firebladejedi

Although I did not have any grey paint yesterday I did have some black so I went ahead last night and starting adding the detail black lines to my thermal detonator. My ref of an original part It looks like the pipe needs to be black too. Ok I'm not an expert but i'm not that stupid, and there is a serious point to this post. If you are unsure about anything at all with your build be sure to check the real ref material, double check and then ask somebody who knows what they are doing. Don't just blindly follow what others are doing. And by the way that was just an old detonator face plate I had kicking round in my tool box. The photo I used as reference was of the RS Props suit and all that black paint was added by Simon when he was a young lad and it has since been removed. The pipes are grey too, not black. Right after I have had my porridge I'm off into the city to get some grey number 5 that I do need.

Ok so the car has been rinsed, washed, rinsed, dried, polished, buffed and if it rains this evening blame me, I started it. Can you believe it, I cannot find any number 5 to carry on painting my abs. What self respecting pipe poking peas would be without their number 5 hey? Oh well better pop into the city tomorrow to get some. Nobody else is going to do it for me.. maybe nobody will notice if I leave the rest white? In fairness nobody would notice much about my new set of armour if I wasn't posting pictures and telling everyone on a public forum, then again I'm not entirely sure anyone is reading this anyways. So my ninja sensei is not going to be at class tonight so I may not go, I may have a poke at something else on my build. I will leave you for now with my final tip for today. Wear sunscreen, always wear sunscreen.

Hi there you've caught me in the middle of painting my buttons, French blue of course, that's no 14 in Imperial, just take your time and follow your ref pictures. I used a flat brush and remember not to load too much paint on and it does not really matter if its not too neat. I find most of this paint rubs off over time.. While its not raining I'm heading outside to wash my car, maybe see you later? Night shifts are over, and I have a ninja class this evening if I make it or not is another matter..

Did I mention I am working on nights this week? Well I'd barley been in bed for two hours this morning when I was rudely woken up by the postman knocking loudly on my front door. I didn't mind too much as he stood there and said 'hello mark' and passed me a parcel that was too big to put through the letterbox, as it was the vintage wooden clarinet I had bought earlier in the week after watching a couple of jazz programs. I bought it on a whim as it was 30 years ago this year that I first learnt to play the clarinet. By the way I glued on the ab buttons and drilled and riveted my thigh pack on the other day, I also found my flexi ESB hand guards while trying to see if I had any spare reeds. So my mum will be pleased if I can play Stranger on the Shore again, I better dig out my Acker Bilk records and see. My dad took me to see Mr Acker Bilk when he played at St Andrews Hall, here in Norwich. That must be nearly 30 years ago now. I went on to play at the very same venue years later with the various bands and orchestras I played with. Seems a long time ago now.. In a galaxy far, far away.. Anyway I am going to have a cup of tea, and then pop into Norwich to visit the music shop on St Benedicts St to see if they have any cork grease and a pull through cleaning rag. Better get some Rico 1.5 reeds too... For those of you reading this and expecting more TM goodness, better luck until next time. Until then rip Acker - ps have you any tips for my embouchure and fingering?

Sorry a mixture some of this and some of that.

On my most recent build I have the following cover strip sizes.. Arms a mixture of 13-15mm on biceps and forearms. Thighs a mixture of 20-25mm on the front and 25 on the rear. Shins a mixture of 20-23mm on the front and 25mm on the rear.

Thigh pack for right thigh. Once trimmed out you need to make the lower side edges rounded. I trimed my thigh strip just a couple of mm from the boxes. You do not need much here. To trim the edges round use anything to hand. A spray can, your masking tape. I like to use a spent casing from a L21A1 RARDEN 30mm cannon that my brother liberated when he was invited to observe a live fire battle group exercise. When you are happy with your arc, trim and repeat on the other side. Remember that the strap needs to reach all around the thigh. You can either have 3 blocks on the inside and 2 on the outside or have it centred both are correct. I am going to use single head caps to hold this in place. Better charge up my Dewalt again..

So how are your abs? If its not stormtrooper related speak to Davina, if you are into white plastic speak to me. Ok so on to the ab plate buttons. TM now makes these in reverse, there is reason for that but I never read that thread. However I like all things as accurate as I can so I like what he's done. Trim your button plates as seen here, also check out those vibrant colours. Back in the day there was a lot of 'discussion' on what colour the buttons were and I have been using French blue since around 2008 as other colours popular in the past were too dark. If anyone needed proof of the lighter shade of blue used on the original armour check out these pictures hot off the press from the Lucas Archives. You cannot argue with that. Original ref pic When you are happy that you have your buttons trimmed get gluing. I like to glue mine and then paint them later.

That's about it for now, I'm going to have a cup of tea and a snack, and then get on with something this avo. I start nights today so have a while to get on with some more before work. More updates later stormtrooper fans.

The thighs are glued together but I have yet to do the thigh pack, that could be done today. Ok my shins, has anybody worked out what's going on with them yet? Both of my shins are identical and are made if I am not mistaken, remember I am not an expert, of the outer left and outer right parts. This is why they are so wonky looking from the front. When I put in my order with TM, he asked if I wanted any doubled up parts, and I told him to surprise me... there is another doubled part somewhere, have you seen it? Measure from the very top above the raised edge and drill small holes, just big enough to get the hooks through, 45mm down, 225mm down and 340mm down. You want to go in about 10mm from the edge of the joint so the hooks pull them in slightly when closed. While a lot of people add joining strips to the inside of the shins its not accurate. If you are worried you can run a bead of glue on the inside joint like I did. Again the elastics are just glued directly into the shins, try to match them up to the holes, but dont sweat it if they are not an 100% match.. The elastic with the number 4 hook sits about half way along the outer joining strip on the back of the shin, this will pull the shin closed nicely when worn.

I was asked about what glue I am using for thee elastic, well you guessed it I'm using Stelmax. Just slather the glue on the inside of the elastic and put it straight in to the armour part. It wont take long to dry. Then to copy the original look, splodge some more glue over the top of the elastic. A recap on my arms, one bell has next to no return edge and the other quite a lot. Also one bicep has little to none and the other a bit more, there is a theme here people. Wrist return had the chop too..

For the ab plate lay the chest on top and mark out where you need to put the brackets. TM had already added the Newey England snaps for the belt. As for the butt, again measure 50mm in from each edge and make your first hole, use the bracket to mark the next hole, again the middle bracket is centred. The brackets in the kidney just need to match the butt and upper back plate. Upper back plate just needs to match up with the kidney plate, the outer brackets will be about 20mm from the edge and the bracket in the middle is always centred and due to the way the armour is made it may not look like the armour parts match. Don't panic it will sit straight when finished.

Day X+II Hello there! Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid. Ok so lets call this day 12, I don't have much to update and if I'm honest if this build takes any longer I'm starting to get worried that George Lucas is going to change what a stormtrooper looks like, oh wait a minute.. So starting at the top lets take a little look see at what is going on. So the chest piece is finished, I have glued the shoulder bridges on using the stelmax, if you look closely you can see it has warped them a little in places. You want about 5 of the ribs on the chest here. I also spent a couple of hours measuring, drilling and screwing in the original brackets for the strapping. On the chest measure 25mm in from each edge and then drill the first hole. Use your bracket to mark out the second hole. The middle bracket is centred.

Well I better get my a very impolite person in gear and start planning for CE3 then

Thanks Mathias, when you are coming back to the UK, its time we had another catch up..

Day X+1 Ok so here is what I got up to yesterday, Bell elastic is in Bicep hooks made and fitted Wrist return edge gone - I used a junior hacksaw to remove it Holes drilled and strapping added to shins, knee plate glued to middle of left shin, I will complete the sides later Is there anyone here that has yet to name their armour parts? Steve and Wayne are screen accurate names but I went with Mark.. Until next time - please give peas a chance...

I'm going to stop for a late lunch while I charge up my Dewalt. So far I have still only used 6 out of the 7 tools featured in the picture. Back soon....

Check the fit and trim again if needed. This can be tricky to glue due to the curvature of the various sides that need to be stuck down. I'm using my fav white glue, that will prob melt my shin slightly, but that all adds to the original theme.

It may need trimming at the side. It needs to sit just to the front of the curve in the shin.

Knee plate. Check your reference pictures, this one shows where it site and how its trimmed. No rivets please, just a good splodge of glue will do. Mark where you want to trim, be generous, you can always tri it some more later.

These are next in line for the Stelmax treatment..

Ok so as promised, not that anyone is reading this crap, are pictures of my right shins. I decided to have them match up at the back, because at the front, the knee plate will cover the top of one, and the thigh pack can cover the other. I would like to think I will do the strapping and knee plate on these today, so I can finally say that something is finished. This build it taking forever, even I am getting bored reading all of these updates.

Day X So welcome back to Day X of this incredible build, while I've been hard at work this week the armour fairies have broken into fbj towers and have now completed my right shins ready for me to add on the sniper knee plate to the more left wing righty. I will do that while the glue is drying on my thighs. Still on my long list of things to do is; glue thighs, trim knee plate, thigh pack, shoulder straps, build thermal detonator, sort out belt including drop boxes and get this suit strapped. Then when all of that is finished I will start on the helmet. I have a hero helmet with this kit, as my first idea was to build an Han Solo replica. But that soon went out of the window when I got going and what's happening here is I am building a suit that will be a made up jumble of parts cobbled together with a hero helmet. I used to work with a guy that was a stormtrooper in ESB, and during numerous chats he stated that they often got to work and when required to get suited up made a dive for the 'best looking stuff' meaning that first in would get dibs on what armour was available. So my suit will look like that. More will come apparent with pictures. Yeah we all like pictures. While I fire up my photobucket account and take pictures of where I am at, remember X never marks the spot - and I X'd you first!...

Sorry I misread your question.

And the shins, with most of the cover strips glued on.