MarxKnight91

Requesting 501st access. TK 40259 http://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=19785&costumeID=124

It's been a while since I updated, mainly because I lost my main mode of interacting with the site; house got robbed back in August and so I've lost my best way to upload to photobucket. Thankfully none of the TK was taken or damage and I was able to complete it by DragonCon! I wore it out for a visual inspection from the garrison and so I could go in costume to the 'Last Party on Alderaan;' if you were there and saw a TK back up dancing, that was me. <br><br> CO of the garrison was thoroughly impressed with the build, which highlights the knowledge of this site and all those willing to help and share it. The kit survived the evening.....mostly: sniper plate popped off, butt kept popping free, and undersuit stained almost every part of the armor. I've got some minor touch up work to do on the buttons and some modifications to the helmet, but the two main sticking points going forward are the stains and the gap between my back and kidney. Undersuit is made by tesla.<br><br> On the stains: I've used mineral spirits, bleach pen, and even a magic eraser. Nothing has sufficiently removed it. Any suggestions here?<br><br> On the back gap: I know I can realign the shoulder straps, but then I risk losing contact with the shoulder bridge and back via the 1/4 elastic. I've got some extra strap canvas on the way, with the hopes of finding a nice medium to close that gap.<br><br> Hoping to submit my app this week and finally get that TK number.

I'll probably end up gluing the front down to the front of the knee, if it doesn't warp it too much. Thought so. I don't mind the decals for everywhere else! Hopefully I can get them on soonish, once I get more feedback on the ears. If they're ok, then I'll begin finalizing the bucket build with the lens and decals/paint. Those straps are for my super secret squirrel armor disassemble latches! Nah, just keep forgetting to the finish off the bicep straps. Speaking of which, I think I can just close the diameter of the biceps a bit to fix the bicep and shoulder strap issues. Thanks for the feedback Kredal!

Just to double check, these are the stripes i'm referring to and guessing that they provide the border on the ear I imagine, how to apply them correctly is in one of his videos that I haven't seen yet, but i'm leaning towards painting the border at the moment. Yeah, I just wanted to try it on and see how it went together/looked. Here is a side view of the sniper plate (Excuse the mess of a work station; I was in an all out trimming and snapping mode to get the thighs finished and strapped on.) Josh, are you suggesting that I move the side over to that next ridge? I believe that was my original goal, but it contributed greatly to the lean and getting it to stay there while gluing with the E6 was a nightmare. I finally had the thighs finished and strapped to the kit. Few things to work on: I believe i've got too much tension on the bicep strap which is pulling them down and causing the shoulder canvas to pull out from underneath the bridge; I've also got a gap between the back and kidney that will need some tuning; going to have to find a good way to keep the boot tops from popping out from underneath the calves. (The thighs are about even when standing normally; it's overlapping due to the stance.) Took the picture with a timer, so that's the best i've got today.

Thanks, Jason. I'm a bit worried they may not even bit salvageable if that gap can't be resolved. Also, what did you do with the decals with yours? I understand the obvious ones, but there's a set of the long black thin lines... Not sure if that's supposed to be the border for the ear buttons or what.

Ahaha glad to see I wasn't the only one marathoning the Mythbusters while working on my bucket!

As if you won't already, take your time on them. I mention simply because I butchered my belt covers....

Spent the majority of the day tackling the bucket and am pretty happy, at least with the progress. My ears have the ever popular gap and whereas I know there is going to be some, I feel like more can be done to get mine to fit closer to flush. I fitted them by marking and affixing the top two first and then finding the best placement for the bottom screw. It may be just a matter of playing with the tension on each to get it to fit better, as it was right about on the money when I drilled the bottom hole. I may also need to simply lower the ears all together, but before I go further, I seek the wisdom of the masses. As you can see, the gaps are rather pronounced in this shot. And obligatory 'try it on' shot... Rear view Left Profile Left Rear Left Front Right Profile Right Rear As you could see from the first couple of pictures, I already put in the mic tips and also decided to test fit the S-trim strip. I can trim them here or there or move them down to fit the tube coming up, but I decided to take a break to check with others online here as well as for feedback. In other news, my sniper plate has dried and looks alright, as long as the 'lean' is ok. It's on with E6000 so I can try again if necessary. At the very least, it'll need some reinforcement to make sure it doesn't come loose. Hoping to paint tomorrow. A few final cuts on the thigh, their snaps and attachments, the ab buttons painted and applied will round out the main suit. Awaiting rivets from Echo to attach the battery pack.

Keep at it Jason! It didn't seem logical to me when I tried mine on, but the shins just rest on the boots.

Thanks Tony and Jason and good call Josh. I didn't get around to any work yesterday, but managed to get a lot of things going this evening. It started with the delivery of my HWT oil pan base from Bavarian Autosports (9qt). That'll be for Phase III of the build, Revenge of the Upgrades, after Phase II's tweaks and polishing. The oil pan: I also began work on the sniper plate, first by aligning it to its best possible position without glue: And then deciding to glue one side. I started off with E6000 then added some CA glue to the mix when I got a good clamp on the center to hold everything in place. I'll review the hold tomorrow evening and hopefully complete the other side. I also lined it up to not bend outward so much as in the 'aligning' picture, despite having seen a few in a similar position on a few threads. With the hopes of getting to attach the bucket halves together, I worked for at least a couple of hours on the teeth. I tried various tools at my disposal and finally got a combination of them to produce some positive results. Between the xacto knife and whatever the spinny tool thing with cutting teeth that came with my lexan scissors is, I got a good start on it. Thoughts and suggestions here are most welcome. Also put on the outer cover strip to the completed thigh: I'll have to do some yoga poses to get the other thigh measured properly or await extra hands over the weekend. Lastly, I did some more bending on the shoulder bridges; they straightened out a bit over the past few weeks and so I reboiled them and am leaving them bound with tape overnight. Still lots to do, but it's looking better and better. I see a TK Saturday on my horizon!

Went to work on the bucket this evening; started the day with looking over a few builds and TrooperBay's videos, but that hasn't kept the Dark Side from gaining control of me on this thing. The eyes were difficult to trim out properly due to the angles but I think I got it to a good status. Was going to begin dremeling the teeth to get them started but thunderstorms in the area thought differently. An updated picture on the thigh shim work, as I forgot to add one on the last update. It still needs its coverstrip, but I walked away from the work zone to take a break from the bucket. Trimmed the sides on the faceplate and 'hood' of the helmet... And just had to try it on. Attempted to get a good lineup across both sides to get ready to rivet once I had the teeth together, but I couldn't get it the way I liked it with the available tools. My clamps that I attempted to use on the inside of the eyes to hold the brow in place like in the TrooperBay videos were too big, while my magnets were breaking left and right. A lot of firsts on this part of the build: first injury when I was cutting down the inside of the eye to my thumb; first magnet break (x3 as it turned out); and first overwhelming urge to throw a piece of armor against the wall when the bucket moved on the 28th attempt to align it. So I moved onto trimming the ears. First one was great, I could clearly see the indentions on where it needed to be trimmed to. But the otherside was not as forthcoming: This bucket will take some work. Shout out to, I believe, Altair's build thread that I was looking at while working on the helmet. I'll soon be back at the helmet, but there are other areas that still need attention on the rest of the suit. Goals for tomorrow will include the thigh outer strip, sniper plate, trimming of the battery pack, and dremeling of the teeth and ears. I've also entered into a contest to enter my application for approval by Sunday, so miles to go before I sleep!

Came home this evening to a small brown box! Thought it might be the oil pan I'd ordered for my HWT but as it turned out....... A wild Bucket appeared!! Super psyched about it and pretty happy in the my build timeline that it arrived; already having experience now with the armor, I dove right in and marked the areas to be trimmed while the inner cover strip on my thigh dried. Gotta check the CRL's to make sure I get the teeth number right, but I'm thoroughly looking forward to this part of the build.

Make it happen, Jason! It'd be great having you there; the parade on Saturday is awesome, at least from a spectator standpoint (till I get to troop in it!). I'm confident the thigh will turn out pretty well. I had a Centurion thigh on hand, which is being converted to a Deathtrooper, that was a physical reference, along with the photo above, and you can barely notice the shim. I'll be waiting to do all my abs pasting till I complete it; I'm pretty sure I can get basic 501st approval to start trooping with just a few seams and then begin making upgrades to the armor to make it look better. I'm keeping an eye on yours to see how it turns out, so keep them updates coming!

Another mini armor party has led to the completion of the shins proper, with velcro added to both and front cover strip added to the remaining shin. The DLT 19 came in on Monday and I could not be happier with it. It's extraordinary! I have a pic of it, but it doesn't do it justice, so i'll have to take another soon. We also were able to come up with a good solution for shimming the thighs. I didn't think I'd need to on the left one, but the right was definitely going to need it. Using this Centurion's approval photo as a basis, we applied a shim to the edge of one side to then meet the other flush. The Reference: The Result: The tape marks where the shim will meet the thigh. A cover strip will cover the diagonal cut and be strengthened by a larger inner cover strip. Completion of that thigh will probably occur tomorrow evening. Once they are both completed, some trimming to make the pieces meet and not poke or snag will finish them off. Inching ever closer. Hopefully the bucket comes in soon, as I hope to be done by Dragon Con. It'll depend on if I can get the bucket completed fast enough, I think.

Ha, I just ran into and came to the same solution as you, tonight. I've got a shim overlapping one edge and then I'll be meeting the butt joint cover strip at the other edge. Can hardly tell its there as is and I have faith that the abs paste will hide any seams that may be visible. Keep up the good work!