Making Lemonade out of FX

[TKRobert]

So back in October, before I discovered FISD, I made the rookie mistake of purchasing some armour off of Ebay. About a week later I discovered FISD and the dreaded mistake I had made. The good news is I didn't pay a fortune for it and the members of FISD helped heal my wounds with some encouragement to make the best of it and it would work out fine.

 

With that in mind, I made the FX lid and immediately gave it to my 6 year old son, who could hardly believe that he has a "real" Stormtrooper helmet, and went to work assembling the armour. I am now on the cusp of being complete and have played around and made some upgrades to the FX armour including playing around with return edges.

 

I plan on posting some more pics, hopefully inspiring some other troopers with less than top-of-the-line armour to make the best of it and, indeed, it will work out just fine. I believe it was Daetrin who said to me, "troop it until it falls apart".

 

To start with here is the slight return edge I decided to add to the shoulder bells. It's subtle, but I am quite pleased with the look, so decided to post a quick pic.

 

 

[dashrazor]

looks nice now just get it done by april so we can do the oxford troop together lol

[pandatrooper[TK]]

Nice nice. Don't forget to heat up the sides and pinch the bottom ends in, to make it less "tube shaped".

[TKRobert]

looks nice now just get it done by april so we can do the oxford troop together lol

 

Boots, detonator, holster, e-11, a few odd straps here and there for fit = complete

 

April should not be a problem.

[TKRobert]

Nice nice. Don't forget to heat up the sides and pinch the bottom ends in, to make it less "tube shaped".

 

Thanks Panda, it was your recent video post on return edges that finally pushed me over the edge (pardon the pun). I plan on fiddling with it a bit more but the early results had me excited. And anyone else out there thinking about it, it isn't difficult but does require patience.

Edited January 9, 2011 by TKRobert

[Quebectrooper]

Hey Robert. I have an AP/ATA mixed armor and with my FX i'm doing a Sandtrooper.

 

I can't wait to see your finished suit. Here are some mods i've done so far:

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=13910

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=13491

 

Also did the edges on my bells.

 

[TKRobert]

Hey Robert. I have an AP/ATA mixed armor and with my FX i'm doing a Sandtrooper.

 

I can't wait to see your finished suit. Here are some mods i've done so far:

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=13910

 

http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=13491

 

Also did the edges on my bells.

 

Pat, did you have to paint your entire armour to match up with the ab plate or is that Krylon a dead on match for the ABS?

[Quebectrooper]

That whole armor was sanded and painted Krylon fusion for plastic so i don't know if that matches the shiny ABS. Every piece is painted. I'm sure you can match it if you aply a clear coat after. In that picture i have an AP plastic belt wich i'll have to paint to match:

 

[TKRobert]

A photo showing how I handled my ab shims. First, I flush mounted an ABS strip to my ab plate. On the inside I used several snaps to attach elastic straps that keep it flush to the kidney plate but still allows for some flex. The finished result looks seamless. I attached the top snap through so that the back shows on the outside, somewhat mimicking screen appearance.

 

On the other side I used three (3) rivets to attach elastic to an identical flush, seamless ABS strip to the ab plate. I then attached the other side of the elastic to the kidney plate with snaps. Finally, I added three (3) rivets on the outside of the kidney plate to again approximate screen look.

 

If anyone is curious I could take some photos showing internals.

Edited January 9, 2011 by TKRobert

[TKRobert]

Added additional photo.

[Quebectrooper]

Nice. Those 6 rivets should be full, no holes. I filled mine with putty then sanded down.

 

[stormtrooperguy[501st]]

looks nice now just get it done by april so we can do the oxford troop together lol

 

definitely! troops that far north are rare. the only way we'll get more is to have people do them, so it's a strange chicken and egg problem. this event is a great opportunity to get more activity in maine!

[TKRobert]

Nice. Those 6 rivets should be full, no holes. I filled mine with putty then sanded down.

 

Thanks for the tip, Pat. Done.

[TKRobert]

definitely! troops that far north are rare. the only way we'll get more is to have people do them, so it's a strange chicken and egg problem. this event is a great opportunity to get more activity in maine!

Surprised there wouldn't be more opportunities in Portland.

[TKRobert]

Finished up my dropboxes. Took a different approach than the more traditional "inner" dropbox. Simply traced the dropbox onto a sheet of .060 styrene, cut it out, sanded it and attached. Cut a small slit for the strapping to fit through and attached with a rivet. Also placed a small patch of fuzzy velcro over the rivet to avoid scratches on thigh armor.

[R2Dan[TK]]

Little advice: The drop boxes should sit right beneath the plastic belt, not hang loose like you have them now

[TKRobert]

Thanks Dan, I seem to see a lot of variation on this...probably due to people trying to adjust them to cover as much black as possible. Might take your recommendation though.

[R2Dan[TK]]

Yeah, you may be right, but I'm using only one reference: The real deal!

Others do a lot of things differently, but isn't the ultimate goal to look like the white cannon fodder we all just loved right away when they entered the Tantive IV for the first time?

[Quebectrooper]

I think this guy's FX suit looks great :

 

He definitly cut a lot of plastic.

With a return edge on the bells,shorter handguards and the smaller ab button box it would be perfect !

 

 

 

.

Edited January 18, 2011 by Quebectrooper

[TKRobert]

OK, decided to do an almost complete test fit and post some shots. There are still some things to tweak and such but wanted to post something that showed more progress. I don't have my boots yet so still not final on how those greaves will sit. Holster not attached properly yet and, yes, I only have one glove on (needed one hand free to work camera). Sorry for the glare from the light behind me. Anyway, just wanted to level set and get some more progress posted.

 

Try not to beat me up too much about screen accuracy, keep in mind, it's a set of FX with an SDS lid.

[dashrazor]

lookin good man the photos are a tad small, but it looks like its almost EIB ready!!!

[TKRobert]

lookin good man the photos are a tad small, but it looks like its almost EIB ready!!!

Yeah, sorry about the small pics. So, besides putting some straps from chest to back to hold it together I also think I might heat up the chest and pull the sides out a bit. Looking at the photos it looks too narrow.

[TKRobert]

Couple more shots...

[Quebectrooper]

Looking better Robert.

 

AP chest on the left and FX on the right. I trimmed it to look more like that triangle shape. Openned the neck hole, also rounded the bottom to go around the belly.

 

 

I lowered the cod piece and also trimmed the plastic belt(the FX belt is too wide and makes the cod too high or too small).

 

Now it looks accurate next to my AP !

Of course it helps to have accurate parts to compare it too.

 

Keep posting photos Robert.

[TKRobert]

Thanks Pat. I also separated and lowered my codpiece and slightly trimmed my belt. I am thinking I may need to widen my neck hole as well, as I can feel it pushing against my neck, even through the neck seal. What are your thoughts on flaring out my chest plate a bit? Or does it look ok to you?