starsaber25's MTK ANH Stunt Build

[fuumantroop[TK]]

Congrats! Hoping to join the ranks soon as well!

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

So let's see your submission photos!

 

-Eric

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Congratulations 10466. Hopefully I'm not far behind.....

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Hey thanks everyone for the comments.  It just awesome that the work has paid off so far.

 

 

Congrats! Now go west young man and troop. 

 

Also... you forgot the 4th milestone... EIB. 

 

-Eric

 

Yeah Eric I'm hoping to accomplish the 4th milestone.  Thats what I'm going to work for very soon.  I have to first do my DVH E-11 build.  Anyway you want to see my photos huh?  Well here ya go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there they are.  From looking at the pictures I certainly need to do some type of velcro on the boots and shins.  When I first put them on after making adjustments to the thighs I thought everything looked good.  But if you move one inch then your suit moves as well and my shins started to ride up.

 

The one thing I need to know from you experienced trooping troopers.  When I move from one side of my kitchen to the other my armor gets all out of whack.  When you guys go trooping for any period of time, how do you keep your armor looking neat?  I feel like if and when I ever troop my armor is going to look like a total disaster.  My shin will be up in my crotch!  My shoulder bell will be up in my helmet.  My helmet will be under my chest plate.  I guess its just part of being out there and you can't expect to look great the whole time.

 

So anyway that is pretty much it for my build.  Yes I am aiming to take it to EIB and I know of a few adjustments that need to be made but does anyone have any critiques that will help me get to that milestone?  The next big part I'm going to tackle is my blaster.  Then I will start to wrap up my build thread and I will expose my cost of this journey to any aspiring troopers out there. 

 

Again thanks for all of the comments.

[fuumantroop[TK]]

You could use small bits of foam to keep your shins from going up your, umm, COD lol! Shoulder bells , you can make a hook out of ABS on that keeps them on your biceps.

 

I have yet to troop, as i am still building, but thats pretty much what i got out of my research

[maxsteele[TK]]

Congrats on your TK ID!  Get out there and enjoy trooping!  I'm looking forward to seeing your EIB application.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Hmmm. To me it looks like your ab plate can go up more which would make more room for your thighs to come up so they're not getting caught on the sniper knee. The only issue with that is then lining up your ab and kidney... and it might bring your butt plate up too high. 

 

When is your first troop? Feel free to hop Orient ferry and come up to Providence for Rhode Island Comicon Nov 1/2  

 

-Eric

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Hey Eric. I don't know when my first troop is. I'm actually jumping on the orient ferry tomorrow to go to Foxwoods for the night. The catch is that will be my last night out for quite some time. My wife is due with our third kid in the beginning of October. She is being nice enough to let me take my 6 year old to comic con in nyc soon after.

 

Time is going to become real limited soon!

 

It's funny though. It would probably be easier for me to go to providence then to nyc!

[starsaber25[Admin]]

So I will probably do some local Halloween stuff before any real trooping

[mjrose927[TK]]

The newer TKboots have a pretty high ankle but look narrower. Please don't buy caboots.

 

Other folks use these same boots too.

 

I may have missed it in the thread (lazy tapatalker) but have you worn your shins around with your boots yet?

 

-Eric

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is wrong with CABoots???

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

I'm not a fan of the seam. I prefer the clean look of something a little more like the screen used ones. They're also not approvable for centurion if that's a thing you're into.

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11412-tkboots-vs-caboots/

 

-Eric

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mjrose927[TK]]

It might also be caused by the fact you have too much extra room at the bottom of your thigh (around the knee). Then the solution would be to unglue the back cover stripe, taper more the thigh than it was at the bottom, but without changing the fit at the top, and reglue the cover stripe. 

The sniper knee plate shouldn't be able to get stuck under your thigh anymore because there simply won't be enough space for it.

 

Are there more tutorials or threads that discuss or show these type of details?  I have been looking for examples of this type of discussion.  Have i just been looking in the wrong place?

[The5thHorseman[TK]]

Are there more tutorials or threads that discuss or show these type of details?  I have been looking for examples of this type of discussion.  Have i just been looking in the wrong place?

 

This HOWTO might answer some of your questions:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/tutorials/article/22-howto-assemble-thighs-butt-join-with-cover-strips/

[starsaber25[Admin]]

So I know I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean that I haven't been trying to make any progress on my armor.  I actually have been working on my DVH e-11 kit and I am just about done.  I have to add the t-tracks.  I did not do a build thread or post progress pics for this because I wasn't confident in this part of the build and there are so many great build threads already.  I think it came together alright.  I wouldnt' say it is great or anything.  I don't really plan on ever taking it out of the house because I just have a thing about taking something that looks exactly like a real gun out into the public.  I'm thinking of buying one of those new rubies stormtrooper blasters.  Anyway here it is without the t tracks installed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So when I add the t tracks in, will this blaster pass for EIB and Centurion?    Anyway, I think I am just about ready to apply for EIB.  So I will keep everyone posted on that.  I will be wrapping the build thread up soon.

 

Thanks again for looking and the comments.

[Dday[501st]]

What I would say is the scope rail is too high, you should cut drop it in the front by about half and the counter bracket seems to not be flat.

 

Also, the counter should be more forward so it is closer to the power cells. It seems the counter is a little far back compared to the scope, and the scope is a tad far back, like 1.2 inch each.

 

These are details that I do not think will stop you from EIB/Cent but will likely be mentioned.

 

Details, details. You've done a good job so far, just minor tweaks left... and the tracks!

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Ok so I got the T Tracks in.  The E-11 is finished for the time being.  Thank you Derrek for your input.  I will make those changes at some point.  I guess I gotta say that at this point I need to take a break from building things.  My original deadline for this project was to be ready with everything by halloween.  I have accomplished that goal and as far as all of the little changes go, I will start to make them over the course of December, January, and February.  Here is the blaster complete for the time being:

 

 

 

 

I hope this is enough to get me through to the higher levels for the time being.  As far as I can tell from the CRL it will be.

[Dday[501st]]

What you can do to help flatten the tracks a bit is wrap them with some rubber bands in near the middle to they are pressed down flat some.

 

Then very carefully take a heat gun and run it over it (always moving) to slowly heat them up. Stay away from where the rubber bands are so they don't warp the track. What will happen is as the ends heat up a bit the pressure from the rubber bands will help to flatten them and get the bends right.

 

I stress, carefully, it cal all go wrong badly if you aren't.

 

Another option would be to use tape vs rubber bands. Just make sure you put the tape on upside down and as tight as possible. If it's right side up and the glue is on the tracks, it will stick onto the tracks something fierce due to the heat.

 

You're good by the CRL though, I think.

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Hey Derrek thanks for that.  I was working on those T Tracks for a couple of hours trying to get them right.  The last thing I wanted to do was to mess them up beyond repair so I kind of just gave up.  But your idea sounds like it will work great.  I'll certainly give that a try. 

 

One other thing I learned after building my armor is that my shins would ride up as I walked around.  I followed some other suggestions and I think I came up with my solution.  I have walked around using this velcro set up and I think it is working for me so far.  It probably wont last forever as the velcro will finally just peel off but its a start. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok So I think that will be it for now.  I'm going to get my new sets of photos ready for a possible EIB run. 

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Ok so I'm going to more or less wrap up my build thread at this point.  I just wanted to share some things that I encountered along this journey with you all.

 

First thing up is that I absolutely 1,000,000,000% recommend to all of the new aspiring troopers out there to build their own set of armor.  Like many I was more leaning towards getting a suit that was already built from makers that offer that service.  Or even contacted a couple of members on here to inquire about them building a suit for me.  I am SO happy that I did not go that route and built it myself.  There is no question that there is a complete satisfaction value when you sit there and look at your armor and you can say that you built that.  There is no question that if i got a set of armor built for me that I would have had to make some alterations some how or some way.  Which to me would have been counter productive to having a suit made for me.  I was under the impression that if I went ahead and got a suit made for me that it would absolutely fit with no problems and I would never have to touch it.  Well now after building my own I just can't ever imagine how that is possible.

 

As far as skills go, I would never say that I am a very handy person.  I have very basic skills when it comes to fixing things around the house or building things.  When I decided to go ahead and buy a kit I was very nervous about it.  This hobby does cost a lot of money and I was very fearful about ruining something because I wouldn't be skillful enough to complete this.  I can certainly tell anyone that it is true what people say.  After you make your first few cuts the stress of it all does go away.  I ended up using the score and snap method and after a while I can tell you that I got comfortable cutting the pieces that I even stopped drawing a cut lines.  I made a mark on one side of the piece and then the other.  Took out my shop knife and just cut it.  Obviously I didn't do this with important pieces that require perfection like cover strips.  After I completed this armor I feel that anyone with a steady hand and a knife can do this.

 

Now on to my MTK kit.  I know it happened to me and it probably happens to many new people but of course you read all of these glorious thoughts on the expensive armors out there.  They truely appear to be amazing kits and they look fantastic when they are complete.  Of course I wanted to go that route when I got serious about getting armor.  However, I really feel that my MTK kit is just as amazing even though it doesn't appear to get the same respects.  MTK was a great guy to deal with and the kit arrived very fast.  Now I am no armor expert but when I look at my completed armor I am super happy with it.  What I see is a super awesome stormtrooper looking in the mirror and I think I will look just as great as anyone else out there.  I certainly feel that any armor out there can look amazing if the person building it does it with care, takes their time, and pays attention to detail.  My armor is no where near perfect but I built it to the best of my ability and I am again very happy with the outcome.  I am sure that the fine tuning never stops.

 

Another question that I have seen asked lately and even Derrek (Dday) started a thread on it is how much will this adventure cost me?  Well it depends on how great you want your armor to look.  I wanted my armor to look good and I would say that I was a modest spender.  I didn't go for all of the bells and whistles out there but I also didn't cheap out on it.  If I needed brackets well then I bought the brackets.  If I needed TD clips well then I bought them instead of trying to make them.  After adding this whole thing up the other day I totaled $1588.54.  Now I would be lying if I didn't say that there is probably another $100 that should be added on to that total because there are some things that I would just grab if I was at Home Depot or something that I didn't keep a receipt for.  This can really be an expensive hobby but again I think that this price is average for the lower priced armors out there.  You can certainly do this for A LOT more or you can do this for less.

 

I also just want to say thanks to the people who helped me along the way on this forum.  This forum really is great and so are the people here.  Hopefully this site will continue to save many new recruits such as myself from making dreaded mistakes.  I can't lie, I was looking at Jedi Robe a few years ago and luckily for me I just didn't think the time was right and never fell into that trap.  Also thanks to all of the people out there that provide the products to make this hobby easier.  I can't imagine how much time some of you spend on your products and it really shows when you order something on here and you receive it and you go wow this is awesome.

 

So that is it.  Now I'll see how long I can go without wanting to do some other project!  Might have to get all of the stuff to go ESB when I'm in that type of mood!  HA!

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Nice work on your build!

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Hey everyone!  Its been since October when I last updated my post.  I went EIB and then decided it was time to take a break from building for the holidays.  I have still been around the boards daily though and have been staying up to date with peoples current builds.

 

Well I have finally decided to try and take my armor to Centurion so my thread is back for now,  I took all of Steve's (Gazmosis) suggestions to heart and want to really try and resolve my issues from my EIB submission.  The first thing I have done is tried to fix my scope rail on my E-11.  It was too high off of the barrel.  It used to look like this:

 

 

and now it looks like this...

 

 

I think its much better but hopefully Steve will comment on it when he sees this along with anyone else.

 

Next was my shin closure in the back.  I have had a heck of a time with the shins closing especially my left.  Well I figured out why by looking closely at them and I found this!

 

 

Thats a big difference in the openings.  I have already changed the elastic from black to white and I made the cover strip wider then before.  It already looks better but does anyone have any suggestions on how I might fix this? 

 

Thanks for your help!

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Scope rail looks better. Can you trim down a bit of the rear sight to get the rear a bit lower? It's a bit like it's got a downward curve, instead of an upward curve now.

 

The MTK shins are (were) very thin. I didn't discuss it in a lot of detail in my thread, but I gave them a good soaking in boiling water to reshape them a bit, but I also added about 10mm of ABS to the rear (is hidden by the cover strip) to give me a bit more material to bend around. It did help quite a bit. You can just see the faint line running toward the drilled hole in this pic.

 

[starsaber25[Admin]]

Scope rail looks better. Can you trim down a bit of the rear sight to get the rear a bit lower? It's a bit like it's got a downward curve, instead of an upward curve now.

 

The MTK shins are (were) very thin. I didn't discuss it in a lot of detail in my thread, but I gave them a good soaking in boiling water to reshape them a bit,

 

Thanks for the response Ian. Yeah I could work on the scope more.

 

What did you use to reshape them? When we all followed Adams advice with the biceps we used a pvc coupling or something like that. What works best here?

[I'm Batman[501st]]

You could certainly do similar, with a different size pipe. I don't think I used anything... Just a hot bath, then shaped a little with my hands. It didn't need much, and that extra 10mm add on helped. (I do have chicken legs though...)