BigJasoni

Rudi, Thanks for the advice. I've actually just started trolling around the other forums, but really haven't been too active other than looking up Mando stuff on the BH Detachment pages. However, I just left my first post on the Pathfinders forum and saw some of your posts there. I haven't looked at the Spec Ops forum yet, but I'll definitely take a look since I've been tossing around the idea of either a Shoretrooper and Deathtrooper for my next build; I didn't realize people were printing TX kits. I'm leaning heavily towards Shoretrooper, but we'll see. Also, I have experience with UV resin, but at a very small scale. I'll dig into that a little. Glen, Thanks again for the input. Opening a case and finding crushed armor would absolutely... crush me. Stupid pun, but it's the only word that fits. Something similar happened to me Christmas 2000. I got a new guitar as a gift out in California and the airline made me check it for my flight to Virginia. As I was sitting on the plane waiting for people to board, I looked out my window just in time to see something that looked like a guitar case fall off the baggage cart. When I picked up my luggage, I opened my case to find the body of my guitar had shattered. It was replaced by the airline, but if the same thing were to happen to armor that I had worked on for three months, I'd be livid. Adding resin to the chest piece is definitely something I'll be doing in the future. One of the guys here in Inferno Squad showed me his pre-beskar Mando chest piece and he had absolutely covered the back side in resin. With my Mando build I'm not too worried about it because the armor Velcros to the flak vest, the TK armor is entirely different. Initially I was only concerned about parts that require a lot of flex, but after wearing the armor for a few hours, I understand the additional stress the parts are under. Also, after looking at @11b30b4 Jeff's Shoretrooper build, I've got some good ideas for my scrap HIPS.

Jeff, you've got another build thread... what are you doing to me?! I was already planning on building a ShoreTrooper, now you've just given me additional fuel for the fire. I'll start digging through this after work. So, initial look at your Shoretrooper build and I notice immediately that you grabbed the Montana Gold Saraha Beige. I picked up some cans of Montana Gold (Chestnut and Shock Brown Dark) for my Mando and this stuff is unbelievable. If I do rattle-can my next build, I'll likely use the Montana Gold Shock White and their high gloss varnish. Also, that's good to know about the automotive paint. I was thinking that with a appropriate use of hardener that the paint wouldn't scratch nearly as bad. Did you use hardener in yours? The team I used to work with used the carbon fiber filament exclusively. The stuff was phenomenal, but the things we were printing were relatively small. I might pick some up and do some prints. It's a little more expensive, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten all my kinks out. Also, I've used MEK products in the past, that's something I didn't even think of. Thanks.

All, Thanks for helping me out through this build. After talking to a few people, I decided to clean up the armor, fill the cracks and broken seams, and try again. I really put a lot of work into this armor and just can't throw it in the corner. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks Andrew. On August 14 you asked me what I was doing to reinforce the big pieces, specifically the chest, back and abdominal. My answer at the time was to keep a good infill percentage and only reinforce the parts that flex a lot. Of all those parts, I was only worried about the abdominal, so naturally I really reinforced it with resin and haven't had any issues, What I overlooked was the amount of stress I could put on the armor from basic movements like adjusting my forearms. Additionally, when I was stress testing my chest, I kept testing the lower portion (where the side extenders connect) and it had some flex, so I wasn't worried. Fortunately, the damage seemed to be mostly superficial (paint and filler) and I was able to fix it relatively easy. So, before I pull the trigger and order a new set, I need to game-plan this a little bit. After 1 day of wearing the armor, I really had to go crazy with the rubbing and polishing compounds in order to get all the wear marks out. I'm not using rattle-cans next time, I really feel like the Rustoleum (cans) is too soft and susceptible to wear. Also, since I used an HVLP to spray Mando I got out the jitters and can practice with paints, hardeners, and clears until my BBB arrives. So, until all that happens, I've got that clone helmet sitting in my garage waiting for paint, so I think I'll make it my Guinea Pig. I also really like my helmet, so I may build another one and create a "Trials and Tribulations of Paint/ Learning to Paint" build thread. Finally, members of Garrison Tyranus's Inferno Squad were recently recognized as the "501st Legion Crew of the Quarter." This was due to the work performed, and donations raised for the Make A Wish Foundation during the online convention "Inferno-Con," which ran 2-4 October. On 19 December, Inferno Squad will be holding the "InfernoCon Holiday Special" which will include "Printers and Plastics 2.0." I'm not sure if anyone following this thread turned in last time, but this ended up being a very popular panel and I'll be sitting on it again. I'll post more later. Thanks again!

End of the road. Here it is... I know I write long posts, so bear me, this one's going to have a lot of content. Honestly this will serve as a summary of the end of the build as well as me spelling out my 3d printed TK lesson's learned. I'll start with what I call "the glory shots" and then bring everything back around to a post Halloween damage assessment. The following shots were prepared for my armor submission; the trained eye will be able to pick apart some details, which I'll try to point out as this post goes along, but I'll cover my overall assessment later. First a few shots that tie up a couple loose ends: The new stainless steel mesh that @11b30b4 steered me towards came in and the difference is night and day. Stainless on the left, Michael's aluminum mesh on the right. Thanks Jeff! I also did my strapping last Sunday, but kind of got in a flow and forgot to take pictures. We discussed PC-7 previously and this was the result after some shaping and curing: I also went a little rogue (no pun intended) and rather than connecting the buckle to straps extending from the abdomen, I took one of my old Marine Corps Martial Arts belts and rigged this up: I did this mostly because the thighs are tight and only go up so far. Additionally, the suspenders I have are very stretchy and were already working overtime to hold up the abdomen, belt, cod, and butt piece. The belt can't be seen under the armor, but it's really uncomfortable. I'll use something similar for my clone build, but it needs to be worked on. The glory shots. Sorry, the lighting makes some of the pics look kind of weird: Gloves: Endor Finders https://www.endorfinders.com/. $55.00 + $3.95 shipping. They're awesome. That's all that needs to be said about that. Boots: Imperial Boots https://www.imperialboots.com/ $119.90 + $30.00 DHL Shipping. Very nice and sturdy. The insole is garbage, but that's an easy swap. Undersuit: The Dark Side Closet https://www.facebook.com/TheDarkSideCloset $230.00. A little pricey, but it was a gift. Amazing quality and even better customer service. Without going into details, I contacted them after receiving my order and they took care of me in a day. I can't overstate how good they are and I'll definitely be buying from them again. I wouldn't troop in this shirt during the summer months though, it is HOT. The material they use is very thick and I was sweating like crazy up until I got outside. As it dropped into the 40s tonight, I was very, very happy I had this suit. I also wore my cycling pants under the knee gaskets and they worked perfect together. Helmet: Modified Nerdforge Designs 3d Print; Etsy. $8.00 STL file. Hovi Mic Tip and gap between vocoder and chin Blue fabric behind tube cutouts, black behind tears and traps. Hand plates: Rogue One style, recess present in front. Forearms: Closed with Velcro on one side, elastic on the other. Will re-think the elastic side for future builds. Back plate/ kidney armor/ trauma plate. Tabs present for belt alignment. Modified back armor. 8mm circular indent, top of box wall indentation, O cog has 16 spines, 5 raised bars on the 11 bars, and rectangular tabs on rear shoulder strap trapezoids. The tabs are a little big, and I should have attached the trapezoids much sooner, before paint. This would have eliminated the gaps. Chest armor with shoulder strap trapezoids, black gloss side extenders, outward swooping pectoral outline and rib cage flare. Chest should probably be "taller" with a more aggressive flare on the bottom. This was one of the first things I asked the designer to correct, which they did, but I think we could have "leaned" the armor out a little more. I still love how it turned out, but maybe just a little more tweaking. Abdominal armor and belt. I forgot to attach the drop boxes on for this pic, but did later. Closeup showing separate belt boxes, trapezoid on middle box, and teeth on top of belt. What color is the rectangular recess supposed to be on the middle greeblie? It's not noted on the CRL, but the picture appears to be a grey outline. Other than that, I can't find a clear pic, but I think I've seen others paint the inside blue. Rear belt, thermal detonator, and kidney/ trauma plate. The contrast is a little off, so the trauma plate kind of blends in with the rest of the back. For brevity's sake, I'll skip the rest of the "glory shots" and go straight to the things that pain me: First, I touched on this in my previous post, but soon after going crazy with the PC-7, even it was no match for my lower legs. The sound of the shins cracking was quickly silenced by the moans of frustration coming from me. If the paint looks sloppy and rough, it's because after these broke, I decided to do a quick spray and cover-up for Halloween. Additionally, until I go through a re-design with Akira-Yuming, these shins just won't work. First, the bell-bottom is not nearly big enough which means that my boots won't fit under cleanly. Next, the wall thickness is way too thick; there's absolutely no flex to the armor especially after putting on the sniper knee plate. I have already sent the designer some ideas, but ultimately it's going to have to be a total re-design with thin walls. By comparison, I printed out Sean Fields' Shoretrooper shin for my Mando build and it has a lot of flex and fits perfect, I've already spoken with the 850 Armor Works guys and will likely buy a set of shins from them for this costume. But, I will still print off a set of whatever Akira-Yuming and I come up with for my 100% 3d build. So, for pictures I went outside like this: Also, I mentioned previously how thick the Darkside Closet undershirt is. I actually had to modify my forearms to get them to close. My wife decided to take over my Mando armor, so while that costume would have been a good fall-back, I already promised it to her for tonight. Also, it's my size not hers, so if there's any Mando fans out there, please don't pick it apart. She got a lot of compliments when we went to Target. Post Halloween trauma: Scrapes scratches and dings were the most common issue. A lot of these are in places that just confuse me honestly. The above pic shows some pretty bad scratches that occured below the chest and back armor. Essentially, this wasn't touching anything and still got dinged. Overall, the abdominal armor still looks good and the scratches can be touched up, but the cod got a huge gouge in it from when I tried to sit down (this was pretty funny by the way). Also, I previously mentioned that I forgot to show the drop boxes in my "glory shot" so here they are. They're way too big. Since I originally scaled my abdominal armor to 105%, I did the same with the belt and boxes. However, when I remade the belt with HIPS, I re-scaled the belt boxes to normal size but totally forgot about the drop boxes. Since I forgot them during the "glory shots," I didn't notice the size difference until I put the armor together yesterday. And this one broke my heart. When I was closing my forearms, I kind of reached out in front of myself with both arms simultaneously (imagine Lou Ferrigno in his famous hulk flex). While I'm no Lou Ferrigno, the pressure from the biceps pressing against the chest from both sides just made it crack. What sucks so bad about this is that I was real happy with how the chest was holding up and it ultimately stood as a sign to how careful you have to be with 3D armor. 3D Print ROTK Summary: After three months of printing, and building I've performed these final calculations. Total weight of armor raw (no paint or filler): 7.12kg (15.67 lbs) Total weight of finished armor: 8.9 kg (19.58 lbs) Price of filament + Tax $19.95 per kg. Total price of armor @ $19.95 per kg: $142.04 Waste (pile of lesson's learned): 5.25kg Price of lesson's learned: $104.74 (ugh) Paint/ primer: $200 approx. Filler/ sandpaper/ supplies: $100 approx. Total Cost of armor: $442.04 + waste = $546.78 Total Cost of Armor/ Soft Parts/ Boots: $880.89 + waste= $985.63 So, with all that said, my opening statement on August 9th was "Throw my name in with the other ROTK threads, but let's do this with a 3D printer, and finish the project." Ultimately, other than the inaccurate stuff on YouTube, I had seen several 3d projects that were started, but none that had been finished. In the beginning, my wife and I were curious if it could be done to an acceptable standard with a 3d printer. While I did break the shin armor, I finished my project and would have submitted pics this week, had the mishap not occurred. In the end, I think it's at an acceptable level, but that's mostly due to the help you all have given me. I've decided not to submit pictures of this armor set to my GML. I do like how it looks, but the 3d print settings need to be overhauled before it's "troopable." Basically, I feel that after I clean it up and get rid of the Halloween damage, I'd be able to take some pretty good "studio" shots, and probably be accepted, but then not be capable of doing the things that drew me to the 501st legion in the first place. I really want to get out there and start participating in events, but I think I'm going to have to wait for the BBB like everyone else that's assisted me through this project. Jimi sent me his price list this week, and of course, I've already spoken with the 850 Armor Works guys. Also, while there is a Din Djarin CRL out there, and I could put together some pre-beskar armor pretty quick, I linked up with the 501st to be a Stormtrooper; the other stuff comes later. Overall, through this project, I learned a lot about this hobby and the ROTK armor. By the time I'm able to start building a new set, I'll be well prepared to build towards the Centurion Level set and join the ranks. While I'm waiting to start my next project, I'll continue being active on the FISD forum and learning as much as I can. Additionally, I'll be sitting on another 3d printing forum next month with Garrison Tyranus' Inferno Squad and use all of this as valuable information to pass on to the viewers. I'll post information about that as soon as it's solidified. Lastly, we're one episode into the Mandalorian season 2 and haven't seen any Stormtroopers yet. I'm still hoping for some Remnant Stormtroopers, like in season one, to come out (ROTK Armor with OT Helmet). For me, it would be my dream CRL. I don't know why, but the armor combination with the weathered look just works. I've already put my email on the Anovos interest list and will be picking up a helmet kit regardless. In the meantime, I'm collecting as many reference pics as I can and will gladly help out however I can. Thanks again for everything.

Jeff, That first picture from Rogue One is exactly what I was looking for. Also, the closeup pic of the tabs and belt is perfect. Thanks! Regarding the CRL, I wasn't sure. I keep referring to this plate as the Kidney Armor, because that's what I've seen elsewhere; that's why I asked. However, after looking at the 850 Armor Works site, they refer to it as the "Trauma Plate." Maybe I'll just go with that. The PC-7 machining video is incredible, I've never seen anything like this before. So far it's holding up pretty good and it sands great as well. I actually just used some for my thigh strapping last night and when I checked this morning, it looked like it did exactly what I needed. Also, I saw the 1" ball video earlier as well as the company videos where they use denatured alcohol for shaping. I started doing that and again was pretty impressed. Also, I've been using a scrap piece of HIPS as my mixing pallet and the alcohol cleans it up perfectly. I actually used that scrap piece for the tabs and there's no epoxy on it at all. I've got my eyes on a Death Trooper kit, so if I go that route, the PC-7 will definitely be something I pick up when gathering my materials.

Question for those who may know... possibly @11b30b4, @TheRascalKing, @Sly11 or someone else I may be overlooking. After my last pic, this is what I did to my kidney plate. Never mind the scuff marks on the right side, I'll take care of that tomorrow. I added these tabs based off how I read the CRL and what I saw in other posts which referenced the shoretrooper plate. Can someone give me either a thumbs up, or a rudder steer before I make this permanent? It fits great with the belt, but I just have them temporarily super glued. Thanks! Since I'm on here, I'll post a very quick update. When I last showed the belt, the tabs (teeth) were big rectangles. I've since trimmed them down and they fit great. However, when I started playing around with my Thermal Detonator, I realized that I put the keypad plate on upside down. I was able to pry it off and reinstall, but it left the cylinder a little dinged up. When it's mounted to the belt the damage is hidden, but I'm a little ticked off at myself for doing this. I think I mentioned previously that I really like the TD. I may make another, but that's a project for another day. I previously showed the shin armor, but I wanted to show this view as well. I really went crazy with the PC-7. It works well, but I really don't like how rigid it feels. I think this is just a downfall of 3D print armor. For safe measure, I contacted 850 Armor Works and will be getting a pair of shin armor from them pretty quick. I'm not abandoning the 3d print TK at all, I've got other things in mind. I think I mentioned previously that I'm trying to look further down the road at other projects. I'll outline that some other day. After I got the PC-7 smoothed out, I went down the glazing and spot putty road again. I really went heavy this time because I had a lot of "imperfections," but once I got that sanded down, I hit it with the filler sandable and was left with the current state. I should be able to get these glazed, smoothed out, and sniper plate installed tomorrow. By the way, I kept arguing with myself about installing the sniper plate tonight, but I really wanted to make sure I had everything smooth before throwing it on there. This leaves Saturday for gold paint in the morning and possible wet-sanding in the evening followed by paint on Sunday. I'll also finish strapping everything else on Sunday, and depending on the shin's paint finish and curing, full suit-up and pictures no later than Wednesday. Cheers.

So I had a few armor items drying last night, so rather than wait until the weekend, I decided to tackle the abdominal armor fastening system. I'll submit this post as a tutorial for this awesome abdominal closure. Thanks again to @11b30b4 for "nudging" me towards this system rather than the strap and buckle setup I had already gone with. Since I've tried both methods, I'll go over the positives and negatives of both towards the end of this post. First, let me show what I'm trying to achieve: Both of these pics are from Jeff's Rogue One TK vs. OT TK Comparison thread found here: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/48617-rogue-one-tk-vs-ot-tk-comparison/. The first pic is of what appears to be a screen used ROTK set. The second is Mr. Paul's Shoretrooper system. Regardless of the authenticity of the first, it seems legit. I tried searching everywhere for ROTK wardrobe malfunctions that might show one, but this is the best I can muster: Can't tell, but by just looking at the unclear image I'll just assume this is the way it is. Regardless, here we go. First, here's the necessary tools: Not too much there. Of course, you only need one zipper, and scissors work just as good as the rotary blade. Also, you don't need a HD machine for this task, a regular sewing machine works just fine for elastic and zippers. Technically you can hand sew the entire thing, but this is much faster and providuces a much better product. You can see the zipper foot to the left of the machine, but I didn't use it; a regular foot works just fine. While I'm discussing sewing, I'm no pro, I don't even claim to be good. But, my advise is don't be afraid to try it out, especially if you're building a lot of costume accessories. I bought this because our old machine couldn't handle duck cloth without failing let alone vinyl or leather. Plus, it's like 25 years old. Additionally, I can't justify $770 for Mando soft parts and another $650 for leather. We're getting up towards Darth Vader costume prices there. Back to the build. First, the edges of elastic can get pretty "thready," mostly when cutting against the grain. I squared off the swatch, and then burned the edges to melt off and close the ends of the fibers. This elastic is 10" wide, so it's plenty big enough for most abdominal armor. Unfortunately, I cut off the right side of this picture, so you can't see how far it extends past the bottom edge. My armor is 9" tall. Also, distance from the top of the belt recess to the top of the back is 8". This is why I ordered a 8" zipper, but I probably could have just grabbed the 7" (8" overall length) one that they had at the fabric store. I'm also looking at the mess left over from the 1/4-20 screws, washers and buckles and think this new system will be much more kind to the armor. Old picture. Next, I double checked the armor to see what I was working with. I had my wife measure the gap at its widest point which came out at 3 1/4". With that info, I set out to transfer measurements to the elastic. The dotted line represents the zipper. The inside solid lines are the edges of the back gap and the outside is Velcro. I decided on 2 inches of Velcro on either side of the gap. Since this is a lateral pull I don't fear that the Velcro will separate from the armor, but I went with 2" regardless to provide plenty of surface area. This gives you a good idea about what I'm talking about. I held the elastic up against the armor again to get one last measurement of where to cut the bottom, which I shouldn't have done. . As discussed previously, I purchased an 8" zipper which has an overall length of 9". Now, I could have used this regardless as the extra inch of zipper fabric at the top can be cut off or folded and sewn over, but at the last minute I decided to run the zipper the full length of the armor. So, I decided to cut a new piece of elastic which took about 5 minutes. Untrimmed and trimmed. Next, I cut down the dotted line, laid double sided tape along the seam, and set the zipper in place. I like using double sided tape because it holds very well, it's fast, and doesn't require me to put pins in the fabric. They make seam tape for these applications, but it costs $7 for a small roll and doesn't hold as good. On the plus side, the seam tape dissolves after washing a few times, but after scoring and cutting the tape, it will never be seen again. This is the result. Now, this is where the sewing pros should bust on me. I didn't fold the seam over before sewing. Honestly, it doesn't bug me at all, because with the ends cut straight and melted shut, it turned out pretty clean. Also, as you can see from the second pic, after running a straight stitch down the length of both sides of the zipper, everything holds strong. Next, I laid the Velcro down along the edge of the fabric and sewed it on. Finally, I stuck the piece in the inside of the armor and covered the edges with Velcro for the kidney/ trauma plate. I know, it's not centered, but you get the point. This is so much more comfortable than what I had before. Also, I discovered that I need to put a little cord on it so that I can zip it myself. Finally, regarding the kidney plate, I just realized that the new CRL says "the abdominal armor back cover plate has two protruding tabs along the bottom that rest inside the back hard belt." I'll add that this weekend, but @11b30b4, @Sly11, can we move that down to the Kidney Armor section? I overlooked it previously because it's listed under abdominal armor. Pros and Cons of both systems. Old buckle system: Pro- Can pull ab real tight. This has a good thinning effect. Con- If tight, it's hard to breath. If loose, you really rely on the suspenders a lot. Skinny guys don't need thinning. Pro- Very stable. Con- The straps have to be fastened somehow; either screws or epoxy, glue, etc... The holes in my armor show the obvious draw of this system and sometimes glue fails. Con- Even when filed flush to the nut, I can still feel the screws in my back. This doesn't bug me too much, but my undersuit cost $200. I don't want it to get snagged/ damaged. Pro- Can easily take on and off by myself. Pro- Doesn't require sewing. Con- Though not listed in the CRL, it's probably not screen accurate. New Elastic system: Pro- Very, very, very comfortable. Con- Cannot tighten as much as old system. Pro- You can breath in it without effort. Seems much more natural. Pro- I fastened it with "industrial strength" Velcro rather than adding a 'mechanical system' to the armor and it's not going anywhere. Pro- No screws or glue; much easier on my undersuit. Con- Sewing Pro- SEWING IS EASY Con- Unless you're a contortionist, you're not getting this on and off by yourself without a cord. Pro- The last one isn't really a con, because adding a cord takes about a minute and it's hidden by the kidney armor. Pro- Building this and installing it took less than an hour. Pro- See number one. Pro- It's probably screen accurate, but unless I'm corrected, this has yet to be verified. Overall, this entire process took less than an hour, and it's well worth it. It actually took longer to write this post during my breaks and lunch today than it took to do the actual work. Also, the comfort of the system cannot be overstated; this has become a necessity for me in future builds. I really hope this helps someone out in the future. In my opinion, the return on investment is huge. Thanks for viewing.

Quick update. I got an email this weekend from DHL that said my boots are coming tomorrow. Awesome. The only problem is that I've been "slow rolling" my build over the last couple days since I didn't expect my boots for another couple weeks. Oops. I've been planning on taking a picture of myself barefoot in full TK armor waiting by the mailbox, but apparently I underestimated the turnaround time for Imperial Boots. I'll remember that next time. So, when I received that email, it was enough to motivate me for another push. I put up pics of the belt and thighs last time, so now that they're put together and awaiting paint, I decided to smooth down all the edges of the abdominal armor I had banged up while sizing everything else. As I stated in a previous post, other threads mentioned starting at the middle and work out. This meant beginning with the abdominal armor and then putting it on/ taking it off about a hundred times to see how everything else fit. This meant that all the smooth corners I had worked on back in August had become rough and the multiple layers of primer had their fair share of dings, scrapes, and gouges. However, everything was easy to fix and I was able to hit it with the gold paint. This was taken after my first round of wet-sanding at 400. As you can see, I went pretty heavy on the gold, which resulted in some big runs, but as I've discussed previously, the corners and cracks got filled up nice with the gold flake and the runs were taken care of after wet-sanding at 800 grit. Following the gold and sanding, I got my golden thighs and the ab together and started spraying. This was the result: My pictures never seem to do this stuff justice, but believe me, it all turned out awesome. Also, I've been stressing about spraying the abdominal armor, but it all worked out fine. I just had to keep reminding myself to take it slow and not go too heavy. Also, I was finally able to pick this stuff up: Why is French Blue so hard to find? I couldn't find it online for a reasonable price. However, in my search for 10" elastic and 9" separating zippers (had to order off of Amazon) I found a bottle at Hobby Lobby. It was actually hidden behind another blue and the only one in the store. Also, I'll be doing a final build update this weekend and try to include as much about my strapping as possible. The elastic/ zipper abdominal closure has been covered in other build threads, but I'll do something here as well. I've got a plan in my head, but we'll see how that goes. Also, I think I've got enough elastic to do like 5 stormtroopers. With everything else done, I've now turned to the pieces that have had me spinning my gears ever since this build began. I've posted pics of the shin armor taped together a few times, but I've also documented how I haven't been happy with how it fit. So, after looking at other build threads, I just decided to get to work. Now, I just posted a few days ago that I asked the designer to change the shin armor, which they did, but I really didn't want to print out the new set. These fit together "clam shell" style, so it's pretty straight forward. However, I cut away the strip I circled in red because it was causing a whole bunch of weird gap/ fit issues. Additionally, I didn't feel that it was necessary since the front will be butt-jointed and sealed. Also, the strip would prohibit any kind of flex and make it impossible to put on the shin armor. Ok, this looks bad; real bad. But all I can say is "PC-7, where have you been all my life?" Ok, the product is over 60 years old, so obviously it's been there the whole time, but I've never used it until now. Also, the only reason I decided to try it out was because of @11b30b4's posts. So Jeff, thanks again. As I said, this looks bad, but if anything, this build has made me very good at sanding. After doing that all night, I was left with this: LOL, socks and Birkenstocks. I guess that's the Pacific Northwest side of me showing through. Actually, since this is a 3d print it doesn't flex as much as I would like. I have to kind of slide my heel down the crack in the rear which wouldn't feel good barefoot. The socks help a lot, but this means that when suiting up, I'll have to start with the legs first, then boots. Ultimately, they passed the stress test. I was able to put these on and take them off several times without issue. I'm probably going to print off another set though, using the new file. When I do, I'm going to set the infill very low. As a side-note, I printed off Sean Fields' Shoretrooper shin armor for my Mando build and it was designed very thin with a lot of flex. I think that if I emulate his settings for the next print, I'll be golden. So there we go. Other than painting the belt, which I'll do tomorrow night, I'm on my last two pieces of armor. I'll get back to the shins on Wednesday night, but I'm at the point where all I'll be doing is touch-up paint and sewing/ strapping this weekend. Also, with packages arriving from The Darkside Closet and Imperial Boots tomorrow, as well as new Hovi Mic stainless steel mesh form Etsy, I'll likely be sending pics into my GML next week and see if we can get a 3d printed TK into the 501st. Thanks again for viewing. I'll update this weekend.

Jeff, Thanks, I was just taking my morning break/ forum check and saw you post this. So, my shoulder traps sit similar to the reference pics you posted with a very small gap under the bottom. I'll play around with them a little. I still need to finesse those tabs on the belt a little bit. I intentionally left them a little "fat" so I would have room to trim. Also, since I added an extra strip underneath the belt (I forgot to post a pic, but it's basically the same size as the test strip I bent) the belt sits in a position that should allow me to bend the tabs inward slightly. Also, I actually just went to my garage and looked at the rear belt. I may play around with it a little bit because I feel like there's too many layers of plastic there. Finally, I saw this pic of the boots before and I love it. For reference below is my 1980 Dengar figure and one of my son's Stormtroopers from 2010. In Rogue One, are those "holes" cut out or painted? They look painted to me, but I wasn't sure if anyone ever got a close look. I have no problem with painting a "hole" on the bottom of my boots when they come in. That might be fun.

Jeff, Thanks for the post. This is the hole I'm talking about: I guess it's not too noticeable, but I'm going to alter mine to look the same. Thanks for the pics. Thanks so much for this pic. I saw your Hovi Mic Tips in your build thread and then went to Etsy. All of the Etsy stores appear to be using the outer shell from KamikazePigeon's Hovi Mix Pa2 on Thingiverse. I'll look around for some stainless steel mesh, because yours looks way better. Easy fix and thanks again.

Ok, last post for the day. I'll start with paint issues. Since my Mando parts keep gratuitously appearing in the background of my pics, I'll start with this to illustrate some issues I had painting Stormtrooper parts yesterday: This is what happened when I sprayed my Alclad. The finish pitted like crazy and polishing didn't do anything. The awesome thing about Alclad is it dries completely in less than five minutes. I've even seen videos where people polish it with a cloth between coats. Regardless, when I started spraying this appeared and it freaked me out. Though this actually made the thigh armor look pretty awesome, the chest and abs are another story. While those parts didn't pit, they came out incredibly dull. I stood there in my garage confused for a while, but when I looked up at my home weather station it said 64 degrees at 89% humidity. I then went over to my Stormtrooper legs which I had sprayed with gold a few minutes earlier and they looked exactly the same. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture which is another reason for me posting this one. So, rolling back to Friday night, I realized that I hadn't attached the thigh ammo belt to the leg. Again, I forgot to take pics of all my steps, so if anyone has questions, please reach out. First, I tried using Steel Stick epoxy to attach the part, but what I'm starting to discover is that it works great for small applications (installing magnets) but not larger ones like this. At first everything felt great, but when I put the thigh on I heard a pop and noticed that one side had popped off. This is where I should have taken more pictures. Basically, with 3d prints, even if you cover the backside with tape, drilling through the layers and walls typically results in a blowout on the drill bit exit side. What I've started doing is drilling a hole larger than the screw head, i.e. drill a 5/16 hole for a 8-32 machine screw. I then fill the hole with epoxy and let it dry. Once dry, I can work the epoxy just like any solid material. For this, I re-drill at 3/16" then recess the top side with a 1/4 bit to flush mount the screw. In this case I think I went a little deeper with the 1/4" and then totally covered the screw head with more epoxy. Following those steps, and after curing, I sanded down the epoxy screw cover and touched up the rough edges with some glaze and spot putty. After some more sanding, painting, humidity issue, sand again, and respray, I'm left with this: Personally, I feel this exemplifies the CRL rule of "no visible screws or rivets." Also, I've had a few people reach out to me about the gold paint idea. I wanted to put these pics up so you can see why I do this. When we used to do this with the buses I used to work on, it was typically a base coat for pearl. Now, the paint shop wasn't using rattle cans, nor were they spraying 3d prints, but they were the absolute best in the industry and the results were always incredible. If anything, I'll rip this technique from them any day. When I saw someone do it on YouTube, I decided to adopt the idea. Essentially, I treat the gold as one last layer of primer, then wet-sand and lay down the white. Barring unforeseen errors, the results are typically great. There's a few small runs, but they'll clean up nicely. I'll probably spray them tomorrow night and that'll leave me with two final parts, then this project is done. So, the belt... First, I put together my thermal detonator and its mount. I did decide to do neodymium magnets and they worked great. Unfortunately, I mounted the Thermal Detonator upside down (crossed up the magnets), so I just pulled off the face plate and painted the canister again. This was actually an easy fix, plus I wasn't happy with how I mounted the face plate. Here's an example of the "epoxy hole technique" I discussed earlier. This is all covered up with the detonator, so I'm not too worried about it, but there's two techniques shown. The outside rough holes were filled with Steel Stick epoxy and the mounting screws were embedded from the other side. The inner holes are the magnets, which were filled with epoxy. This was the first time I tried out the epoxy hole method and I liked how smooth everything came out. additionally, I tried prying the magnets out and they're there to stay. Next, I went back and looked at a few other builds which used HIPS for the belt. I tried to follow everything I saw, but a lot of it was trial and error. First, I carefully measured for the placement of the tabs and transferred my measurements to the hips. Using measurements from the 3d printed front belt, I was able to lay out a flat belt as shown. However, This process didn't work as it should have. A flat piece of material measures different than a curved piece. No worries, though, I flipped the belt upside down and bent it around my waist and then marked the plastic where the tabs should be. I then cleaned up the lines and it fit like this: I then laid out the ammo boxes and drilled everything out. Next, I'm not sure if @11b30b4 thought of this himself, but I'm a believer in the big pot method. Here's the tools of the trade: I had a sheet of corrugated steel that I rolled into the same diameter as my abdominal armor. I actually put the ab armor in one end of the roll to get it right. Lol. Also, after all the belt print issues I've had, I also happened to have an extra one lying around that I placed in the other side to serve as a mold. Here's a close-up. Honestly I thought this part would start warping as everything on top got hot, but it didn't. It actually worked better than I thought. So, with the steel formed in the same shape as my armor, I did a trial run with a piece of scrap. The trial piece fit great, so I moved on to the front belt. The process was the same, except since the piece was wider, I had to coax it a little by forming it over the steel, and then finishing off the curve using the pot. I tried calling to my wife for help taking pictures, but she couldn't hear me. However, as I said, there weren't too many differences in the process. For the boxes, I pressed t-nuts into the back. While they don't seem to be going anywhere, I'm probably going to do the epoxy hole trick to ensure their stability. After attaching the boxes, I was left with this: I'm happy with the results. I don't have the rear belt attached in this pic, so I'll take care of that tomorrow. Also, after looking at @TheRascalKing's ab closure, I can't unsee it. When my new sewing machine gets here, I'll be adding the elastic zipper enclosure. So, in the end, I got a lot done this weekend. As I said earlier, I've only got two parts remaining and they're going to go fairly quick. There's not much to talk about with the lower leg armor. Essentially, my next few days will be glaze and spot putty, sand, filler primer, sand, touch up, sand, sandable primer, sand, gold paint, wet-sand, white. Additionally, the belt will be complete (attached to rear), the ab will be gold and the thighs will be white tomorrow night. By Friday, I should have everything white except for the calves, which leave me the weekend to finish everything up. Hopefully by Sunday I'm only doing strapping, but I've been wrong before. Anyways, I'm about to be done with the exception of my boots. Thanks again for viewing.

Ok. So I got the "tutorial" portion done earlier which for some may have been repeated information. But again, I do that so people new to 3d printing can see some of the challenges and decisions that are encountered along the way. As I stated earlier, the goal is for people to have access to an accurate 3d print file, or know how to correct deficiencies they may encounter. Also, previously mentioned is how I missed my target date of 4 October. Some of this was due to me taking off all of last weekend for the virtual conference/ trooping event, some of it is due to me making on-the-fly decisions regarding my costume, i.e. fabricating my belt. Long story short... well my posts are usually long stories... I'm going to finish what I have and submit it to my GML, before I start tweaking anything else. I just emailed him last week to let him know that I'd be submitting pics as soon as my boots arrive. I did celebrate a little this morning because The Darkside Closet sent me this pic: YES!!!!!!! It's on its way. Team this up with last week's shipment from Endorfinders: These are really nice gloves. I'm going to have to try hard not to wear them this winter. However, for the Velcro, can anyone explain why they have hook on one glove and loop on the other? My only guess was so that I can stick them together for transport. If this is the case, it's ingenious. All I have to do is pull the loop Velcro off my right hand plate and replace it with hook. Much, much easier than some of the modifications I listed earlier. So, I'll start with the helmet, because that's where this all began. I don't think I outlined the Hovi Mic process when this all started a few months ago. It's all real simple, but in case anyone's wondering, here you go: You basically start with the above items; metal mesh, Stormtrooper Hovi Mic Mesh Shaping Tools found at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3518807, and a 4 oz Japanese Chisel hammer. Ok, so the chisel hammer may be totally unnecessary, but I'm also doing my build on a Roubo workbench, so I've got some woodworking tools close by. Also, there's ways to do the mesh without the shaping tool, but it's pretty handy. The metal mesh is very flexible, so I'd be willing to bet you can shape this around your finger. Regardless: Place mesh on platform, tap mandrel and watch mesh bend. Trim off excess and place in Hovi Mic Tip. It's that simple. Lol, the Mandos because of your previous comment Jeff @11b30b4. --Break-- Since I'm name dropping, I never posted a pic of the shoulder straps Jeff sent me. His is on the right, my painted TPU strap is on the left. I mentioned previously that when I submit my pics, I'm going to try to keep everything 3d printed, so my straps are for pictures, and the flexible straps I bought are for trooping. Also, Endorfinders aren't the only people getting the ingenious designation today, these straps are amazing and the velcro puts them over the top; I can't glue Velcro to mine. Also, after all my experimentation with paints, the solution was simply spraying the TPU with gold metallic to fill the "micro-lines," and then hitting it with gloss white. It's remaining very flexible for now, but I expect it will peel later. Back to the helmet. Previously I posted pictures of the Vocoder and now the Hovi Mic tips, but after securing the Hovi Tips with 8-32 machine screws and the vocoder with E6000, I'm left with this: Correct Hovi Mic Tips, and Vocoder "tubular in nature" and "visible gap be [sic] present between the Vocoder and the helmet." I touched up the paint and it looks awesome. The only thing I have left to do is the black lines around the tears and traps. I'm still requesting advise on this because I really don't want to use the Sharpie oil based pen again. I've got a very fine paint brush and a steady hand, but want advise first. I'll add the mesh and blue fabric later, but this is pretty much done. Also, of note in this pic, I love the eye bump and yes, I still need to paint the thermal detonator end caps. I'll talk about the belt later. BOOM! This is almost done. Tonight I'll put one more update post which includes even more paint woes, some creative positioning of Mando parts in my Stormtrooper pics, and my belt build. Thanks for viewing.

Lol. Thanks Jeff. That wasn't the intent of my Mando Armor placement, but It'll pop up again in my next post. I've just got both projects taking up the same real estate in my garage. Not pictured is the soft parts I'm sewing. My wife actually just commented on how my build is encroaching on our living spaces, but it's going to remain in place until my new Janome HD3000BE comes in later this week. Yes, in a blow to my masculinity, I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday. At least it's black and says Heavy Duty on the front. I know the rear trap tabs are in the new CRL, I don't see them in the old. My question would be about their placement. On your armor, they appear to stick "down" along the shape of the back. There also appears to be a rectangle shaped "hole" right above them. Do you have close up pics of this element? Thanks. I'm posting my build update in a minute.

Azuma, Thanks for finding those items. Typically the designer is very quick to make changes. However, I think I wore them out over the weekend. I made a few requests to change the lower leg armor and then started sending recommendations for their Phase 2 Clone Armor. They made the changes to the leg armor, but then sent me a message that said they were prepping for an event and needed to take a break. I told the designer that I was done bugging them about the TK armor, so I'm not going to hit them up again until they reach out to me about the clone armor. However, if you wanted to request some changes, they may be willing to adjust. For me, I've asked so much of them, I needed to extend some professional courtesy. Also, please check all the files in Akira-Yuming's download section since they have included several updates but didn't take any of the old files down. Some of these have previously been addressed. When I'm done with the build, I'll make a list that has all the corrected files. For the back armor, I'm looking at the pics from other builders. I believe the back "box" is actually in a pretty good location. When you place the armor in your slicing software the shoulder trapezoids will likely be disconnected. I printed mine separately and placed them according to proportional fit. This is also how I determined the placement of the 8mm hole. Jeff (@11b30b4) and @yoshix both covered this in their builds where they actually filled the hole in their armor and moved the shoulder trapezoids/ straps further down closer to the box. Regarding the pill-shaped groove, this is present on Inferno Squad Tie Pilot back armor, but not the ROTK. Also, based on others' pics I'm less concerned with the shape of the trapezoids and more with the fact that the ones on the rear do not have a "rectangular tab protruding from the bottom." Lastly, only the cog sticks out past the box, but it's not noticeable unless you position the armor perfectly. This is easy to simulate in the slicing software, but I can't tell unless I look just right at my back armor. I guess you could slice the cog in Meshmixer before gluing it down; this isn't something I would bug the designer about. Regarding the gaps, I kept adjusting them and then realized that they kind of take care of themselves when you put the armor on. Nothing was more apparent as when I widened the gap on the abdominal armor and then put it on. The gap that I had widened to 4 inches spread which left me looking like the stormtrooper in the picture you posted. Also, it looks like you posted the pic of the leg armor Akira-Yuming made for us bicyclists/ people with +sized calves which makes the "bell-bottom" look a lot smaller. But regarding the gap in the brim, please see the pics below. The left is me squeezing the leg to "most people sizing," which eliminates the gap. For this, I references several other builds which show people with smaller/ bigger gaps depending on their "proportions." For the thickness of the brim, and the gap between the trim piece and rear right brim, I've got some extra plastic if others agree that this needs to be corrected. This reminds me of one thing I may not have hit on too hard during this build thread, but discussed with viewers during the conference last week. Since I'm doing this build thread as a pseudo-tutorial, please bear with me for a few minutes. First of all, one size does not fit all and adjusting armor post-print is extremely difficult. For reference, please see this pic: This is my discard pile thus far, or as I like to call it, 'the pile of lessons' learned.' Of course the helmet was a paint issue and the macrobinoculars are from a clone build, but the rest of the pile represents pieces that I spent a lot of time printing only to find that there was something off. Immediately, my eyes are drawn to the thighs that I asked the community for help on. After I got some feedback, I altered the file myself and re-printed rather than asking the designer to change them. Their original work would probably work for most, but not for me. This is one of the reasons why garrisons host build parties, to help ensure people's armor is "proportional to the wearer in scale, fit and size." Next, for those thinking about getting into 3d printing, I go back to the small discussion I had with @TheRascalKing on September 3rd regarding the practicality of 3d printed TK armor. Please look at this pic and determine for yourself; this pile represents approximately 240 hours of printing. However, as I stated then, after I'm done screwing everything up and either fixing it, or requesting that the designer re-work their file, I think we'll have a practical option for people to download. Also discussed was the topic of community feedback, which is critical when going down this road. Take a look at the cod piece right in front of the pile. The original file looked like this: I call this file the "underwear model" or "bikini cod." It was a mix of the OT and ROTK design, but either way it was wrong. I outlined how I chopped the armor on August 30th, but @gmrhodes13 was quick to point out a few more needed changes. This was one of the files I couldn't adjust post-print, so the designer corrected it. Finally, this takes a lot of time. I've already missed my goal date. However, I'm still on track for my original deadline. Adjustments need to be made based off expected and unexpected circumstances. However, I'm also the idiot who's doing two simultaneous builds. To finish up this tutorial/ response, Azuma, please feel free to request changes from Akira-Yuming. They said they're taking a little time off, but based off my previous experience with them, they'll probably still respond much faster than most builders. Also, getting to go out last weekend and see other TKs really helped a lot. Though there were no Rogue Ones, I was able to take note of the form, fit, and functionality of their armor as well as identify items I should look for in my build. I'll put a build update up here in a little bit.

@Darth147 sorry, I totally missed your question. I must have strayed away from the site for a few days and missed my notifications. Yes, I scaled up to 105%, but that is entirely based on my build. Of course this also means scaling up the belt and ammo boxes in some axis' as well. For me, I scaled the belt to 105 on the X axis but didn't stretch it on the Z. I didn't want to have the belt be to "tall." Also, I don't know what printer you have, but be careful with your slicing if you have to cut it to fit on your print bed. This is why I'm going to be purchasing a CR-10 Max soon. If I do any more builds that require abdominal armor, I'm printing it off in one shot. Back to the belt. The belt front fits fine, but the rear is tricky. Since the rear of the abdominal is where the majority of the stretching occurs, the belt has to do the same. But, since the 3d print belts don't have a lot of flex, you almost have to print the belt as if the abdominal is stretched. I would advise putting on the ab armor and taking a lot of measurements before printing. I got pretty creative with the rear belt to get it to fit, but ultimately I've now opted to make the belt out of HIPS. That's what I've got planned for tomorrow. Let me know how yours turns out. @MaskedVengeance, sorry, I missed your question as well. Initially, I was set on buying the file from GreatApeStudioArt on Etsy, but after researching a few posts on the Bounty Hunter's Guild I found a thread that listed all the accurate files on the web. One of them just happened to be on Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4401649. I printed it mostly for fun, but now that I've sprayed it with alclad, I love it. I didn't do a build thread for my Mando armor, but I may end up doing it again at a later date. Right now, I'm sewing my soft parts and will be spraying the Beskar tomorrow night. I'll post a pic after Halloween; my wife is going to wear my Mando costume and of course, I'll be cruising around in the ROTK armor. Also, one of the guys in my squad helped write the CRL for Din Djarin V1 and V2 so if you have any questions, I can dig into them for you. Our helmets are identical. Also, if you do the armor, be sure to download a left shin base shape. PandaProps uploaded his on Thingiverse here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4212846. The left shin is basically a leather wrap, but the base shape gives you something to wrap the material around. He has a video about this as well. Lastly, a lot of the armor sets don't have the back, kidney, and left knee armor. I think all the designers are still trying to figure everything out. For these, I grabbed the files from GreatApeStudios. Even if you pass on the back armor for now, the knee armor is cheap. For the E-11, I also got that on Thingiverse here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4003566. It's a Sterling SMG, but the same designer has E-11 accessories as a separate file. Finally, I've been holding off on updating my build thread with hopes that I'd finish soon and be able to post the complete build, but I've been held up recently. On a positive note, I met up with some members of my local squad for a virtual convention and a "socially distanced trooping event/ photoshoot" last weekend. We had a blast, as a teaser, here's some pics: Yes, we set up a volleyball net for the Tie Pilots. We had a little Kenny Loggins Playing With the Boys kicking in the background and really just had a blast. Though everyone was masked up under their buckets, there were absolutely no complaints and even the snowtrooper agreed that the weather was perfect. Also, I got to sit on a 3d print panel which ended up being pretty popular. If anyone's interested, they can see the replay at https://youtu.be/kDR9_nP7560.

Jeff, Thanks again for the insight; this is great. I probably should have gone with smaller buckles. I've ordered some for the thighs, but I really like how these 2" buckles feel. I did tighten them up as far as they would go, so unless I lose a lot of weight, I'll stick with them for the time being. Also, I saw @TheRascalKing's zipper enclosure and loved it, but ultimately leaned towards something I could cinch down. I've 3d printed all the parts for an E-11, but was experimenting with my settings during the print, so there's some horrible print lines. I haven't put up any pics of this build yet, because I kind of tossed them to the side. Here's a few: Despite the print quality, some parts came out great (grip, bolt), but some came out horrible (folding stock, top rail). Also, the barrel looks awesome, but it keeps breaking apart every time I bump it, that's why there's some pretty shoddy seams in the pic. The three sections of the barrel are kind of butt jointed together which creates a very weak link. I did pick up a 3 foot section of the correct size PVC pipe, so when I have a little time I may try again using that as my main tube. Also, if I ever get around to purchasing a resin 3d printer, blaster parts are some of the items I definitely want to make. Regarding a rubber blaster, I'm guessing it's similar to the rubber M-16s we had for training in the Marine Corps. If so, that may be a good bet. Finally, this weekend, my squad in Garrison Tyranus is hosting a virtual convention https://inferno-con.com/ (I'll be sitting on the 3d print panel Saturday at 1200). On Sunday, they're having a "socially distanced" photoshoot about 5 minutes away from my house. So, I'll be heading out there to meet everyone and see how the squad is trooping during these COVID times. It should be fun, plus I'll take the opportunity to check out everyone's blasters. If anyone's interested, check out the programing page here: https://inferno-con.com/programming.html

Thanks @tarok. I must have seen a pandemic message on another site. When I ran into this, I think I just assumed. I am following them on Facebook, so when they open back up, I'll be ready. I don't know if they updated their site last night, or if I just missed this, but the European sizing chart is up there now. Easy day.

Ok, so hopefully this is one of the final "mini-updates" before I start wrapping up the build. Again, small progress, but in the end, all these tiny things that don't look like much should add up to something great. Additionally, I'm trying to document all of the little details and updates, because these are the things I searched all over the forum for. Also, for those of you who I have PM'ed over the last couple months, thanks. All of this info is what is enabling me to put together a pretty nice 3d build. First, I don't know if anything could have stopped this, but due to the pandemic, Imperial Boots has this for their homepage: With the lead time on boots, there's no way I'll have this in time to submit pics to my GML by Halloween. But, I know what I'll be doing on 2 October. Additionally, The Darkside Closet got delayed because of the recent hurricanes. I should still have my soft parts next month, but for the time being, I've been splitting time between builds. I basically pushed my October 4th TK goal back about a week. However, this weekend should be pretty big. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to ordering my boots, and I'll be hitting up Endor Finders for my gloves gloves in the next couple days. Also, I just read the sizing chart for Imperial Boots and it's kind of confusing. Am I supposed to measure from heel to toe? Do I measure from heel to ankle? How does this work? This is all I have left in my MCT (Medium Clear Tub for those who missed my earlier post). Also, looking at this picture, the sniper knee looks huge. So, I'm reaching out for community feedback before I start cementing things this weekend. I scaled the sniper knee on the left to match the larger shins/ calves which I forgot to mention in an earlier post. The one on the right is the original size, but I'm starting to think taping it into place isn't doing either justice. Please let me know what you guys think. Regarding the sizing issue, I previously posted this pic and as I got closer to "leg day," it started to drive me crazy : When I squeezed, I could get it closed, but if I went on a bike ride before putting on the armor, it was a hard no. I read the CRL again and this jumped out at me: "Requirements for all 501st costumes are proportional to the wearer in scale, fit and size." Additionally, I've now seen several examples of troopers with larger legs, so I wasn't worried about squeezing into my high school size armor. However, scaling the armor just wouldn't work so I reached out to the armor designer and asked if they could create something for people with larger legs. This was the result: Much, much better. Akira Yuming now has this option with their armor. When I'm completely done with this build, I'll put together a list of every piece I used. That way, if someone else wants to do this, they'll be able to select the accurate pieces. The bigger calves leg is just another option. So, onto other pieces that are nearing completion. I removed the shoulder bell "snap straps" from my chest and back armor and moved it to my suspenders as I alluded to a few days ago. Thanks again for those who went through this before me and posted plenty of pics for me to research (looking at your thread @11b30b4). After attaching the shoulders and biceps to the suspenders, everything just looked and fit better: I'm laughing because my wife kept commenting on what the suspenders were doing to my pants. The bicep on the right side disconnected again, so I'm going to back everything up with Velcro similar to what I did with the shoulders. I was thinking about plastic buckles, but I don't want too much going on under the armor. Also, my flexible shoulder straps just arrived yesterday, so this is as good as done. BTW, the straps are incredible! Next, I finally got the coat of white primer on the abdominal armor and I think it's going to look great. I will spray this with the gold paint because I want one more filling agent on this rather large piece. If you look closely, you can see blue sharpie ink down towards the bottom. This is where I was outlining the belt, which despite my previous adjustments, just wasn't sitting correct (the large tabs are the issue now). I decided to snap off the tabs and make some adjustments, but then after looking at Jeff's thread again, I decided to add one more thing. As soon as I added these buckles, everything just kind of fell into place. This also has a nice "thinning" effect; I'm starting to look like a Stormtrooper. Unfortunately I now have to play around with the belt again. I had just got the rear belt to fit my abdominal armor, but after tightening everything up with the buckles, it no longer fits. Fortunately everything else does, including the belt front. But I already snapped off the tabs, so I'll be adjusting that. Additionally, I've decided to make my own rear belt out of HIPS. When my sheet comes in next Monday I may just make the front as well. Jeff provided me with this link to @Kal Akaan's build: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49604-r1tk-wip/. The belt build is awesome and should help a lot. Back to the flexible straps for a moment. I loved the ones I made with TPU, but paint is definitely an issue. I said I was going to try a few things over the weekend, but couldn't find any dye when I went to Michael's. However, I tried a trick I found on YouTube. Here's the "tools." Essentially, I mixed the Kwik Seak and acrylic paint at a 2/1 ratio. 14g of paint and 7g Kwik Seal. I think that's 2/1... After it dried, it looked like this. It remained flexible if you bend it in the direction of the strap (vertical), but if you squish it, or try to flex it around any more, the paint cracks and peels. So, I'll try dying it next time. Also, the obvious choice is to buy white TPU, but I can't find any at a reasonable price. Finally, I'm wrapping up the helmet which should be done Thursday evening. I took the picture of the vocoder right after spraying, so it looks glossy, but that's a satin finish. This thing came out smooth. The hovi tips came out great also, but I wasn't about to worry about print lines on something so small. I think they look great. This is what I did last time and it turned out perfect. I really went to town with the pinstriping tape. I know people have mentioned this before, but taping the teeth sucks. I didn't really do this on my last helmet, instead I opted to paint the entire frown gray as the CRL states. However, the picture shows only the teeth being gray, and after seeing what others had done, I knew this was the right approach. So, gray is done. I'll let this cure for another day and then take care of the black. Green lens, blue fabric for the tubes, black screen for the teeth, and hovi mic tips are sitting here ready to go into place. I'll update this again in a few days, but other than waiting for soft parts, boots, etc... I'm almost done. I do have orders to wear this during halloween, so I may get a pair of "hold-me-over" boots for the time being. I found a pair that will work for a future Stormtrooper Commander (not 3d printed) build I have planned. Finally, I'm still waiting for E-11 suggestions. If anyone can provide me a good source, I would be grateful. I would prefer a metal airsoft blaster, but I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks!

The TPU was a bit of a surprise. I mean, I researched it before I ran out and bought some, but after running a few test prints, I realized that this particular brand was way too rubbery for anything I wanted to build. However, if I can figure out a good paint/ dye method there are a few items that this may be a no-brainer for. Immediately I think of clone pauldrons, and ammo belts. Good call on the acrylic paint. I'll see what I can do with these things this weekend.

Ahh... suspenders. I should have mounted the arm strapping to my suspenders. This should be simple. Rework coming tonight.

Second post of the day. This one's a little more fun because I'm making progress, not just playing around with a printer. On Saturday, I also stated that I hoped to have a gold helmet. For anyone keeping up with this thread, you've probably seen how I've gone crazy with the gold metallic Rustoleum. While I'm very happy with the results, I've decided it's totally pointless to do this with all the armor pieces. Essentially, at $4.00 a can, it's a colossal waste of money. For the helmets though, I'm definitely a believer. Additionally, I vowed to get over my fear of clear coat and used my Mando build as a test. Please bear with me for a moment, I know this isn't a TK, but the results speak for itself. I got a large run on the opposite side, but after watching a few hours of YouTube body shop videos, I'm ready to take care of it. The Mando helmet got a metallic silver base coat, 3 light coats of gloss black, two light coats of clear, and a final wet coat. I'll be ordering alumaluster and finishing this off soon. Having overcome my fear of clear coat, I set out to take care of my main project. On Saturday, I posted a pic of the helmet covered in white primer. Since I follow this up with gold, wet sanding may be unnecessary, but it really helps the gold lay down smooth. I love this pic. I didn't use any filters on it, this is just how it looked on a very sunny Sunday afternoon. I really want to do a Commander Pyre build now. While the bucket was drying, I circled back to take care of a few loose ends. First, I mentioned previously that I was going to print a new vocoder nice and slow. This was the result: Looking at it up close you can see the printer lines. These are only .1mm layers though, so they all but disappeared once I sprayed it with primer. But of course, I dropped it face down tonight. It's just going to take a little sanding. One good thing about primer is how it really brings out the flaws. In the first pic you could see the lines, but overall the tubes looked smooth. After priming, you can see a few rough edges. These get filed off and sand real easy. Speaking of sanding, I decided to re-work the forearms. I posted a pic of the runs a few days ago, but the more I looked at them, the more errors I discovered. I prepped them again and took to sanding and repainting. Additionally, I discovered that it was a bit premature of me to install the elastic on the inside. Originally I was thinking that I wanted to paint the clam shells while everything was together, but then I realized that the seams looked very amateur. It kind of reminded me of a basic MAACO paint job where they don't paint the door jambs. Also getting overspray on the elastic made them totally stiff and no longer flexible. Lesson learned. I didn't hit these with the gold paint and they turned out great. This is what made me think that the gold was overkill on anything other than the helmet. I also hit my abdominal armor with one last coat of sandable primer. I know I wanted to get this part sprayed white by tonight, but I think as long as it's done this week, I'll still make my self-imposed deadline. Also, when I was digging through my parts tub, I found my thermal detonator which I had totally forgotten about. Since I'm working on the belt again, I decided to finish this off. Yes! I remembered the ammo boxes with the trapezoid top. I did spray the cod and thermal detonator with gold. The Cod had a line going through it that I wanted to fill, and the detonator had a lot of detail work. Both turned out great, but as is typical, I have issues with dropping things. I tried to smooth it out and repaint, but really, I had been defeated. I already wiped it down with thinner and will try again tomorrow. At times, I feel like I'm writing a Comedy of Errors, but ultimately, everything I've screwed up has turned out ten times better on the second go-around. The Thermal Detonator didn't give me as hard of a time. The gold went on a little dry which gave me some weird flakes on the inside of the cap, but all that meant was that I would have to sand it down a little before spraying. Typically, I wet-sand the gold paint, but for this, I dry sanded at 400 and 800 grit. Everything laid down smooth. I don't know why, but this Thermal Detonator has turned into one of my favorite parts. It just looks cool. Also, I have a few ideas about it, but someone stop me if it's not allowed. The CRL states that the thermal detonator is "mounted to the rear hard belt and there are no visible screws or clips and is accurate in detail and proportion to official references." Additionally per the CRL, the mount is "fully enclosed with solid walls on all four sides." This all makes sense, but nothing's stated about how the detonator itself is mounted to... the mount. I want to use magnets, but wanted to check first before I finish the belt. Speaking of the belt, I started fitting it to the abdominal armor again. I mentioned this last week, but I've been running into clearance issues with the tabs and ab greeblies. In this pic, everything looks like it fits great, but the little tabs on the left keep rubbing the box. Even after I sanded off the glazing and spot putty, I was having to force it into place to get the belt to sit correctly. As a former mechanic, I know that this isn't a good sign, so I broke off the tabs, spaced them out appropriately, and epoxied them back into place. All it took was moving both tabs about a 16th of an inch. In these pics, only the left tab was moved. Really, it doesn't even look like I did anything to them, but the extra 1/4 inch total was night and day. Following this adjustment, I took a few measurements and installed the fastening system. So, I love snaps for some applications, but it dawned on me later that they have their place. Sometimes they don't work well. For the belt, they work great. I turned my attention to finishing the upper body armor and arms. This is where the snaps probably aren't the best idea. This is me going crazy with snaps. I've got the bicep closed here and the snaps installed on the outside. The bicep and shoulder fit together good enough, but I can't seem to put this on without unsnapping everything. Basically, I have to put on the arms and then have someone else snap me up to my shoulder straps. I may toss this fastening system in favor of plastic buckles. This is what ends up happening. My right bicep sits fine, but the left came unsnapped and droops down. This pic is funny, I felt like a teenager taking Instagram selfies. Finally, back to the helmet. Tonight I wet sanded the gold paint to 800 and let it dry for a few hours. On the last helmet I built, I rushed to paint and got a few errant water marks in the corners of the ears. This caused bad runs that were almost impossible to sand and polish out. For this, I let it dry on the work bench, then used the air hose on it. I followed this up with a microfiber towel, and then a tack cloth. This was after two light coats and one wet coat of gloss white. I waited 10 minutes between coats. Following this, I set a timer for 45 minutes and stressed about clear coat while I ate dinner. After going downstairs and looking at my Mando helmet, I worked up enough courage to get out the clear and hit the bucket with 2 very light coats and one flow coat. While it doesn't have the same wow-factor as high gloss black, I couldn't be happier with the results. Head on looks good and I'm very proud of how the eye bump turned out. And some 3/4 shot in front of its birth place; the CR-10s. Not sure why the pics came out blotchy. I think it's the lighting in the basement. Regardless, I am so happy with the results. I did have a stupid bug land on it while it was drying, but I should be able to touch that up no problem. Also, I got one tiny run that you can't even see from five feet away, so I may just leave it as a reminder of all the crap I went through with the original helmet. I'm going to let this sit for a few days before I attack the brow and trim. Also, since all my drama began with the Sharpie oil based paint pen, I'm a little nervous about trimming the tears and traps. Is this the best method or does anyone else have any tricks/ advise they can offer? Anyways, I'm nearing the home-stretch and am still aiming for the fourth. Good night and thanks for viewing.

Good afternoon. I just wanted to do another quick update so I don't get a massive collection of pictures that I end up dumping all at once. I put up a post late Saturday/ early Sunday, where I laid out my goals for the remainder of the weekend. Of course, my goals are typically "in flux," but even with that, I should still be done by the 4th. Here's to hoping. First, I did print off the flexible shoulder straps and they turned out way better than I could have ever imagined. The only issue with TPU is that something with this level of detail really can't be painted; they have to be dyed and I don't even know where to start with that. Therefore, I will use these as a "template" for finishing my armor until the shoulder straps I ordered arrive. I guess since my original intent was to present this build as a 3D Print Tutorial of sorts, it's appropriate to get this boring stuff out there. If you're not interested in 3D Print settings, please scroll down to the fun stuff. First, take a look at the final product: It looks white in the pic, but it's not. I changed the Extrusion Multiplier to 1.10, Retraction Distance to 3.50, Retraction Speed to 40, and turned on Coast at End with a Coasting Distance of .20. When I say "changed" I'm comparing to factory settings. I increased the top solid layers to 5 primarily because of the material. Also, first layer height was adjusted to 90%, width to 125%, and speed remained at 50%. With PLA and ABS, I like to print the first layer extra slow; sometimes as low as 30%. I do this primarily to avoid separation in the first layer. As is the case with any print, the skirt sort of "primes" the extruder. For PLA, or ABS, I run 4 outlines with 0 offset to create a brim. This helps with bed adhesion and support. For TPU, I decrease my outlines to 1 separated by 2.00mm. In a more complex print, this would help with first layer stringing and almost eliminate the prospects of filament dragging across the print. I could eliminate the skirt altogether, but I always want to make sure the extruder is functioning properly with such a finicky material. I didn't change Infill settings. You can't really use supports with TPU; well, you can, but it's complicated. Last month when I printed the Hovi Mic Tip, I used a few, but they have to get cut off. Plus, they were very small. That's why this model was a perfect candidate for the trial. TPU has to be printed hot and slow. The TPU is advertised at 210-230. I actually lowered the bed temp from my typical settings to 60 because the last time I printed at 75, the model was stuck too tight. Also I forgot to take a pic, but I set the extruder temp to 215. I meant to set it to 220, but after seeing the quality of this print, 215 is my new official setting. Funny enough, both of these temps are actually lower than my PLA+ settings. Decreased fan speed to 40. Again, hot and slow. No changes to G-Code. I didn't change my scripts. Some people do, but there's really no need. Print very slow. As I showed when this adventure began, my typical print speed is 180mm/sec. This one's putting along at 30. I also changed outline underspeed to 60 and increased the x/y Axis Movement Speed to 120. I wasn't worried about stuff shaking loose on this one. Change Unsupported area threshold to 10.0. Typically I have this set at 50.0, but again, supports aren't an issue with this print. Nothing else was changed from factory settings. No advanced changes needed. Ok, back to the fun stuff: First, about 3/4 of the way through the print, I knew this was going to turn out great. Typically, when I print with TPU the stringing is unbearable. I think since this was essentially a curvy line, the nozzle really never had to lift from the print and move somewhere else. This was also the first print I ever had where the completion time matched what Simplify3d told me almost to the minute. This kind of gives you an idea of how flexible this stuff is. There are several options for TPU, some more flexible than others. This is about as flexible as it gets. https://i.imgur.com/R6W6oRS.mp4 This video illustrates it again. First, it shows how the model goes from "rigid" to smashed, and then right back to its original shape. Pretty cool. Flexible straps are definitely the way to go. Wow! So, that's it for the TPU 3d Print/ Flexible Shoulder strap post. I like these, but I'm really going to have to play with them before I start telling people to run out and print some off. I may go down to Michaels and pick up some dye this week just to try out a few things. Honestly, if I'm able to successfully dye these to match the armor, it will open up many other options for future builds. Also, regarding the durability, I think I kind of put them through the wringer already (see video above), but I'll torture test them a little more to see how they hold up. My guess is that silicone straps will be more durable. Also, I don't think adding velcro is an option for these, but I'll try some stuff out. Overall, this was a fun little trial, and shows me that TPU may be a practical solution for certain items. I'll post more later.

@careems23b these are great. You're right in that both sets of armor are used throughout the season. @Nagedzi even pointed out how the ROTKs accompanied Moff Gideon, while the Remnants were with The Client. When it all comes down to it, I just can't wait for the next season to start.

@gmrhodes13, @Sly11 thanks for the info. Those earlier pics are why I was happy to find this thread; they definitely complimented the question I asked in my ROTK build thread. Again, along with the pics in this thread, I've got this Vintage Collection figure staring at me every day: Didn't even dawn on me until just now that the Trooper in this picture is carrying a RO E-11 blaster. Also, am I blind or is he not wearing a drop box on his left side? Now, I'm just the new guy here, but I think this pic shows enough nuances to get the conversation started, but of course I defer to the pros. I guess as I get closer to finishing my build, I also want to start thinking about the future. In the meantime, I'll see if I can capture a few more pics and get that conversation started. Thanks as always guys!

Good morning FISD! I want to resurrect this thread for a few reasons. First, in my ROTK build thread found here https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49826-the-bigjasonis-rotk-3d-print-build-thread/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-701421 I asked about a CRL for The Mandalorian Remnant Stormtrooper. I asked this question on the 12th, and then found this thread the next day. However, I'm not seeing any kind of answer as to whether or not we can expect a new CRL. Next, when The Mandalorian Season 2 Trailer dropped a few days ago, there was about a 1.5 to 2 second clip that showed some Stormtroopers running down the hall of what people are assuming is a Star Destroyer. Though this flashed up on the screen relatively quickly, it's clear that in season 2 the Stormtroopers are in fact wearing ROTK armor. I'm assuming these are some of Moff Gideon's troopers based off their shininess, but I can't tell if they're wearing OT or RO helmets. I believe these are ROTK helmets, but I'm basing that off of what appears to be an absence of S-trim around the opening of the bucket on the middle TK. Suspicions about the Stormtroopers should be confirmed on October 30th, but if we do indeed see ROTK armor with OT helmet again, can we expect an addition to the CRL for a Remnant Stormtrooper? Or, can we expect something based off of what we saw in season 1? This does seem rather unique; plus, I'd really like to order an OT helmet to go with my ROTK build. Thanks!