My TM Build begins..

[Ximenia]

I really didn't want to have to cut the top of the thighs, but it was the only way to get them to fit, without trimming them they went down past my knees no matter how high I attempted to pull them up. It was the only way. But length wise they are fine now, and like I said, the right thigh fits me just fine. I'm confident I can fix the left thigh without too much trouble, it's just super annoying.

 

And thank you very much. Luckily all of my friends were stuck at work during the marathon, as was I. We're a tough city, and everyone is handling it quite well.

[Geaux Saints[TK]]

As much as I tried to make other adjustments and avoid it, I had to cut some of the top of my TM thighs as well. When I pulled them up enough to clear the knee area, they dug way into my groin. Not comfortable at all.

 

I'm glad to see you did your shins with your boots on. I didn't think about it until I did a full body test fit and they were pretty snug at the ankles. Looking good so far!

[Ximenia]

I was able to fix the thigh that was too small, I glued strips of abs across the gap on the inside, then tested it to make sure it fit before gluing the cover strip on. I had to go with 25mm cover strips to cover the gap on the back, but at least it's not ruined.

 

Right now the cover strip is gluing, I will snap pics when that is done.

 

I also finally got around to doing the thermal detonator.. the clips were way easier to drill through and bend then I thought they would be. I was able to use a regular handheld drill and I bent them by hand.  I drilled a hole in the center under the faceplate to prevent an airlock, which makes it easy to remove the endcaps and use it to hold my keys.

 

I tried to tackle the chest/back yesterday.. I used a heat gun to try to form the chest more to my body type.. I was extremely careful with it, but it still managed to warp the plastic on one side. It's not terribly noticeable when I'm wearing it, just looks a bit battledamaged. (Still bugs me though)

 

The chest piece is still quite large on me and covers half of the buttons on the ab piece. I'm not sure if I should cut it Luke style, cut the neck out more or leave it the way it is and cut/remount the cod so the ab fits lower.

 

I will snap pics of everything when I get home tonight.

[troopermaster]

I would stay away from the heat gun. You really shouldn't need to heat any parts to change the shapes. You lose the original shape and end up warping the plastic as you have found out. If you are having any problems then you should ask for help or advise first. I will have a look at your photos when you post them to see if I can help

[Ximenia]

Yeah, I've been using the heat gun sparingly, but I've also been following some other short female troopers builds, and they also used the heat gun on the chest to make it more form fitting. Even though it's slightly warped, it does fit me waaaay better, doesn't stick out nearly as much as before.

[SW1]

What Paul said Nicole 

[Ximenia]

Here's some pictures that I promised. 

 

Thermal Det

 

 

 

And chest/back/ab in it's current situation. The way it is right now I can't fit my head through the opening, so I'll probably have to cut the neck hole bigger.

 

 

Here's the sides: The right side being the one that got warped.. if anyone has any suggestions on fixing it I'd love to hear it, if not I'll just deal with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2013 by Ximenia

[troopermaster]

Your head isn't supposed to fit through the opening. You should be able to open the armour so you slip inside and close it. Try and go for a movie style strapping for the best fit. You don't have to use brackets and hooks, but if you put your straps in the same place as the original armour it will work better. Have it hinged on one side so you can slip in and out of the torso.

 

You can bring the chest and back plates higher by cutting the tabs on the top of each part so they do not meet or overlap as they might be now. You can cut the neck line lower on your chest to bring the chest even higher, but do that as a last resort. You can also cut the lower eges off the chest and back 'Luke style' if you have to. Wait until you are fully suited up before cutting any plastic though. It mght take a few test fittings before you get everything right.

 

I don't think there is anything you can do about the warping. Heating it again will make it worse so I would leave it alone. A strap from the back plate to the chest could have pulled the chest in at the sides. I know it's too late now but I think you should always get your armour built so the parts fit you comfortably and then wait until you have it all strapped up before commiting to cutting or heating anything. What you think looks big when worn seperately will probably look fine when worn with the rest of the armour.

[Ximenia]

Thanks for the advice Paul. I will start working on the strapping system now and get it all together before making any final adjustments. I'm sure I'll end up getting a new chest piece from you down the road, but this will have to do for now. (have a con in 3 weeks)

[Ximenia]

And it's done.. kind of.. I need to tweak some things to make it more comfortable to troop in. And paint the rivets white.. and I forgot to put white elastics over the shoulder straps.. remembered that step after my bucket was on. ><

 

If anyone has any suggestions for making the chest piece not so low on me that would be great.

 

 

 

Now, I really need to go clean my living room.

[TK-7980]

Your handguards are on incorrectly. Looks great as far as I can tell.

[TK-7980]

Actually your belt seems to be sitting a tad too low as well.

[Ximenia]

That's what I get for putting the hand plates on last

[Front-a-Little[TK]]

 

If anyone has any suggestions for making the chest piece not so low on me that would be great.

 

 

Congrats on completing stage 1 - initial build. And welcome to stage 2 - tweaking for the perfect fit. 

 

TK-7980 already mentioned the belt sitting too low. I'd keep the position of the belt and instead try to lower the torso a bit. That little curved rectangle below the belt button is supposed to be covered by the belt front. The belt front almost touches the torso button box on some reference troopers.

Also try to bring up the chest and back piece a bit. The shoulder strips don't need to lay on your shoulders and it's not a mistake if your helmet touches the chest plate later on. Have a look at some of the troopers of the tantive boarding party, especially the ones guarding Leia when she's talking to Vader for the first time. The chest bends out because the original strapping won't allow it to overlap the torso plate too much. Your neckseal should prevent the chest from pressing on your throat too much.

This should buy you some inches. If all that fails, as TM said before, there's the Luke-style chest.

 

Hope this helps, have fun !

[troopermaster]

I see a few things you can do to make the torso fit better and not over lap so much. These are only suggestions.

 

1. Cut the cod piece off the abdomen and reduce the height of the cod. This will allow you to bring the abdomen lower and have your belt in the correct position.

2. Trim the top of the butt plate and the lower edge of the kidney and reduce to match the abdomen. This will lower the back plate.

3. Trim the lower edge of the back plate.

4. Trim the lower edge of the chest plate.

 

All the above will make your torso shorter. If you decide to trim anything, do it in small increments and follow the original lines to keep the shape as close to the original as possible.

 

Your shoulder bell elastics need to be glued right to the edge of the bell and should be thicker and tigher so they do not look so flared. The ribbed shoulder straps could be glued lower down on your chest with 5 ribs glued down. This will make them sit better against your back plate as with a thin elsatic strap to hold them down. Your joining strips should not protrude past the armour.

 

Again, these are only suggestions, but they will help the armour fit your body.

[Ximenia]

Thanks Paul, 

 

 

I think I'm going to try steps 1 & 2 first. I really don't want to do the luke style cut unless I have to.

 

Hopefully I can get these last steps done without injuring myself. ( I took a snap to the eye when suiting up the first time) 

[Ximenia]

Is it ok to cut the back of the thigh to allow for better movement? I've seen some troopers with it cut, but is it acceptable for my eventual attempt at centurion? As it stands right now I can just barely walk in my armor, more of a waddle.. I don't want to be known as "TK Penguin" 

[Echo[TK]]

Yes it is acceptable. Many of the suits on film had the backs cut out. I went through my blu rays to be sure.

[Ximenia]

Patrick mentioned that I should try lowering the torso, and after staring at pictures of myself and on screen troopers I'm definitely in agreement, my cod piece seems too high up.

 

My issue with lowering the torso however is I'd have to move the kidney plate with it in order to keep it lined up and not completely redo my strapping system, and therefore the butt plate also will move lower, and if it moves any lower it will look really off and also dig into the back of my thighs when I walk. 

 

The best solution I've thought up is cutting the top of the butt plate a bit, it would keep everything in line and allow me to lower the torso, but since the belt isn't supposed to cover the seam, it will be cutting off some of the feature and I'm not sure if that's ok. Any thoughts?

Edited May 10, 2013 by Ximenia

[Locitus[Admin]]

I'm looking at overall fit of the armour and detail placements, not return edges on the back and butt for centurion.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ximenia]

I'd have to take off more than just the return edge though, probably at least an inch off the top of the butt plate.

[troopermaster]

You have to do what you have to do. The most important thing is to get the armour to fit you properly and worry about details later.