Not a Jedi Yet

These are fab, thanks Glen!

Thanks all Just waiting for thigh front cover strips to set, so I decided to trim the face plate of the helmet while I wait - pictures of first pass below: I think I need to take a little more out of the frown gaps, and maybe the eyes - what do you think? Thanks Adam.

Hello there again! The cover strip on the right thigh dried, but once I had removed the magnets and clamps I moved the two pieces slightly and guess what? The cover strip started coming off at the base!! Looks like I'll have to try that again! In other news, I did a first trim of all the torso parts - still need to do some tidying up in parts I think. Starting at the bottom, literally! Kidney: Abdomen - I left as much material as I could on the sides (i.e. all that was available out of the box) as I will need shims (waist is larger than a 1970s stormtrooper!): Back - shoulder strap pieces look a little wonky to me but I guess I'll deal with that later! Chest: Again, I have been following the RS Props tutorial videos, and have tried to err on the side of caution when it comes to the return edges on the tops and bottoms of the adjoining pieces where the hardware will go. Any tips gratefully received. Thanks Adam.

Hi all I decided to follow the RS Props method for the right thigh cover strip, which is to make it pretty much all the way to the top of the taller outer thigh piece. This means no sculpting of either the cover strip itself or the thigh pieces. I have now glued on the right thigh cover strip and am waiting for it to dry: In the meantime I did the first trim of the shin pieces - only one set shown as they're identical in the RS kit - does this look okay? Thanks Adam.

Hi all Good news on the forearm cover strip, I finally managed to get it to hold by using an extra wide internal cover strip as shown - it doesn't look pretty but hopefully won't impact clearance etc: I'm encountering the same issue on the left forearm too (on the non-ridged side) but I'm trying the same methodology on that one too to see if it works. In the meantime I thought I would attach the front cover strips to the thighs. In terms of sculpting the tops of the thighs and the cover strips, is there a preferred look? I have seen a couple of methods in reference materials (including one from the RS Props video tutorial), but I'd ideally like something that looks as neat as possible whilst still being good enough for clearance? Depending on the look I choose, is there a recommended method, i.e. trim tops of thigh pieces first, then trim the cover strip to match before gluing? Right thigh: Left thigh: Thanks Adam.

Hi Dan I went with ever so slightly bigger than the RS sizes as my forearms were a tiny bit bigger than the size suggested in the video. Adam.

Thanks Martyn Yes, superglue at the ends might work - As I have watched the cover strip detach itself a few times now, it tends to start at the ends and then propogates the whole length of the forearm. Thanks Adam.

Hi all Many thanks to @justjoseph63, @Blast 'Em!, @TKSpartan and @gmrhodes13 for the suggestions! Although it's been two weeks since my last update, I have been busy trying to fix the cover strip to my right forearm. Believe it or not I have now tried it 7 times with no joy!! I have a mixture of N52 and N35 magnets, 30 of them in all. So far I have tried: Sanding the pieces lightly before gluing Using tape to try and hold the two forearm parts in the slightly compressed position to make the joint as flat as possible for the cover strip Adding more magnets (I have been doubling them up, so two magnets on either side) - used all 30 magnets at one point! Using more glue Adding an internal cover strip first, but this didn't hold either Using larger, stronger, clamps at either end, and as far towards the middle as possible - also used large clamps combined with smaller clamps! Allowing the glue to dry for longer - 72 hours What do you think is next - is it bath time for the forearm? It's frustrating as I guess I must have done or be doing something wrong, as I certainly haven't seen forearm woes like this on any other RS build thread! Thanks Adam.

Thanks Shane I didn't sand the area before gluing, so I could definitely try that. I think I could potentially be more generous with the E6000 too, though the more I apply the more it seems to find itself on the armour anywhere but under the cover strip it was intended for!

Hi all Just before I glue the front coverstrip onto the thigh, I'd welcome your opinion please on the width of the ridge? The coverstrip is 20mm, and each half of the ridge is slightly more than 10mm, so there is a small amount of overlap, and this increases slightly near the top as the ridge flattens out. Is this acceptable or should I trim a little more off each side? Also, I glued a coverstrip (with E6000) onto one of the forearms and left it for 24 hours. I then took off the magnets and clamps, only to return half an hour or so later to find it had come away - this is the second time now that this has happened with this particular coverstrip (the first time the coverstrip wasn't completely central, so I put it down to bad placement). Is there something I should be doing differently please to prevent this happening? Thanks Adam.

Will do, thanks Dan

Hi all I had a go at trying to repair the pieces and then cover the damage with a cover strip, but it wasn't working out as the cover strip wasn't completely vertical, so didn't look quite right - I also would have needed to deal with the cut lines on the bottom on the ridges, which I didn't fancy too much! So I ordered a new right thigh from RS. I have trimmed the front so that it's just over 10mm on each side, ready to take the 20mm cover strip. I also trimmed the return edges, but I have not yet attempted to trim the rear of the pieces: Before I start trying to fit the pieces, I noticed that there are different amounts of "spare" material at the bottom of each of the two pieces - you can see this by where the ridges are angled, particularly on the right hand piece (see pencil mark in second picture). Where the angle finishes on the right hand side suggests that this is where the cut line needs to be at the bottom - presumably the left hand side needs to be the same length at the bottom too to ensure symmetry?: Do you have any tips for next steps please? Should I fix the front cover strip? I'm obviously super paranoid about messing it up again! Thanks Adam

Picture attached for clarification (hopefully)!

I have now reattached the parts that lost their way, please see pictures below: Doesn't look too bad from the outside - however, on the inside it looks like an ABS disaster area! And when trying to tape the pieces up for a fitting, one of the attached pieces started to come away again: I think trying to hold all the pieces in place and then identify an accurate cut-line will be a nightmare, never mind trying to cut through up to 4 pieces of ABS at the same time. I might look at the "extended seams" method by referred to by Mario (@TKSpartan) above. This would need me to install a seam at the back (and only the back, to preserve the 20mm ridge at the front) of 15mm top to bottom between the two thigh pieces, stuck onto a wider (say 40mm) piece on the inside. The 20mm cover strip would then be placed on the outside, hiding all the cut lines (except at the very bottom ridge I guess). I would then cross my fingers and hope it's big enough. If I look at the ridges at the bottom of the pieces, the inner measures 70mm and the outer measures 60mm. There is also more "spare" material on the outer, with which to make the seam. I could make a 15mm seam from the outer (right hand side) off-cut piece. This would then make the ridge at the bottom of the outer piece measure 75mm, so I guess the other potential issue would then be whether the cover strip would be central and vertical at the back of the thigh? Maybe 5mm difference wouldn't be noticeable anyway? Do you think this sounds like a viable option? Thanks Adam.

Thanks Martyn, that's really helpful. Your story resonates strongly with mine - I did pretty much exactly the same as you, though I even left some extra plastic over and above the screen accurate measurements from the video because I suspected I would need it, but I somehow messed up the measurements when I was taping the pieces! I have a potential last option thanks to Mario's (TKSpartan) post above, more on that in my next post! Thanks again Adam.