JBar

Nice! Looking forward to the build

That bicep looks great now. 20mm is a pretty significant visual change in a good way. My biceps were also small and I found if I squeezed them by their size they fit me better so I used a heat gun to alter their shape slightly and it made a big difference. Obviously you gotta be careful if you go that route but if they feel comfortable as is I'd leave them be. That one looks great

Welcome back. Hope to see some pictures soon

Nothing is standing out to me for basic approval. I think your GML will be happy to review your. Excited for your updates!

You know it’s funny I had to redo my snaps because I initially got nice Tandy snaps. They were so hard to unsnap that I brought super cheap snaps in bulk and now they’re perfect. They’re also about a fifth of the price so win win

I've seen some snap tutorials out there but they were either incomplete or the snaps were made incorrectly. As someone who couldn't wrap my head around snaps I wanted to make full tutorial in case you don't know how to make them like I did. They were incredibly confusing at first but I've got it down now. A snap tool is essential as you'll be making dozens if not hundreds of these. I used this snap tool and these snaps. You'll also want a soldering iron like this for punching holes. Alternatively you can buy a leather hole punch. I like the soldering iron because I could melt the nylon around the cut edges so that it doesn't fray. It also smells so wear a mask in a well ventilated room. 1. Pair off your snaps The two "rounded" female pieces will pair together (left) alongside the actual strap. The more thin male ends will also go together (right) with the nylon that will be glued to the armor. 2. Punch Holes Use the soldering iron or hole punch to punch holes in the fabric. Just center a hole in the nylon. For the webbing it will depend on the length needed for each part of the strapping. 3. Nylon Webbing For this part insert this punch die into the tool Tighten the tool so that when it clamps the ends just barely touch Next take the back of the male snap and poke it through the nylon hole you made (this is the back side that will be glued) Place the front male side on top like this Center the tool and clamp them shut It should now look like this. If the two pieces feel loose then tighten the tool farther and try again 4. Strapping This time use the bowl shaped snap die Same process as before but with the female ends. Push the flat head female end into the hole you made. Place the other female half on top Again crunch down with the tool like before It should now look like this 5. Fitting Together You should be done! Both halves should be able to snap together. Now you have the tools you mass produce these for your armor

501st Troop: 41 FISD Troop: 11 Event: NY Tropicon Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel, LI NY Date: 8/17/24 I may be short for a stormtrooper but DEFINITELY short for a Vader

I'm so sorry to hear that. I wish I knew what to say. I'm sure he'd love the look of that logo and hope you can carry on his memory

I'll admit I'm not super familiar with the ROTK right now but that helmet looks amazing!

Congrats! So are you now the first EIB commando?

These are some great tips above. I expect your GML will be happy to approve you for basic and you're well on your way to L2/3!

Great job! Congrats

Just saw your approval!!! Congrats trooper well deserved

First troop! It's such a great way to give back and to meet friends. You're gonna do some cool stuff and have some great opportunities. This one looked really fun

Hope you're enjoying the feeling of fully kitting up! It's definitely a fun feeling and you're getting closer. You mentioned trying to get your under suit less baggy in the arms and the neck seal but I would also work on your belt fit. It looks like it could use a good trim down. Try to see if you can remove enough of the belt so that it overlaps underneath the TD that way the end isn't hanging out from the side. While you're working on that fit make sure the plastic part of the belt is moved up higher so that it just touches the bottom of the bottom button. I'd also attach some glue or velcro to where the drop boxes are so that they're even on each edge of the plastic part of the belt. Also for the under suit what if you rolled or hemmed the end of the arms so that you can pull the sleeves down tighter? I think that would help with the sagging And I'm sure you'll catch this but make sure on your right calf that the outside piece overlaps the inside Keep it up glad it's all coming together!

Wow you're so close! That's great that you want to go for EIB and later centurion down the road. You've put in a lot of work and level 2/3 is definitely a rewarding process as well

I had to do the same thing. The donut in my armor was pointed up not out. Once I rolled out my TD it then hung too low, so I ended up removing about 3/4" of the bottom of the clips and drilling two new holes and that solved my problem. Before: After:

Looks good and I would for sure leave plenty of room for them to slide up and down. The belt will be more than enough to hold them in place and you'll want room for things such as change in body weight, walking around a lot, and even just sweating and getting hotter makes your skin and under suit go a little bigger. You can always slim it down later so I'd err on the larger side by just a bit

Wow you're doing a great job! Aside from bringing your forearms down so that the gap between the bicep and forearm and forearm and hand plates are roughly the same, you could also raise the height of your TD. This is taken off the Quick Reference CRL Guide: You can see ideally the TD is towards the top of the belt with the top of the metal clips just visible For basic I'm assuming what you have should fine but you'll want to raise it if you go for EIB down the road. From what I'm seeing EIB something you definitely have the skills for and I think you'll enjoy the process I had to do something similar. In fact I had to cut down the length of my metal hooks and reshape them for a better TD position. If your GML is fine with what you have you can save this step for level 2/3

I just thought you can also increase the shoulder strapping length between the chest and back so that the back can be lowered down farther as well. Personally my gap between the two armor pieces is about 3" but this is unique to the trooper and you have some room to adjust this to meet your needs

Wow I'm so excited to see how this all turns out once you take your submission photos. Nice job fixing those tube stripes too

It looks like a dry fit so I'm sure it can be tweaked quite a bit down the road but if you can pull your chest up higher that would in return bring your back plate down so that the back and chest are even with each other. Hopefully you have enough ab armor available so that the chest can still overlap it. Also yeah you'll want to carefully cut the posterior and kidney armor right down that middle seam just be careful and go slow. This will definitely give you some more wiggle room with strapping to close that back armor gap

I haven't trooped long enough to know from experience but from I've been told armor white is great but it strips the UV protecting features on ABS (which will naturally yellow over time regardless) and therefor your armor will re-yellow again faster. This is ok but just keep that in mind

I personally wouldn't worry at all about getting help. For me personally I would love to build another stormtrooper but I don't have the space in my apartment so helping others build theirs is fun for me. It's like asking a pc builder for help on building a computer. They LOVE sharing their knowledge and building. The links that @gmrhodes13 sent are the exact ones I used, especially the first one of UK Wrath's build thread. Follow that and you should be good

Wow!!! Congrats Angie this is so exciting!