Sha Sha's (Slow) KB/850/3D printed FOTK Build for Short Troopers

[shashachu[TK]]

I had a bit of an epiphany, which is that I could place some foam on the inside of the bicep piece to keep it pushed out and away from the chest. I tried it out and it feels a lot better:

 

 

 

 

I'll always need to hold my arms out a little, but I no longer feel like I'm in a T-Pose.

 

 

Edited June 2 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

Onto more fitting. I knew that the thighs and butt armor overlapped pretty heavily, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how much:

 

 

 

 

The green tape was a way for me to sort of indicate where I might need to trim. There are actually 3 strips of tape, and you can see the upper one is completely covered. On the photo from the right side, you can also see that one of the belt boxes is even overlapping the holster. Additionally, if I trimmed the right thigh far enough to not overlap the butt, there wouldn't be any room to install the clip greeblie. I started to panic that maybe I'd need to move the entire holster down, but then I had the very obvious realization that there was no reason I needed to trim from the top - I could simply drop the thighs low enough to not overlap the butt, then trim the thighs from the bottom. In fact, in looking at reference photos I've collected from other people's builds, my holster is sitting pretty high compared to the bottom of the thigh armor:

 

 

So I went ahead and dropped the thighs, and trimmed them from the bottom. It turns out I had to trim a significant portion off:

 

 

After trying everything on, no more overlap!

 

 

 

 

 

My build does show more black above the thighs from the front than some other builds, but I think it looks ok, and actually if they were higher it would significantly impact my mobility.

 

It's partly a dressing issue, but it also looks like my knee armor is a bit on the large side so I'll likely trim it down. I didn't document it, but I also decided to switch to the 850 cod piece because I'd slightly overtrimmed the KB one and it bothered me.

 

Once I re-add strapping to the biceps, I should be ready for another full suit-up to see if I'm happy with how everything is sitting before moving on to painting!

[shashachu[TK]]

For the helmet paint - what finishes are the blacks on it? Brow looks matte, and the raised trapezoid area at the end of the frown looks glossy. Is the rest matte? Satin?

[shashachu[TK]]

Looking at my Anovos helmet, the raised trap and area around the eyes looks glossy. The trap at the temple (the flat one) looks glossy or maaaaybe satin (it's a sticker). The frown looks satin, and the stripes at the bottom as well as the brow look matte.

 

Does that sound correct?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

On 6/9/2026 at 9:48 AM, shashachu said:

Onto more fitting. I knew that the thighs and butt armor overlapped pretty heavily, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how much:

 

 

 

 

The green tape was a way for me to sort of indicate where I might need to trim. There are actually 3 strips of tape, and you can see the upper one is completely covered. On the photo from the right side, you can also see that one of the belt boxes is even overlapping the holster. Additionally, if I trimmed the right thigh far enough to not overlap the butt, there wouldn't be any room to install the clip greeblie. I started to panic that maybe I'd need to move the entire holster down, but then I had the very obvious realization that there was no reason I needed to trim from the top - I could simply drop the thighs low enough to not overlap the butt, then trim the thighs from the bottom. In fact, in looking at reference photos I've collected from other people's builds, my holster is sitting pretty high compared to the bottom of the thigh armor:

 

 

So I went ahead and dropped the thighs, and trimmed them from the bottom. It turns out I had to trim a significant portion off:

 

 

After trying everything on, no more overlap!

 

 

 

 

 

My build does show more black above the thighs from the front than some other builds, but I think it looks ok, and actually if they were higher it would significantly impact my mobility.

 

It's partly a dressing issue, but it also looks like my knee armor is a bit on the large side so I'll likely trim it down. I didn't document it, but I also decided to switch to the 850 cod piece because I'd slightly overtrimmed the KB one and it bothered me.

 

Once I re-add strapping to the biceps, I should be ready for another full suit-up to see if I'm happy with how everything is sitting before moving on to painting!

Looks great. Fantastic job on the adjustments.  The posterior and thigh clearances are all over the place between troopers. You found a perfect balance. Nice!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

3 hours ago, shashachu said:

Looking at my Anovos helmet, the raised trap and area around the eyes looks glossy. The trap at the temple (the flat one) looks glossy or maaaaybe satin (it's a sticker). The frown looks satin, and the stripes at the bottom as well as the brow look matte.

 

Does that sound correct?

I did a low gloss Satin, or semi flat on my entire helmet sections.

 

That said, If you have access to movie photos of the helmet, if not I can post some later today. 

[shashachu[TK]]

30 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

I did a low gloss Satin, or semi flat on my entire helmet sections.

 

That said, If you have access to movie photos of the helmet, if not I can post some later today. 

Thanks! I was looking in the gallery but it's hard for me to tell. If you have good screenshots or references, I'd appreciate it.

 

And re: the thigh clearance, I agree! I have been looking at a lot of builds and have seen anything from huge overlaps to large gaps. I'm glad you think mine looks ok.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I used satin black on most of my helmet with gloss around the eyes, here's a screen used helmet from Propstore

 

 

 

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

(nevermind)

Edited June 11 by shashachu

[ukswrath[Staff]]

5 hours ago, shashachu said:

Thanks! I was looking in the gallery but it's hard for me to tell. If you have good screenshots or references, I'd appreciate it.

 

And re: the thigh clearance, I agree! I have been looking at a lot of builds and have seen anything from huge overlaps to large gaps. I'm glad you think mine looks ok.

LFL

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Thanks! Looks to me around the eyes and both traps (raised and flat) are glossy, and the rest is satin?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

On 6/11/2026 at 4:58 PM, shashachu said:

Thanks! Looks to me around the eyes and both traps (raised and flat) are glossy, and the rest is satin?

Screen armor, yes, except the traps, I think those are glossy also. Take a closer look at the photos, it's bad lighting, I think.

[shashachu[TK]]

After readjusting the bicep strapping and trimming the knee armor, I decided to do a final full suit up before moving on to painting.

 

I didn't put a balaclava on so my hair is sticking out of my helmet, and for some reason my butt plate was sticking out (I think just a dressing issue because it's never happened before) but overall I'm really happy with where everything's at, and I can actually dress myself, although not that easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can't really tell in the photos, but I am wearing the shiny shorts as well.

 

Afterwards, I tackled a few miscellanous tasks like sanding down the seam in the back armor (I plastic-welded it after it broke) and added milliput to fill the divots and I shortened the thumb and first finger on my gloves.

 

I also decided to start tackling some painting, starting off with priming the cod and butt:

 

 

 

Where I live is always very windy in the afternoons, so to be honest it wasn't the best time to paint, but I was getting excited. You can see I painted in a small tent, but it was so windy the tent kept whipping around.

 

After letting the primer dry for 30 mins, I sanded with 800 grit to get a smoother surface, then I plan to hit it with the Behr paint tomorrow. I am also planning on spraying the entire armor with 2k clear, although I haven't purchased it yet.

[shashachu[TK]]

One other misc quality of life change. This whole time I've kept the ab piece whole because I can actually slip in and out of it. However, for ease of putting it on and off, I did finally decide to split it, and just add some elastic across the split. This way it should hold together, but as I'm taking it on and off, it will give me a little bit of extra room.

 

 

Tonight I also starting painted the chest piece with acetone-thinned Bondo spot filler in preparation of final surface prep:

 

 

I am using the method shown in this excellent video from my garrison mate, Colin: 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Fantastic job Sha Sha 

[shashachu[TK]]

18 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

Fantastic job Sha Sha 

thank you, Tony! I know I have a long way to go with the painting and then of course submission but I honestly never thought I'd get this far. I thought it was just one of those costumes that wasn't meant for someone my size. I appreciate all your cheerleading and advice over the past 8 years!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

5 minutes ago, shashachu said:

thank you, Tony! I know I have a long way to go with the painting and then of course submission but I honestly never thought I'd get this far. I thought it was just one of those costumes that wasn't meant for someone my size. I appreciate all your cheerleading and advice over the past 8 years!

My pleasure. Like you I have costumes still sitting in boxes. You're actually giving me inspiration to work on them 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Great job @shashachu  

[shashachu[TK]]

Since everything was set with the strapping and fit, I moved on to painting. The plan is Behr gloss paint for color, then 2k clear coat. Historically, I am _terrible_ at painting, but also when I was painting the SE-44C, I got really good and sanding out and polishing orange peel, so I'm pretty sure I can end up at something that looks reasonable.

 

I started with the butt and cod, then moved on to the knees and shoulders. As expected, it was orange peel galore (I think I'm spraying too far away?) but as the paint dried, I realized that not only was there orange peel, there were very visible scratches from when I sanded off the gloss from the ABS. I'd used 120 followed by 220 which I guess was too aggressive, but I even sanded to 400 on the shoulders before painting and could still see some scratches. 

 

 

I decided my best path forward was to sand off the paint, then use filler primer on all the ABS pieces. Certainly not what I wanted to do, but not a disaster.

 

Here is the cod with the paint sanded off:

 

 

Here is the butt, cod, knees, and chest (which is 3D printed so would need filler primer anyway) all with several coats of filler primer:

 

 

I'm happy with the nice smooth surface (this is pre-sanding)

 

 

I also saw that I will need to do a better job filling the seam on the outside of the forearms. The plan is to fill it with milliput.

 

 

Tomorrow I am planning on wet sanding all the pieces with filler primer with 600 and 800, then assessing to see if any additional filling is necessary.

I definitely have my work cut out for me!

Edited June 18 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

Although I ended up sanding it off, I am pleased that I was able to get a nice gloss on the knee armor yesterday. Unfortunately I don't recall what I did differently haha!

 

Edited June 18 by shashachu

[TheSwede[TK]]

Nice work, slow ’n steady wins the race 

I’d be tempted to round off the top of the left thigh though. I think it would better match the right, unless there are some angles of the photo making it look different. 

[shashachu[TK]]

 

10 hours ago, TheSwede said:

Nice work, slow ’n steady wins the race 

I’d be tempted to round off the top of the left thigh though. I think it would better match the right, unless there are some angles of the photo making it look different. 

 

Good point. The shape of the thigh changes a bit depending on how it's rotated but I'll take a look and try to match them a little better. I always forget the FO suits are not all wonky and asymmetric like OT :)

[shashachu[TK]]

Posting a quick update. Things are moving along, albeit slowly. Overall it's been going well to paint the ABS parts after they've been sprayed with filler primer. I'm still not great with spraying so getting some orange peel, eg here on the knee armor:

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Just a quick update. It's been going well to paint over the ABS that has been sprayed with filler primer. No more scratch marks. I'm still not great with spraying gloss so some orange peel, eg on this knee armor.

 

 

However, after wet sanding with 1500, 2000, then polishing with a plastic polish + microfiber sponge, I'm getting a nice smooth gloss that should be ready for clear:

 

 

The forearm seam is much smoother after the milliput:

 

 

One small setback is that many of the seams on my 3D printed parts have been splitting. I did not plastic weld all of them, and every one I didn't weld has split eventually. I actually think it may be because I'm using acetone-thinned Bondo spot putty to smooth the surface, and I think it's eating the CA glue. So I sanded the chest and back seams and welded them, then filled and sanded with milliput:

 

 

 

 

I'll spray them with filler primer today to check out how the seams look.

 

One other thing I can't remember if I'd mentioned before was that a while back when I was heat shaping one of the calf pieces, I put quite a large dent in it. I was able to push it back a little, but decided not to try to use heat to fix it given the high chance of making it worse. Instead I filled it with milliput and sanded it flat. I'm fairly certain it won't be noticeable once it's primed and painted:

 

 

 

I've also started prepping the helmet for paint:

 

 

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

A couple random questions for those with expertise:

 

1) Should I wipe the paint with something (eg IPA) before spraying clear? Since I'm using plastic polish, I'm wondering if it's leaving any residue. Should 91% IPA be safe?

 

2) Are the screws on the holster also supposed to be painted white or are they left silver?