ANH TK Stunt - My first suit!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Try to apply thin coats, if you apply too thick it can wrinkle when drying

[Scout_Troop3R]

It's been a little bit since I've posted but I've actually been working on my costume in the meantime through the recent heatwave and other things, and aside from a clearcoat and a minor paint touchup or two the helmet is done! thank goodness
Even the ear piece fits now after I made a big hole by mistake!

Right now I'm just getting home from a weeklong trip and consulting my garrison as to getting boots, I'd order from keeptrooping if I could but sadly they only go up to 13US, I'm a 15US.

While looking for my imperial officer jackboots I found Crowprops and I actually really like the boots I've gotten, but other troopers in my garrison have apparently gotten poor TK boots so I'm hesitant to order there again just in case, my boots also took 8+ weeks to ship last time which just doesn't work for me as I need them before 7 weeks.

I did find a nice pair of black chelsea boots online though, and they're cheaper than Crowprops so I figure I'm going to buy those and paint them white.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

4 minutes ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

The boots look to have a high enough neck, many boots out there do not and will end up coming out from under the shin. Added a connector between the boot and shin can be a good idea, I use elastic, some use velcro or nylon with snaps. Also helps to stop rotation of the shins.

 

Boot references here for comparison

 

Here's a few different ways to stop the neck from popping out, also stop rotation.

 

 

[Scout_Troop3R]

7 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

The boots look to have a high enough neck, many boots out there do not and will end up coming out from under the shin. Added a connector between the boot and shin can be a good idea, I use elastic, some use velcro or nylon with snaps. Also helps to stop rotation of the shins.

 

Boot references here for comparison

 

Here's a few different ways to stop the neck from popping out, also stop rotation.

 

 

Oh those are quite clever, and thanks so much for the suggestions since knowing my luck I'll need them lol.

Edited July 19, 2025 by Scout_Troop3R

[Scout_Troop3R]

Right so the next thing I'm going to work on is the chestplate, work from the head down I suppose.
The arms are the most complete thing south of the helmet so far so I figure I'll do the torso and connect all that up.
Time to do some research.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 minutes ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

Right so the next thing I'm going to work on is the chestplate, work from the head down I suppose.
The arms are the most complete thing south of the helmet so far so I figure I'll do the torso and connect all that up.
Time to do some research.

Some references

  

 

 

[Scout_Troop3R]

Righto yesterday I wasted on the hand guards by mistake, AM sent these nice ABS plastic ones and only after gluing did I realize Centurion needs latex/latex-like hand guards so womp womp whatever, I'll pick up some of those off Trooperbay.

 

Today I got started on the chestplate, trimming down the shoulder straps to 3mm horizontally past the ridges and 2cm vertically from the top of the bottom ridge, and the neck area of the chestplate to match, turned out well and left it to glue over night, tomorrow I'm going to have a go at marking out all the snap locations I can and making a few, not sure which style I'll do yet but I'll look into it.

Progress is coming along well.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Since Dave (AM) normally includes flexible hand guards with his kits**, just PM me and I will shoot you a set for free (just pay postage) as I am the one who makes/supplies them for him-  link here to see them.  

 

** He may have been out of them at the time you ordered, as I was out of commission for a while.

[Scout_Troop3R]

6 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

Since Dave (AM) normally includes flexible hand guards with his kits**, just PM me and I will shoot you a set for free (just pay postage) as I am the one who makes/supplies them for him-  link here to see them.  

 

** He may have been out of them at the time you ordered, as I was out of commission for a while.

Oh wow that's awesome, thank you so much!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good. Some info on shoulder straps.

 

You can trim the sides down a little more

 

Not all armor makes can achieve the screen reference for shoulder straps attachment at the front, 1 large tab and 4 to 5 small tabs on the front.

    

 

For Level 2, no visible rivets are present.  For Level 3, they shall free float in the back, be glued in the front and need to be held down in the back via a white elastic band to the white fabric/elastic chest/back connection.  Ideally this strap should be 1/4 inch (5 mm) wide, and connect over the tab at the top of the back armor.  The bridge should also lay flush against the back.

 

          

 

NOTE:  As seen in the photos below, there are no large tabs on the rear of the shoulder bridges.  This is not specifically mentioned in the CRL, but removing them is highly recommended if possible.

     

[Scout_Troop3R]

20 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Looking good. Some info on shoulder straps.

 

You can trim the sides down a little more

 

Not all armor makes can achieve the screen reference for shoulder straps attachment at the front, 1 large tab and 4 to 5 small tabs on the front.

    

 

For Level 2, no visible rivets are present.  For Level 3, they shall free float in the back, be glued in the front and need to be held down in the back via a white elastic band to the white fabric/elastic chest/back connection.  Ideally this strap should be 1/4 inch (5 mm) wide, and connect over the tab at the top of the back armor.  The bridge should also lay flush against the back.

 

          

 

NOTE:  As seen in the photos below, there are no large tabs on the rear of the shoulder bridges.  This is not specifically mentioned in the CRL, but removing them is highly recommended if possible.

     

 I definitely see what you mean about the trimming the sides compared to the originals.
As for the number of bars attached to the plate I actually did do 1 large and 4 small glued to the chest plate, though either I need to move them forward down the chest plate a little more or I'm just bad at taking selfies lol






 

I'll get rid of those large tabs in the back too.

Edited July 22, 2025 by Scout_Troop3R

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 large and 4 small is fine as there is no CRL requirement 

 

A good idea is to add some material behind to add some more strength, they can crack over time.

 

I trimmed mine the width of the ridges, then glued underneath so it can't be seen, many do the full width of the shoulder straps, as below shows. 

 

 

 

 

[Scout_Troop3R]

Today I trimmed down the shoulder straps to be more accurate, much better looking in my opinion.
This took an hour or two as I didn't want to un-glue it and had to cut (I didn't want to use a Dremel on that with it attached and potentially mess something up, also the mess) through 2 layers at once on the parts where it connects to the chest, and AM makes quite thick armour.





The other thing I managed to do today was trim down the edges on the abdomen to 5mm of width, and I made sure to bevel the inner corners of the edge to reduce chances of armour bite.







Tomorrow I'm going to work on the kidney and maybe the butt if I have time, trimming edges if needed, cutting out the notches, and making a bunch of snaps.
 

Edited July 24, 2025 by Scout_Troop3R

[Scout_Troop3R]

Well it's been a busy week, had a camping trip, but thankfully I'm back to work on this.

Drilled out the rivet holes on the left side of the abdomen and kidney, and then glued on some reinforcement to both areas, and the shoulder straps.





Would have worked on more straps, but I've run out of time for the day. (and clamps lol)

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Slow but sure wins the race!  If I could make a small suggestion it would be to round off the edges of the cod tab as seen below.  In some cases those squared off ends may cause a little discomfort (chafing) in the groin area after being in your armor for a bit.  

 

 

[Scout_Troop3R]

Today I worked on more strapping for the torso, mainly installing the rivets and straps on the left side of the armour and also preparing the shoulder straps.

 

The one on the bottom right is an extra millimeter or two out of alignment, but hey what's a stormtrooper without a bit of wonkiness?

The other thing that happened today was I finally got my boots, and instead of paying $300 CAD for some leather ones to paint white or $100 USD for some keeptrooping boots, a very cool member of my local garrison sold me some TK Boots for just $100 CAD (They look like they're brand new too!), they're a bit of a squeeze, thankfully leather stretches, but holy cow that's the best $100 I've spent in a while.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Awesome score, I also managed to get a pair that someone had in a cupboard for years, love my TK Boots 

 

I like to add a drop of silicone over the top of the split rivets just so they don't catch on the undersuit.  

[Scout_Troop3R]

Well I've done a lot of strapping work over the past few days on the torso and did a test fit
I'm mostly happy with it but I am a bit annoyed with the angled sides and the butt, I have to reinforce the straps on the butt plate or change it from elastic to fabric to stop it from sticking out I suppose. Not sure what I'm going to do about the sides yet though.








 

In the photos I took the crotch strap isn't connected, I found that made the butt plate stick out even more.

[Scout_Troop3R]

59 minutes ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

Well I've done a lot of strapping work over the past few days on the torso and did a test fit
I'm mostly happy with it but I am a bit annoyed with the angled sides and the butt, I have to reinforce the straps on the butt plate or change it from elastic to fabric to stop it from sticking out I suppose. Not sure what I'm going to do about the sides yet though.








 

In the photos I took the crotch strap isn't connected, I found that made the butt plate stick out even more.

If I make all the back straps out of a firm fabric instead of elastic I reckon that will improve things.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

If I make all the back straps out of a firm fabric instead of elastic I reckon that will improve things.

Reason we use elastic as it has some give when you move, bend, stretch. Doubling over the elastic with strengthen it's pull as well as using industrial elastic which is a little thicker than standard elastic. 

 

 

[Scout_Troop3R]

Reinforced the back straps today, I'll give them a test tomorrow.

Also started working on getting the arms all ready, and that starts with fixing the left bicep which I'll start working on tomorrow.

[Scout_Troop3R]

So today I've started getting the torso bits ready for painting, and I've run into a bit of a problem.
The middle torso piece is all good, I have that nice and trimmed, just needs painting then gluing, the four buttons on the side is a different story.

 

I'm not actually sure of what to do about the side ab buttons, on the AM v5 torso it's just flat there, and it either doesn't come with or AM forgot to send a 4 button plate for it (I have triple checked, but I'll keep looking to see if I have it), I did get 2 3 button plates but they're at least 15mm in diameter at the most as opposed to the 11m that's required, and then there's this.

 

Abdomen Armor The abdomen armor has a button area that matches the color pattern shown (3 blue + 6 gray); buttons are approximately 7/16" (11mm) in diameter. Abdomen armor buttons are integrated and painted directly on the Ab plate. Ab button paint shall not extend beyond the bottom of the actual raised button. No separate buttons are allowed.

 

So if I just paint the buttons right on the flat part of the armour, then that's fine for the first and third part, but there's no actual raised buttons there, but if I make a panel of raised buttons using what I have, then that violates the first and third but satisfies the second.

 

 

]https://i.imgur.com/Hmouhnm.jpeg

 

I think the best thing is just to paint the buttons right on, but I'm going to wait for a bit of clarity first.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

28 minutes ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

So if I just paint the buttons right on the flat part of the armour, then that's fine for the first and third part, but there's no actual raised buttons there, but if I make a panel of raised buttons using what I have, then that violates the first and third but satisfies the second.

 

 

I believe the three larger buttons are for that panel if you want to go Sandy. It also appears you have overtrimmed the 5-button center panel - it should have a frame of material around the raised section. 

 

28 minutes ago, Scout_Troop3R said:

 

I think the best thing is just to paint the buttons right on, but I'm going to wait for a bit of clarity first.

 

The buttons need to be physically raised, not just painted on. I believe these may be the 3 rivet covers for your plastic ammo belt. Dave is pretty good about sending out replacement parts and his white ABS is difficult to color match, so I would reach out to him to receive the parts you need if you don't have them. Good luck!

[Scout_Troop3R]

6 hours ago, TheRascalKing said:

 

I believe the three larger buttons are for that panel if you want to go Sandy. It also appears you have overtrimmed the 5-button center panel - it should have a frame of material around the raised section. 

 

 

The buttons need to be physically raised, not just painted on. I believe these may be the 3 rivet covers for your plastic ammo belt. Dave is pretty good about sending out replacement parts and his white ABS is difficult to color match, so I would reach out to him to receive the parts you need if you don't have them. Good luck!

The rivet covers are different, I have them in a drawer.

 

I guess I trimmed the center panel too much because I didn't want it to bonk into the chest plate if I had to bend over for whatever reason, I didn't know it had to stick out that far, big facepalm. (Future me speaking: Wow I was totally thinking in the wrong dimension, thank you so much for the example below!)

I can put a trim back on it easy enough.

 

I just hope I'd be able to get the part from Dave in under two weeks, I really want to have this ready before a show if possible.

I don't know if it's just the gloomy weather today or what, but a growing handful of times on this project it feels it's been one step forward two steps back.

Edited August 20, 2025 by Scout_Troop3R

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

References 

Note:  For Level 3 the paint does not extend to the bottom of the actual raised button.

 

                                     

 

Below are two which have been glued to a piece of ABS plastic and the seam filled with ABS paste, the second with blade putty, I presume painted afterwards.