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Chatting about Avatar with @Morgi this morning got me inspired and side note - I had to wrap [ img ] ... [ /img ] tags around my links to make them post. I guess imgflip changed how it works

Also, @Nairy

Such a good series!

Sorry. Slow going. After a busy stretch of events. I ended up getting sick. SO didn't so much. I feel hecka lot better than i did, just a lingering cough for the last couple weeks... I did manage to get the majority of the pieces trimmed the excess off. Think some might need a bit of trimming just to fit to size. But!! There is an armour party planned for this weekend. So we will see what progress happens there. Not been to an armour party in a loooong time. So will be fun either way! Hopefullly leaps and bounds of progress photos to come >.>

Build progress from last week: Trimmed the thighs but will wait to size until chest & abdomen are done (thanks @TKSpartan for the reference shots) Glued flexible handguards to rubber gloves Attempting round 2 of adhering interior cover strips to forearms I got to antsy and removed my magnets & clamps before the E6000 was fully cured so the joint separated Goals for this week (aiming small as it is recital week for my daughter, so am busy most nights through Saturday) Trim Chest & Abdomen during the week so that I can fit it over the weekend Be patient about the forearms so that I can put the exterior cover strips on over the weekend

Thank you all so much for the time and effort guiding me through this! Will start the Centurion bits soon :-)

Troop 19 Mississauga Star Wars Collectors Expo Mississauga, Ontario May 28, 2023 This was a dangerous troop for the pocketbook with a tone of vendors selling all Star Wars collectables from original 1977 merchandise up to new current items. It was a pure star wars crowd and mainly adults who were all very happy to see us and take photos. In attendance were Roger Christian - Artistic director on the original trilogy who created the light saver, E-11 blaster and R2D2. It was so awesome to see him and just grasp the concept of what he created for all of us. Also there was Shawn Crawford who played Yakface on Jaba’s barge in Return of the Jedi.

Alriiiight then. I had to go and buy a new butt plate. But here’s the update. What do you guys think? Edges are cut the same way.

Very very helpful- I may have to restart/get a new TD because the endcaps are too snug in place for me to remove

Troop 18 Gillie Bean’s Fun Day, Whitby Ontario May 27, 2023 This was the 10th annual Gillie bean Fun Day. It is a memorial troop for a little girl named Gillian who lost her battle, in 2010 at the age of 8, with a rare cancer that affects children called Rhabdomyosarcoma. This event raises money for Sick Kids Hospital to fund research to combat this horrible disease. We were there to interact with guests and helped draw participants to their cake walk fundraiser. It was a fun troop with tons of interaction, clowning around and even dancing at times.

Troop 17 New Dundee Community Fireworks Event May 21, 2023 This was a fun troop. Outdoors on a beautiful evening. We trooped for 4 hours before the Victoria Day fireworks display. we generally interacted with guests and took photos while they waited for the fireworks. I played some Frisbee and actually managed to skip rope (sorry no photos were caught of this.

Congratulations and welcome to Expert Infantry and the EI Honor Gallery

They are a little on the messy side, I think I would go over again. A good tip when using templates is to give a coat of white first, that way if there is any bleed through it is filled with white and not blue.

Troop 4: Luseland reading at the library. Small town Saskatchewan. 27May23 I was much more relaxed for this one. This is the size of troop I thought my first troop would have been. I was generally comfortable in the armor but still taking note of a couple things to tweak. I still haven't got the bucket fitting just right yet with the glasses, but it is workable with just a bit of discomfort. The best solution, if I can ever do it without glasses, will be the hardhat suspension in there. This was a journey. Seven hours of driving in total and three hours of trooping. It made for a long day. The town has never had any kind of event like this before and despite a number of conflicting events in their area they were happy with the turn out they did get even if it did come up shy from their projections. They have ideas for next year to get more focus and participation perhaps teaming up with the local school as well. We had time to play around and the librarian wanted to get some fun shots to use locally and we were all happy to play along. I am not the selfie king but this was their theme. Two of the rebels travelled in from Saskatoon to team up with me and TK-55810 for this. That dude in the middle was cheating. The dice never rolled my way. I'm jealous of TK-55810 who has somewhat mastered sitting. I was standing for three hours but am getting more used to it. I wasn't in agony by the end and the boots were feeling good. I'm in trouble. Wrong book section. This one was better... I guess. The kids were all pretty quiet. Their parents were more excited at times. They got to play a game and get entered for a draw the library was doing. She told us she took her kids to Star Wars in 1977 when they were teenagers and if they weren't in the fields seeding they would have been at this. This guy was the highlight of my day. The four of us were talking with the librarian when no one was in the building when the door opened behind us. He walked in the doorway to see four Star Wars characters all turn and look at him. His jaw dropped to the floor and pretty much stayed there. He brought along all his Lego that he and his dad built so, of course, we had to get this photo with his TIE fighter. He's grinning from ear to ear. So am I. When we were ready to leave they asked if we would mind also walking to the pool which was just a block away. So, yes, of course we will go watch the caged in younglings. Then they wanted us on the pool deck for more photos with the lifeguards and kids. Small town fun. We might not have signed on for a pool shift, but that water did look tempting after the day. Bart

Okay, I think I get what you're after on the helmet, and for reference TD new position (excuse the bad camera angle) and belt velcro adjusted over buttons. Sent from my SM-A145R using Tapatalk

You can remove all the top return edge but I would recommend to leave a little in the bottom. TOP

The spacing looks good as long as you have sufficient flexibility, well, as good as you can in TK armour lol. Definitely follow what Glen suggested above, things start to move a little once you are fully kitted up, and you will soon know what needs repositioning and adjustment.

OH, my new gloves and flexible hand guards from @justjoseph63 arrived yesterday. The gloves are a good fit, and no weird bodily reactions!

I found I had to apply a little heat to the calves to give them a small twist, now this is not without danger and you would need to practice on other ABS plastic, many use a hot water bath but I use a heat gun but with caution you can go from slightly moving to molten mess. Some shin issue threads Cricket used a magnetic closure, I've seen a few do this Cricket also did some hot water bath adjustments to the armor, you may pick up some tips References for mobility cuts

I agree with Dan on this. I chose to use internal cover strips to reinforce the front of the calves (a potential weak spot due to flexing open from the rear to get them on) and also my thighs. I actually used internals to aid in gluing the two halves together from the inside first before adding my externals on the thighs and forearms and calves. It allowed me to align the parts easily. I also can get pretty active in my armour in the right environment, yeah I've been known to break out in dance lol. Funk RnB style that is, not interpretive I used CA glue on m entire kit and it is still going strong over the last 8 years. There is also the old "if you cant see it, it doesn't matter" so no, internal strapping and supportive cover strips will always be allowed and a personal choice.

I used internal strips on my first set of armor but found they weren't really needed except for the shins as you are opening and closing them a lot they can take more strain than anywhere else, but really it's just up to the builder, no issues with higher levels no matter if you have them or not. On your thighs you may want to add some small strips just behind the lower ridge in case you have any gaps between these two pieces

Not at all, Paul. I always put interior cover strips on everything! Although not "screen accurate" they are not seen and provide extra strength to the seams. Even if someone doesn't want to use them for the other limb parts, I always suggest at least using them on the inside fronts of the calves. Those pieces get a lot of wear from opening and closing when putting on your armor so the extra reinforcement certainly helps. Another reason for using them is that some armor parts have more of a curve and the cover strips are flat. Having one on the inside takes some of the stress off the one on the outside.