment. So it’s back to sanding, spot putty, and, you guessed it: more primer. And I almost forgot the eye bump. I briefly considered skipping it entirely (which would pretty much rule out Centurion down the road), but ultimately decided to go for it. Here it is in all its glory. Compared to my last attempt, I centered it a bit better and went with a wider, more even hump, which feels slightly less aggressive than the previous version. I Now, comparing this to the reference photos from SWC 2022… I personally don’t see much of an eye bump at all. I know some people say it’s blatantly obvious, while others question whether it even exists in the first place. Either way, the debate seems to go both directions. At this point, though, I’ve committed to it—and I’m not turning back now. Which brings us to my favorite part of this update: the white paint. Okay, maybe not my favorite part, but it’s definitely the stage I’ve been looking forward to since the last fiasco (first photo in today's post) with the original enamel paint I was using. This time around, I’ve officially switched over to an acrylic-based paint. Don’t mind the mic tips and vocoder hiding in the background… we’re getting close. Coincidentally, both the old paint and the new paint are from Rustoleum, but the results so far have been very different… in a good way. The initial “dust” coat went down flawlessly! Well… almost flawlessly. I’ve been having an issue with one particular ear (see below) where both the primer and now the paint seem to be reacting the same way, creating a small “bubble” effect. At this point I’m tempted to just reprint it, but I’m going to try sanding it back first and see if that solves the problem. My guess is that something contaminated the surface—either oils from my hands while handling it or possibly some leftover Bondo dust I didn’t clean off well enough. Either way, the plan is to sand it down and see how it behaves before making any drastic decisions—back to the big pieces. I got a *little* ahead of myself with the excitement and may have gone slightly heavy on my last coat, which resulted in two small runs—one on the chin piece (the more obvious one) and a minor run on the left side of the face above the teeth insert. Thankfully both look like they’ll sand out pretty easily tomorrow. The plan is to smooth those out, apply a light touch-up coat, and then move on to clear coat this Friday. Honestly, things are finally starting to come together. In hindsight, I probably should have tested this new paint on something easier to fix or replace—like a hand guard—but apparently I enjoy making things difficult for myself. After all, if I didn’t like a challenge, I wouldn’t be 3D printing this entire suit from scratch. If all goes well with the touch-up coat tomorrow, I’ll post another quick update. In the meantime, I’ve ordered the HIPS material for the belt, which should wrap up most of the remaining armor work. I still need to pick up boots, gloves, and a neck seal, which I plan to order from KeepTrooping during their next drop. Unfortunately I’ll be out of town around that time, so there’s a chance I might miss it and have to wait for the April drop instead. Between now and then I’ll keep working through the remaining spot putty stages on the various armor pieces (I've made little progress on the arms), but at this point the finish line is finally starting to come into view—and I’m ready for it.

Would this be considered a Remnant TK? Or is this just one of the troopers from Obi Wan? Granted, not going for 100% accuracy with spare helmets, but I do love this dirty/worn look. Funny enough, I have a brand new thing of Gorilla 2-part that I hadn’t even considered using for the helmet… was planning to use it to fix some of the cover strips to my shins and arms, but this is genius. I’ve got some mixing in my future.

At what point does it officially become a problem that I now have three R1TK helmets? Granted, none of them are remotely complete, but it is a little wild seeing all three of these sitting on my workbench. To address the obvious elephant in the room: I didn’t realize I had ordered black PETG again until it arrived. My plan was to finish off the remaining third of a roll of white PETG that was already sitting in my filament dryer—which explains why the chin piece is white. But honestly, it’s not a big deal. Everything will be painted in the end anyway, and with this one I actually plan to paint the interior black, so it should work out just fine. This time around I’m taking a page out of Greg/@TKModder421's playbook. Because of the issues I’ve run into previously, I’m opting to finish all of the individual helmet pieces separately before assembling them—similar to how he documented his process in his build thread. After rewatching Andor S1, Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka while sanding what feels like half the armor in the galaxy, I’ve really started to appreciate how pronounced the edges and panel gaps are on the screen-used armor. Obviously the real suits aren’t 3D printed, but I think this approach will help me get surprisingly close to that look. There were a few minor printing issues, most of which were related to support placement (and can easily be fixed). A 256×256×256 build volume can accommodate Nico/Greg’s files, but ideally you’d want a larger print bed to orient some of these pieces more optimally. Overall, I’d give this print about an 8.5/10. It’s not "perfect" (yet), but I’m extremely happy with how the back of the helmet turned out compared to my previous attempt—which, as some of you saw earlier in my build, was… less than ideal. For anyone following along or attempting these files themselves, here’s how I oriented the different pieces on my print bed based on what worked during previous attempts—and the physical limitations of printing at 100% scale on a 256 bed. (Wife took the last photo for me.) The next step is a light pass over all four of the pieces with 120 grit to help the spot putty adhere better. Then, my new cans of primer should still arrive Thursday, and the acrylic-based paint is scheduled for tomorrow—so fingers crossed everything lines up. I also need to settle on a better adhesive for assembly. Up to this point I’ve been using Gorilla Glue Gel, which has produced… mixed results. Sometimes it works flawlessly. Other times I’ll be walking through the house with a print in my hand and suddenly half of it falls to the floor because the glue decided it was done participating. Suggestions welcome! Anyway, that’s my “mini-update” as promised.

Definitely a shame, but life happens and priorities change. I’m just glad my wife supports this hobby… so long as she hasn’t discovered the full cost of it yet. Some of these memes are freakin’ hysterical! Thanks Shane! It’s been an awesome experience so far. I will say the most exciting part is the frequent camera checks to see if the supports are still standing, whether there’s been a layer shift, and so on. It’s like riding a low-budget roller coaster at the county fair—you never quite know what’s going to happen next, but that’s part of the fun. Unrelated, but the new helmet is nearly done printing. I should have a small update later tonight, along with a funny story (at least I think it’s funny) to go with it.

I had no idea there was an entire thread dedicated to memes, and unfortunately for my wife’s sake (who is not nearly as invested in Star Wars as I am), I’ve been laughing hysterically since you shared it. I do wish Jason was still more active on the forums—I’d love to pick his brain about some of the 3D printed nuances, especially around rigging and long-term durability. I completely understand now why he’s cautioned people against going this route. It’s far more involved than I initially thought—and honestly, more humbling. That said, there’s definitely a strange sense of accomplishment with each successful print… usually followed by a brief moment of existential dread when the next one fails. I wouldn’t say I can see the finish line yet, but I know it’s somewhere within reach. Keep 'em coming! I was scrolling at the red lights during my work commute this morning, and this one hit a bit close to home: Thanks @gmrhodes13 for the laugh, this meme is honestly the most accurate representation of my entire build thread so far.

Considering that little bit of sanding was approximately the entire Narkina 5 prison arc, it seemed fitting to pause and re-evaluate my efforts. I’d saying I’m trying to do better on this next one, but like Master Yoda said “Do or do not, there is no try”. Also, love the collection of Star Wars memes at your disposal. 😂

Thank you, Glen & Tony! Honestly, if I hadn’t started this build thread here, I might have thrown in the towel after some of the headaches I’ve run into. This is a quick update, and admittedly not one I’m thrilled about, but I want to document everything properly for transparency’s sake. For anyone reading this down the road—whether out of curiosity or as a reference for your own build—heed this warning: buy the right paint from the start. It doesn’t seem like it matters until it suddenly really does. Don’t just grab whatever’s on the shelf thinking, “Surely this will work.” I did… and it hasn’t. Switching to Upol filler primer has honestly been one of the best decisions I’ve made (right up there with choosing Paul’s files). The original enamel-based Rustoleum, on the other hand, has been my biggest setback. Not only does it struggle to dry properly, but when it doesn’t dry, it absolutely refuses to sand cleanly. At this point… I’m calling it. Helmet #2 is officially retired, and I’m starting over for the third time. Could I strip it down with acetone or mineral spirits and salvage it? Probably. But the time and effort required to get it back to bare plastic simply isn’t worth it, especially when I still have time to do this right. The bigger loss is the plastic, but there were already a couple of structural issues starting to show—like uneven glue spread across the chin section that’s beginning to separate from the face (maybe I'm self-justifying). On top of that, the paint itself has been fighting me every step of the way. Any time a dry corner of sandpaper so much as brushed a section I wasn’t intending to sand yet, it would literally peel the paint back. Working the cheek vents was just as miserable; my file always seemed to find the perfect edge to catch and lift paint I thought was surely dry—but clearly wasn’t. It definitely didn’t help that even after nearly two weeks of curing, there were still hidden layers underneath that were gummy and semi-wet. Fixable? Absolutely. Worth the time investment? Not really. So this is the official pin in Helmet #2. Helmet #3 should finish printing by Tuesday evening at this rate, which actually lines up perfectly. That gives me time to putty, sand, and prep before my next shipment of primer arrives Thursday. The new acrylic-based paint is scheduled for Wednesday, so if everything cooperates, this next attempt could come together much more smoothly. On the bright side, I’ve nearly finished painting all the other helmet components (ears aside), so once the new bucket is ready, final assembly should move fairly quickly, and we can put this chapter to bed. At this point I’m less building a helmet and more conducting paint experiments. Wish me luck?

I haven’t exactly made the progress I was hoping for, but we’re moving forward regardless. After the test fit, I’ve realized I really need to start focusing on proper strapping—specifically suspenders for the abdomen, along with straps for the chest and back armor and a system for rigging the arms. The thighs and calves are still areas of concern, but I have a few ideas for those that I want to tackle later once I’ve sorted out the belt, which is still a bit TBD at the moment. It wouldn’t be a proper update if I didn’t talk about the helmet. This shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point, but… the paint reacted. Again. After a lot of research, trial and error, and some troubleshooting, I’ve come to the conclusion that something in an earlier base coat is reacting with the newer layers. The reactions are appearing in the exact same spots, even after thoroughly cleaning the surface between coats with mineral spirits and isopropyl alcohol. This happened after applying what should have been a light coat, which immediately began to run. At this point it almost seems like the paint has simply decided it doesn’t want to adhere whatsoever. I know Glen mentioned earlier it could be from a previous coat going on to thick, which is still a pretty likely reason for all of this. If that is the case, there's probably some uncured paint from those thicker coats somewhere in the middle of all of this mess. Which leads me to the most current plan... which is to sand it back down to primer—and probably plastic in a few spots—and start fresh. I’ve also decided that while we're at it to take things a step further and switch paints for the white. I know I’ve mentioned my frustrations with Rustoleum as a "brand", but realistically a spray gun and booth just aren’t in the budget right now. Automotive spray options like Duplicolor are significantly more expensive, especially online. That said, I’ve gone ahead and ordered a six-pack of a different paint that uses an acrylic base rather than enamel, which I’m hopeful will eliminate the compatibility issues I’ve been fighting: One of my other working theories is that the enamel top coats didn’t play nicely with the automotive-style primer underneath. I can’t say that’s definitively the cause, but between that and the still-off-gassing heavy coats, it's enough to warrant the decision to try a different system (or in this case, paint blend). The new paint arrives Wednesday, so in the meantime I’m pushing to finish priming the rest of the armor. Which, of course, means returning to everyone’s favorite part of this process: spot putty and sanding. I started by revisiting some of the more prominent pieces, like the chest and back plates: These weren’t necessarily bad to begin with, but if I’m putting in the effort to make sure the helmet comes out right, I might as well hold the rest of the suit to that same standard. It’s definitely crossed my mind that fiberglass armor might have been less intensive at this stage, but after reading a number of those build threads, I think I’ve landed at roughly the same point they reach when dealing with pinholes and cracks. The main difference is that I’m battling layer lines while they’re not. After a while it started to feel a bit repetitive working the same pieces over and over, so I decided to mix things up and bring in the finished leg parts I had just plastic-welded earlier in the week. Which reminds me—that was also when my Milwaukee M12 soldering iron decided it was time to retire permanently. So that was another unexpected delay. The primer went on beautifully (as it usually does)… right up until I dropped one of the pieces in the yard. Can you tell which one it was? So for now I’m back in the familiar holding pattern of: putty → sand → primer → sand → putty → primer I’m letting the next round of spot putty cure before hopefully getting a coat of primer on later this evening. I also suspect I’m about to run out of primer again, which seems pretty on-brand for my planning skills. Hopefully I’m a better trooper than I am a supply officer. But, there’s still plenty left to tackle. I’ll probably move on to the forearms and biceps next for finishing work, but with any luck I might be able to knock out all of the helmet greebles before the weekend ends—you may be able to spot the forehead trim and one of the ear pieces on my Bondo station. That would at least count as a small win for the Empire. Anyways, back to sanding/puttying and re-watching the first season of Andor.

This isn’t quite the elaborate update I was hoping to post, but I have made some serious progress in the right direction. One thing I’ve realized after reviewing more of my early prints is that my original mindset of “this can be fixed with spot putty and filler primer” really doesn’t hold up in practice. For starters, 3D printed armor does not like aggressive sanding—especially with a DA sander and low grit paper. It tears up the outer walls and can even cause delamination (ask me how I know). Don’t do this. So… I’ve essentially reprinted just about everything, including the chest and back armor. At first glance, this original chest plate looked decent (a bold word), but on closer inspection I realized I’d driven the soldering iron far too deep in a few spots for it to be worth salvaging. The lower chest peak had a cavity forming, and there were several areas with mid-print layer shifts. It might look fixable in photos, but given the time already invested, it was honestly faster and smarter to just reprint the part. As many others have said: 3D printed armor is not for the faint of heart. Here’s the replacement chest plate in primer. It’s not perfect (yet), as I’ll still be doing some spot putty touch-ups on a few low spots that only became visible after primer—but it’s already miles better than the original print. A lot of that improvement comes from learning better seam placement and slicing strategies. Honestly, many of these issues probably wouldn’t exist if I’d started with a larger printer… but apparently I like creating my own challenges. The new back plate still has a few lingering issues. I initially thought my nozzle had loosened, but after reviewing camera footage of the print, I realized that on larger parts my supports were actually breaking mid-print. That introduced more flex than I was comfortable with, which led to shifting and surface inconsistencies. Some of the delamination I mentioned earlier from over sanding... but spot putty will fix this (well, I hope it will). It’s a bit of a catch-22. Printing in larger sections reduces seams, but it also forces steeper angles and riskier orientations—which can (and have) lead to print instability and [far] more post-processing than I anticipated. I’ve also primed all of the helmet greebles, and I went ahead and painted the vent backs. I’m not 100% convinced the color is perfectly screen accurate, but given how little of it is actually visible, I’m comfortable calling it “close enough.” The paint on these, ironically, came out flawless. Meanwhile, the helmet itself is still curing. I’ve been checking daily by lightly pressing a fingernail into the surface to test hardness… which unfortunately means I now have four fingernail marks to sand out. Could be worse—but it’s definitely sitting there judging me while I work. This is definitely one downside of Rustoleum compared to automotive acrylic systems. At this point I’m committed to this paint system for the helmet, since mixing paint types can cause reactions, but it does make me appreciate why experienced builders budget for higher-end coatings from the start. And as I promised... here's my first unofficial test-fit, featuring what I'm jokingly referring to as my "low budget mimban armor". The goal ultimately is to have a perfectly shiny suit, that may get a small bit of weathering as no suit in the SW universe is "perfect", right? But that's for a future date. Today, I think everything is scaled properly... but I'll let you all decide how off I am. I'm putting a small pause in continuing as this is a good point to make corrections if need be, rather than spending countless hours sanding and painting just to realize my scaling is off--feedback would be greatly apprecaited!!! And if you've stuck through this update, here’s my first unofficial test fit—featuring what I’m jokingly calling my “low-budget Mimban armor.” I say that, as I realized when "suiting up" just how many different stages in the paint process I was with these various pieces, and just how many I still have left to even prime. Fitment isn’t exactly perfect at this stage, which isn’t surprising since none of this has really been tested until now. On top of that, there are no mounting points, strapping, or real frame of reference yet, so my wife had to go into this completely blind with nothing but a roll of painter’s tape and the FISD R1TK galleries for guidance. All things considered, I think placement is close in most areas, but I know I’ve got an uphill battle ahead with the thighs and calves. The thighs are currently on the tighter side, so my plan is to carefully heat-form them with a heat gun to gain a bit of extra room around the knee joint. The upside is that they actually stay up on their own right now. Once I add proper strapping connected to the belt/abdomen (which I haven’t started yet), that should help significantly with support and positioning. The calves, on the other hand, are very loose. Either I need to start jogging and biking more… or I’ll end up adding some internal padding. I’ve already ordered the shin covers from Mr. Paul, which should arrive sometime next month, so that will complete the look and hide the front seam. Not pictured are the sniper knee and thigh ammo pack—both of which are printed, but painter’s tape was not enough to keep them in place for photos. Long term, the goal is a clean, glossy suit with (maybe) very light weathering later on (because let’s be honest, nothing in the Star Wars universe is perfectly pristine). But that’s a future problem. For now, my main priority is confirming scale and proportions before I sink any more hours into finishing work. If anything looks noticeably off, please don’t hesitate to point it out—I’d much rather correct it now than discover issues after everything is painted. I know it’s a little tricky to judge from just these photos (especially with painter’s tape holding more than half of it together), but any feedback at this stage is genuinely appreciated. Because of that, I’m putting a temporary pause on armor progress for the rest of the week so I can make adjustments where needed. My goal is to get everything dialed in for Level 1 at a minimum, and ultimately Level 2 once I’ve added the remaining soft parts like gloves, undersuit, and boots. In the meantime, I’ll be shifting focus toward the internal build and starting to order materials for the harness system—suspenders, nylon webbing, and what will likely be a copious amount of Velcro.

Thanks Andrew! Excited for the day I get to submit my armor; still a long ways to go but I'm ready (mentally/emotionally more so than physically). Thank you Tony!! Super excited to be part of the FISD community, you guys are awesome! Currently chugging away on sanding, more priming, and hopefully tomorrow... my first "full test fit" to make sure everything is scaled properly. Can't believe how much I've done so far and forgotten to make sure it all fits, whoops.

Glen, this is incredibly helpful—thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time some insights! I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Rustoleum either. Like you mentioned, it’s just not nearly as forgiving as automotive paints. I do have some local auto paint suppliers nearby, but the lead times to get additional cans have been pretty wild lately since I’m not set up for spray gun use yet. I’ve heard waits can stretch close to a month, and online pricing hasn’t exactly been friendly either. Case in point, I just had to order more Upol primer because AutoZone is on a two-week backorder. Coincidentally, I actually tried your V-groove method this morning while gluing up the new back armor plate, so I’m really curious to see how it performs. I should have some time this weekend to tackle more of the larger pieces. For now, the helmet is officially on pause so I can give it a proper cure time. I thought three days would be enough, but clearly I learned otherwise (the pictures speak louder than words). I’ll be experimenting with a few different painting setups over the next week or so—the next batch of parts should be interesting. I may try a washing line setup and maybe even a coat-hanger contraption. I’ll report back with results.

Well… today didn’t exactly go as planned. In my head, I thought I’d be able to carve out a solid six hours to sand, prime, and paint. To spoil it upfront: absolutely none of that went according to plan. Where I last left off Sunday night, I’d finished (or so I thought) the abdomen armor and confidently said the imperfections “practically disappear.” I’m sure someone saw that photo and thought, “Those are still going to show.” If you did—you were right. I was a bit optimistic assuming most of it would be "hidden" by the chest plate, but after reviewing my bathroom test-fit selfie, it became obvious just how much work was still ahead. To make matters worse, one of my weld seams apparently wasn’t deep enough and developed a small crack in the filler/primer. That’s currently being rewelded and cooling as I write this. I also circled a few problem areas to focus on, since these would absolutely show through a glossy finish if left alone. On a brighter note, I finished printing all of Mr. Paul’s updated parts—calves, biceps, forearms, and shoulders: These all printed beautifully. I still need to weld the inside seams (and possibly the outsides too, judging by the abdomen experience), but overall I’m really happy with how they came out. At this point, though, I’m done gambling with finishing shortcuts. Normally, with a print this nice, I’d skip straight to filler primer, but luck hasn’t exactly been on my side lately. I’ve already burned through four tubes of 3M spot putty at about $6 each, so I think it’s finally time to step up to a quart of Bondo and hardener and really push through the heavy filling stage. It takes longer to cure, which slows my pace, but it should help avoid the shrinkage issues I ran into today. I finally worked up the courage to tackle the chest and back plates—pieces I’d been putting off because of how intimidating they looked. I applied a solid layer of putty, scraping excess as I went, and… unfortunately a lot of it has already begun to crack. This isn’t entirely new; I saw similar issues on the abdomen. The difference is that those seams are mostly covered, while these plates will be front and center. Adding to that, I made some early-build mistakes before I started documenting progress here. Most of the back plate sections warped during printing, leaving large gaps that needed to be filled. Even after packing them with spare filament, some cavities are still visible—especially when highlighted with the contrasting color of putty. So I’ve officially decided to reprint the back plate using a different cut/splice strategy. The top section is nearly finished, and the bottom piece is currently sitting at an estimated 9 hours and 57 minutes. Living the dream. Which brings us to the original goal for today: painting. This one is completely on me. I’ve been using 91% isopropyl alcohol as a degreaser with no issues up to this point. What I didn’t realize until today is that it can soften or strip enamel paint—even after it’s supposedly cured for 72 hours. I discovered this when wiping down areas that looked dusty from sanding. Turns out I wasn’t removing grime—I was removing paint and primer and exposing the black PETG underneath. That should have been my sign to stop. I did not stop. I painted anyway. Despite all that, the helmet actually still looks pretty good overall (from five feet away), and this round only has a few problem areas compared to the last. It’s far from ideal, but it’s workable. I’m going to let it cure (again) until Friday (my next day off), then sand the face section again and try for a clean, even coat of white. If that goes well, it’s on to 2K clear—which will be a battle for another day. Literally. One thing I hadn’t touched yet, until today, were the helmet accessories and trim pieces. I needed a way to temporarily mount them to paint sticks and couldn’t think of a good solution. After browsing the forums and seeing a few clever setups, I ended up stumbling across a video from M.M.’s Prop Shop on YouTube where she used butyl sealant from a hardware store. This stuff is fantastic. Applied correctly, it leaves little to no residue and doesn’t dry out. I specifically wanted something other than hot glue so I wouldn’t risk snapping delicate parts when removing them later—which is already happening with pieces from helmet #1. It’s actually very similar to the sealant used in automotive headlight housings, just likely less heat resistant since this version came from Home Depot. So far, these accessory and trim pieces are behaving far better than my luck with white Rustoleum. Time will tell. I’ll close this update out with a few close-ups of those parts, which—like everything else in this project—still need plenty of sanding. This weekend, we go all in. Heck, maybe I'll even get in a full test-fit (ambitious, but I'm hopeful).

Thank you! The goal is to get it as accurate as possible, so let’s see how close I can get it. I can only imagine the work that goes into vacuum formed and fiberglass suits, like the TK Stunt Trooper, so this one seemed a little less daunting at initial glance.

“Quick” little update to close out the weekend. I ended up laying down about 3 or 4 light coats of spot putty (lost count) on the abdomen because I want this piece to look just as good as the helmet did before I introduced runs into the base coat. Naturally, that meant… a lot of sanding. Honestly, the sanding itself wasn’t bad. The real challenge came from the fact that my printer can only handle so much, which meant I had to weld this large piece together in sections. And with that came a few surprises. You’d think this would be a straightforward job, right? Wrong. I tried very hard not to weld on the outside of parts, since that adds a ridiculous amount of post-processing. But against my better judgment (and partly out of necessity), I did it anyway. The result was a few subtle hairline cracks where sections met. I’m not sure whether I didn’t go deep enough welding from the inside, or if the piece simply flexes that much—but either way, they showed up. See the small crack along that long seam? It’s subtle… but it’s there. Needless to say, that discovery made my stomach drop a bit thinking about how much extra work I’d just created for myself. Thankfully, it didn’t turn out nearly as bad as I feared. I laid down two coats of Upol filler primer (one medium, one heavier), and while the seams were technically still visible at first, they sanded out beautifully. This primer seems to exaggerate flaws initially, but after a pass with 400 grit, imperfections "practically" disappear. I say practically because you can still visually see faint lines if you really look for them—but to the touch they’re completely gone. That’s the important part. Once I add another coat of primer (assuming no runs this time), we should officially be on the path to success. And by success, I mean base coat. I may still do a little spot putty touch-up in a few areas where I got slightly heavy-handed with sanding, just to be safe. But overall, I’m feeling really confident about this piece—especially after everything the helmet taught me. The stomach insert is still raw and needs finishing, but compared to this beast, that should be a quick job. Meanwhile, my twin suns two helmets are just hanging out on the workbench while I let the newer helmet fully cure and off-gas before hitting it with another coat of white. Good news: my 2K clear coat arrives Wednesday, so the tentative goal is to have the helmet ready for clear as soon as it shows up. I still need to paint all the greebles, inserts, and the brow—which I’m currently debating whether it was smart or questionable to save for last. The plan from here is to finish the white coats, apply clear, then assemble all the accessories with super glue and weld the alignment pegs inside the helmet for extra security. After that, I’ll glue down the brow… and hope for the best. Every mistake is getting me closer to the version that works. But hey, this is a build thread, and this is ultimately my build—hiccups and all!

Thank you! This week’s plan is to let the paint fully cure before touching the helmet again. Once it’s ready, I’ll wet sand the runs out with 800 grit, then follow up with two light coats of white and finish it off with clear coat. For the abdomen, there’s a kidney (or “trauma”) plate that covers the rear gap. Like several others have done, my plan is to stitch a zipper into elastic panels to close that gap first, and then use the plate to conceal the entire closure system. Getting into the armor is definitely the tricky part. The current method is to open the back as wide as it will allow, slide it onto one side of my torso, rotate it into place, and then close everything up. It’s been a lot of guess-and-check with fitment, but it’s slowly getting dialed in. I know there are tools like Armorsmith, and I’ve seen that Galactic Armory is developing a new program called FormFitter, which looks like it could be a really nice upgrade for scaling and fit visualization. I haven’t used either yet—I’ve mostly been doing things the old-school way with a measuring tape and a bit of optimism. Interestingly, my older thigh prints ended up more snug than I wanted, while my new calves printed at 100% scale fit perfectly. So sometimes it’s careful measuring… and sometimes it’s just luck. (Or maybe it’s a reminder that I should start exercising again.) Thank you—it’s definitely turned into a much bigger undertaking than I originally imagined, but I’m enjoying the process (even when it fights back a little). And I completely agree with you on the PPE. At minimum I’m always in gloves and a full respirator/face shield setup. In my last round I think the real issue was that my filters were well past their prime. The old saying is definitely true: once you can smell it (the fillers/paints/chemicals), it’s time to change them. Lesson learned there. I may give 2-part filler another shot now that I’m more aware of that, but I’m also really curious about resin filler. From what I’ve read it seems like it might sand a bit easier and cleaner, which is always a plus at this stage. Back to YouTube tutorials for research...

I'd love to use general automotive filler, but I'm fairly allergic to something in it... not sure if it's the filler or the hardener but it triggers Bell's Palsy and freezes up half my face... so w'ere trying to avoid that for as long as I can. But, I did invest in new respirators for my face shield so who knows, we may try again! I'm generally not a fan of fillers in general, but I knew it was part of the process if I went the 3D printed route opposed to a vacuum formed set. All part of the trials! Hoping to make some more progress before my next work trip in March.

Well, it’s time for another update, and I want to preface this one by saying… it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. Honestly, at this point it’s hard to say what has gone according to plan given all the hiccups—but we press on. Last night impatience got the better of me, so with the help of some painter’s tape, my wife, and the helmet that started this whole adventure, I attempted my first partial “suit up”: Mentally, this helped more than anything. It proved the most important thing: this "idea" works—and at least these larger pieces are printing to scale (I think). I’ve been printing the legs from Mr. Paul’s files (more on that at the end), but the part I was most excited about was the helmet—and that’s been an adventure all its own. Today, I decided it was finally paint day. I stopped by AutoZone and picked up some Upol Filler Primer that I’ve seen recommended here, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a game changer. Compared to my first helmet—which used strictly Rustoleum products—the Upol went on smoother, easier, and far more forgiving. Of course, what it also revealed… were all the flaws still lurking underneath. Printing errors. Rushed sanding. Impatience. You name it, I probably did it. If you’re thinking “Wow, that’s a lot of flaws” you’re absolutely right. This is what happens when you skip steps in a rush to the finish line. I basically doubled my post-processing workload because I wanted things done faster at the start (mostly to text some photos to friends and family). You can see in the photos where I marked areas for ears and brow trim placement to determine what might be passable versus what actually needed work. Spoiler: I ignored that plan and re-sanded, re-filled, and re-primed the entire helmet anyway. Why? Because this build deserves to be perfect*. [*Perfect being a "subjective" term for me] At this point, all the stages are starting to blur together — which might just be a sign I’ve been staring at this helmet too long. After more sanding, I laid down two more coats of filler primer and wet-sanded through, 320, 400 and, 800 grit. (Yes, I skipped several grits. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.) Honestly? It looked great. A few minor runs on the dome, but nothing I couldn’t sand out. I should have just stopped there. But... I got ambitious (again). Remember when I said this build deserved to be perfect? Well, apparently I lied. Mostly to myself. See them? The runs. The glorious, tragic runs. I shook the can thoroughly. I sprayed three light coats followed by one medium coat… and boom. Run city. I’m not thrilled, but it’s fine. I’m used to sanding now. Granted, sanding is coarse and rough and irritating — and it gets everywhere. Literally everywhere. (Okay, I’ll stop with the Skywalker quotes.) At this point, I’m hitting pause on this helmet to give the paint time to fully cure before touching it again. Rustoleum is notoriously finicky, and sanding too early turns it into gummy sludge that, clogs sandpaper, leaves massive globs, and sometimes I've had it peel paint clean off. So we’re hoping to avoid that scenario entirely. This is fixable. Plus, I forgot to order my 2K clear coat, so I can’t finish it yet anyway. That arrives mid-week. While the helmet cures, I’ve moved on to the new abdomen pieces. I may have gone a little heavy on the spot putty: I also just finished printing: kidney plate left thigh currently on attempt #3 for the right thigh (attempt #2 pictured) The printer actually shut itself off with 45 minutes left on a 7 ½-hour print, so I’m guessing it overheated and saved itself from a potentially worse fate? That’s it for tonight. I may have another small update tomorrow if the right thigh finally decides to cooperate. And thank you Dimitris! It's been a fun ride so far, and it's only getting better!

Okay, mini update because I’m equal parts anxious and excited. I ultimately pulled the trigger on Mr. Paul’s files, and for anyone who’s been on the fence… they’re absolutely worth it. Even just loading them into the slicer, the difference in detail alone made them look promising. But it wasn’t until I printed the new abdomen and compared it side-by-side with Akira’s version that I realized just how inaccurate the original was. Don't mind the painters tape that's stuck to the super glue... [The glue dried on this piece as I was setting it, but shouldn't be too hard to smooth out] Because of my printer’s build volume, I had to split the abdomen into six pieces, which is definitely not ideal—but it ended up working out better than expected (thanks Gorilla glue!). For sizing reference, I’m roughly a 34–36” waist, with 36” being the upper limit for Mr. Paul’s files. Everything actually fits as intended. The back has quite a bit of give, and for the sake of test photos I let it sit fully open. In that position, the gap measures about 7”, but when I draw the sides together it closes to roughly 5”, which is also noticeably more comfortable. So structurally, the scaling seems to be right where it should be (and I could afford to lose 10 pounds). I also switched filament for this print. Up until now I’ve been using SUNLU High Speed PETG, but after some digging (YouTube rabbit holes, of course), I found it’s more prone to stringing and layer separation—the exact issues I’d been fighting. For this run I switched to standard SUNLU PETG in white, and honestly it’s been printing beautifully. At this point it’s performing just as well as—possibly even better than—the SUNLU PLA+ I’ve used on other projects. Naturally, this has made me briefly consider reprinting the entire suit (which is… unlikely), purely for the improvement in post-processing. At the very least, though, all the upcoming MPSB replacement parts should be much easier to finish. Anyway, this is meant to be a quick update, so I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking. Tomorrow we primer the helmet. Either it looks incredible, or I discover new sanding techniques. Like Anakin, I hate sand[ing]. Left — Nico’s original files (cheeks cut out with a Dremel), scaled to 90% Right — Greg’s updated files, scaled to 100% — night and day difference.

Could not be more true!!! Sanded last night, realized I missed a spot with spot putty, so now I have to re-sand that spot so that all of the spots are covered. No spots left uncovered!!

Would it really be a build thread without an overload of bucket photos? This seems to be the part most builders end up spending the bulk of their time on—and honestly, it’s easy to understand why. The helmet is one of the most daunting steps in the entire process, especially since it’s the piece that both die-hard fans and casual moviegoers instantly recognize (second only to Vader, probably). Because of that, I’ve been very intentional about not skimping on the details here. As mentioned earlier, I’m in this for the long haul. While Level Two is the realistic goal, I’m building everything with Centurion in the back of my mind. Even if I never make it that far—whether due to time, finances, or sanity—it’s been a helpful benchmark to keep me focused on accuracy. Alright, enough of the sappy stuff. Here are the photos. Today, unfortunately, is sanding day: As if sanding itself wasn’t punishment enough, some early printing mistakes decided to come back and haunt me. In the photo above (left, beside the cheek), you can see a bit of waviness in the rear of the helmet print—something I highlighted more clearly here: I’m about 90% confident this is moisture-related, so I’ve gone ahead and ordered a filament drying system before I start reprinting armor pieces. Whatever the cause, it’s been absolutely miserable to sand. It was actually worse before this stage, but you can still see areas where I attempted to smooth heavy ridges with a soldering iron (a bold choice, in hindsight), along with spots that looked like they were on the verge of delaminating. Again, I can’t say with total certainty what caused it, but moisture is currently the leading suspect. After pushing through that, I managed to sand everything down as best as my patience would allow. To help, I printed a simple sanding block using some leftover PLA from another project: Easily the most frustrating part of the helmet so far has been the tube stripes. My supports did me absolutely no favors here, so cleanup was… not ideal. I spent about 20 minutes with a file trying to smooth things out, and while it’s far from perfect, I’m confident that spot putty later will take care of the rest. And yes—remember that comment about building with Centurion in mind? Against my better judgment, I went ahead and “welded” in some spare PETG on the right eye per the CRL. I referenced several other build threads before committing, and I think I landed somewhere safely between “not a crazy bump” and “respectably noticeable.” I’ll be honest: this isn’t my favorite detail. I’m a fan of sharp, clean, consistent edges. That said, I don’t think it looks bad—and I’m happy to pay a little homage to the original prop makers here. My only lingering concern is whether I undersized it, but for now, I’m cautiously optimistic. Finally, the worst part yet: spot putty. Enough said. That’s all I’ve got for today’s update. With any luck, the next few days will involve a couple coats of primer, more block sanding, and repeating that process until the helmet is smooth and ready for paint. I’m not exactly looking forward to painting all the bits, bobs, and greebles—but compared to this stage, that part should be more relaxing (potentially a choice word). The only wildcard is the weather, which has been about as predictable as Kylo Ren’s attitude. That said, despite what the local weatherman keeps claiming, it’s finally warming up this week… and this is where things usually start to come together.

Okay, with the week nearly over, it felt like a good time to do a proper armor breakdown. At this point, I believe I’ve officially printed everything that Akira’s files have to offer: Most of the pieces have at least been glued together, and many were also fused using a soldering iron and additional filament. On that note… I’ve now gone through nearly ten 1kg rolls of white PETG, plus roughly 1.5kg of black PETG for the helmet, belt boxes, and side plates—which I suppose is where “the fun begins.” As mentioned in my initial post, this is essentially my first real project with a 3D printer, so there’s been no shortage of learning curves along the way. There are a couple things worth pointing out in the photo below. First is the back armor. I didn’t think enough about orientation when placing it on the print bed, which resulted in an excessive amount of filler rod (aka: spare filament) and soldering. At the time—about a month ago—I was actually pretty proud of this print. But with my settings much more dialed in now (might be a slight exaggeration given what just happened...), this is one of the pieces I’m seriously considering reprinting in the near future. Then there’s the kidney armor. I believe the filament had absorbed a fair amount of moisture, as the print began to delaminate toward the top, which is pretty (very) clearly visible. Revisiting these parts has me leaning even more toward purchasing the MPSB files, especially since many of these pieces are going straight into a tote as soon as they come off the print bed. While a lot of this could still be corrected with sanding, spot putty, and multiple coats of primer, I’m already having second thoughts about the Akira abdomen armor, particularly when factoring in the work required for the belt section—which I managed to break during a test fit with a friend. Another lesson learned (and one I later saw reinforced in Jason’s own build): don’t weld on the outside of your parts. At face value, this makes complete sense. Unfortunately, having common sense and then actually acting on it seem to be two very different skill sets for my brain. Thankfully, not everything was a struggle. Most of the other pieces came out quite well—like my triple stack of belt boxes (minus one misprint caused by running out of filament while I was at work): At this point, I’ve accumulated spare parts like Infinity Stones (yes, wrong universe), but it’s honestly been helpful seeing both the progress and the mistakes side by side. Every misprint has at least turned into a learning moment. For instance, one major milestone was finishing the print of the new helmet files, especially after the setbacks I mentioned in my last post: During assembly, I realized that the face print had rested on the printer’s “poop chute”, which caused a not-so-subtle flat spot. Unfortunately, that flat spot prevented all of the alignment pegs from seating correctly. Rather than force it, I opted to reprint the entire face section—adding another 13 hours to the growing clock. That reprint finally completed the helmet from a printing standpoint, and from here on out, progress should (theoretically) be more straightforward. Now that I’m a bit more caught up on this build thread—or more accurately, the culmination of photos once the “build” phase wrapped—I think this is where things go from here. At this point, I’ve pretty much committed to picking up the MPSB files and reprinting the following parts: Abdomen Kidney armor Lower leg armor (both sides) All arm pieces (both sides) Yes, that’s a lot. And yes, it’s probably excessive. But when I think about the amount of post-processing, finishing, and labor that will go into these parts, I’d rather do it once and do it right. It feels a little backwards, but if I play my cards right (right?)… I may end up with two R1 TKs—one reasonably solid, and the other… well, a valuable learning experience. Unfortunately, Florida is currently "too cold" to print reliably (a sentence I never expected to write), so the plan for the weekend is to focus on helmet prep while I wait for the weather to cooperate. My goal is to have the helmet fully finished within the next two weeks, weather permitting. Once that’s done, I’ll start printing the replacement armor pieces, gluing and welding them together, and then dive head-first into the long, tedious finishing process. I’m hoping that once I see the first few coats of even primer go on, it’ll provide a much-needed morale boost—because this is definitely the point in the build that others have warned about, where things shift from exciting to extremely intimidating. I'm also nearly out of filament, and I actually switched "types" of PETG (originally Sunlu high speed, now simply regular) with my helmet that I'm far more pleased with those results, so I'll probably switch going forward. One last note: I printed two different length sets of shoulder straps in gloss white TPU. I probably should’ve read the CRLs more carefully, since the requirements about 3D printed armor (and accessories) are mentioned right at the top, but here we are. My biggest concern is the print lines. I’m going to attempt some light sanding to see how it behaves, but I’m honestly not sure how viable that’ll be with TPU. If anyone has suggestions for shoulder strap solutions—whether that’s a preferred vendor, material recommendations, or even flexible PLA alternatives—I’m all ears. I’ve read that flexible PLA may take sanding and paint better than TPU, but I haven’t gone too far down that rabbit hole yet. I'd assume these aren't remotely acceptable even for Level 1.

Thank you for the kind words! I looked a lot into just going the vac formed or fiberglass route, and I personally seem to favor the look of a printed build (plus the brownie points saying "I made this") with all of the added detailing, especially when it comes to helmets. But alas, they all have their issues... Maybe one of these days I'll get to pick Jason's brain a bit on even some simple stuff like orientation, which I'll showcase in a second... But I think I might be sold on buying MPSB files for the abdomen alone (plus reprinting the other bits to make my life easier). Thank you!! Speaking of progress... here's a mini-update from this weekends prints. So for context, Florida has reached record low temperatures. So much so that with the wind chill, we were in the low 10s (crazy given our tagline is the "Sunshine State") but this ultimately led to a few issues. As my garage is my 3D printing "man cave", I'm fortunate to have a mini-split with heat but even with that capability, my poor unit struggled to keep up with the evershrinking temperatures, and it ultimately affected my prints. I've been rapidly printing off Greg's helmet files in an attempt to keep this build on track as we're officially in February, so let's lead with the Good, then the Funny, and end with the Bad. The Good: The new helmet (pictured right) is visually completed, however with a couple of minor inconveniences that have led me to re-print the chin (see below). Overall, Greg's files have been awesome. I did have some issues with OrcaSlicer + MacOS as there's currently no built-in repair function but this isn't an issue with his files per se, but more a skill issue on my end. Outside of that, the helmet looks phenomenal. Beside my original helmet, which was scaled to 90% (dumb decision), you can clearly see some of the changes he made in terms of shaping to elements like the dome (a little less tall in my opinion) but post-processing seems like it'll be a breeze. Not sure if this was an intentional design feature, but I did notice, at least in my print, there appears to be a *slight* eye bump which I'll amplify a tad like others to pay homage to the OTTK. Everything seemed to print properly, until that skill issue popped up yesterday afternoon while I was out and about. The "Funny": I'd love to lie and say this was the first time I've had this happen, but this is the FIFTH time I've encountered this exact issue with printing the chin file. Why?? I think part of this comes down to bed adhesion, or maybe it's print settings like orientation, nozzle flow, speed--but whatever. After checking my handy garage cam, it appeared that many of my supports failed around the 4 hour mark and then the entire print shifted, leading to this mess. To add insult to injury, I printed another chin piece, and then THIS! The Bad: As it turns out, there were some gnarly overhangs that were unsupported (user error, again) so we're back manually adding additional supports, and my replacement piece is being reprinted. If my calculations are correct, I should now be printing the 8th variation of this chin, and I think I've finally got my settings dialed in. I did my best to salvage print #7 with my trusty soldering iron, but alas, it doesn't meet my own personal criteria, and I don't think there's enough sandpaper and spot putty that could change my view. With that, circling back to the first photo of the update, I'm overall impressed. The updated model featuring all of the alignment pegs and cutouts have made test fitting so, so, so much better than how I originally went about this project, so while it may seem like I'm circling a drain with this project, I feel like we're in a good place. I do think I'm going to pull the trigger on Mr. Paul's files for the ab, shins/calfs, and arm pieces as I believe this would create a far more screen-accurate looking suit, but for the meantime, we're on a path to success. After this, all that currently remains is to swap filament to my TPU to print the shoulder straps, and *technically* I've officially printed all of the armor pieces from Akira which I plan to lay out and snag a photo of for my next update this week. Oh, and the helmet "ears" which I've never had great luck with. Fingers crossed. Progress might be a bit slow this next week or two until the weather corrects, as it's waaaaay too cold for paint (even in the garage) so I'll spend this time smoothing most of my prints out with my trusty iron and an industrial amount of spot putty.

JULY 2026 UPDATE: If you’re just finding this thread, a lot has changed since the original post. The initial plan was relatively simple: print Nico’s helmet, pair it with Akira’s armor, achieve basic approval, and call it a day. That… didn’t happen (as you'll later see). After running into some well-addressed fitment issues (primarily the abdomen and belt), I picked up Mr. Paul’s Shoretrooper files (I actually foreshadowed this day one, whoops) with the intention of replacing only the abdomen and shins. That quickly snowballed into replacing the arms, and eventually questioning nearly every remaining armor piece. The deeper I got into the references from the various shows & movies, Celebration displays, and many behind-the-scenes photos, the more I realized... I wanted to push this build much further than originally planned. So I what any sensible person would do, and taught myself Blender. (see Page 4) What started as modeling a handful of supplemental pieces has since evolved into designing nearly everything not included in the MPSB files from scratch, with Centurion (Level 3) accuracy as the target from the very beginning. At the time of writing, almost every major component has been reprinted in ABS on a 350mm printer, and once my personal armor is complete, the plan is to revisit the remaining MPSB pieces and ultimately create a complete Anthology/Non-Saga TK armor set. So if you notice the direction of this thread suddenly changes… that’s why. Past Zach just wanted to build a Stormtrooper and win a costume contest. Current Zach apparently decided learning new software, modeling armor, and chasing Centurion approval sounded more fun. Well… I guess this is where I start. As a joke with my wife, I told her that if she bought me a 3D printer for Christmas, the first thing I’d print would be a Stormtrooper helmet. That joke quickly escalated into finding more accurate files than the free ones available on Printables and Thingiverse, which then even more quickly evolved into, “Well, I may as well make a suit while I’m at it.” And so began the never-ending chain of “while I’m at it’s” that ultimately landed me here, officially starting a build thread and aiming—at a minimum—for Level One 501st approval, with my sights firmly set on Level Two down the road. To keep myself accountable, I’ve set a goal of having this suit wearable for my office Halloween party on October 29, 2026. Which sounds extremely reasonable and optimistic, right? Wrong. I travel for work fairly often, so if I manage to hit that deadline, I’ll consider it a major win. After spending a lot of time reading through the FISD forums, I quickly stumbled across @BigJasoni's 3D-printed Rogue One TK build. That was the moment I thought, “Okay… maybe this impossible thing is at least technically possible.” I fully understand—and accept—that printing a full suit is wildly impractical. Jason himself has warned many people not to do this. But if you asked my wife, she’d tell you that once I decide to do something, stopping simply isn’t part of the plan...so here we are. For reference, I should also mention I'm printing on an Elegoo Centauri Carbon (256×256×256), which… yes, adds an extra layer of challenge to an already questionable project. I originally started with Nico Henderson’s Rogue One TK helmet files, and I want to be very clear here: the issues I ran into were entirely self-inflicted. Mid-print, and then in it's most current state. In recently rewatching Rogue One, Solo, and several of the Disney-era shows, I realized just how sharp and defined the chin geometry on the helmet really is (amongst other concerns). Unfortunately, early print issues led me to weld the chin to the faceplate and unintentionally round over some of those critical edges. Once I saw it, I couldn’t un-see it. That realization officially forced my first major reset. I also got a bit ahead of myself in thinking that my primer/sanding jobs were better than they truly were before laying some base coat down... and now we're back to some camo variant. You can clearly see where I've unintentionally rounded the sharp edges. As of last night, I’ve started over on the helmet using @TKModder421's updated files—and I’m taking a much slower, more deliberate approach this time with accuracy as the priority. Greg, if you’re reading this: thank you again. The updates are genuinely excellent, and the difference is immediately noticeable. So far, I have the dome (pictured), vocoder, tears, teeth, ventbacks, ear greebiles, and back greebiles (pictured) printed, and currently getting the hovmic's printed as we speak write. For the rest of the armor, I initially went with the well-known Akira Yuming files from CGTrader, which—like many others—I found through BigJasoni’s build. I knew going in that they weren’t perfect, but they felt like a reasonable stepping stone. And they have been… interesting. I’ve printed essentially the entire Akira kit in SUNLU white PETG, mostly because I live in Florida and heat resistance matters (even though, somehow, we’re apparently expecting snow in the Tampa Bay area as I write this?). Currently, all that seemed to remain are the belt ammo boxes (planning to print Jason's), shoulder straps (just received my white TPU), and the rear portion of the belt (which I have concerns about, see below.) (Yes, I see it now—plastic-welding on the front of my pieces like the chest plate and abdomen were a mistake. Let this stand as proof that sometimes the best lessons are learned after the damage is already done.) That said, I’ve already run into several of the commonly discussed issues, like the abdomen fitment: Belt geometry that simply doesn’t work as-is Proportions that feel “close enough” until you really start comparing to screen references (like the thighs) This has led me to a bit of a crossroads: Follow the path others have taken and fabricate a belt from HIPS or similar material, abandoning the idea of a fully 3D-printed suit Continue hunting for (or investing in) more accurate files that solve these issues cleanly I’ve seriously considered dropping the ~$200 USD on MPSB files for the more accurate arms and thighs, but I’m trying to be intentional about where I throw money after already printing (wasting) so much plastic. I also picked up PPCDigital’s files on Etsy (regretting this), which at first glance seemed more accurate—but I’m now realizing that several parts being merged together (like the kidney plate fused to the back plate) introduces a whole different set of challenges, especially when accuracy and mobility are the goal. At this point, I’ve accepted that this project will involve reprinting more than I originally planned—possibly a lot more. What began as an office Halloween costume has officially turned into a full-blown screen-accuracy obsession. My immediate goal is still Level One approval, but I’m absolutely building with Level Two in mind for the future—once I convince my wife that a proper flight suit, boots, gloves, and all the other “small” details are completely reasonable purchases. I’ll start dropping photos and progress updates below, beginning with: • Current helmet reprint progress using TKModder’s updated files • Printed Akira armor laid out for fit and comparison • Notes on what I’m likely to reprint vs. salvage Thanks to everyone who’s paved the way before me—and especially to those who’ve documented what not to do. I’m fully aware this is a long uphill battle, but I’m committed to doing it right. Onward. Also, if you have suggestions... I'm all ears. (Anyone know if MPSB abdomen is the "same" at the new-ERA TK's? asking for a friend...)