TK-16818 Reporting for Duty!

[GilesWoodward[TK]]

Hello Troopers,

Oops - I appear to have missed this introduction way back at the beginning of summer when my amor passed basic approval. So I thought I’d wait to post until I was approved for Centurion! I’m very pleased to be part of this community.

 

If Only You knew:

1. Build to Centurion L3 straight out of the box.
2. Each of our bodies is unique, the armour fits everybody differently.
3. Be patient with yourself.
4. Don’t set yourself an unrealistic deadline. This will cause you to make panic mistakes. You will hopefully have this armour for life. Build it right the first time!
5. If you don’t feel 100% comfortable making that cut today, then wait a day. It will be so much easier tomorrow.
6. There are no shortcuts! They will come back to bite you hard.
7. Trust that it will all come together perfectly in the end.
8. Strapping will be the most satisfying part of the process.
9. OCD will be your biggest enemy!
10. Nobody will notice that small blemish or sight imperfection. All they see is a very cool Stormtrooper

 

Oops!

A small crack appeared in the bottom return edge of one of my shoulder bells. The plastic bucked very easily here even when merely picking the bells up! I read in the forums about various fixes but decided to go it alone! BIG MISTAKE, Big Mistake! Coincidentally, I had just made up some ABS Paste to test out the process and look at the results. So smartypants here thought it would be a great idea to reinforce the inside return edges of the shoulder bells with ABS Paste. They would then have firm support and not crack again! Well… after applying the paste a little at a time over about 15 mins I packed up for the night. In the morning TO MY HORROR I found that the outside walls of the bells had buckled and were no longer a flat smooth surface! Devastation, my jaw dropped! New bells!! Or…

 

I then begin the tedious process of using my freshly made ABS paste to very slowly build up the outside shape of the shoulder bells one small application at a time. Once I had "over-built" the shape of the bells I proceeded to sand back the shape and blend into the existing armour surface! OMG what a process. I CANNOT recommend this. But the result was awesome and hardly noticeable as the colour and texture matched nearly perfectly once sanded smooth with 800 grit and polished.

 

 

Shout outs:

Tony’s build threads are amazing. Always trust that it will work out if you follow what he’s done - even if you don’t really understand them : )

I can’t thank Tony (Ukswrath) enough. His Anovos build thread was my bible! I literally printed it out and followed every single page carefully. Slightly adapting as I built, to match what I was seeing right in front of me with my armour.

 

My wife has the patience of an angel and knows nearly as much as me when it comes to dressing and adjusting armour. She’s one awesome photographer and handler.

 

A big thank you to Greg (Wook1138). After acting as his handler on May 4th and seeing Stormtrooper armour in person for the first time it gave me a huge boost of confidence. My build after that point went much more smoothly!

 

Thanks for reading — See you all out there!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Welcome and congratulations!

[wook1138[TK]]

Glad I could help, Giles.  Not that you really needed much.  Great work and a good summary.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations and welcome to the ranks

[TK-40996[TK]]

Congrats !! And welcome !!! 

[giskard8[Staff]]

Congratulations Trooper!

[Mworm1974[TK]]

Well done Centurion, go and make the empire proud!

[T-Jay[TK]]

Great story Giles and well written. Thank you for taking the time to post this and share it with us.

[sharkbait[TK]]

Congratulations and welcome!  "If Only You Knew"- so accurate!  

[Thumpy~[501st]]

Welcome and congrats on all 3 levels of approvals!  Great job in the effort you put into it!

Edited November 9, 2018 by Thumpy~