maxsteele

I did remove the return edge from the inner piece, as much research suggested. I can easily take that outer return edge off as well, I had just read that it's suggested to leave the outer edge.

I made my first big boy cuts tonight. I followed gazmosis' advice on making a common line closest to the molded finishing edge, then I marked off 7mm from that line. I used magnets to hold the ruler in place to make my cut with an xacto blade. Here's how much I removed, and the nice clean line left: Here are the two pieces cut and joined together with a little tape underneath. Pretty decent match-up I laid down a finishing strip and held it in place with magnets to test out some fitting. Now, this is a big question I have had. Now that I have test-fitted the piece to my body and wrapped around the extra, I have wondered - where exactly should I cut off the excess? Here are two examples. Should I cut all of the extra from the inside forearm piece like so: Or should I share the cutting on the inside (1.) and the outside (2.) pieces? Here is what the forearm looks like on my arm. I know I'm not wearing my under shirt. This was just a test to see how I would size it. I'm not sure I like that abrupt transition from the return edge on the outside piece to no return edge on the inside. Is that just a matter of trimming down that outer return edge, or should I just remove it completely? Or is it perfectly fine and I should just leave it alone and go with that? Sorry - I have my selfie camera resolution set pretty high, so this next pic is huge! This size on the wrist end is just enough for me to fit my hand through. I have pencil-thin wrists. Is this a decent-enough fit?

I did a little research. A friend of mine contacted the seller with some questions about the armor. The email that he received a reply from? mattgauthier97123@gmail.com

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/clt/4095354659.html I'm not looking to buy this, but thought I'd post it here in case someone comes across it and would like opinions from here.

Here's the kidney and butt plate trimmed Kidney Plate Butt Plate

Ah ha! My research is paying off. The built-in side shims with NE armor is on the ab plate. I've noticed when holding up the kidney and ab plates there's quite a bit of material bend that the pieces have to do in order to come in on my sides. Did you notice this also? I don't think there's much that can be done about that. I'm certainly not using a heat gun to bend those pieces inward. That's a whole other level of armor building that I'm just not ready for. I just hope it's not putting too much of a strain on the rest of the pieces and causing possible stress bends / cracks in the future.

Alright, here are my ab, kidney, and butt plates: Kidney plate Butt plate Ab plate Now, I know there's a good deal to trim on these pieces because these molds were made to fit larger people. I don't believe I am considered a "larger" person. I am 5' 10", 195 lbs. I have a 36" waist. I'm wondering if I should pre-cut these to how I've seen others cut them, or if I should wait until I'm doing actual fitting before cutting them. For example, looking at the kidney piece and comparing to other builds, my first instinct is to cut each side like this: And then I look at the kidney, and comparing other builds, I think that I should cut it like this: My concern is that I make these cuts, and then when I try to fit the ab and kidney together, they won't touch and there will be a gap. I'm not sure how to proceed on those cuts.... Thinking more on it, I think the kidney should always be cut how I have it, and any extra that's needed to close the gap should be on the ab side. Thoughts? With the butt, I think regardless of how the ab and kidney fit together, I need to cut the butt plate like this: Any and all feedback is appreciated before I put these pieces under the knife / scissors!

I have an ATA helmet. I'm going to use decals for the tube stripes, tear drops, and vents. I'll be hand-painting the vocoder, frown, ears, and the ab buttons. Why am I using decals? Because I'm not an artist. Why am I painting the vocoder, frown, and ears? Because I can't get decals for those. I figure I can easily mask off the buttons and paint them to look nice.

I hate to disappoint, but I did not go with the NE helmet for my build. I got an ATA helmet. If you are still interested in following that build, you can find it here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24746-my-ata-helmet-build/ I have cut out the eyes and teeth, and I need to drill the holes to connect the back and front together, and start shaping those horrible, horrible ears.

Here's the lower part of the chest now after I cut that extra away: Much better.

The search bar hasn't been working all day for me. Any word I put up there it simply comes back with: "No results found". And I'm using search words that I know have returned results in the past. I found that I can use Google and do the following syntax: finishing strips site:whitearmor.net This syntax will do a Google search for the words "finishing strips" only on the whitearmor.net website. Once I figured this out, finding what I'm searching for on this site became much easier. I will say though, that I do a ton of research on here, and then I post questions about the research I find to get people's personal opinions on it. Most results I find are from 2011-2012, and there could certainly have been changes of opinion on technique. I like to verify what I've researched in my own thread to make sure it is still valid.

Alright, here are my un-modified back and chest pieces. As I mentioned earlier, you can see that flashing at the bottom corner of the chest piece. There's one of those on each side of the chest. I know that needs to be cut off and have a return that matches the return that goes up the side. I'm cutting that off tonight. From what I've seen, the rest of the return edge around the chest piece is the correct width, and I don't believe I need to trim any more of it. The back piece I have a concern with. Once the return edge passes the deepest part of the curve, it gets quite wide. I think I need to trim it to match the narrowest return edge that exists on the upper part of the back. I have some curved scissors that I think can do the trick, and then sand it up to be relatively even. The easiest is to completely remove the return edge, but I'm not sure how that would be.

I can give you what I know: 15mm strips for the forearms and biceps 20mm strips for the front of the thighs/shins 25mm strips for the back of the thighs/shins If you're doing butt join, you can glue down half of the cover strip on one edge of the armor, wait for it to cure, then glue down the other half of the cover strip to the other edge.

I'll post some pics of my chest and back plate when I get home tonight. I think the return edges are already at the right thickness on both of them. There's just that flare I need to cut off at the bottom sides of the chest, which you'll be able to see in the pics. Once I'm satisfied with how those are, I'll move on to looking at return edges for the ab / kidney / butt plates.

Thanks for following up on that. I know I am being super paranoid and double / triple verifying with people on the cuts I'm making. That's just the way I am with projects. I need to know I'm doing it right and require validation from multiple sources before I make any cuts. Everyone that's been helping out have been very patient with me, and I appreciate every piece of information I've been given. I'm hoping to move on from the forearms and biceps tonight / tomorrow when I start trimming my chest and back plates. From research today, most people seem to keep all of the return edges on the chest. There's just that one piece that sticks out on either side of the chest at the bottom which I know needs to be trimmed off. I need to research the back plate more, but I don't think there's anything for me to cut on there.

Yep, I did! This pic showed me: The two left-most pieces go together, and the two right-most pieces go together. For the left-most pieces, you'll notice that from this vantage point, the raised part curves out to the right at the top. That piece matches up with the left "thumb print" piece. And then the wider parts for the outside pieces are at the top, the thinner parts are at the bottom.

While I'm debating with myself on how much return edge I should take off on the curved top parts of my biceps and the outside elbow of my forearms, I'm moving on to other pieces! Chest piece - From what I've looked at, most people take off the return edge around the neck. I've also seen a build or two where all of the return edge is taken off completely with the exception of the horizontal bottom return edge. Any opinions on return edge removal on the chest?

I took a ruler to the return edges on the outside elbow end of my forearms, and they are right at 1/4 inch. I know it's harder to remove the return edge after the armor is assembled, which is why I'm second / third guessing everything right now.

I would say because we can't walk into the local Stormtrooper armor shop and buy a new pair of forearms off the rack. If that were possible, I wouldn't be building my armor right now.

Thanks Derek! That's the kind of responses I was hoping to see. I know there's a 'best practices', but I'd like to hear what other people did directly with their return edges.

It seems to me that the return edge on my forearm pieces are already pretty trim. Screenshots like the one Nick just posted are difficult to tell from a distance just how thick it actually is. What I"m wrestling with is - are these too thick? I already took the return edge off on the two pieces to the right in this photo. It seems to me like there's already a "small" return edge on these outer forearm pieces. As for my bicep, I do think I could trim it down:

I've researched this to death. A common conclusion amongst all my research has said to have no return edge on the wrist ends of the forearms. I have removed those. I've also seen consensus that all of the return edge should be removed on the curved inside arm pieces of the forearms at the elbow end. I have removed those as well. A majority of people said to remove all of the return edge on both pieces at the bottom of the biceps. I have removed those. I have also removed the top return edge on the outer piece of the bicep. Where I found differing opinions was what to do with the return edges on the outside forearms at the elbow end, and the top inside bicep pieces. What I'm looking for are what are people's opinions on the return edge for the outside forearm (with the dimples) at the elbow end, and the return edge of the top inside piece of the bicep (where the armpit fits). Do you like to have some return edge? Do you remove it completely? Inquiring minds (mine) want to know!

Let me speak from a pure amateur view here.... I'm not having the easiest time building my armor right now. I've had people say: "Oh, you can have that done in a couple of weeks!" But that is certainly not the case for me. I'm struggling with cutting the armor correctly, trying to learn the techniques on how to fit and trim pieces to my body, and then I'm going to have a hell of a time with the snaps / strapping once the pieces are ready to be worn. I also need to figure out how to carve the ears for my bucket (ugh, the ears) and I'm trembling at the thought of piercing holes through it. I've never been in the situation that I am right now - unfinished pieces of armor strewn about my workbench, pieces of ABS and ABS dust littered everywhere, a clutter of scissors, xacto knives, and files.... but I'm learning a bunch about how all this armor goes together, and I will get it built eventually. I'm taking my time making sure that the return edge cuts I've made are sanded nice and smooth with no weird raised edges. I spent hours filing out the teeth of my bucket to get them to just the right amount of openings. I painted a pair of black boots white over the course of a couple of weeks. If I didn't have the experience I've had from working with my armor, I would probably suggest to someone just coming into this to have someone build the armor for you. But now that I've been working with it myself, I vote for building it yourself.

I'm doing New NE, which closely follows the RS build guidelines, but is designed for larger troopers, so there will be quite a bit I need to cut away to fit to my frame.

I have taken off the return edge on the bottoms of my biceps, and on the top part on the outer piece. I've read that there should be some return edge on the inner piece, where the armpit curve is. I'm still debating whether or not I'm going to leave that there.