Starkill20's TLJ FOTK KB Props Build

[Starkill20[501st]]

Greetings everyone!

 

My name is Alex and I have been a member of the 501st for about 3 years. I currently own a ROTJ stortrooper and a magmatrooper!

I've been wanting to do a FOTK for a long while so when an opportunity came for me to get a kit I jumped for it!

 

This is the first time I have started a build thread so I will do my very best to be as descriptive as I can be so my thread can be helpful for future builders!

 

Body Stats:

Height- 5'6" give or take a half-inch

Weight- 166 lbs

Body Style- Average

 

I know I am bit on the shorter side so I may be looking into getting inserts for the boots.

 

Goal:

I'm just going for basic approval for this build.

 

Parts Origin:

Helmet: Still haven't obtained one (Taking suggestions)

Helmet Audio: Still haven't obtained (This isn't as important as other options but I would like to speak one day)

Armor: KB Props FOTK Kit

Gaskets: Still haven't obtained (Thinking of Geeky Pink's as I have heard a lot of good things!)

Gloves and Boots: Still haven't obtained (Pretty sure I am going to go with Imperial Boots for both)

Belt: Still haven't obtained (Taking suggestions)

Blaster: Still haven't obtained (Taking suggestions but would like a kit that could have electronics added)

 

Build Chapters:

(These will link to later posts.)

Foreword

Out of the Box

 

1. Trimming

 

2. Assembly

 

3. Painting

 

4. Strapping

 

5. Test Fittings

 

I look forward to the build and for everyone's help and advice!

[Krisko720]

Welcome to the forum! Fairly new here myself. I have a TLJ KB kit. There’s a pretty active group that have been tons of help for me. Wouldn’t be near where I am in my build without them.

 

Just a couple of suggestions where you didn’t have a lead.. these are only my suggestions based on my recent purchases from them.

 

Belt- Belts of the First Order

(Darren is super active on here and has a really well put together kit for the belt. I also have the TrooperBay belt and did not use it due to it not being as good of quality.)

 

Gaskets, Harness, Shiny Shorts and Neck Seal- Geeky Pink

(Teresa is simply awesome. She’s very responsive via messenger and does great work. I have everything she offers for the FOTK.)

 

Electronics for helmet: Speakers, mic and amp, shoulder bell brackets, hearing support mics-

(Ukswrath on this forum who sells on eBay. Also super active on here with a detailed build thread you have to read. I have everything he offers for the FOTK. Super fast shipping and also very responsive.)

 

Helmet- Search eBay for an Anovos helmet. Best deals you can find plus you don’t have to assemble or paint it!

 

 

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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Hello and welcome aboard.

 

Good luck with the hunting and looking forward to seeing the progress.

[Sly11[Admin]]

Welcome aboard Alex, hope you enjoy our forums and all the help that comes from our members.


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[Starkill20[501st]]

Hey all. Sorry about my lack of posts. I have been having a hard time figuring out a way to get all of my photos on here. I decided to use my actual camera so I can take some high quality photos.

Below I have pictures of how the armor arrived:

 

 

 

 

Next I will try to get the other pieces separated into different posts so I don't have all 151 images here in the beginning.

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Starkill20
Broken Link

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Awesome, looking forward to the progress

[Starkill20[501st]]

For this group of pictures, I am showing my trim lines on the spats. I have already cut the lines here as they seemed right. I found out that some builders leave the return edge to glue it to the other half but I have found another way that I can put them together.

 

Also just as a note, you can see the orange peel texture well here. I'm currently researching a way to fix this issue, but thankfully it is only on a few spots. I am thinking I will use Rust-olieum Filler Primer to fix this issue.

 

 

Side of the larger piece (The top will be the bottom on the costume.)

 

Front of the larger piece (The top will be the bottom on the costume.)

 

Other side of the larger piece (The top will be the bottom on the costume.)

 

Bottom side of the smaller piece.

 

Top side of the smaller piece.

 

Right side of the smaller piece.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Starkill20

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the shins. Please feel free to let me know if there is more to cut off from the return edges at the top and bottom of the shins.

 

First I will show the trim lines of the back part of the shin.

 

The back of the shin.

 

Detailed look at the flash trim lines.

 

I'm not sure how close I need to cut the return edge on the bottom.

 

Detailed at the other side's trim lines.

 

The top of the back of the shin.

 

 

And next is the front side of the shin.

 

One side of the front shin plate.

 

The bottom of the front shin plate. Once again I'm not sure how close the return edge should be trimmed.

 

Detailed look of the other side.

 

The top of the plate. Sorry the trim line is hard to see due to the flash but it is pretty obvious where it will be cut.

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next here are the knee plate trim lines!

 

[StarTrooper]

Hey Alex, great photos! Yes, unfortunately KB kits suffer from a bit of orange peel, mine has some as well.

Nice job so far!

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next will be the thigh pieces.

 

First the front piece.

 

The side of the front thigh piece.

 

Detailed look at the trim lines on the side.

 

Although I didn't mark it I will be trimming along the grove as well.

 

The top of the front thigh piece.

 

The other side of the front thigh piece.

 

The bottom of the front thigh piece.

 

And the back thigh piece. Like all other KB kits there are no trim lines for this armor piece. I will tackle this trimming at a later point and will just focus on the flash trimming.

 

Side of the back thigh piece.

 

Bottom of the back thigh piece.

 

Detailed look at the other side.

 

Top of the back thigh piece.

 

And here is how the front and back pieces look joined together. As you can see there will be a lot to trim.

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next will be photos of the holster. I will post the pictures but I have decided I will be going with R2Dan's metal holster because I don't think KB's plastic holster could handle being used. And also one of the screws on the holster was damaged out of the box and I wasn't sure how I was going to fix it.

 

The holster and the ABS square that will attach to the thigh.

 

 

Detailed look of the damage I mentioned.

 

Here is how the pieces look together.

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next will be the cod piece. Once again the trim lines are pretty obvious thankfully!

 

 

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next will be pictures of the thermal detonator and the ABS piece. As you can see there is a lot of excess plastic so I may need some guidance on where I will need to trim.

 

ABS Connection and the resin thermal detonator.

 

Bottom of the ABS connection.

 

Level View of the bottom.

 

 

Right side of the ABS connection.

 

Level view of the right side.

 

 

Top side of the connection.

 

Level view of the top side.

 

 

Left side of the connection.

 

Level view of the left side.

 

Next are the pictures of the resin thermal detonator.

 

 

Detailed look at the front side of the resin detonator.

 

Looking at the pictures I'm guessing I will be cutting the smallest portion off.

[Sly11[Admin]]

Glad to see your kit arrived.
You have some work ahead of you know, but I am positive you will love the build journey.
Look forward to watching your progress.


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[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the pictures of the butt plate. Just focusing on the flash trimming right now, but I have seen people cut notches into the strip above the ridge to help connect to the kidney plate. I plan to do this as well but I would appreciate any direction on how to do this.

 

 

 

 

This is the right side and I'm trying to decide if there is any portion that needs to be trimmed off of this edge.

 

Here is the left side.

 

Here is the bottom, and you can see the shape isn't exactly uniform. I'm thinking to try and trim t slightly and sand it to get a better shape.

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the picture of the belt boxes. I know the orientation of the far right 2 boxes need to be horizontal. These seem to be fairly simple. I'm just not exactly sure how much these need to be cut down. I'm also a bit uncertain about the backs of the boxes. I seem to have figured out which backs belong to which fronts, except the largest front that goes over the black pouch. The only back piece that seems to match is a bit shorter. Does anyone have an idea why this is?

 

 

 

Here are the front and back of the boxes.

 

 

Here is the piece that was confusing me a bit.

 

And here are the other pictures of the backs. Is there a particular reason why the backs seem to be curved?

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the ab plate boxes. Right now I am just doing the flash trimming. I have seen some use a tool to get the exact shape of the ab plate to trim off of the boxes. I'll take any advice that I can get on this. Right now I may just focus on getting them cut down to the right length.

 

 

 

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next is the ab plate. Once again not much trimming needing done here. From what I've seen, it looks like that the bottom edge is trimmed toward the middle until it reaches those angled sections.

Face view of the ab plate.

 

Left side of the ab plate.

 

Right side of the ab plate.

 

Top view of the ab plate.

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next is the kidney plate. Not much to trim here. From my understanding I'll have to cut this in half to help size it down. Also I am wondering if there is any more I need to take off of the return edges on the top and bottom of the please.

 

 

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the hand plates. I still plan on trimming these but I think I'm going to order some of the hand plates, ab boxes, and clip greeblies form R2Dan. I saw them in Krisko720's build and they look a lot better!

 

 

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the picture of the forearm plates. These seem to have a bit of excess as well.

 

A picture of the interior and exterior plate.

 

Right side of the exterior plate.

 

Left side of the exterior plate. And a quick question on this, I noticed that on both the plates the notches for the clips are there. I've seen on the interior piece it is trimmed pretty thin but I was wondering if I could use these slots to help line up the interior plate. Let me know if anyone has seen this done before.

 

Elbow side of the exterior plate.

 

Wrist side of the exterior plate. Any ideas on how much of the return edges on these?

 

Next are the interior plate pictures.

 

 

Right side of the interior plate.

 

Left side of the interior plate. Notice the two notches I was talking about earlier.

 

Elbow side of the interior plate.

Level picture of the elbow side.

 

Wrist side of the interior plate.

Level picture of the wrist side.

 

 

[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the photos of the bicep.

 

Here are picture of the interior and exterior pieces.

 

Here are closer looks at the exterior piece.

 

 

Here are closer looks at the interior piece.

 

[Krisko720]

Just so you know.. because I made the mistake.. the line I circled in your pic is not a trim line. It’s where the spat sits on the shin. It’s misleading because it looks like every other trim line. I’m waiting on another set of shins because of this. Just wanted to save you from a potential bad cut! Lol




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[Starkill20[501st]]

Next are the photos of the shoulder bells. At first I wasn't sure on the interior piece but after doing some research I saw where I need to trim it out.