rzill

Thank you. The gaps are a little more noticeable to the naked eye, but maybe I'm being paranoid. I am not very good at building, and I want this to look as good as I can make it. Still, any advice on gap filling, if you've done it before?

I have ATA armor, and the cover strips are super difficult and frustrating to glue on! Rare earth magnets do NOT work, as the armor and strips are just too firm for magnets to hold them down. MAYBE if I had the magnet that Heisenberg, Jesse, and Mike used to mess up the police evidence room, then maybe that would work. SO, a question - this is one of my cover strips on the thigh. Aside from the gap in this one section, it looks pretty good. Is it 501st approved if I fill in the gap, rather than try to do the whole thing over again? I read in another thread that gap filling is possible. Please take a look, and let me know. I'm also going to post my steps to try the rest of the thigh cover strips, as this ATA stuff is maddeningly hard to mold on. Thanks!

I had some helpful tips about the thigh issue, but another concern is the gap below the cover strip. Is this a problem? Can I glue some of the leftover plastic in this space to cover that gap? How does this work when the thighs are simply too narrow like this?

Another question - one thing that's held me back is completing the thighs. I have ATA armor, and whether I cut it incorrectly, or the thighs are too narrow, I may have to go with a wider cover strip on the back to make it fit. Is this ok for approval in the 501st? I mean, it's either going wider than 25mm, or ordering new thighs. As for the size, I don't have big thighs, quite the opposite. However, when I trimmed the ridges (is that the correct terminology?) where the cover strips go on the thighs to the correct width of 25mm, it left me with a very narrow thigh in which to fit my chicken legs. I'm going to have to make wider cover strips, and I do know to put some support strips on the inside since the edges of the armor won't be close.

Sean, thank you I've been getting different responses on the Anovos Facebook page about nylon/elastic. Some say do one, some the other, some say a combination. I actually have a local trooper who reached out to me, and I'll let him cast the deciding vote. I'm leaning toward nylon - seems like elastic would wilt too quickly. And to gmrhodes13, thank you as well! I will look into a build party, although, I can't imagine with the new film coming out and the holidays, that there will be much of that. But, who knows?

My name is Ron, and I live in Royal Oak, MI. I bought my ATA armor quite a while ago, and some personal setbacks, but mainly my incompetence has halted my build. I get very frustrated with some parts, and I just stop. I have the arms, most of the legs, and body complete, but stuck on the snaps and strapping. If there is someone in the Royal Oak area to personally give me a hand, I would greatly appreciate it. Video tutorials only go so far with my limited ability - I need an experienced, hands on helper and someone to kick my rear in gear when I get frustrated. I WANT TO FINISH MY ARMOR AND BEGIN TO UNQUESTIONABLY TROOP AND FOLLOW ORDERS! I am a teacher, and have two weeks off at Christmas, so I have all those 14 days to dedicate to this. I SERIOUSLY want to finish this soon!!! I can host you, or bring my gear to you for assistance. In return, I can take you and/or your family out to dinner, or make some of my awesome marinated lamb burgers and home made German potato salad!

In case anyone is in the market, the huge rolling Husky totes are on sale this weekend at Home Depot. $10 off, down to $55. SKU #896569 if you want to check on line if your local store has one. I bought mine today - exciting stuff!

Kidney plate question - the middle strip on my kidney plate goes straight up and down. I see photos of others where that strip fans out, and the wide part goes on the bottom. Mine is difficult to ascertain top and bottom. I've labeled profile shots of mine, and I am thinking #2 is the correct way, since the bottom seems to curve out where the butt line starts. Thoughts? https://imgur.com/a/lI7wC

Switching to ANH. I originally bought the ESB blaster. I know the ANH is different, I think it just has a scope, where the ESB does not... maybe that's why the troopers in ANH actually hit something! Anyway, should I look to trade it, or can it have the scope added on?

Switching to ANH. I originally bought the ESB blaster. I know the ANH is different, I think it just has a scope, where the ESB does not... maybe that's why the troopers in ANH actually hit something! Anyway, should I look to trade it, or can it have the scope added on?

Awesome guys, thanks! I can do ANH, but I already bought an ESB blaster. I may look to trade with someone.

So, the difference between ANH and ESB troopers? Talking with a local trooper, he said it was definitely painting the helmet, rather than using decals (and different colored frown on the helmet), and the hand guards. Any other differences? I have ESB going, but I would rather be ANH.

So, the difference between ANH and ESB troopers? Talking with a local trooper, he said it was definitely painting the helmet, rather than using decals (and different colored frown on the helmet), and the hand guards. Any other differences? I have ESB going, but I would rather be ANH.

Well, here's the thing - I'm a moron when it comes to building anything with my hands. I'll do what's easier, and go with snaps/straps. I've written (very sloppily with a photo editing pen) a couple of my questions. Basically, do the snaps go on the return edge along the bottom of the chest? Because if they do, I'll have to leave some of that wrinkled plastic when I trim it - snaps would not fit on the return edge if I cut those wrinkly edges all the way off. http://imgur.com/a/E3vMs

Well, here's the thing - I'm a moron when it comes to building anything with my hands. I'll do what's easier, and go with snaps/straps. I've written (very sloppily with a photo editing pen) a couple of my questions. Basically, do the snaps go on the return edge along the bottom of the chest? Because if they do, I'll have to leave some of that wrinkled plastic when I trim it - snaps would not fit on the return edge if I cut those wrinkly edges all the way off. http://imgur.com/a/E3vMs

Chest question - the neck cut out on mine is not a perfect U shape. I am guessing this should be as perfect a U shape as possible, correct? So, I should completely cut off the edges that I've pointed to in my photos, and have the chest plate lie flat so that I can re-shape the neck hole to a more uniform U shape? https://imgur.com/a/sYx69

Oh my gosh, that's exactly what I needed to hear!!!! Awesome, thanks! I have a torn tendon in my finger which is making it difficult, but I am working on it every day. I SO want to troop!!

Need some advice about the thigh issue. This is my right thigh, so the bottom can be covered by the ammo pack. However, I trimmed this too small, so this isn't the greatest looking cover strip. Is it at least worthy of getting 501st accepted? I'll never exactly be asked as an extra in a stand alone SW film, or get high level certification, I just want to troop! I am also concerned about the cover strip side view not being 100% flush against the armor. This is about the best I can do without actually buying new thighs, and starting over. I know I still need to trim up the top, and pick out the glue buggers: http://imgur.com/BIr1cPz http://imgur.com/MJxSp2p

Need some advice about the thigh issue. This is my right thigh, so the bottom can be covered by the ammo pack. However, I trimmed this too small, so this isn't the greatest looking cover strip. Is it at least worthy of getting 501st accepted? I'll never exactly be asked as an extra in a stand alone SW film, or get high level certification, I just want to troop! I am also concerned about the cover strip side view not being 100% flush against the armor. This is about the best I can do without actually buying new thighs, and starting over. I know I still need to trim up the top, and pick out the glue buggers: http://imgur.com/BIr1cPz http://imgur.com/MJxSp2p

Evan, I found one more - this one looks quite thorough:

Evan, I am with you, fellow frustrated future trooper. I've had my stuff for five years, and while I had a personal issue that halted my build, I get frustrated with how difficult this is - and people who say it's not so hard. Anyway, there are a couple guys on YouTube who have some tutorial videos. One guy is pandatrooper. Unfortunately, he only has a few videos up through doing the arms and legs, but I can't find anything to help with the torso. Here is the first of his YouTube videos - it gets you started, at least (At the bottom of this video, I put another link from a guy on Trooperbay. He has more videos, but he goes kind of quick - anyway, hope this helps. If you find more, let's help each other out):

Hey All - my name is Ron, and I bought my ATA armor five years ago. One thing and another halted my build, but I am back on the horse. I have the arms done, aside from snaps and straps, which I want to finish after the torso is done... which leads me to this question - does anyone know of a good tutorial for building an ESB TK torso? I saw the one on Trooperbay, but it seemed to leave some things out. Hard to find one on here, or my local Garrison (Michigan). Thanks!!

You guys are awesome, thanks! Good news, I found my old decals, so I save a few bucks. Thanks so much for the help!! I'm working on this every day, slow but sure. Almost done with the arms, so I'll be posting some pics when they are done. Keep up with the advice, I appreciate it

I'm actually going ESB. It's what I started with, so I'll stick with it. Before, I simply had a sheet of decals - I don't think it was anything I had to paint. But, if it's gone the way of painting, I'll probably get stencils. I'd ruin it otherwise. Thanks!

Yikes! I can not find my helmet decals. One thing that delayed my build was a flood in our area a few years ago. It left me with a 2 1/2 foot flood of water in my basement, and my armor was in it. Of course, it was easy to clean off, but my helmet decals were also in it. I thought I salvaged them, but I can no longer find them. I have ATA armor. Does it matter what helmet decals I get for it? Any suggestions?