TFA Trooper WIP

[ukswrath[Staff]]

are the shin pieces expected to go over the top of the boots? Yes

 

 

Since the shins and spats are over the boots there's no pinching parse, maybe boot bunching but that's about it. 

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Good to know...I wasn't fitting these with the boots since I assumed they'd go "above" the boots...but I'll definitely give it a shot

[Rookhelm[TK]]

In related news, got my leg gaskets fitted.  They were a little big, so my wife sewed them smaller

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Good to know...I wasn't fitting these with the boots since I assumed they'd go "above" the boots...but I'll definitely give it a shot

I'm almost 6', my shins ride high but the FOTK boots are tall so they still fit over the boot though I have to make them pretty tight or I have difficulty closing my spats. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

In related news, got my leg gaskets fitted.  They were a little big, so my wife sewed them smaller

 

 

 

Awesome who made these?

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Bill Guzman.  Was referred to him by KB

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Made a ton of progress this week

 

Bicep fitting:

 

 

Gluing on snaps for the codpiece:

 

 

butt piece: 

 

 

 

Laying it out to see what it looks like:

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Ran into an interesting issue yesterday.  So, I was unsure how to attach this piece to the back of the TD plate:

 

 

I looked at ukswrath's thread, and his "clip" slants more which means it glues nicely to the inside of the TD plate.  Mine is too "vertical" so, it doesn't fit in there.  So, I figured I'd have to heat it up and open it up a bit to get more of an angle.

 

I dont have a heat gun, and i knew you could boil abs in order to bend it.  So, I put it in boiling water, but it kept squeezing shut under it's own weight...making the problem worse, not better.

 

So, I ended up taking 2 paint sticks/stirrers, putting them both inside the clip (with a dot of CA glue to hold them in place).  Placed the plastic clip with 2 paint sticks inside into the boiling water.  I'd take it out once it's warm, pull apart the sticks a little bit, which opened up the plastic a little bit.  Put it back in to the water, and repeat until the clip was wide enough.  The sticks helped me open up the plastic, as well as keeping it perfectly straight and even:

 

 

then it fit perfectly:

 

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Although it's not done yet, I HAD to take it for a test drive:

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Brian looking good sir. My only concern would be the thickness of the TD plate. It really pushes out the back plate however, since the CRL higher levels of accuracy are still under development there's no reason to change anything.

 

Here's a screen reference, not a very good one but you can still see the difference.

 

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Yeah, once I got everything together, I noticed how thick the TD plate was.  In hindsight, I wished I had shaved it down some, but originally i just assumed it was already to go as is.

 

Considering how hard it was getting that clip on, I wish I had thought of that before

 

 

How do you feel about the sides of the thigh pieces?  they don't go up very far (thereby leaving a lot of "black space" between the stomach and thighs), and that's about as far up as I can get them. I'm hoping the belt will help with that.

[Cowboy Kylo[501st]]

You don't think that the TD is sticking out because of the butt plate being stuck under it?

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Just the overall thickness of the TD plate is pretty thick. But yeah, it does collide with the butt plate a little. I'll be making adjustments as I go

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Work continues

 

Painted the ab boxes and belt boxes

 

 

 

 

Got the belt finished!

 

I backed the rubber strip with a 2" black nylon strap.  Attached the boxes with chicago screws.

 

 

So, the part I was dreading due to thinking it was tedious, turned out not to be too bad.  The greeblies.  I knew I'd have to curve them.  Most people use a heat gun, but I don't have one.  So, rather than buying one, I boiled each piece in water, then pushed each piece against the side of a pot to curve it.  Turned it it was really simple and it wasn't that many pieces I had to curve. 

 

 

 

 

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Finished up some random straps and velcro stuff, so all assembly is complete!!

 

Now...patience.   Got all the pieces primed, now I just have to be patient and let it dry and painting will begin this weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looks awesome Brian, nice work

[Rookhelm[TK]]

Build is complete!   Submission pics sent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JAFO[TK]]

Congrats on the build Brian. Best of luck with the approval!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

 

[Rookhelm[TK]]

TK-27426 Reporting for duty!!

[ukswrath[Staff]]