TikiTechie

Good tips. Thank you. I wondered if I needed to cut the tops of "arm holes" back more, but it doesn't sound like that's really the problem. I can get it to set down lower, and I think your suggestion will help that.

I am calling the initial build complete. There is probably things I will discover as I try on, size & take submission photos that need to be addressed, but I am happy with it so far. WRT the gauntlets, there has been a lot of filling & sanding (and swearing) trying to get them joined smoothly and fixing up my blundered early cuts. One bit I'm not sure if is just a getting-used-to thing or if there is more sizing to be done, but the shoulder/yoke/chest seem like they ride a little high on my shoulders. My helmet seems to constantly be banging against the front. Normal? More shoulder trimming? I initially went easy on the trimming, so it may be time to start thinning it down. Try on is a lot more fun with all the decals in place and the pieces finished up. I'll be more excited to have better photos when they aren't all selfies in the basement. Probably not easy to tell, but I did forget my neck gasket in these photos. Still not used to a new kit. For the First Order! (Will Imgur take down my photos again?!?)

Just a note that the black area is not the belt, although it is webbing. I had built an "interface" between the snaps on the code and a velcro attachment to the inside of the ab-bottom-section. I've seen this elsewhere, maybe Captain's Drydock's videos. The webbing I've used doesn't hold it's shape well so I may end up changing to some other material. For now, I scooched up the belt as you can probably see in subsequent posts. Just rebuilding the strap with less flexiible materials will probably help. But that little bit did have a big affect, so kudos for catching that!

Same. I am looking forward to getting this done. Thanks for answering all the questions I've had. Makes it a lot easier to build with experts nearby.

Looks like they put them back up. I guess it wasn't the hotness of the pics their algorithms expected.

Just too steamy for the internet! It does seem difficult to work with. I'm not very patient, so that doesn't help. I have gotten bubbles, but I did glob on thick paste along the side seams. Is Novus #2 less course than the automative (headlight?) compounds? I have been going 400-600-1k-2k-3k route, sometimes starting at 150/220 if there is a real big mountain I can't tackle. I follow it up with #2 and Clean & Shine. Sometimes the results are better than others. One suspect of trouble is that I used E6000 to shim the gauntlets together. Where there is a slight gap due to my less-than-perfect cutting, I think the glue may be peeking through and not playing well with the acetone/abs mix. I think it's too far along to be able to pull apart pieces and re-fuse with another adhesive, so I am making the best of it. Or attempting to. I do intend to get this kit gloss-painted, but that's not in $cope right now.

Looks like some of my codpiece images are getting removed by imgur. Oops. I'm requesting them to reevaluate.

Day 29+ Adding an elastic connector between cod & butt plate seems to have worked better than expected. I'm not sure if it's totally solved the cod placement issue, but it's a lot better. It didn't take as much tension as I thought it might to strap front to back. Just enough to pull things together Seams & Joins The rest of the work left is mainly getting my crappy looking joins looking better. Choosing to use ABS paste has been challenging for sure. If I can make it work, I'll be happy but in either case I will likely end up painting the kit just to get a nice even color & that glossy shine. Troubles The gaps between the joined pieces really doesn't want to disappear so I get a lot of lines that don't seem to sand out, like this: Here are some of the worst offenders All 4 sides of the gauntlets are pretty rough The Kit-Kats look pretty decent on the sides: The top edge is hard to get to so sanding is proving tough, as is evident here: Ab sides have a much more noticable shadow in the gap on the one side. Right: Left: (The trench The surface is pretty smoothed out aside from some pits I can fill, but it has a shadow and doesn't really hide yet. Not sure it will even with additional layers of paste.

Cod shots :O I'll ease into it with this reference photo in a comment here: I see a lot more space between the thigh & cod edges. This is generally how things hang, but it looks wrong. I see that I am either: * Hanging the abs too low. * Rotating the thighs out too much. * Or a combination * or maybe it's spot on and I shouldn't worry about it. My hands hang against the thigh at a similar spot to the CRL. Hard to tell where the abs rest at. Another view [This one seems slightly better]: This is probably a better version of placement. It still does rub plenty against the thighs when I walk. Butt plate Does this seem correct? I am used to my OTTK being snug there, but what I see here and at Galaxy's Edge is a very protruding version which overlaps with the back thighs. Seems odd again after coming from the OTTK. It seems like tightening things together with elastic is not really done (Captain's Drydock does snug it down front-to-back with elastic, but I don't see this elsewhere except loosely to keep things from totally flapping about. I see the reference photo showing some elastics, but that looks weird and I am not sure it's a total solution either.

Have you looked at KeepTrooping for TK boots? Those hug the calf really well. I tried the DIY route first and the boots I found on Amazon were too short and would not stay in the shin armor. Ended up spending plenty on paint and wasted time. KT boots did not have that problem.

Another update today. First full kit up. [Boots on Order from KT] Legs need some velcro somewhere. I'm not sure where that will go, but I'm going to do some research. The belt is better but there is a cavern between my butt plate and my actual butt. I am going to make an elastic to join those areas in the middle. Cod placement also with a gap. Top half [ I haven't gotten anything holding down the top of the chest yet. Either magnets or tried and true velcro.] It feels great to have gotten this far. It feels a lot more real now that I can get the whole thing to at least sit on my body. Fixed the chest side velcro mis-alignment and the chest sat down much better. Here are a couple of close ups of the fixup surgery I started on the gauntlet.

I fabricated a thicker belt with a 1/4" layer between the webbing and the ribbed sheet. It looks way better since it has a lot more support behind it. Front view (I have a way to go on the sides of the Abs)

Day 20 something or other. Missing a few days due to the site outage and just general exhaustion from a busy week. The TD for this Imperial Surplus kit really doesn't have any shape to it like I've seen in some other kits where it's curved into a back shape. I think the yoke + belt should hold it down, but it might require some additional shaping to get it flat. (It might eventually be replaced if it doesn't behave.) Added a longer clip at the top to hang better over the abs/back. The tiny one it came with did not stay on, which I assumed it wouldn't which is why I just held it on with a few drops of e6000 so I could replace it easily. I also am replacing the abs-butt strap/snaps with the center mounted strap which is velcroed on at the back side of the middle belt support. I may have to adjust it up a little for belt width. I found 3" elastic at Joann which seemed like the perfect width and will provide a little give & flex. Is this too much return edge to leave on? I am not sure how much to cut back, if any. Got a gasket kit from a local garrison member! Finally I can move on. The knee area was definitely made to be just enough to fill the gap and no more. I may not have the location of the up/lower legs correct yet. Already demonstrating the might of the First Order! The fit of the top. The bicep was definitely a squeeze, but that's not a huge surprise and it won't require straps to stay put from what I can tell now. Always hate to post cod-pix, but I think the vertical alignment of the pieces is getting better?

Since the Whitearmor site was down for a few days I didn't have a chance to log progress. I'll try and catch up but there is enough that I probably won't document it all unless it's unusual. Like... the shoulder tabs. The design is from @gmrhodes13 and I have changed it only to add velcro to it. Mainly I wasn't sure how well it would work and I like being able to take things apart easily. The following pics hopefully demonstrate the differences. So without making any cuts into plastic this is holding on the bells pretty well so far, but it's early on yet.

NoCo Down Syndrome Walk Beautiful cool day signaling the start of fall. I'm here for it! A great cause and a lot of smiles. One kid called the stormtroopers robots and like it when we waved to each other and high-fived. So we did that, a lot! Love this one. The only thing we're missing is a shore trooper! Go figure. :O

Day 18 - "Done" Well, the hardest part for me is over, cutting & shaping. There is still plenty of work getting edges even & smooth. But being able to put most of the kit on is very gratifying. The kit so far. The 2nd spent tube of E-6000. I say I'm going to take a day off but I know I'll be poking at it some more tomorrow.

Day 18 Pt. 2 Had a few more things come together later in the day I figured I'd share. Test fitting 2 Got a better try on with much of the thighs and above: Thighs I had reported difficulty with the thigh strapping system, but after looking at pics, they were up way too high on my legs. Lengthening the straps looks way better. [Sorry for the cod pic. We're all adults here right?] Magnets I finally got the rectangular magnets I ordered and have started putting them in the sides of the chest/back to make it a lot easier to attach. The velcro on the sides is a nightmare so far. This appears a lot easier after a test fit. The magnets https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CZGV3Z8

Shelf Liner material for belts. Something I didn't go into detail on for the belt. I found this material on Amazon. It seems like it could be a good substitute if you can't find the floor mat material. It's also a lot cheaper at $7 versus $25( at least) which I've seen quoted elsewhere. Since you use so little, having to purchase a giant amount seems wasteful at least initially. It's easy to work with: make a small slit in between the two bands at the width you need and pull it apart at the tear. It rips cleanly down the length in a second. I didn't measure each band width, but it cleanly covers a 50mm / 2" web belt without any excessive overhang. For now I am just putting this over the top of a cheap web belt. It does feel very thin, which is probably not what I'll eventually want. You could add the neoprene layer in there for the added bulk. I also went over it with steel wool to knock down some of the glossiness to it. If it's not acceptable for approval, it's probably the easiest part to swap out and I would likely buy one fully built if I can find on Etsy or Facebook.

Day 18 Got done building too late last night to have energy for posting. At this point the parts are all assembled, mostly cleaned up. I'm in limbo to decide if painting makes sense, but still going to move forward with ABS pasting/gluing them together and can decide later. For now I want to strap it up, try it on and adjust from there. Shoulder bell progress: The photos here showing me some cleanup I have left to do. Thermal detonator I used ABS paste around the entire edge since it really needed more strength than E-6000 or CA glues could provide. It sits down, but it was a tight squeeze around the bottom edge so fusing it helps. I plan to clean up the top edge and sides. The bottom will eventually get cleaned up. Eventually. Top edge "hanger" I used the clip that came with the Imperial Surplus kit. It's kind of narrow so I'll be curious to see if it will give enough overhang to keep it put. I have seen some better designs that I may try later. It's on with E6000 so it's not hard to swap it out later. I did Thigh straps I am trying out a design I've seen in a few locations. In theory it's 2 1" wide straps spaced 2" apart. As with a lot of copy-cat stuff I try, it may work, but it'll need some work to customize it to my kit. The strap clasps I put into the thighs are either too high, or I've made the strap support too long. Even with the straps shortened to the max, it's just barely high enough for my liking. It may be easier to tell with real undersuit on. Follow up with undersuit Belt Boxes assembled & glued

Day 17 pt 2 Here it is, the first complete piece (that isn't a single piece). Drum roll. Pretty much everything else is going to require sanding-filling of some sort so those are the next (First) order of business. I have gotten a DIY belt constructed and appears to fit so far. (Sorry for the weird angle. Difficult to take a picture of your belt area. :O ) Lastly a picture of the zipper on the abs girdle. Another challenging shot. Aw yeah, it feels good to have a few pieces that go together.

Day 17 Working on gluing/filling the kit kat bars on the shin. The shiny application looks like a good blend, but after sanding, I am not sure it'll be so good.

Day 14-16 After the other nights site off-lining, I haven't gotten the chutzpa to post too much. A lot of nothing has happened. Mostly finished up all the pieces, even got the belt started (at least v1.0 DIY belt) Just a few days ago I was thinking, "look, I'm almost done" now I am saying "oh no, I am nowhere near done." Been spending a LOT of time trying to seal the gaps. Staying with my plan to NOT paint, I am trying abs pasting it. I'm not sure how this will work. Struggling, but I am getting the hang of something I've dreaded trying so I guess learning something new is good. I took the opportunity to put the TD together and it went together surprisingly well, things lined up and it'll sit in it's little vacant lot on the back plate once I get there. Started prepping the piece for abs pasting by masking off around it to keep the blast radius down to a minimum should I go haywire. What have I done!?! Fortunately this is the bottom of the TD so if it sucks, no one shall know! Cue the time passing muzak. After some time of sanding and re-filling. Hitting it with the mouse sander at 140, 220 and by hand at 400-1000, I ended up with a smooth but patchy mess. Lots of pits in it are proving hard to remove. More sanding. Another ABS fill or two, more sanding gets me here: The edges are getting very smooth, but the original edge always seems to peek out after sanding it down. I'm not sure if I should not be sanding all the way to the base layer or not. Took a break to do one bicep and am having similar results though it's a little easier surface to work on since it's flat. I've got a few more ABS sections drying, the left side of the abs (not ABS), the yoke join. More to look forward to. Send help and cookies!

Got the bucket. Very happy that this little thing will give me the motivation to keep pushing on this build. The truth being I am a bit intimidated by trying to get the ab boxes & kitkat/holster mounts attached. I may have to choose a glue other than E6000 which is my comfort zone of being able to remove & fix things if they need it. These seem more permanent. The side-most ab boxes fit a little wonky. I am trying to determine the best course of modification for below them. The join will get filled in above and I guess below? But there is a fair gap on the bottom of 9E. 9K is definitely better, but it is much more evident how the overlap is not straight. I'm hoping sealing/filling/sanding can hide this. But still, I've got the helmet.

Day 11 - Half day Gonna be away for half today / most of tomorrow and Sunday so I'll probably be a little light on getting stuff done. Forgot to mention that the first tube of E-6000 has given up the ghost. Thank you for your service. A couple of shots of the yoke. I cut away a little of the arm holes. I am not sure how it fits yet so I am being conservative with my hacking until I get to fit it. I have tentatively decided to follow @gmrhodes13 version of the bell support mentioned above and make a bracket and attach the bells underneath rather than drill, and potentially weaken, the shoulder edges. There is no harm in trying it out if it works, if not I haven't made any intrusive modifications. TBD. I started making the belt, which I'd like to work on while I'm out of town. I may have to hold off until I can get some chicago screws for mounting boxes. I started with E-6000 since I'm lazy and it seems like it's functionally the same as sewing or riveting. If not, well it's easy to add the fixes later. I purchased a roll of black drawer liner with a similar texture to what the floor mat is. It is glossy however so I am going to try and take off the shine with steel wool or similar. It's another hack so if it doesn't work I'll upgrade to the thicker version. I will be attempting to make my own belt pouches. I can't find a good source for the material I think I need so I am repurposing a music-stand bag. Again, this is a test to see if I can make them. The alternate is just buying, but I'm trying to save money to get the rest of the bits I need (gaskets, boots & bucket). Yes, I am taking a sewing machine with me on vacation.

Day 10, slower but continued progress. Mostly tedious grinding some edges in prep for more fun stuff to come. Things completed: * Knee caps - done (easy win) * Shoulder bells sanded & glued. * got both sides of the right arm glued & clamped. Hope to put the top on tomorrow. Sanded the gauntlet box (?). Did the big reveal on the finished spats. I had to reinforce the tab since I stupidly chomped through it halfway with shears. Fortunately it seems not to be too far gone for a simple reinforcement. The left arm is mostly complete. The paint isn't doing a good job sticking to the resin parts so I predict I will be masking & priming/painting after I get the rest of it done. Did the TLJ cutout. Not super happy with the paint color. Using Behr Gloss White on the Imperial Surplus kit. Is that right or should I move to rustoleum? Tempted to try it out. One of my better edge seams. It's a shame it's going to get filled eventually. The interior of the forearms feels a little cavernous. I will at least put foam in there, but is anyone doing a refinforcement or liner? I think that would be appealing to make the interior a little more hidden if it was lined with black neoprene or something like that. It has that plastic cup sound that makes things seem flimsy. Not terribly exciting pics of the shoulder bells. Speaking of edge seams, for any edges that need to be sealed, and that aren't something that gets flexed I am tempted to use this Bondo spot putty. Would this be the wrong thing to use? It's not good on flexible surface but I would think the gaunltet sides don't flex. Does it stick to ABS?