TheLorelei

It's true, Matt, it's true. I tried to cover it but man was it tough.

oh my goodness FOUR ...Caridites?... commenting on my thread in one morning - including FRANK HIMSELF!!! *swoons* I serve Lord Vader. (But, privately, I think Kylo is also the bee's knees. Just to a lesser degree. But still to a degree that caused me to be paralyzed with the mix of fear, awe, and "squeee" that the presence of any Dark Side Adept of his caliber inspires when I had my private audience with him at Disney a few months ago. I had a Very weird look on my face in all the photos, and the aforementioned mix of emotions is my official excuse. ) Back to official tk business! My replacement sniper knee arrived yesterday. Y'all know when I asked for a new one - mere days earlier. Terrell (ATA) is the man! He offered different shipping speeds depending on my level of desperation, too. I've been nothing but pleased with our interactions and continue to highly recommend ATA. I'll sketch in the cut lines and post pics tonight before cutting. We sell poly webbed belts at work for holding up heavy tool belt stuff. I got one to use for my kidney to butt side connections and am quite optimistic. It's SO much thicker than the nylon webbing I got from the fabric store. For reference, I make my snap "plates" out of that and I don't even bother punching holes, I just spread the weave apart with the end of a pen and slide the snap post through. This stuff has a much tighter, thicker weave and is quite rigid. I've made the wide elastic hinge for the center back. It's been curing for several days next to the ab buttons whose glue was refusing to set for some reason. Too cold in the garage perhaps, or maybe it's the lack of air getting to all the glue underneath the thinner button strip. Almost time to leave work and do some REAL work - armor work!

Aw, TWO garrison-mates commenting in one morning. Thanks, guys! I look forward to trooping with you soon.

That makes a lot of sense... I'll try that before the crazier ideas I have. Thanks!

Haha... don't tempt me!

Why thank you! I must admit I am quite proud of it, haha. It wasn't too difficult, but patience was required, yes.

Never did post photos of my completed holster! Stitching detail: Snap detail: Blaster strap riveted on back: All done by hand! It was a super gratifying project and surprisingly quick. And I got to make it to my blaster's exact specs.

Well yesterday I got a few things done, almost all of which unearthed more things to be done/fixed. Delightful. ;p But I got a new camera for my phone! Yay! I cleaned up the paint job on my ab buttons and set those a-gluing so I can position my belt today and put those snaps in. I hot water bathed, trimmed, and installed my thigh ammo pack Show of hands for who hates it as much as I do? (I see what you're saying now, Frank!) But really, is the left side mounted way too far back? I can take it off and trim it down and mount it further forward if need be. And LOOK at the cover strips on the side visible in the right picture - *cringe* - worth taking off and regluing, yes? The front one is close to fine, though. I dunno. I also worked on lens and frown mesh mounts The lens mounts are made of plumber's epoxy putty and will be carved and sanded into much nicer shapes. The frown mesh mount is made of some HDPE from a black 5gal bucket. I also tried to reinstall the snap mounts for my buttplate to kidney connection. While doing so, I realized my buttplate is no longer curved properly. (Also seen in this pic is the kidney splice, still being smoothed, and the 22mm notch being reshaped.) I'm willing to admit the wide curve may contribute to the problem below. But I don't think reshaping will solve everything - the butt and kidney just don't want to stay together. Tony mentioned having the snap plates right on either side of the seam to help combat sliding and overlapping, but I don't think that'll be enough for the sides. Things - me things - just aren't straight enough, so the side straps get slid at an angle and the back pops out and up over the kidney. Ideally I'd have enough room in the torso to pad out my mid and lower back so the buttplate could hang straight down from the kidney but alas, I don't have the space. (Getting a new ab and kidney has crossed my mind.) I'd like a more stable connection method than snap plates and elastic - something more like the ab to kidney connection would be ideal, how the slot+tab remove all possibility of misalignment. I think that's too rigid for this application though. At the very least I'd like to install an elastic "hinge" (also as seen on kidney-ab) in the flat middle portion where this snap set is now. So! Progress progresses. Anyone seen any innovative butt to kidney connections?

Trudging along. Feeling a bit like I'll never get it all strapped together to a satisfactory level. My advisor in the Carida Academy is also our GML () so I'm going to see if I can meet up with him soon to get chest, shoulder bell, cod, and thigh placement really nailed down. It's quite hard for me to adjust alone, or without real-time feedback. Y'all are too far away! My Han snap is now a snap , and the kidney notch reinforcements are curing. Say, where's that to-do list?? Glue buttons to ab Attach snaps to ab and belt, add drop boxes Size cod and connect to ab Cod to butt elastic (soft stuff) Polish and paint ab repair seam Ab to kidney strapping, Butt to kidney mounts and strapping Create lens and mesh mounts, Install lenses and mounts Polish bucket, Install ears, Paint bucket, Install frown mesh Hovi mic things galore Trim shoulder tops, Connect shoulders Heat form and reinforce shoulder straps (?) Apply straps to chest Size bell strap, Sew in offset shoulder bell snap, Trim shoulder bells (12" from bottom of ridge, 5" from side of ridge?) Thigh ammo pack, Sniper knee, Make neck seal bib So. Gotta take it in bites! Make the strapping I know the lengths of (ab connections primarily), do another fitting of everything, make more strapping, and work on those darn mounts for inside my bucket whenever I possibly can. I kept forgetting to bring epoxy putty back from work so had completely stalled on those and since the rest of the bucket is kinda waiting on those... no bucket work. But now I have them! And a few free hours tonight! I got this!

Haha!! You win!

He just claims he can't make it himself but I can't let biometry like that go to waste! and I'm still here, still here, hurry up and make the Emperor proud with more progress already.

Haha!! I guess I only took that seriously because I've been in similar spots before, trying to get things from overseas - glad to hear you're not actually stuck with that! Oh boy. Expectations run high around here. I do have a friend who's perfect stormtrooper size who I've been considering making an RS kit for... have to finish mine, first! But I'll certainly have lost the "don't know what it takes to make a replica" excuse if I stick around here much longer. *unfollows*

Thanks, ShaSha! Good idea. Problem is I already trimmed off a notch actually, and the top edge of the smooth piece is pretty "strict" on the cover strip side. ATA has a ton of cover strip ridges molded in that (I'm given to understand) other makers don't. They make for a nice flat surface and clean look when you're going for the size they're made for, but they definitely take away some flexibility when you're not!

I mean let me check on regulations about shipping aerosols but I'm pretty sure I could ship it to you for less than $100 if you haven't pulled the trigger yet - we sell it here at my store, after all!

As someone who works with sophisticated paint mixing equipment, let me assure y'all that the machines can occasionally be wrong. If it's far off enough a careful eye can spot the difference, but it's easy to have a drop of color throw off a match and go unnoticed. Regardless, sorry to hear it wasn't up to snuff and hope yours is, Daniel!

"I'm excited to see how it lines up on the other shin," I said. HAHAhaha, ha, ha, ha. It lines up much worse, and I've definitely overtrimmed the top edge. You can see the shin behind it. It should be up here, according to further research (and Tony's detailed trim lines from his build which I somehow imagined did not apply to mine): It's ok, Tony! No harm done. Didn't think to check for it myself, either. I'm glad you've worked with the actual ATA knee; it's really useful to hear about the specific alignment issues. Well, off to email ATA about a new knee. Thanks again for all the help, everybody!! I'd look like the guy with the 5-gallon bucket for a helmet if it wasn't for you guys. Here's to another year of great community, and may your armor always be shiny and white. ...Until you decide to go sandy.

Not drawing eyes on before I trimmed them out is definitely my #1 regret right now. of course with the duckbill on your FOTK it was even better! There, now I have a New Year's resolution. "Draw whimsical eyeballs on next bucket."

Something HAS gone astray - my mind! This must've been among the "brilliant" things I set in motion while sick and fuzzy-minded. Thank you for catching this, Paul! I'm excited to see how it lines up on the other shin Ok, for anybody here who may have historically had trouble with right and left , do you mean the "inside" of the knee or the "outside" should be close? Thanks! Thanks, Frank. Our flaws do tend to stand out to ourselves most. Trying to balance that with Centurion-grade quality and screen accuracy can be tough, though! ***Also, PSA*** - Hallmark stores have Christmas goods 60% off, including that amazing light-up tree skirt featuring Darth Vader & son's classic lightsaber duel. Guess who finally got one along with several Tie Fighter ornaments. Ooh yeahh.

Slight rework to see if I need to get that new knee in the mail. This thing was HARD to pry off! Go E6000!! Not a perfect vertical, but not the slope it was, and not so far from the shin corner either. I don't love how it ends up on a slight diagonal but that seems to be screen accurate, so... Obviously there's more trimming of the sides to be done and sanding etc but here's the concept.

Gotcha. Yeah, that's a good first step. And since you're so many time zones ahead of me, happy almost New Year to you and yours, Daniel!!

Roger that. And hey, I thought I was the only one with half a dozen little curls of painter's tape sticking off of furniture... ;D Thanks, Rat! It'll be truly glam eventually. Snap, do you really think I have to get a new one? I mean I'll do it, goodness knows Terrell probably put a whole spare kit aside for me after seeing how many ears I ordered , but looking at the scrap I cut off from around my knee I'm not sure there's much more I could've kept. Looking at other ATA people's knees, that seems to hold true. From D'Angelo's recent ATA Centurion app, for instance: So his edges are vertical, yes, but at the cost of being not quite to the "bend" in the calf, which is where I'm afraid I'd be even if I got a new one.

Gotcha. Thanks, Matt! Yeah, the wrist ends of my forearm cover strips aren't even or rounded off yet because I'll likely be taking more off the whole end. Just wanted to get them assembled first. I already trimmed one bump off and the length seems good, I just need to even it all out on a belt sander. I like that trim line at the elbow end of the forearm. Would you give that end of the cover strip 45° tapers, too?

Whoa, check this out. In rereading my post I was like "why on earth does the Han snap have a female back, did I have the wrong dies in my press" and then I went and got my ab and whaddya know, I installed a female snap in the Han snap place using a split rivet. No, really. My Han snap is a split rivet. So. That'll be changed pronto. Also, what the heck.

Okay, folks. Maybe not radio silence, but it's been video silence (visual silence? visual blindness? I'm trying here) long enough. PICTURES! And then questions. Down below. But first, a progress check-in! Last night I brought all my limb armor into the living room, piled it in front of the couch, and put on movie after movie to keep my brain occupied (quite a task at the best of times) while I cleaned every. last. cover strip seam. Four (4) hours later, the travesties on the left looked like the beauties on the right. Yes, I still have to trim the cover strip ends. I took A.J.'s recommendation of using white E6000 for applying outer cover strips, 'cause if you cut the excess cleanly enough it fills any small gaps and unevennesses nicely. My big trick for clearing the E6000 was my HDad's tip to use these blades which may look like danger-claws but are in fact commonly known as roofer's blades and fit in any normal utility knife. They let you cut materials by pulling more than pressing down through the material (and consequently scoring whatever's behind). They're downright magical. Invest, y'all. I still had to clear the glue off of the upper bit of the strip and get the seam really clean which took for-ever but hey, it's done now. My ab closures are now almost ready, too! Tab on one side. Han snap is purely decorative. Half of the closure is also my kidney splice reinforcement. Still have to make elastics, put back the part of the bottom edge that snapped when making kidney notches, and bend the tab inwards some. I admire those of you that chose flexible tabs. Brains, foresight, etc. Other side is looking half happy too. Hinge is a la @A.J. Hamler (again). However after gluing the elastic behind the ABS strips vertically, I discovered my woven elastic wouldn't stretch at all, so while it was still a hinge, it had no stretch. Stretch was a priority for me due to fear for the safety of the rivet holes. So I yanked and tugged and peeled it off and glued three pieces horizontally instead and now it does stretch a tiny bit! Yay. I also glued thin pieces of pre-vac-formed ABS behind each hole before mounting the hinge with only rivets and washers. Side note: my rivets were too short and @ukswrath swooped in to the rescue. Woo! Thanks, Tony! My belt is looking rather belt-like. Got the Velcro installed now that I could size it. Made the Velcro narrow enough to fit between the TD/O2 canister brackets as it gets rather thick otherwise. The belt is reinforced with "plastic canvas" throughout (minus ends), and the plastic belt is riveted on in the center only pending snap attachment of the canvas to ab. Drop boxes are looking drop boxy Magnetic shin closures are in and rocking assembled according to Cricket's instructions. Highly recommend. Arm armor snaps are in Cool. Good talk. Now the queries. Q1. My forearms are stupid. How would y'all recommend I treat that height difference up top? Angle the cover strip, taper the whole thing? Q2. In some places, my cover strips do not lie perfectly flat. How noticeable is this actually while oot and aboot trooping, and do I need to deal with it? The sniper knee stinks to install as much as everybody says it does. I wrestled with it for so stupid long. One side lines up great! The other, not so much. I did trim down the sides rather significantly already. THEN I found the reference album. Sigh. So: Q3. Am I correct in drawing the apparent trim line on the trooper on the right? The inside of the knee is hard to find pictures of. Q4. Do you think, if I just trimmed the ends vertically, I could leave the knee where it is? No worries if not. Thanks in advance, everybody!

Thank you, @gatetrooper ! I'll most definitely let you know. I'd love for the first set of TK armor I got a good look at to be on hand for my debut too. It's been quite a ride and it's not over yet, but I'm enjoying it regardless! Though how quick Jonathan's build was does make me a *smidge* jealous, yes.