Cricket's WTF Hero Build (even more TK for the Vertically Challenged)

[Frank75139[501st]]

 
Yeah, that sentence is awkward...  I built the patio furniture in less than a week.  The kids took a little longer to put together.  
 
And I'm going to finally mention that your avatar pic with your baby BB-8 just melts my heart every time I see it.  So much cuteness!

I got my kids from Ikea, took forever to put them together, so many parts, but my wife did most of the work. Build is looking good. Hoping you eventually have a speedy recovery and as you’ve already found out don’t rush the recovery. Had a friend that did, he wasn’t a happy camper when it all came undone.


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[Cricket[TK]]

The WTF kit is smaller than the RS kit that I previously built.  So my assumptions of cutting the same amounts and in the same locations for a Luke suit were way off.  While the kit I have been building fits me well, I'm not getting the "Hero Luke look" that I was going for.  Which is why I ended up buying new ab and kidney/butt plates.  

 

To me, I see that the Luke suit has a cut chest and back, but the rest hasn't been altered much.  The belt sits high, and the ab buttons sit higher because the cod hasn't been cut down. The kidney and butt plates haven't been cut down.  And the lower part of the chest flares out quite a bit.

 

 

 

So off I go to assemble untrimmed ab and kidney/butt plate parts again!  I ended up having to make new returns on the kidney and butt plate because the WTF kit has these as an 'all-in-one'.  Thankfully, I've done this more than a few times before, and it took me less than an hour to make spiffy new returns on those parts using a heat gun.  No pics because you've most likely seen that all before from me.

 

Next, it's time to shape things together.  I've got the back pieces gaffer-taped together before shaping.  None of the parts have been trimmed in these photos.  I wanted to shape the parts to a bit more oval-torso shape before making any trims for size.  My goal is to get the halves meeting together on their own.  This will result in less strain on the strapping and reduces likelihood of cracks on the armor. 

 

So much flare!

 

I used a large lobster pot to boil water and was easily able to dip my full-sized parts into it.  I avoid the heat gun for this because boiling water is much more forgiving and does the trick nicely.  I don't insert the entire piece into the water, but rather dip just what I want to curve.  So for the ab, I only dip to here:

 

 

And the kidney, I only dip to where my hand is because I don't want the middle part to curve:

 

 

It took less than an hour of dipping and cooling to get the halves meeting together nicely.  Here's a nifty before and after:

 

 

I shaped the butt plate a little bit on one side, but forgot to take pics of that.  The flare on the butt plate doesn't need the kind of attention that the kidney does.  

 

I also flared out the chest piece as well on the ends a bit.  The lower part of the chest on the Luke Hero doesn't curve around the torso very well, so I flattened the bottom sides of my WTF chest a little.  This has resulted in the chest now feeling too wide when wearing it, so I'll need to shave off some of the the sides of the chest near the arms to fit.  

Edited May 29, 2018 by Cricket

[TheSwede[TK]]

Great work - looking forward to the end result

[shashachu[TK]]

Looking great, Christine!

[Cricket[TK]]

Well, having kids out of school and recovering from hernia surgery has sidelined my build a bit over the past month.  I've made some slow but steady progress, though!  The torso is now fully strapped together, and the limbs are fully assembled.  I'm thrilled with how the torso fits now.  The next part was where I was supposed to size the arms and legs to fit relative to the torso while wearing it all.  However, this is where my build will deviate.

Another vertically challenged 501st member in my garrison really, really wants to buy this suit.  While I am 5'4", she is only 4'11".  She wants to be an OT TK, but doesn't have the time for the build.   After much deliberation about things, I've decided to not only sell my suit to her, but also assist her in person with getting everything to fit her frame nicely.  I don't want to do all of the final sizing to fit me, just to have to cut everything down again to fit her.  I will do my best to take photos along the way of the final sizing process so I can complete this build thread properly. 

I see this as a total win-win for us.  My garrison mate gets a Centurion-level, vertically-challenged-tailored TK (I will be encouraging her to submit for EIB and Centurion!), and I will be free to work on my upcoming RS TK.  

Yep.  You read that correctly.  I'll be starting the RS Hero (Luke) build soon.  Who said that TK building isn't addictive?   

Edited August 21, 2018 by Cricket

[TheSwede[TK]]

1 hour ago, Cricket said:

I'll be starting the RS Hero (Luke) build soon.

Woop woop! The RS will be perfect for that Luke build - good planning 

[Cricket[TK]]

It's the case of the Incredible Shrinking TK!  This kit was sized to fit my 5'4" frame, but now I'm going to make it fit someone even smaller.  She is five- yes, five inches- shorter than I am. 

 

My small garrison buddy came over yesterday for a few hours to get some serious sizing for the (what used to be my) TK.  As we begin on this part of the build, here's a "weird but true" story for ya...  A few months ago I bought a pair of black leather Chelsea boots on eBay for display on my mannequin.  I didn't care that they happened to be a tiny size 5- they were only $10 shipped.  I just needed something for display purposes.

 

A few months later- when my garrison friend told me that she wanted to buy my TK- I found out that she had been having a really, really hard time finding approvable white TK boots in her size.  Her size?  Size 5!  I had already airbrushed the boots with white leather paint, so they looked awesome, and are 100% approvable.  When she came over yesterday, she tried them on, and it was a total Cinderella moment- they fit!  

The ab/kidney that I did not cut down was much too long on her.  I ended up removing the butt plate and putting it back onto the kidney/ab that I had previously shortened.  It fits her nicely!  Hurdle one cleared.

 

Next we test fit the chest and back plates with the rest of the armor.  The photos are of the kidney/ab that was not shortened.  I didn't get much time to stop and take progress pics as we worked.  

 

Hm.  Again, ignore the longer kidney and cod (not that they are really visible anyhow)  because they were swapped out.

 

I thought the chest was riding too low on the ab, so I ended up raising the chest by trimming the neck (making a deeper scoop), and then following up by lowering the shoulder bridges further down the chest.   I had to trim some of the ends of the chest under where the shoulder bridges are attached to allow some space between the chest and the back plate.

 

The back plate is clearly not fitting properly on her in these pics.  It's eye-opening to see how much larger the back looks on her than on me.  That's me in the pic on the left with the same back plate!

 

First thing was to bring in the sides of the back plate by dipping the lower corners into a hot water bath.  We achieved a nice curve on both sides and eliminated that back flare.  

 

Next was to address the way that the back was overlapping the kidney.  Swapping things out for the shorter kidney helped a little, but it still had too much overlap.  I didn't want to trim any more from the bottom of that back plate.  Instead, I trimmed the back plate only from the top, making the back plate neck scoop deeper and trimming at the shoulder connection areas.  I trimmed about an inch from each side, as well about the same amount on the neck scoop.  

 

TLDR: By making your trims at the shoulder connection points and necklines of the chest and back plates, you can effectively bring both pieces up.  This brings the entire kit into better proportion to fit a shorter trooper. 

 

I promise I will take more pics at our next fitting (shrink session)!  

Edited August 21, 2018 by Cricket

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Your going to be the short trooper master!  Great work so far!

[Cricket[TK]]

The short build continued yesterday.  And I took more pics as promised...

 

We spent about 2.5 hours on fitting thighs and biceps.  I focused just on getting the pieces trimmed to fit for width at this point.  All parts are glued with an inner cover strip in the front.  I will wait to put on the outer cover strip until we have cleared the hurdle of trimming for length.

 

First up, left arm.  I trimmed the biceps to fit and taped them together so she could try biceps and forearms on at the same time.  

 

Clearly this arm as it's fitting now is too long.  I will most likely remove material from the bottom of the bicep and bottom of the forearm to adjust for length.  The good news is that the seams are lining up in the front and back.  Yay!  Next, right arm.

 

All looks good here, so now moving along to legs...  (I only took pics of the left leg.)

 

Both legs ended up looking good.  Seams line up straight in front and in back, and the thighs aren't too loose or too tight on her.  Even though these are the "short" thigh parts from WTF, the thighs will still require trimming at the tops.  But all of that will have to wait until after we get the torso fitted.  

 

Oh!  Wait!  Torso is fitted!  I had adjusted the glued elastic straps in the chest and back after our last fitting session, and I was hopeful that everything would line up nicely.  I also moved the shoulder bridge straps down further on the chest and bent them to curve nicely along the shoulders.  Note that the bridges end in the "sweet spot" on the back plate- not too close, and not too far from the OII box.





And I am particularly happy with how the back plate finally fits.     See the before and after:

 

We ran out of time to make any further progress in the session.  I want to make small adjustments here and there still, and we have plans to meet again next week for more fitting.  We should be able to focus on getting the limbs sized down for length next time.  Stay tuned!

[StrmTRPR85[TK]]

Would it be easier to remove from the top of the bicep as the bell will over this area?

[Cricket[TK]]

Just now, StrmTRPR85 said:

Would it be easier to remove from the top of the bicep as the bell will over this area?

 

I will most likely remove some material from the tops as well to keep the bicep visually balanced.

[repentance3232[TK]]

Thank you so much for continuing to post, I have been following this because I am waiting on my BBB from WTF and I am 5'6 which is a little short to be a stormtrooper. So you and sha sha I have been following, please keep up your great build, I am excited about your build and how I will grow and learn from you!!!

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[Cricket[TK]]

2 minutes ago, repentance3232 said:

... I am waiting on my BBB from WTF and I am 5'6 which is a little short to be a stormtrooper.

 

I am 5'4", so you are taller than I am!  Never too short to be a TK!   

The WTF kit is a good choice for the Vertically Challenged.  I think you'll be happy with it.  They have great customer service and it's super easy to quickly get replacement parts from them.  

I'm glad that you're finding my build to be helpful!  I hope that you will post your own build thread when your BBB day comes so we can watch (and learn from) your build as well.  

[TheSwede[TK]]

Great work on the torso and what a difference on that back plate I was wondering on the thighs though, could be that I’m looking at pics and that make the difference but to me it seems that the thigh is a bit big and/or could taper in more at the knee? and the hight looks spot on to me, I know the shin will come up ones the boots are on but still looks like there’s enough space to walk and do stairs

[Cricket[TK]]

On 8/8/2018 at 2:52 PM, TheSwede said:

I was wondering on the thighs though, could be that I’m looking at pics and that make the difference but to me it seems that the thigh is a bit big and/or could taper in more at the knee? 

I allowed for 2 fingers width inside the upper and lower parts of the thigh, and I am hesitant about getting it much more snug on her at this stage.  Her thighs are more... well... female shaped.    She is pulling the thigh up and outwards to keep it in position, so it also looks like more space is in there than there actually is.  I will probably need to bring the thighs up as we adjust for length.  If they are smaller around the lower thigh at this length, then once they're brought up, it'll be even more narrow around the lower thigh.  I don't want that. 
 

Once things have been adjusted for length, if still I need to taper things in near the knee, it'll be a super easy alteration because I haven't put the outer cover strips on yet.  

 

On 8/8/2018 at 2:52 PM, TheSwede said:

 and the hight looks spot on to me, I know the shin will come up ones the boots are on but still looks like there’s enough space to walk and do stairs

Once the boots are on, they bring up the shin quite a bit.  When she tried on the shins with the boots at the last session, the shins completely covered her knees.  Remember that she is 4'9".  I am 5'4", and these shins still needed to be trimmed down a little for my height (or lack thereof).  I never got around to trimming the shins down to fit me  because I sold the kit before getting to that part of the build.  I would have been wasting my time to trim for my height, only to have to trim again for her height.  

I have to say, it's really fun (and much easier!) to assemble a TK on someone else rather than on myself.  I need to clone myself for my next build so I can have something to build on that I can see from other angles!  A mannequin doesn't cut it.  

Edited August 19, 2018 by Cricket

[TheSwede[TK]]

I should have known you were on top of things what a treat for her to have you as her personal armorer

33 minutes ago, Cricket said:

I have to say, it's really fun (and much easier!) to assemble a TK on someone else rather than on myself.  I need to clone myself for my next build so I can have something to build on that I can see from other angles!  A mannequin doesn't cut it.  

Can totally relate to that as I’m building/altering a hybrid-TK for my son (did a small post about it on my FOTK-thread) and actually just finished so we’ll be taking submission pics tomorrow but he’s going to apply for ”youngling” as he’s under 18, will turn 16 come november. Just hit me, has the RS kit arrived yet?

[Cricket[TK]]

On 8/8/2018 at 4:35 PM, TheSwede said:

Can totally relate to that as I’m building/altering a hybrid-TK for my son (did a small post about it on my FOTK-thread) and actually just finished so we’ll be taking submission pics tomorrow but he’s going to apply for ”youngling” as he’s under 18, will turn 16 come november. Just hit me, has the RS kit arrived yet?

 

Congrat on getting your son into the Galactic Academy!  I just enrolled my 10-year-old daughter as Rey.  Now I can troop with both of my kiddos!

 

And yep, the RS kit arrived, but I've been too busy to get the pics uploaded!  My office space/nerd room is such a mess right now that I can barely walk in it.  I need to get things cleaned up before doing too much more online Star Warsing.  

[Cricket[TK]]

More work was done last week, and progress is being made!

 

First, I got those thighs assembled and they were tried on along with the torso.  Here's what we ended up with before trimming.  BTW, these are the short WTF thighs.  Who knew that WTF made a short thigh?   I sure didn't!  

Okay, so even though the thighs are 'short', they still need to be moved up.  The thing that was keeping us from moving the thighs higher was her booty.  So I marked and trimmed several times on the backs of the thighs for booty clearance, and a little bit on the inner thighs for comfort.  Note that I did not trim any of the outer edge of the thighs!  Here's what we ended up with:

 

We were happy with the lengths of the thighs now.  I still had to do some post-fitting shaping of the tops of these thighs.  They were somewhat angular at the outer top edges, and it really bugged me.   You can kind of see it on her right thigh, and even how it pushes the holster outwards on her left thigh.  I fixed that with a hot water bath (you'll see those pics after our next fitting!).

 

So, next was to get the boots and shins on to see what else needed to be trimmed next.  Please pardon the low thigh on her left... it wasn't well-secured in there and kept slipping down!

 

(I'm just going to add here that I am still super happy with how the back of her torso fits together!!!!)

It's kind of deceptive in these pics, but her entire kneecaps are below the ridge of the shins.  She could walk around, but more like a robot than a trooper.  And stairs... haha... she made it up two, then gave up.  I think part of the issue is the shin length, so I've since trimmed 1cm from the bottoms in order to bring down the tops of those shins a bit.  And I trimmed out the half-moons on the backs of the thighs for better mobility.  That should help her as well.  Pics of those mods will be posted after the next fitting.   
 

We were running out of time, but I had to have her try on the arms all together.   I used gaffer's tape to secure the shoulder bells to her shirt.  From what I could tell, the forearms needed to have at least 1cm removed.  I marked where I could feel where her wrists were from under the plastic.  You can kind of see the pencil marks on them.

 

 

We will be gluing the white rubber handguards to the rubber gloves at the next fitting, so I''ll be able to get a better idea of how much more material (if any) to remove from the forearms.
 

We are in the final stages of this build!!!  The next fitting will be for final adjustments.   I am so excited for my friend to be a TK!   

[trixim[TK]]

Definitely following this for my own girlfriend, she is of similar height!  Keep up the awesome work, fun to watch!

[Cricket[TK]]

Last fitting!!!

Everything was trimmed up and ready for my garrison friend to try everything on for the very first time.  This was so exciting to be a part of!  

 

The only thing I hadn't secured at this point was the elastics on the thighs.  I wasn't 100% certain how they would sit on her once she was completely suited up, and I didn't want to secure them too low.  So in these pics, I used gaffer's tape to secure the elastics to the inner thighs.  It isn't a perfect option, but held up well enough to get an idea of how everything was fitting.  The thighs still sit a little low on her and was adjusted later.  That notwithstanding, I'm pretty happy with the results!  (Ignore the black cod strap hanging down there. We hadn't quite adjusted that yet!  And we still had to glue the handguards on.)

 

 

Yeah!  Bada$$ TK!  To quote her, "I look buff!"  

 

Again, thighs were dropping due to the gaffer's tape not being super secure in there.  After we made some additional adjustments (cutting some of the back plate to allow for shoulder bell clearance, adding padding at the left shin to pop out the sniper knee plate, and trying to resecure the gaffer's tape on the thighs), this is where we ended up...

 

 

 

I know the right thigh is slipping down, and that was fixed after I took the photos.  Her booty was causing the thigh to shift down, so I had to trim a bit more off the top of the back of that thigh for clearance.  The black around the shoulder bells is from her full-bib neck seal popping out a bit around the edges.  And I know that I still need to get some white paint on the ab/kidney split rivets as well as adding the 1/8" white elastic for the ends of the shoulder bridges.  We're still waiting on the clips for her thermal detonator.

 

She was able to navigate stairs (a challenge, but she succeeded!), she can get her helmet on and off by herself, and she can drink from a bottle of water in kit.  She is having a tough time with getting the blaster in and out of the holster while suited up, but I told her that she can always find a handler to assist for this.  When she walks around, there is only the normal sound of minimal white plastic clicking together.  The suit moves well on her and she reports that it's comfortable.  Woo!

 

So now I need your help, fellow TKs of the FISD.  Please please please tell me if there is anything that looks "off" to you, no matter how small it may be.  I am hoping that she submits for EIB, then Centurion, and I want to help her get there.  I won't be passing the kit off to her posession until Saturday, so if there are any fixes that are needed, now would be a really good time for me to know about it.  Be critical!  I can take it!     Thank you, troopers!

Edited August 23, 2018 by Cricket

[lucnak[TK]]

Honestly, I am blown away by how you made this fit her! Incredible job. Everything looks good to me after the stuff you mentioned is done. Only thing I can see is the pull tabs of the boots sticking out of the shins, but that's a dressing issue.

[Cricket[TK]]

6 minutes ago, lucnak said:

Honestly, I am blown away by how you made this fit her! Incredible job. Everything looks good to me after the stuff you mentioned is done. Only thing I can see is the pull tabs of the boots sticking out of the shins, but that's a dressing issue.

 

You've got a great eye for detail, Luc!  But...  haha... no, not pull tabs.    The pics aren't in the best resolution, sorry for that.  Those boots are painted white.  So what you're seeing is the paint rubbed off, showing the black underneath there.  I'll have to airbrush that as a touch up before handoff. 

Thanks for the feedback!!!

[Cricket[TK]]

So it's done!  Now time for her to submit photos for basic acceptance.  I am so excited for her to be an official TK!

 

 

 

 

Here's her big reveal at our armor party yesterday.  All 4'11" of her!

 

Thanks for following on this TK build.    The adventure will continue on my next RS TK Hero build after DragonCon.   Cheers, troopers!

Edited August 26, 2018 by Cricket

[TheSwede[TK]]

Great work

[repentance3232[TK]]

Thank you so much for this thread that I have been following!!!!! I'm still waiting on my Armour to come in, but this thread I will also be referencing in the near future!!! Again so grateful for all this information for a short build and congratulations to her , that build is BEAUTIFUL on her 4'11", SALUTE!!!!!

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