Pyrates AP Build and Journey to The 501st

[Pyrates[TK]]

Hello fellow troopers!

 

Whilst perusing Facebook one day I came across a picture of a couple of Stormtroopers posing with a young lad in a hospital bed. The smile on the little guy's face was priceless, and it reminded me of when we would hand out our rations to the kids in Bosnia while I was on tour with the Canadian Forces.

 

Having a 4 year old of my own, who has been humming "The Imperial March" since the age of 2, and a "Bucket list" dream to own a suit of armor I started investigating the 501st website.

 

After a lot of reading on the 501st, I quickly learned that the best way to see if I wanted to commit was by attending an "Armor Party" with my local garrison.

 

Enter the awesomeness of the "Badlands Garrison".

 

As luck would have it, there was a rescheduled party for 3 October 2015 (it was like - "It is your destiny - join me" lol) and so my wee man and I attended.

 

We were greeted at the door by none other than the CO of the garrison (Big shout out to CO "Sidewalker").

 

My son and I were in visual over-load. We spent the first 15 minutes with our eyes bugging out of heads looking at all the spectacular sights to see and meeting the other members.

 

After snapping out of my daze, I remembered that I needed to grill these guys and gals for answers and get direction for my mission.

 

Enter, "Skullflare" a member who was breaking open a big brown box that he had for a while. I , again, spent about 20 min in "Star struck" mode looking (more like staring) at the glossy armor as he was scoring and trimming giving pointers along the way. (Huge thanks again Skullflare for letting me stare and ask a mountain of questions, my son still raves about "the cool Stormtrooper that gave me timbits")

 

My boy tugged me back to reality and it was then that I wanted to race back home and place my order with Anovos. Instead, I took wee man back home for a nap, and went back to the party.

 

I hounded poor Skullflare for another couple of hours, then bid the fine members of the Badlands Garrison a due as I raced home to place my order and to get a membership with FISD to start researching.

 

Errr, eee, urk, blurt, beep, waaaa - INFORMATION OVERLOAD - welcome to Whitearmor. Thread after thread, day after day I came to the decision that I wanted to build an ANH Hero Centurion. However, as I researched each article and the level of accuracy required I began to question my Anovos order and came to realize that the amount of money I spent on the kit is almost the same amount for an AP kit.

 

Now I had looked at AP before Anovos before placing my order but decided that the Anovos kit had a lot of the soft parts that I required and appeared to come with more which would save me money rather than spending time and shipping costs doing it the other way.

 

Then my old saying for my work echoed in my head. "Patience for quality is a fair trade".

 

 

Immediately I cancelled my Anovos order, and began saving up the extra for my AP armor.

 

Then the blast doors opened "AP Armor Upgrades" thread appeared here on FISD.

 

When I had enough saved up I anxiously emailed Mark at AP and ordered a full meal deal with his new kit.

 

Now to pass the time, I started researching on FISD, more researching, did I mention researching, gathering materials and started my E 1-1 Scratch Build (EH blaster) thread here on FISD as I found that's it's really difficult to get a blaster here in Canada due to prop weapon import restrictions.

 

Which brings us to now... 2 months of research (which has become an addiction) and awaiting the call of my big brown box. Not to mention, down right inspired by all the great people and builds here in this forum.

 

I just received an order update email today from Mark (AP) - and absolutely beside myself with excitement to get his new upgraded armor.

 

And finally time to commence with my build thread.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Now another big shout out to Knockerbot for his visual mental list - stellar idea mate! Hope you don't mind, as I as well am going to use your idea so I can ditch all these note pad papers that spill out of my pockets every time I go into them.

[68Brick[TK]]

Welcome! I think I can read your excitement!

 

And, yes, Mark's new upgraded armor kit makes it a lot easier to attain Centurion level, so you're in great shape! You've already got a build thread, so you're already on your way.

Edited December 3, 2015 by 68Brick

[Pyrates[TK]]

Welcome! I think I can read your excitement!

 

And, yes, Mark's new upgraded armor kit makes it a lot easier to attain Centurion level, so you're in great shape! You've already got a build thread, so you're already on your way.

 

Many thanks!

[Pyrates[TK]]

Yup, to some it up I feel like this (less the twerk)

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PjKOGE4pYOY

[Pyrates[TK]]

But don't get me started on their armor lol

[Sentry71[TK]]

I'm waiting on the same. Glad to see Mark is making progress, and we will hopefully have those brown boxes soon!

[SlyFox740[TK]]

I received the same order update email this morning. Great guy for keeping us posted like that, I really appreciate that he takes the time to update his customers on progress. Looks like we'll both be starting our first builds on AP armor soon. I'll follow your thread.

Edited December 4, 2015 by SlyFox740

[Pyrates[TK]]

Cheers mates! I totally agree Mark's commitment to customer service is top notch. And I look forward to watching your threads too - Troopers helping troopers - all the way!

[Pyrates[TK]]

Right then, time for that list - here we go:

 

AP Helmet - Received

AP Armor - Received

AP Gloves & Rubber Hand Guards - Received

AP TD clips - Received

AP E-11 Holster - Received

 

Helmet Kit (Includes welders lens, fasteners, Frown Mesh, S-trim, and brow trim) - Trooperbay (And a few little bonus treats) - Received

TK Boots - Received

E-11 Blaster - QuestDesignCanada - Mrs.Clause - Received

2pc. Compression Suit - Received - Amazon ( and a back ups from Everlast at Walmart )

Neck Seal - Received - Trooperbay

Canvas Belt - Received - Trooperbay

TD Tube - 2" Grey Conduit Pipe - Acquired

Black Suspenders - located at Lowes

Black Waist Belt to support Thigh Armor - located at Lowes

Bubble Lenses - Received - http://www.ebay.ca/ulk/itm/121829272395

Hero Ears - ATA - Received - oober thanks Supertrooper

Heavy-Duty Snaps - Fabricland - Acquired

Industrial Velcro Black & White - located at Home Depot, Michaels, Walmart - Acquired

Gasket Glue for anchoring Rubber Hand Guards - located at Princess Auto - Acquired

Sealing Iron for pushing in teeth to make Hero frown - located at Action Hobby - Acquired

E-6000 - available at Home Depot/ Walmart, Michaels - Acquired

ECHO's Fan System - To be ordered

Aker & iComm - To be ordered

External Audio System - Ukswrath's Audio Thread - To be ordered

Black Plastic Dip - Home Depot (Paints)- Acquired

1" black strapping - Fabricland - Acquired

1/4" Elastic - Fabricland - Acquired

Black Elastic - Fabricland - Acquired

White Elastic - Fabricland - Acquired

Grey, White, Black Testors Paint - Michaels - Acquired

French Blue #14 Humbrol Paint - Modeland - Acquired

Novus Plastic Polish - Harley Davidson - To be acquired - cheers to Dan for this recommendation

Edited January 27, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

While exploring a liquidation store 3 weeks ago I came across some baby safety guard foam and thought it would work great for my neck seal as well as allow more comfortable movement and not feel like I was wearing a neck brace.
 
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

I pulled out my old sewing machine, iron, measuring tape (tailors tape) and some jacket lining material and prepped the material and equipment. I measured around the base of my neck (18") and created a paper template then tried it on my neck. It fit snugly with just enough space for ventilation so I fixed the template with pins and cut out the material leaving extra material to allow for seam stitching later. I highly recommend getting familiar with your sewing machine prior and practice stitching straight lines on a scrap piece of material that you are using (rule of thumb - go slow and steady this allows more control feeding the material)
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

With practice done it was time to affix the foam to the material and get to work.
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Now, I think that would pass for general 501st entry but I'm going Centurion so I wanted to take it a step further and double the ribs with a second round of stitched lines.
 


 
Presto Troopo!
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Time to prep a dressy zipper by hand stitching the zipper to one side of the neck seal
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

I only hand stitched the zipper in the channels of the ribs so it won't have a line of stitching down the sides of the zipper

[Pyrates[TK]]

With the upper portion of the seal prepped it was time to move to the bib portion. I quickly PM'd Skullflare to check whether the bib portion was to be circular or more like a man bib to help cover the suspenders that will help hold up my black thigh support belt. Man bib it was, so I quickly measured the space between my shoulders approximately where the suspenders would be (11-3/4") and then spaced and pinned material. Next I ironed out edges and stitched them together. Once that was complete I used heat hemming tape to secure the loose material beyond my stitching (which prevents the material from fraying)

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Next will be to cut out the neck seal area so that they can be sewn together - Happy weekend mates!

[Pyrates[TK]]

So with the bib portioned stiched and hemmed I worked on this till 1am last night to "git'r'done. First I made another paper template with a hole and the split for the remainder of the zipper length from the seal and tested on my head. The paper tore just a little when I put it on so I knew I was in business as the fabric will work around my ears much easier. I then pinned the template and cut out the neck portion again allowing making allowances for stitching and hemming.
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Using 1/4" heat bond tape I made quick work of securing the fabric for stitching.
 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates

[Pyrates[TK]]

Edited January 12, 2016 by Pyrates