will.i.am Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Hi Everyone! I'll spare you the back story but basically I've always wanted to be a stormtrooper, and now my dream is finally coming true! Starting this thread so you can follow my progress and give me advice along the way. Please be liberal with the advice, tips, and tricks. Hoping to make expert, maybe centurion down the road some, but most importantly I just want to get trooping! After some research and perusing the forums on here I decided to go with an NE Kit (price, speed, and general build-ability (sp?) led me to pick this kit. Trooper Gear was able to help me out and I was lucky enough to catch a current run. My armor arrived in just under a week!! THE OBLIGATORY BIG BROWN BOX PICTURE!!! AHHHHH Very tightly packed, really appreciate the care that went into wrapping each individual piece. Oh boy there is a ton more to this than what I had pictured in my head. I have been reading build threads for a while now but its a whole different story to unwrap everything and see it all staring you you in the face. Came with some nice decals too. Not sure if I want to paint these instead of using the decals, thoughts? Finishing strips. Gonna have to cut these down to 5/8" for the arms, 7/8" for the legs, and 1" for the shin backs ... right? Awesome detail on the HOV mics Hand plates! I think I've got everything figured out, the kit came with some nice extras: hero bubble lenses, TD shoulder straps, and then these little guys ... not 100% sure what they are for. ((x2) any ideas? More supplies!! Got a few more goodies from Trooper Gear (Holster, canvas belt, frown mesh, blaster ring, magnets, and a single rivet?). The magnets are pretty tiny, I think I'll have to up the size on those to have them be any help. My e-11 blaster mod kit from doopy dos, pretty quick turn around on this one (I'd say just under a week), made it through customs safe and sound! Pretty nice detail on the pieces. I'll have to be careful when spraying so I don't obscure the details. My first walmart and lowes run netting me all these goodies ... The kit came with ABS cement but after some research I decided to use the E600 glue just in case (cross your fingers no) I mess up and have to adjust some pieces. Under suit from amazon, opted for the 2 piece get up to make it easier to use the john while trooping. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong top. I dont think the seams on the shirt are going to fly :/ What do you think? Pants have a small logo on the ankle but Im pretty sure the boots will cover that up. Still need to get some snaps, boots, TD clips, and a neck seal. Been in contact with a few people about neck seals, just need to pull the trigger on that. Debating on making my own clips, I've got some time to decide on that though. As far as boots go I'm torn. I appreciate the authenticity of dyed boots but am leaning towards something that looks pristine. CABoots and TK Boots seem to be the only options. I havent been too impressed with what I have read about CABoots, durability, overall comfort, and price. That being said TKBoots wont have my size in stock for another 7 weeks. Decisions, decisions ... Enough talk lets get building! ... here it goes! So I started off just taping all the pieces together with blue tape to get a feel for where they all go and what kind of trimming is going to be needed to get these things to fit right. The helmet is going to be particularly tough IMO. A lot of trimming to get the ear pieces to fit right. I've noticed a lot of the NE Helmets have them mounted to low. Also a pretty large gap on the sides, from what I've read trimming should take care of this. Forearms are going to take a bit of trimming to get to fit right. Surprisingly (?) the biceps gave me the most trouble. I had to re tape these a few times to get the flares and right and left to fit properly. Still a little snug around the top part of the bicep but I think once I trim the returns off they will fit a lot better. you can see here how the pieces really dig into the inside of my upper bicep I don't know if this is just me but it looks like one of the bumps (?) on the shoulder straps is slightly bigger than the others. I cant find if this is supposed to go towards the front or the back? Maybe its just my eyes playing tricks on me but I measured it and it seems that one is slllliggghhtly bigger than the rest. Front or back? The ammo boxes fit together super snugly, I don't know if I will have to glue these at all. Im actually a little worried that I wont be able to get these apart to rivet them on to the straps ... The thermal detonator, the gap on the grey tube seems to be a bit on the large side. Thoughts? Actual dimensions on the gap? Calves .. the top seems to fit well but Ill need to do a bit of trimming around the ankle. Im wondering if I should be wearing shoes or boots when I mark and trim these? How far over the boots do these sit? Thighs! Maybe because I was wearing baggy gym shorts but these were really tight and long on me. Made it really difficult to walk around. I couldnt really bend my knee. Chest with buttons taped on. A little worried about the seams showing around the edges of these pieces All stacked up ready for another work day. I read that it is a good idea to go ahead and glue the back piece of the helmet before trimming anything. Roughed up both sides with some sandpaper, glued, taped, magnets applied (they are pretty weak not sure how much they are doing) , and clamped ... now I just need to wait 24 hrs ... Well that will do it for the first post, busy week / weekend ahead of me life wise but am hoping to crank on sunday and get some more pieces trimmed and glued. Im thinking I will start by trimming all the returns off the forearms, biceps, and legs. Good idea? Yes, no? Thanks in advance for all the help and comments!! Here is a link to my entire photo bucket album with more photos ( I know seriously?! more photos?!?). http://s1363.photobucket.com/user/wtrakas/library/?sort=3&page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeMaxim[TK] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 and then these little guys ... not 100% sure what they are for. ((x2) any ideas? From top (if I remember the order correctly. Answering on phone). Desert Trooper sniper plate. ESB hand guards Two sets of "button/rivet"-covers for the plastic-canvas belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.i.am Posted July 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 From top (if I remember the order correctly. Answering on phone). Desert Trooper sniper plate. ESB hand guards Two sets of "button/rivet"-covers for the plastic-canvas belt. Thanks! I noticed the button/rivet covers after reading through a few more threads. Interesting on the ESB hand guards, they seem huuuge. And good to know on the TD sniper plate, I've been considering converting this to a SandTrooper down the roads so I'll make sure to keep these pieces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreD[TK] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Looking great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeMaxim[TK] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Thanks! I noticed the button/rivet covers after reading through a few more threads. Interesting on the ESB hand guards, they seem huuuge. And good to know on the TD sniper plate, I've been considering converting this to a SandTrooper down the roads so I'll make sure to keep these pieces Glad I could help. I find it surprising that there's no "In this box you should find theses parts"-list. Especially considering how thought through the kit is in respect to supplying extras and variants to select which way you want to go with the kit (I.e. TK, TD, stunt, hero, ANH, ESB, ROTJ). Would relieve some of the confusion and frustration of not being able to quickly identify and check received items. I had some issues with this so I speak of experience. It's quite overwhelming, mostly in a good way, when you get the box and start laying out the pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.i.am Posted July 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Agreed, a parts list would have been helpful. The whole thing was pretty overwhelming at first. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it though. In regards to hero vs stunt I've been debating it for a while now. I think overall I like the look of the hero helmet better (lower brow line, bubble lens, & small frown) but I was wondering if anyone had any experiencing modifying the frown to make it more hero like. How hard would it be to fill in some of the teeth? And then does that become and issue getting the paint to match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtrippler[TK] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Working on my NE kit right now too. On the ab buttons, trim those down - go look at reference pictures. I painted my helmet - except I do work in a sign shop so I was able to cut out the tube stripes from sign vinyl. Thinking of making cut-out tube stripes to sell as I don't know how others cleanly do this. Seams on your under suit might show, if they do you'll have to find something else. You can wait until you're more into the test fitting to see if you have to go get something else. I got mine from east bay - they have lots of sales and you can get them cheap. Cut the shoulder straps down - see reference pics as they are pretty close to the bumps - and yes one end will have a larger bump, that side will attach to the front. Good luck with your build. And look into hooking up with members of your local garrison as most will be more than willing to help you out. My stuff sat out over a month because I didn't know where to begin - then a local member helped me get started and I've been working a little bit each night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmosis[501st] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Keep in mind that you will not be wearing the armor as is. You will need to do significant trimming to all parts to get it to fit you. This will change the appearance of the parts as you have them now. The one pic that you have of the bicep curving in towards the middle, that may go away completely after you trim the parts to fit your arms. You can also trim away quite a bit of that return edge. This should be about 1/4 - 3/8 inch. I think you have the wrong thigh on the wrong leg thus the power pack is on the wrong thigh. Each thigh has a side that is higher side ( the outside of the thigh) and a side that swoops down in a curve to accommodate the cup of the cod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtrippler[TK] Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Yeah your thigh is on the wrong leg, gazmosis is right - it should curve lower on the insides - so therefore the battery pack would be wrong right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brown1215 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Any progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyFromBUF Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I am also building an NE kit, and I agree that the Thermal Detonator may be a bit on the long side. Have you gotten any feedback on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyFromBUF Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 I am also building an NE kit, and I agree that the Thermal Detonator may be a bit on the long side. Have you gotten any feedback on that? I ended up trimming about 1/8 inch off the pipe. The CRL for 501st says that the TD should be "approximately 7.5 inches". I measured mine, and the gray pipe was 7.5" before I added the white end caps. With the caps on it looked too long to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyFromBUF Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 I noticed on your undersuit that the shirt has some white stitching on it. Do you have a plan to change this? The UnderArmor shirt I bought has the same thing. I tried to cover the stitching with black marker in one spot, but I'm not sure if it was enough to fix it... Just thought I would ask since we kind of have the same issue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardowan Posted September 7, 2013 Report Share Posted September 7, 2013 bookmarked your build thread. very helpful info and fantastic pics! look forward to following this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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