Aren't you a little fat/short for a Storm Trooper - RT-Mod

[andylah[TK]]

cut the belt ends, and angles,


and glued the last couple of buttons.


fun task of the day was asking my sister to assist with measuring how much elastic i needed for the cod piece/buttock join


then added split rivet goodness to impale myself.


Left the buttock snaps for confirmation the snaps I have are allowed (they are darker than silver)


and added some webbing n snaps to the top of the buttock piece to hopefully attach to the kidney ( QUESTION -  is there a right way up for this?)

So the plan is still achievable at this stage in the day... my sewing skills are lacking so am dependent on mom being able to attach the velcro to the elastic to make thigh loop thingies.....

[Kredal[TK]]

Some kidney plates flare outwards more on one edge than the other... the side with the flare would go to your butt-end.  The raised center portion might also be slightly different sized at one end, so one end may match up better with the butt.  Hope that helps!

[andylah[TK]]

had four different non star wars people have a  look at the kidney and all agreed the way i had it seemed to line up the better of the two ways; so went with it.... in theory i just flip it if its wrong at this stage....

 

another good day was had...

drilled and set the two buttock snaps... that was scary drilling into armour freaking out the whole time but done none the less...

Then moved on to a nice visit to spotlight for some supplies; namely matching widths to make the thigh garter thingie...

mom sewed them up good, and I think they will work...
This show shows them attached to the belt and dangling over my shorts..
so velcro the height of the belt, 13" of elastic with a chunk of wedding at the bottom to attach snaps to snap them to the thigh; logic being the belt will be a consistant height.

at this stage my sister was confused what I was doing and demanded I get dressed; sure why not...

(I think i can drop the chest plate a bit)
and


First time getting that dressed up and I now know I need to lose an inch or so at the top of the thighs, and another inch at the bottom of the shins, and maybe some work/padding on the cod piece...
 Used the time to work out any of the kinks; one of which is the shims i might need on the sides:
and
at least they look fairly even and will probably shrink in size as well when everything else is on properly; I still havent fitted the kidney or back plates at this stage....



thats my sister; she called me Anal. i laughed... but anyway, first time donning the whole arm in one go and am reasonably happy. I later hit the bicep returns some more to try and move it further up my arm, but think i need to cut some off the end of the forearm some more...


said resized forearm....

lastly did the last of the snap gluing for the back sections... (also has the two buttock snaps in shot)


also bought supplies to do the shoulder straps...

so productive weekend was productive and I did a whole lot from my to do list which is a good feeling....

Edited August 9, 2015 by andylah

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Coming along nicely! Looks like you're definitely going to need to do the shims. There are a lot of build threads that had to do it as well so don't feel discouraged. I had to do it too and it's documented in my build thread. I'm currently doing shims for my thighs as well. 

[andylah[TK]]

Coming along nicely! Looks like you're definitely going to need to do the shims. There are a lot of build threads that had to do it as well so don't feel discouraged. I had to do it too and it's documented in my build thread. I'm currently doing shims for my thighs as well. 

 

thanks for that Jason, just read through it and hadn't even thought of doing it that way; yours are nice and clean...

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

PITA but it works. Pretty much did the exact same thing for my thighs

[andylah[TK]]

well lots of work was done over the weekend, and with it an abundance of fail... what could go wrong did. lets not talk about it any further...

 

 

 

but importantly i recovered...

 

Test fitting chest piece with bucket and undersuit, pretty happy with where it sits...

 

the reality of running out of webbing cause you messed up one too many times and have to run to spotlight, but spotlight didn't have it.... 

 

So seeing the front looked reasonable I started working out attaching the back plate...

 

then I got all the back sections lined up and attached them together, when I test fitted the back plate the distance to kidney seemed to go between a cm when i looked to 4 inches when mom looked for me, so the top most snaps aren't attached...

 

Shoulder bell elastic fitted -  havent attached to chest strap bit yet... shoulder connected to bicep.... forearm still free floating for the time being until i work out if I need to cut any more..

 

finally put on boots and shins to work out if I needed to cut any off the shin, the blue tape is the top of my knee for reference, i was able to walk fine and sit with out too dram so am happy

 

 

 

So still to do:

1. Thighs.... I know I need to cut at least an inch off, if not more.... will leave to the end... add snaps to garter arrangement.

2. Chest plate straps glued on 

    Chest plate elastic snapped on to back plate

    shoulders attached to chest plate.

3. Back plate connects to everything in the back and then elastics to cod piece.

4. chest piece attached to ab plate.... (which is then connected to everything else.

5. holster on to belt

6.  snaps into armour (top single one and two for belt)

7. fit. work out if i need side shims (i think i will)

8. make side shims    

9.  pose for pics and send off for approval.

10. get rejected.

 

that's the plan at least... I have a half day tomorrow so might try and jam some stuff in then... then have this weekend... that was my self imposed goal as the week after I am in New Zealand and thats Brick Expo (which is the actual deadline i set myself)....

 

tick tick tick....

 

Mom really wants her dining room table back...

 

@veers show your mum this so she knows shes not the only one dealing with this...

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

LoL. Looking good!

 

Just as I always advise doing the biceps first, I always advise doing the thighs last.

 

As you're seeing, you're going to want everything else to fit right, and kind of for the thighs to the space remaining between the cod and shins, if that makes sense.

 

Won't be long now before you're submitting the approval photos!

[andylah[TK]]

haha! its all i seem to be doing at the moment. if i don't smell e6000 or melting elastic/webbing i feel like i'm missing something... mom keeps asking me if i have pissed off my other friends as i am not going out at all.... 

 

so half day at work has come and gone and i got some stuff done.... 

 

fitting of bits and pieces and attaching the cod piece elastic..

 

then test measuring for the shoulder straps (apparently they looked better and i moved and they slid down, but dad reckons once snapped will sit properly

also with it not attached properly i am holding it with my shoulders or something?

 

same time i did the side on poses to work out issues there, and the kidney plate seems to pull out towards the top; again with the back bits not attached properly, i think that will go away... 

concerned about the gap... seems to shrink and grow in size and i cant get the top edge to line up properly

 

 

i moved on to attaching the shoulder straps; for some reason i am over engineering them and have four snaps each end to avoid it twisting...  easy....

i snapped them all on and then went to pull them off to do the other end, when i learned not all elastics are born equally...

yeah ripped straight thru the elastic... so binned them ...

 

and went to spot light where surprisingly they had exactly what i was after, within 30 seconds of looking...

also learned my beard looks totally lopsided here....

 

 

 

 so despite working for 4 hours solidly ive crossing nothing off the list... lol

 

today's another day so will see what i can figure out... hooray.

 

i think i will bring the thighs to bowling to see what the consensus is with cutting them down....

Edited August 20, 2015 by andylah

[andylah[TK]]

Cut another chunk off the belt as per Ian's advice and the picture, also made sure it was equal length this time...

 

then got motivated enough to attach the holster with some screws I got from Tandy (https://www.tandyleather.com.au/en-aud/search/searchresults/1296-02.aspx)

 

also glued on the shoulder straps to the chest plate...

 

to do list:

1. Thighs.... I know I need to cut at least an inch off, if not more.... will leave to the end... 

2. shoulders attached to chest plate. (need to redo the elastic as I found better)

3. Back plate connects to kidney...( haven't done that yet)

4. chest piece attached to ab plate.... (elastic bits)

6. snaps into armour (top single one and two for belt - this scares me)

7. fit. work out if i need side shims (i know i will)

8. make side shims 

9. pose for pics and send off for approval.

10. Approval

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Looking awesome! The side shims aren't that bad! You got this! Also, nice red emblem honda key! I have an 8th gen SI.

[andylah[TK]]

well its been a busy few weeks since the glue finally arrived and I haven't updated this thread in a minute...

 

Back side strapping:

 

Front side strapping (temporary until I got shims happy to make sure it was right heights and the like

 

Shims created to fill the gut gaps... (these in the end got made smaller as well as when pulled tight only about 1" was seen)

 

and open and close side via velcro.. (also added velcro to the other side as well to give maximum flexability)

 

and inside:

highly technical velcro installation.

 

 

this was final fitting before gluing

and from the back

the back plate keeps riding up like that, will look at tomorrow as well.. dad seemed to think it was how i was standing but couldn't elaborate...

 

 

So glued up the thighs and they are e6000ering now... hooray.

 

Also added the shoulder bells elastic to the chest plates (which caused the ribbed strap to pop off so that is gluing too...

 

Previously the chest and ab pieces were only connected via elastic and velcro, so this was attaching snaps properly once the glue had arrived:

Ended up moving that centre snap down an inch and attached via elastic to ensure it pulls the chest down tight to fit better

and 

and

(of course at this stage I have worked out, i don't like how i did my snaps and immediately want to re do them all)

 

 

 

 

So before the approval photos were taken some final work happened with the help of the garrison!

 

Thighs were trimmed about 1cm all around, then further indent where the cod piece joins was made

and

ammo plate was attached, marked the hole. drilled the hole, used rivets from trooper bay and painted.... added glue in the centre for extra staying power.

 

and then this happened:

 

A. FRONT – Head to Toe

B. BACK – Head to Toe

C. BOTH SIDES – Head to Toe

and

D. WAIST UP

E. WAIST UP WITH BUCKET OFF 

 

ACTION SHOT

 

 

and the equal parts excitement and sadness its all over combined with the Linc

 

awaiting approval emails now...

 

still have a few clean up comfort tasks I want to do - attach and pad out the forearms and even out the new thigh gap... but happy days

Edited September 14, 2015 by andylah

[Khazid[TK]]

Looking very shony. Congrats!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Very cool! Excellent job

[andylah[TK]]

So got notice I was approved. excellent.... Now the plan is to troop the poodoo out of it!

[Silverback73[TK]]

Congrats Brother!!!

[Headshots]

Congrats dude. I followed your thread for awhile now. Was very educational the struggles you had making your armor and how you overcame. Well done

[andylah[TK]]

quick update...

 

Since approval I have been wearing my TK suit as often as possible.

2 days at Oz Comicon, 4 days at EB Expo for Star Wars Battlefront, Birthday parties,  TV appearances, and more...

its been on more than my normal work clothes I think...

 

No major issues or gripes after a solid month and a half of being TK42542 i haven't had any major issues. the odd snap ungluing here and there but all is well... I can take my bucket off without ripping my face off which is a plus and can get dressed by myself (minus belt) and can pee half dressed !

i only got biting in a few places and am working on addressing that, namely the left back of knee where shin/thigh pinches so want to cut a but more off the shins to let them lower a bit... I might also take some more off the forearm so i am not thinking about it..

 

but overall this Stormtrooper is a very very happy camper

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Sounds like fun

[OrangeBird[TK]]

Sweet... Congrats!!!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

You could just cut the notches out the bottom rear of the thighs. Much easier than cutting the top and making a new return edge. 

[andylah[TK]]

new boots arrived today to replace the Dublins -  the constant repainting the chipped  paint was getting expensive and  a pain in the an impolite person...

 

 

enter Imperial Boots (http://www.imperialboots.com/) as they are ~always~ in stock vs TK Boots who seem to be on eternal back order... 

Ordered on the 14th of October and arrived this morning; so less than a month which is good... Have thrown one on so far but will give them a wear tonight and see how we go...

[HansDC[TK]]

YEWW!

[rduda]

can you post a side view with your arms up, I'm going to do the shims on the sides and I was wondering how they turned out?