revlimiter

Three build threads on FISD? Not counting blaster builds? Yeah. I did this meme shortly after my BBB day last September. I got this right about the same time that I started my HWT build. And while I was (and am) super excited, I didn't want to get distracted and have a partial HWT pack thread. And then like 3-4 months passed. So here's my R1TK build!

For the thermal detonator, you can literally unroll the metal to get the plate at a more correct angle. Put it on the belt (or something flat) and roll the TD downwards. I'm betting that it isn't centered in the belt currently anyway and would have some room for the metal clips to unroll a bit. Of course, you may end up with some visible metal above the TD body. If there's enough metal to permit it, just keep unrolling till the plate angle is correct. Then flatten the metal tabs with a hammer and re-bend it. It's usually aluminum and aluminum usually allows you to do this.

Looking good!!! Looking real good. And the drop box looks centurion perfect.

That looks really good! Not flopping around is like 80% of the battle.

12/28/22 - Lobo Anime Troop for ACC (1) 45th TK troop, 42nd for 2022 This one was just a quick middle-of-the-week troop to hand out fliers for Albuquerque Comic Con at a comic store. I really wanted to go to hit 42 troops for the year. Why 42? Because why not. I ended the year in 4th place for the garrison for troop count. 1st was Brandon (the ROTJ TK) with 61 (!!!), 2nd was Randy (Vader), 3rd was David (Gunner). So... the obsessed were out on that rainy Wednesday. Rainy. The UmbrE-11 had to make an appearance. I also had on rubber gloves after learning my lesson getting my nice pilot gloves soaked at a previous troop. Can a TK miss his own umbrella? Yes. Yes he can. After the troop, we were invited to the Pizza Hut next door. Literally everyone in the place had come out to take pix with us and were all about that Imperial Life. They gave us two free pizzas on the house. Yeah, shortly after this, Brandon got force choked. Sorry @elwessbrandon Waiting for the pies. (My sickness with stupid poses is spreading!!!!!!!!! And no butts were broken that day.) Thanks for the smiles 2022. Here's to even more in 23.

My boot velcro has survived 42 troops so far. No problems with it coming loose. I did have to replace the velcro on the back of my shins after about 36 troops, but that was much thinner. I've just used the standard 3M velcro sticky side. No extra glue. I use a square about the width of the cover strip. For the bucket and glasses... do you have an old set laying around that you could harvest the lenses out of? If you had your glasses lenses integrated/taped/attached right behind the green lenses, life might be easier.

That looks pretty good! Don't be afraid of having the top of your head on bare plastic. Rarely if ever will you experience impact. It's not uncomfortable to have the bucket touching your scalp. I sliced up a cheap 3M hardhat for my wife's TIE bucket and got it in there. It works great! But that bucket has soooooo much more room than the TK. You could fit everything in there and still have room for a party.

Do you own or have you considered some sports goggles? I only wear glasses to read (like now, typing at the screen), but have known folks who wear a type of goggles while doing sports. Specifically ground fighting.... so they REALLY stay in place. They look similar to swim goggles, but without quite the same seal to the skin. They're also impact resistant. Hmm. Googling seems to indicate they are indeed called prescription sports goggles. Might be worth looking into for trooping? Most are extremely low profile, so they should fit in the bucket well. And lastly, I gotta get in on the bucket interior pic parade. Mine is a VERY tight fit, but that's all the junk in my bucket. - Modified pads for my ears which contain hacked apart studio headphones for - The rear mounted hearing assist (usually has a piece of black fabric over top - amp and iCOMM mounted up high - fans at the very front by the hovi speakers with battery mounted at the chin

The fiberglass itchies is directly impacting my progress on my R1 armor. I understand your pain. It's not nearly as fun to work with as ABS... Hope the plastidip works!!

There's a lot of AP build threads on here. My own is linked in my signature and there's many in the ANH Stunt section. Mark (owner of AP) is active on the forum. Email is indeed the best way to get in contact with him for any questions or repair parts. Welcome to FISD Robert!

Morgi's is a huge suggestion. Having the helmet as low as possible is extremely helpful for your vision. Also try to get your eyes as close to the lenses as you comfortably can. Both of these fitting tricks really help you to actually live happily inside the armor. My own bucket has only some fuzzy velcro on the top to allow it to sit as low as possible and my lenses fit like glasses - very close to my eyes. I have no problems seeing and really enjoy being inside the bucket. Your arms are looking great! I hope to see them both on shortly.

On the topic of thighs wanting to spin - it took me a long time trooping to figure out the culprit, but it's the way you have your thigh garters. When I started trooping, I weighed about 10 lbs more than I do now and about 20 lbs more than when I figured out my thigh spinning problem. I use a belt exactly like you've got rigged up. My midsection had decreased, and so I had my belt tighter. That put the garters running between the belt and thighs at an odd angle and the thighs very very gradually spun to equal that angle out over about a quarter mile of walking. It wasn't all at once so it was really hard to figure out. The fix was to make sure the thigh garters were straight up and down and not trying to spin the armor one way or the other. I hammered a few snaps into my belt so that I could adjust (and FIX) where the garter sat depending on my size at the time and that totally sorted it out. No more spinning. I mention this because it'll bother you whether you're using suspenders or a belt. The thighs will want to spin if the garter pulls them in one way. Just something to look out for. The elastic on the front of the shin is a great idea. I use velco there to keep the top of the boot attached to the bottom of the shin. There's not much force, so just about anything will work to keep the shins fixed. The important thing is that you have something there. This looks great, BTW. You're getting so close!

I almost hate to say this in public... but the forearms do tend to move. We get them perfect for centurion applications, but in daily trooping, they're not always (or ever) in their exact correct spots. Same with shoulder rotation. Mine tend to move forward and look nice on their own, but they are definitely not always aligned that way. On shoulder straps and snaps, I'm a huge proponent of double snaps up there. The arms just love to come unsnapped at the shoulder. Having double snaps on both the shoulder strap and inside the bell does a ton of good things for keeping them connected while trooping. So... if you were planning on moving shoulder snaps anyway, I would highly suggest turning them into double snaps. As far as moving the snaps forward, It seems like about a snap's width works well. Like a cm or so. Half inch-ish. Glen would know the answer in his sleep most likely as I've seen him post about it. Lastly - butt flare - There was a build thread with someone who did something like you're describing to fix butt flare as well. I can't find it now, but it was in there not long ago. Probably one of the last 10 threads. Have a dig? It seems like a good idea to me.

Very likely those arms are fine for basic. Looks quite good to me. I wouldn't mess with it until later in the process. V-tabs seem to work well. I don't think they'd hurt at all!

Congrats on your first two troops!!!

Think of it this way: there's many ways to skin a cat. Every way that ends in a fresh cat pelt is valid and correct. Nothing you've done has barred you from centurion level and there's likely more work to be done in the future to achieve it. You're still on the right path. I mean some folks have to move bolts to be locations for centurion. Others have to splice in sections of abs to make their armor fit at all. The material is very forgiving and there are techniques to do all of this without destroying the armor. Anyways, back to getting you some basic approval.

Truly you did not do anything wrong. The photos I supplied in this thread are of my own centruion-approved AP armor. You do not need to punish your body with these return edges and you did not harm anything in their removal. All of the cuts you did were fine and you have been doing fantastic work in making the armor fit your body. There's no need to second guess and no need to stress. No need to go backwards either. You were sorting out the belt. Best to move forward with that IMHO. If you're doubting things, look at this. This is not remotely wearable. It needed to be fixed. You fixed it.

Rivets? Whoa. That's not common. The drop box looks perfect in that last shot. Maybe nothing to worry about at all.

Her whole piggy bank? I don't know what I would have even done on the receiving end of that. That's some magic right there. Thanks for sharing and trooping!

The top edge of the butt plate has the return bridge. It's the same width as the lower kidney return bridge. No other return should be on there. No return on the lower and side butt means less likely to crack when sitting thanks to no stress points. It's just flat plastic, so it bends very nicely. You've still gotta be careful of that tab with the snaps as that's the most delicate spot.

I would remove anything that comes back and points into my thigh. But that's not a rule or anything. It's just my own preference. I'm about 95% sure you should have the cover strip as the center and the top of it should be flat. Instead of having the apex next to the point, just shave the longer thigh half down to match in height with the short one. It's not that much height lost. Unless someone more knowledgeable disagrees. My AP thighs - pretty well flat at the top of the cover strip.

Yup. I'd use that tape line as a final trim line. That should look good. Definitely match the front cover strip to the new thigh edge level. It'll be SO much more comfy without that upper thigh return edge.

That's my belt strapping for reference. Even after a year of troops it still sits this way. Those drop boxes won't stretch elastic much themselves. You can see the discoloration on my canvas belt. That's from superglue. My straps CANNOT go anywhere but the correct place. There's no allowance for any slop. However, they're also not too tight. They're just right. When and if you adjust yours, make sure to account for their position when worn. The leg armor makes the boxes move forward a bit. They don't just hang down straight, they hang down and out a bit when worn with the thigh armor. Of course, there's many ways to skin this cat. This is just mine as done by @Scimitar. When I was building the spare belt for my HWT, I marveled at how nicely Eric built this one and really labored to reproduce it.

Wow, that's at least a double kit. That's not bad at all!!! And yeah, that's the stuff. They're about half the thickness of real military helmet pads and are perfect for padding arms, knees, and even bucket areas that don't need thick stuff. That double pack will last you for a while if you get it.

12/15/22 - Make A Wish Holly Jolly Holiday Party 44th TK troop, 41st for the year I did this troop my first year. I believe it was my third. It was great to do it again. It was FREEEEEEZING outside. 34*F (1*C) and windy. I wore my pauldron to try to keep some heat in. Fortunately it was much warmer inside the venue. My binoc speakers were blasting the Star Wars Epic Holiday Music on loop. The photo I got with Anna and Elsa my first year is one of my favorites and the first one I ever had in my signature, so I was eager to get another good princess pic. Chris, our CO, got this behind the scenes shot. I'm both ashamed of myself and pretty proud. Adam and Lucas ready to spread some Imperial Holiday Cheer (r). The event got underway and the group did our best to troop it up for the kids. See, they do a big toy giveaway for special kids and families every year through Make A Wish at this car dealership. It's an event I'm extremely happy to participate in. This photo set proves that I am indeed at my post once in a while. After snacks, photos, and some gift choosing, Santa read the kids a story. I.. um... strayed from my post to participate. And I quote "You're the only one of us who can sit down. Go sit with the kids." So I checked off a bucket list item - story from Santa. Santa story POV. It was magical. At the end of the evening, Santa drove up in a dune buggy to award a very special gift to a very sweet Wish girl. Since this all happened last night, I suspect that most of her day today was spent jumping sand dunes here in Albuquerque in her new buggy. TK-89000 reporting another successful troop.