Addertime

Leave 3/16" or so around the top except for the rear where the seam opens, remove all of that. On the bottom, remove all of the return edge.

Have you checked places like McMaster Carr?

I've been trooping with this set up for years now. It's a great solution for both wearability and portability.

Very nice work! As others have said, this should be an easy pass for basic approval. You'll find by wearing it that the build is an evolution. You'll tinker with it a lot after your first few troops as you find ways to make it work better for you.

Welcome aboard Ethan!

Celebration London 2015 was a lot of fun and the 40 Year Celebration in Orlando was EPIC. I was expecting Anaheim this time around to coincide with the new Star Wars themed land at Disneyland which opens in the spring of 2019. I was poised to book my flights and hotel and... then the announcement... Chicago. Chicago? Wait. What?!? Sigh. I love going to Celebrations but there’s nothing else there of interest to me so it’s hard to justify the time and expense. I’ll skip the 7000 mile flight and spend the cash elsewhere. To those who will be going, have fun! And to those who have never been , you’re in for a treat BUT plan ahead and expect to spend your nights sleeping on the floor of the queue hall while waiting in line for wristbands if you can’t buy the high level passes.

Congrats on the approval and welcome to the ranks. 100 hours is about what I spent on my TK as well. It's a nice round number that is both a relief and still leaves you wanting more.

I have about ten 501st coins and a wide variety of military and federal agency coins. I see I need to pick up the pace .

That's awesome. I used to go over to the TechShop in San Jose. I gotta get home more often!

Congrats and welcome!

Clunky, stiff and imperfect, the original suit is the only one for me. I watched in awe as they boarded Leia's ship and never took my eye off the prize and now forty years later, I smile every single time I walk past it on the mannequin in the hall.

I liked the film overall. I was entertained and I like the character development of Rey and Kylo. I felt it was a fitting ESB 2.0 to accompany TFA which I saw as ANH for a new generation. Even though the plot has more holes than a screen door at least the Porgs weren't the new JarJar like I feared. That said, I agree with most of PGHTrooper21's list above. There were a lot of odd questions and that remained and odd moments which didn't need to happen. It's felt sloppy. There was a moment where Poe put his foot through the floorboard of the V-4X-D speeder and said, "What the hell?!?" and I was thinking, "...said no one in the Star Wars universe... ever." The concept of heaven and hell has never been introduced in Star Wars so this exclamation made zero sense. The bombers dropping bombs in space was sheer comedy and the lack of explanation about the codebreaker guy was unacceptable. I felt it supposed to be obvious that the "real" codebreaker was the guy the met in the prison cell who was just Lando 2.0 but it could have been so much better. I've thought about it and I would've liked to have seen Billy Dee Williams revisit the Lando role for this part. It would have been nice to revisit another aging character we all know and show that, though he became a good guy, he still couldn't change his spots and betrayed them again in his own opportunistic way. It was too perfect and they missed it.

I voted... and it looks like I chose well.

Lookin' good! Welcome brother!

I am a big advocate of people building from a kit or even from scratch. It's not just about saving money but also about the experience. We are a costuming organization after all. That having been said, be aware that this is not an inexpensive hobby. Even by cutting corners, the little things will add up. Tools, tape, paint, adhesives, elastic, foam padding, clamps, etc. will add a lot to the cost of even the most DIY project. Then, of course, the trip to your first SWC will dwarf the cost of your build and you'll feel all better about only dropping two grand on the costume. Heh!