Skitchie's debut build thread ( ANH Stunt TK-Troopermaster)

[skitchie98]

Hiya folks! My name's Dixon, posting from sunny (not really) Nashville TN. Within a week or two now I'll have my first kit coming in all the way from the UK courtesy of Paul (Troopermaster). I have absolutely zero costuming experience, and my construction experience is limited to an eagle scout project done many many moons ago, so I figured it'd be good to get this ball rolling early as I have some questions before BBB day arrives.

 

My girlfriend and I are in the process of getting supplies together beforehand; we're going to be getting some E6000 pretty soon here, but I just wanted to confirm: about how many bottles I can expect to use throughout this process?

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Hi Dixon, great to know you're next to start your armor build. !!  

 

About the E6000 glue, in my experience I have used about 3  tubes of 3.7 fl Oz.   

 

I think the following forum section can be useful for all the supplies you would need.

 

 

Good Luck and looking forward for your BBB day photos.  Remember to open a Building thread here in the forum to receive tips and suggestion from the very expert troopers we have here.  

 

cheers 

 

 

[wook1138[TK]]

Congrats on the purchase, Dixon!  Paul has a very nice and accurate kit.  

 

Check out the getting started section if you have not done so already.  There are a bunch of tips and how-to's for armour building.  It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it will all make sense eventually.

 

Creating this build thread is a great first step.  You will want to read through a few other build threads for ideas.  Ukswrath's anovos build is full of construction methods that can be used for almost any kit.  Take the time before your kit arrives to research all you can.  Once the kit arrives, post any and all questions (along with images - you'll need to use imgur, tapatalk, or some other external image hosting service) and we'll be here to help you out along the way.

 

Good luck

[skitchie98]

Thanks for the kind words guys! Believe me I've been pouring over all the build threads as well as the pre approval threads throughout the past month and a half, haha. Luckily due to a snafu on FedEx's part I have some extra ABS to work/practice with before I touch the armor

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Great choice of armour, Dixon. :-)

I’m currently building my TM armour too and can vouch for the quality and beautifully sculpted parts. If it helps, I’ve been documenting my build here;

Admittedly, I went to town on the helmet with a full respray, however, the construction elements and comparisons to screen used helmets might be useful.

Best wishes with the build. As others said, any questions just shout. :-)

Best wishes
Dan

[skitchie98]

Great choice of armour, Dixon. :-)

 

I’m currently building my TM armour too and can vouch for the quality and beautifully sculpted parts. If it helps, I’ve been documenting my build here;

 

 

Admittedly, I went to town on the helmet with a full respray, however, the construction elements and comparisons to screen used helmets might be useful.

 

Best wishes with the build. As others said, any questions just shout. :-)

 

Best wishes

Dan

Thanks Dan! I'd be lying if I said I haven't been watching your build with great interest. I'll for sure be looking at your threads as a resource as yours looks great and there's not a ton of in depth TM build threads floating about.

 

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Thanks Dan! I'd be lying if I said I haven't been watching your build with great interest. I'll for sure be looking at your threads as a resource as yours looks great and there's not a ton of in depth TM build threads floating about.  

Ah, cool. Hopefully they’re useful. I’d probably check out T-Jay and his TM build. He gave it light weathering and, to my eye, it’s one of the best TKs in the legion. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28549-fully-finished-anh-stunt-tk-15mm-abs-from-troopermaster-with-some-modifications/page/3/

[CableGuy[Admin]]

For even better pictures, check here;


https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/43516-tk-61276-requesting-anh-stunt-centurion-status-tm-361/

STUNNING!

[skitchie98]

For even better pictures, check here;


https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/43516-tk-61276-requesting-anh-stunt-centurion-status-tm-361/

STUNNING!

Fantastic! Just what I was looking for

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking forward to seeing the progress, good luck

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Dixon welcome. Looks like you've been given some great advice so far. Looking forward to your build.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looking forward to watching your build thread, Dixon!  Remember... post LOTS of photos, which is especially important when you have an issue.  It's always best to ask first before cutting or gluing if you are in doubt, and a photo really is worth a thousand words.  Ask all the questions you need to (no matter how small)... we are here to help!

[skitchie98]

Well folks, we are on the event horizon.

 

BBB is in my town and just waiting to be delivered any day now.

 

I think my girlfriend is going to kill me if I ask her to check the tracking status 1 more time.

 

In other news, I just placed the biggest Amazon order of my life for the materials/tools, but I do have a quick question regarding split rivets. I was browsing around various retailers for them, and couldn't find any that had the washers included. Are there any good/go-to retailers for the split rivets and their washers? 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

6 hours ago, skitchie98 said:

I do have a quick question regarding split rivets. I was browsing around various retailers for them, and couldn't find any that had the washers included. Are there any good/go-to retailers for the split rivets and their washers? 

I'm almost certain that Paul includes these in his kits, Dixon, but you will need to hurry up and wait until it gets to you to make sure.  If not, I have them available here:   https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/48550-centurion-level-hardware-sets-for-sale-open/    

 

[skitchie98]

 

 

IT'S HEEEEEEEERE!

BBB has arrived!! It had to sit for a little longer than usual since it came from overseas but man oh man was it worth it!!

 

You know that scene from A Christmas Story where Ralphie sees his coveted official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time? That's how I felt. It felt great to be able to unpack and see every little piece there and accounted for, just like the rest of y'all in your build threads. I got one of my own now :')

 

 

Sure enough, everything's accounted for, with some extra ears and drop boxes to boot (thanks Paul!).

 

I'm debating when to get started on trimming and sizing up the arms; I'm in the home stretch of school this semester and I'm just finishing the process of moving out, so I may be going at a snails pace the first couple weeks or so--then again, nobody has anything but time on their hands so what's the rush, ammirite?

 

CAN'T WAIT to get going, I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions to ask and pictures to link as the days go by. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by skitchie98

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

10 minutes ago, skitchie98 said:

CAN'T WAIT to get going, I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions to ask and pictures to link as the days go by. 

Congratulations Dixon, Yeah all of us are happy for you , We know how are you feeling right now mate!!  Enjoy the process and remember to review  all the info we have given and post photos, ask questions. we are here to help.

 

 cheers and congrats again!!  

 

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Many congratulations, Dixon. That’s great and exciting news! :-)

I don’t know why but I also find the arms a good place to start. If it’s any help, I’m documenting my Troopermaster build on my YouTube channel. So far, the helmet is complete and the arms are now done. :-)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Awesome news, nothing better than BBB's, now the fun begins, good luck

[skitchie98]

We decided to take a crack at it right off the bat today with some rough cuts to separate the arms and biceps. We learned right off the bat that we drastically overestimated the size/strength of the lexan scissors we ordered as they were tiny and, well, not strong whatsoever. We ordered a new pair that should be in soon. Also, thank you to whoever it was (I honestly forget) that recommended the snap+score technique, it saved a lot of time on some parts of the armor, not to mention it feels so satisfying to break a chunk off precisely where I meant to. 

 

Initial observations: we will be doing mucho resizing on the arms, especially the forearms. I'm skinny as all hell, but my girlfriend just says I'm "lean". Either way it's gonna take a hefty amount of cutting and possibly some heat, who knows. I'll probably post some fit pictures of the sizing here once they are all trimmed down to get your input.

 

Question--on the perforated edges of the arm pieces, is it easier to cut them off by hand or can they get sanded off with a rotary tool? I'm guessing the latter but I just wanted to check. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

2 hours ago, skitchie98 said:

 

We decided to take a crack at it right off the bat today with some rough cuts to separate the arms and biceps. We learned right off the bat that we drastically overestimated the size/strength of the lexan scissors we ordered as they were tiny and, well, not strong whatsoever. We ordered a new pair that should be in soon. Also, thank you to whoever it was (I honestly forget) that recommended the snap+score technique, it saved a lot of time on some parts of the armor, not to mention it feels so satisfying to break a chunk off precisely where I meant to. 

 

Initial observations: we will be doing mucho resizing on the arms, especially the forearms. I'm skinny as all hell, but my girlfriend just says I'm "lean". Either way it's gonna take a hefty amount of cutting and possibly some heat, who knows. I'll probably post some fit pictures of the sizing here once they are all trimmed down to get your input.

 

Question--on the perforated edges of the arm pieces, is it easier to cut them off by hand or can they get sanded off with a rotary tool? I'm guessing the latter but I just wanted to check. 

Learning curve, we've all been there. Pace yourself.

 

Regardless of your body size don't trim off too much. If you do the arms and legs might look skinny in comparison to the torso which can only be cut so much without looking off. 

 

Your best bet is to trim all the sections to the same measurements mentioned in other TM tutorials. Afterwards perform a fitment check (tape sections together) to see what areas need to be fine tuned. Most troopers may need to add fabric foam to some part of their interior to stabilize the area. This is very common. 

 

When it comes to trimming I use scissors, exacto knife, Dremel and belt sander. Whatever you're comfortable with and have the best control over is what I recommend. 

 

Hope this helps

[skitchie98]

16 hours ago, ukswrath said:

Learning curve, we've all been there. Pace yourself.

 

Regardless of your body size don't trim off too much. If you do the arms and legs might look skinny in comparison to the torso which can only be cut so much without looking off. 

 

Your best bet is to trim all the sections to the same measurements mentioned in other TM tutorials. Afterwards perform a fitment check (tape sections together) to see what areas need to be fine tuned. Most troopers may need to add fabric foam to some part of their interior to stabilize the area. This is very common. 

 

When it comes to trimming I use scissors, exacto knife, Dremel and belt sander. Whatever you're comfortable with and have the best control over is what I recommend. 

 

Hope this helps

Good call on the trimming with moderation; didn't even occur to me that with enough trimming it'll look like an imperial stick figure. I've been referencing Cricket's build a lot as she and I share some common woes and, while not as short, am in about the same area weight wise so pieces like the forearms might need some special attention. Going slowly but surely, just sanding things down right now. I haven't made any fitting cuts yet as I'm still putting together the actual process on making fitment cuts for the biceps and forearms but once I have those written down I'll get to fitting. Thanks for the info!

[CableGuy[Admin]]

Hi Dixon,

I’m not sure quite how slim you are, however, it might be worth aiming for screen armour sizes first and see how it looks on you. TM’s armour looks spot on when at movie sizes.

If it looks a little big, you can then scale it down. I started with screen sizes and ended up removing just 5mm extra to fit my frame better.

Here’s the biceps, for example.

[skitchie98]

57 minutes ago, CableGuy said:

Hi Dixon,

I’m not sure quite how slim you are, however, it might be worth aiming for screen armour sizes first and see how it looks on you. TM’s armour looks spot on when at movie sizes.

If it looks a little big, you can then scale it down. I started with screen sizes and ended up removing just 5mm extra to fit my frame better.

Here’s the biceps, for example.

Thanks Dan! I went and joined stormtrooper armory on FB as well, now there'll be no escaping TK knowledge, regardless of what social media I'm browsing!  I keep hearing around about a coveted Troopermaster tutorial on his FB but I can't seem to find it. Do you what I'm talking about? 

 

I apologize for the real basic question incoming but as I have zero costuming experience up to this point I'm afraid this thread will be littered with them; when making cuts for sizing on pieces like the biceps and forearms, am I only to make cuts on one side? So, for example I wanted to take off 5 mm on the biceps, would I take off 2.5 mm on edge of each bicep?  

[skitchie98]

Ok, finally I have a little bit of breathing room! On the tail end of school things and am beginning to get a bit of free time so I'm probably going to be going to make some initial fitment cuts on the biceps today. I'm not gonna lie, I'm shaking in my boots about these initial cuts, but a rolling stone gathers no moss, haha.

 

I went and took some measurements and came to an odd conclusion in that my flexed bicep diameters are different between my two arms--I dunno, maybe that's more common than I'm making it out to be, but I found it rather strange. My left bicep clocked in at (please be nice to me) 10 3/8" and my right bicep measures in at a whopping (not) 10 6/8". I referred pretty heavily to Cricket's TK-S build thread because her bicep measurement was pretty close to mine and her final results looked pretty good. I'm adding about 1/2" to give the arm some room to move around in and (after evening out the measurements for consistency's sake) I think I'm gonna shoot for a diameter of 11 1/4" on both bicep pieces. Obviously quite a step down from the original ~16" diameter, but seeing as Cricket cut her pieces smaller than that and it looked kosher I'm not too worried. I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring with these measurements and double check that my logic checks out with y'all.

 

Also Cricket if you see this, thank you seriously for your build thread. I'm probably gonna be referencing it all throughout this build of my own!

[skitchie98]

Well I got impulsive and went ahead with trimming the biceps. I initially planned to trim about an inch off of each bicep but got conservative and started with 1/2" and thank god I did! It fits MUCH better. However I do wonder if the return edge on the top of the  biceps is gonna push the shoulder bells out? If that's the case I'll probably get rid of the return edge and trim a little bit more off, or alternatively add some padding on the inside, not sure which at this point.

I'm sure you can guess just by looking which one is trimmed and which one isn't!

Just for some perspective as to how big of a difference that trimming made. The trimmed bicep now fits much more snugly and still gives about 1/2" of wiggle room which is what I was aiming for. 

 

Anyone who has finished TK's, does the trimmed bicep look like it will still appear proportional to everything? I don't want to trim the rest of the arms and legs like this and find that I look something like this 

Edited April 27, 2020 by skitchie98