thederek

Great cause, Ken. I'll donate a spare TK knee and two inner/outter drop boxes since I'm a TD. If anyone can swing some spare biceps too, that'd be cool too. Not *as* critical, but they've been abused and are velcroed on vs. a cover strip.

I just think it's awesome I snuck in there as a TD amongst all you cleanies in that pic We can coexist! Lol

Cool, glad the top fit! That was my problem. Try the Champion brand at Sports Authority if there's one near you, or whatever the local equivalent is. For the record, Marshalls didn't have anything, and Ross is a bit out of the way.

Thanks Ian & Bill! Good advice. Been busy lately as well. Will research some more when time, and will post pics before questionable cuts.

Ok, so I made some "progress". This is probably the slowest build ever you all have seen, and I also won't be spamming with as many photos as my blaster build. I've finished one of the forearms in terms of the rough trim, and I'm at the part where I"m ready to smooth/sand it and start trying to fit it. Here's some pics on the trimming I did. Feel free to point out anything. All these photos are for the left forearm. Cut off wrist return edges, still need to sand this, and trim a tiny bit more: This is the upper part of the forearm. Per Germain's suggestion, leaving a return at the outside forearm top, and removing the inside return edge (which still needs to be trimmed back more, there's still a little return on it). Do most people still cut the return off on the inside near the elbow crease? I like the return edge look, but not if it pinches me! Finally, this part if someone can help with will help me with all other pieces. So I'm ready to start kind of test-fitting these parts. I noticed when I try and make the forearm piece, it's really a pain in the you know what to get it to form a "forearm piece". I think this is due to all the extra plastic on "flat parts". I haven't trimmed this part yet, and know this can be a crucial step. So before I go make coverstrips, etc, and start trimming away, I want to at first at least know how to fit these together. Since this is Centurion, they can't overlap. So I was wondering, can I start to remove some of the red area before even "precisely" measuring for coverstrips? I just want to even see how tight this needs to be. Right now, the forearm is HUGE on me, even with the overlap method. It's looking more hexagonal, and not quite sure how to fit it before accurately trimming it down. Thinking about cutting some of this away? Anyways, sorry fellow troopers. I don't have all the time in the world to browse the build threads right now, with 60 hour weeks and a securities exam coming up. Trying to do what I can with limited time and a little help from my FISD counterparts. Best!

I dunno man, I'm 6', 205, and I thought an Eastbay XL would be ok and boy, was I wrong. I know it's supposed to be tight somewhat and "compress", but my god I've never looked and felt so horrible at the same time. While I admit this would be funny seeing someone type this on the reverse, I just couldn't wear this that tight. So I actually went IN PERSON to shop (since I really hate shopping clothes online). I went with an Underarmor XXL compression top. While it's -slightly- loose in the forearms for my body type, it gives me much more room in the chest and belly without looking like I'm pregnant. I'd say shop in person, as much of a pain as that will be. I went to Sports Authority, so you're going to pay a bit more there. My Underarmor shirt was like $34 bucks. I live in Florida, so a lot of hot compression gear isn't exactly stylish in mid-July. As far as compression bottoms, I hope this may help some other people. While picking up my Underarmor shirt, I also picked up a Champion brand compression pant that fits really well for 25% off, bringing that down to about $26. So it was about $60 out the door (with tax) for an undersuit, which from what I understand $40-60 is about the norm for this. Kudos to anyone else who gets this way cheaper and it fits; I'm jealous of you. In the meantime, I now have to ship off the Eastbay stuff back to them (the leggings had gray stitching like the above photo, and I didn't catch this on the website) to get my refund and wait about 8-10 days for the money back. That's the only pain with back and forth shipping. Even though the driving-around-factor is frustrating, I'd much rather try something on in person. In fact, this weekend I'll go Ross and Marshalls per your all's suggestion and see if I can find something even CHEAPER, and return the Sports Authority stuff if that happens. I'll be honest - this is the biggest pain in the butt of the whole costume so far, haha. And man, I need to get in shape, compression gear is NOT for me.

Im late to the thread, but started my rough trim on an ATA kit with Lexan scissors, and wow, what a huge help so far. Now only if they were magic and could finish for me. You're doing good on the helmet, give us an update when you can...

Haha, thanks, and it's all good. So, I made my first cuts, and just wanted to update the world. It's nothing crazy, just trying to get my feet wet and getting used to using the scissors and score and snap method. I also made these very conservative cuts. I think I'll take the dremel for the rest and slowly sand them down that way now that the main pieces are scored and snapped away. So here's the bottom of one of the bells. I think I still need to trim all this away. And trim this too: This is the part that I haven't see in a lot of detail. It seems that people just "get" it better than me, haha. Thanks to Ian linking Germain's post, I now know the bottom of the bell should have a slight return. However, It seems people are just making an arbitrary cut using: 1.) whatever looks good, as long as it's a return edge, and 2.) is it comfortable/does it fit well with the bicep. Right? Example: In this photo, the pencil line is the bubbly mold part still, that needs to go. The blue line is where if you cut it, there would be NO return edge. So the red line was arbitrary made by me, to what I saw from other pics and what I thought looked good.

Very nice, clean work! Adds a nice touch. Alles gut!

Haha, thanks Steve. Can this be moved to the Build thread section too? That's a good idea about looking at Centurion submissions. I'm just a bit disappointed, i thought the trimming would be easier for me, and instead of spending 4 days to work on this armor to have it ready in a month for Comic Con, I'm spending 4 days reading and looking at pics. Ah well, the price to pay to avoid mistakes, but the more I read and research, the more questions I have. I think you Vet guys take it for granted. People are born into armor costuming Although knowing myself, once I know what I'm doing I can't wait to build more.

Thanks Ian, I can always count on my favorite Aussie to set me straight. I didn't think of searching for "return edge". I searched for "trimming" and got a crap ton of results with varying levels of "what I want".

I hope this can help other future newbies, as I've never done anything with plastics, costuming, or anything else before other than scale tank models. So I started with a basic "arm layout", once I knew right from left (following threads, tutorials, etc). I'm sorry in advance if I spam with pictures. Let me know if it's too much and I'll delete some or something, or tailor them down in future posts. Are there good threads for trimming? Most people seem to gloss over this other than helmet builds. Have I just not looked enough? Links? This should only be the initial pic-heavy, hand-held part as I'm woefully unsure what I'm doing here. Is it normal to feel like you're going to puke before you start cutting? I've never done this before. The assembling and everything else makes much more sense to me technically, and any fitting, etc will most likely be done in person with my squad. However, I wanted to start trimming before the next armor party. So for the following posts, this is only in regards to the left arm assembly (bicep, forearm, & shoulder bell). My logic is once I feel comfortable on one side, I can duplicate the other within reason (since I know they're slightly different). I'm going to do score and snap, and most likely leave a bit extra on just to be safe (easier to subtract than to add!). I don't trust myself at first. Now for the shoulder bells. On the inside, my eyes "see" two types of mold lines, but I'm not sure where to trim back to? I've included an inside and outside pencil line photo. (Inside) For the outside, I'm thinking the line furthest on the left since my line on the right doesn't "remove" all the mold/bubbly plastic? So here are the forearm lines. I know for Centurion there are no return edges on the forearm bottom opening (closest to the hand). Which to my understanding looks almost like a "cross section", or a flat section. So am I to assume EVERY other piece of armor has return edges? I don't see any other mention of that in the CRL's, and my eyes are too n00b to spot it on other armor. I think most other pieces of armor do, even if slightly, from what I can tell. The inner forearm: inside, top (near bicep) The inner forearm: inside, bottom (near hands). I think on this one, i want to use the line closest to the bottom of the frame, which would cut off the "return edge", for Centurion. The inner forearm: outside, top (near bicep) The inner forearm: outside, bottom (near hands): thinking on this one left-most line since no return edge? Different piece (we're still on the left side of the arm assembly) The outer forearm: inside, top (near bicep) The outer forearm: inside, bottom (near hands) again, needs to be the line closest to the bottom of the frame, to remove return edge? The outer forearm: outside, top (near bicep)....these lines are harder to see, sorry The outer forearm: outside, bottom (near hands) again, thinking highest line, remove return edges. So what do you all think? I didn't post the biceps yet, as I wasn't sure if this format was too confusing to read, or had too many pics. I can edit future posts. I also know that however I cut inside will translate to the outside, but just wanted to mark how I saw the mold lines. Also note, I have not yet trimmed the sides and probably won't until my undersuit is here so I know an EXACT fit, but I know that has to be adjusted for the butt joint/cover strip method for Centurion. I also read sometimes it's easier to see the mold lines from the inside, so perhaps I just need to focus on cutting the inside mold lines which will take care of worrying about the "outside" lines.

Thanks Jonathan.....also, Ian pointed out this is in the wrong area. If this is a bellwether of things to come, then I'm in for a rough, rough ride. I'm going to PM Steve to see if he can move this to the ANH Build threads, but if any mods come across this before that happens, please move this and let me know before I go on posting. Thanks!

Hello everyone. Some of you may recognize me from such threads as "E11 ESB Build Threat" later changed to "E11 ANH Build Thread". You also know I"m spastic, anxious, yet I post a lot of photos of my do's and dont's to help other troopers from crying in the fetal position in bed at night for mistakes you have made. (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26997-dds-anh-e-11-build-thread-first-timer/) I digress. So while still on a long wait list for ATA, luck shined upon me and I bought a full set of untrimmed ATA armor from a squaddie who had a spare set and needed to get rid of it. I suppose I have to post the obligatory brown box photo. As with everything I do, it was impulsive and non-traditional. Mine was made with the box already open (for the original purchaser to check) and exchanged in a grocery store parking lot like some 80's CIA/Cold War movie. I then beat a hasty retreat out of fear of what this looked like to someone not "in the know". (In the back of my Jeep) Anyways, I'm going to start with the following: I apologize way in advance if I'm asking questions that seem too noobish. I have spent many hours watching assembly videos, reading build threads, etc. After wading through a tough pipe blaster build, the assembly looks challenging for armor, but not as hard as the initial trimming I feel. There are tons of tutorials and how-to's for assembly, but have I just completely missed a good thread or threads about trimming? I can't seem to find any, or a real step-by-step, or line visual reference, etc. If so, you all can point me to some good trimming threads, and everything else I can probably figure out and come back here for tricky sections for help. Thanks again for all you vets who put up with new folks like me. I'm not sure if this is a bad sign that I don't even know where to fully trim yet before diving in, but if I'm going to be manic and overwhelmed, I'm shooting for Centurion. I'm prepared to run the gauntlet of guffaws, criticism, and "dude, you messed that up, needs to be fixed" comments. I'm sure there will be laughs for you all and tears for me along the way. Off to my next post.

Haha noooo Ian! I was more just joking like is anyone reading this? Haha. Bad joke. Thanks tho, and yea, I think the power cylinders are the best part so far. Congrats on getting a pair from Andy. Money well spent for very nice quality. Not to mention I get the feeling he wont be making these forever.

I'm so pissed, I had a whole other post lined up and almost done, and I closed it by accident. Twenty minutes of typing wasted. Sigh. My final update was going to be mag well, folding stock, and my decisions on the spring, color, and coils. A big thank you goes out to Tim for all his help on this. Always answering my questions at all times of the day, and never once complaining, being rude, or condescending. A true example of a trooper helping a trooper. Must be the Army training. I finally epoxied on the folding stock. Man, this was more of a royal pain than the t track! It keep sliding, and moving, and turning, etc. Would NOT want to stay still. Forty minutes later, and epoxy all over my hands and blaster, I finally got it to stick, stay, and rubberbanded before bed. Jeez, what a task. Not sure if anyone else struggled with that? I don't seem to think so, it's probably just "Derek Luck". I next put on the mag well, this part was easier. Wayyyy easier. Just added some epoxy, glued, held it for a few minutes and it stuck. When it was really firm, I rubberbanded it before bed (the folding stock and mag well were done a day apart to allow 24 hours cure time). Also, in the below pic in the red rectangular box, you'll see I've added some JB Weld to help seal the gap between the folding stock and barrel, and also to add some extra strength adhesion. I later cleaned this area up a bit with an exacto after it dried, and sanded it so it looks smoother than you see in this pic. Apparently there are whole debates on coil count, etc., and to be honest I had no idea about that. Tim has apparently done a lot of research, so I went with his suggested 11. Whether that's right according to the Sterling manuals, or which original version on screen, blah blah, the look I have now works for me. At this point with life being split between so many things, I just want to finish this thing and have it look cool. No, it won't be a movie accurate blaster in every sense like some I've seen on here, but it will be genuine, hand-made, full of pride, and better looking than most other blasters I have seen in person. Now to scrunch, or not to scrunch; that is the question, whether 'tis nobler in the mind.... (to suffer through this thread any longer.... ) When I made the spring, I simply used Home Depot wire that was still rigid, but soft enough to mold by hand. I simply wrapped it around a dowel that was slightly smaller in diameter than the barrel as best as I could. It won't win any awards, but did the trick. Unscrunched (meaning, by the hole, there is not extra-compressed slack/spring) or Scrunched? I personally don't like how this looks. The spring doesn't look good crunched up, since it was wound up by hand. Tim suggested I widen the coils a bit, and make the coils number at about 11. So that's what I did. I was pretty satisfied with this, but one last thing was bothering me: the shiny metal color. Again, after going back and forth on how it would look, I finally took his suggestion again and making the wire a bit more muted. I had a dark wire as well, but it was almost too black and wouldn't look right. Tim suggested Rustoleum Flat Soft Iron. That did the trick for me. Two coats, turning the spring and it made it more of an "iron" color instead of that shiny metal you see up there. Some folks use the shiny spring, and that's fine really. I wanted something a tad more realistic in what I think would be in a blaster, so here are the end results. Here's with a flash, so you can really see the color. Keep in mind, you can't even see the back of the barrel where the black paint is scratched. Unless you're using a bright flash into the barrel Here's a more "natural" pic in how it would look, without a flash. That's it for now. Hope you're enjoying, lord knows I am now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel. My next steps are: 1.) Install bayonet lug 2.) Install end cap retaining clip 3.) Install the scope rail (if that ever gets here) and the Heng 4.) Paint! Sorry for any typos or unclear thoughts. It's very late.

Well I thought I'd update the thread again for the .5 readers who follow along my journey into mechanical and mental madness! I've been busy working two jobs, and studying for a securities exam, so I hope to finish this soon when I can. Once I was happy with the bolt position and how it looked, I knew I no longer needed to have both ends of the blaster open, so I glued in the barrel plug. It gave me no fuss and was easy. Simply showing you the pic for documenting purposes: Since I decided to paint my non-traditionally and treating it more like a scale model and painting tough spots as I go, I decided to hit up the blaster again. Before I attach the folding stock, I know it's going to be hard to get some primer just above the grip line where it joins the barrel when I had the folding stock glued on. So I decided to hit that up with some primer before gluing on the folding stock. At this point, I still don't want to paint the whole blaster with primer, I will wait until almost completed so it all has the same level and coats of paint, but wanted to mitigate any trouble areas I could before hand. You can see in this pic, the barrel is taped off (I haven't glued the t tracks yet, and don't want it painted!), and also covered up the butt of the blaster. I just left the bolt area and above-the-grip area open to paint. Notice, I've also covered the bolt face with several layers of painters tape. If you recall, I painted it the color I wanted last update. My next step was not to actually install the folding stock just yet though. I was afraid of gluing that on, and fumbling around horribly with trying to get the t tracks on, and that I might snap or pop-off the folding stock. So before I finalized it, I figured I would install the t-tracks first, then glue on the folding stock. I'll spare the step by step from the beginning on the t track, but basically per Marv in an PM, you heat a pot of boiling water and stick an end of the t track in there when you're ready to bend it. About 30 seconds makes it nice and pliable. I then fold the first end at a right angle. Be careful not to twist sideways at all or you get a weird bend. Try and find something that give you a nice edge or a right angle. I then run cold water over it to "freeze" it into place. More times than not, I did not like the bend so I dipped it back in the boiling water and it magically straightens back out (within reason). I'd be lying if I told you this part of the build was not a huuuuuuge pain in the you know what. Once I'd get one side, I'd see if it fit in the pilot hole. Since this is a custom pipe build (meaning, not perfect or machine-standard), some of the t tracks fit in the hole nicely, others I had to dremel-down a bit for them to fit, but it wasn't a big deal. I would then put one end of the t track into the hole, and mark with a pencil where the other end should bend. I would then remove from the blaster barrel, and put the other "non bent" end in the boiling water and bend where indicated. This took some trial and error, there is no magic measurement. You just gave to keep fitting until you get a good look and fit. Once I finally liked how it looked and fit, I would cut off about .5-.75 of an inch off the end of the t track before inserting into barrel (if you don't trim the ends, they start to run into each other when you add other t tracks). You can see how strong/rigid these are. They're hard plastic. You can see the tensile strength required to hold this down. This can only spell F-U-N when it comes time to glue it into place. Once these are fitted fairly well, they should almost "snap" into place or at least fit SNUGLY into the holes and along the barrel. A word about this: this is not perfect by any means. It's not a Doopy's resin kit with them already pretty and molded on, or a Hyperfirm. The holes are not all 100% perfect (even with a template and drill press there's human error) so all the holes were not perfectly covered how I envisioned it, but it's well enough for me to live with and troop with. Let your own perfectionism and purism drive your own destiny and what you can live with. Once I liked how they fit, I would sand the bottom of the T track to prep for the epoxy. I also sanded the areas on the barrel where the t track and resin would make contact: Instead of doing these all at once, I did one a day for several days. Yes it takes long, but I wanted to be sure they were adhering and straight before I slapped 6 of them on and hoped for the best. What I would do is once sanded, I would slather epoxy on the t track only and fit it back to the assembly. I would then cover the whole barrel and t track with a piece of regular printer paper, or 8.5 x 11 paper, and tape it very tightly with duct tape. The paper acted as a barrier so the duct tape would not pull the track out when removing, and also would not leave sticky residue. Be warned, some of the paper can stick to the epoxy (ahem, learned from experience). Here are the end results: (see the "tear"? That was cut off with an exacto after this picture) Note: there is still one more t track to install, but I want to wait until I install the scope rail first, to be sure there's enough room before the top t track is glued into place.

This is great advice to a n00b about to build his kit. Great info, and convened in a way where you don't feel embarrassed or getting talked down to. Thanks for posting! (Also, you have a cool name, and spelled correctly!)

If you wear a US 9 or 10, you should be good with a 10. It might be a tiny bit loose in the heel, but with a gel insole and a thicker sock you should be good. If you range from a 9-10 comfortably, I'd be real hesitant to go with a 9. If my foot was cramped I'd be more ticked than if I had a bit of wiggle room.

Finally, here's the "fun"! Lookee what I got while doing all this: and Woooo hooo! My armor isn't due for a few months still, but a squaddie who had a spare ATA kit (minus helmet, which has been ordered) was selling his. Lucky me Now I'm just terrified to touch it. Considering how much I freaked out and got frustrated with this blaster, this is daunting. Not to mention I haven't read up as this was an unexpected pick up. Either way, on the road to TK-ness!! Also, I helped our squad set this up tonight. Really fun! The trash compactor from the Death Star! In closing, the remainig things for the blaster which you'll see in the next few weeks: 1.) Getting the scope rail put on 2.) Getting the scope on the rail 3.) Gluing on mag well 4.) Securing bolt, then barrel plug, then end cap 5.) Heating and fitting T-tracks 6.) Priming everything again (minus gloss grip), then painting. I give this a few more weeks with everything going on and I'm done. Then off to armor

Next thing. My power cylinders from Andy finally came in! Fantastic, fantastic quality. It definitely was worth the extra money to take this to the next level. Also, pipe build kits from DD don't come with a Hengstler or p-cylinders, so I had to go somewhere. I'm glad I went with Andy, superb work. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24821-screen-accurate-resin-budget-power-cylinders-for-e11s/ Here are some pictures of when it first arrived. It's the highest quality resin I've seen so far (I've epoxied the two parts already here). Here is the bottom, look how smooth! This is after I decided I wanted to put them right here (parallel with barrel method): Finally, this is after I primed it. Looking nice now! Also, as a creature of habit from my tank building days, I like to paint larger parts separately first. I dunno why, I seem more comfortable with it. Then I will finally "join everything together" with a layer or two of primer with everything assembled, and finish with top coats. Notice the section that bonds to the barrel is taped off to prevent primer from getting on there. Finally, here is how it will look when on the barrel. Also, note the barrel plug has the "paint-free bonding ring" also not painted for a better bonding. this will not be visible once in place. Also, I wanted to wait until the bolt was done in case I needed to tap it out and needed access from both ends. Bonded barrel plug = one way street if you need to get the bolt out for some reason. I also glued on the ejector port cover. I also stole Tim's idea and used an adhesive furniture pad to put into the endcap. It will help the spring stay secure and not rattle around. Going good, more to come!

Hey everyone! I've been a very busy recruit lately. I've had a lot of family stuff, working two jobs (got to pay for armor and boots somehow) and I'm finally making a bit of progress again on things. Here are some updates on the blaster with a bit of fun mixed in. So last time you all saw the bolt, I had glued part of a wooden dowel to the correct length of the real bolt, per Aaron's email (I think the actual measurement and pic with it is listed a few pages back). I like to show the pic of how ugly this thing got before it became presentable. My mind saw what it should be, it was getting there which was the journey. So I had two diagnonal lines from the old "bolt face", and a for soem reason, a vertical groove. As discussed, this should be the correct position I feel, and not the way most people have it, but that's just me. I'm no gunsmith, or enjoy debating small details like that. So call it right or wrong. Either way, I puttied all the grooves. This picture is fresh putty, not sanded. I love how crazy it looks. Like a Frankenstein bolt (ignore the power cylinders for now). This was my idea: You can see the black box next to the square gap on the left will be where I need to cut into the wood to where I want the cocking lever to go (part of the precut square will be covered in the barrel, so I have to "extend" this feature). Also, my cocking level is rectangular on the end, not rounded so it fits through the channel. I realize it's not as accurate, eh but I don't care. The channel was too narrow. The far right ovular line is a pencil oval I drew for where I need to drill the ejection port mechanism. I decided to go with simply a groove, and not try and install pieces and all that. At this point I'm just trying to finish. I've come to a point where I just want a cool looking blaster, of which 98% of the people will never nitpick like we do here. After spraying it down with gray primer, I liked the look but that spot above the newly-carved ejector groove was really bothering me. See it? It looks like it's not sanded down well enough. It was driving me crazy. So after mulling it over for a while, I decided to go ahead and work on it some more. I sanded it down, taped it up and reprimed just a section. It's defintely smooth now. I sanded it out of anger and after two beers. "How DARE you mess up my paint job the first time?! Stupid putty! Argh!$! [sand sand sand]" These are the two colors I decided to go with. I already had them on hand. The are Tamiya acrylics. I had them from my tank modeling collection. So the dark on the left is the bolt color, and the silvery gun metal will be the "strip". Sanded, reprimed, and pained with a few coats of acrylic. I'm seriously liking this now. Keep in mind, the below photo is going to show you the only things that will be visible once this is in the barrel: Anyways, the last piece of tape comes off that was covering the bonding point for the cocking lever, and I'm happy with the results. Another unintended benefit: this bolt is not perfectly level. The back-end wooden dowel ever so slightly curves up, actually forcing me to tap the bolt into place. This is excellent as it's a solid connection and nothing will move this once it's in place. I'm basically jamming this in there. I never intended the bolt to be functional, so that's not an issue for me. Also, now I don't have to figure out how to keep it in place or add more hardware. FINALLY I'll have to tap this in the barrel. Here's a word to the wise for people who don't know much about paint, etc. Adding paint changes the mass and thickness of this thing. Therefore when I tap this into place, I am expecting it to get chipped, scratched, and show black paint from inside the barrel. Once it's in its final position, I am going to go in with tiny paintbrushes and touch it up. I did not want to simply insert the bolt THEN paint, as I wasn't sure I was able to paint the whole assembly once inside the barrel. I'd rather have to touch up then do a whole paint job. This shouldn't be an issue on a resin kit, but on a pipe build where nothing is 100% accurate, it's what I had to do with what was given to me. We'll see how good (or bad) this decision turns out to be. I'll have to add the extra strip once in place, and paint that the contrasting color. Then I will cover this thing with tape and commence on painting the blaster.

Haha, interesting. Good to know!

From what I understand, they just did a run, but the back log is growing. I think they are trying to find suitable vendors to keep up with demand. They're good folks there, super responsive and always apologetic for the delays. Just keep trying, get added to a list, but as of now be prepared to wait about 2-3 months or so.

Ok, well since no one offered up anything, hopefully this will help others. I got my size 10 TK boots today, and I usually wear a size 10 sneaker. They fit really nice with just a bit of extra room in thr heel. Some gel inserts and socks will be even more comfortable and reduce the sliding. Sooo, if you wear a size 10 or even 10 1/2 shoe, I fear a size 11 might be too big. A size 9 would definitely have been too small for me. Hope this helps, troopers!