Sha Sha's (Slow) KB FOTK Build for Short Troopers

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, shashachu said:

I actually messaged the creator of the CGTrader files, asking if they could split the holster from the thigh, and they did! So I'll probably check the measurements and use that one instead.

 

Excellent

 

Could be a good one to share in the 3D file depository area https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/202-3d-file-depository/

[shashachu[TK]]

1 hour ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Excellent

 

Could be a good one to share in the 3D file depository area https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/202-3d-file-depository/

Unfortunately since it's a paid set of files, I wouldn't feel right uploading it to the forums here. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

27 minutes ago, shashachu said:

Unfortunately since it's a paid set of files, I wouldn't feel right uploading it to the forums here. 

Sorry I thought the file was one of the free ones, no problems 

[shashachu[TK]]

Made a quick shoulder tab in Tinkercad:

 

 

 

 

You'll notice it overlaps the cutout for the shoulder strapping so I may modify and reprint it, or just adjust the slot/tab positioning. But should work out well.

In the last photo you'll also see some markings where I am considering cutting down the shoulder bell. KB v1 kits are known to have oversized shoulder bells, and I have a friend with a Denuo Novo kit who is going to lend me a shoulder bell so I can compare the sizing.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

On 7/28/2025 at 12:40 PM, shashachu said:

I went ahead and tinkcercad-ed a simple holster mount. If i were smart I would have put the screw holes in as well, but alas. 

 

 

I'd be happy to send you the holster files that I worked with Mr.Poopie to develop, which include the holster riser, if you'd like to give those a try. Let me know!

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

8 hours ago, TheRascalKing said:

 

I'd be happy to send you the holster files that I worked with Mr.Poopie to develop, which include the holster riser, if you'd like to give those a try. Let me know!

 

 

 

Oh that would be great! Somehow I missed those. I will PM you my email address.

[shashachu[TK]]

One bit of progress. I sewed the elbow and shoulder gaskets together for ease of dressing. Since I didn't want to take everything apart, I just hand sewed it. Also strangely I like the way the shoulder gaskets fit me better when I wear them backwards, so that's how I'm wearing them in the photo. I added a couple elastic straps at the now-back. I ordered the gaskets with additional strapping for the shoulder/torso, but it's a bit too bulky for me so I dismantled it and will be reusing the strapping to hold up the ab, and I separated the waist belt to hold up the thighs.

 

 

 

[X] Sew the elbow and shoulder gaskets together

[ ] Shoulder strapping

[ ] Ab strapping

[ ] Shoulder/bicep strapping

[ ] Thigh strapping

[ ] Temp butt strapping

[ ] Temp cod strapping

[ ] Temp helmet padding

[ ] Temp chest/back connection

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I went the sewn together way, so much easier for dressing, I also added a loop of elastic around the fronts so I can hold them when slipping the armor pieces over, then I tuck it into the forearm when everything is on. 

[shashachu[TK]]

52 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I went the sewn together way, so much easier for dressing, I also added a loop of elastic around the fronts so I can hold them when slipping the armor pieces over, then I tuck it into the forearm when everything is on. 

Ah, good idea.

[shashachu[TK]]

 

 

 

A few questions after some test fitting:

 

1) Where do you trim the edges of the posterior plate? ie how far around the sides of the body does it go?

 

2) Does the bottom need to have any return edge? I may want to trim mine down a bit.

 

3) Does anyone have any good guides for the shape of the tops of the thighs? Should I try to follow the shape of the cod and posterior pieces as much as possible? I'm going to have to trim them down quite a bit, I think.

 

I already trimmed the sides of the ab down under the armpit area but I think I'm going to trim it even more because I have to hike it up quite high in order for the cod and posterior to not be way too low, and besides being quite uncomfortable, you can actually see it peeking out under my armpits.

 

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Here are my thoughts on ab trimming. In addition to the top, I noticed I left quite a bit of material at the lower kidney so I'll probably trim it. I noticed in other builds that there is some space between the bottom of the kidney and the top of the posterior, whereas mine currently overlap.

 

 

 

The bottom pic was taken in 2019 and the top pic was taken last night - you can see how much the ab yellowed by me letting it sit out in my garage (which has windows.)

 

Some additional random progress:

 

Here is one shoulder tab and the shoulder strapping snap installed:

 

 

I forgot I haven't yet sanded the outside of the yoke (the way I printed it, that was the part on top of supports) so that will be slightly unfun to finish:

 

 

I also used my trusty heat gun to reshape the posterior. I'll probably do a bit more. I was originally going to use an 850 posterior piece since it's smaller but the plastic is paper thin so I decided against it.

 

 

Here's a comparison of both pieces prior to reshaping:

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2025 by shashachu

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Awesome work Sha Sha !! 

[shashachu[TK]]

Some more miscellaneous updates:

 

I cut down the sides of the ab piece a lot and it's much more comfortable:

 

 

 

 

Despite what I'd said before about the posterior piece, I am actually going to go with the 850 posterior; even with a lot of heat shaping, the KB one is just too big.

 

 

 

I went ahead and added the snaps to the top of the posterior, and I will add a lot of ABS to the back of it to reinforce the extremely thin plastic.

 

I also did the strapping for both the posterior and cod:

 

 

 

 

I also added a couple magnets to the TD back plate to keep it in place. Now it snaps into place with a very satisfying clack:

 

 

I also reused some of the extra strapping from the shoulder gaskets to make shoulder straps from the ab piece:

 

 

After trying the torso on a bunch of times, I'm strongly considering cutting the shoulder gaskets down a bunch in order to remove a lot of the bulk. Any reason I shouldn't?

 

 

Next big step will be to cut down the tops of the thighs a bunch since they're too long.

 

Slow and steady progress!

Edited August 16, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

My daughter has also been 'helping' with my build :)

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

1 hour ago, shashachu said:

Some more miscellaneous updates:

 

I cut down the sides of the ab piece a lot and it's much more comfortable:

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Sha Sha looking good. Sorry for being absent. I spotted something, I think your Ab boxes are a bit too tall. Here's a few reference photos. It might be worth consulting with your GML. Get their opinion.  Keep up the good work 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, shashachu said:

 

 

 

 

My rubber gaskets are curved similar, they could have been a little wider at the base as they can pull out if I move my arms too far up, perhaps cut down in stages

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

11 hours ago, ukswrath said:

Hey Sha Sha looking good. Sorry for being absent. I spotted something, I think your Ab boxes are a bit too tall. Here's a few reference photos. It might be worth consulting with your GML. Get their opinion.  Keep up the good work 

 

Ah like they are too thick? I hadn't noticed before. I'll check out some more reference photos, thanks! Unfortunately one is super glued on already but I can probably rip it off if necessary 😅

 

Edit: I misremembered - it's just E6000! So all boxes are removed now. Will work on trimming them down.

Edited August 16, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

11 minutes ago, shashachu said:

 

Ah like they are too thick? I hadn't noticed before. I'll check out some more reference photos, thanks! Unfortunately one is super glued on already but I can probably rip it off if necessary 😅

 

Yes looking at the photos they do seem a bit bulky. I'll see what I can do to cut them down. Thanks, Tony!

 

The only tough thing is that KB and has little square bumps, not indents, for each belt box and it was already a little tough fitting them over. I will do my best.

Edited August 16, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

5 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

 

My rubber gaskets are curved similar, they could have been a little wider at the base as they can pull out if I move my arms too far up, perhaps cut down in stages

 

 

 

Yes I'm definitely worried about cutting them down too much so I will do it in stages. thanks!

[shashachu[TK]]

I trimmed the thighs down a lot, and used the scraps to reinforce the posterior piece. It's much stiffer now, in a good way:

 

 

Per Tony's feedback, I also cut the thickness of the ab boxes down quite a lot. Annoyingly, the huge globs of milliput I used got in the way of the new shorter boxes, so I had to dremel them down as best I could. This also means I'll probably just end up gluing the boxes on that I had to cut the nylon bolts off of. But I do think they look much better now.

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

I also printed up the holster base from MrPoopie / @TheRascalKing's holster files and it was a perfect fit. Much nicer than sanding a curve into the block I printed initially.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice fit 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

5 hours ago, shashachu said:

I trimmed the thighs down a lot, and used the scraps to reinforce the posterior piece. It's much stiffer now, in a good way:

 

 

Per Tony's feedback, I also cut the thickness of the ab boxes down quite a lot. Annoyingly, the huge globs of milliput I used got in the way of the new shorter boxes, so I had to dremel them down as best I could. This also means I'll probably just end up gluing the boxes on that I had to cut the nylon bolts off of. But I do think they look much better now.

 

 

 

Heck yea! Looks awesome

 

[shashachu[TK]]

So last night I finally tried on the entire suit (minus knee armor, spats, and some other details) and this is the first time I'm actually feeling like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

First I couldn't get the shins on, so I tried with everything else. (These are all screenshots from a video because I didn't have anyone taking photos.)

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't mean for my hair to be sticking out :)

 

Then I finally managed to in slip into the shins and boots, but the shins were not held closed by anything:

 

 

 

A few observations:

 

- It's been a recurring problem that the back plate wants to rotate forward. Honestly I think it's partly that the back is very slightly undersized, but I like the way it looks and I also don't want to reprint it, so I'm going to try to make it work. I have some foam to keep the top away from my back, so I'll add some more, but I'm also thinking of adding magnets to keep it attached to the TD plate. It might also resolve itself once I have an attachment between the sides of the chest and back. 

 

- Shoulder bells seem way too large

 

- Shins seem a little long/big. Probably could use some more heat shaping, but I'm going to try trimming them down from the top as well.

 

- Some overlap still between thighs and butt (although it's hard to see because my butt plate is black).

 

- How do you all attach the biceps? Is it just the velcro on the gaskets or do you strap it to the shoulder bells?

 

And for your enjoyment, a blooper reel:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tii1HRxApUk737Jw9

 

Clearly my (temporary) Velcro is insufficient to hold the chest plate on :)

 

There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm feeling excited.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

That's a lot of progress!!! Looking great Sha Sha!